Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

The WKYC Information Center is working to revive an online version of the Akron Canton News which will be reported daily by WKYC Akron Newsroom Chief Eric Mansfield. As you know, Akron lost its only local newscast back in May thanks to a terrible economy that kept many advertisers away. Plus, this was coupled with our limited coverage area on Time Warner Cable. Now thanks to new technologies, we are working to create a daily on-line edition of the latest headlines. Soon, we'll be adding Akron weather and hopefully more features. We'll start small and grow it large. For now, the webcast will be available on WKYC.com and on Eric Mansfield's blog "Have I Got News For You" located at: ericmansfield.blogspot.com If you would like to submit video, news from your neighborhood or more, please contact Eric at: ericmansfield@wkyc.com

By Frank Macek Nielsen started utilizing its controversial Local People Meters (LPMs) in several new markets today including Cleveland. What this means to us is a new way of measuring viewers of our local television programs in a way that Nielsen says will offer a truer representation of actual viewing audiences. Not all stations are convinced though this will be better. In the past, Nielsen recruited viewers by phone & mail to fill out a paper diary for a one week period during sweeps - a four week period during the main months of February, May, July and November. This amounted to about 1400 diaries during the survey month or about 400 households being included in the sample size. With LPMs, viewers tell an electronic meter that they are watching while the meter tracks their viewing habits. The sample size becomes 600 LPMs in a market. Nielsen now goes door to door to recruit participants. And they hope the sample will include a better portion of those who are younger, busier and ...

WKYC will present live coverage of the Memorial Service for Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones this Saturday beginning with Channel 3 News at 9 AM. The Memorial Service at Cleveland Public Auditorium will follow the last public viewing earlier in the morning from 8 to 10:30 PM. Channel 3 will provide live coverage from 11 AM until 1 PM both on the air and on-line at wkyc.com

Thursday night, it's the Browns final pre-season game as they take on the Chicago Bears at the Cleveland Browns Stadium. It's a game you will only see on Channel 3. Beginning at 7 PM, we'll bring you the Pregame Huddle with Jim Donovan and Dave Chudowsky. At 7:30 PM, Jim Donovan and Bernie Kosar will have the play by play in high definition. Starting with the regular Browns season, we'll have you covered with the following weekly programs: Browns Pregame Huddle: Sundays at 11:30 AM Browns Tonight: Sunday at 11:30 PM The Point After: Monday at 7 PM

With the Olympics behind us, we look forward to the Democratic National Convention all this week in Denver, Colorado. Every night this week at 10 PM, NBC will devote an hour of prime time programming to cover the night's biggest events. NBC Producer Geoff Mason gives you a "behind the scenes" tour at the Democratic National Convention.

The history books have closed on the 2008 Summer Olympics, but there are many notable moments that will go down as records. NBC Universal tallied 214 million total viewers for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing over 17 days, solidifying it as the most watched event in U.S. TV history, according to Nielsen. This tops the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at 209 million viewers and the 2004 Athens Games at 203 million. MOST VIEWED EVENTS IN U.S. TV HISTORY: 1. 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 214 million (17 days) 2. 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, 209 million (17 days) 3. 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, 204 million (16 days) 4. 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, 203 million (17 days) 5. 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, 194 million (17 days)

CLEVELAND -- Due to tonight's Indians vs. Tigers game on WKYC, a few of NBC's Monday night primetime programs will air in other time slots. *Deal or No Deal will air at 3:05 am late tonight/early Tuesday morning *America's Toughest Jobs will air at 3:05 am late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning. Should the Indians game run past 10 pm this evening, WKYC will join in progress NBC's coverage of the Democratic National Convention as soon as possible.

