Cincinnati

After an eight-month hiatus, WXIX‘s local talk show, “Cincinnality,” will return on June 3, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The show will return in a significantly scaled-down format, according to host and producer Dean Miuccio. Instead of five hour-long shows a week, “Cincinnality” will be a weekly half-hour show, airing at 11 p.m. on Sunday nights.

The show features Miuccio and a variety of local radio and television personalities discussing “current events, entertainment and local stories of interest.”

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WKRC reporter Rich Jaffe has a problem: according to police documents, he’s a registered sex offender.

Jaffe opened up about his identity issues for a recent sweeps story, describing the trouble he’s run into after his social security number was entered on the arrest documents of an Arizona man who had been convicted of having sex with a child under the age of 15 (video inside). Read more

Lane Michaelsen, the recently appointed news director of WCPO, has a clear goal for the Cincinnati ABC-affiliate: first place.

“We’re going to No. 1,” Michaelsen said in a recent interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer. “That’s our goal.”

WCPO, perennially in second place behind CBS-affiliate WKRC, has overhauled its staff in recent months. In addition to a new news director, WCPO has a new general manager in Steve Thaxton, who was hired in March. Read more

Investigative reporter Matthew Nordin has joined WXIX, the Fox-affiliate in Cincinnati.

“He will hit the air the first day of sweeps (Thursday) with a great investigative story about dangerous truck drivers in our area,” news director Matt Miller told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Nordin joins WXIX from WMBF in Myrtle Beach, where he has been an investigative reporter and morning anchor since 2008. He has also worked at KTVA in Anchorage and WSPA in Spartanburg, SC.

Lane Michaelsen, who until recently was vice president of news at Miami’s WTVJ, has been named news director at WCPO in Cincinnati.

Michaelsen replaces longtime WCPO news director Bob Morford, who announced his plans to leave the station at the beginning of the year.

“Lane is exactly the news director this market needs right now, and we’re very pleased to have his talent and experience in our newsroom,” WCPO vice president and general manager Steve Thaxton said, announcing the hiring. “His deep understanding of journalism and the tenets of serving communities will make a major impact on our team and the Tri-State.” Read more

Mike Dardis has been hired at Cincinnati NBC-affiliate WLWT as an anchor and reporter, the station announced today.

Dardis joins WLWT from KOMO, the ABC-affiliate in Seattle. He will start at WLWT in April.

“The minute I walked into WLWT, it felt like home,” Dardis said in a statement.

Dardis will co-anchor the 5 p.m. newscast with Sheree Paolello, who has been anchoring solo since Jack Atherton stepped away from the anchor desk to focus on political reporting earlier this month. Dardis will also report for the 11 p.m. newscast.

Cincinnatti NBC-affiliate WLWT has moved veteran anchor Jack Atherton off its 11 p.m. newscast, leaving Sheree Paolello to anchor solo.

Atherton, who has been Paolello’s co-anchor since 2009, will continue appearing alongside Paolello during the station’s 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts.

WLWT news director Stacy Owen said that the move was made so that Atherton could focus more time on reporting as the 2012 election approaches.

“It gives us the opportunity to have Jack dig into the elections during this critical political year, elevating Jack’s role in an area of passion for him,” Owen said in a statement, posted by Cincinnati.com.  “Sheree has proven with the 5 p.m. that she can deftly handle a high-paced, high content show at 11 p.m.”

A charter bus collided with a WCPO news van during a live press conference about the collapse at the Horseshoe Casino construction site in Cincinnati this afternoon (watch above).

In the above video, which is from Cincinnati Fox-affiliate WXIX, the bus can be seen driving very close to where reporters were gathered for the press conference. Although the briefing continued after the collision, it was stopped when the bus driver got off the bus and began to address the crowd.

“If this group of people would have moved out of my way, I wouldn’t have ran into this truck,” she told the reporters gathered. Read more

Sinclair announced today that Jon Lawhead, currently the general manager of WSTR, the company’s MyNetworkTV station in Cincinnati, has been tapped to oversee all of Sinclair’s MyNetworkTV and CW affiliates.

In total, Lawhead will now be in charge of eight Sinclair stations in six markets.

“Jon has done a wonderful job leading our efforts in Cincinnati, and we are pleased to promote him to group manager where he will oversee markets that consist of MYTV and CW stations,” Sinclair COO Steve Marks said, in announcing the move.  “Jon is a very qualified broadcaster who has led by example, achieving impressive results in a very competitive marketplace. We look forward to bringing his leadership and operational approach to these markets.”

Lawhead has been WSTR’s GM since 2004.

Traffic reporter Denise Johnson has been let go at Cincinnati ABC-affiliate WCPO, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Johnson is technically employed by a company called Metro Traffic Networks, but has been reporting exclusively for WCPO for six years. She told the Enquirer she was informed after this morning’s newscast it would be her last.

“They didn’t want to be say goodbye to viewers, because it would make people mad,” she said.

Johnson’s job has been posted internally for six months. WCPO reporter Adam Marshall will assume the traffic and transportation beat immediately, general manager Steve Thaxton told the Enquirer. He noted Johnson was technically part-time due to her employment at Metro Traffic Networks. Read more