This was posted Thursday, January 5, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Karen Graham, who left Fox 5 in early September after 16 years, is starting a new venture helping the deaf.

She told the Atlanta Daily World:  “The deaf community has a special place in my heart, so I knew my next career step would fall in this area.  I am so excited to combine my professional experience with an extraordinary service for the deaf community.    There’s nothing like this out there.”

[She revealed details that night about a new TV news network focused on American Sign Language. Details here.]

What she plans to do relates to equal access to communications in American Sign Language. She has been an active advocate for the deaf for more than a decade.

Graham, who was with “Good Day Atlanta” from 2009 until early September of last year, plans to release the details on exactly what services she will provide for the deaf on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur.

According to her Linkedin page, “I minister to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing during church services and other events, I assisted the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in preparing for college and high school graduation, I interpreted during job interviews and I am the lead choreographer for the Deaf ministry’s dance team.”

This was posted Friday, January 6, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Former Fox 5 anchor Karen Graham announced Thursday that she’s launching an online TV network for American Sign Language users called Sign1News next month.

At her church Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, she said her for-profit venture will create high-quality national news programming for the hearing impaired. She will be part of CNN Newsource, which will enable her to utilize CNN video for her newscasts and also disseminate her network’s work to CNN’s 1,100 other affiliates.

While CNN is not providing funding, she said she has other unnamed financial backers who will enable her to start her network next month in Atlanta with six full-time employees as well as freelancers. She is currently seeking producers,  social media experts, reporters and anchors proficient in American Sign Language. (You can apply here.)

She will begin with two daily newscasts: one at 10 a.m. and one at 7 p.m. The programs will be available in a loop all day on her website http://www.sign1news.com. She hopes to eventually make it a 24/7 operation. For now, if there is big breaking news, the organization will also add  live programming as needed.

Graham doesn’t plan to be in front of the camera. She will serve at the start as an executive producer.

“I’m done” as an anchor, she said. “I have had 20 good years. I had a good time doing it. But all of my energy and focus and work right now is behind the scenes pushing Sign1News to the forefront.”

She said nobody measures how many people are deaf or hearing impaired, much less how many use American Sign Language. But she feels there’s enough of an audience to make her service viable.

And while mainstream TV news networks provide closed-captioning for the hearing impaired, the quality of closed captioning for live programming can be spotty at best.

“We are grateful that closed captioning is even out there,” said Aaron Shoemaker, executive director for All Hands On, an Acworth-based non-profit organization which fosters relationship between the deaf and emergency managers in preparing for disasters. “The deaf fought for that for many years. It’s better than nothing.”

But he noted that not only are typos rife in live closed captioning feeds, but the inevitable delay can be distracting. Plus, “a lot of subtext is lost when it comes to captioning,” he said.

The advantage of Graham’s network, Shoemaker said, is it will be in the deaf’s primary language. “The meaning of the news is not going to be lost,” he said. “The integrity of the message is going to be maintained.”

And while there are folks on YouTube that provide decent amateur sign language readings of the news, Shoemaker is excited to see an operation that will be not just professional but also available on a consistent basis.

Sign1News will offer news that is of specific interest to the deaf community as well as stories of broader interest, Graham said.

Karen Graham announcing her new service Sign1News on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

After her press conference, Graham said the entire venture remains “surreal” in her mind until it actually launches. This is her first entrepreneurial effort.

“I’m extremely patient,” she said. “I’m willing to take it one step at a time. I try not to look too far down the road. I have a lot of little steps to take in between. I listen to what my spirit is telling me.”

Graham began her TV career in 1997 in Charlotte before moving to Fox 5 in 2000 as a sports anchor. She spent 2009 through last fall on Fox 5’s popular morning show “Good Day Atlanta.”

She said she began thinking three years ago that this would be her final contract at the network and spent her spare time gearing up for this launch until she left in September. She said she pitched the idea to all the major news networks. “It was a hard sell,” she said earlier at the press conference. “It was a very hard sell.” She knew it didn’t fit the business models of most TV networks. Fortunately, CNN bit.

“CNN got it,” she said. The Atlanta-based operation works, she said, because it needs content from all over the world and requires these reciprocal relationships with other networks, especially in breaking news situations.

Graham said she had no connection to the deaf community “before God pulled me into it” in the 1990s.

At first, she took a few American Sign Language classes in college. Then she got drawn into the deaf community itself. “I was being called to speak at deaf institutes as an anchor. He kept pulling me and pulling me. It’s so beautiful. I’ve made life long friends in the deaf culture. I’m here because He called me to be here.”

Check out her full press conference here from Facebook Live:

This was posted Sunday, January 8, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

A victim of my own procrastination, I failed to report on a few radio and TV charity events I visited last month. Here is an overview before it gets TOO far into January.

For an incredible 26th year, radio host and on-line consumer guru Clark Howard collected toys for Georgia’s foster children.

The good news: his fans, via collections at local Wal-Marts and Sams Clubs, purchased 25,000 toys for more than 8,400 foster kids. (Each child requested three gifts.)

The bad news: that number is by far the most Clark has ever had to collect. He said the epidemic of opiate addiction has riven more and more families in the state.

“It’s our listeners and viewers who come and decide out of the goodness of their heart to open up their wallets,” Clark said in a Facebook Live video from the Milton Wal-Mart last month. “The only way this kid gets Christmas gifts is if you do it.”

