WKYT, Gray Television’s Lexington, KY, CBS affiliate, has announced an anchor change on its 4:00 p.m. newscast and the addition of a reporter.

Jennifer Palumbo (pictured left) has added the WKYT 4:00 p.m. news to her anchor duties. Palumbo already anchors the 10:00 p.m. news on Sinclair’s FOX affiliate WDKY. Palumbo replaces Stacy Ellison (pictured right) who is leaving the station Friday.

“I know Jennifer will do an outstanding job anchoring the 4 p.m., making an even greater contribution to the newsroom and reinforcing the strong partnership between WKYT and WDKY by being an important part of both stations,” said WKYT news director Robert Thomas. Read more

KABC meteorologist Indra Petersons has joined CNN as a weather anchor and correspondent, TVNewser reports.

Petersons will primarily contribute to “New Day,” CNN’s morning newscast set to launch on June 17. Her first assignment for CNN will be covering the tornado devastation from Moore this week.

Before joining KABC in 2003, Petersons worked at KEYT in Santa Barbara and KVIA in El Paso.

Adam May, anchor and reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ, is leaving the CBS owned station at the end of May to work for Al Jazeera America.

“It was a tough decision, especially saying goodbye to our viewers who have been so loyal over the last few years,” May told the Sun. “I now consider many of them friends, and I hope when they still see me walking around Baltimore, they’ll come up and say hi.”

May has worked for WJZ for ten years.  Before working at WJZ, May worked at WHAS in Louisville, KY, and WAAY in Huntsville, AL. He started his career at KBJR in Duluth, MN.

[The Baltimore Sun]

A massive, mile-wide tornado ripped through Oklahoma City shortly after 3pmCT Monday, leaving a path of destruction in the southern part of the city. Local stations in Oklahoma City began following the threat closely during the 2 p.m. hour.

All four stations gave regular updates throughout normal morning programming. CBS affiliate KWTV was the first station to go to wall-to-wall with the tornado threat at 2:01 p.m., with meteorologist Michael Armstrong leading coverage.

• Related, TVNewser: ‘Catastrophic’ Tornado in Oklahoma City Spurs Special Coverage

NBC affiliate KFOR and ABC affiliate KOCO both broke in with continuing coverage at 2:12 p.m. Chief meteorologist Mike Morgan was on the air for KFOR and chief meteorologist Damon Lane led coverage for KOCO. “We’re going to stay on the air here for awhile because storms are developing quite rapidly,” Morgan said.

KOKH chief meteorologist Jeff George took over wall-to-wall coverage on the Fox affiliate at 2:30 p.m.

The Oklahoma City metro area is under a tornado warning until 10 p.m. tonight.

KSNW, the Wichita NBC affiliate, was forced to evacuate yesterday afternoon when one of the tornadoes that hit the Midwest yesterday headed straight for its studios.

Meteorologist J.D. Rudd was on-air updating viewers on the path of a twister approaching downtown Wichita when chief meteorologist Dave Freeman cut in,  “You know J.D. in twenty years I’ve never said this but I think it’s our time to go.” said the off-screen Freeman who repeated they had to get to the shelter several times before forcefully saying, “Everybody down below. Let’s go!”

Rudd exited the screen as Freeman assured viewers they’d leave the radar up for viewers to monitor the tornadoes path.  The two told viewers they were hanging out near the stairs to the basement while continuing to broadcast. Freeman appeared back on screen ten minutes after the initial scramble for the shelter.

[reddit.com]

Paul Magers and Pat Harvey, anchors for Los Angeles CBS owned station KCBS, acted as hosts for CBS game show “The Price is Right” Friday during the show’s showcase segment where contestants guess the value of presented prizes and win if, “the price is right.”

“Put your reporting caps on because we’ve got the scoop on a local candy shop here in Hollywood,” said Harvey as she announced a two night stay in Hollywood plus a year’s supply of candy. “Pack your bags because we’re sending you on a remote assignment at a luxury spa right outside of LA in Cabazon,” said Magers, who set up the trip along with a Mini Cooper convertible.

In the end, a contestant named Leroy was the winning guesser. He chose the prizes offered by Magers and Harvey, beating out the other guy who was guessing the total cost of a trip to Arizona’s Lake Powell Resort along with beach gear and a Bayliner ski boat.

KCBS declined to comment for the story.

[FTVLive]

Pablo Pereira has been named meteorologist for the evening newscasts at KTTV-KCOP, Fox’s duopoly in Los Angeles. In his new role, he will appear on “Studio 11 L.A.,” “FOX 11 News at 10 PM,” “KCOP My13 News at 7PM” and “KCOP My13 News at 11PM.”

Pereira joined the stations on a per diem basis in 2011. He has previously worked at KABC and KNBC, both in Los Angeles.

“This is my dream job. Getting the opportunity to work alongside such a talented team is truly a great honor and thrill,” Pereira said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to provide accurate and informative weather forecasts to KTTV/KCOP viewers.”

TVSpy is in a glass case of emotion over the release of the trailer for “Anchorman: The Legend Continues,” otherwise known as Anchorman 2.

The movie is a follow up to “Anchorman,” a documentary style look at local news in the 1970′s. Not really. Though it did give us lines like, “I’m kind of a big deal” and treated us all to an acapella version of “Afternoon Delight.”

Will Ferrell reprises his role as Ron Burgundy, as will Paul Rudd/Brian Fantana, Steve Carrell/Brick Tamland and David Koechner/Champ Kind. The movie is set to drop just before Christmas 2013.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is criticizing Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV for “irresponsible and unprofessional journalism,” saying its reporting on the disappearance of Holly Bobo has been “harmful to the case.”

The station has aired a series of reports on Bobo, a nursing student who went missing two years ago. Reports have included information from nonprofit organization “Without Warning.” In a statement released Friday, The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says the group “did not investigate the case … to law enforcement standards.” TBI also accuses the group of regurgitating “information they had heard and read in order to talk about the case on television.”

The statement takes issue with several reports on Bobo’s disappearance by Dennis Ferrier, as well as a special documentary that aired on WSMV May 12:

“The erroneous television reports have led to false leads, public concern and have wasted valuable state resources,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn. “The most important thing, after finding Holly Bobo and the person responsible for her disappearance, is maintaining the integrity of this investigation should it ever go to trial. In addition, TBI is concerned that WSMV never confirmed any facts reported in the stories with our agency. Never have we seen such irresponsible and unprofessional journalism on an active and open TBI investigation that has been so harmful to the case.”

On Friday evening, WSMV posted a response to TBI’s statement: Read more

For CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston‘s last “Evening News” report, he looked back at a milestone for Jackson NBC affiliate WLBT, the station where he started his television career (video above).

Today is the 50th anniversary of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers‘ historical speech on WLBT. In 1963, it was unheard of for a black man to appear on television in the segregated south — until Evers was granted time to speak on WLBT. He was assassinated less than a month later.

The request for equal air time became a long legal battle that resulted in the FCC revoking WLBT’s license and awarding it to new owners who shared Evers’ vision. Pinkston was hired as anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast in 1971. Read more