Husband and Wife Newsers Escape NWA

This from a tipster:  KFSM's Ashley Ketz and her husband, KNWA/KFTA's Aaron Nolan have accepted job offers from Springfield, Missouri's KOLR-TV.

A Weekend Tryout?

KATV reporter Katherina Yancy is at the anchor desk this weekend for KATV.  With Heather Crawford leaving pretty soon some would think this is a tryout for the weekend anchor position.  Yancy joined KATV last year after working at KTHV for many years.  

UPDATE: Sunday 7.29
Looks as though KATV reporter Roger Susanin is anchoring today's newscasts.   

Long Time Little Rock Broadcaster Retiring Today

A long time KARK on air personality is officially retiring today.  Dave Woodman has been welcomed into homes of viewers since 1970 when he joined KARK as Sports Director.  According to his bio at KARK.com, Woodman became anchor of KARK's morning and noon news in 1991 and then "retired" in 2000.  Woodman's last broadcast will be at noon today on Arkansas Today. 

KTAL ADDS New Reporters to Roster

A tipster informed ATN, KTAL hires two new reporters.  Elbony Wilcott and Alese Underwood joined the team this week. Both seem to be good additions to that team. 

From what I can gather from the web, Alese comes to Shreveport from the Nexstar station WJET, the FOX affiliate in Erie, Pennsylvania.  

 Elbony Wilcott, if my information is correct, use to work at KSLA in Shreveport. 

Northwest Arkansas Anchor Moving to The Rock

KNWA anchor Matt Turner is making the move to Little Rock.  Turner joined KNWA in 2003 as a sports anchor/reporter but moved up to a primary news anchor in 2006.  It's not sure where exactly in Little Rock Turner will be on the air at...but it would be safe to say probably KTHV. 

Nexstar Purchases KLRT and KASN

Nexstar/Mission Broadcasting, the parent company of KARK, has purchased KLRT, Fox 16 and KASN 38.  In a deal announced today Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting is to aquire 12 TV stations in 8 markets.  HERE are the complete details of the deal

KATV Brings Two New Reporters on Board

KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock has hired two new reporters. A tipster tells me Justin Lewis and Jannette Reyes has joined the crew at KATV.  Justin Lewis is making a return to Arkansas having previously worked at KHOG as an intern.  Lewis started his professional career at WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi in 2010 as a multimedia reporter. Lewis says he will be reporting and anchoring from time to time on KATV.

The other reporter hired at Channel 7 is Jannette Reyes from Ohio. 

KSLA Reporter Making an Exit

This from the tip box:

Tracy Clemons departing KSLA in Shreveport for a similar post in St. Louis, MO. 

According to  his bio, Clemons joined KSLA in July 2010.

THV Looking for Evening Anchor

KTHV/Channel 11/Little Rock has posted a job opening on its website for an evening anchor position.  Not sure who is leaving...I would be willing to say probably Craig would be moving back to the sports director position. 

Sports MIA at Shreveport Station

This bit of info was received on Monday:

On several occasions over the past few days, KTBS (ABC) in Shreveport has not had a local sportscast. Instead, they have been airing a taped sportscast from the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. This past Sunday at 10, KTBS did not have any sports in their hour-long newscast. They have been without a #2 sports person for several weeks.

KARK Weather Guesser Now Available

Thanks to a blog reader we have the info on who is getting the boot at KARK.  According to Darby Bybee's profile at Collective Talent his contract is NOT being renewed. The reason "they are "going in a different direction" and he will not be renewed." Bybee has been with Channel 4 since August 2011. 

KARK Searching for an Additional Weather Guesser

Seems KARK/Channel 4/Little Rock is looking for a Meteorologist.  The station posted an ad on the Arkansas Broadcasters Association website.  The station already has 3 mets...Chief Keith Monahan, Darby Bybee and Greg Dee. 

KFSM Leads the Way in NWA Despite Decreases

KFSM/Channel 5/Fort Smith/Fayetteville, is once again the news leader in Northwest Arkansas. Arkansas Business.com reports the station leads the way in all 3 time slots despite ratings decreases.  Van Comer, president and general manager of KFSM tells AB.com, "We appreciate viewers once again choosing 5NEWS as the overall most-watched local news team and KFSM as the most-watched TV station." 

You will find the full article HERE.

KATV Looking for New Weekend Anchor/Reporter

A blog reader has pointed out KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock has posted a job opening for Weekend anchor/reporter.  Where's Heather Crawford going?....hmmmmm....

May Numbers Flawed

Arkansas Business.com reports Nielson is apologizing for flawed sweeps numbers for May 2012.  The article says the ratings company got less diaries returned than it had hoped.  I guess the thing in the article that surprised me is  how little the sample is.  The article says they base their numbers on less than a thousand diaries.  To me this seems like a flawed systems with too little of a sampling!