Clark said the biggest challenge is getting donors to buy gifts for the older teens, who are most vulnerable and are about to age out of the foster care system. “They are on their own when they turn 18,” he said. “They are cast out.”

He said this was not his idea in 1991. A promotions person at WSB wanted to give gifts to kids in general. A year later, Clark took it over and it eventually became Clark’s Christmas Kids around 1993 or 1994, he said.

Clark Howard with Loraine Antonini and her grand-daughter Sadie, 9. “We came specifically for this,” Loraine said. “Just to help make Christmas special.” She selected gifts for at two-year-old named Tyson. Her daughter picked another nine year old girl. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

Alpharetta residents Ashlyn and Don Stallings came dressed for the occasion. CREDIT Rodney Ho/r/rho@ajc.com

Clark at the mic. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

The crowds that Friday afternoon at the Milton Wal-Mart were steady. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Don Fiechter, a Milton resident, had come in to Wal-Mart to buy dog food. He ended up buying a bike and action figures for a foster kids in need as well. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

Emily Malkin of Sandy Springs volunteered for Clark’s Kids for the first time. “I love this event,” she said. “I’m not a crier but this makes me cry.” CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

George Thomas works for Society of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, which helped coordinate the collection and distribution of the toys all across the state. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Karen Emory, the widower of Capt. Herb Emory, who passed in 2014, came by to support the cause. She continues to help out with a special Toys for Tots drive in memory of her husband in Douglas County. It raised $41,000 this year. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Kyle and Tonya Hackman of Alpharetta mentor emancipated foster kids so this is a cause close to their hearts. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Erin Burch (left) used to work as a producer for Clark Howard’s radio show. Mark Arum, talk show host and traffic guy, greets her husband Brock. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Mark Arum guest hosts with Clark Howard during the drive on December 9, 2016. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Mark Arum jokes with Karen Emory on air. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Clark Howard greets Ria Kotwani of Cumming. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

***

Here is a sweet Christmas Wish from Fish 104.7 that will make you feel good – unless you are the Grinch!

***

Power 96.1 may have changed morning shows last year but it decided to stick with its Stuff a Bus toy campaign toy collection drive started by Scotty Kay in 2014.

Here are some shots and a Facebook Live video I took from Atlantic Station of the new team of PK (Panagiotis Kalentzis,), his wife Denise and Terry J.

PK, Terry J and Denise in the stuffed bus. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

The Power 96.1 morning show husband-wife team of PK and Denise. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

***

Chesley McNeil, Vinnie Politan and Chris “Crash” Clark in Santa gear at the 11Alive Can-a-thon at Turner Field. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

Vinnie Politan interviews Rod MacKenzie and Mike Martin of Primerica, volunteers for the Salvation Army. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Finally, I stopped by the 11Alive Can-a-thon for the Salvation Army at a Turner Field parking lot.

Although while I was there that Friday morning, donations were sparse, people came out in force later in the day. Pick up spots were all over the city. In the end, 11Alive collected the most food since 2008, far exceeding its totals from 2015. The efforts were able to stock 13 food pantries for an entire year.

This year, 11Alive used Radio One radio stations (Hot 107.9, Majic 107.5/97.5, Boom 102.9, Praise 102.5) instead of CBS Radio (V-103 and WAOK) as supporting radio partners. Donations increased an impressive 27 percent with Rome residents being especially charitable.

2015:
Turner: 31,008
Cumberland Mall/Cobb: 40,392
Infinite Energy Center/Gwinnett: 55,041
Rome: 67,781
Studio: 26,452
TOTAL: 220,674

2016
Turner: 36,762
Cumberland Mall/Cobb: 37,128
Infinite Energy Center/Gwinnett: 62,724
Rome: 110,000
Studio: 22,200
Mobile/Online: 11,952
TOTAL: 280,739

This was posted on Monday, January 9, 2017 by Rodney Ho on the AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Esteemed 11Alive reporter Jaye Watson is leaving the station after 18 years.

She will become Director of Brand Awareness for the Emory Brain Health Center. “I will be doing much the same thing that I do at 11Alive which is to find compelling stories and then tell them and share them,” Watson wrote in a text to me today. “It was a position that was tailor-made for me and it’s a tremendous opportunity that I could not pass up.”

The Emmy Award-winning journalist made the announcement on her blog.

“I’m stepping back — but not entirely away — from this wonderful, insane, beloved career. It ranks as one of the most difficult decisions of my life,” she wrote today.

Watson said she was always unfailingly curious. Broadcast journalism was a way to fulfill that. But she sensed it wasn’t going to be the only way.

“I always knew that television would be one of the things I would do in my life, but I knew it wouldn’t be the only thing,” she said. “When I became a journalist, I learned that TV allows little room for anything else. It is a calling, a way of life, and the dedication it requires is necessarily staggering and gratifying.”

She’s also a writer and began blogging to help scratch that itch. But “it made my restlessness almost unbearable,” she wrote. “I have more in me that needs to get out, and there are a lot of ways I want to live my life in the years I have left on this wondrous planet. I want to be scared again. I want to be challenged and confused by what I don’t know. I want to stretch until I just about snap. The reality is, I am most comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s how I know I’m growing.”

She reviewed some of the great moments in her career then wrote this: “The bottom line is that I’m luckier than I deserve. I have nothing but gratitude for every great and ghastly TV experience of the last 24 1/2 years. None of it was wasted and I learned just as much as I could.”

Watson had an MS scare in 2014. My story back then. 

