Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

The Award Winning News Team of Channel 3 News WKYC has once again been honored with a prestigious award for the station's coverage of the Chardon, Ohio, school shootings on February 28, 2012. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) recognized the staff of WKYC with a Sigma Delta Chi Award for "Breaking News Coverage (Large - Market Station: 1-50 market)" category. This was the second award received by Channel 3 News on the heels of a regional Edward R. Murrow Award under the leadership of former News Director Rita Andolsen.  Andolsen is currently the station's Director of Advocacy and Community Initiatives. This year, the Society of Professional Journalists judges selected 84 honorees from nearly 1,700 submissions. Entries included selections from television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, online news outlets and magazines. The Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the Society honored six individuals for their contributions...

The 2013 Emmy finalists were announced Thursday morning by the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). This is the 44th year of the annual awards that will be handed out on Saturday, June 1st at Windows on the River in Cleveland. The Lower Great Lakes Chapter has a mission to serve its members, recognize excellence and promote the highest standards in television professionalism for stations and broadcast entities Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Congratulations to the following WKYC journalists on their nominations for the 2012 calendar year: Newscast-Evening - Market 1-20 Channel 3 News at 6 - Russ Mitchell, Anchor/Sara Shookman, Reporter/Danielle Fink, Assignment Editor/Maureen Kyle, Reporter Newscast-Morning/Daytime - Market 1-20 Channel 3 News Today - Jennifer Nickels, Executive Producer/Chris Tye, Anchor/Erin Kennedy, Anchor/Brooke Whitney, Producer/Matthew Granite, Reporter General Assignmen...

By Frank Macek WKYC is honored to announce the station is the recipient of a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for large market in region seven for our breaking news coverage of the tragic events in Chardon last year. "Channel 3 was recognized as an indispensable source of emergency information during the height of the crisis," says News Director Brennan Donnellan. "The station's sensitivity to the tragedy was also recognized by the community in the following hours and days under the newsroom leadership of former WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen," he added. Andolsen is currently the station's Director of Advocacy and Community Initiatives. WKYC parent company, Gannett Broadcasting, received a total of 45 regional 2013 Edward R. Murrow awards highlighting the excellence in journalism across all of our local broadcast stations. Gannett CEO Gracia C. Martore explained, "This is the company’s best p...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog Gary Levin, USA TODAY It's a generational shift at an icon of late-night TV: NBC's Tonight Show has anointed only its sixth host in its 59-year history. Jimmy Fallon will take over for Jay Leno late next February, the network confirmed Wednesday, after Leno is ushered off the stage for the second time in a 22-year run. With the handoff, expected just after a promotional push during NBC's Winter Olympics, Tonight will move back to Fallon's base in New York City from Burbank, Calif., its home for more than 30 years. And the show is being placed in the hands of executive producer Lorne Michaels, who created Saturday Night Live and has shepherded projects featuring many of its stars, from 30 Rock to Fallon's current Late Night. But wee-hours talk shows have diminished in stature and ratings, amid huge shifts in television viewing.  Jay Leno (L) and Jimmy Fallon (R) Cable competitors have sprung up, and recorded shows co...