FOX Television Stations CEO, Jack Abernethy told Broadcasting & Cable, all 18 FOX owned stations will soon begin airing Harvey Levin’s celebrity gossip show ‘TMZ Live.”

“We were always interested in the show,” Abernethy told Broadcasting & Cable about launching the show in 2007. “We knew Harvey knew television, and it was the kind of thing we needed. It was intentionally structured to work for a Fox station— it was young and hip-looking.”

WWOR, FOX’s owned MyNewtorkTV affiliate in New Jersey, has begun airing a show called “Chasing New Jersey” that emulates the tone and pace of TMZ in place of its newscast.

“TMZ is incredibly efficient,” said Abernethy. “We are trying to steal pieces of this model. If you look at TMZ, you see how many people are actually researching stories, covering stories, touching stories—it’s virtually everybody. The more people you have covering stories and bringing stuff in, the better product you are going to have.” Read more

The fifth day of jury deliberations in the racketeering and conspiracy trial of Boston gangster James Whitey Bulger brought a guilty verdict on 33 counts which included 11 murders. Bulger was one of America’s most wanted fugitives after disappearing in 1995 until being caught in California in 2011.

Boston station’s responded quickly to the news a verdict had been reached.

FOX owned WFXT interrupted the “Ricki Lake” show at 1:33 p.m. with the news from a tweet sent by the Massachusetts US attorney’s office that said, “There is a verdict in the James Bulger case.”

ABC affiliate WCVB broke into afternoon food show “The Chew” at 1:34 p.m. with Susan Wornick.  “Good afternoon,” said Wornick. “Susan Wornick in Newscenter 5 with the news we have been waiting for now for five days, actually for more than a month. There is a verdict in the trial of James Whitey Bulger.”

Boston NBC affiliate WHDH broke into soap opera “Days of Our Lives” at 1:35 with b-roll of Bulger being escorted to the courthouse by helicopter which was voiced over by Kayna Whitworth. Whitworth then tossed to Ryan Schulteis live at the courthouse.

WBZ, Boston’s CBS owned station, broke in at 1:38 p.m. with anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes who tossed to Sera Congi live at the courthouse.

 NECN cut into regular news reports anchored by Steve Aveson and Mike Nikitas at 1:38 with John Moroney outside the courtroom and Alysha Palumbo inside the courtroom.

KMSP anchor Heidi Collins is no longer with the Minneapolis FOX owned station.

“It has been gratifying to contribute to the success of Fox 9 during these past 3 years,” Collins said in a statement. “However, I have decided to explore new opportunities. It has been entirely my honor to serve the great people and communities in and around Mpls./St. Paul.  Without a doubt, it is my much-appreciated viewers I will miss the most.”

Carol Rueppel, KMSP vice president and general manager said, “We want to thank Heidi for her contributions to the FOX 9 news team and we wish her much success in the future.”

Collins, whose last day on-air was July 29, previously worked at CNN. She started at KMSP in 2010.

In a presentation to 21st Century Fox investors today, Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy said the station group is “retiring the typical anchorman and replacing him with multi-skilled personalities and journalists” as part of a push to evolve the local news model.

Abernethy said the financial success of local news over the last four decades has “made the news business very resistant to change and innovation and stagnant in style and form,” but said the Fox owned stations are evolving in a number of ways, including replacing the traditional anchor and newscast models and using technology and social media more effectively.

Abernethy also cited “Chasing New Jersey” as an example, saying the launch of the WWOR show — which replaced the station’s only newscast — was because it’s “easier to start from scratch at times than waiting to evolve.”

“It replaces a traditional newscast, uses new technology in a fast-paced, cost-effective environment that can best be described as TMZ for local news,” Abernethy said. “We are located in Trenton, the state capital, and we are fortunate to be focusing on Jersey at a great time with Chris Christie and Cory Booker in the national spotlight.”

Abernethy also said the company continues to look for opportunities to acquire new stations, echoing an industry-wide trend. He noted Fox’s recent purchase of a duopoly in Charlotte as an example of the purchase of “under-performing stations that are accretive.”