The Internet has made everyone a critic. From eBay ratings to music reviews to social networking sites and now, to the news media. A new site keeps track of and chronicles breaking news from all over the world. That's handy, sure - but what makes it unusual is that users vote on how credible the information is. The website address is: www.newscred.com

We have an update on a story we first brought you at the end of May. Former WKYC anchor Dawn Stensland's husband Larry Mendte was fired by his station in Philadelphia after it was alleged that he secretly read his former co-anchors private emails. Again we stress Dawn was not involved in this in any way. Today, we have the latest from The Associated Press: A fired Philadelphia TV newscaster has admitted to hacking into his former co-anchor's e-mail accounts. Larry Mendte has pleaded guilty to one count of illegally accessing a computer. He admits to illegally viewing hundreds of Alycia Lane's e-mails for more than two years, ending in May. The access came at a time when leaked information about Lane's personal life contributed to her own downfall. Mendte and Lane co-anchored evening news for four years together at KYW, a CBS affiliate. The partnership ended after Lane was arrested in December following an alleged scuffle with New York police and was fired. Mendte later ...

Update: Sadly, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones passed away this evening at 6:12 pm according to the Cleveland Clinic who released a statement announcing her death. Our heartfelt prayers to her family and friends. ------ WKYC will air a special newscast at 5 PM updating viewers on Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who apparently has a brain aneurysm according to the hospital president and wkyc.com. We'll provide the latest developments on her condition - as it was erraneously reported by every OTHER Cleveland market station and CNN that she had died earlier in the day. WKYC reported the facts, and respected the truth with responsible reporting that indicated she remained in critical condition. Please join us at 5 PM, 6, 7 & 11 PM (at midnight) for comprehensive coverage. To read more on this developing story: CLICK HERE We are providing you the opportunity to watch the newscast online: CLICK HERE TO WATCH

A fatal fire this morning in downtown Cleveland was also responsible for knocking WOIO/WUAB Channels 19 and 43 off the air for about an hour, according to the station's own website. The fire broke out about 6 am this morning on the 13th floor of Reserve Square - a high rise mix of apartments and retail. The television studios are located in the basement of that building. A 27 year old man died in the fire after food left on the stove apparently ignited. According to wkyc.com, when crews arrived on scene and charged their fire hoses a water main broke. Crews were still able to extinguish the fire, but the water main caused the basement of The Reserve Square building and the WOIO/WUAB studios to flood. For more of this story, CLICK HERE

From: Sam in Cleveland Q: I don't know if you have heard about this yet, but I came across an article saying Gannett plans on adopting a new, uniform graphics package for all of its stations. I hope this is not the case with WKYC, as I like your in-house graphics. You have an extremely talented team there. A: Yes, I am very aware of the article and what it means to us here at WKYC. Yes, Gannett has decided to institute a company-wide initiative with all our broadcast properties. This has been widely reported in the trade publications recently. Starting later this year, we will begin using a hub situation where our graphics will be ordered from our station, but made in Denver and then sent back to us via our graphics network. This is probably more a benefit for the smaller market stations than WKYC which has had a very talented art department that will be sorely missed as we move forward. In a lot of ways, this makes sense both economically and for efficiency reasons. The new system...

Just as Tiger Woods is good for golf ratings, Michael Phelps is great for Olympic ratings. Saturday night, as Phelps went for his historical 8th Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics and his 14th Gold in his swimming career, NBC enjoyed its most viewed Saturday night in 18 years with 31.1 million tuning in, and jumping to 40 million during the half hour Phelps swam. NBC has averaged 30 million viewers each night since the Olympics kicked off on August 8th, thanks in large part to Phelps and the gymnastics teams. NBC certainly is looking for its Week #2 darling as the Olympics heads into its second week. What did NBC air 18 years ago that drew that kind of audience? It was an episode of "Empty Nest."

The brother of WKYC's Jennifer Murphy, Richard Murphy, has written his first book and it's getting rave reviews. The book, "Confessions of a Contractor"(Putnam; Publication date: Aug. 14th) is the story of Henry Sullivan, an unconventional contractor who renovates houses for wealthy women in Los Angeles. Richard knows the topic well. Before becoming a successful screenwriter, he supported himself as a contractor. Jennifer tells us "Both my husband and I read the book and just loved it. It has tremendous range and the characters, especially Henry Sullivan, are so likable." The book is on sale at all major bookstores. Or, you can click on the following link and video to learn more: confessionsofacontractor.com VIDEO FEATURE: Courtesy: wkyc.com