This was posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Just as so-called ‘Pizzagate” was dying down, evening anchor Ben Swann of CBS46 stoked the fires again yesterday.

In his regular “Reality Check” segment during the 11 p.m. news, Swann questioned whether the debunked rumor that Hillary Clinton’s campaign trafficked children through a Washington, D.C. pizzeria is actually “fake news.”

“I spent the last month investigating,” he said. He noted that “Pizzagate” stemmed from a Wikileaks release of  senior Clinton aide John Podesta’s leaked emails. Someone online thought his reference to “cheese pizza” was code word for “child pornography.” And away the conspiracy theorists went, seeking other code words that also led to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria. Later, a man came to “investigate” and was arrested after shooting his gun.

Swann shows possible symbols of child pornography that resemble the logo of a neighboring pizza place. He alluded to dirty photos on the Comet Ping Pong owner’s Instagram page and connections Podesta has with former House speaker Dennis Hastert, imprisoned for child molestation.

“Very strange stuff,” Swann concluded. “There is no proof there is a child sex ring being operated out of a D.C. pizza parlor. Investigators have already proven there is nothing to this story , right? Actually no. That’s what you need to know. For all that is here, there has not been a single investigation from local police, from the FBI, no one. That has to be the big question, not for Podesta or the pizza parlor owner of what may or may not be. The big question: why hasn’t any investigation taken place?”

Journalists have certainly tried. Snopes was unable to substantiate it. Ditto Politifact. Even Fox News couldn’t find any evidence.  The New York Times dissected how the story went mainstream.

The liberal media watchdog Media Matters wrote about Swann’s report today, which references Media Matters founder David Brock, who is Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis’ ex boyfriend.

Frank Volpicella, Swann’s news director, said he discussed with Swann at length his fact finding and sources. “I know he was meticulous with his search for facts,” he said.

Volpicella came to the station last summer. He did not hire Swann. Swann came in to the station in 2015.

As Media Matters notes, Swann likes to discuss conspiracies, having questioned the reality of Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings as well as issues related to 9/11.

On Twitter, a lot of outraged people are calling out CBS but this particular station WGCL-TV is owned by Meredith.

UPDATE: Several hours after I posted my story, The Daily Beast did a deeper dive into Swann, noting he had worked for Russian government-funded “Russia Today” before coming to CBS46 in 2015. The story also noted that Swann’s separate website Truth in Media “shares a contact phone number with a prominent member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a tax-exempt 527 political committee.”

Soon after 9 a.m. on Thursday, as the controversy has heated up, the story was removed from the CBS website:

Ben Swann joined WGCL-TV in the summer of 2015. CREDIT: CBS46

This was posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Ben Swann, who is taking the day off as evening anchor on CBS46, today retweeted what appeared to be a supportive Tweet regarding his “Pizzagate” story Tuesday night on the same station.

The problem: the Tweet is from @RepStevenSmith, who identifies himself as a Georgia congressman but is not. The entire Twitter feed is a spoof and has fooled many prominent people over the years.

According to Buzzfeed, “For the past three years, Rep. Smith has fooled some of the most prominent journalists and pundits in America into believing that he’s a real congressman, using a combination of guerrilla troll tactics, a Leto-as-Joker-like commitment to the character, and even a sidekick chief of staff account to help sustain the ruse.” His real name is Jeffrey Marty, a Tampa attorney who is fed up with all politicians.

Many people on social media today have been calling Swann irresponsible or worse for what they see as an innuendo-laced report that lacked any real independent reporting.

But there are plenty of supporters of Swann he could retweet such as:

CBS46 is owned by Meredith, not CBS. “WGCL-TV in Atlanta is not owned or operated by CBS. As such, CBS News has no editorial control over the station’s news product,” said Richard Huff, executive director of Communications for CBS News to TVNewser. A Meredith spokesman has not gotten back to me but told The Daily Beast that they are looking into the situation.

As of 4 p.m. today, Swann has not been punished in any way and I have heard no word of any tangible repercussions of anybody involved.

Ben Swann has been off the air the past week. CREDIT: CBS46

This is posted on Thursday, January 26, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Ben Swann, the evening anchor on CBS46 who created a social media firestorm last week after reviving the “Pizzagate” story, has been off the air since late last week.

There has been no explanation for his absence on air. His co-anchor Sharon Reed has been solo anchoring at times. Sometimes, Tracye Hutchins joins in, as she did Wednesday night. Internally, staffers don’t even know what’s going on.

He does remain on the CBS46 website so he has not been fired.

Neither news director Frank Volpicella nor his boss and GM Mark Pimental have responded to requests for comment. A spokesman from Meredith Corp., which owns CBS46, has not returned email queries or phone call requests either.

It’s very possible the two sides are quietly negotiating an exit settlement agreement with Swann, who joined the station in mid-2015 and is clearly still under contract. And given that the story was cleared by his bosses, their futures are questionable as well.

Swann did one of his “Reality Checks” last Tuesday bringing back the frequently debunked story of a pizza place in D.C. linked to a Hillary Clinton senior aide that was supposedly running a child prostitution ring there. He noted that there is no clear evidence such a ring exists but threw out a lot of online speculation and innuendo, then wondered why the authorities had not done a thorough investigation.

Oddly, the story, which he claimed to have spent a month investigating, has zero Atlanta angles. Plus, he did not appear to have talked to anybody who might be connected to the story.

