A Lake Worth, FL, landlord has been charged with battery after grabbing the microphone from WPEC reporter Lynn Gordon‘s hand after Gordon approached the man looking for answers.

Gordon and photographer Frank Porter were wrapping up a story about residents of a housing complex living in unsanitary conditions when they saw the landlord Nabil Kashik. “What do you tell these people?” asked Gordon as she approached Kashik. Kashik then grabbed the mic out of Gordon’s hand following a brief verbal exchange.

The West Palm Beach CBS affiliate said a resident called police after witnessing the confrontation. Police watched the video, then charged Kashik with battery.

You can watch the video by clicking here. WPEC’s website does not allow embedding.

[SFLTV]

Cincinnati’s CBS affiliate WKRC is adding two Sunday morning newscasts to its lineup.

“We are very happy to have the opportunity to bring viewers across the Tri-State the kind of quality local news coverage that is their number one choice—every other morning of the week,” said  WKRC news director Kirk Varner. “The opportunity to surround the long running excellence of CBS Sunday Morning and Face The Nation with breaking news and weather alerts from The Local Station, is something that we are very excited about.”

The news premieres July 7 with an hour show at 8:00 a.m. and then again for a half-hour at 11:00 a.m.  Liz Bonis will anchor along with meteorologist Josh Knight.

[Cincinnati Enquirer]

LIN Media has announced the naming of René LaSpina as president and general manager of its Buffalo, NY, CBS affiliate WIVB and CW affiliate WNLO.

“I am excited about joining one of the most respected and forward-thinking multimedia companies in the country that has a long history of investing in its products people and communities,” said LaSpina in a statement. “I am very fond of Buffalo, having lived in New York state for five years, and I am eager to work with the talented staff and management at WIVB-TV and WNLO-TV and achieve new levels of success.”

LaSpina takes over for Chris Musial who retired recently. She last worked as vice president and general manager for Nexstar’s Memphis and Jackson, TN, stations WPTY (now WATN), WLMT and WJKT. She has also managed stations in Albany, NY, Minneapolis, MN and Wilkes-Barre, PA.

WGCL is facing anger from viewers after cutting away from the last minutes of the Tony Awards to air its late newscast Sunday evening. The Atlanta CBS affiliate went to local news at 11:00 p.m., just two minutes before the night’s final award, Best Musical, was presented. >UPDATE: WGCL has apologized. Read the statement after the jump.

WGCL, which was flooded with angry tweets and Facebook messages immediately after cutting away, tried to make amends with a fast update on the winners at the very end of the newscast (video above).

“We just checked for you Tony fans, and here are the final winners of tonight’s Tony awards,” anchor Bernard Watson said. “Cicely Tyson won her first Tony for her revival of the Horton Foote’s ‘The Trip to Beautiful Pippin’  — Bountiful Pippin, I should say. And ‘Pippin’ won for the Best Revival of a Musical. And finally, ‘Kenny Boots’ won the music — Kenny won the musical — 2013 Tony for Best Musical. That’s a mouthful.”

For the record, Tyson won for Best Actress in a Play for “The Trip to Bountiful,” “Pippin” won for Best Revival of a Musical, and “Kinky Boots” won for Best Musical.

Angry viewers took to WGCL’s Facebook page to voice their anger.

“You owe Atlanta and those of us who appreciate the arts a sincere apology,” one viewer wrote. Read more

Mike Scott will retire from KGPE next week, just a few days shy of his 30th anniversary with the station, according to the Fresno Bee.

Scott anchors the noon newscast for the Fresno CBS affiliate. He is also a features reporter for the morning newscast and a movie critic.

“I had a great 30 years here and loved that people let me come into their homes,” Scott told the Fresno Bee. “I always loved hearing that some people grew up with me.”

Nexstar Broadcasting recently purchased KGPE and plans to operate it as a duopoly with KSEE, the NBC affiliate in Fresno.

