Jamie Ostroff, reporter for Idaho Falls, ID, ABC affiliate KIFI drew the short straw Monday. She went live during the station’s 6:00 p.m. news in the middle of a dust storm.

“When the winds kick up, dust often blows from farms next to I-15 and forces transportation officials to close the road,” Ostroff told TVSpy. “By afternoon, winds were blowing over 60 miles per hour and the road was shut down.”

After informing viewers of the dangers of driving or even being out in those conditions, Ostroff tossed back to the studio. She then asked meteorologist Michael Coats, “Michael, when is this going to end? I want this to end.” Read more

The newsroom at Idaho Falls ABC affiliate KIFI had just gotten in some videotape of the Christmas tree lighting at the State Capitol in Boise just before the end of the 6pm news last night. As the anchors played the tape, with the countdown of “3, 2, 1…” a USPS truck drove right in front of the tree.

Here’s the video…

Todd Kunz, anchor for Idaho Falls CBS affiliate KIDK had a special guest star for his 10 p.m. newscast.

Kunz was reading a story about a local landfill when a spider dropped from the ceiling on its silk (about 20 seconds into the video) and into his shot.  It lingered for a little screen time, then dropped out of view.

“I could see something falling from above in my peripheral vision and thought it was just lint or something, but when it kept pausing, I knew what it was,” Kunz told TVSpy.  “Knowing my next story was an OTS, I thought to myself, this is going to be bad if he stops right in the camera view… and sure enough, he did.”

Kunz said viewers, concerned the spider was a dangerous Hobo spider, offered to spray the studio for him.   No need to worry, though.  The spider did not land on Kunz.  He said the most difficult moment during the descent was trying to keep a straight face watching his weatherman, Steve Cannon, watch the spider.

Beginning July 1, Fisher Communications’ KXPI will become the Fox-affiliate in the Idaho Falls market. KXPI replaces KFXP as the market’s Fox-affiliate.

The station is currently a MyNetworkTV-affiliate. Under the new agreement, the station will run MyNetworkTV programming beginning at 10 p.m.

“We’re delighted to have KXPI join the FOX family,” Jon Hookstratten, Fox EVP for network distribution, said in a statement. “Mark Danielson and the team at Fisher Communications are top-notch and we’re confident they will do an outstanding job of representing Fox in the Idaho Falls community.” Read more

News stations in Idaho have joined with several other media outlets in the state to challenge the proposed schedule of an execution set for Friday.

Paul Ezra Rhoades is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Friday morning and authorities have barred members of the media from viewing the first 25 minutes of the procedure.

The execution is the first to occur in Idaho in over 15 years and prison officials plan to begin the procedure in private before allowing witnesses into the execution chamber. Read more

KIFI dedicated a considerable portion of a recent newscast this week reporting on a new primetime show that debuts next month. It wasn’t a case of synergistic self-promotion, though, since KIFI isn’t going to air the show.

No, the ABC-affiliate was covering the coming debut of NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” which will air, naturally, on local NBC-affiliate KPVI. And so goes the growing controversy over the show.

Mentioning that “The Playboy Club”–which is set to premiere September 19th–has already been dropped by Salt Lake City NBC-affiliate KSL, KIFI spoke to a local woman that is trying to get KPVI to follow suit (video here).

The station is also running a survey on its website, asking users if they believe KPVI should drop the show from its fall lineup. So far, nearly half of the respondents are in favor of the NBC-affiliate dropping the show. And on its Facebook page, KIFI has asked users to share their thoughts on whether the show should air or not.

“All I saw was pretty gals in bunny suits,” writes one Facebook commenter. “Whatever.”