Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Terrence Howard BEVERLY HILLS, California -- Terrence Howard is joining the cast of NBC's newest "Law & Order" spinoff.  Howard was born in Cleveland. Howard will play a deputy district attorney in "Law & Order: Los Angeles," rotating with Alfred Molina, who was previously announced as a prosecutor on the drama. Series creator Dick Wolf said Friday the combination of Howard and Molina makes him feel like the manager of the 1961 Yankees. Wolf said he now had his "Mantle and Maris," referring to sluggers Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Also joining the cast of "LOLA," as the "Law & Order" spinoff is nicknamed, is Corey Stoll. He's in the movie "Salt" and guest-starred in the original "Law & Order." "Law & Order: Los Angeles" debuts September 29th on WKYC, Channel 3. --- Source: The Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, California -- NBC says "30 Rock" is going live this fall. The network said Friday a live episode of the comedy will air Oct. 14 and will be performed twice so that both East and West Coast viewers get to see it that way. NBC executives told the Television Critics Association that "30 Rock" executive producers Tina Fey and Loren Michaels were approached about a live episode and were up for the challenge. Fey, the show's star and creator, is familiar with live TV from her "Saturday Night Live" days. Michaels created and produces the show. NBC has aired other live episodes, but this will be the first for the Emmy-winning "30 Rock," which is produced in New York. --- Source: The Associated Press

Jennifer Lindgren Jennifer Lindgren is joining the Channel 3 News team announced WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen on Tuesdsay. Rita tells us Jennifer will be working as a Multimedia Journalist with Channel 3 and has plenty of experience already. Multimedia Journalists are the growing trend in television broadcasting where a reporter shoots, writes and edits their own work across a growing number of on-line and on-air platforms "I’m one of a growing group of reporters who actually loves to shoot and edit my own stories," she tells the Director's Cut Blog exclusively. "It’s been a regular part of my job for five years now. I enjoy the challenge of photography!" Jennifer joins Amanda Barren who was recently hired by Channel 3 News as a Multimedia Journalist in June. She comes to WKYC from our Gannett sister station duopoly in Jacksonville, WLTV/Channel 12 & WJXX/Channel 25 - better known as First Coast News, where she has been a report...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Lynn Elber, AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES -- NBC might wish Steve Carell was just joking, but a network executive says "The Office" star has consistently told NBC he's leaving after this season. In the network's first acknowledgment of Carell's plans, NBC prime-time entertainment president Angela Bromstad said the actor's seven-year run as boss Michael Scott will end when his contract expires in 2011. Bromstad says it's not unusual for a "major movie star" to leave a series, and added that "The Office" is strong enough to weather the change. Carell first mentioned the possibility of leaving the sitcom in an April radio interview. Bromstad said the door was open for Carell's occasional return appearances as Michael. His new film is this week's "Dinner for Schmucks." --- Source: The Associated Press

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Olivia Barker, USA Today NEW YORK - Amid the whir of hair dryers huddle a half-dozen women chatting about Lindsay Lohan and Jersey Shore. Cases of makeup litter a counter, behind which sits Kathie Lee Gifford, wearing a Flashdance-friendly gray tunic and a crown of rollers, and Hoda Kotb, clad in black and fuchsia workout gear and expertly applied mascara. No matter that it's 8:35 a.m. on a Wednesday. "It's Winesday," Gifford reminds the ladies. One, a Today show producer, produces a tiny foam flip-flop that hugs the foot of a wine glass and lets an imbiber know whose stem is theirs amid a glut of goblets. Gifford studies the spongy pink-and-purple Chardonnay cozy, considering whether she and Kotb should discuss it during their on-air chat. "How truly elegant," she deadpans. "I never put mine down - that's the thing." Kotb's assessment is slightly more generous: "Oh, that is cute." ...

"The Investigator" Tom Meyer reports on allegations that the board responsible for disciplining mistake-prone veterinarians looks the other way when animal owners complain about the care their pets receive.

