Just four months after joining KWCH, news director John Soares is leaving the Wichita CBS affiliate.

“I met with my newsroom staff on Monday to let them know that I am remaining with the station through Friday to facilitate the transition to an interim news director,” Soares told TVSpy in an email.

Tipsters tell TVSpy the interim news director is Tom Lindner, a former news director at KARE in Minneapolis.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Soares told TVSpy he is not headed to Oklahoma City to replace Mary Ann Eckstein at KFOR.

“There is no truth whatsoever to the rumor of me heading to KFOR in Oklahoma City,” he said.

News director Mary Ann Eckstein is leaving Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR. Eckstein has been with the station, serving on both theKFOR news and sales team, for 33 years.

“I will miss KFOR and everyone in the news department. They are like family to me,” Eckstein said in a statement.

“Mary Ann’s departure leaves a void in the newsroom. But the team she assembled won’t miss a beat during this leadership change. Mary Ann leaves a well staffed and talented news team that knows what it takes to be number one,” general manager Wes Milbourn said.

The station has also named Mark Martin general sales manager. [h/t TVNewsCheck]

Meteorologist David Payne is switching stations in Oklahoma City, according to The Oklahoman. Payne, who has worked at NBC affiliate KFOR for 19 years, is set to join CBS affiliate KWTV.

Payne announced the news Friday on his KFOR Facebook and Twitter accounts, which have since been taken down. The Oklahoman reports that Payne will be the eventual successor to KWTV chief meteorologist Gary England, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary at the station.

Payne, KFOR’s morning meteorologist, was last on the air November 30.

Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR has apologized to viewers for a facebook post asking them to weigh-in on a subject many consider taboo.

The original post, which has since been removed, showed a picture of a man suspected of a sexual relationship with a teen and read, “Another coach is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a teen. This softball coach is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. If it was consensual, do you think it should be illegal since the girl was underage?”

The viewer response was a mixture of debate over the topic and disgust with the station for broaching the subject.  The station later posted an apology that read, “KFOR regrets that a station employee exercised poor judgment in an effort to generate discussion on a very important issue. The station apologizes to anyone offended by the post.

KFOR station manager Wes Milbourn did not respond to TVSpy’s attempts for comment. You can see a screen grab of the original post, two viewer responses and the station apology after the jump. Read more

Jim Boyer, president and general manager of KFOR, the Oklahoma City NBC affiliate, will be retiring at the end of the year.   Station manager Wes Milbourn has been tapped to succeed Boyer as general manager

“My decision was sealed when one day I realized that, without noticing, I had crossed the mortality line from “He died too soon” to “He lived a full life,”  Boyer told TVSpy.  “Whatever fullness I have left, I’m not going to spend sitting behind a desk.”

Boyer added, “Over the next few weeks Wes will settle into his new job and office.  I’ll be available to help with the transition and take on some separate projects for the company. At the end of the year, I’ll be done.”

Read more

This week, Oklahoma City NBC-affiliate KFOR posted a photo sent in by a viewer on its Facebook page that showed a collection of street lamps that had been melted by extreme heat.  The image quickly went viral and the consensus was that record high temperatures in the area had melted the lamps.

It turns out, though, that the melting was actually caused by a recent dumpster fire that occurred underneath the lamps. Read more

KFOR meteorologist David Payne was forecasting the weather during the Oklahoma City NBC-affiliate’s morning newscast when reporter Chellie Mills got caught in the background (video above).  Mills was apparently preparing for a live shot.

At least two NBC-affiliates recently aired a controversial anti-abortion ad after dozens of stations across the country declined to run the commercial.

KSHB in Kansas City and KFOR in Oklahoma City both aired an ad from dubious presidential hopeful Randall Terry that includes graphic images of aborted fetuses.  A number of stations, most notably WMAQ in Chicago, declined to run the ad because they did not consider Terry to be a serious candidate (Terry is a lifelong conservative who is now running for president as a Democrat).

“Political discourse is crucial in an open and democratic society,” KSHB general manager Mike Vrabac said in a statement, explaining the station’s decision to air the commercial during its 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. Read more

Longtime KFOR sports director Bob Barry Sr. has passed away. He died recently from a heart attack at the age of 80.

Barry Sr., who is well known in Oklahoma for being the voice of Sooners football, worked for KFOR from 1966 to 2008. He served as the station’s sports director from 1970-97.

“I think about our country today and I wish we had a whole lot more people like Bob Barry,” Oklahoma University president David Boren told KFOR this week. “People who think positively about the future. People who are always offering encouragement. Always the can-do spirit and always fun to be around. I’m going to miss him terribly.” Read more

The national spotlight was fixed on the KFOR weather team on Tuesday night as a tornado ripped through the Oklahoma City area. MSNBC essentially handed over its broadcast to Mike Morgan, the NBC-affiliate’s chief meteorologist, and his team early Tuesday evening as a severe weather system whipped through Oklahoma (video above).

And KFOR did not disappoint. The station’s storm chasers provided incredible footage of the tornado as they checked in the Morgan, including the image of power line poles being blown out of the ground.

Other cable news stations aired live feeds from local stations as well, although not quite to the same extent. CNN carried parts of KWTV‘s live coverage and Fox News also used aeriel footage shot by the Oklahoma City CBS-affiliate. Read more