NBC To Air "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" Wednesday at 8 p.m.

NBC will celebrate the lighting of the world’s most famous Christmas tree with a live broadcast from Rockefeller Center in New York City on Wednesday, November 30th from 8 to 9 p.m. ET.

The star-studded holiday special will feature performances by Neil Diamond, Big Time Rush, Tony Bennett, Justin Bieber, Michael Bublé, Cee Lo Green, Carole King, Katharine McPhee, Javier Colon and The Radio City Rockettes with a mix of current hits and holiday classics.

Justin has brought some special guests for his performance and NBC will also premiere his music video with Mariah Carey for “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

The song, originally recorded and written by Mariah Carey for her 1994 album “Merry Christmas,” is the most listened to song at the holidays and this new duet is featured on Justin’s Christmas album, “Under the Mistletoe.”

The 79th annual holiday extravaganza will feature a Norway Spruce tree that is 74 feet high, 46 feet in diameter and weighs 10 tons.

The tradition of the Rockefeller Christmas tree dates back to the Great Depression. First erected in 1933, the inaugural tree was decked with 700 lights and placed in front of the then eight-month-old RCA Building, now the GE Building.

The Christmas tree gathering was enhanced in 1936 with the opening of the Rockefeller Plaza outdoor ice-skating pond. NBC-TV televised the tree lighting for the first time in 1951 on "The Kate Smith Show" and as part of the nationwide "Howdy Doody" television show from 1953-55.

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WKYC Names Erin Kennedy As New WKYC Morning Anchor with Mark Nolan

Erin Kennedy. Photo courtesy: WPRI-TV

Award winning journalist Erin Kennedy will bring her high energy and strong storytelling skills to the Channel 3 morning newscast beginning in January. She’ll join the team of Mark Nolan, meteorologist Hollie Strano, reporters Amanda Barren and Stephanie Coueignoux, and Ways to Save guru Matt Granite.

“I’m looking forward to becoming part of such a terrific morning show,” said Ms. Kennedy. “And I'm excited to work with such a strong and enterprising news team. More than anything, I value Channel 3's commitment to making a difference in the Northeast Ohio community. My husband and I can't wait to put down roots in this dynamic and progressive city."

Currently the evening anchor for WPRI and WNAC’s Eyewitness News in Providence, Rhode Island, Erin began her career in Texas after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Notre Dame University where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society.

“Erin is very bright, extremely motivated, and ready to make things happen,” said Brooke Spectorsky, President and General Manager of WKYC. “With her strong reporting and breaking news experience she’ll be a terrific addition to our AM team.”

Erin is fluent in Spanish, and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has reported from Mexico; covering stories on immigration and the drug trade. While in Providence, Erin was the creator, producer and anchor of “Webcast en Espanol.” Erin considers it an honor to report on issues that affect her neighbors and her community, and works to support non-profits and community outreach programs that help women.

“She’ll bring a fresh perspective to Cleveland mornings,” remarked News Director Rita Andolsen. “We know that early newscasts are becoming even more important as people organize and begin their busy days, and we’re thrilled to have Erin’s help in creating an even more dynamic show. Having deeper resources at the anchor desk will give us increased flexibility to cover breaking news and weather.”

Erin will begin her anchoring duties in early January after she and her husband Matt, a musician, complete their move to Northeast Ohio.

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Brian Williams' Newscast Outdraws NBC Prime Time

Special to the Director's Cut Blog
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - Some weeks NBC must wish it could start prime time a couple of hours earlier.

The network's "Nightly News" broadcast with Brian Williams averaged 9.1 million viewers over five days last week, clearly outdistancing rivals at ABC and CBS. The problem for NBC is that it also beats virtually everything the network shows in prime time.

Take away Sunday night football and its preview shows and the most-watched NBC show last week was "Law & Order: SVU," with 7.3 million viewers. "Harry's Law" had 7.2 million, Nielsen said.

NBC has moved Williams to prime time once a week, with his newsmagazine "Rock Center" on Mondays. Viewership has yet to catch up with its content, with 3.9 million people watching Bob Costas interview disgraced Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky last week.

In prime time, CBS is the king - sometimes to starling levels. The network had 18 of the 20 most-watched scripted series on the air last week, Nielsen said.

CBS averaged 11.4 million viewers in prime time (7.1 rating, 11 share). ABC was second with 9.6 million (6.1, 10), NBC had 6.8 million (4.3, 7), Fox had 6.2 million (3.7, 6), the CW had 1.5 million (1.0, 2) and ION Television had 980,000 (0.7, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.8 million viewer average (2.0, 3), Telemundo had 1.3 million (0.7, 1), TeleFutura had 500,000 (0.3, 0), Estrella had 230,000 and Azteca 220,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with its 9.1 million viewer average (6.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 8 million (5.5, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.8 million viewers (4.5, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

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Director's Cut Alert: Betsy Kling Named WKYC Chief Meteorologist

WKYC Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling

 By Frank Macek

WKYC's evening meteorologist Betsy Kling has been named "Chief Meteorologist" announced WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen on Tuesday.

"Betsy brings a passion and energy to telling the weather story in a way that our viewers recognize and appreciate," explains Andolsen.

"I look forward to working with our already strong weather team including Hollie Strano and Bruce Kalinowski to push forward our weather product on-air, on-line and mobile," Kling tells the Director's Cut Blog. "It's a very exciting and dynamic weather team to work with."

Kling's Emmy award winning forecasts can be seen on the Monday through Friday editions of Channel 3 News at 6, 7 and 11 PM, on wkyc.com, and can be heard on Clear Channel radio stations including WTAM/1100 AM, WMJI/105.7 FM and WHLK/106.5 "The Lake."

Betsy is part of a small group of women in the country who has earned the prestigious Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) accreditation from the American Meteorological Society, as well as the Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association (NWA). She is a full member of both professional organizations.

Additionally, she is active in the NWA and sits on several committees, including the Broadcast Meteorology Committee, and is an evaluator for Seal of Approval applicants. She also organizes fundraisers to support NWA college scholarships for aspiring meteorologists. Previously Betsy was elected as a NWA Councilor and was honored with the National Weather Association's Member of the Year award for 2004.

Her industry awards include a 2009 Emmy Award for Crafts: Weather, Emmy nominations in 2010, 2008 and 2005 for News: Weathercast and Crafts: Weather, and an Emmy award in 2003 for Team Effort News Event Coverage of the Columbia Shuttle Tragedy. In 2007 she was awarded first place by the Ohio Associated Press for Best Regularly Scheduled Weather. Betsy was honored with the Hattie Larlham Media Award for Service in 2004. In 2010 Cleveland Magazine named her one of Cleveland’s Most Interesting People and Jacksonville Magazine named her Best of Real People in 2002.

Betsy is very active in the community and often speaks at schools and civic organization meetings. She gives her time to several charities in the area including the Hattie Larlham organization, American Red Cross, American Heart Association, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and Cleveland Zoo, among others, and is passionate about teaching children of all ages about the weather. She created and produces Channel 3’s Weather Education Day every year with the Cleveland Indians.

Betsy was born and raised right here in northern Ohio. Her hometown, Copley, is in Summit County just to the west of Akron. After graduating from Copley High School she went to Bowling Green State University where she earned her journalism degree and a minor in meteorology. She finished her remaining meteorology coursework through Mississippi State University. Betsy worked in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Jacksonville, Florida before coming home.

Betsy is married to former WKYC reporter Paul Thomas and the couple welcomed daughter Josephine in July of 2008. When not running after her child, Betsy enjoys competitive tennis, reading, fishing, and taking time to enjoy nature and all of its wonders.

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