Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Entering its fourth year, Heroes Help Northeast Ohio is the largest one day drive aimed at helping Coats for Kids, the Salvation Army, and the Cleveland Foodbank. This year's event will be held on Thursday, October 20, from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in front of the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center, 1333 Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland. WKYC staffers will be on hand all day to collect items right outside our building. In addition to collecting food, WKYC will also be collecting new or gently worn coats for our "Coats for Kids" campaign held each year with our radio partners. Plus, we'll accept holiday gifts for the Salvation Army. You can also make a cash donation during the drive as well. Food items most in need include the "super six."  Those items are: beef stew canned soup canned vegetables boxed cereal peanut butter tuna fish Please encourage your kids' schools or neighborhood schools to take part as well. You can collect items...

NBC’s top-rated summer series “America’s Got Talent” will begin its nationwide search for season seven contestants with auditions beginning in New York (October 8 and 9), St. Louis (October 22 and 23) and in Washington, D.C. (November 5 and 6). The search continues in Tampa, Fla. (November 12 and 13), Anaheim, Calif. (December 10 and 11), Austin, Texas (January 14 and 15), Charlotte, N.C. (February 4 and 5) and San Francisco (January 25 and 26). The “America’s Got Talent” auditions are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for performers across the country to showcase their talents in 90 seconds to series’ producers in the hopes of being able to take the stage in front of the judges. Every type of performer is welcome - including musicians, dance crews, magicians, contortionists, comedians, singers, jugglers, animal acts and everything in between – all of whom want to perform for America’s votes and the coveted $1 million prize. Details for the open auditions are below: NEW YORK Sa...

It’s a simple word….but it changes your life forever. Cancer. Almost five million Americans are currently battling breast or prostate cancer, and those numbers are expected to rise. The most powerful weapon in this war is knowledge. In an hour-long primetime special on Saturday, October 8th, at 8 pm, you’ll see the latest procedures, medical trials, and alternative therapies. Plus you’ll learn how innovative new treatments are saving lives without sacrificing quality of life. Surgeons and oncologists from the nation’s top hospitals share their knowledge and their hopes for these breakthrough regimens. There will also be a simultaneous live online chat on wkyc.com/cuttingedge produced by MedCity Media. The chat will include doctors and medical experts who will respond to viewer’s questions and experiences as they watch the show. WKYC News will produce a companion series of targeted news stories October 5th, 6th and 7th at 11 pm. The stories will focus on local medical adv...

Tom Beres Updated: 10/28/11 The Press Club of Cleveland will honor Fox 8 photojournalist Herb Thomas, WKYC's Tom Beres, and four others at its 2011 Chuck Heaton Award to be presented at the Club's annual Journalism Hall of Fame Awards Dinner and Induction Ceremony. They will be honored October 28 at at LaCentre, 25777 Detroit Road, in Westlake. Thomas will receive the Chuck Heaton Award. The others will be inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland Hall of Fame. The Chuck Heaton Award honors an individual who best exemplifies the qualities of Hall of Fame reporter Chuck Heaton, a long-time sports writer and columnist at The Plain Dealer. Heaton, who passed away in February 2008, was known for his lifelong dedication to journalism, his fairness, his concern for community and helping others. The Hall of Fame inductees to be honored are WKYC's Beres, The Plain Dealer's Tom Feran and Philip Morris, NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell, and Bob Paynter, Principal, o...

Click picture to sign up now! WKYC today announced it launched DealChicken, a unique daily deals site, as part of a larger rollout by Gannett Co., Inc, WKYC’s parent company, to more than 50 markets across the U.S. by the end of 2011. More than just another daily deal site, DealChicken merchants benefit from WKYC’s long-established presence in Cleveland. WKYC’s deep local connections to, and understanding of, the Cleveland community will help DealChicken effectively serve both merchants and consumers and build long-term relationships that last beyond a single daily deal. DealChicken has already been highly successful in building brand awareness and delivering a loyal following of repeat customers for local merchants in Phoenix, where the service launched in September 2010. Additionally, merchants have the opportunity to promote their local deal and business through online and television advertising with WKYC. “As a part of the Cleveland community for more than 60 years, WKYC ...

Craig Dubow, Gannett Chairman/CEO McLean, VA – Gannett Co., Inc. announced today that chairman and chief executive officer Craig A. Dubow will take a leave of absence to address continuing issues relating to prior medical conditions. Gracia C. Martore, president and chief operating officer, will serve as principal executive officer during his absence as she did during a prior medical leave in 2009. Duncan M. McFarland, presiding director, said: “We wish Craig well during this difficult personal time. The Board has confidence in Gracia and our very capable management team to run the day to day operations of the Company, and we believe Gannett won’t miss a beat at this important juncture.” “I believe Gannett is in very good hands as we continue to transform the Company and position it for a successful future,” said Dubow. Gannett is the parent company of WKYC-TV.

Jim Donovan Jim Donovan has announced he will return to the radio airwaves in time for the Browns-Bengals game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Cleveland Browns Stadium. He has been the radio voice of the Browns since the team returned in 1999. He also will appear on the 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. news on WKYC-TV starting Monday, September 12. Donovan has been absent from television and radio for more than three months after taking a medical leave of absence to treat leukemia. Jim underwent a bone marrow transplant on June 7 at the Seidman Cancer Center. Donovan, 55, was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in 2000. Prior to undergoing the transplant, Donovan endured a grueling schedule of chemotherapy, yet managed to keep up with his demanding sports anchor and radio announcing positions. Donovan made an appearance in Berea on Labor Day and was greeted with a warm reception from his media colleagues and members of the Browns public relations staff. Jim announced his medical leave...

Stephanie Coueginoux is joining the Channel 3 family as a Multimedia Journalist announced WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen on Thursday. She will be joining the station from Central Florida News 13 in Orlando, Florida, where she was the primary night side reporter and a web content producer since 2006. Stephanie Coueignoux, Courtesy: CFN, 13 Prior to moving to Florida, Stephanie worked at WJFW-TV/Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and KSTF-TV/Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and an anchor and reporter at both stations. She started her career in broadcast journalism at WHDH, the NBC affiliate in Boston, as an intern and also did an internship at Newton News, a cable station in Newton, MA where she co-anchored and reported for a weekly cable news program. Stephanie was born in France, although her family moved to Colorado, then California and Masssachusetts where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Wellesley College. She is a member of the Asian American Journalist Asso...

Are you fighting fat but losing the battle? Millions of Americans are now clinically obese, and the numbers continue to grow. Obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. So what’s the answer? Find out on the Cutting Edge: Fighting Fat airing Wednesday, September 7 from 8 to 9pm. Whether you are 25 or 250 pounds overweight, medical experts agree it’s not necessarily the amount but what you eat that could make the difference in losing weight. And for those considering bariatric surgery, there are new procedures being performed that are less invasive and more effective. Plus, learn what you can clip on your waistline to help whittle away the weight. You’ll meet experts from some of the country’s leading medical centers including Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Minnesota’s Healtheast and the Cleveland Clinic. Cutting Edge: Fighting Fat explores the latest breakthroughs in battling the bulge and delivers a clear formula for success. There will also ...