Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

As you know, we celebrated our 70th year on the air at Channel 3 last October and will always remember our first broadcast on Halloween night, October 31, 1948 as WNBK-TV Channel 4. A good part of our history comes from those early years when WNBK-TV moved from Channel 4 to Channel 3. The station would then become KYW as part of a station swap between NBC and Westinghouse that would eventually be un-done by the FCC several years later. At that point, KYW-TV changed call letters to what they are today: WKYC. Let's take a look at the first 35 years that was celebrated in 1983 and hosted by former WKYC anchor Judd Hambrick. Enjoy! 71 years is just one week away!

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 ...

PHILADELPHIA -- A longtime Philadelphia newscaster has been charged with illegally accessing the e-mail of his former co-anchor. Federal prosecutors have charged Larry Mendte with a felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. Authorities say he hacked into the account of Alycia Lane hundreds of times over more than two years. A prosecutor says he went "well beyond just reading someone's e-mail." Mendte was fired from the Philadelphia CBS affiliate last month after FBI agents seized his computer. His attorney says Mendte is cooperating "and will accept full responsibility for his actions." He faces a six-month prison term if convicted. Lane was fired from the station in January after a series of off-camera incidents, including an arrest after a late-night scuffle with police in New York City. Larry is the husband of former WKYC news anchor Dawn Stensland who works for the crosstown FOX affiliate in Philly. Courtesy: The Ass...

Updating a story we first brought you 3 weeks ago on the Director's Cut Blog, Larry Mendte - the husband of former WKYC anchorwoman Dawn Stensland - has been officially fired by his station, KYW, in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer first broke this story in late May/early June when FBI agents raided Mendte's home and seized a computer amid allegations he was involved in breaking into his former co-anchor, Alicia Lane's, email at work. Alicia was let go from the station earlier this year. According to today's Inquirer's article, " Sources said an internal investigation at CBS3 disclosed that software that secretly captures keystrokes - including passwords - had been installed on a station computer." The article also stresses that so far no charges have been filed against Mendte and that his wife, WTXF anchor Dawn Stensland was NOT suspected of any wrongdoing. Stay tuned for more on this one! TO READ MORE ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION: Philadelphia Inqurier...

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting today that KYW Anchor Larry Mendte, the husband of former WKYC News Anchor Dawn Stensland, is under FBI investigation about whether Mendte gossiped to the media about messages from co-anchor Alycia Lane's email from her lawyer. Alycia was fired from the station earlier this year. The story broke on Saturday when FBI agents raided Mendte's home and seized a personal computer. According to an article posted on the Inquirer's website: " CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte opened former colleague Alycia Lane's private e-mail account hundreds of times over many months, sources told The Inquirer yesterday, and the FBI is investigating whether he passed on gossip about Lane to the media. In part, federal officials are trying to determine whether Mendte intercepted communication between Lane and her lawyers about her lawsuit against CBS3, which fired her in January." Mendte remains employed at KYW, but has been taken off the air pending the...

Our friend Tim Lones of Cleveland Classic Media has done a fascinating look back at some of WKYC's history in a new series of articles on his blog. They include some research on such forgotten shows as "Three On the Town" and "Our Man Mark" (PBS political humorist Mark Russell) - local talks show that partially replaced Mike Douglas in the early afternoon after his show moved to 9 AM from September 1965-August 1968.. Tim also writes a lot about the Cleveland/Philadelphia Swap in June 1965 as it happened...There are 4 or 5 posts based on newspaper articles of the day. Please take a moment over the weekend and visit his site: clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com