To investigate a controversial website that may be promoting prostitution, WTMJ reporter Rob Koebel recently went out on a date with a young woman he contacted through the site.

SeekingArrangement.com helps young women hook up with sugar daddies, who pay them significant sums of money for their company, and Koebel wanted to find out if the site was “just a clever way to promote prostitution.” Read more

WTMJ reporter Tom Murray was in the right place at the right time while working on a story about a vandalized bus this past week.

Three boys were caught on surveillance video smashing up a bus in a Milwaukee parking lot and, as Murray was shooting an interview with a city alderman about the incident, the bus’s owner spotted two of the suspects and WTMJ was there to capture their eventual arrest (video above).

Legendary Milwaukee anchor John McCullough died on Wednesday. He was 77.

According to WTMJ, McCullough, who appeared at the NBC-affiliate’s anchor desk for over 20 years, collapsed at his South Bend home on Sunday and never regained consciousness.

A graduate of Notre Dame University, McCullough began his career in 1955 with South Bend’s WNDU. He became an anchor with WTMJ in 1967 and was a fixture on Milwaukee TV until 1988, when he anchored his final newscast. He continued to appear as a commentator and election analyst until 1991.

“John McCullough was a highly respected broadcast journalist with a pioneering spirit,” Journal Communications chairman and CEO Stephen J. Smith said in a statement. “His credibility and commitment made him a respected leader in the WTMJ-TV newsroom for more than 20 years.”

After more than 40 years in the local news business, KMBC-KCWE president and general manager Wayne Godsey will retire later this year.

Godsey has been at the helm of the Hearst-owned Kansas City duopoly since 1999. Under his watch, KMBC has been recognized for news excellence several times, including two Edward R. Murrow Awards this year.

“KMBC’s longstanding tradition of strong news leadership and dedicated community service remain a model for television stations throughout the Midwest,” said Hearst Television President and CEO David Barrett, in announcing the move. Read more

Keller Russell, a weekend anchor-reporter with KOLN in Lincoln, is set to join Milwaukee’s WTMJ as a general assignment reporter.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of the team of outstanding journalists at WTMJ. It’s a group committed to excellence and accuracy day in and day out,” Russell said.

Russell joined KOLN in 2008 and has most recently been anchoring the CBS-affiliate’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts on Friday and Saturday. Before joining KOLN, she worked as an assignment editor for NBC-affiliate WSMV in Nashville.

“Keller has a wealth of experience, including prior work with a powerful NBC station,” said WTMJ’s assistant news director Chris Ford. “We can’t wait for her to join our team.”

Investigative reporter Rob Koebel is joining Milwaukee’s WTMJ.

The NBC-affiliate announced today that Koebel, who received a Murrow award during his time with Fort Myers Fox-affiliate WFTX, would join the station later this month.

The move is essentially a promotion by Journal Broadcast Group, which owns both WTMJ and WFTX.

“Rob has been a strong watchdog of government agencies for the viewer. We are excited to have him as a strong member of our investigative unit,” said Journal’s vice president of news Bill Berra, in making the announcement. “His work for us in Ft. Myers has been extraordinary.” Read more

“I think with local reporters he thought that he’d get a friendlier conversation than the correspondents that cover him everyday,” WWBT reporter Ryan Nobles explained on the NBC-affiliate’s evening newscast on Wednesday, after interviewing the President.

“I think this will be the first of many opportunities that stations like us get to interview the President between now and when he’s up for reelection.”

Nobles was invited to the White House on Wednesday, along with Carol Williams of Cincinnati’s WCPO and Charles Benson of Milwaukee’s WTMJ, to do one-on-one interviews with the President, who is in the midst of selling his new budget proposal to the public.

The invitations were, as Nobles pointed out last night, a way for Obama to target the local contingencies of the country’s three most prominent critics of the budget: Richmond’s Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader; Cincinnati’s John Boehner, the Speaker of the House; and Milwaukee’s Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee.

“It’s interesting to see that, now here we are at the two-year mark in his Presidency, they’re already gearing up in campaign mode,” Nobles said. Read more

WTMJ’s Charles Benson is set to interview President Obama today and the Milwaukee NBC-affiliate is asking its viewers to contribute questions.

Benson, who interviewed Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, has been invited to White House–along with a handful of other journalists–to do a one-on-one interview with the President.

“As a journalist, this is my Super Bowl,” Benson told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the opportunity. “I’m a guy that likes to cover politics. It’s one of the reasons I got into journalism.”

This morning WTMJ asked viewers to submit their questions for Obama via Facebook, Twitter, and email. Benson will choose one or two viewer questions to ask the President this afternoon.

In addition to the viewer question(s), Benson plans to speak with the President about his recent budget proposal, which has been criticized by both the left and the right.

Steve Chamraz has left his post at Chicago’s WFLD to become an anchor and reporter at Milwaukee’s WTMJ.  Chamraz had been working as a reporter for the Chicago Fox-affiliate since 2008.

“Can’t wait to get settled into my new home in Milwaukee,” Chamraz posted Tuesday on his newly launched Facebook page.

Chamraz is set to join the station on February 21 and will take over the afternoon anchor chair vacated by George Mallet in December, according to OnMilwaukee. In addition to anchoring the daytime newscast, Chamraz will report for the 10 p.m. news.

With the move to WTMJ, Chamraz is returning to the city where he started his career.  He graduated from Marquette University and had his first TV news internship with the NBC-affiliate.

Video of Chamraz inside… Read more