Trey Fabacher, vice president and general manager of Meredith’s Atlanta CBS affiliate WGCL, has confirmed with TVSpy, anchor JaQuitta Williams and meteorologist Cris Martinez are no longer with the station.

When asked about rumors of layoffs involving newsroom staff, Fabacher said, “This week, we reallocated a few positions that were more in line with new goals going forward. We have not reduced staff count.” But would not comment further.

Fabacher, who came to WGCL last September from WWJ in Detroit, brought on news director Lane Michaelsen from Cincinnati’s WCPO in March. Read more

Kansas City CBS affiliate KCTV has taken “Better Kansas City,” its local lifestyle show, off the air for the summer. Kelly Jones (pictured), the show’s co-host, is no longer with the station, according to Bottom Line Communications.

The Kansas City Star talks to KCTV general manager Darrin McDonald about plans for the 9 a.m. timeslot for the summer while “Better Kansas City” is “off the air for retooling”:

Starting next week, McDonald said, the national show “Better TV” — produced by KCTV’s corporate parent, Meredith, and shown mornings on KSMO-TV — will air in “Better KC’s” place but with some local segments. Those will be handled by Jones’ co-host, Lisa Holbrook, who remains at the station.

Jones said she had “no comment at this point.” She joined KCTV in April 2010 as co-anchor of its morning and noon newscasts. “Better Kansas City” was launched last fall by McDonald’s predecessor, Bobby Totsch.

The show is produced locally, but not by the station’s news department. The general manager said the show had been “performing fine” in the ratings, but he does want it to attract more young women and “add more 25-to-34-year-olds” to its audience.

Mark Kelly has been named general assignment reporter for KPIX, the CBS owned station for the San Francisco Bay Area market.

Kelly will join KPIX from WSET, the ABC affiliate for Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA, where he has been a reporter and fill-in anchor since July 2010.

Before working at WSET, Kelly worked at KOMU in Columbia, MO. His first day will be August 19.

Friday night, when tornadoes swept through the St. Louis area, KMOV, the local CBS affiliate broke into its weather coverage with a report about ‘a mass casualty event’ at a nearby Holiday Inn.

Over the course of the night, viewers seemed to figure out KMOV’s initial report wasn’t true at the same time the station did. Twitter users picked up on the story as it unfolded and eventually the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put together a timeline tracking the story’s evolution. Here is a timeline we put together with the times of the KMOV reports along with twitter traffic.

8:30 p.m. -  Steve Templeton is updating viewers on the unfolding weather scene. He is interrupted by KMOV meteorologist Matt Chambers. “Steve, I have to stop you for just a moment,” says Chambers. “The folks back in the control room just tell me, and there will be more information on this shortly I’m sure, and this is an exact quote from the control room, ‘We have a mass casualty episode at the Holiday Inn in Earth City.’” Chambers adds, “What I can say right now is mass casualty event at the Holiday Inn in Earth City.”

8:30 p.m. – Viewer Stephen Bolen tweets, “Mass casualty at the Holiday Inn in Earth City, per KMOV. #stlwx”

8:41 p.m. – Andy Carvin, senior strategist at NPR, tweets, “Apart from KMOV, is anyone else reporting a “mass casualty event” at the Earth City, MO Holiday Inn? Can’t find independent sources.”

Keep in mind Bolen lives in St. Louis. Carvin told TVSpy he lives in Washington, D.C.

Read more

As a video complied by AmazingLife247 showing some tense on-air exchanges between KYW anchor Nicole Brewer and meteorologist Carol Erickson makes the rounds online, the Philadelphia CBS O&O is denying a rift between the two women.

“This whole controversy is ridiculous. This video has been grossly edited out of context,” a KYW spokesperson told TVSpy. “Their relationship is the opposite of what was manufactured and manipulated by someone. Both Carol and Nicole are professional broadcasters who have great respect for each other and happen to be the closest of colleagues – both inside and outside the office.”

Watch the video after the jump. Read more