KNSD, the NBC-owned station in San Diego, will dedicate two additional full-time staffers to its investigative reporting unit. Mari Payton (pictured) will be the station’s lead investigative reporter and Wendy Fry will be the investigative producer.

Payton currently works on investigative pieces part-time in addition to her midday anchor duties and Fry currently works on the assignment desk. Payton will will be replaced on the 11 a.m. newscast by Christine Haas, who will be the midday anchor in addition to the 4 and 5 p.m. anchor.

“We expect this shift in duties for both Mari and Wendy to be a game-changer for the I-Team’s work and look forward to the positive impact they will make in the San Diego community,” KNSD vice president of news Greg Dawson.

Doug Oliver, a weathercaster at KFMB in San Diego for more than three decades, died on March 15. He was 90.

Oliver began his career as a radio announcer at WLAW in Lawrence, Mass., in 1943, according to U-T San Diego. He moved to a San Diego radio station shortly afterward and took his first job in television in 1954. He joined CBS affiliate KFMB in 1961 and spent 32 years as the station’s principal weathercaster.

Watch KFMB’s tribute to Oliver after the jump. Read more

Luis Cruz, former news director for Yuma, AZ, NBC affiliate KYMA, will be joining U-T TV as executive producer of afternoon news and programming, according to Media Moves.

“J.R. Mahon, U-T TV’s Director of News and Programming was an Executive Producer at KGTV in San Diego when I worked there briefly as a reporter and fill-in anchor in between the second and third time I was News Director at KYMA,” Luis told Media Moves.  “Bless his heart for giving me the opportunity to come back to San Diego!”

U-T TV is the new TV station launched by the San Diego Union-Tribune.  The station is a streaming web/cable TV hybrid originating from a new studio built in the newspaper’s newsroom. Read more

Tom Jordan, anchor for San Diego independent station KUSI is leaving television to join Detroit CBS radio affiliate WWJ.

Jordan will be the news anchor for the CBS owned radio station’s morning show.

KUSI news director Steve Cohen told TVSpy, Jordan will be on KUSI for a few more weeks. His first day at WWJ will be Monday, March 4.

[MLive.com]

Lee Eldridge has joined San Diego independent station KUSI as assistant news director.

According to KUSI news director Steve Cohen, Eldridge is the first assistant news director for the station.

Eldridge has been news director at WAVE in Louisville, KY, WROC in Rochester, NY and WDSI in Chattanooga, TN. According to his Linkedin page, he was director of media and public relations at Platinum Funding Group before coming to KUSI.

Despite a studio camera operator’s best effort, the San Diego CBS affiliate KFMB morning news allowed a local shock jock to reveal a bit too much of himself on air.

While talking live with the JACK-FM “Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw” morning show about the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” airing on CBS, KFMB co-anchors Nichelle Medina and Alicia Summers were given a sneak peek courtesy of the radio station.

“Allow me, Nichelle, Alicia, to present you with a preview,” said Dave Rickards who waited for the gag to begin.  The ‘preview’ was fellow DJ Chris Boyer who walked onto the KFMB set wearing only a black bikini.  “Wow!”  said Summers.  “What is happening right now?”

What was happening was Boyer’s bikini did not cover all of Chris Boyer.  You can watch the video after the jump. Read more

Vanessa Bezic joins San Diego’s CBS affiliate KFMB as the morning and mid-day meteorologist.

KFMB news director Dean Elwood tells TVSpy, Bezic starts at the station in a few weeks, on September 24.  Her first day on-air is not set.

Bezic previously worked for Accuweather as a bi-lingual meteorologist.  She’s also worked in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Topeka, and Chicago.

The massive Fourth of July fireworks fail in San Diego, in which a 15-minute show’s worth of pyrotechnics went off in 20 seconds, was so big it rattled the newsroom of local NBC station KNSD.

KNSD is located just across San Diego Bay from the site of the fireworks display and reporter Diana Guevara told viewers Wednesday night that the blast was felt through the station’s newsroom (video above). Read more

Phil Blauer has been promoted to weekend evening anchor at KFMB, the CBS-affiliate in San Diego.

Blauer joined KFMB as a weekday general assignment and investigative reporter in 1998. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as the main anchor at KESQ in Palm Springs. Blauer will co-anchor the KFMB weekend newscasts at 5, 6:30 and 11 p.m. with Marcella Lee.

Blauer replaces Craig McKee, who joined Milwaukee’s WISN in March.

Ron Burgundy, er, Will Ferrell appeared on “Conan” today to announce the glorious return of the Channel 4 News Team.

“I want to announce this to everyone here,” Burgundy told the “Conan” audience during the show’s taping earlier today. “Paramount Pictures and myself, Ronald Joseph Aaron Burgundy, have come to terms on a sequel to ‘Anchorman.’”