By Frank Macek As we mentioned several weeks ago here on the blog, WKYC had just lowered the old Channel 3 analog antenna and was in the process of rigging up the old Channel 3 tower to bring it to the ground. The old tower was no longer needed after we put up a new stick last year to faciliate our switch from digital Channel 2 to digital channel 17. This change was necessary because of the difficult time viewers had in receiving our over the air signal at the lower channel assignment. Many of you also know that WVIZ's digital antenna is now on our new tower, just above WKYC's antenna at the top. WKYC Transmitter Engineer Dave Kushman tells us the old tower is finally down and passersby will notice only a single stick up in the air at our Parma site. This officially ends a long era in our television station's history and the history of the old WKYC/KYW radio at 1100 AM which was also part of the same tower when the stations were under the ...

NBC has announced the premiere dates of its new Fall 2010-11 primetime schedule. Beginning the week of September 20, the premiere week schedule features the debuts of the network's highly anticipated new series - including "The Event," "Chase," "Undercovers," "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Outsourced," "Outlaw" and "School Pride." This schedule will be adjusted to accommodate specials and holiday programming. In addition, NBC again launches the NFL season with NFL Kickoff on Thursday, September 9 at 8 p.m. ET when the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints host the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game. "Sunday Night Football" and "Football Night in America" officially debut on Sunday, September 12 when the Washington Redskins host the Dallas Cowboys in one of sports' most storied rivalries. Following are the premiere dates for NBC's ...

Gannett (parent of WKYC) and Yahoo! today announced a local advertising partnership that brings together Gannett’s strong local media organization brands, sales capabilities, and leading website audiences with Yahoo!’s high quality audience and display advertising leadership. All of Gannett’s 81 local publishing organizations and seven of its Broadcasting Division sites will sell Yahoo! advertising inventory as part of Gannett’s local advertising solutions. As a result, local advertisers will benefit from expanded digital reach and audience targeting capabilities based on geography, user demographics, interests, and more against that expanded audience. In addition, Gannett will be leveraging the targeting and ad ordering capabilities of the APT from Yahoo! platform for local sales. This partnership will extend Gannett’s local media organization reach to cover as much as 80% of the total digital audience in each market. “This partnership builds on the strength of Gannett’s growin...

The Old Channel 3 Studios at E. 6th & Rockwell Avenue By Frank Macek The Director's Cut Blog has learned Tuesday evening our former studios at E. 6th and Rockwell will have some new life. Our partners at  cleveland.com are reporting that the Cleveland Law Firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP has signed a 20 year lease on the property. They will move in next year once construction is completed on the interior of the building which has sat empty since WKYC-TV left in January 2001. The firm will move 300 employees into the building and take up all 115,000 square feet and 7 stories. The law firm currently leases space in KeyBank Center at 800 Superior Avenue. Before WKYC moved into the building, the site was home to the East Ohio Gas Co. Good luck to the new tenants as our old home, with many tv memories, finally will have new life. WKYC will celebrate its 10th anniversary in our "new" ...

As part of our on-going project to bring attention to the plight of Lake Erie, WKYC-DT presents the sixth in a series of important specials called "Lake Erie: Beyond the Surface" this Saturday, July 17th at 7 p.m. on Channel 3. The disaster in the Gulf has spurred an intense passion to save our precioius waters and restore our Great Lakes with the greatest recovery effort ever launched. Channel 3 News Today anchor Mark Nolan takes a look at what is being done to help Lake Erie remain an important economical engine for northeast Ohio and how far the project will go to save our waters from threats from within and beyond. Join us this Saturday evening beginning at 7 p.m. "Lake Erie: Beyond the Surface."

