Steve Chenevey, who has been WTTG‘s morning anchor since 2003, is joining crosstown rival WJLA.

Chenevey will anchor the ABC-affiliate’s morning and noon newscasts, working alongside Cynne Simpson.

“We have been working to put this team together for quite some time,” WJLA general manager Bill Lord said.  “Steve and Cynne did an exceptional on camera session together, and we believe they will be the team to watch on morning news for years to come.”

Before moving to D.C., Chenevey worked at WPXI in Pittsburgh, his hometown.

Mike Bothwell is taking over in January as news director at WTOV, the NBC-affiliate in the Ohio Valley.

Since 2009, Bothwell has been the director of content and converage at WPXI, the NBC-affiliate in Pittsburgh. Both WPXI and WTOV are owned by Cox Enterprises.

“This is by far an amazing place to work with such hard-working and wonderful people,” Bothwell told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’m happy to stay with the company.”

Before joining WPXI, Bothwell was the news director at KTVZ in Bend, OR, and assistant news director at KESQ in Palm Desert. He has also worked at WTXF in Philadelphia and KDKA in Pittsburgh.

As thousands of students crowded the streets around the Penn State campus on Wednesday night, protesting the University’s decision to fire beloved football coach Joe Paterno, the mob quickly chose a common enemy: the media.

Nearly 100 members of the media were at the Penn Stater Conference Hotel covering the board of trustees’ announcement when word quickly spread of a student demonstration developing nearby.

Following the press conference, local reporters as well as news crews in from Pittsburgh and elsewhere rushed to downtown State College, where a growing mob of students had gathered.  And things quickly turned ugly. Read more

WTAE, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, has hired Ray Petelin to be the station’s weekend meteorologist.

Petelin has been a meteorologist for the morning show at WSEE, the CBS affiliate in Erie, since 2003. For the past several weeks, he has also been filling in on WTAE, sparking rumors of his departure to the bigger market.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Saturday Petelin had been hired at WTAE. He will contribute to the weekend evening newscasts.

With the addition of Petelin, WTAE is back up to four staff meteorologists following the departure of Stephen Cropper, who left WTAE in April and joined up with rival station WPXI in July.

Stephen Cropper, a longtime veteran of weather reporting in the Pittsburgh market, will join WPXI next week as chief meteorologist, according to a memo sent out by WPXI vice president and general manager Ray Carter this morning.

Cropper left Pittsburgh’s WTAE in April after more than 16 years. His departure from the station came months after the ABC affiliate shuffled their weather lineup, moving Cropper to weekends and angering his large fanbase.

Now Pittsburgh fans can continue to see Cropper report the weather — on another station in the market. WPXI is the NBC affiliate.

“Rarely do you get to change high profile jobs and remain in the same city,” Carter wrote in the memo. “Stephen gets to do just that. His wife Mindy and their three children are delighted to keep calling themselves Pittsburghers!”

Cropper replaces Julie Bologna, who announced earlier this week she was leaving the station to spend more time with her young children.

Read the full memo after the jump.

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Julie Eisenman, who has spent the majority of her broadcast career in Erie, PA, has landed in Savannah, where she’s been named news director of WJCL-WTGS.

After spending three years leading the newsroom at Erie’s WICU-WSEE, Eisenman is replacing Michael Sullivan as news director of the New Vision-owned duopoly.

“Julie’s passion for local news and her willingness to guide our staff made her the obvious choice,” WJCL-WTGS president and general manger Scott McBride said in a press release, which mentioned that the stations conducted “an exhaustive search that included several candidates from across the country.”

A Pennsylvania native, Eisenman began her career as a weekend assignment editor at Pittsburgh’s WPXI before joining WICU as a beat reporter. At WICU, she worked her way up through the newsroom, becoming an anchor and then assistant news director before eventually being named ND.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Eisenman said of her new job. “I know it’s going to be a big challenge, but it’s one I’m greatly looking forward to. We have a great team of eager journalists. It will be a pleasure working with them.”

Cameras will be allowed in the courtroom during the trial of Richard Poplawski, a Pittsburgh man accused of killing three police officers. Although, much to the chagrin of local stations, the high-profile case will only air on closed circuit TVs made available for the expected overflow crowd of spectators.

While the case will only be broadcast within the courthouse, many see it as a potential catalyst for change in Pennsylvania, a state that has long barred cameras in the courtroom.

The court’s decision to allow closed circuit TVs comes as the Orlando trial of Casey Anthony continues to draw a huge TV audience, a connection that is not lost on WPXI news director Mike Goldrick.

“We’d love to have cameras in the courtroom. Look at the Casey Anthony case in Florida — there’s so much interest in that case,” Goldrick told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Local TV stations are running that trial as if they were Court TV. Cameras in the courtroom would certainly benefit the community.”

Spurred on by hometown hero Hines Ward’s performance on “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC-affiliate WTAE, which regularly promoted the show during its newscasts, saw significant ratings gains for the May sweeps period. That said, there was a lot of movement in the news rankings with, for instance, WPXI winning 5 p.m. while KDKA, last year’s #1 for the time period, finished in third.

Here’s a rundown…

Household:

	6 a.m.	5 p.m.	6 p.m.	11 p.m.
WTAE (ABC)	5.7	7.6	7.9	8.4
WPXI (NBC)	5.1	5.9	6.3	5.7
KDKA (CBS)	4.2	7.6	7.3	9.5

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In a summit attended by local media officials and black community leaders, the news directors of Pittsburgh’s top three stations said that they were considering signing a joint agreement on coverage policies regarding the city’s black community.

The summit, held at WPXI‘s studios, was part of an ongoing series of meetings put on by the Black Political Empowerment Project, a Pittsburgh organization that works to increase the social standing and political influence of the local African American community.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the meeting was an opportunity for media officials and black leaders to “discuss — and oftentimes vent — about how the city’s black community is covered by television, newspapers and radio.” Read more

Alby Oxenreiter is WPXI‘s new sports director.  The veteran sports anchor announced the promotion during last Thursday’s 10 p.m. newscast.  Oxenreiter has been with the Pittsburgh NBC-affiliate since 2006.

Oxenreiter will succeed John Fedko, who is set to retire at the end of the year.  He has spent the majority of his career covering sports in the Pittsburgh area.  Before joining WPXI, Oxenreiter served as a sports reporter and anchor for crosstown rivals WTAE and WPGH.

The move is a natural progression for Oxenreiter, who has spent his entire life rooting for the black and yellow.  He is a Pittsburgh native and takes pride in being involved with local sports, both on camera and off.  He hosts the annual “Alby Oxenreiter Golf Classic” and is involved with several local sports-related charities.
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