On Twitter, he has been relatively quiet. He has retweeted a couple of items since retweeting a supposed support Tweet from a spoof site that pretends to be a state representative.

One noted how popular he became after the Pizzagate controversy went viral:

The other is unrelated to Pizzagate:

He has not posted anything on Instagram since the brouhaha hit. Ditto on Facebook.

As the Daily Beast noted, he’s a bit of a conspiracy buff and his website Truth in Media is tied to a Republican PAC. Plus, he did some work for the Russian-government supported Russia Today before coming to Atlanta.

Swann has his supporters  who like this stuff.

This was posted on Friday, January 27, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

CBS46 evening anchor Ben Swann survived last week’s “Pizzagate” story and will return on air on Monday, January 30.

He typically co-hosts the evening news at 5, 6 and 11 but has been off air since late last week. Sharon Reed and Tracye Hutchins, the other co hosts, have been covering for him while he’s been out.

News director Frank Volpicella told CBS46 staff at a recent morning meeting that he himself took responsibility for the “Pizzagate” story airing and told staff of Swann’s imminent return.

UPDATE: About an hour after I posted this story, Swann posted this on his Facebook page, which he said will be deleted on Tuesday:

Hey guys, everyone is asking if things are OK. They are. I will be heading back to CBS46 on Monday but there are going to be some changes. The biggest one will be that this social page will go dark f/n on Tzuday [sic], Feb 1. We’ve been building this project for 6 years and those who have come to know me.. I hope you have also come to trust me.

Volipicella and general manager Mark Pimental did not respond to requests for comment and when I tried to catch them in person at the CBS46 building in Midtown, I was told at 2 p.m. by the receptionist that they were not there.

Swann’s “Reality Check” story about Pizzagate aired on Tuesday, January 17 and recycled “clues” many alt-right message board sleuths thought revealed a child prostitution ring at a D.C. pizza place linked indirectly to a Hillary Clinton aide. Nobody has definitively pinned this down as a real thing and Swann wondered why there had been no official investigation. He did not appear to have done any independent reporting or even attempted to localize the story to Atlanta.

His video garnered the attention of Media Matters Wednesday morning. (He referenced Media Matters, since its founder once dated the pizza place owner.) I picked the story up soon after, followed by a few other media sites. But it only went viral when The Daily Beast did a piece which placed a tin foil hat on top of Swann’s head.

Soon after, Swann was taken off air.

The story seemed to be less targeted toward the CBS46 audience and more to his national audience on his separate Truth in Media website, where he often questions mainstream media’s take on various stories. Swann was hired in June 2015 by CBS46 but was able to keep his Truth in Media site, which the Daily Beast noted is linked to a Republican political action committee. The Daily Beast also noted that he had worked for Russia Today, a Russian government funded media operation, and a radio network that the Anti-Defamation League has criticized for featuring anti-Semites.

On his Facebook page yesterday, Swann posted an item about having to cancel fundraising for a story he was working on regarding ISIS. He did not explain why.

Hey guys, Ben Swann here… I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the ISIS video crowdfund. Unfortunately, we are not going to be moving forward with that project at this time. EVERYONE who contributed WILL BE REFUNDED THEIR FULL DONATION.

Swann has more than 428,000 fans on his Facebook page (and 74,000 more on Twitter). Naturally, this “cancelled” notice riled many of them up in the comment section:

Jeffrey Davisonthe pizzagate story riled up the elites enough to bring Ben into their sphere of threats, therefore Ben has now become a target to be oppressed, potentially discredited and brought under the reign of their leash of permitted news.

ryan WattersonGolly, I hope he’s not suicidal or anything. Journalists who expose things about the Left often end up suiciding themselves and stuffing their own bodies into suitcases. Instead of “cancelled” it should rather say “silenced.”

Karen LouiseI’m really sorry to hear this. I hope everything is okay with Ben Swann. He’s an American hero. The truth is dangerous business ask Julian Assange…

His “Reality Check” segments that have aired on CBS46 over the past 18 months range from topics such as Black Lives Matter to mass shootings to E-cigarettes. In his bio, he noted he began these pieces as a way to ponder topics in a way mainstream media normally does not.

Covering the 2012 Republican Presidential primary, Swann confronted problems in the American electoral process, the stranglehold of America’s two party system and the suppression of voters’ choices by mainstream media. During this time, Swann became the first journalist in the nation to take on President Barack Obama face to face regarding the Constitutionality of his “kill list” and is the only journalist to confront Mitt Romney about the railroading of duly elected delegates during the 2012 Republican National Convention.

It’s unclear if CBS46 will air any more of his “Reality Check” stories in the future.

His CBS46 bio does not reference his “Truth in Media” site at all.

This was posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

CBS46 evening anchor Ben Swann today blocked his “Truth in Media” website and dropped his primary Twitter and Instagram feeds, as well as his Facebook “Truth in Media” page, which had 427,000 plus followers.

But he hasn’t entirely disappeared off social media. He managed to keep a different Facebook page alive, one that only has 1,800 followers. The last time he posted on this site was January 17, the morning before he aired his “Reality Check” about Pizzagate which went viral and led to a week-long suspension. He came back on air on CBS46 this past Monday.

Swann was hired by CBS46 in June, 2015 as an evening anchor. He had been running his Truth in Media project since 2012 and his station bosses allowed him to maintain the site, which for a time included most of his “Reality Check” pieces he aired on CBS46.

