Wendell Harris, a longtime Birmingham anchor and news director, died this morning after a long hospital stay, according to the Birmingham News. He was 78.

Harris was hired at the Birmingham NBC-affiliate, which was then known as WAPI, in 1960. In his 21 years at the station, he worked as a reporter, assignment editor, news anchor and news director. In 1981, Harris left Birmingham for Austin, where he became general manager of KTBC. After three years, he took over as vice president and news director of KDFW in Dallas. He retired from television in 1996, according to the Birmingham News.

WBMA meteorologist James Spann remembered Harris in a post on his blog this morning. Read more

Broadcasting & Cable reports on a new partnership between Fox Television Stations and AccuWeather that will launch this summer:

Fox said its stations “will offer their local viewers a 24/7 live streaming video weather channel provided by AccuWeather,” while jointly produced and branded content will extend across “virtually all of the stations’ media platforms,” including mobile.

“Weather is one of the most important services our stations provide to their communities and has long been a major focus for FTS,” said Ron Stitt, the group’s vice president of digital media and internet operations. Read more

Calvert Collins is joining KDFW, the Fox O&O in Dallas, as a general assignment reporter. Her first day on the air will be June 18.

Collins, a Dallas native, returns to Texas from Las Vegas, where she was a reporter and fill-in anchor at CBS-affiliate KLAS. Prior to that, she served in the same role at KPTM in Omaha.

“It is a dream come true for me to return to Dallas-Fort Worth to work for KDFW,” Collins said in a statement. “I am a seventh-generation Texan, born and raised in Dallas, who rarely missed a FOX4 9 o’clock newscast growing up. I am thrilled to begin the next chapter of my life in my hometown.”

A water-skiing squirrel named Twiggy wreaked havoc on the KDFW newscast this morning.

Reporter Fiona Gorostiza was holding Twiggy while reporting from Dallas’ Mayfest when the squirrel jumped out of her hands and onto her photographer.

“The water skiing squirrel was a fiasco,” co-anchor Tim Ryan said later in the newscast. “It was a bust.”

“It was pretty funny, though,” Lauren Przybyl responded. Watch the video after the jump… Read more

A severe tornado threat in the Dallas-Fort Worth area sent the market’s local stations into continuing weather coverage this afternoon.

After offering short cut-in updates throughout their morning programming, KTVT, KDFW, KXAS and WFAA all began continuing coverage of the tornadoes shortly after 12:45 pmCT. Although each stations had multiple anchors and reporters contribute, the chief meteorologists led the coverage: Larry Mowry on KTVT, Dan Henry on KDFW, David Finfrock on KXAS and Pete Delkus on WFAA.

WFAA’s news chopper captured some dramatic video that was used heavily on the national cable networks in their tornado coverage. Watch inside… Read more

Did Dallas police officers stage an arrest for KDFW? That’s the question at the heart of an internal investigation now being conducted by the Dallas Police Department.

A Dallas firefighter was arrested at his home on Thursday, following an incident last week in which he fired a gun in a firehouse. Fox O&O KDFW was the only local station to get footage of the arrest and now the Dallas Police Department is investigating whether the arresting officers operated outside of protocol in serving up the handcuffed firefighter for the KDFW news crew. Read more

A series of tweets over the last week has left KUSA sports anchor Drew Soicher with some explaining to do.

Soicher, who is described in his KUSA bio as the “unconventional, unpredictable sports anchor,” said on Twitter last week that he had been offered the sports director position at KDFW, the Fox O&O in Dallas. He included a link to a YouTube video of a KDFW newscast and wrote, “here’s my new News Team!”

One problem: Soicher now says he was joking.

“I joked last week that I’ve been offered job in Dallas bc my style fits with this fun news team. Now it’s being REPORTED,” Soicher wrote in a follow-up tweet nearly a week later. Several media outlets picked up the story, prompting Soicher to say he owes the actual KDFW sports director, Mike Doocy, a phone call. Read more

Robin Whitmeyer has been named vice president and news director of KDFW, the Fox O&O in Dallas. She will start on January 9.

Whitmeyer joins KDFW from WSOC, the ABC-affiliate in Charlotte, NC, where she has been the news director for the past eight years.

“Robin brings an extensive news and management background to the FOX 4 newsroom and the Dallas-Fort Worth market,” KDFW general manager Kathy Saunders said in a statement. “We are thrilled that she will be joining KDFW.”

Whitmeyer replaces Maria Barrs, who left KDFW to be president and general manager of KXTV in August.

During last night’s suspenseful World Series game between the Cardinals and the Rangers, Dallas Fox O&O KDFW–which was carrying the game–alerted viewers in the ninth inning that the hometown team had won.  The only problem was that the Cardinals rallied to beat the Rangers in extra innings, forcing a decisive Game 7.

KDFW’s iPhone app sent out a premature alert during the ninth inning last night declaring “The Texas Rangers have won the World Series.”  The station explained on its Facebook page this morning that the flub occurred when a web writer pre-wrote an iPhone alert during the 9th inning and accidentally sent it out.

KDFW quickly sent out a correction following the errant alert: “Oops.  We got too excited.  They haven’t won just yet.  SORRY!”  The web writer will certainly be paying closer attention during tonight’s Game 7.

WFAA, the ABC-affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth, has launched a new promotion for the morning show, pairing longtime sports anchor Dale Hansen with station newcomer — and morning anchor — Ron Corning.

“Kid, you’ve come to the right place,” Hansen, who has been with WFAA since 1983, tells Corning in the 30-second spot (watch above). “I’m a legend in town. I’m just saying: get your name out there. Your name is the key. Trust me on this one.” Read more