Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Mac Mahaffee Calling all Northeast Ohio singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and talents of all ages! The search is underway for new acts to compete on America's Got Talent, NBC's summer smash reality show. And for the first time ever, auditions for the hit NBC reality show will be held in Cleveland! That's right. On December 10, producers for the summer smash will be at the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland! It’s a great fantastic opportunity to meet the producers of the show and let them see your talent in action. Even if you have never auditioned for anything in your life, it will be a fun way to spend the day and have some stories to tell your friends. You can sign up in advance to audition by clicking here  and then selecting Cleveland. Can't make it to the auditions? You can always audition online at agtauditions.com .

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside. It's been one heck of summer for Cleveland with the Cavs winning the NBA Finals and the championship parade in downtown Cleveland, the highly successful Republican National Convention and now the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Channel 3 News has been in the heart of it all, and all of these events have shown how "Seeing the Possible" makes a difference to our viewers. For the next 17 days, you'll see coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro from NBC and our own Sara Shookman and Will Ujek who are in Rio to bring home a local perspective to the games. Look for their reports on all editions of Channel 3 News. We'd like to recognize several employees who have recently left the station: Gary Seawall: Engineering and remote and satellite operations Marlene...

(Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images, 2016 Getty Images) Can't make it to the Cleveland Cavaliers Championship Parade on Wednesday? You can watch it on WKYC! WKYC will be broadcasting the parade live on Channel 3. You can also watch a livestream of the parade on WKYC.com and on the WKYC Facebook page . The parade starts at 11 a.m. near Quicken Loans Arena. For additional photos and videos, follow WKYC on Twitter , Instagram and Snapchat. Follow WKYC on Snapchat by adding "WKYC3" to your Snapchat friend list. --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

The Press Club of Cleveland honored Ohio media with their 2016 All Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards last Friday, June 3rd. WKYC received a number of awards for the broadcast year of 2015 including the following: Best Television Newscast in Ohio First Place: Channel 3 News at 11 (WKYC Staff) Breaking News Series First Place: Ohio State Buckeyes win National Championship (Matt Florjancic) Online Story Telling Third Place: Domestic Violence: A Crime Without Boundaries (WKYC Staff, WKYC.com staff) Television News Website Second Place: WKYC.com (WKYC Staff) Online Feature Story Second Place: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame turns 20 (WKYC.com Staff) Third Place: Akron's Sina King of Queen of the Comeback (Matt Florjancic) On-Going Coverage First Place: Prosecutor "Called Out" by Family, Community in Tamir Rice Case (Hilary Golston) Public Service First Place: United Against Domestic Violence (WKYC Staff) Second Place: Hidden Hom...

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside. Hard to believe we are heading into June already and this summer means a very busy time for Channel 3 News with the Cavs in the NBA Finals in June, the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July and the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics in August. In the upcoming months, I will share a behind the scenes look at Channel 3's coverage of these events including the technical preparations that go into covering an event as large as the RNC. Channel 3 News will be offering extended coverage with additional newscasts during both the RNC and Olympics including additional newscasts and our Olympic Zone show at 7:30 pm in August. Once again, Channel 3 News was the most watched 11 pm newscast in the market in adults 25-54 in the just concluded May sweeps. Channel 3 News at 6 & 7 were number 2 in the ...

From now through June 14, the WKYC studio at Lakeside and East 13th Street is serving as a collection site for this year's United Way "Stuff The Bus With Books" campaign. On Friday June 3rd, we’re inviting you to come have lunch with us, and bring a book! The Nelly Belly gourmet pizza truck and also their “Cruise In Confections” dessert truck will be here at the station from 11 am to 2 pm. Bring in a new or gently used book suitable for grades 3 through 8, and you will get a free cookie. And every 25th customer will receive a free pizza. United Way is collecting the books to give to Cleveland students participating in summer learning programs. --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

WKYC General Manager and President Micki Byrnes was honored on Monday at the YWCA Women of Achievement Awards Luncheon and Conference. Micki received the 2016 Women of Achievement Award, along with the following recipients: Lee Friedman, Chief Executive Officer, College Now Greater Cleveland Kathryn “Kit” Jensen, Chief Operating Officer, ideastream Kym Sellers, Founder, Kym Sellers Foundation; television and radio personality Robyn Minter Smyers, Partner-in-Charge, Thompson Hine LLP – Cleveland Office Maryrose Sylvester, President and Chief Executive Officer, Current Powered by GE Nancy Tinsley, President of Parma Medical Center, University Hospitals Sue Tyler, Executive Vice President and Chief Experience Officer, Medical Mutual of Ohio The 2016 Women of Achievement Awards Luncheon and Conference marks the 40th year of honoring the most distinguished and notable women in Northeast Ohio. Congratulations to Micki on this well deserved honor. --- Follow Frank Macek on...

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 ...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Mac Mahaffee The Cleveland Indians and WKYC are once again teaming up for Weather Education Day at Progressive Field on Thursday, April 21, 2016. Sponsored by the Northeast Regional Sewer District, Weather Education Day brings thousands of students, teachers and parents together to participate in a pre-game weather education program, presented by WKYC's Weather Team, before the start of the game. Each student will be given a Weather Education Day workbook that is packed full of useful weather information and activities. Weather Education Day at Progressive Field has become one of Northern Ohio's premier field trips for school groups. The program begins at 10:00 AM and all participants will then take in the game between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners that begins at 12:10 PM. The on-field program is created and produced by WKYC-Channel 3 Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling. Kling, along with meteorologists Hollie...

The Cleveland Indians are back on WKYC for 2016 with the Indians Home Opener on Monday, April 4th. Our live coverage begins at 1 pm with our Channel 3 News sports special called "Tribe Time: Opening Day" live from Progressive Field At 3 pm, it's Sporstime Ohio's "Indians Live" with Al Pawlowski and Jensen Lewis. Then at 4 pm, the Indians take on the Boston Red Sox for the sold out game. You can join the conversation on Twitter. We'll have the hashtag to use during our live coverage. --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

By Tom Beres WKYC Senior Political Correspondent CLEVELAND -- It's a time of big events and important change in Northeast Ohio. At the top of the list is the looming Republican National Convention in July. But other key decisions are being made this year. Ohioans will choose whether to retain Republican Senator Rob Portman or replace him with the Democratic former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. Cleveland voters will decide this November whether to renew a levy for Cleveland's troubled, but improving school system. Cleveland's police department is in the midst of a federally mandated upgrade to make it more accountable, better trained and less prone to excessive violence. With so much happening, it requires more insight and perspective than what can fit into normal newscasts. The national events will have a specific impact on our state and region. That's why WKYC Channel 3 is reviving its political discussion segment "Between the Lines," ho...

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside. Just a couple of notes to add to the mix for this month of March as we get ready for Spring in Northeast Ohio. The February book is now a distance memory and once again Channel 3 News is the number one newscast at 11 pm in households, Adults 24-54, and several other key demographics. Channel 3 News at 6 & 7 pm ranked in 2nd place in the demos, as well as the Channel 3 News Today from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. Channel 3 has new room mates starting this week after Fox Sportstime Ohio moved to their news studios in early February located at the Huntington Building on Public Square. The Greater Cleveland Film Commission Team We welcome the Greater Cleveland Film Commission team of Ivan Schwarz, Seema Jayaswal, John Luteran, Tabitha Mensch, Meghan Newman, Raan Shalom and Laura Stringer. We ar...

Jasmine Monroe By Frank Macek WKYC welcomes Jasmine Monroe who is joining the Channel 3 News team from NBC affiliate, WFMJ-TV, in Youngstown, Ohio, where she was a morning show out and about reporter, announced WKYC News Director Brennan Donnellan. Monroe's first assignment will be an important one. She will be working out of our brand new Akron-Canton digital mobile newsroom as a multimedia journalist traveling to our southern counties with WKYC videojournalist Carl Bachtel to find great stories and to show how people in Akron and Canton are "seeing the possible." She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she attended Penn Hills High School. At the age of 15-years-old Jasmine knew that reporting was in her future.  Monroe continued her education at Clarion University and reported local news at the campus tv and radio station.  After earning her B.S. in broadcast journalism, she moved to Washington D.C. where she interned at BET N...

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside. January 2016 was a strong book for Channel 3 News with major gains in the morning and late night. Channel 3 News continued to be the number one choice at 11 pm. Starting today, we enter the February sweeps period that runs through the end of the month. Check out Channel 3 at the 2016 Great Big Home & Garden Show at the IX Center starting Friday, February 5th through Sunday, February 14th. More than 100,000 people are expected at the event and you'll find your favorite WKYC personalities and staffers at the show during the entire run. This year, we are at booth number 939 where you can register to win a $500 cash prize or 1 of 5 Fitbits. Your blogger will be at the IX Center on Sunday, February 14th from 2 to 4 p.m. Stop on by! WKYC Digital Akron/Canton Mobile Newsroom Channel 3 N...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog Nate Davis, USA TODAY Sports  The NFL announced Monday that NBC will join CBS and NFL Network for TNF telecasts during the 2016 and 2017 regular seasons. Thursday night games became a fixture in 2006 on NFL Network, which will continue to simulcast all games in the package, before CBS joined it in 2014. Over the next two seasons, CBS and NBC will broadcast five games apiece while NFL Network will retain exclusive rights to eight other games. CBS had produced eight games in both the 2014 and '15 seasons. “We are continuing to make Thursday Night Football bigger and better. CBS has played an integral role over the last two seasons in helping build Thursdays as a night for NFL football, and we're excited to have them on board again," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. “At the same time, we're thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of succes...

Jim Donovan Special to the Director's Cut Blog By  Matthew Florjancic Sometimes, all a person needs to do is dream. WKYC Sports Anchor Jim Donovan always dreamed of being a sportscaster like the ones he grew up listening to and emulating in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. And through the nurturing of his father and an intense drive to succeed mixed with a passion for sports, Donovan has been living out his dream for more than 30 years, a career that will be honored at the 16th annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards Thursday night. STARTING WITH A DREAM Donovan’s journey to the top of his profession started long before he ever moved to Cleveland. In fact, it started with a dream growing up in his hometown of Boston, where he and his father, Jim Donovan Jr., had season tickets to the Bruins’ hockey games, and a Christmas wish for a tape recorder. “At first, when they gave me a tape recorder, I was doing the games off the television set and I turned the volu...

By Frank Macek WKYC is celebrating its 15th anniversary at its state of the art digital broadcast center at 13th and Lakeside in downtown Cleveland. The building which officially opened for business in January 2001 was built just east of downtown Cleveland on the area known as Davenport Bluffs. Construction kicked off in late 1999 and would take just over a year to finish. During the end of December 2000, the station's technical operations first moved into the new building including master control and the main control room where all the newscasts were switched prior to the launch of the new studio on the Monday after the Super Bowl that year. The newscasts themselves continued to originate from the studios at the old building on E. 6th Street through an fiber optic connection to 13th and Lakeside until the end of January 2001. Since then, the technology has continued to be upgraded as the station transitioned from the standard SD format to high definition broadcasting...

WKYC is proud to be the first television station in the Buckeye State to earn StormReady Supporter recognition from the National Weather Service. A StormReady Supporter is an organization that has met stringent guidelines for weather preparedness. Businesses, schools and other non-governmental entities can earn the designation through a qualification process involving application, documentation and site inspection. Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling led the initiative. From severe weather awareness to safety plans, it ensures the organization's policies and guidelines help protect employees and visitors in weather emergencies. WKYC now has a newly drafted Severe Weather Action Plan, custom StormReady plaquards to identify each of the station's eight severe weather shelters and better communication with employees before and during weather events. Businesses, schools, and other non-government entities can earn the designation. Some of the other northern Ohio Storm...

TEGNA, parent company of WKYC-TV, announced today that TEGNA Media and NBC have agreed to a renewal of the affiliation agreements of all 17 TEGNA Media NBC stations (including WKYC-TV). TEGNA’s entire portfolio of NBC stations will now be under one common, long-term agreement.  TEGNA Media is the largest independent NBC affiliate group. “We are pleased to be extending our deep and longstanding partnership with NBC,” said Dave Lougee, president, TEGNA Media. “NBC’s content, from sports to news to primetime, combined with TEGNA Media’s trusted, innovative and impactful local programming is highly valued by our viewers.” “We are happy to extend our affiliation with TEGNA, NBC’s largest affiliate station group,” said Jean Dietze, President, Affiliate Relations, NBC Broadcasting. “We’ve had a strong, successful partnership with Dave and his team for many years. We look forward to continued collaboration to provide high-quality network broadcast content to complement TEGNA’...

Cleveland sports fans, have we got an app for you! WKYC's "Unleashed" is the first local sports app devoted to all Cleveland sports fans! Browns! Cavaliers! Indians! Local colleges and high schools too! Stats, scores, fantasy and more from Northeast Ohio's best television sports team. Download the FREE app now and you can enter for a chance to win a $500 Best Buy gift card! Just text WKYC to 25543 and we'll send you a link to the app or click here to see all available WKYC apps. --- Follow Frank Macek on Twitter  @frankmacekwkyc --- Click to watch WKYC's Jim Donovan explain the new app below:

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center at 13th and Lakeside. 2016 will mark the 10th year of the Director's Cut Blog that started as a little project back in 2006 by your blogger as a way to connect with those in the industry, the community and anyone else interested in what happens at Channel 3. Along the way, I have made plenty of friends, and some enemies at the other tv stations for promoting the great work we do here at WKYC - but it's all been worth it for me, now in my 22nd year at the station. December 2015 ended on a high note for Channel 3 News with another number one sweep of adults 25-54 at 11 pm. This marks one full year now that our late newscast has been the top performing newscast at 11 p.m. in the Cleveland market. Get ready for a new feel coming to Channel 3 News at 11 very soon. Pat Murray We say so long to Pat Murray, long time Director of Cleve...

TEGNA Media, the broadcast division of TEGNA Inc. and parent owner of WKYC-TV, today was named Station Group of the Year by Broadcasting & Cable. TEGNA Media was chosen because of its “outstanding group of local television stations whose leading reportage, ratings, financial results and strategic moves demonstrated its exceptional accomplishments in taking on dynamic market trends,” according to the publication. “This is a great accomplishment and we thank Broadcasting & Cable for honoring the exceptional work and commitment that takes place every day across our company,” said Gracia Martore, president and CEO, TEGNA.  “This recognition is the culmination of a terrific year for TEGNA Media which received many well-deserved honors. It also symbolizes what this company is all about. We deliver quality content and innovation that makes a difference every day.” TEGNA Media’s many highlights this year include: Launching a significant effort to transform content ...