Courtney to Co-host Daybreak AND Contribute to KATV Newscasts

I am a little behind on this but here's the press release. My real job has been keeping me way to busy these days.....

KATV Press Release KATV General Manager and Senior Vice President Mark Rose and News Director Nick Genty are pleased to announce Alyson Courtney is the newest member of the Channel 7 News Team!

Alyson starts her duties on Channel 7 Friday morning. She will work alongside Beth Hunt, Meteorologist Melinda Mayo and Meteorologist Barry Brandt, broadcasting from Riverfest Friday. Alyson will also contribute special reports on KATV newscasts.

Courtney brings 13 years of experience to the job, much of that in Arkansas. She has worked as a news anchor, reporter and producer. Courtney is married and has two young daughters, Brooklyn and Berkeley.

“We are fortunate to have great anchors and reporters at KATV,” says Rose. “And with the addition of Alyson, we add another terrific person to the team. She is warm and dynamic. Viewers in Arkansas have really grown to love her. We are thrilled she is here and on Channel 7 now!

Genty, who has worked with Courtney for a number of years at another station, agrees. “Like several members of our anchor team, Alyson is a working mom and brings that perspective to the job. She can identify with the way events and issues in Arkansas affect families here. As a parent, she knows it is more than just news---it’s how that information impacts your family.”

Courtney says she has been looking forward to her first day on Channel 7 for quite some time. “I’m excited to be part of the Channel 7 news team and so grateful for the opportunity. I am joining a great group of journalists. They’re also wonderful people. I look forward to a whole lot of fun with KATV!”

No Compete Doesn't Hold Water for Former KTHV Anchor.....

This was left in the tip jar early Friday morning:


I guess Alyson Courtney's non-compete claus didn't hold up in court, it just delayed her from getting on the air after leaving Today's THV when her contract was up. Channel Seven started promos, she starts today 4:30 a.m. - 7 a.m.

The story is the THV News Director Chuck Maulden dropped the ball and forgot to offer her a new contract and somewhere in there she got a better offer at Channel Seven.

Another One Bites the Dust in Shreveport......

This from the tip jar: Next week is Casey Ferrand's last at KTBS. Another one bites the dust.

Shreveport Marketing Director Gone

This from a tipster: Looks like another exit at KTBS as the new Marketing Director for both KTBS / KPXJ has left the building. Those in the know aren't sure if it was by choice or a mutual agreement but this person was there for a little over a year and didn't last. There was some hint that after this person took the gig... they were surprised by all the other duties added on to their job-function.

KARK Newsmobile Floods

This pic came from KARK's face book page. Here are the comments below the pic:

The good news is the water has gone down and the car starts. The bad news is there is water in the cup holders. This is at the train station in LR. Our crew was covering an event there. Not sure if this is due to a water main break, rain or drains blocked. We are investigating.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know.....

This from a tipster: I noticed that Tracy Douglass bio has been taken down from KARK's website. Did she get Nexstar's swinging ax? Did she leave on her own?

Hit and Miss Weekend for Shreveport Station.

Seems KTAL, Channel 6 in Shreveport had difficulty staying on the air over the weekend. A tipster says the stations on and off the air all weekend. The station posted an apology on its website and links to shows interrupted.

UPDATE: KTAL's General Manager posted this letter on the station's website:

A letter to our viewers from the General Manager of KTAL

On behalf of KTAL, I want to personally apologize to our loyal ArkLaTex viewers for the problem we had bringing you David Toms’ thrilling finish in the Player’s Championship. Like all of you, I was ready to enjoy NBC’s Sunday coverage and root for our home town hero.
Instead, some serious technical difficulties knocked us out of the tournament.

No one feels worse about what happened this weekend than those of us who work at KTAL. We take our commitment to serve you as responsible broadcasters seriously. A team of engineers have been working throughout the weekend to fix our problem. Here at the station we’ve been answering your phone calls and responding to your e-mails. We understand your frustration. We feel it ourselves.

Over the last few years, we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgrading our television station. More major technical upgrades are scheduled for the coming months. We have come a long way. But today we were reminded we still have a ways to go.

Again, we apologize for our technical problem this weekend. We are working hard to get it fixed, and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Mark Cummings

General Manager/KTAL

What's in the Works on THV Mornings

An e-mailer sent in something very interesting...things I have even wondered about since the shakeup during the mornings at Channel 11. My thought is THV made a big mistake by hiring a "star" when they should've promoted from within and made Blackstone a part of the morning team and not even hired an outsider. Any how, here's an e-mailer's thoughts and observations:

Today's THV: Ashley Blackstone has been moved to mornings to help Melissa-Dunbar Gates with 3-hours of news. Pam Baccam now gets the Saturday anchor desk and Stephanie Bryant gets Sunday.

THV made the decision for Blackstone to help Gates, but will she stay when Alyse Eady arrives?

Eady can't help Gates read the news.

Is Faith going to stay as the live shot reporter when Eady arrives?

I thought Eady was going to be out and about. What is going on... or does THV not even know?

All Signals Lost....

Seems KTHV experienced some major technical issues last night as its signal was off air for quite some time. I don't have a time table for when the signal was lost then restored, but according to posts on the channel's facebook page the signal was lost around the 10pm news time.