NBC has released the trailer for “The Michael J. Fox Show,” slated to premiere this fall. Michael J. Fox plays Mike Henry, a former anchor suffering from Parkinson’s disease who returns to the WNBC anchor desk (video above).

The trailer features cameos from “Today” hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie.

With the addition of the spire atop One World Trade Center, the tower’s property manager looks forward to what can be for local broadcasters while remembering what was.

TVNewsCheck spoke with John Lyons, vice president and director of broadcast communication for The Durst Organization. Lyons is trying to woo local broadcasters who were forced to relocate their antennas after 9/11 to place their antennas back on top of the New York skyline.

So far no broadcaster has bit. WCBS told TVSpy their transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and declined to comment about where it would sit in the future. One of the biggest holdups, according to TVNewsCheck is the upcoming spectrum auction. Read more

Bob Teague, one of New York City’s first black television journalists, died Thursday of complications of T-cell lymphoma. He was 84.

Teague joined NBC-owned WNBC in 1963 and worked as a producer, reporter and anchor for more than 30 years. The New York Times reports Teague was often sent to minority neighborhoods to report on racial tension during the 1960s, later becoming a principal correspondent for “Harlem: Test for the North,” a network show that examined riots in that neighborhood.

Teague, who was critical of the news business later in his career, was a trailblazer for the first black television journalists, the Times reports:

The changing public response to Mr. Teague and others in the first wave of black television journalists was suggested in a letter he received that he described in an article in The New York Times Magazine.

“When you first began broadcasting the news on television, I watched you every night, but I realize now, years later, that I was so conscious of the fact that you were black that I didn’t hear a word you said about the news,” it read.

“Now, I am happy to say, I still watch you every night, but only because you are a damn good newscaster.”

“Bob Teague was a broadcast pioneer with a passion for news and for serving his New York viewers,” WNBC said in a statement. “We were saddened to hear of his passing and send our most sincere condolences to his wife and the entire Teague family.”

Former WNBC meteorologist Domenica Davis talks with our sister site FishbowlNY about her departure from the NBC-owned station in New York City:

“I’m trying to get out of weather and do more hosting work,” Davis says. “I’ve been trying to make the shift for a while.”

Regarding her departure from WNBC, she says it was totally planned from the beginning.

“It was no surprise at all. I was actually surprised how long I stayed,” Davis admits. “I was hired by the previous general manager. It was made very clear to me my first days there that the new GM wanted his own person. I have no hard feelings. It was a great opportunity.”

Davis is currently freelancing for Bader TV and the ION Channel.

Newly-reunited co-anchors Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly led WNYW to a big win during the just-finished February sweeps period: “Good Day New York” beat NBC’s “Today” among younger viewers in the New York DMA.

The win is the first for Fox O&O  in the 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. time slot since the introduction of Local People Meters in 2003.”Good Day” averaged 112,500 A25-54 viewers, compared to the “Today” show’s 102,700. “Good Day New York” also beat “Today” among A25-54 women by +21% for the sweeps period.

“Today” remains on top in Total Viewers, averaging 253,000 to “Good Day”‘s 190,000. The NBC morning show also was also on top in the 9 to 10 a.m. hour.

Michael J. Fox‘s new NBC sitcom has officially started shooting in New York City, and from the looks of things, Fox will be playing a WNBC reporter.

Fox will play Mike Burnaby, “a former lead anchor at a local NYC station who decides to go back to work after Parkinson’s forced him to take time off,” according to the New York Daily News. The untitled sitcom, loosely based on Fox’s life, is slated to premiere this fall.

Eight months after her final newscast at WNBC, Sue Simmons opens up about being cut from the New York City NBC O&O in an extensive interview with our sister site, FishbowlNY. Simmons discusses the cutbacks at the station and her friendship with former co-anchor Chuck Scarborough, as well as the emotional turmoil of losing her seat at the anchor desk:

“The last several months from March to June was pretty much a nightmare for me,” Simmons admits. “Because after you’ve worked with your teams and your friends for that long it’s very difficult to come to terms with the fact that it’s not going to be anymore.”

Simmons adds that there was no bitterness as she began the “farewell tour” at WNBC. “How would you complain about 32 years at one job, in television, in New York City, and being part of the longest running anchor team in New York’s history?”

If it were her choice, Simmons says viewers would still be watching Chuck Scarborough and her each night. Read more

Hartford CBS affiliate WFSB took a trip down memory lane on Sunday’s “Face the State with Dennis House.”

As an 11-year-old, David Ushery, WNBC‘s weekend anchor, hosted a Saturday morning children’s show on WFSB called “Kidsworld.” Ushery interviewed Walter Cronkite (video above) in 1979.

Cronkite told Ushery about his beginnings in the business — starting as editor of his high school newspaper — and talks about his ideal qualities in a newscaster: “a person with a sense of curiosity, with a desire to work and an ability, a physical and mental ability, to work long hours with a high degree of intensity.”

WNBC sports anchor Bruce Beck has been named New York State Sportscaster of the Year for the sixth year running.

“We strive for [consistency] in our field — just like the athletes we cover,” Beck told our sister site, FishbowlNY.

Beck has worked at the NBC-owned station in New York City since 1998.

“I love covering the New York sports scene. There is always a game — always a story,” Beck said. “It’s compelling and challenging every day. With nine local teams to cover in the four major sports – your heart never stops pumping. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

New York City stations pivoted from the usual morning programming this morning as more than 50 people were injured in a ferry accident in Lower Manhattan.

WABC was the first station to report the news at 9:13 a.m., breaking into “Live! With Kelly and Michael.” WNYW, which was in the last hour of “Good Day New York,” was next at 9:19 a.m. WNBC reported the news at 9:22 a.m., interrupting “Today,” and WCBS was next at 9:24 a.m., breaking into “The Doctors.”  WPIX reported the news at 9:43 a.m.

WNYW was the first station with ground shots of the accident at 9:24 a.m. and with a live shot from the scene, with reporter Robert Moses, at 9:37 a.m. All five stations have remained in continuing coverage into the 11amET hour.