Tom Doerr has been named vice president and news director at WFLD, the Fox O&O in Chicago.

“Tom has a fresh approach to local news and an ability to recognize meaningful stories within a community. He is an exceptional leader, with a natural news instinct and a proven track record of success and we are excited to welcome him to our station,” WFLD VP-GM Dennis Welsh said in a statement.

Doerr comes from another Fox O&O, KRIV in Houston, where he has been vice president and news director since 2009. Before that, he spent three years as vice president and station manager of WFOR, the CBS O&O in Miami.

“There is no news town quite like Chicago; there is always something vibrant and exciting happening in this city.  I look forward to leading the talented team of committed journalists at FOX 32 in providing interesting and valuable news to viewers,” Doerr said.

Doerr replaces Phyllis Schwartz, who left WFLD in December.

WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in South Florida, is shuffling weekend and weekday anchors.

Beginning today, Jawan Strader (left) replaces Keith Jones (right) as co-anchor of the weekday morning newscast. Strader joined WTVJ in August after a decade at rival WFOR, where he was also the morning anchor. At WTVJ, Strader will join Pam Giganti at the anchor desk.

Jones will shift to weekends, where he will take Strader’s place anchoring the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on Saturday and Sunday. Jones was hired in June from WTSP in Tampa.

The online bios for Strader and Jones were updated Friday evening to reflect the new assignments. [h/t NewsBlues]

Dave Game, a longtime employee of Miami’s WFOR, died Tuesday after a long illness, according to the CBS O&O. He was 57.

Game joined WFOR in 1985. During his time at the station, he served as a general assignment reporter, investigative reporter and investigative producer. In 1995, he became senior producer of special projects and helped to create WFOR’s website, one of the first broadcast websites in South Florida, according to the station.

In 2005 Game became the executive producer of digital media for CBS stations in South Florida, supervising a staff of six. Since 2008, Game has been president of the Suncoast chapter of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Miami’s CBS owned station WFOR put up the wrong graphic for its 6 p.m. report about preparations for next week’s BCS Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama. The graphic on the big monitor behind anchors Shannon Hori and Josh Benson showed last year’s matchup between LSU and Alabama.

This year’s BCS National Championship Game will be played Monday in Miami.

[SFLTV]

Paul Stueber, a local television veteran who has worked as news director at stations across the country, died December 25 after a lengthy illness. He was 65.

Stueber was a former news director at WBRE and WNEP in Scranton, WEWS in Cleveland, WCIX (now WFOR) in Miami, KWTV in Oklahoma City, WMAR in Baltimore and WEEK in Peoria.

“Paul was the leader in many newsrooms during his time. He paved the way for many broadcast journalists to be successful in the television news business,” a memorial post on WNEP’s Facebook page reads. “He could be tough to deal with times … but he did make us all better at what we do.”

Antonio Mora is out at the Miami CBS owned station WFOR after his contract was not renewed.

According to sfltv.com, the move was no surprise,

Tipsters told us he may be on the way out but that his contract was into its third year and past the ’out clause’ period so WFOR had to wait for it to run out, which just happened.

Lee Zimmerman, WFOR’s director of communications said in a statement posted to GossipExtra, “Antonio has been a valued member of the CBS4 News team throughout his five years here.  We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Mora joined WFOR from Chicago CBS owned station WBBM in 2008.  Before working for WBBM, he was on the news desk for “Good Morning America.” Mora had been the solo anchor for WFOR’s 6 p.m. newscast.

A man driving a U-Haul truck led police on a high-speed chase through the streets of Miami Friday afternoon.

Two of the Miami stations, ABC affiliate WPLG and Fox affiliate WSVN, were in the middle of the noon newscasts when the news broke. WSVN was the first to start following the chase at 12:21 p.m., with photographer Ralph Rayburn in its chopper and Alexis Rivera and Christine Cruz at the anchor desk. WPLG began covering it at 12:35 p.m. with Constance Jones anchoring. Read more

WFOR‘s Gio Benitez is leaving the Miami CBS O&O to join ABC News. He will begin at the network early next year as a correspondent in ABC’s New York bureau.

Benitez has been at WFOR since 2008, working first as an investigative producer and then as a reporter. In a memo announcing the hire, ABC News president Ben Sherwood called Benitez “versatile and hard-charging,” praising his “many talents and dynamic storytelling ability.”

• Related, TVNewser: Gio Benitez is New ABC News Correspondent

Benitez is the latest in a string of ABC News hires from local O&Os. The network hired Alex Perez, Paula Faris and Ginger Zee from WMAQ, the NBC O&O in Chicago, over the last year.

President Barack Obama will close out his campaign with one last round of local interviews Tuesday, sitting down with 10 stations in battleground states.

The interviews will take place via satellite from Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago. In order of interview, he will talk with WHO in Des Moines, KWWL in Cedar Rapids, WTMJ in Milwaukee, WKYC in Cleveland, WKRC in Cincinnati, WFOR in Miami, WTVT in Tampa, WJLA in Washington, KMGH in Denver and KVVU in Las Vegas.

Governor Mitt Romney is spending the day appealing to voters in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. [h/t Politico]

Ted Scouten, a reporter for WFOR, the CBS affiliate in Miami, got a rude welcome when he came to New York to cover Hurricane Sandy.

Scouten was standing in the Rockaways section of Queens when a wave poured over the sea wall he was standing near. The Miami reporter turned it into a teachable moment saying, “This is exactly why we tell you to stay away from situations like this.”

“CBS This Morning” also aired the video.  You can see their take after the jump. Read more