Anchors Away.......

This from the tip box:


Sonja Bailes is leaving the mornings at KTBS in Shreveport to do PR. Chrissi Coile, the current 9/10pm anchor, will move to mornings.

Judge Decides on the Side of Hospital in Murdered Reporter Lawsuit

KATV reports a Little Rock Judge sided with St Vincent Medical Center in a lawsuit filed by Patti Cannady, the mother of KATV reporter Anne Pressly who was murdered in 2008. The lawsuit was filed after a doctor and two hospital employees pleaded guilty to charges of federal medical privacy violations. The story says Arkansas law that doesn't allow claims of privacy invasion to proceed once the affected person dies. Cannady released a statement saying the family's lawyers are prepared to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Former Little Rock Met Seen Around Town....

Former KATV weather guesser Devon Lucie was back in the rock this past weekend for the Hillcrest Harvestfest. Lucie calls Arlington, Virginia home these days covering evening duties at WJLA.

Little Rock Reporter Shown the Door

A tipster says KTHV reporter Wayne Cross has been let go from the station. According to Cross' bio, he joined the station earlier this year from Shreveport where he was a Mutli-media journalist.

KAIT Makes the HD Conversion

This from a tipster:

KAIT8 in Jonesboro starts in HD on Monday.

Get a preview and a behind the scenes look at the construction of the new set/control at KAIT's Chief Meteorologist's Ryan Vaughan's blog.

Little Rock Gets Bounce

This occurred with little fanfare it seems. According to this press release Bounce, the first ever African American Broadcast Network is now being programmed on Nexstar's KARZ 42. According to the press release programming began September 12th on the channel's digital channel 42.2.

Shreveport Station Gets New Weather Guess

Just in time for the new sweeps period about to start, KTBS, Channel 3 has hired a Met. Alexandra Cranford has started work for the station. A google search turned up she came from KNOE in Moneroe, LA.

New Chief Weather Guesser Named at Little Rock Station

KARK today has announced the hiring of a new Chief Meteorologist. A news release says Keith Monahan will be joining KARK next week. Monahan comes to Channel 4 from KIAH/Houston, Texas. His bio states:

Keith graduated from The United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science Degree in International Affairs and American Politics. Following six years of military service, he returned to school and earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Meteorology from the University of Northern Colorado. While in his final semester at UNC, he began working as the staff meteorologist at KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming. His forecasts received First Place Awards from the Wyoming Associated Press.


Keith comes to Houston from KDLT-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he was the Chief Meteorologist for the weekday 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. Keith's forecasts have been recognized by the Texas Associated Press in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2008, by the Houston Press Club in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and were judged Best in Texas in 2002 and 2008. In May 2005, Keith was awarded the American Meteorological Society's Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation in recognition of the quality of his weather broadcasts. His coverage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita during 2005 was awarded an Emmy by the Lone Star Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. He also received an Emmy Nomination for his coverage of the 2006 Houston Ice Storm.


Wonder why KARK now wants a Chief met? They didn't want one when Bret Cummins was there......

Anchor Changes Now Official at KARK

Source: KARK KARK 4 News announced today a permanent anchor lineup for all newscasts starting the week of October 10th.

Jessica Dean, life-long Arkansan and KARK weekend anchor, will join KARK veteran Bob Clausen on the news desk every weeknight at 6 &10pm. KARK 4 News veteran Melissa Simas will co-anchor the 5pm newscast alongside Clausen, as well as produce In Depth Special Reports for the 6 &10pm newscasts. Joining Simas, Clausen and Dean is Keith Monahan, currently residing in Houston, Texas, who has been named KARK Chief Meteorologist and will forecast for all evening newscasts. The final anchor change moves reporter Lauren Trager into Dean's former weekend slot.

KARK News Director Rob Heverling said, "We are very pleased that Jessica is joining Bob Clausen weeknights at 6 and 10pm. Jessica was born and raised in Central Arkansas and has spent her entire career in our state. She's passionate about our community and invested in our television station long-term."

"This is truly a remarkable opportunity for this station," Heverling continued. "Melissa is an exceptional anchor/reporter and has made it clear that her passion is reporting stories and digging into important issues that affect Arkansas. She's a newsroom leader. Melissa's editorial insight will help drive our daily news meetings. We are pleased Melissa will have a much greater influence on how we shape our coverage of the news of the day."

Commenting on the appointment of Chief Meteorologist Keith Monahan, Heverling said, "As soon as we watched Keith, we knew he was a very good fit. He brings experience and leadership to our weather team. Having served as a Captain in the Air Force, including military intelligence, and forecasting dangerous hurricanes during his tenure in Houston, he knows how to perform under pressure. Keith is poised, calm and just an all-around nice guy."

Commenting on Lauren Trager, Heverling, said, "Lauren is one of the best enterprise journalists in Little Rock. She will add stability and experience to our weekend news team."

With KARK 4 Today, the morning newscast from 5-7am on KARK and 7-8am on KARZ, continuing to see positive results with the addition of Meteorologist Greg Dee, the lineup will remain consistent with Matt Mosler, Mallory Hardin, Wendy Suares and Mr. Dee.

"This team continues to stay true to what we're all about in the morning. Giving our viewers updated stories and weather and traffic on a constant basis. We know that lives are busy in the morning as people scramble to get the kids to school and head to work and this team doesn't want to waste their time, they get right to it," Heverling said.

KARK General Manager and Vice President Mike Vaughn concluded, "We have an incredible team of talented journalists and meteorologists at this station that provide relevant and important content every day. This new lineup is about providing our viewers and advertisers with consistently exceptional product over the long-term and utilizing the strengths of these talented people to deliver a product that continues to build on the legacy of KARK."

Former Shreveport Reporter Passes Away

This from a tipster:

Former KTBS News reporter and producer Sharon Fullilove died in New Mexico over the weekend after complications from surgery.

Friends said Fullilove, 30, had undergone surgery for work on a pacemaker in her heart.

Fullilove, a University of Texas graduate, worked at KTBS from 2008 to 2010. She was most recently a reporter and fill-in anchor at KOB-TV in Albuquerque

Fullilove, who had been on life support after the surgery complications, was an organ donator.

Funeral and memorial services are pending.

Rupp Leaving KATV

This from the comments section....

This was posted on Twitter from Todd Yakoubian @KATV_Weather:
Congrats. to Michelle Rupp! She's the new main anchor at WCAV "Charlottesville's Newsplex