KHBS-KHOG is adding a new sports anchor.  The joint ABC-affiliate announced today that it has hired Josh Taylor as a weekend sports anchor and reporter.

Most recently, Taylor worked as a sports reporter and producer at KHBS-KHOG’s Hearst sister station in Pittsburgh, WTAE.

“Josh’s passion for college and high school sports will fit in well with our commitment to offer the best local sports coverage in Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith,” news director Dawn Dugle said, in announcing the hiring. “We’re excited for him to join our 40/29 Sports team.” Read more

Last night’s riot at Penn State could have erupted into a massive bonfire after demonstrators overturned a WTAJ news van.

According to WTAE sports anchor John Meyer, who covered the riot last night, a stream of gasoline leaked from the overturned van into the streets of State College, where thousands of students had gathered.

“This unsafe situation could have been a whole lot worse,” Meyer told viewers this morning, referring to the riot, “as gasoline started to spill from that live truck and go all the way down the street for about half a block.  If anyone had struck a match all of a sudden, you know what would’ve happened after that.  So thankfully that did not happen.”

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

When Hearst-owned stations WTAE in Pittsburgh and WBAL in Baltimore bet on who would win Sunday night’s Steelers vs. Ravens NFL matchup, the two stations probably didn’t assume many aspects of the wager would be open to interpretation.

The Ravens won in the last seconds of the game, and on Monday, the WTAE morning team was decked out in the Ravens team colors, with Michelle Wright in purple, Kelly Frey in black and sports anchor John Meyer in what he said were “somewhat purple pinstripes.” (The stations’ video players do not allow embedding, so watch the video here.) Read more

Meteorologist Erin Kienzle is leaving Pittsburgh ABC-affiliate WTAE at the end of the year, the station announced.

Kienzle is moving to Charleston, SC, where her husband has family and a new job, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The couple have a young daughter.

“We wish her husband had gotten a great job here because we love seeing her ever day,” WTAE general manager Michael Hayes told the Post-Gazette. “I don’t know what her plans are, but I’m sure she’ll get scooped up and whoever gets her will be the better for it.”

Kienzle is the weekend morning meteorologist at WTAE. The move is a return to South Carolina for her — before moving to Pittsburgh in 2006, she worked at WCSC, the CBS-affiliate in Charleston.

WTAE, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, will debut a new full-hour, sports-focused 11 p.m. Sunday newscast beginning this weekend.

Shannon Perrine (pictured, right), who has helmed the weekend evening newscasts since 2009, will continue as anchor. She will be joined by meteorologist Ray Petelin, who is a recent hire at the station, and sports anchor Guy Junker.

The program will deliver “expanded weekend sports coverage with the latest on the Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia, as well as national, regional and more local sports news and highlights,” according to the station announcement. 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.

WTAE photographer Lenni Todd has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly groping a 21-year-old woman after he tricked her into filming a bogus interview.

According to the Observer-Reporter, Todd decided to wave a preliminary hearing on Monday in an effort to avoid anticipated media coverage, moving the case closer to a trial.

In June, Todd, 58, reportedly conned his way into the woman’s home by telling her that he was shooting video for Animal Planet.  According to court documents, Todd showed up to her house in a vehicle emblazoned with the WTAE logo and used equipment that bore the station’s name. While setting up for the bogus interview, Todd allegedly touched the woman’s breasts and groped her buttocks.

While he wasn’t on duty at the time, Todd told police that he was running late for his 10:30 a.m. shift at WTAE. Read more

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.

Read more

President Obama will sit down this morning with four local stations for interviews on debt reduction and the economy.

Obama will speak with Milwaukee’s WISN, Pittsburgh’s WTAE, Seattle’s KING and Raleigh-Durham’s WTVD. WISN and WTAE are ABC affiliates; WTVD is an ABC O&O. KING is an NBC affiliate. Reporters and crews from each station traveled to the White House for the interviews, which will take place at 10:35 a.m. in the Map Room.

The Obama administration has scheduled several rounds of interviews with regional stations in a continued push to localize their message, particularly in battleground states. The interviews will air on their respective stations beginning at 5 p.m. tonight.