Jae Miller, reporter for Chicago CW affiliate WGN and cable news channel CLTV, is leaving to become the spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Miller told Time Out Chicago‘s Robert Feder, “I am excited to embark upon this wonderful opportunity with IDOT. The agency continues to move forward with cutting-edge ideas and initiatives. I am thrilled to be able to apply the skills I obtained during my tenure in television news to this challenging role.”

Before joining CLTV in 2008, Miller worked at WDJT in Milwaukee and WHBF in Quad Cities. She began working full-time for WGN in 2009. Her first day with IDOT will be one week from Monday on March 11.

Dish Network subscribers won’t be able watch their favorite shows on stations owned by Grant Communications until the two settle their dispute over retransmission fees.

On Saturday February 16, Grant’s four FOX affiliates, WZDX in Huntsville, AL, WFXR, Roanoke,VA, KLJB in Quad Cities and WLAX-WEUX in La Crosse, WI, as well as two CW stations and one MyNetworkTV station went dark as part of the dispute.

WZDX, the FOX affiliate in Huntsville posted a statement about the dispute on its website saying,

Contrary to what you may have been told or read, FOX 54 has asked Dish to pay rates comparable to those being paid by your local cable systems now. That is fair and equitable, as already determined by the marketplace. We understand the public’s frustration with this situation, and we remain committed to reaching a solution with Dish without disrupting FOX 54′s programming. Read more

KMBC, the Kansas City ABC affiliate, has announced Matt Flener will join its sister station,CW affiliate KCWE, as morning anchor beginning April 1.

“It’s an honor to join such a well-respected station,” said Flener. “KMBC has a rich history of strong journalism and I’m excited to break stories that continue that tradition. I’m happy to move back to the Midwest to raise my kids. They have a great chance to learn strong family values in the Kansas City area and be close to their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.”

Flener, who will anchor the 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. news on KCWE, comes to the station from KUSA in Denver where he was a news anchor, reporter and host of a monthly political talk show. Read more

Here’s one Valentine’s Day celebration that went above and beyond: KCWI, the CW affiliate in Des Moines, hosted a live wedding on the morning newscast Thursday.

Kellee Baxter and Shane Rolling from Fort Dodge, Iowa, tied the knot this morning on live television. Thanks to the magic of the green screen, Baxter and Rolling — who were engaged for six years — were able to choose their ideal wedding location (a beach in Hawaii) and musical accompaniment (an Elvis impersonator).

Hosts Jackie Schmillen and Lou Sipolt and meteorologist Jason Parkin were on hand for the ceremony. “This is awesome. This is what Valentine’s Day is all about!” Sipolt said at the conclusion of the ceremony.

Video (beginning at the 1:34:15 mark) and more picutres are after the jump. Read more

Viewers in Great Falls, Mont., were warned of an imminent zombie attack Monday afternoon after the Emergency Alert System at CBS affiliate KRTV was hacked.

The fake alert, which warned that “bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living,” ran on both KRTV and a CW-affiliated digital subchannel (video above).

“Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages onscreen that will be updated as information become available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous,” the bogus alert read.

In a brief online statement, KRTV said the fake warning came from an outside source.

“Our engineers are investigating to determine what happened and if it affected other media outlets,” the statement reads. [h/t Jim Romenesko]

Our sister site FishbowlNY interviews WPIX reporter Dan Mannarino, who missed several live shots this weekend because the CW affiliate’s satellite truck was stuck in the snow in Suffolk County. The truck operator got stuck in the snow while on his way to pick up Mannarino before his 7 a.m. live shot:

With two feet of snow and no plows in sights, the WPIX truck had no way of reaching Mannarino, meaning the live reporting would be scrapped. But the conscientious reporter had no designs of spending the day in the hotel.

“I called the DPW [Department of Public Works] of that town and they came and sent a plow to get him out. That plow got stuck.” Mannarino says.

As the clock ticked down before his first shot in 45 minutes, Mannarino says a front loader was brought to the scene to remove mounds of snow. In the process, the plow was removed. The Channel 11 mobile unit, though, could not able to be extricated. Read more

Tulsa TV Stations is reporting, Chera Kimiko is set join KQCW as co-anchor for the station’s 9:00 p.m news.

Kimiko, who will join the Tulsa CW affiliate in April when the 9:00 p.m. news expands to an hour, had her last newscast for Tulsa’s FOX affiliate KOKI on Friday. Her bio has since been removed from KOKI’s website.

She has previously worked at KVBC in Las Vegas, NV, KCOY in Santa Maria, CA and KTVK in Phoenix, AZ.

Mission Broadcasting has announced WTVW, its Nexstar-run station in Evansville, IN, has agreed to become a CW affiliate.

Mission Broadcasting president and chief executive officer, Dennis P. Thatcher said in a statement, “We are delighted to announce this relationship with CW as we will now also bring local Tristate viewers what they have been asking for since CW went off the air earlier this month.”

WTVW will begin airing the CW prime time lineup Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m, beginning Thursday. The first official CW show to air on WTVW will be fan favorite, “The Vampire Diaries.”  WTVW will air an hour of news at 9:00 p.m following CW’s lineup.

Evansville viewers have been without a CW affiliate since early January when former CW affiliate WAZE, owned by financially troubled Roberts Broadcasting, shut down. WTVW lost its FOX affiliation in July 2011.

[Jake's DTV Blog]

Bloomberg TV correspondent Gigi Stone will be filling in on the early morning newscast for WPIX, Tribune’s CW affiliate in New York City.

Stone appeared this morning as the news anchor from 4-6 a.m. alongside anchor Lionel Lebron. A spokesperson for WPIX told TVSpy that Stone is filling in for Kristen Cole, who is about to go on maternity leave.

Stone remains with Bloomberg. Last year, Stone gave MediabistroTV a tour of Bloomberg’s New York City headquarters. Watch the “Cubes” episode after the jump. Read more

Jodi Applegate has anchored her final broadcast at WPIX, Tribune’s CW-affiliate in New York City. Applegate, who is expecting a child through surrogacy with her husband, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay, tells the New York Daily News about her decision to put family first:

But when the solo anchor for both the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts asked her bosses if it would be possible to scale back her hours following her maturnity leave, they said no. And so did she — a rarity in the TV business, especially in New York, the biggest television market in the U.S.

“It was an all-or-nothing deal,” Applegate told the Daily News. “They were offering me a new contract, but I figured that I had been putting my career in front of life for so many years that it was time to focus on something else.”

Then there was issue of being a solo anchor. On many other stations, news anchors usually work in pairs, but Ch. 11 is currently a one-anchor operation, “and there’s no margin for error,” she said. “I understand how rare these jobs are,” Applegate said. “But I’m very happy with my choice.”