Cincinnati’s CBS affiliate WKRC is adding two Sunday morning newscasts to its lineup.

“We are very happy to have the opportunity to bring viewers across the Tri-State the kind of quality local news coverage that is their number one choice—every other morning of the week,” said  WKRC news director Kirk Varner. “The opportunity to surround the long running excellence of CBS Sunday Morning and Face The Nation with breaking news and weather alerts from The Local Station, is something that we are very excited about.”

The news premieres July 7 with an hour show at 8:00 a.m. and then again for a half-hour at 11:00 a.m.  Liz Bonis will anchor along with meteorologist Josh Knight.

[Cincinnati Enquirer]

Zach Wells, sports anchor and reporter for Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC, has announced he’s leaving broadcast TV to work at a Cincinnati hospital.

“It was a decision I thought a lot about, but I feel really good about it,” Wells told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I have a new role with a bigger purpose.”

Wells will be in charge of the new video studio at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital funded by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.

He came to WKRC in September 2010. According to his bio, he started out in Duluth, MN, then worked in Green Bay, WI, before coming to Cincinnati to work for FOX affiliate WXIX.

Image – Cincinnati Enquirer

Sinclair Broadcast Group has announced it will begin broadcasting mobile capable signals from ten of its stations in nine markets.

“The pace of technology makes it imperative for broadcasters to continue to lead in serving our communities,” said Mark Aitken, vice president of Advanced Technology for Sinclair and chairman of the ATSC A/153 MobileDTV standardization activity. “Broad adoption of MobileDTV, as a part of our local broadcast television offering, is the next step. We are confident our Network partners will see the value mobile simulcasting brings in building station and Network brands, audience share, and local television relevancy.”

Mobile DTV, as the service is called, allows viewers to watch their favorite local broadcast stations, for free, on portable devices like smart phones and tablets by adding a plug-in adapter. Read more

The Cincinnati Enquirer is hosting its own ‘March Madness’ tourney. The paper is asking readers to vote for their “TV Anchor Dream Team.”

Who’s the Cincinnati Anchor Dream Team?  You can help select it by voting below in my bracket-style tournament with 8 male anchors, 8 female anchors, 8 meteorologists and 8 sports anchors.

The winners will be re-seeded in each round, leading to Cincinnati’s favorite anchor team. You can check out the rankings after the jump.

Read more

Cincinnati.com is reporting, CBS affiliate WKRC will swap its weekday and weekend morning anchors beginning Monday.

Weekend morning anchor Tiffany Wilson will move to the weekday morning show, while weekday morning anchor Liz Bonis will switch to Saturday mornings.

Wilson will co-anchor the 4:30 to 7 a.m. show with John Lomax and the 7 to 8 a.m. show with Bob Herzog. Read more

Meteorologist Michelle Boutillette has left WKRC, the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Boutillette, who was the meteorologist for the 4 and 4:30 p.m. newscasts on WKRC and the 10 p.m. newscast on a digital subchannel, has accepted a position at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.

“While we are very sad to lose her, at the same time we are very happy for her and her husband who are staying in the area,” news director Kirk Varner told the Enquirer.

WKRC traffic reporter Bob Herzog continued his popular “Dance Party Friday” segments this year, bringing his moves to the Cincinnati CBS affiliate’s morning newscast once a week. Herzog has compiled an end of year “Best Of” series of the segments.

Part one is above and part two is the jump. Read more

WHP‘s Holly Steuart is the latest general manager to exit a newly-owned Sinclair station, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Sinclair officially took ownership of six stations from Newport Television on Monday. General managers at WKRC in Cincinnati and WOAI in San Antonio both departed on Friday, before the ownership change took place.

“They said they wouldn’t go forward with me, that they were bringing a new person in,” Steuart told B&C. Read more

Jon Lawhead has been named general manager at WKRC, Sinclair’s CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Since 2004, Lawhead has been general manager of WSTR, Sinclair’s CW affiliate in Cincinnati. He will continue in this role as he leads WKRC, which Sinclair took over Monday. The two stations are expected to merge operations.

“I’m excited to join a terrific group of professionals at Local 12 and look forward to continuing their legacy of excellence. The resources and expertise that Sinclair brings to the table will only strengthen the station’s dominant position in the market,” Lawhead said in a statement.

WKRC’S previous general manager, Les Vann, resigned Friday before the ownership change.

Sinclair Broadcasting officially takes the reins today at six stations it acquired from Newport Television: WKRC in Cincinnati, WOAI in San Antonio, WHP in Harrisburg-Lancaster, WPMI and WJTC in Mobile and KSAS in Wichita.

Sinclair has already made management changes at at least two of its newly-acquired stations, WKRC in Cincinnati and WOAI in San Antonio. Broadcasting & Cable reports that WOAI general manager Jackie Rutledge worked her last day at the station on Friday, the same day Les Vann announced his WKRC exit.

Sinclair has also announced the acquisition of WHAM, the ABC affiliate in Rochester, from Newport Television for $54 million, bringing the total amount paid at closing to $459.7 million.

B&C reports John Seabers will be the new general manager at WOAI. Seabers is a former general manager of KABB-KMYS, Sinclair’s San Antonio duopoly. In January, he was promoted to group manager at the company.