Chicago Station Drags its Feet on Anchor's Replacement

It’s been four months since Susan Carlson was dumped as the morning anchor at WBBM in Chicago. It appears that the station is nowhere closer to naming her replacement than the day they kicked her to the curb. 

Our man Robert Feder says that since Carlson's exit, weekend anchor Marissa Bailey (pictured) and midday anchor Roseanne Tellez have been filling in alongside co-anchor Kris Gutierrez.

WBBM bosses never cited a reason for dropping Carlson after 10 years at the station, but their delay in naming a replacement suggests they had no plan other than to save money.

As soon as her CBS contract expired in July, Carlson landed not one but two jobs. She was hired to succeed the retired Jim Johnson as afternoon news anchor at Cumulus Media news/talk WLS AM 890, where she’d worked from 1998 to 2002. And she joined NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 as a per diem reporter.

While the search for Carlson’s replacement goes on, candidates who’ve come through the CBS 2 newsroom included Sherry Williams, a weekend news anchor at KHOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston. But if Gutierrez is any closer to getting a new permanent partner, it will come as a surprise to his colleagues.

A CBS 2 spokeswoman said Monday there were no announcements planned for this week.

So the waiting game continues.  

Bumped up in Philly

WTXF the Fox O&O in Philly has finally named Iain Page as the co-anchor of FOX 29’s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts.

Page had been doing the job has a fill in for the past couple of months and he now gets the job full time. 

“Iain’s on-air presence, engagement with viewers and versatility made him the right choice for this premier role on our evening news," said News Director Jim Driscoll

 Page joined the Philly station back in February, before that he served as an anchor and reporter for KPRC-TV in Houston. Prior to that, he was an anchor on The Golf Channel’s various broadcasts, including their nightly news show, “Golf Central.” 

Houston Station Loves Social Media

KHOU has released  a promo that shows just how much they love social media. Or at least it shows how much the consultant says they should love social media. 

St. Louis Station Adds 3rd Anchor to Morning Show

3 is better than 2....at least that's what KSDK in St. Louis thinks.

The station is adding a third anchor to it's morning newscast.

 Nichole Berlie has joined the station's "Today In St. Louis" team sharing anchoring duties with Jennifer Blome and Pat McGonigle.

"Having a third anchor on our morning newscasts will provide for more in-depth coverage of emerging stories and breaking news," said Mike Shipley, KSDK news director.

Before coming to STL, Berlie was the morning news anchor at KETV in Omaha for the last six years. Before that, she was a reporter in Evansville, Ind.

H/T St. Louis Post Dispatch 

Taking a Chance

NBC and CBS reported that Rollie Chance was the person responsible for shooting people at the DC Naval Yard. 

He wasn't and both networks retracted the story. 

Police say it was Aaron Alexis (pictured), a 34-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas that did the shooting. Alexis himself was killed in the incident.

As for Chance, many think he should be looking for a good lawyer about now. He might soon see his bank account swell with some of NBC and CBS's money. 

Maybe then the networks will be more focused on being right, instead of being first.  

Stay tuned....  

The Summer of TV Station Sales Continues

The Summer of 2013 will go down as TV Station sale season and it is still going strong. 

Today Nexstar Broadcasting announced that it and Mission Broadcasting entered into definitive agreements to acquire five television stations in four markets for total consideration of $103.25 million in transactions that are expected to be immediately accretive in the first full year of operations following closing.

Under the terms of the purchase agreements, Nexstar will acquire stations in Des Moines, Iowa, Rock Island, Ill., and Sioux City, Iowa from entities related to Citadel Communications for $88 million and will immediately begin operating the three stations under a time brokerage agreement.

The Des Moines station will be acquired pursuant to a stock purchase agreement while the Rock Island and Sioux City station acquisitions are structured as asset purchase agreements.

Mission will acquire two stations in Binghamton, N.Y., from Stainless Broadcasting. for $15.25 million in a transaction structured as an asset purchase agreement. The acquisitions will be funded through internal sources, borrowings under the existing credit facilities and future credit market transactions.

H/T TVNewsCheck  

Twitter Tees Off on Chuck Todd

NBC Chuck Todd Tweeted out the name of the deceased shooter in the DC Naval Yard shootings and then retracted it. 

Both NBC and CBS reported the name and then both retracted their reports. Once again it is all about being first and the hell with being right. 

Needless to say Chuck Todd is now getting lit up on Twitter (and deservedly so):

Uh Oh.....

Here we ago again.... 

Both CBS and NBC reported a name of the deceased DC gunman, via anonymous sources.