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Larry Neumeister, AP Writer NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court has tossed out a Federal Communications Commission policy that can lead to broadcasters being fined for allowing even a single curse word on live television. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Tuesday found the policy to be unconstitutionally vague. It says the policy violates the First Amendment. In 2004, the FCC adopted a policy that profanity referring to sex or excrement is always indecent. The court says the policy "chills speech, because broadcasters have no way of knowing what the FCC will find offensive." The policy was put in place after a January 2003 NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show, in which U2 lead singer Bono used the F-word.

Betsy Kling & videographer Barry Wolf aboard Niagara CLEVELAND -- The Tall Ships made a return to Cleveland Harbor on Wednesday. This is the first time they have been back since 2006. Before they sailed into port this afternoon for the "Parade of Sail," Meteorologist Betsy Kling (pictured left) and videographers Barry Wolf (pictured right) and Steve Pullen boarded the flagship, Niagara, in Erie and sailed into Cleveland all night aboard the ship. It's an interesting tale that Betsy has blogged about our website, wkyc.com, and posted a ton of pictures about the experience. Click to view the story and photos

Channel 3 News' Tom Meyer was recently recognized by the Associated Press for the Best Investigative Reporting in Ohio as we reported earlier in June ( click to read ) Click on the video to see why:

NEW YORK -- The biggest television networks have a new record they'd probably like to forget. Together CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox had the smallest number of viewers in prime-time last week in two decades of record-keeping by the Nielsen Co. You'd probably have to go back to the early days of television to find such small numbers for the big broadcast networks. The first week of July tends to be among the slowest weeks of the year in television anyway, with families more engaged in barbecues and fireworks. The problem was magnified because July Fourth came on a Sunday, taking more people away from TV on what is typically a big night for viewing. It was a good week for the Spanish-language network Univision, fueled by their popular telenovelas. -- Source: The Associated Press

BURBANK, California -- Vice President Joe Biden is headed to Jay Leno's stage. The Friday appearance will be Biden's first stop on NBC's "The Tonight Show" since he took office in January 2009. He was a guest in 2007, and stopped in after he accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 2008. President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and White House senior adviser David Axelrod also have made appearances on the late-night show. Biden's visit could signal that he doesn't hold grudges. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Leno joked that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was going off script and making embarrassing statements so often that "her Secret Service code name is now Joe Biden." The "Tonight Show" airs on Channel 3 weeknights at 11:35 p.m. following Channel 3 News at 11 p.m. with Romona Robinson. --- Source: The Associated Press

The Tall Ships are back in Cleveland on Wednesday, July 7th and Channel 3 will bring you all the action with a live webcast of the "Parade Of Sail" on wkyc.com from 4 until 6 p.m. Just log on to our homepage to watch the majestic ships sail into Cleveland. The ships will be sailing around the breakwall and you can watch it all live from your desktop if you can't make it downtown in person. Then at 7 p.m., news anchors Monica Robins and Eric Mansfield will be live at the Port of Cleveland to bring you a special edition of Channel 3 News at 7 p.m. to get you ready to visit the ships which open to the public on Thursday. The special will be produced by Dan Stadler and directed by Frank Macek.

Michael Jackson's father, Joe, marked the one year anniversary of his son's death in Cleveland on Friday. While here, he stopped by the Channel 3 News studios to discuss his feelings on Michael and his family's loss. Our flipcam was in the room during his interview.

CLEVELAND - WKYC-TV won top honors for best evening newscast at the 41st Annual Emmy® Awards, Lower Great Lakes Chapter. The station garnered five Emmys and 19 nominations. The Emmy® is an award that recognizes excellence in media production for broadcast and multiple media platforms. It is the highest award given in television. The awards recognize outstanding achievement by individuals and programs broadcast throughout the 2009 calendar year. WKYC Winners include: Channel 3 News at 6, 11/3/09 Category: Newscast - Evening - Market 1-20 Carrie Young - Producer Project AED Category: Continuing Coverage Romona Robinson - Anchor Eric Mansfield - Anchor/Reporter Monica Robins - Anchor/Reporter Rita Andolsen - News Director Danielle Fink - Assignment Manager Kim Wendel - Web Reporter Hardball Cash Category: Business/Consumer Tom Meyer - Investigative Reporter Sarah Montgomery - Editor To the Moon: Ohio's Journey Category: Documentary Jeff Reidel - Producer/Wr...

