Jim Henderson, the longtime radio voice of the New Orleans Saints who retired from his sports director post at WWL earler this year after 34 years with the CBS-affiliate, has signed on with Fox-affiliate WVUE as a football analyst.

Henderson signed off from WWL in January, planning to continue as the Saints play-by-play announcer on WWL-AM. Now, his semi-retirement will include regular appearances on WVUE during the NFL season.

“I’m excited about the new challenge,” Henderson said. “I leave a lot of good friends behind but I get reunited with a lot of good friends as well. There are an awful lot of people at Channel 8 that I know and have respected and known for a number of years.” Read more

Several local stations have won Sigma Delta Chi awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Awards were given to a small-market and large-market station in five categories — breaking news coverage, documentaries, feature reporting, investigative reporting and public service in television journalism.

Large market winners were WISH in Indianapolis, KLAS in Las Vegas, News 12 Westchester, KPHO in Phoenix and WIVB in Buffalo. Small market station winners were WGXA in Macon, GA, KOMU in Columbia, KCRG in Cedar Rapids, WVUE in New Orleans and WTWO in Terre Haute, IN.

A full list of local news winners is after the jump. Read more

Jessica Holly, a former WGNO anchor who was cut loose from the New Orleans ABC-affiliate last year, has resurfaced at rival WVUE.

“She is working as a freelancer,” WVUE news director Mikel Schaefer told TVSpy via email.

Holly was one of seven people let go from WGNO during a round of layoffs in December.

Holly debuted on Fox-affiliate WVUE on Monday. She has been reporting on the evening newscasts this week.

WVUE is expanding their news programming to include a 4 p.m. newscast this fall.

The Fox affiliate in New Orleans will replace “Judge Judy” in the 4 p.m. timeslot. The new program will be anchored by Nancy Parker and Kim Holden, with weather updates from Bob Breck and sports news from Jennifer Hale (pictured).

Hale, currently the station’s morning anchor, will move to sports anchor permanently with the new broadcast, which debuts on September 12. WVUE news director Mikel Schaefer told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that Hale’s move to sports was “organic,” and was inspired by her performance as a fill-in sports anchor after the departures of John Henry Smith and Rob Ennis this summer.

WVUE, the Fox affiliate in New Orleans, has hired veteran sports anchor Fred Hickman to be the station’s new sports director. His first day on the air will be next week.

Hickman’s long career as a sportscaster has seen stints at CNN, ESPN, TBS and the YES Network. WVUE news director Mikel Schaefer told The New Orleans Times-Picayune the station is “obviously very excited to have someone of Fred’s stature” on board.

“I’ve been a big fan of the city of New Orleans for a long time,” Hickman told The Times-Picayune. “I’ve been there to cover Super Bowls and Sugar Bowls, but to be there and live there is very, very appealing to me and my family, my wife and my kids. We’re looking forward to being a part of the fabric of the city.”

Hickman replaces John Henry Smith, who joined Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in San Francisco in June.

New Orleans’s WVUE is set to launch a new midday newscast anchored by Liz Reyes (right), who joined the Fox-affiliate last year after being dumped by rival station WGNO in 2009 following more than a decade with the station.

The hour-long noon newscast will debut on May 23rd, a fact that was announced to WVUE’s staff on Thursday, according to The Times-Picayune.

“We wanted to have a midday presence, to fill that news hole,” said Mikel Schaefer, WVUE’s news director, pointing out that the new newscast will bring the station’s daily news output to 7 1/2 hours.

Reyes isn’t the only person getting a chance for vindication in the market with the newscast. She will be joined by weathercaster Dawn Brown, who was cut by CBS-affiliate WWL in 2009.