“This investment will pay for itself in less than two years as a result of our ability to operate highly successful stations and the bottom-line impact of retrans,” he said.

KTVU‘s source of the fake names for the pilots of Asiana Airlines flight 214 was an ex-pilot familiar to the San Francisco Fox affiliate, Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman reports.

The source of the names, which were read by anchor Tori Campbell on a newscast last month, has been the cause of much speculation. The source, who had reportedly “worked with KTVU in the past and was considered to be trustworthy,” sent the names to the station electronically, via email or text, according to Lieberman.

Three producers were fired in the aftermath of the incident. Lieberman also reports that one other person who approved the names, the station’s managing editor, remains at KTVU.

TVSpy’s requests for comment to KTVU and to Roland DeWolk, one of the producers fired over the incident, were not returned.

When a hailstorm pummeled parts of Minneapolis Tuesday night, it left a lot of broken windshields in its wake. During his weather report, KMSP chief meteorologist Ian Leonard discovered his car was now part of the story he was reporting.

“Every car? Including mine?” Leonard asked someone off camera as he was telling viewers about the cars in the station parking lot getting hit by the golf ball sized hail. After a beat of silence he continued. “Alright. Every car in the FOX 9 parking lot, including mine, is now without a windshield. ”

Maury Glover, a reporter for the FOX owned station, didn’t escape the storm’s wrath either. His car was also damaged. Glover did a live report from the station parking lot and ran some footage showing the storm in action. You can watch that video after the jump.

“Usually we have to drive pretty far to find storm damage like this,” said Glover. “But unfortunately this time some of the worst of it happened in our own back yard.” Read more

Through no fault of its own, Philadelphia FOX owned station WTXF gave viewers an intimate look at a man’s backside during a live report last week.

As reporter Omari Fleming was wrapping up his report about theft in the Roxborough area, someone who appeared to be a teenage boy ran into the shot, turned around and dropped his shorts.

By the time Fleming noticed, the culprit was gone. “I’m sorry,” Fleming told viewers a few seconds after the full moon was revealed.  “Something was going on behind me.”

>Disclaimer: The youtube video has no audio.

After WBFF, the Baltimore FOX affiliate, asked the FCC to stop the signal from WTTG, Washington, D.C.’s FOX owned station, from overlapping into three Maryland Counties, an executive from one of the affected counties is telling the FCC she wants her residents to keep getting both channels.

In July, WBFF asked the FCC to pull WTTG’s signal from three Maryland Counties where WBFF’s signal also broadcasts: Anne Arundel, Howard and Harford counties.

But Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman disagrees. “For nearly four decades, Anne Arundel County residents have had the benefit of both broadcast outlets,” said Neuman. “We don’t have a problem with WBFF-TV and believe it provides valuable programming to its many viewers. What poses a problem is the station’s attempt to bar its competition, and by extension, our residents’ ability to make their own programming choices.”

According to the Baltimore Sun, WBFF told the FCC that WTTG was no longer “significantly viewed” in the three counties.

TVSpy has asked for comment from both WBFF and FOX. We will update when we hear back.

image: Baltimore Business Journal

Tulsa FOX affiliate KOKI is adding a 6:00 p.m. newscast to its lineup beginning in September.

KOKI news director Suzanne Nadell told TVSpy, “We’re excited to offer another half hour of local news and weather to the Tulsa community. We’ll be the only Tulsa station to offer 90 minutes of local news in the early evening.”

The newscast will be anchored by the 5:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. news anchors, Clay Loney and Shae Rozzi.

Seattle Fox affiliate KCPQ has named Jon Brady director of content and news programming and promoted Erica Hill to news director.

Brady has been the station’s news director since 2010. In his new role, he will oversee daily editorial content, as well as long-form news and sports programming. Hill, who has been the assistant news director at KCPQ for six years, will be responsible for the direction of the news department, long-term initiatives and specific digital goals, according to the station.

“We are fortunate to have two talented people in Jon and Erica to lead this newsroom into the future … This reorganization will allow us to maximize our current initiatives and cultivate new ways to deliver news and information to Western Washington,” KCPQ SVP-GM Pam Pearson said in a statement.

Read KCPQ’s press release after the jump. Read more