Michael Greene (left) & Dick Russ (right) CLEVELAND - Veteran reporter Dick Russ (pictured right) and photojournalist Michael Greene (pictured left) won top honors at the 2010 Cleveland Press Club 2010 Excellence in Journalism Awards. Russ, already a Press Club Hall of Fame Inductee, and Greene won first place in the television general news category for their coverage of accused Nazi John Demjanjuk's forcible removal from his home and subsequent deportation. Former WKYC reporter Mike O'Mara and Assignment Manager Danielle Fink took second place honors in the television spot news category for their coverage of the West 89th St. multiple murders. The 32nd annual event was held at the Marriott Downtown at Key Center in Cleveland. Entries were received from a variety of daily and non-daily newspapers, radio and television stations, internet sites, and trade and business publications from across Ohio. Competition categories included: daily newspaper, non-daily newspa...

You just never know who might stop by the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Sportscaster, actress, host and model Lisa Guerrero was in town and popped in to have a quick chat with WKYC Morning Anchor Mark Nolan. We can't tell you just why, yet - but could something be brewing in Lisa's future? Click on the video to watch what she had to say.

Editor's Note: The following article is interesting about the introduction of 3DTV broadcasts that debuted last Friday with ESPN's coverage of World Cup in South Africa. I thought you might enjoy getting some first thoughts from our partners at USA Today - Frank --- Special to the Director's Cut Bog By Edward C. Baig, USA Today Three-dimensional TV is a kick. At least, I think so after watching World Cup soccer in 3D. I felt like I was inside the Durban soccer stadium, where Germany routed Australia, though South Africa is halfway around the world from ESPN's Bristol, Conn., headquarters, where I watched on an off-the-shelf 46-inch Samsung LED 3D TV. Especially on close-ups and replays, the 3D broadcast added depth and perspective that's impossible to duplicate on the two-dimensional TVs we've watched for years, even high definition. But obstacles remain before 3D goes primetime in homes, starting with the fact that new 3D TVs aren't cheap. The Sam...

The old WKYC analog antenna By Frank Macek Construction crews were busy at the WKYC Transmitter site in Parma on Sunday as they lowered the old Channel 3 antenna to the ground. The antenna provided our analog and original digital signal until the switch to all digital television one year ago on June 12th, 2009. A new tower was built last year to accomodate our move to digital channel 17 (from channel 2) and to also support WVIZ's new digital antenna. Analog Channel 3 was the official "night light" station in the Cleveland market and remained on the air broadcasting information about the switch until June 20th when the signal was turned off permenantly. Ham operators should finally be able to rest comfortably knowing that the interference caused by our signal on some of their amateur radio ham bands at 6 meters will not be returning according to WKYC Transmitter Engineer Dave Kushman. Dave tells the Director's Cut Blog that some wer...

Amanda Barren WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen announced Friday that Amanda Barren will be joining the Channel 3 News team as a multi-media journalist (MMJ). Amanda comes to WKYC from WSAZ-TV in Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia, where she has worked since January of 2006 as a reporter, anchor and producer for the NBC affiliate. Before that, she was an anchor, reporter and producer at WJET-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania; WTAP-TV in Parkersburg, West Virginia; and WOUB-TV/Radio in Athens, Ohio. Amanda is no stranger to Ohio. She grew up Bainbridge, just east of Cleveland, in northeast Ohio. She also attended Ohio University in Athens and received her Bachelor of Science degree from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in June 2002. She tells the Director's Cut Blog, "I am truly excited to come home and do the job that I love, at the station I grew up watching! Getting back to Cleveland has always been my goal, and now it’s my reality. I look forward to tellin...

