Veteran WWLP anchor Barry Kriger is currently recovering from injuries he suffered in a recent car accident.

“22News has been receiving many calls and e-mails recently about where Barry Kriger has been,” the NBC-affiliate told viewers this week.  “Barry was recently in an automobile accident while on vacation. He sustained some extensive injuries.”

Kriger, who has been with WWLP for over 20 years and anchors the station’s 5:30, 6, and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts, is currently in the hospital.

“He will be out of work for an unknown period of time,” WWLP reported on Thursday, “but he is expected to fully recover.” Read more

Meteorologist Mike Masco has left Springfield ABC-affiliate WGGB “to be closer to family.”

“I’ve been back and forth every weekend to take care of my mom who has been sick for the last several months,” Masco said of his departure. “This became extremely frustrating! I worked closely with my management to work out an exit and they were tremendously helpful!”

Masco’s departure has been linked to this on-air incident last week. News director Jim Tortora told TVSpy that Masco’s departure and the exchange were unrelated.

Masco said he was moving to Philadelphia and would be filling in on Fox O&O WTXF “from time to time,” but a Fox spokesperson tells TVSpy that Masco is not scheduled to appear on the station.

Former WGGB anchor Paul Mueller is back in front of the camera.  The news he’s delivering now, though, is very personal.

In April, Mueller abruptly resigned from WGGB after someone posted a video on YouTube of him acting erratically while MC-ing a fund-raising gala. Mueller later admitted to having a “few drinks” before the event–which was held in honor of an 11-year-old boy who hanged himself after being bullied at school–and eventually went public about his battle with alcoholism.

Mueller celebrated seven months of sobriety over the Thanksgiving weekend and he is keeping people updated about his ongoing struggle with regular posts on YouTube. Read more

Jim Tortora, who resigned as news director of Syracuse’s WSYR this spring after being romantically linked to a reporter, has been tapped to lead the newsroom of WGGB in Springfield, MA.

WGGB president and owner John Gormally sent the following email to staff this week, announcing the move…

I am writing to let everyone know that Jim Tortora has been named News Director for Gormally Broadcasting LLC. He starts Monday October 3. Jim was the News Director at WSYR (the Syracuse ABC affiliate) for the past 14 years. In that capacity, he led WSYR to first place in most if not all news dayparts, while winning many awards for news excellence along the way. I am confident he will do the same here at WGGB. Read more

“I’m no longer a functioning alcoholic,” former WGGB anchor Paul Mueller announced in a recent phone conversation, talking about his struggle with addiction that came to a head in April when a YouTube video of him slurring his speech while MC-ing a charity event bounced around the internet and eventually caused him to resign.

“At the beginning, I was so unhappy with the person that posted the video but now I’m grateful to them,” Mueller told TVSpy. “They saved my life.”

Mueller has since sought help for his alcoholism and, as of today, he has been sober for 43 days. He has travelled a great distance during those 43 days (as evidenced by the Day 1 photo at right), moving beyond the initial humiliation caused by the YouTube video and focussing his energy on becoming a better, healthier person.

The early wake-up time and long hours required for his job anchoring WGGB’s morning newscast left Mueller, a recent transplant to Springfield, feeling isolated. “The shift was enabling me,” Mueller says. On a typical day, he would wake up at 2:00 a.m. and return home from work around 3:00 p.m., at which point he would spend the rest of the day drinking. Read more

There’s a good chance that you’ve already seen the incredible footage: a tornado forming on the west side of Springfield, MA at the outset of a storm that killed four people earlier this week (video above).

The video has been featured on “The Early Show,” “Good Morning America,” and other national news shows but few are aware of where the dramatic footage originated. It turns out that it came from Springfield CBS-affiliate WSHM.

The Meredith-owned station was doing live tornado coverage from the Monarch Tower in downtown Springfield when a tornado took shape nearby. The station’s rooftop camera captured the dramatic video as chief meteorologist Brandon Butcher warned viewers about the severity of the storm happening outside. Read more

Admitting that he’d “had a few drinks” before addressing the crowd at a fundraising gala on Saturday, former WGGB anchor Paul Mueller told the Boston Herald that “alcohol is a problem.”

In a story that first broke on TVSpy, Mueller was captured in a video posted to YouTube slurring his speech before a packed house at a fundraiser for the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation, which honors the 11-year-old boy who hanged himself after being bullied in school.

Mueller officially resigned from the Springfield ABC-affiliate on Monday, telling TVSpy that he was leaving to seek treatment “for a medical issue that needs immediate attention.”

Mueller now says that the station threatened to fire him if he didn’t quit. Read more

A video uploaded to YouTube over the weekend has caused anchor Paul Mueller to abruptly resign from WGGB, an ABC-affiliate in Springfield, MA.

On Saturday, Mueller served as master of ceremonies at a fund-raising gala for the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation, an organization that gives scholarships to local students in honor of the 11-year-old boy who hanged himself two years ago after being bullied at school.

Mueller volunteered to MC the event after the organization reached out to WGGB, which runs a regular series called “Bully Busters” that focuses on bullying prevention. An attendee of the event captured part of a speech that Mueller gave to the packed house in which the anchor appeared to be intoxicated, drawing astonished looks from the crowd as well as a few laughs (video above). Read more

WSHM, a CBS-affiliate serving the Springfield area of western Massachusetts, announced this week that Dave Ward would lead its newsroom.

Ward, who most recently worked as assignment manager at WFSB in the nearby Hartford-New Haven market, succeeds Doug Lezette as news director.  Lezette left WSHM earlier this year to join Providence’s WJAR.

“Dave’s depth of experience and talents will enhance CBS 3 Springfield’s continued growth and success,” said WSHM (channel 3) station manager John Hesslein. “He has played a major role in developing strong and lasting community relationships in Connecticut and I look forward to that same success in Springfield.”

Ward, a native of Massachusetts, said that he is looking forward to working with the “talented professionals” at WSHM to “engage the community with a wide range of stories.”

Both WSHM and WFSB are owned by Meredith.