At KVUE in Austin, the morning news team pranked staffers by putting an empty donut box in the newsroom and shot video of staffers opening it looking for treats:

• Related, TVNewser: The Morning Shows Have Some April Fools’ Day Fun

And on Louisville’s WDRB, Mike Marshall and Jude Redfield were tricked into eating dog biscuits on the air: continued…

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According to KVUE, WCNC’s sister station, Corrie Harding, WCNC’s news director, saw a video on YouTube of two people launching a beer can into space. He wanted to see if his station could do the same thing.

With the help of Hackerspace Charlotte, a collaborative space for people who like to tinker with technology, the station took two GoPro cameras, the lunchbox, a helium filled balloon, a 3D model of an astronaut with meteorologist Larry Sprinkle‘s face attached and let it go to see how high it would reach. You can watch the video of the whole process after the jump. continued…

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Ardyth Diercks

Diercks was most recently the president and general manager of WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in South Florida. She left in January 2012 after eight years.

“Ardy is a leader with unquestionable integrity and a proven track record of administering successful procedures to enhance relationships and initiate unique programming concepts while advancing the effectiveness of station operations and leading teams to produce revenue generating results,” Nexstar EVP and Co-COO Timothy Busch said in a statement.

Before her time at WTVJ, Diercks spent 20 years at Gannett, where she was general manager at KVUE in Austin, KSDK in St. Louis and WUSA in Washington, DC. She was also a senior vice president of the company for five years. continued…

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Shannon Murray

Murray has spent two years working at KOSA, the CBS affiliate in Midland-Odessa, Texas. She has also worked as a local radio correspondent.

“I lived in Austin for four years and most of my friends are there, so it was always my goal to get back there,” Murray told Church. “I’ve had a great experience here in Midland-Odessa and I’m sad to leave everybody here, but I could see myself building a life in Austin. I love the town.”

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Morgan Chesky

Cheskey will join ABC affiliate KOCO as the weekend anchor. He will anchor five shows a weekend — three on Saturday and two on Sunday — and report for the evening newscast during the week.

“It’s a very competitive market and a lot more people watch news there than in Austin,” Chesky said. “I feel confident my time at KVUE has given me the tools to do well and earn their trust in Oklahoma City.”

Culture Map reports Chesky will be replaced by Shannon Murray.

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Quita Culpepper, an anchor for Austin ABC affiliate KVUE, deftly handled a video bomber who floated into her live shot Saturday night.

In the video (above) it appears the woman spots Culpepper finishing up a live shot on the Austin Fan Fest.  She then drifts into position to Culpepper’s screen left where she gets a little too close to the Austin reporter. “Oh yeah,” said Culpepper with Aikido-like grace.  “And of course, lots of people drinking down here.  Can you tell?”

[buzzfeed]

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Beginning September 10, Jim Bergamo (left) and Quita Culpepper (right) will take over the 5 p.m. newscast. Bergamo is a reporter at KVUE; Culpepper is the weekend evening anchor.

The pair replace Terri Gruca and Tyler Sieswerda on the newscast. Gruca and Sieswerda will remain anchors of the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

Weekend morning anchor Jade Mingus will move to weekend evenings to replace Culpepper, and reporter Ashley Goudeau will take Mingus’ spot on the wekeend morning anchor desk.

KVUE also gets a new morning anchor, Yvonne Nava, next month.

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Yvonne Nava

Nava, a University of Texas graduate, joins the station from WVIT, the NBC O&O in Hartford, where she was morning anchor. In announcing her departure, she said she was moving to Texas to be closer to her family.

Nava will be the KVUE morning anchor, replacing Melissa Gale, who left the station earlier this summer. Nava begins September 10 alongside Bryan Mays and meteorologist Albert Ramon.

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A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Nava is the mother of a young boy and she’s making the move to be closer to her family. Nava, who has been with WVIT since December 2007, is set to depart the station at the end of the month.

“For the past five years, Yvonne has jumped into the community,” WVIT general manager David Doebler told the Hartford Courant. “She has done a lot of good stuff on the air and in the community and the opportunity to go back with her child to be close to her family is understandable.” continued…

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Drew Shirley

Shirley joins the station after a two-year hiatus from the television business. He is a former sportscaster at KKCO in Grand Junction, CO KVUE in Austin and, most recently, KXII in Sherman, TX.

“I am so happy to be a sports guy again and to be able to stay close to home,” Shirley told Houston media blogger Mike McGuff. “[Last week] was my first day back on the air, and there’s just nothing like that feeling when the red light goes on.”

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Longtime KVUE morning anchor Melissa Gale, who is leaving the Austin ABC-affiliate after more than a decade, recently posted a video on YouTube that gives a behind-the-scenes look at her morning routine, from using a flashlight to navigate her house so that she won’t wake her husband and kids to spraying on an even coat of makeup before she goes on-air.

The video, shot by Gale using her phone, also features anecdotes from her years of driving to work at 3:30 in the morning, including the time she saw a ghost (video above).

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Melissa Gale

“I announced today at the station that after many great years at KVUE, reporting to the wonderful people of Austin on things that I hope have been very important to them, I’ve decided to take some much needed time off, and explore some other opportunities,” Gale wrote.

Gale, who also anchors the noon newscast, has been morning anchor at the ABC-affiliate for more than 10 years. Her last day will be sometime in mid-June, news director Frank Volpicella tells CultureMap Austin.

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Ryan Hazelwood

Hazelwood worked as a photojournalist at KVII from 1998-99. He has also worked as a photojournalist at KFDA in Amarillo and KVUE in Austin. Most recently, he was a broadcast engineer and instructor at West Texas A&M University. He also owns his own production company.

“We are very excited to have Ryan on board,” KVII president and CEO Thom Pritz said in a statement. “We already have the best news team in Texas and it just got better.” continued…

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KVUE

Horansky, who joined Austin’s KVUE in 2010, wanted to move to Houston to be near his fiancee, according to Austin media reporter Bill Church. Horansky said KVUE news director Frank Volpicella helped him find the open position at KHOU. Both stations are owned by Belo.

“The business is so competitive and just because I worked for Belo and had a solid resume didn’t guarantee me anything,” Horansky told Church. “I interviewed with KHOU’s news director and won the job, so it all worked out.” continued…

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The fourth grader’s epic thank you letter (inside) recently went viral after Ramon posted it on his Facebook page last week and then a KVUE producer’s sister posted it on Reddit. continued…

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