Here was his Twitter site yesterday:

Here it is today:

He has fashioned himself as a bit of a renegade, someone willing to take different angles on new stories that most mainstream reporters wouldn’t touch.

Swann has built a fervent following in the alt-right world. In fact, his Facebook page under the name “BenSwannRealityCheck” is the one with more than 427,000 followers.

Critics have fashioned his approach as that of a conspiracy buff with The Daily Beast popping a tin-foil hat on his head. (That reporter also discovered ties between his Truth in Media site and an Republican PAC.)

Swann’s January 17 Pizzagate story, which was a resurrection of a rumor that a Hillary Clinton aide had run a child pornography ring out of a D.C. pizza parlor, questioned why nobody has done a full investigation while not appearing to do any independent reporting of his own. Plus, the story had no Atlanta angle and was clearly geared to his Truth in Media audience more than the CBS46 audience.

The story was seen nearly 1 million times on his Facebook page before the page went dark.

His fans cheered him on since he happens to be part of the mainstream press and gave that story sustenance by even taking five minutes of airtime to talk about it. And now they are wondering if there is (gasp!) a conspiracy behind all his pages disappearing.

The Truth in Media site, before it was locked from public view, posted a vast majority of the “Reality Check” segments he did for CBS46.

It was here:

Now it’s not:

It’s clear his bosses forced Swann to take down his social media accounts. But it’s unclear what the future of his Truth in Media project will be.

He actually warned his readers several days in advance that he was “going dark.” It’s possible this gave folks a chance to save a lot of his work themselves before he took the sites down.

This was posted on Monday, February 6, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Former Atlantan Carol Costello tearfully said goodbye Friday to CNN, replaced by John Berman and Poppy Harlow from 9 to 11 a.m.. Kate Boulduan is going solo at 11 a.m. with Berman’s move.

Costello watched clips of her from year’s past with goodbyes from many of her colleagues such as Brooke Baldwin, Wolf Blitzer, Don Lemon,  and Anderson Cooper. Even her husband Timothy Snyder shows up on video, thrilled they’ll be in the same city together, something that only has happened three out of their 13 years together.

Costello isn’t leaving the Turner/Time Warner family. Rather, she’s moving to sister station HLN for an as-yet unnamed show in Los Angeles. In an interview, she didn’t say what time her show will air or when it will start.

“I do know what the show will be,” she said in an interview last week in her just emptied Manhattan apartment. “This was very important to me. I’m from the Midwest – Ohio. I care about what happens to my people. I do think the networks tend to think about the coasts more. HLN wants to do a very newsy show that will focus more on the Midwest and Southeast, more on the people level and how politics will affect them. Will the president bring jobs to the Rust Belt. Will they help people in the ways they expected? We won’t fixate on one topic.”

Costello actually started at HLN when it was still CNN Headline News back in 2001 for six months working with Chuck Roberts in Atlanta. She then moved over to CNN’s “Daybreak,” then “American Morning” as a news reader and correspondent. In 2008, she moved to D.C. in the “Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer, the only time she was actually close enough to her husband to live with him while he worked in Baltimore.

But after he moved to Connecticut, she returned to Atlanta to anchor mid-mornings in 2012. For two years, she stayed in Atlanta before going to New York for the first time in 2014. Her husband was still in Baltimore at the time so that was manageable. Then last year, he landed a college presidency job at Loyola-Marymount in Los Angeles.

“I couldn’t handle the coast to coast,” Costello said last week in an interview. “We did it for a year. That was enough. I was just exhausted.”

For now, she said she has to focus on hiring a staff of writers and producers and do it quickly. She said the Los Angeles bureau is growing. Her former CNN colleague Michaela Pereira is already out there, airing a show that airs daily from 11 to 1 p.m. EST.

When I mentioned how HLN seemed to change strategy multiple times in recent years including an ill-fated effort to focus on Millennials, she admitted it was painful to watch at times. But she feels they have the right people in place and are “serious about winning. I do a very successful show now. I would not have gone to another network even in the family if I didn’t want to win.”

She notes that HLN – in a way that touches upon its Headline News roots – “whips through stuff. We won’t waste your time, at least on my show. We won’t carry hearings. We’ll monitor them.”

She hopes to have more “real” voices, fewer analysts and commentators.

Costello, aware of how divisive the nation has become, is able to block out the nasty comments on social media and focus on the good ones. “The people who have wonderful things to say don’t post on social media as often,” she said.

Last Friday, she wasted no time to see her husband. Right after her shift was over, she went straight to the airport.

And even while she’s off air before her HLN show starts, “I will write for CNN.com. I will work for CNN digital. I will do some reporting. They’ll be plenty to do.”

She enjoyed her brief time in New York. “I’ll miss the energy,” she said. “It makes you want to work day and night. L.A. will be much more relaxed. That will freak me out for awhile.”

Blayne Alexander leaves for NBC’s NewsChannel affiliate service in D.C. after six years at 11Alive. CREDIT: 11Alive

This was posted on Thursday, February 9, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Reporter and weekend anchor Blayne Alexander is leaving 11Alive after six years for NBC NewsChannel affiliate service as a D.C. correspondent.

Her final day at the local NBC affiliate is Friday, two days after Brenda Wood’s emotional retirement from 20 years at the station and 40 years in the news business.

Alexander, who regards Wood a mentor, said she will still be seen on 11Alive since her national oriented D.C. stories will be available to all affiliates nationwide.

