Philadelphia Fox O&O WTXF has tapped Jim Driscoll as its next news director. Driscoll has spent the last five and a half years working as news director of WWOR, the Fox-owned MyNetwork TV affiliate in Secaucus.

Driscoll is also a former assistant news director of WNYW, the Fox O&O in New York City. Prior to that, he spent 18 years at WWOR, where he began as a production assistant and eventually rose to executive producer.

“Jim’s impressive track record of success at WWOR and WNYW speaks for itself. I’m confident that his leadership, solid local news instincts and inventive style will continue FOX 29’s growth and expand the station’s presence in the market,” WTXF vice president and general manager Dennis Bianchi said in a statement.

WTXF has been without a news director since Steve Schwaid left the station in July. Driscoll’s appointment is effective January 2. Read more

Pat Collins has announced that she will leave WWOR next month after 25 years at the Fox-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate for the New York metropolitan area.

Collins, the station’s entertainment anchor and reporter, has worked at WWOR since 1987. Station staffers were told this afternoon that Collins is leaving to spend more time with her family. Her last day will be December 21.

WWOR news director Jim Driscoll praised Collins for her “wonderful years of service and friendship to our newsroom and to our viewers.”

“Pat Collins is a class act, a phenomenal talent. We were lucky to have her as part of our Channel 9 team for more than 2 decades,” Driscoll told TVSpy. “She brought Hollywood and the Broadway stage to life on our air, and did so with style, dignity, and grace. She was a mentor and friend to just about every person who has ever worked in our newsroom.”

Josh Eure is joining KPNX, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, as assistant news director and senior content manager.

Eure comes from ABC News, where he was a senior producer for “ABC News Now.” He has also spent time as a coordinating produce for “World News Now” and “Good Morning America.” Prior to that, Eure worked as an executive producer at WWOR in New York, WSB in Atlanta and WFOR in Miami.

Eure begins in Phoenix on November 5.

Russ Salzberg, sports anchor for New York’s WWOR has launched a weekly series called “The High School Athlete of the Week”.

Viewers are invited to choose who they think qualifies to be highlighted as one of  extraordinary High School football players in the New York area.

“High school is where it all starts…..this is where many of these kids discover a sport that may change their lives. These kids are out there playing for the best reason of all – their love of the sport,” Salzberg told TVSpy.  “To be able to give high school athletes in our community a chance to shine is something that gives us all something to look forward to – us, the kids and the parents – it’s a win-win for everybody!”

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Beginning next Monday, Rosanna Scotto will have a new co-anchor on “Good Day New York”: Dave Price (left), a former WNYW weathercaster, is returning to the Fox O&O.

Price’s hire sets a cascade of changes to WNYW’s newscasts into motion. Greg Kelly (right), Scotto’s current co-anchor, will move to evenings, anchoring the 6 p.m. newscast solo and 10 p.m. newscast with Dari Alexander. Kelly replaces Ernie Anastos at 10 p.m. and Harry Martin at 6 p.m.

Anastos’ time at the anchor desk will be reduced, although the station will add more “Positively Ernie” specials to its lineup beginning later this year. He will remain in his current role on the 5 p.m. newscast. Martin will continue as an anchor on WNYW sister station WWOR, and will focus on political reporting ahead of the election, a WNYW spokesperson tells TVSpy. Read more

In honor of Memorial Day weekend, News Corp.-owned WWOR, headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, is kicking off a yearlong series honoring marines, soldiers and other military personnel in the Tri-State area (video above).

The “Hometown Heroes” series will air on the MyNetworkTV-affiliate’s 10 p.m. newscast, anchored by Brenda Blackmon and Harry Martin. Beginning this weekend and continuing through Memorial Day of 2013, the station will spotlight a different local person in the military each night.

Sean Mooney has been hired as the weekend co-anchor at KVOA, the NBC-affiliate in Tucson, according to Inside Tucson Business.

Mooney runs his own production company, Moonrise Productions, in Tucson. He was most recently a reporter at Fox Sports Arizona, and has previously worked at WWOR in New Jersey and WBZ in Boston.

He will replace Brandon Gunnoe, who is leaving Tucscon for a job at WHDH, the NBC-affiliate in Boston. Mooney will co-anchor with Rebecca Taylor.

In the first interview since her daughter’s death, Cissy Houston recently sat down with New Jersey Fox station WWOR.

“I’m very proud of my daughter,” Houston told WWOR’s Brenda Blackmon, as the two sat in the same church where the singer’s funeral was held in February. “She accomplished a whole lot in the short time that she had here.”

In addition to honoring her daughter’s accomplishments, Houston lashed out at the media.

“The media is awful,” Houston said. Read more

The New Jersey law student, and former Navy SEAL, who Chris Christie called an “idiot” last week following an outburst at a town hall meeting, apologized for the incident in an interview with WNYW-WWOR reporter JoAnn Pileggi.

“I’m not too thrilled about being known as an idiot, or being known as a jerk. That’s not what I want to be known for. I don’t want to be known as that guy,” William Brown, a second-year law student at Rutgers University-Camden, told Pileggi. “I apologize if I came across disrespectful to the governor.” Video inside… Read more

Longtime WNYW political correspondent Dick Brennan has been cut loose at the New York City Fox O&O.

A station spokesperson confirmed to TVSpy that Brennan’s contract was not renewed. The news was first reported in the New York Daily News.

Brennan joined WNYW in 2001 and was named chief political correspondent in 2007. He is a veteran of the New York City market who has also worked as a reporter and producer at WWOR and a producer for WNBC.

Brennan’s last day was Friday. The station will rotate other WNYW reporters to cover the political beat until a replacement is named.