Here's another one of those fun, behind the scenes adventures of television news people in case you haven't seen it. NBC's Flint, Michigan affiliate WEYI had an unexpected guest drop by the set of their live newscast this morning. The morning show team heard some noise coming from behind the set and quickly found the source was "Rusty" the raccoon. News anchor Elizabeth McFarland watched on as weatherman Brian Hughes, wearing oven mitts borrowed from a cooking segment, shooed Rusty away. At first the raccoon actually went further into the building, but after about 20 minutes, Rusty finally made it out safely. ">

On Monday, June 14th, WKYC will air a "Moms Like Me" special broadcast at 5 pm in place of Dr. Phil - a show dedicated to topics from our highly popular website cleveland.momslikeme.com , just for northeast Ohio moms. Hosted by Channel 3 News anchor Romona Robinson, the show will feature reports from Monica Robins, Kim Wheeler, Maureen Kyle, Dick Russ and "Moms Like Me" Site Manager Jacquie Chakirelis talking about everything from sunscreen to coupons, things to do with the kids through the summer months, how to avoid work at home scams and where the best consignment stores are to shop. Plus, Romona sits down for a one-on-one interview with sassy WZAK/93.1 DJ Kym Sellers, and her very private struggle with multiple sclerosis. The disease hasn't stopped Kym although she can no longer walk, but she continues her very busy schedule. WKYC Meteorologist Betsy Kling will talk about her blog on "Moms Like Me", her daughter Josie, and how to...

Congratulations to WKYC's Tom Meyer, The Investigator , who was honored with two #1 finishes in the Ohio Associated Press Broadcaster's contest for Best Investigative Reporting and Best Continuing Coverage for 2009. Tom's 1st place entries include: Best Investigative Reporting for "Pills without Penalties" - This was a 2-part investigation into the Ohio Pharmacy board and how it fails to discipline pharmacists, even if those mistakes prove to be deadly. Best Continuing Coverage for 28 stories on Cuyahoga County Corruption - Tom's coverage included 14 stories that were exclusive stories and the result of our own investigations.

By Frank Macek As you have likely read, the push is on by the major broadcasting groups to get the mobile digital television business up and running as quickly as possible. For companies like Gannett, WKYC's parent, the push is a very important one to help ensure television and electronic media's long term viability in whatever form it can be delivered. This not only includes traditional forms of content being available over the air, on cable, satellite, in newspapers on on the internet, but also having material available on mobile devices for consumers to take anywhere. In April of this year, 12 major TV station groups created the Mobile Content Venture (MCV) to develop a plan that is sustainable and profitable for a new national mobile content service by utilizing existing broadcast spectrum to enable member companies to deliver content to mobile devices, including live and on-demand video, local and national news from print and ...

The Old Brooklyn Cub Scout Troop 45 visited the Channel 3 studios on Wednesday evening as they fulfilled their requirements to get a merit badge. Your Director's Cut Blogger was happy to give them a tour of the station, as they enjoyed a behind the scenes look and watched Channel 3 News at 7 pm from the control room. Betsy Kling grabbed the flipcam as we had a little fun. If you are part of a group who would like a tour of Channel 3, you can contact me at fmacek@wkyc.com Individuals are welcomed also, as time allows. Click on the video to watch what Betsy shot:

WKYC was presented a special award from the Salvation Army of Greater Cleveland Thursday evening at the Bertram Inn & Conference Center in Aurora for our ongoing support of the organization. The award was given to the station at its annual fundraising dinner. WKYC Vice President and General Manager Brooke Spectorsky and his wife, Micki Byrnes, Vice President of Marketing and Promotions for WKYC, accepted the award on behalf of the station. The Salvation Army continues to see the need grow for its services which include emergency food and utility assistance.