“I’m excited about the new adventure,” she said after the party. “But I love Atlanta. I love this community. I really felt like a part of this place. I care about this city. Atlanta will never be in my rear view mirror. I’ll be back here all the time.” For now, her husband is based here so she’ll get an apartment in D.C. and they’ll split between the two cities.

“As a journalist, it’s the best time to be in D.C.,” she said. “There will be a lot of news to cover. It will be a new challenge for me.”

She starts her new job Feb. 27.

Alexander, an Oklahoma City native and Duke University graduate, began her career as a production assistant for NBC Nightly News in D.C. before working at a station in Augusta. She came to Atlanta in 2011.

This was posted on Thursday, February 8, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Brenda Wood wore all white on her last day at 11Alive.

She wanted  her clothing to convey brightness and hope for a day that ended up being the type of farewell most any long-time anchor dreams of having. She was able to leave on her own terms and close her time on Atlanta TV surrounded by friends she cared about.

Half of her final broadcast at 6 p.m. Wednesday night was focused solely on her. She got to co-anchor one more time with Jeff Hullinger, who was her co-anchor for a time at WAGA in the 1990s. 11Alive reporter Matt Pearl, who said he was inspired by her moral strength and purpose, aired a touching review of her time at WXIA. Several of her colleagues offered their best wishes, from Melissa Long to Doug Richards to Chris Holcomb. Amanda Davis, now mornings at CBS46, provided kind words. “My sister in the movement!” Davis said on air. Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young and playwright Kenny Leon also offered taped testimonials.

The party after the broadcast featured dozens of invited colleagues from Wood’s life. Fred Kalil, now at CBS46, returned to his old haunt. Former WSB-TV legend Monica Pearson was there. Others came by to wish her well including her two daughters Kristen Burke and Kandis Jackson, Paul Ossmann (former Fox 5, also at CBS46), Karyn Greer (formerly 11Alive, now CBS46), Kevin Rowson (now at the FBI), Russ Spencer (WAGA), Jaye Watson (who just left two weeks earlier) and former WAGA news director and Atlanta Press Club Hall of Famer Budd McEntee.

She has been the only anchor in town to do commentaries every day. Here is her final Last Word:

“It’s been privilege covering history as it unfolded, telling the stories from people of all walks of life, people who are compassionate and courageous, bold and wise and generous. Stories of visionaries and outliers, people who have inspired and grown and stretched me into a better person. I leave with a mental vault full of incredible encounters and unforgettable experiences. I hope that I was able to make someone else’s life better in return. This is a tough business. I owe my longevity to viewers who have watched me over the decades from Huntsville to Nashville to Memphis to Atlanta. All those viewers, all these years. That’s a blessing and I’m overwhelmed by your many kind messages and well wishes and honors from city and county and state leaders as I start a new chapter. Thank you. A huge thank you to all my coworkers, smart, dedicated, curious, creative professionals who have taught me so much.

I will miss you. All of this has given me wings to carve a new path, to climb new mountains, to pursue creative ventures outside of news. So I’ll be busy doing that though I am not going anywhere. I am staying right here in the ATL. Then there’s my family which is the center of my world and fueled me every single day to do my job. I’ll be spending more time with them including my precious and only grandchild Duke [a dog]. As Oscar Wilde once said, ‘Live, live the wonderful life that is in you. Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing. I plan to do just that. It’s been quite a ride for which I am eternally grateful. And now it’s on to the new. Time for me to say, ‘Brenda.. out!’ “

She then air kissed the crowd, giving an extra long hug to her co-host Jeff Hullinger. She then wished her replacement Shiba Russell well. Holcomb gave her huge flowers as everyone applauded her as the telecast ended.

And here’s Jon Shirek’s touching history of her broadcast career:

Here are a couple of Facebook Live videos I did while Wood was being feted:

I interviewed several people but I’ve had such a long day, I didn’t have time to post them. I’ll update this with a few quotes on Friday. For now, here are some photos.

Fred Kalil, Amanda Davis and Paul Ossmann at Brenda Wood’s going away party at 11Alive February 8, 2017. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Atlanta TV royalty: Amanda Davis and Monica Pearson flank Brenda Davis. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Karyn Greer and Matt Pearl. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Brenda’s almost empty desk the day she left. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Brenda’s desk note.

The crowd watches Shirek’s tribute, including copious amounts of video of Wood in her earlier days. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

She received a cartoon of herself with her male anchors at 11Alive in the past, joking called “The Pips.”

Chief meteorologist Chris Holcomb called himself one of her “TV husbands.” CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Veteran 11Alive reporter Bill Liss wishes Wood off. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

Bob Walker, the former 11Alive general manager, hired Wood away from WAGA in 1997. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ rho@ajc.com

This was posted on Tuesday, February 15, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Fox 5 Atlanta (WAGA-TV) recently adopted a future canine assistant named Max. The Fox 5 staff over the next 18 to 24 months will work with the golden retriever, who will hopefully become a service dog for a military veteran.

Through a Milton-based non-profit Canine Assistants, trained employees rotate as foster parents who take Max home every day. By being at the TV station during the day, Max will learn how to become socialized and inured to meeting strangers who visit “Good Day Atlanta’ regularly. Over time, he will learn skills such as opening doors and turning on lights.

Max came to Fox 5 January 17.

Constance Jones, morning host for “Good Day Atlanta,” is one of the enthusiastic fans of the program. She said other TV stations have done similar adoptions such as NBC’s “The Today Show” and the Fox affiliate in Austin, both last year.