Whether you've got back to school on the brain, or are looking for a new pediatric dentist - WKYC has a new and improved moms' website that can help. North Coast Moms became " Cleveland Moms Like Me" in the early morning hours on August 14th. The new site offers more social networking for Northeast Ohio moms and their families. The new website address is: cleveland.momslikeme.com Some our new features include: Groups: You can communicate in forums that are public and you can also create a private group among a close circle of friends. For example if you have your own Bunco club, you can create your own private group. Only you and folks in that group can communicate. Right now we have groups on diet and weight loss, working moms, and even a "laugh of the day" group! My Stuff: Will be your very own "Dashboard," and you'll also have your personal profile page. Coupons: We love this new feature. During these tough economic times we'll all a...

The nation's largest newspaper publisher, and owner of WKYC-TV, is eliminating 1,000 jobs. The latest cost-cutting move at Gannett includes 600 layoffs. The newspaper industry is trying to cope with declining revenues due to an economic slump and a continuing migration of advertising dollars online. USA Today, the largest-circulation newspaper in the country, isn't affected by the latest round of cutbacks, but had 45 job cuts of its own last November. The latest cuts will affect Gannett's other newspapers, which include 84 dailies such as The Arizona Republic and the Detroit Free Press as well as nearly 900 non-daily publications. Other major newspaper publishers have also been slashing jobs. Courtesy: The Associated Press

In this edition of "Meet the NBC All Stars," we focus on a broadcaster who has been charged with handling goliath duties for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. This Olympics will be Bob Costas' eighth for NBC Sports and his seventh as primetime host. After serving as late night host in 1988 from Seoul, Costas has won acclaim and Emmy Awards each year for his work as primetime host from Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Salt Lake City, and Athens. Costas, who has the longest tenure of the network's sports announcers, joined NBC in 1980. He has handled a wide array of assignments, including play-by-play, studio hosting and reporting. The 19-time Emmy Award winner is one of the most respected and honored broadcasters of his generation. In 2005, Costas was named host of NBC's "Football Night in America," an exclusive and complete look at each Sunday in the NFL. "Football Night in America" encompasses more than four hours of NFL coverage, including a primetim...

Health News is one of the most important news features that viewers and readers are interested in on-line. WKYC keeps you informed with Senior Health Correspondent Monica Robins. WKYC has built a new online Health Channel that provides you both reports from Monica and exclusive reports from our partnership with NBC and CNN and health reporters across the nation. You find the player on wkyc.com/news/health or CLICK HERE You can also find Monica on Facebook.

CLEVELAND -- The preseason opening game is here and you can catch all the excitement on Channel 3 starting at 7 p.m. The Jets have a new quarterback, Brett Favre -- and have scheduled a news conference at Browns Stadium to introduce him later Thursday. Here's the line up for tonight: 7 p.m.: Browns Pre Game (HD) 7:30 p.m.: Cleveland Browns Preseason Football Cleveland Browns vs New York Jets (HD) RELATED LINKS: To view more stories about the Browns & Brett Favre, visit WKYC.com: CLICK HERE

The NATAS Lower Great Lakes chapter is proud to announce that tickets for the 39th Annual Emmy Awards and the 15th Silver Circle Celebration are now available on-line. Saturday, September 13, 2008 is the big day, so make your plans now to attend. Visit http://www.nataslgl.org/ for complete information and to reserve tickets. But first, here's some basic information: TICKETS: $80 each for members and one guest, $90 for non-members/ guests (reserve by September 5) Special room rates available from the Marriott (reserve by August 23) Special rental discounts available from American Commodore Tuxedo So visit www.nataslgl.org now to reserve your tickets or call 440-526-EMMY if you need more information. A portion of your ticket helps support the NATAS-LGL scholarship program.

WKYC is proud to offer our viewers unparalleled coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, China. And for the first time ever, the games are being completely presented in high definition from start to finish. NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage across its various networks, the most ambitious single media project in history. NBC's coverage features the most live coverage in the United States (75 percent in all), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. WKYC will air the the NBC network schedule which is divided into three dayparts: afternoon, primetime and late night - for a total of 225 hours of coverage over 17 days beginning with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m. ET. Primetime on NBC will feature live coverage of all 32 swimming gold medal fin...