Tom Jordan, anchor for San Diego independent station KUSI is leaving television to join Detroit CBS radio affiliate WWJ.

Jordan will be the news anchor for the CBS owned radio station’s morning show.

KUSI news director Steve Cohen told TVSpy, Jordan will be on KUSI for a few more weeks. His first day at WWJ will be Monday, March 4.

[MLive.com]

CBS owned station WWJ has announced it will be dropping its morning news show, “First Forecast Mornings.”

“WWJ remains committed to local programming where it makes sense,” the station said in a statement. “We will continue to do local weather reports at 5 and 11 p.m., our weekly public affairs show and local specials.”

The two hour morning news show features anchors Syma Chowdhry, Jill Washburn, and Randy Bhirdo.  It’s the sole traditional newscast aired by WWJ.

The final broadcast for “First Forecast Mornings” will be Friday, December 28.

Broadcasting & Cable reported the station will fill the morning slot with a combination of CBS network news from 5 to 6 a.m. and “Dr. Phil” from 6 to 7 a.m.

Jack Walsh will step into the role of vice president and general manager at WUPA, the CBS-owned CW affiliate in Atlanta.

Walsh joins WUPA from rival WGCL, where he has been the local sales manager since 2009. Prior to that, he was the general sales manager at Atlanta’s WATL.

“Jack is one of the most highly regarded local television executives in the Atlanta market,” CBS Television Stations president Peter Dunn said in announcing the hire.  “His deep roots in the advertising community, relationships with local business leaders and reputation as a skilled manager and great motivator will serve us well as he takes on the responsibility of overseeing one of the top CW affiliates in the country and our talented team of employees in Atlanta.”

Walsh replaces Tom Candeo, who was recently named general manager of WWJ, the CBS O&O in Detroit.

Read the full release from CBS after the jump. Read more

Sonny Eliot, the legendary Detroit weatherman whose career in television and radio spanned over 60 years has died.  He was 91.

Eliot was best known for his weather forecasts which were more performance than informational. Famous for combining words to describe the weather like “snog” for snow and fog, he will also be remembered for his one-liners like, “Its colder than a former wife’s hello.”

During World War II, Eliot was a B-24 bomber pilot who was shot down over Germany and spent 18 months in a prisoner of war camp.  Two years after the war ended, the Michigan Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame weatherman began his broadcasting career after performing a bit part in a local variety show produced by WWJ (now NBC affiliate WDIV).

In 1950, he got a job as a weathercaster for Detroit radio station WWJ, a job he kept until his retirement in 2010.

After the jump you can see the many video tributes to Eliot from the local TV stations.  Click here for a string of twitter postings from friends and colleagues of Eliot. Read more

Tom Canedo has been named vice president and general manager of Detroit CBS O&O, WWJ.  Canedo comes from WUPA, the CBS owned CW affiliate in Atlanta.

“Tom has done a great job of leading our efforts to make WUPA one of the most successful CW stations in the country,” said Peter Dunn, president of CBS Television Stations. “We value his experience and leadership skills and know that they will serve him well as he takes on the responsibility of managing our Detroit stations.”

Canedo succeeds Trey Fabacher who left WWJ to helm Meredith’s WGCL in Atlanta. Read more

Conan O’Brien poked fun at content-sharing in local news this week, showing a clip on his show of several anchors repeating the same phrase — “push the envelope” — while reporting on the late night host’s plans to officiate a same-sex wedding on his show.

The original source of the copy was CBS Newspath, according to staffers at two stations featured in the clip. Although “Conan” only showed 18 stations, a search of TVEyes.com reveals that 27 stations reported the story using identical wording (a full list, including markets and affiliations, is after the jump.)

The script was tease copy for Monday’s “Eye on Entertainment” package, filed by CBS Newspath correspondent Sandra Hughes. The full version reads: “Conan O’Brien may be about to push the envelope on late night television. And British songstress Adele seems to have pushed her voice too far. CBS’ Sandra Hughes has those stories and more, in your Monday morning ‘Eye on Entertainment.’”

South Bend’s WSBT, which was featured in the Conan clip, addressed the situation on the 6 a.m. newscast this morning, calling it the “dark secret” of the news business. Read more

A maintenance crew in Oak Park, MI made a gruesome discovery on Tuesday: a dead body perched 1,000 feet above the ground, near the top of a TV broadcast tower.

The crew found the deceased man, who is believed to be in his 20s, while they were doing routine maintenance work. A witness told WWJ that he was wearing only a t-shirt and underwear.

The tower is owned by Richland Towers, which leases it to three Detroit stations. CBS O&O WWJ, MyNetworkTV-affiliate WMYD, and PBS-affiliate WTVS all went off the air on Tuesday afternoon as rescue crews retrieved the body.  Meanwhile Ronnie Dahl of Fox-affiliate WJBK reported live from the scene (video above). Read more