Now, both Networks have retracted the reports.

Once again, in the quest to be first. It happens time and time again. 

Cox Tops Forbes List for Media

Forbes is out with their Richest 400 Americans and no surprise that many Tech executives come in near the top. 

Bill Gates leads the list with $72 Billion dollars. Larry Ellison of Oracle , Larry Page and Segey Brin of Google are in the 13th and 14th spot. Facebook;s Mark Zuckerberg comes in at No. 20.

But who is at the top of the list when it comes to media? 

Many would expect it to be News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch. He and his family come in at the No. 30 spot on the list. 

One ahead of Murdoch, at No. 29 is Ann Cox Chambers with $13.5 billion dollars. 

Cox Chambers is the majority owner of media conglomerate Cox Enterprises, founded by her father, James M. Cox (d. 1957) in 1898 when he purchased Dayton Evening News.  She sits on board of directors. Nephew James Kennedy is chairman. Company has revenues of over $15 billion, includes Cox Communications (cable, broadband), Cox Media Group (newspapers, TV, radio stations), Manheim (car auctions) an AutoTrader.com.

Her net worth has increased $2.8 billion from a year ago primarily due to a higher value for AutoTrader.com as a result of a reported private share sale. 

So I say to you, if you work at a Cox station, go into your boss and demand a raise. The old broad that runs the place can afford it.

Just saying....  

This Shooting is Brought to you by Motorola

Shame on WUSA in DC for forcing viewers to watch a commercial before getting the station's live stream of coverage from the shootings at the DC Naval Yard. 

All the DC stations are streaming their coverage, but only WUSA is tacking an ad onto the live video before it plays. 

I understand that stations want to make money, but this is disgraceful.  

Fortunately, WUSA is the only DC station stooping to this level.

Earlier FTVLive posted links to all the DC station's live coverage.  

Matt Lauer Out of the Mix Again

When the Boston Marathon bombings happened, Today Show co-anchor Matt Lauer was 1800 miles away in West Texas.

NBC sent Lauer to the site of the Fertilizer Plant explosion in West Texas. He did not end up getting much air time as all eyes were focused on Boston.

Fast forward to Today, the Today Show took the wraps off their new set in studio 1A. Lauer missed the sets debut.

NBC sent Lauer to Colorado to cover the massive flooding.

But, once again, breaking news has Lauer taking a back seat. The multiple shootings at the DC Navy Yard has NBC and Today covering the breaking developments of that story and is taking away greatly from Lauer's air time. 

Poor Matt can't seem to catch a break.  

DC Stations Cover Shooting at Navy Yard

All the DC stations are going wall to wall with the breaking news of a shooting at the DC Navy Yard. 

Reports are at least 7 people shot so far. WJLA was the first to break the news. 

Here are links to live coverage: 

WJLA 

WTTG

WUSA 

WRC

Look Who's doing The View

Last week FTVLive told you about the rumor being reported by a New York newspaper that Katie Couric was in line to takeover for Barbara Walters at 'The View' when Babs retires.

Both Walters and Couric denied the rumor saying there was no truth to it. 

This morning 'The View' sent out this tweet.:

Talk about adding fuel to the fire.  

Hasselbeck Debuts on Fox and Friends

It's like the mothership called her home. 

This morning Elisabeth Hasselbeck made her long awaited debut on Fox and Friends.  

A couple of times Steve Doocy said it was "a new day" and Fox and Friends. A not so subtle poke at CNN's morning show of the same name. 

It seemed that Fox was more excited about their new set than they were with Hasselbeck. The show opened with Doocy and Brian Kilmeade throwing away the old curvy couch and then walking inside the studio to debut the new set.

They were then met by Hasselbeck who brought Doocy and Kilmeade coffee cups. Doocy complained his cup was empty.

We're gusiing that Hasselbeck will be doing more at F&F's then getting her co-hosts coffee.  

The former beauty queen says she is happy to be at Fox News and F&F's. “I’m a long-time fan,” she tells the NY Daily News. “My family watches them. I’ve feel like I’ve known them forever.”

She says her first goal is more modest. “These guys know how to run the plays,” she says. “It’s like joining a Super Bowl team. I’m just happy to have a playbook. I’m going to figure it out as I go along.”

And what about the conservative tag that almost always fronts her name? “What bothers me is that it’s so one-sided. You almost never see ‘wildly liberal’ in front of someone’s name.

“Any time you look at someone as a label, it’s unfortunate. My friends don’t all think the way I do — and that’s perfectly fine.”

Right now she's just happy being the new co-anchor of Fox and Friends.