A Fort Lauderdale man has been arrested after threatening WPLG reporter Ross Palombo and photographer Shane Walker and then destroying some of their equipment while they were setting up for a live shot.

The incident was caught on camera as the man, later identified as Louis Dominic Paolino III, at first threatens the Miami ABC affiliate’s crew by saying, “I’m gonna ask you to take that camera off me once.” When Palombo asks the man, “Are you threatening me?” the man replies, “I am promising you that I will rip that thing off your shoulder so quick and beat you down with it.”

Palombo and Walker were covering a story about a man who had allegedly failed to pay his taxes on time. While Walker was rolling, Paolino unplugged one of the crew’s lights and took it inside his house.  He then cut the cord to a second light and broke the bulb to the light with his knife. The arrest report says Paulino pointed the knife at Walker, “threatening to cut his throat.” Read more

Julie Durda, who signed off in September from Miami’s WSVN, is joining rival WPLG.

Bill Pohovey, the news director of the Miami ABC affiliate, announced the news in an email to WPLG staffers Tuesday morning.

“Most of you have heard the rumors … today I can confirm them,” Pohovey wrote. “Julie Durda is joining the Local 10 Weather Team. Julie was one of the most popular weather anchors in the market while she was at WSVN and we are thrilled she’s joining WPLG.”

In his note, Pohovey also said Michael Smith, who is the weekend evening meteorologist, will be leaving the station.

“We want to thank Michael for his dedication and wish him continued success,” Pohovey wrote.

Durda will begin on the air in April, likely because she is sitting out a non-compete clause in her WSVN contract. Despite Smith’s departure, Pohovey said her WLPG assignment has not yet been finalized.

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting Post-Newsweek has inked a deal with ABC Owned Television Stations Group to air the Live Well Network on Post-Newsweek stations WPLG, the ABC affiliate for Miami and WKMG, the CBS affiliate for Orlando.  The Live Well Network is a digital channel airing lifestyle programs.

“The Live Well Network has shown great growth since launching and we have seen how viewers and advertisers are drawn to its creative, original programming,” Post-Newsweek president and chief executive officer Emily Barr said. “We are delighted to share Live Well with our viewers in Orlando and Miami.”

Barr co-founded Live Well Network while she was president and general manager of WLS, the ABC owned station in Chicago.

The Live Well Network will begin airing on the stations in the Spring and will bring the total U.S. clearance for the network to 70 percent.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel recruited celebrities including local news anchors from around South Florida to read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” in a video mash-up.

Included in on the holiday fun were Adam Kuperstein and Jackie Nespral from NBC owned WTVJ, Laurie Jennings and Calvin Hughes from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, Belkys Nerey and Craig Stevens from Miami FOX affiliate WSVN along with John Discepolo and Liz Quirantes from CBS affiliate WPEC in West Palm Beach.

The video also featured players from the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the NBA’s Miami Heat and even fight promoter Don King. Watch the video after the jump. Read more

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

The morning news crew for Miami ABC affiliate, WPLG, posted this picture to their facebook page displaying their displeasure with not winning last night’s $587.5 million dollar Powerball drawing.

Powerball is played in 42 states plus Washington, D.C. and the Virgin Islands so TVSpy is pretty sure similar scenes were played out in newsrooms across the U.S.

[sfltv]

WPLG senior political reporter Michael Putney ignored a sign posted to the door of a local politician who is under investigation by the FBI and paid the price.

True to the promise of the sign which read, “Trespassers will be WET!!” The reporter for the Miami ABC affiliate knocked on the door of Justin Lamar Sternad and got soaked.  Sternad stands accused of having his campaign financed by the man he was running against in Florida’s 25th congressional district, Republican David Rivera.

“Not everyone’s happy to have a reporter show up at their door,” Putney told TVSpy.  “That was clearly the case with Mrs. Sternad, who doused me with water. As long as it was just tap water I don’t consider it a big deal.”

Read more

WPLG, the ABC affiliate in Miami, has issued an apology to local Star Wars fans for offending them by posting a slideshow to the station website showing fans in costume along with with questionable captions.

“We apologize to those who we inadvertently offended with our Star Wars slideshow,”  David Boylan, vice president and general manager of WPLG told TVSpy.  “It was posted by an member of our staff who is an avid Star Wars fan.  He took the pictures and added what were intended to be humorous captions largely of people in creative Star Wars costumes at a convention he attended over the weekend in Orlando.   His goal was to create a lighthearted web feature.  After getting complaints yesterday, we removed the slideshow from our website.  Again, to those who were offended, we apologize.”

The dust up began when fans began posting irate reactions to the station’s Facebook page.  The fans, who have websites of their own and aren’t afraid to use them, also took to the internet by posting to their own blogs and Facebook pages to express their displeasure with the way WPLG was handling the situation.

Read more

A piglet abandoned by its owner has found a new home after being featured on WPLG‘s morning show.  The 15-weeks-old piglet, named Pork Chop, was recently adopted by WPLG anchor Jen Herrera.

“I know that may sound crazy to some people, having a pet pig, but for us it’s actually the norm,” Herrera wrote on her WPLG Mommy Blog, after adopting the abandoned piglet.  “We already have one pot belly named ‘Pig’ and Friday we brought home Pork Chop.”

Herrera and her family own chickens and turkeys, and have had goats and horses in the past.  Now, they have two pigs.

All of the local news stations in Miami aired new video today of the gruesome cannibal attack that occurred over the weekend near the Miami Herald building.

The newly released video, taken by a Herald security camera, shows a high-angle long shot of the location where Rudy Eugene, 31, appears to have randomly encountered a 65-year-old homeless man, identified as Ronald Poppo, and proceeded to chew off a significant portion of his face before a police officer arrived.

The new video was the top story on the noon newscasts of WPLG, WSVN, and WFOR, and WTVJ, which has a half-hour 11 a.m. newscast, played a portion of it during its coverage of the incident today. Read more