“Needless to say, there are no shortage of volunteers,” she said.

Foster parents watch him for two weeks at a time. “He can learn to be with kids, learn to be with other dogs,” Jones said. She just moved to Atlanta last summer and moved into an apartment that does not allow dogs so she cannot foster. But she sees him every day.

“It’s fun to go to work every single day and Max is there,” Jones said. “Something about being around a dog is just amazing. No matter what I’m going through, there’s Max wobbling down the hallway.”

He’s also doing media visits, to 94.9/The Bull and “Dish Nation.”

Jones’ father served in the military for 25 years, serving in Desert Shield and Desert Storm at Fort Hood, so she feels connected to the program’s tenets.

She grew up in Oklahoma City and is acclimating to Atlanta. She lives near Piedmont Park and rides bikes on the Beltline regularly with her husband, an artist named Troy Simmons who specializes in sculpture. “I love the raw creative energy of the city,” said Jones, who has family in Montgomery, Ala.

He has his own Twitter page, too:

This was posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk

Fox 5 reporter Kaitlyn Pratt and News AM and 95.5 FM WSB host Tim Andrews got married on Valentine’s Day in Savannah.

Their marriage was even covered by the Savannah press since it was held at the Davenport House Museum, which holds weddings each year on February 14.

Pratt told WJCL she lived in Savannah years ago and always thought it was a special place.

“This is something we never really get access to, even when you live in Savannah,” said Pratt, “so the fact that we have an amazing memory and anniversary to look back on is great.”

“Kaitlyn loves Savannah and that museum courtyard,” Andrews said in an interview this morning. “It’s romantic. I went along with it because I like Savannah too.” Later this year, they plan to go to Puerto Rico for their honeymoon.

They dated two years. They met online joking around on Twitter, Andrews said. One day, he complimented her on a hat and soon, they were corresponding on Facebook. That led to a date and romance. This is Andrews’ first marriage, Pratt’s second.

Pratt joined Fox 5 in 2008. She worked in Macon and Savannah before coming to Atlanta.

Andrews came to Atlanta in 1996 and did promotional work for Z93. He also worked at 96rock and Dave FM off air before becoming part of the Regular Guys while at 96rock. He stayed with the team when the Regular Guys came to Rock 100.5 in 2008 but left after the team disintegrated. For more than a year, he did a podcast and worked with Eric Von Haessler‘s Sunday show waiting for a full-time job. Earlier this year, Von Haessler finally received an 11 a.m. slot on WSB’s weekday lineup, bringing Andrews with him.

***

Tripp West is recuperating from brain surgery. CREDIT: Cox Radio

B98.5 mid-day host Tripp West is recuperating from brain surgery he had last week.

Tripp West’s wife Jill posted this update on his condition over the weekend.

Tripp West continues to improve. He is feeding himself and oxygen levels are great. Today is the first day that all sedation is off- he is very clear headed. He will be going to physical therapy for about 1 1/2 weeks because he was inactive for so long. There is still confusion but as the meds are removed, they feel that will improve.

Thank you so much for continuing to check in on him. Our family is so appreciative of the love, prayers, and support.

***

Athens native Tituss Burgess gives homage to Beyonce in this promotional clip for the third season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

The show returns on May 19 on Netflix.

This was posted Wednesday, February 15, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Award-winning Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer is joining an NBC station in Washington D.C.

She will do investigative work for WRC-TV starting next month. WSB-TV staff was informed this morning.

She’s the second reporter in town leaving for D.C. in the past week. 11 Alive’s Blayne Alexander is also moving to D.C.. She will be working at the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service, which does national political stories for the NBC affiliates. Given what’s going on with the Trump administration, D.C. is certainly the place to be for news.

Fleischer joined WSB-TV in 2007. She had previously worked in Orlando.

“Her stories have led to laws being changed in the state of Georgia,” WRC news director Mike Goldrick told staff in D.C.. “Her work has received recognition from her peers in our business, including more than a dozen Regional Emmy Awards and the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont award from Columbia University, one of the highest honors in broadcasting.”

In 2015, Jodie was also honored by the FBI Director with a Community Leadership Award for a series of investigative reports which exposed Georgia’s legal loophole that encouraged widespread criminal activity by sovereign citizens who used fake deeds to steal foreclosed homes.

The resulting law change was the culmination of more than four years of reporting.

WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group. 

This was posted on Monday, February 20, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

After 18 months, CBS46 has dropped its daily “Just a Minute” commentaries, mostly from former journalists.

The commentaries have been moved to the online pages here and will be simply written editorials without the video component.

Among those who provided the final on-air commentaries earlier this month included former CNN and 11Alive reporter Mark Pettit, former Channel 2 Action News reporter Joyce Oscar, former CNN Headline News anchor Lyn Vaughn and weekend V-103 host Frank Ski. 

They had been airing on CBS46’s 5 p.m. newscast at 5:57 p.m. daily.

“We found in today’s politically charged environment some people simply were not open to a different viewpoint,” said Mark Pimental, general manager, in a text today. “We saw this tone increase in the run-up to the fall election and since. I think your readers who go on Facebook and the like could relate to the tone of the times being different. We got some great reaction to many of the commentaries and our team did great work expanding the discussion on a great many topics. We will continue to do that online. But now people can choose to read it or not.”

The first on-line only commentaries last week were by Angela Robinson (formerly WAGA-TV and 11 Alive) about local elections this spring and two that were posted with no bylines, which I presume was accidental.

