Cuts Coming to Tegna Stations?

FTV Live reports more cuts are coming for Tegna owned stations.  FTV Live says production assistant jobs will be cut at many stations....

Pay for Play at Sinclair Stations?

Looks as thought KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group might be finding itself in the middle of a "pay for play" scandal.  FTV Live reports this:

Sources tell FTVLive that at the recent Sinclair corporate News Director meetings in Baltimore,  Sinclair CEO David Smith chastised the ND's at the meeting. 

As one News Director said, "Smith was crazy angry."

According to sources, it seems that around 30 Sinclair stations screwed up a pay for play story about Huntsman Cancer Institute out of Salt Lake City. 

You can go to any of the Sinclair stations websites, type in "Huntsman Cancer Institute" into the search bar and you will see a number of stories pop up.

Sinclair has a deal to shill for the Institute across their stations. This includes stories in station's newscast, in which the Institute pays Sinclair to run.

Shreveport Station Debuts New Set

KSLA/Channel 12/Shreveport has unveiled its new set.  Below are some pics:

KLRT to Launch New Broadcast Channel for Women

Source: KLRT Press Release  Mission Broadcasting, Inc. and KLRT, the FOX affiliate serving Central Arkansas, announced today plans to introduce a new channel on September 1, 2016. ESCAPE: the nation’s first broadcast television network for women, will launch on channel 16-2 and reflects Mission’s organization-wide commitment to broadcasting excellence for local viewers and advertisers.

Commenting on the launch, Dennis P. Thatcher, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mission Broadcasting, Inc. stated, “Mission and the dedicated team at FOX16 have a strong history of serving the needs of the viewers and communities in Central Arkansas. Our plans to introduce a new channel on KLRT will expand and further diversify our local and network-affiliated programming with new exciting content choices for the benefit of local viewers and we look forward to the debut of ESCAPE in September.”

ESCAPE is the nation’s first over-the-air broadcast television network for women. This fully programmed network targets women with a mix of theatrical motion pictures and off net series, 24 hours per day 7 days per week. ESCAPE’S movie lineup includes titles such as Body Heat, Presumed Innocent, Fatal Attraction and Misery and Malice, among others. ESCAPE also features some of the greatest true crime series in television history including Snapped, Unsolved Mysteries, Forensic Files and more. Viewers may visit www.escapetv.com for the full programming schedule.

Arkansas CW to Start Airing Morning News

Source: Arkansas CW Press Release  Beginning Tuesday, September 6^th viewers will be able to watch 40/29 News Sunrise on the Arkansas CW weekdays from 7:00 – 7:30 a.m. 

Using the award-winning newsgathering resources from local ABC affiliate and sister station 40/29 TV, the 7:00 a.m. newscast on The Arkansas CW will offer local viewers an option for the LIVE. LOCAL. LATE BREAKING. coverage they have come to expect from 40/29 News.  40/29 News Sunrise on the Arkansas CW will feature familiar faces, including Anchors Daniel Armbruster and Yuna Lee, plus traffic reporter Allison Wise along with weather meteorologist Laura Huckabee.   Teams of field crews from across the entire region will cover important news and weather events from Fort Smith, The River Valley and all of Northwest Arkansas.

“We’ve long been committed to localism and to serving our community on The Arkansas CW,” said KHBS/KHOG-TV President and General Manager, Shawn Oswald. “In August, 2012, we added a 9 p.m. local newscast on the station. This expansion into the 7:00 a.m. time period extends our commitment to providing local viewers our award-winning coverage at a time that is important to them.”

Shreveport Station 9th on Social Rank Chart

Now a company is measuring Social SHARE.  KSLA/Channel 12/Shreveport ranks 9th of the list. TV Spy explained it this way:

“Share Rocket creates social media ratings for local media markets,” a Share Rocket spokesperson told TVSpy. “One of our ratings metrics is SHARE. This represents the total share of audience, voice (posts) and engagement that a particular station is controlling for that period of time in their market. We measure all of the media assets in a local DMA and calculate the SHARE metrics every 15 minutes. The SHARE mentioned in the power rankings post was measured over a 7 day period.”

 Below is a ranking of stations according to the largest social SHARE scores in the station’s market. Click to enlarge pic

Shreveport Station Adding 4pm Newscast

From the tip jar:

KSLA is adding a 4 p.m. show Sept. 7. Maria Waxel and Nicole Madden will host it.

Slain KATV Anchor's Mother Presses on With Lawsuit

The mother of slain KATV anchor Anne Pressly is pressing on with a lawsuit to sue St Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock over some of its staff gaining access to Pressly's medical records.  The staff members involved have all dealt with, Patti Cannady after 8 years is still trying to make the hospital pay.  Arkansas Online says a decision on whether the suit can go forward will come by the end of the week. Patti Cannady found her daughter at her home after being attacked on October 20th 2008.

Former KARK Anchor to be Guest Anchor Next Week

Former KARK/Channel 4 evening/morning anchor Jancey Sheats will be filling in next week on the morning news program.  Channel 4 has been bringing in former Little Rock anchors to help fill the gap in the mornings since Aaron Nolan has been reporting from the Olympics.  Arkansas Online reports after leaving KARK Sheats worked in commmunication for Sen. Tom Cotton.  She no longer works for him.

Two Little Rock Reporters Involved in Arguement at Judge's Trial

Can you tweet or not during the trial of Wade Naramore in Garland County.  Seems KATV/Channel 7 reporter Marine Glisovic was tweeting about the trial while it was in session...despite a no cell phone ban by the judge. According to Arkansas Online,  KARK/Channel 4 reporter Drew Petrimoulx confronted Glisovic about tweeting after court on Tuesday.  Glisovic called the police and made a report of the incident but no charges are expected to be filed.  

"Glisovic said Petrimoulx got loud in her face which began an argument between the two of them," the report said, adding Petrimoulx "continued to harass" her as she walked down the stairs of the courthouse. 

The article says management of both stations have spoken and resolved the issue.  

KFSM Hires Morning Anchor

This from the tip box:

Charlie Hannema joining KFSM as morning anchor from KOTV Sports in Tulsa.

Former KATV'er Guest Anchor on KARK this Week

Christina Munoz is the guest morning co-anchor atKARK/Channel 4/Little Rock this week.  Munoz left KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock 2 and half years ago to become the Associate Vice President of Communications, Public Relations, and Marketing at the University of Central Arkansas.  Several former Little Rock anchors have been filling in the past couple of weeks in the absence of Aaron Nolan as he as been reporting for the Nexstar stations from the Olympics.

Another Little Rock Reporter Has Left.....

After two years KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock reporter Alexis Rogers has quit and on her way to Ohio where she will be on the morning show:

Former THV'er to Guest Anchor on KARK

Former KTHV/Channel 11 anchor Liz Massey will be a guest anchor on KARK next week.  Arkansas Online reports Massey will be co-anchoring the morning show in the absence of  Aaron Nolan who is in Rio reporting on the Olympics. 

Chris May Returns Home to KATV

Chris May has made his return to the evening newscasts at KATV/Channel 7/Little Rock.  May originally worked at KATV from 1993 til 1998, starting out as a general assignment then anchoring the station's evening newscasts.  May made this post of his facebook: