Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Russ Mitchell & Sara Shookman With 28 nominations, Cleveland's WKYC-TV leads the way in the 47th annual Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Arts & Sciences in the list released early Thursday morning. The NATAS chapter, which also includes the Toledo and Indianapolis TV markets, noted that next in line was WJW-TV with 18 nominations, Cleveland 19 with 14 nominations and tied with 13 are WEWS-TV and IdeastreamWVIZ/PBS. The awards will be given out on June 18 during an evening at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. Among many other categories, WKYC was nominated for its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts, along with its Morning Newscast and Weekend Newscast; Best Weather Anchor for Greg Dee; Best Team Coverage for the Michael Brelo trial; Continuing Coverage for the Tamir Rice case; 'Stop the Violence' in the News Special category; and WKYC's The Investigator Tom Meyer earned seven nominations in multiple categories. See all the...

Betsy Kling & Jim Donovan The results are in! You voted for your favorite people and places in Cleveland Scene's annual Best of Cleveland survey. Among them, WKYC's took some top spots. Betsy Kling won the Best Meteorologist and Jim Donovan grabbed title of Best Sports Reporter. Places that made the list include Tremont, voted the Best Neighborhood, while Punch Bowl Social in The Flats was crowned the "Best Place for Grown-Ups Birthday Party." Just in time before the Republican National Convention, Public Square gets the Best Renovation Project. Voters decided Lakewood was the Best Place to Buy a House. View the other results here.

Congratulations to the following Channel 3 staffers on winning a Cleveland Press Club Award as part of this year's All Ohio Excellence in Journalism. Triumph Uplifts Cleveland Community - Hilary Golston  United Against Domestic Violence - Monica Robins, Matt Hein, Susan Moses, Carl Bachtel  Hidden Homeless Left Out in the Cold in Northeast Ohio - Hilary Golston  See The Possible: Jobs - WKYC staff Domestic Violence: A Crime Without Boundaires - WKYC staff, wkyc.com staff  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame turns 20 - wkyc.com staff Akron's Sina King is Queen of the Comeback - Matt Florjancic  WKYC.com, best Television News Website in Ohio -  wkyc.com staff  The Press Club of Cleveland Excellence in Journalism Awards event will be held June 3rd at the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland.

It’s a "See The Possible" success story worth celebrating. On Friday, the Ohio Pharmacists Association selected Dawn Kendrick and WKYC for a 2016 Broadcast Media Award. The award is for WKYC's stories about Kevin Houdeshell's family's fight for access to life-saving drugs . The WKYC stories, the Ohio Pharmacist Association says, are stories helped lead to the law change that allows pharmacists to extend emergency supplies of life-saving drugs. The award, the association says, is because “You conveyed an important message to the public about the value of pharmacists in serving their patients.”   --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

NBC has announced the schedule for "Sunday Night" and "Thursday Night" Football for the upcoming season. 2016 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Thurs. Sept. 8         NFL Kickoff     Carolina Panthers at Denver Broncos Sun. Sept. 11          Week 1              New England Patriots at Arizona Cardinals Sun. Sept. 18          Week 2              Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings Sun. Sept. 25          Week 3              Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys Sun. Oct. 2             Week 4              Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers *Sun. Oct. 9           Week 5              New York Giants at Green Bay Packers *Sun. Oct. ...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Phil Trexler Tom Meyer Photo by Phil Trexler WKYC-TV Channel 3 investigative reporter Tom Meyer was honored Thursday with the "Excellence in Television Award" by the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters for his four decades of covering and uncovering the city. Meyer was recognized along with radio legend Dan Deely of 107.3 The Wave and long-time promoter Barry Gabel of Live Nation. Doug Adair, the popular former news anchor at WKYC, and shock jock radio talk show host Gary Dee received the President's Award for their life-time contributions. The CAB awards were held during a luncheon at Windows on the River. Guests included Meyer's wife of 39 years, Sandra, and their daughter, Meagan. Meyer, known at The Investigator, has won more than 180 local, state, regional and national awards, including the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, the Press Club's National Headliner Award and a national UPI award.  He...

Join the WKYC morning show and VeloSano in the fight against cancer by raising money for research at the Cleveland Clinic. We kicked off our coverage for VeloSano3 Wednesday morning live from Progressive Field. WKYC's John Anderson was there along with Paul Dolan, the Indians Chairman and CEO. REGISTER | Join the VeloSano ride Every dollar raised by the VeloSano event goes toward the cancer research. During our special coverage, we also introduced you to a cyclist who missed last year's ride because he was having surgery for a brain tumor. But this year, things are different for him. Surrounded by his co-workers and teammates, he will ride in this year's VeloSano. For more information, go to www.VeloSano.org . The 2016 VeloSano weekend is July 29-31. Join the conversation on Twitter using #VeloSano3 . --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

By Frank Macek Michael Estime WKYC has announced the addition of Michael Estime to the Channel 3 Weather team beginning in early May. Estime joins Channel 3 News from WTVQ-TV/ABC36 in Lexington, Kentucky, where he serves as morning and noon meteorologist. WKYC News Director Brennan Donnellan says Michael will become the station's weekend morning weather forecaster, joining news anchor Maureen Kyle and the rest of the Channel 3 Today team. Estime is a graduate of Central Michigan University and earned degrees in both Meteorology and Mathematics. He just received his American Meteorological Society Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (AMS CBM) seal of approval, an advanced accreditation that was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding, especially with respect to environmental issues. During his time at Central Michigan, Estime worked for MHTV News Central 34, and was awarded “Bes...

The Cleveland Indians and WKYC-TV3 today announced a new multi-year agreement to remain partners in the Northeast Ohio market. WKYC-TV3 will continue to be the Official Weathercasters of the Cleveland Indians, present WKYC Weather Day at Progressive Field (this year April 21 vs. Seattle) and provide fans other ancillary Indians programming such as “Indians Tonight” every Sunday from 11:30pm to Midnight during the baseball season April through September. In conjunction with SportsTime Ohio, WKYC will continue to simulcast four broadcasts beginning with Monday’s home opener against Boston at 4pm. Indians coverage on WKYC will begin with their annual Opening Day special from 1-3pm before joining the SportsTime Ohio pregame show from 3-4pm. The four over-the-air simulcasts in 2016 will be: Monday 4/4 – vs. Boston Red Sox Thursday 7/7 – vs. NY Yankees Saturday 7/30 – vs. Oakland Athletics Friday 9/2 – vs. Miami Marlins --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc ...