August 26th, 2002

KING OF THE HILL AGAIN: King Harris is on top the heap again, as n.d. of KCOY-TV/Santa Maria (CBS) and KKFX (FOX) in the Santa Barbara/Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo television market. Harris was at KEYT-TV/Santa Barbara for a decade, as n.d. and anchor, and then he taught journalism at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, as well as serving as n.d. at KVEC-AM/San Luis Obispo.

KANSAS CITY, HERE WE COME: Debbie Bush is the new n.d. at KSHB/Kansas City, moving from WRTV/Indianapolis. Debbie still probably misses the oceantop view from KEYT/Santa Barbara, where she was a n.d. before her move back into major market television.

SPORTS MOVES: Bill Weir left his slot as the main sports anchor at
KABC-TV/Los Angeles August 16th, to pursue other interests. He did a game
show pilot for the USA network. Weekend anchor Rob Fukuzaki moved into the
top slot, with sports reporter Curt Sandoval now anchoring sports on
weekends. Former KABC (and former Fox Sports Net) anchor Todd Donoho is
doing a sports talks show on ABC's KSPN-AM (ESPN Sports) in L.A. KCOP/UPN News 13 now is doing a half-hour of news at 11, instead of its former 10 p.m. news hour. So, sports anchor Geraud Moncure is now gone, with the station's anchors handling a "Sports In A Minute" segment.

FROM TWO TO ONE: Former KCBS-TV/Los Angeles main weather anchor Jim Castillo continues to move up the rung. He moved from settle to L.A. for a little
more than a year, and now is at WNYW/New York. He'll certainly have a bit
more weather news to report there than he had in Southern California!

MEL'S BACK? No, we're not talking about the popular Sunset Boulevard
restaurant. Mel Karmazin could be staying on at media giant Viacom...the
parent of CBS, UPN, MTV, Paramount, and much more. Viacom boss Sumner
Redstone has made overtures about a new contract for the man who runs
Viacom's daily operations. Wall Street liked the news that Karmazin might
stick around, with stock prices moving up substantially over the news.

ROLLING THE DICE IN VEGAS: ANN STEPHENS is the new KVVU/Las Vegas (Fox 5) weeknight anchor. She had been anchoring at WPDE/Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

LIFE AFTER LA: DOUG FERNANDEZ is now KOAT/Albuquerque's evening anchor. Fernandez had been a reporter at KCAL/Los Angeles.

WHEN'S THE LAST TIME A NEW NETWORK AFFILIATE SIGNED ON IN CALIFORNIA? It's been a while, but it's happening September 2 in Palm Springs. KPSP will become the market's new CBS affiliate, taking over the spot on many cable systems now help by LA's KCBS-TV. In fact, it will be know as CBS/2, because that's the dial position it will have on cable systems. The market has had local ABC and NBC affilaites already for many decades. The new station will go after news in a big way, with a startup morning show, as well as 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts. Longtime KESQ n.d. Erin Gilhuly moved across town to head the startup operation. The primary evening anchor of the Orange County NewsChannel, Roger Cooper, will be KPSP's main anchor.

Other hires include LES KRIFATON, as Chief Meteorologist. Krifaton comes from the Canadian version of the Weather Channel. JOSH NATHAN has been named the weekend weathercaster for KPSP. Josh comes from the Colorado Springs market.

GOODBYE TO A FAMILAR FACE, AND VOICE: Bakersfield broadcaster Hal Laffoon is dead, following complications from a heart attack and two major strokes. Laffoon's was Mr. Broadcast News in Bakersfield during the 1960's and early 70's. He worked at all three major TV network affiliates, as well as radio
stations KBIS, KLYD, KGEE, and KUZZ. Laffoon was 79 years old. (Thanks to
Mark Howell, with KUZZ Bakersfield)

FROM SUNTAN TO SKI WEATHER: BROOKE WAGNER is leaving KSWB/San Diego to become a weekday morning anchor at KCNC/Denver..

FROM OIL RIGS TO LIFEGUARD STANDS: CHARLOTTE STARCK is now part of the reporting staff at KUSI/San Diego, moving from KGET/Bakersfield.

August 5th, 2002
BYE BYE: KOLO-TV/Reno n.d. Brad Brokaw has left the ABC affiliate. BIG PROMOTION: Greg Dawson is now n.d. at NBC-owned KNSD-TV/San Diego. He replaces Jim Sanders, who was promoted to the n.d. slot at the network's new owned station in the San Francisco Bay area, KNTV/San Jose.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Former KHSL-TV/Chico-Redding n.d. Bruce Lang joins IntelliWeather as National Sales Manager. IntelliWeather was founded by former KHSL Meteorologist Anthony Watts. It provides WeatherWarn E-mail and pager service and the NowCaster Desktop Weather application to dozens of TV stations.

A DOOZY FOR TUZEE: MICHELLE TUZEE is now anchoring the 4, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at KABC-TV/Los Angeles, taking over the slot created by Laura Diaz' move to cross-town KCBS-TV. Tuzee had been anchoring the 4 and 6 p.m. shows at KABC. Ellen Leyva moves from mornings to the 5 p.m., and Kathy Vara is now anchoring the 5-7 a.m. morning news block.