Boston

After six years at WEAR in Pensacola, Bree Sison is moving on to WBZ in Boston.

“I will forever be grateful to the viewers and coworkers who have been so good to me,” Sison wrote on Facebook. “It’s tough to leave a place that’s been your home for 6 years, but I’m looking forward to the adventures that await me in the Northeast.”

Sison, who began yesterday at the Boston CBS O&O, was the morning anchor at WEAR. She was replaced by Lena DeFlores, who joined the station in March 2011 as the morning traffic anchor.

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NESN is teaming up with WBZ, the CBS O&O in Boston, to share content and coverage of Boston sports and weather.

The partnership is the first of its kind in the country between a regional sports network and a broadcast station in the same market, according to a NESN press release. The agreement, which will primarily apply to coverage of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins, officially gets underway tomorrow.

NESN’s Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy and Jenny Dell will provide live pregame reports from Fenway Park for WBZ’s noon and 6 p.m. newscasts, while WBZ sports anchor Dan Roche will be a regular guest on NESN’s pregame shows. Read more

Sorboni Banerjee is leaving Boston’s WHDH to join rival WFXT, the Boston Herald reports.

WHDH news director Linda Miele announced the news to station staffers yesterday, calling the anchor “a bright smile and bright mind in our newscasts,” according to the Herald. Banjerjee, a reporter and weekend anchor at WHDH, joined the NBC-affiliate in 2006.

Sources at WFXT tell TVSpy that Banerjee will join the Fox O&O’s morning newscast alongside Shannon Mulaire and Gene Lavanchy.

Four Boston stations returned to the air this afternoon, following an antenna malfunction that occurred on Sunday night.

CBS-owned WBZ, and its MyNetworkTV sister station WSBK, ABC-affiliate WCVB, and PBS station WGBX were all knocked off the air around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday after a technical malfunction occurred at the broadcast tower they all share.

WCVB was able to quickly switch to an auxiliary antenna, and the station has been broadcasting at reduced power since Sunday night.

In order to return all of the stations to the air, technicians moved their signals to the tower of PBS station WGBH and transferred WGBH’s programming to WCVB’s auxiliary antenna. Read more

Veteran WBZ anchor Jack Williams will reduce his evening anchor duties beginning next week, the Boston CBS O&O announced today.

Starting Monday, the 68-year-old Williams will no longer anchor the 11 p.m. newscast. He will continue to anchor the 6 p.m. newscast with co-anchor Lisa Hughes.

“This was my idea,” Williams said. “They told me I can work as long as I want. They’ve been very gracious to me.”

Williams, who has worked at WBZ for 37 years, said he has been considering shifting to a lighter schedule for almost a year. He has worked nights for most of his career and wants to spend more time with his wife, Marci. Read more

Today marks 40 years on the air for WCVB, the ABC-affiliate in Boston.

WCVB staffers celebrated at an anniversary breakfast this morning. The station is also giving away presents on the WCVB Facebook page, asking viewers to correctly answer all the questions on a history quiz for a chance to win a retro tee-shirt.

The station has also uploaded several archival photos and videos of WCVB through the years to its website (an image from the station’s first broadcast on March 19, 1972 is pictured here.)

ABC weather anchor Sam Champion mentioned the milestone on “Good Morning America” this morning. “Happy 40th Birthday, WCVB,” he said. “You don’t look a day over 20.” Read more

Catherine Parrotta is joining WFXT, the Fox O&O in Boston, as a general assignment reporter.

For the past five years, Parrotta has been a reporter and weekend anchor at WGME, the CBS-affiliate in Portland, ME. The move is a homecoming for Parrotta, who grew up just outside of Boston in Saugus, MA.

Parrotta replaces Sarah Wroblewski, who was promoted last month to weekend meteorologist. Her first day will be March 12.

WCVB‘s Kelley Tuthill is now cancer-free, following a five year battle with breast cancer that she has documented in a series of reports for the ABC-affiliate.  And as WCVB prepares to air the final chapter of Tuthill’s cancer story tonight, one local viewer is underscoring the importance of her reporting.

“She saved my life,” Shirley Sokol, who found a lump on her breast after doing a self-exam inspired by one of Tuthill’s reports, told the Boston Herald recently.  “She made me realize that a self-exam was very important.”

Sokol had a partial mastectomy and was able to overcome the disease. Read more

Sunday’s game between the Giants and the Patriots was the third-highest rated Super Bowl of all-time, earning record ratings in Boston and drawing huge shares in New York as well as Indianapolis, the game’s host city.

Super Bowl XLVI earned a 47.8 overnight rating, 7% higher than Super Bowl XLII when the Giants defeated the Patriots on Fox.  The rating is less than one percent behind the two highest rated Super Bowls–XLV (2011) between the Packers and Steelers on Fox and XXI (1987) between the Giants and the Broncos on CBS.

The game was the highest rated NFL game ever in the Boston market, pulling in a 56.7/81 overnight rating/share.  The Indianapolis market registered a 56.4/79 rating. Read more

At an Indianapolis press conference today ahead of this weekend’s Super Bowl, WCVB anchor Bianca de la Garza asked halftime performer Madonna who she would rather hang out with on a Saturday night — Giants quarterback Eli Manning or Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (edited version above, at the :50 mark).

“I have to say Eli because he lives in New York,” Madonna answered. “And I don’t want him [Brady] to waste gas.” Read more