Baltimore

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced today that it has reached a new, long-term deal with Fox to renew the affiliation agreements for 19 stations that Sinclair owns and/or programs.

The new agreements go into effect at the beginning of next year and run through 2017.

“We are very pleased to have reached agreement to renew all of our affiliations with Fox Broadcasting, allowing us to continue as the largest Fox affiliate group,” Sinclair CEO David Smith said in a statement. Read more

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Baltimore Fox-affiliate WBFF is reportedly trying to revive its regular “Fugitive Files” segment in the wake of a controversy involving a high-profile suspect’s on-camera apology.

In April, WBFF drew the ire of the Baltimore Police Department after it taped an interview with a man wanted for a brutal St. Patrick’s Day assault and failed to notify the authorities about it.  The man turned himself in following the interview, but police felt that the station’s failure to tell them about it was a breach of trust.

Now, according to the Baltimore Sun, WBFF is trying to get back in the good graces of the department in an effort to revive “Fugitive Files,” which it has been airing since 2007. Read more

WJZ, the CBS O&O in Baltimore, is facing criticism today after cutting away from a Baltimore Orioles game in extra innings to show “60 Minutes” last night.

WJZ cut away from the Orioles-Red Sox game, which was tied in the 15th inning, around 7 p.m. The station directed viewers to MASN, a regional sports network that carried the game in its entirety, via an alert crawl.

“We made the decision to give the vast majority of viewers a choice,” WJZ spokesperson K.C. Robertson told the Baltimore Sun‘s David Zurawik. “Viewers were alerted via a lower-screen crawl before 7 p.m. that those viewers who wanted to see the game’s conclusion should switch over to MASN.” Read more

Jenel Boston is the new morning co-anchor at WKTV, the NBC-affiliate in Utica.

Boston joins WKTV from WUTB, the MyNetworkTV-affiliate in Baltimore, where she was a writer, producer and anchor.

“It’s been a big adjustment. I’ve been going to bed around 6 p.m.,” she said on Friday. “That’s normally when I get off of work!”

Boston will anchor the 5 to 7 a.m. morning newscast alongside Don Shipman. She replaces Megan Koskovich, who left WKTV for Baltimore’s WMAR in March.

Lauren Cook has been hired as a traffic reporter at WMAR, the ABC-affiliate in Baltimore.

Since 2007, she has been a traffic reporter at rival WBFF, the Fox-affiliate in Baltimore. Prior to that, she was a reporter at Fox News Channel and WNYW, the Fox O&O in New York City.

Cook will be the traffic reporter on the morning newscast, which is anchored by Charley Crowson and Megan Pringle. She started at WMAR yesterday.

Weijia Jiang will join New York City CBS O&O WCBS in June, the Baltimore Sun‘s David Zurawik reports.

Jiang has been a general assignment reporter at Baltimore CBS O&O WJZ since 2008. Her last day at the station will be May 31.

She will be replaced at WJZ by Rochelle Ritchie, who makes the move to Baltimore from WPTV in West Palm Beach. Ritchie, a multimedia journalist, will begin at WJZ on June 11, according to the Sun.

The Baltimore Police Department is reportedly cancelling a partnership with Fox-affiliate WBFF after the station did not tell police it was taping an interview with a man suspected of a brutal beating.

Aaron Jacob Parsons turned himself in to the Baltimore Police Station at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. Police said they had made arrangements for Parsons to turn himself in earlier in the day, but he disappeared after taping an interview with WBFF.

The Baltimore Sun reports police “were angered” with WBFF for not communicating Parsons was at their studio, and said they would cancel a weekly segment on fugitives that the two organizations produce together.

“We were told Parsons would turn himself in after making a statement, and we had no reason to believe otherwise,” WBFF news director Mike Tomko said. Read more

There is a new newscast being considered in Memphis, according to NBC-affiliate WMC.

The Memphis Police Department is looking at broadcasting a daily newscast, similar to one launched in Baltimore earlier this month.

“If in fact the citizens who are concerned about crime that’s on the rise or occurred in their neighborhood, they can tune in to that channel,” Memphis Police Association president Michael Williams told WMC reporter Jamel Major.

Watch Major’s report on the proposed newscast inside… Read more

Baltimore Fox-affiliate WBFF plans to add a 5 p.m. newscast to its schedule in April, entering the station into local news competition with WBAL, WJZ, and WMAR at that time slot.

The Baltimore Sun reports that WBFF’s new 5 o’clock newscast will be anchored by Jeff Barnd and Jennifer Gilbert, who currently anchor the station’s 5:30 p.m newscast.

“I’m going to change the lineup and run ‘Judge Judy’ from 4 to 5, and run the news from 5 to 5:30, and then, 5:30 to 6,” general manager Bill Fanshawe told the Sun.

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced this week that Scott Livingston, currently the news director of the company’s flagship station, WBFF in Baltimore, has been named vice president of news for the station group.

In his new role, Livingston, who has been WBFF’s news director for the past ten years, will lead the 41 Sinclair stations that air local news.

“We are pleased to promote Scott into this well-deserving position,” Sinclair president and CEO David Smith said, announcing the promotion.  “Scott has been charged with the ultimate goal of ensuring that each of our news operations is delivering high-quality, informative news stories that matter to our local audiences and make a difference in their respective markets.” Read more