A Fort Lauderdale man has been arrested after threatening WPLG reporter Ross Palombo and photographer Shane Walker and then destroying some of their equipment while they were setting up for a live shot.

The incident was caught on camera as the man, later identified as Louis Dominic Paolino III, at first threatens the Miami ABC affiliate’s crew by saying, “I’m gonna ask you to take that camera off me once.” When Palombo asks the man, “Are you threatening me?” the man replies, “I am promising you that I will rip that thing off your shoulder so quick and beat you down with it.”

Palombo and Walker were covering a story about a man who had allegedly failed to pay his taxes on time. While Walker was rolling, Paolino unplugged one of the crew’s lights and took it inside his house.  He then cut the cord to a second light and broke the bulb to the light with his knife. The arrest report says Paulino pointed the knife at Walker, “threatening to cut his throat.” Read more

Adam Berg is the new weekend evening meteorologist at WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in Miami.

Until October, Berg was a meteorologist at The Weather Channel, where he worked for almost 14 years. He began his career as a forecaster and weather briefer for The Weather Network in Toronto.

“Adam’s solid background as a meteorologist will make him a great addition to the NBC 6 Weather team,” vice president of news Migdalia Figueroa said in a statement. “We’re also excited about the energy he will bring to our weekend evening newscasts.”

WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in South Florida, is shuffling weekend and weekday anchors.

Beginning today, Jawan Strader (left) replaces Keith Jones (right) as co-anchor of the weekday morning newscast. Strader joined WTVJ in August after a decade at rival WFOR, where he was also the morning anchor. At WTVJ, Strader will join Pam Giganti at the anchor desk.

Jones will shift to weekends, where he will take Strader’s place anchoring the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on Saturday and Sunday. Jones was hired in June from WTSP in Tampa.

The online bios for Strader and Jones were updated Friday evening to reflect the new assignments. [h/t NewsBlues]

Dave Game, a longtime employee of Miami’s WFOR, died Tuesday after a long illness, according to the CBS O&O. He was 57.

Game joined WFOR in 1985. During his time at the station, he served as a general assignment reporter, investigative reporter and investigative producer. In 1995, he became senior producer of special projects and helped to create WFOR’s website, one of the first broadcast websites in South Florida, according to the station.

In 2005 Game became the executive producer of digital media for CBS stations in South Florida, supervising a staff of six. Since 2008, Game has been president of the Suncoast chapter of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Julie Durda, who signed off in September from Miami’s WSVN, is joining rival WPLG.

Bill Pohovey, the news director of the Miami ABC affiliate, announced the news in an email to WPLG staffers Tuesday morning.

“Most of you have heard the rumors … today I can confirm them,” Pohovey wrote. “Julie Durda is joining the Local 10 Weather Team. Julie was one of the most popular weather anchors in the market while she was at WSVN and we are thrilled she’s joining WPLG.”

In his note, Pohovey also said Michael Smith, who is the weekend evening meteorologist, will be leaving the station.

“We want to thank Michael for his dedication and wish him continued success,” Pohovey wrote.

Durda will begin on the air in April, likely because she is sitting out a non-compete clause in her WSVN contract. Despite Smith’s departure, Pohovey said her WLPG assignment has not yet been finalized.

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting Post-Newsweek has inked a deal with ABC Owned Television Stations Group to air the Live Well Network on Post-Newsweek stations WPLG, the ABC affiliate for Miami and WKMG, the CBS affiliate for Orlando.  The Live Well Network is a digital channel airing lifestyle programs.

“The Live Well Network has shown great growth since launching and we have seen how viewers and advertisers are drawn to its creative, original programming,” Post-Newsweek president and chief executive officer Emily Barr said. “We are delighted to share Live Well with our viewers in Orlando and Miami.”

Barr co-founded Live Well Network while she was president and general manager of WLS, the ABC owned station in Chicago.

The Live Well Network will begin airing on the stations in the Spring and will bring the total U.S. clearance for the network to 70 percent.

WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in Miami, has announced a partnership with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.

“Since we launched the Team 6 Investigators unit last year, they have been busy enterprising stories and shining a spotlight on issues that affect South Florida,” WTVJ GM Manuel Martinez said in a statement. “This new partnership with Florida Center for Investigative Reporting will complement our efforts and strengthen our ability to focus attention on more diverse investigations that are important to our viewers and the community we serve.”

“We’re thrilled about the partnership with NBC 6 South Florida as it enhances our accountability reporting mission,” FCIR president of the board Sharon Rosenhause said. “… This relationship is truly an opportunity for us to help produce more public service journalism and to expand our reach across Florida with two of the state’s important journalism organizations — NBC 6 and its Telemundo sister station.”

Miami’s CBS owned station WFOR put up the wrong graphic for its 6 p.m. report about preparations for next week’s BCS Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama. The graphic on the big monitor behind anchors Shannon Hori and Josh Benson showed last year’s matchup between LSU and Alabama.

This year’s BCS National Championship Game will be played Monday in Miami.

[SFLTV]

The South Florida Sun Sentinel recruited celebrities including local news anchors from around South Florida to read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” in a video mash-up.

Included in on the holiday fun were Adam Kuperstein and Jackie Nespral from NBC owned WTVJ, Laurie Jennings and Calvin Hughes from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, Belkys Nerey and Craig Stevens from Miami FOX affiliate WSVN along with John Discepolo and Liz Quirantes from CBS affiliate WPEC in West Palm Beach.

The video also featured players from the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the NBA’s Miami Heat and even fight promoter Don King. Watch the video after the jump. Read more

Antonio Mora is out at the Miami CBS owned station WFOR after his contract was not renewed.

According to sfltv.com, the move was no surprise,

Tipsters told us he may be on the way out but that his contract was into its third year and past the ’out clause’ period so WFOR had to wait for it to run out, which just happened.

Lee Zimmerman, WFOR’s director of communications said in a statement posted to GossipExtra, “Antonio has been a valued member of the CBS4 News team throughout his five years here.  We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Mora joined WFOR from Chicago CBS owned station WBBM in 2008.  Before working for WBBM, he was on the news desk for “Good Morning America.” Mora had been the solo anchor for WFOR’s 6 p.m. newscast.