WPEC weekend anchor Juan Carlos Fanjul is leaving the West Palm Beach CBS affiliate, according to Gossip Extra’s Jose Lambiet.

According to Lambiet, Fanjul wants to “seek other opportunities.” The departure comes seven months after Fanjul was was moved from weekday mornings to weekend evenings at WPEC. His last broadcast was Sunday.

Prior to joining WPEC in 2008, Fanjul worked at WGN in Chicago, WSVN in Miami and WHBF in Rock Island, Ill.

Matt Lincoln has joined WPEC, the CBS affiliate for West Palm Beach as sports anchor and reporter.

Lincoln honored the retiring Pat Murphy in a tweet on his first day saying, “My first day was the last day of a legend – Pat Murphy has spent 30 years covering West Palm Beach sports.”

Lincoln came to WPEC from WWBT in Richmond, VA. He also worked at WBTW in Myrtle Beach, SC, and KTVE in Monroe, LA, where he started his career.

[sfltv.com]

Pat Murphy, sports anchor for West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC, has announced he’s leaving TV after 33 years in the business because, as he told The Palm Beach Post, “some of the fun has left the job.”

“I’ve gotten a little disenchanted,” Murphy said. “I’ve seen good people forced out the door or not have their contacts renewed.”

Murphy started his career in 1980 at WKBT in La Crosse, WI.  He worked in Chattanooga, TN, before moving to South Florida where he worked at West Palm Beach NBC affiliate WPTV before moving to WPEC. Read more

WPEC reporter Al Pefley (right) and cameraman Dana Szpunar have filed a complaint with the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office after a homeowner chased them off his property with a gun, Gossip Extra’s Jose Lambiet reports:

According to the complaint obtained exclusively by Gossip Extra, Pefley, 53, and Szpunar, 31, were trying to interview residents in the Acreage area on edge about a serial peeping Tom when the incident occurred about 9 p.m. Jan. 17.

Pefley, who wore dark clothes, had been knocking on doors to find residents willing to be interviewed when he arrived at Jeffrey Eassa‘s property. Eassa, 47, is a former principal at Acreage Pines Elementary.

Pefley admitted that the gate to Eassa’s driveway was padlocked, but the door to the walkway wasn’t. So Pefley and Szpunar, camera on his shoulder, walked up the house. They startled Eassa, who was packing his car in the driveway.

“Get the f… off my property, that’s how people get shot,” Eassa told the men as he ran inside the house. He came out with a handgun and, according to Pefley’s statement to PBSO, followed the men to the property line at gunpoint as a woman in the doorway of the house yelled: “Jeffrey, get back here!”

Eassa, who owns his gun legally, told police he did not realize the pair were from WPEC. Lambiet reports charges are unlikely.

Meteorologist Justin Mosely is joining West Palm Beach ABC affiliate WPBF, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports.

Mosely will sign off from SNN, the cable news channel in Sarasota, on February 6. He has worked there as chief meteorologist since 2004.

“He has grown his skills and talent year after year, and has been very important to the success of the station,” SNN executive vice president and general manager Linda DesMarais said. “Justin is an exceptional team player, and I know everyone here will miss him.”

sfltv.com is reporting, West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC has entered into a content sharing agreement with the Sun Sentinel newspaper.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two will share photos, videos and other forms of content.  The agreement also includes having staffers appear across the two media platforms.

“This is an exciting opportunity to leverage the strengths of our talented teams across broadcast, digital and print, and elevate the news experience for our audiences,” Sun Sentinel editor Howard Saltz said in a statement posted to sfltv. “The partnership allows us to increase our organizational agility while delivering quality, relevant content to our audiences. It’s a win-win.” Read more

When WPEC news operations manager Carl Pugliese launched a remote camera drone to get an aerial view of the Palm Beach Mall demolition last week for the West Palm Beach CBS affiliate, he had no idea he would incite a swarm of bees to attack.

In the video, you can see a few bees quickly became a swarm. Eventually, the bees got so thick on the drone Pugliese was forced to bring it in closer to see what the problem was.

Angry bees became a cloud around the drone and also began attacking Pugliese and CBS12 cameraman Chad Ellison, whom Pugliese captured dancing and swatting frantically to avoid being stung. Didn’t help. Both of them took several stings. Pugliese himself can be seen toward the end of the drone video, diving into his SUV to avoid the swarm. Unfortunately for him some tagged along inside, and he is seen trying to fling them out. He landed the drone from inside the car.

Of the four covering the story, the drone, Pugliese, Ellison and reporter Jenna Calazzo, only Calazzo avoided getting stung. She retreated to the safety of the live truck. You can view the video after the jump. Read more

WPTV helicopter pilot Julie Stevens signed off from the West Palm Beach NBC affiliate this morning.

“It’s been a really tough decision but I’m going to be taking a little bit of time off to relax and spend some time with my husband, our two boys and all our crazy animals,” Stevens said on air. “I also want to thank our viewers, of course, for allowing this little English girl with the funny accent onto your TVs and into your homes everyday. I will miss you all.”

Stevens had been flying Chopper 5 for WPTV since 2003.

Josh Samuels, the weekend sports anchor at WPEC, is leaving the West Palm Beach CBS affiliate.

“I do not agree with the direction that the station wants to take the sports department and decided it was best for me to pursue other opportunities,” Samuels told TVSpy in an email.

Samuels joined WPEC in 2008 after five years as the sports director at WICD in Champaign, Ill. Before that, he was sports director at KREX in Grand Junction, Colo.

In what may be more of a sign of the times than a break with protocol, at least two NBC affiliates have posted the recent story about former “Today Show” co-anchor Ann Curry allegedly begging to be let out of her NBC contract so she can work for her old boss Jeff Zucker at CNN.

Spokane NBC Affiliate KHQ posted a version of the story attributed to British publication the Daily Mail (click here to view). While the story on the website of West Palm Beach NBC affiliate WPTV (click here to view) has a byline from the station’s online content producer.

Steven Wasserman, vice president and general manager of WPTV told TVSpy, “I suspect this story will be on our air tonight on “ET” or “The Insider”. Why wouldn’t we put it on our website?  I don’t think it’s a good idea to not run a legit, talk about story just because it has to do with our network.”

You can view screen grabs of the stories after the jump. Read more