Local TV newsrooms have always featured a virtual revolving door, but this one's a big one. There's one more exit on our list (who is also heading west), but first... ARIZONA BOUND: Kris Pickel, brought in from Sacramento to Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 in March 2012 to become co-anchor with former CBS News anchor/reporter Russ Mitchell, is heading back west. Word spread quickly on Wednesday that Pickel was heading for Phoenix, and indeed, that's where she's going. From the Plain … [Read more...]
No Longer Ink Stained
Posted on April 20, 2015 · Leave a Comment
The trend is growing - with long-time print reporters trading ink and print for electrons. Veteran Akron Beacon Journal reporter Phil Trexler is the latest "ink stained wretch" to go electronic, as he's leaving East Exchange Street to take his talents to the North Coast... Proud to announce I'll be Seeing the Possible @wkyc as their investigative producer with @tommeyerWKYC. Of course @denisep is a bonus!— PHIL TREXLER-ABJ (@PhilTrexler) April 17, 2015 That's Denise … [Read more...]
Piled This High
Posted on March 31, 2015 · 2 Comments
It's a wide assortment of news items this time, that apparently didn't melt like those piles of snow we had... JAMIE'S IN DC: Now-former Raycom CBS-MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43 "19 Action News" (stay tuned!) morning traffic reporter Jamie Sullivan disappeared so quickly and quietly late last year, she was almost on milk cartons. And despite the best efforts of This Space and others, no one would share a peep about What Happened To Jamie. We now know. A week ago, Jamie Sullivan landed as a … [Read more...]
Here We Go Again
Posted on March 23, 2015 · 1 Comment
Another week, another week opener. We haven't forgotten our #TheNextRadio series. It's just that Life has Intervened to the point that we haven't had time for the extra processing needed for the next segment. But in the meantime... BEEFING UP THE WX: Some more changes (stop us if you've heard this before!) are coming to 3001 Euclid. But it's an effort to add staff to the weather department at "NewsChannel 5". An Alert OMW Reader actually spotted one of the two new additions coming to Scripps … [Read more...]
Sad, Sudden Death
Posted on March 21, 2015 · Leave a Comment
Thursday morning, ABC O&O WABC/7 New York reporter Lisa Colagrossi was doing her job, covering a news story (a fire) and reporting live. But Friday, WABC had to air another story...not produced by her, but about her own sudden death. Lisa Colagrossi, Eyewitness News reporter, anchor, wife and mother, has died at age 49. Lisa suffered a brain hemorrhage while returning from covering a story Thursday morning. And it's a death that sent shock waves through the New York City ABC … [Read more...]
So Many Changes
Posted on March 10, 2015 · 1 Comment
So many changes, so little time...just one day for most of this... NEW ND: Raycom CBS/MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43 has found its replacement for now-former news director Dan Salamone, and it appears quite obvious he won't be leading the "19 Action News" newsroom. Well, OK, not the newsroom under that long-time moniker. Here, let's share the first few lines of the official press release from Raycom HQ in Montgomery AL: Fred D’Ambrosi has been named News Director at WOIO/WUAB, the Raycom Media … [Read more...]
On The Street
Posted on March 6, 2015 · 2 Comments
And we'll start with a, uh, "handful of layoffs" at a local TV station... SCRIPPS HAMMER: Word spread among various markets that Scripps was letting a few people go (to the parking lot, then home for good). We have been told that the layoff count is a pretty big "handful" (more on that phrase later) at Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 here in Cleveland...the last number we heard was that seven people are no longer "on your side" at NewsChannel 5. We don't have any names at this point, but we're … [Read more...]
Kristi Capel, Round Two
Posted on February 25, 2015 · 3 Comments
We, along with many others, thought that "Fox 8 News in the Morning" co-anchor Kristi Capel's Worldwide Ordeal would be over on Tuesday. As reported that day, Capel returned to Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8's morning newscast/talkfest. She delivered an apology similar to the one she ended up leaving on her Twitter account, and got genuine support from co-anchor Wayne Dawson. We tried to catch her apology for using an outdated racial slur on Monday's show, watching on and off during the … [Read more...]
You Say One Word
Posted on February 23, 2015 · Leave a Comment
...and if it's the wrong word, you, a local news anchor in Cleveland, become an international celebrity. And not at all in a good way. That's what happened to Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8 News in the Morning" co-anchor Kristi Capel on Monday morning. Talking about the Oscars from Sunday night with co-anchor Wayne Dawson, Capel was trying to compliment singer Lady Gaga, when a very old racial slur fell out of her mouth to describe Lady Gaga's musical performance. Now, we don't know … [Read more...]
Controversy, Exits And Entrances
Posted on January 26, 2015 · 7 Comments
In which a swirl of controversy envelopes radio and TV personalities...some of it significant, some of it not... HE'S GONE: When David Oliver became now-former chief of the Brimfield Police Department, we noted that as far as we knew, he still had his part-time job as a weekend radio host at Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron". After all, his employment there didn't depend on being chief of a small town Portage County police force. But Oliver's unceremonious exit from that … [Read more...]
