FOX Television Stations CEO, Jack Abernethy told Broadcasting & Cable, all 18 FOX owned stations will soon begin airing Harvey Levin’s celebrity gossip show ‘TMZ Live.”

“We were always interested in the show,” Abernethy told Broadcasting & Cable about launching the show in 2007. “We knew Harvey knew television, and it was the kind of thing we needed. It was intentionally structured to work for a Fox station— it was young and hip-looking.”

WWOR, FOX’s owned MyNewtorkTV affiliate in New Jersey, has begun airing a show called “Chasing New Jersey” that emulates the tone and pace of TMZ in place of its newscast.

“TMZ is incredibly efficient,” said Abernethy. “We are trying to steal pieces of this model. If you look at TMZ, you see how many people are actually researching stories, covering stories, touching stories—it’s virtually everybody. The more people you have covering stories and bringing stuff in, the better product you are going to have.” Read more

KCCI has announced Elizabeth Klinge will join Steve Karlin and meteorologist Kurtis Gertz on the Des Moines CBS affiliate’s morning news.

“We are delighted to have Elizabeth join the KCCI morning news team,” said KCCI president and general manager Paul Fredericksen. “She’s extremely knowledgeable about central Iowa and our morning news viewers are going to really enjoy her intelligence and personality.”

Klinge worked at Des Moines NBC affiliate WHO from 2005 until 2011. She left to form a business venture with her husband.

She begins the week of August 19.

The fifth day of jury deliberations in the racketeering and conspiracy trial of Boston gangster James Whitey Bulger brought a guilty verdict on 33 counts which included 11 murders. Bulger was one of America’s most wanted fugitives after disappearing in 1995 until being caught in California in 2011.

Boston station’s responded quickly to the news a verdict had been reached.

FOX owned WFXT interrupted the “Ricki Lake” show at 1:33 p.m. with the news from a tweet sent by the Massachusetts US attorney’s office that said, “There is a verdict in the James Bulger case.”

ABC affiliate WCVB broke into afternoon food show “The Chew” at 1:34 p.m. with Susan Wornick.  “Good afternoon,” said Wornick. “Susan Wornick in Newscenter 5 with the news we have been waiting for now for five days, actually for more than a month. There is a verdict in the trial of James Whitey Bulger.”

Boston NBC affiliate WHDH broke into soap opera “Days of Our Lives” at 1:35 with b-roll of Bulger being escorted to the courthouse by helicopter which was voiced over by Kayna Whitworth. Whitworth then tossed to Ryan Schulteis live at the courthouse.

WBZ, Boston’s CBS owned station, broke in at 1:38 p.m. with anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes who tossed to Sera Congi live at the courthouse.

 NECN cut into regular news reports anchored by Steve Aveson and Mike Nikitas at 1:38 with John Moroney outside the courtroom and Alysha Palumbo inside the courtroom.

Last month’s decision by Time Warner Cable to drop WTMJ has prompted three of its customers to seek a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all TWC subscribers who no longer get the Milwaukee NBC affiliate.

Steven Delonge and Paul Scoptur of Wauwatosa, WI, and Stephen Raymonds of Menominee Falls are looking for unspecified damages for breach of contract and a days credit for each customer affected for every day service was interrupted more than four hours. The plaintiffs are represented by Paul Scoptur’s law firm Aiken & Scoptur.

“My contract is with Time Warner, that’s who I pay,” Scoptur told WTMJ. “They promise to give us Channel 4 and they made the decision to remove Channel 4.”

Time Warner pulled WTMJ on July 25 over a dispute with WTMJ’s parent company Journal Broadcast Group over retransmission fees.

According to both WTMJ and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a TWC spokesperson declined to comment. You can watch WTMJ’s report on the story by clicking here.

Tom Burke starts his first day today as news director for Tucson, AZ, ABC affiliate KGUN, TVSpy has confirmed.

Burke replaces Forrest Carr who resigned in March.

Before coming to KGUN, Burke was the news director at WTVM in Columbus, GA, until December 2012. He’s also worked in Sacramento, Fresno, Pittsburgh, Columbus, OH, Detroit, and Greenville, NC.

[Rick Gevers Blog]

Matt Brode returns to KVOA as chief meteorologist. He comes from the CBS Affiliate in Portland where he had been the Weekday Morning and Midday Meteorologist.

Brode is represented by Mort Meisner and Associates.

To report a move, send an email to tvspy@mediabistro.com with the subject line “On the Move.”

Kristen Lowe has made her debut as evening anchor for Traverse City, MI, NBC affiliate WPBN-WTOM.

Lowe joined the station from KWES in Midland, Texas where she was the morning anchor for three years.

“Texas was a great experience and I needed an adventure at the time,” Lowe told the Traverse City blog The Ticker. “The viewers (at WPBN) have gone through a lot and the station has gone though a lot, as far as people leaving, and I just want them to know I’m going to be here for a while.”

The station told The Ticker, Megan Moore will return to reporting duties for both WPBN and ABC affiliate WGTQ after filling in as evening anchor. After Arielle Berlin left the station in April, WPBN tapped Erika Erickson as temporary replacement. Erickson left in May to work at WJBK in Detroit.

Telling viewers of Denver NBC affiliate KUSA, “Nothing’s ever as simple as we want it to be,” KUSA traffic reporter Amelia Earhart admitted she is not related to Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviatrix.

“As many of you may know, I am in the process of recreating her historic flight around the world,” Earhart posted to facebook. “As a part of this process, it became clear it was time to determine the EXACT connection between the two of us. After hiring a team of researchers, I learned today that though we share a name and a love of flight, the first Amelia Earhart and I are not from the same family.” You can see the video of her announcement after the jump.

The traffic reporter Earhart, who previously claimed a distant family connection to the female aviation pioneer and spoke of it recently during an interview on NBC’s “Today” Show, told viewers on facebook while the news was a “jolt,” she intends to forge ahead with plans to honor Amelia Earhart’s fateful 1937 flight by flying around the world in a single engine plane. See the video inside. Read more

When “major technical problems” derailed WSPA‘s ability to show video during Todd Summers‘ sports report, the sports anchor for the Greenville, SC, CBS affiliate used his imagination, a souvenir football and a mini baseball bat to bring the games to life…well sort of.

One highlight: While describing the Atlanta Braves win against the Florida Marlins, Summers showed off his ability to hit the curve. “In the bottom of the first,” said Summers. “It went something like this. Justin Upton at the plate…and…WHAM!” Summers said while swinging a mini bat at what may have been a whiffle ball tossed from off camera.

[FTVLive]

KMSP anchor Heidi Collins is no longer with the Minneapolis FOX owned station.

“It has been gratifying to contribute to the success of Fox 9 during these past 3 years,” Collins said in a statement. “However, I have decided to explore new opportunities. It has been entirely my honor to serve the great people and communities in and around Mpls./St. Paul.  Without a doubt, it is my much-appreciated viewers I will miss the most.”

Carol Rueppel, KMSP vice president and general manager said, “We want to thank Heidi for her contributions to the FOX 9 news team and we wish her much success in the future.”

Collins, whose last day on-air was July 29, previously worked at CNN. She started at KMSP in 2010.