This was posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Meredith Corp. has purchased the broadcast assets of Peachtree TV (WPCH-TV) in Atlanta from Turner Broadcasting System, part of Time Warner, which is being acquired by AT&T.

The dollar amount was not announced but it can’t be for that much money because Meredith’s press release said it will have “no material impact on Meredith’s fiscal 2017 financial results.”

The deal is expected to close by June 30.

This move appears to be a way to make it easier for the merger to happen with less regulatory review. (WPCH-TV is Time Warner’s only FCC-regulated broadcast station.)

Roger Entner, an anealyst at Recon Analytics LLC, told Bloomberg BNA last fall that it was possible Time Warner would sell the station to a third party, even if it has to do so for pennies on the dollar.

“Whatever that station is worth is immaterial in relation to the volume [of the deal],” said Entner. “Their toilet paper bill is probably more than what that station is worth.”

Peachtree TV is an odd vestige linked to the TBS SuperStation Ted Turner created in 1976 after buying the station in 1970. Originally called WTCG, that particular network was one of the first to use satellites to transmit nationwide. (More history here and here.)

Turner purchased the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and began airing the games, as well as wrestling, old movies and repeats of shows such as “Green Acres” and “The Andy Griffith Show.” It was a tough road but by 1981, the network was profitable and helped sustain the nascent Cable News Network. The network nationwide helped propel the Braves to become “America’s team.”

Over the years TBS aired thousands of movies, cartoons, classic sitcoms and dramas and wrestling matches galore. After Time Warner purchased Turner, TBS began shifting to a more traditional cable network model, dropping cartoons and airing fewer Braves games. In 2003, the network shifted entirely to comedies such as “Friends,” “Home Improvement” and “Seinfeld,” dropping dramas such as “Little House on the Prairie.” The new slogan: “Very Funny.”

The network in the 2000s tried some original programming such as reality TV (“Outback Jack,” “The Real Gilligan’s Island”) and sitcoms (“My Boys,” “10 Items or Less”), only hitting a ratings jackpot with Tyler Perry comedies such as “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne.”

In 2007, TBS was split into two entities: the national TBS cable network and Peachtree TV (WPCH-TV) as the metro Atlanta network.

The Atlanta Braves would only air on Peachtree TV while TBS began showing other Major League Baseball games. By 2014, the Braves moved to Fox Sports.

Since the split, TBS nabbed Conan O’Brien for a late night show, tried a range of comedies of middling quality (“The Bill Engvall Show,” “Glory Daze,” “Men at Work”) and found huge success running repeats of “The Big Bang Theory.” More recently, it hit a jackpot with “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” and received critical respect for edgier fare such as “The Detour,” “People of Earth” and “Angie Tribeca.”

In 2011, Turner handed off the day-to-day operations of Peachtree TV to Meredith Corp. in a lease agreement. Meredith also owns CBS46 (WGCL-TV) in Atlanta.

Peachtree TV nowadays runs a mix of judge shows (e.g. “Judge Faith,” “Hot Bench,” “Justice With Judge Mablean,” “Divorce Court”), dramas (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Major Crimes”), the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” sitcoms (e.g. “The King of Queens,” “Modern Family,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Seinfeld,” “The Middle,” “American Dad”), reality TV (“Pawn Stars”) and movies (e.g. “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Shark Tale,” “Collateral”) It also airs “Atlanta Eats” on weekends.

“We’ve worked closely with Meredith since 2011 and know they will be excellent stewards of WPCH-TV,” said Michael Marinello, SVP Communications for Turner, in a press conference.

This was posted Tuesday, March 7, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

It’s been a tough few months for Mark Harmon, former CBS46 sports anchor. In December, a week before Christmas, he lost his sports director job at Georgia Public Broadcasting. Three days ago, his house has burned down.

His wife Margaret last summer was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension and is on oxygen.

A golfing buddy friend Simeon Smith has posted a GoFundMe page for Harmon, raising $7,730 from 43 donors in 20 hours so far as I’m writing this. (UPDATE: After a day and a half and 16 hours after I posted this story, donations had hit the original $20,000 goal, which has since been upped to $30,000. More than 180 people had contributed and the page had been shared 880 times on Facebook.)

Smith said on the GoFundMe site that Harmon and his wife lost almost everything, including their 17-year-old pomeranian in the accidental fire at his Norcross home:

Two precious statues, including one of Jesus, survived the intense heat. All else, including their beloved dog, Buddy, was lost. They are heartbroken. They have their car, the clothes they were wearing that day, their commitment to each other and their faith. That’s it.

He said Margaret, who is just 57, barely escaped death. (Mark was not home when the fire began.) “A neighbor heard her screams and dragged her out seconds before smoke would have engulfed her,” Smith wrote in a follow-up email. “The following trauma was so dreadful that she literally still can’t walk without major assistance.”

Harmon described the outpouring of support as “overwhelming.”

“I didn’t know so many people cared,” Harmon said in a phone interview today, his voice breaking from emotion.

He thanked his golfing buddy friends, Tucker’s Holy Cross Catholic Church, as well as his friends at GPB who he considers family. Plus, random folks have “come out of the woodwork” to offer support, he said. “It’s so touching. There are people I don’t even know. Maybe I covered their kids in school. It’s amazing!”

Harmon is looking for work and a break. He began covering sports in Atlanta in 1992 at what was then WGNX-TV. It soon became the CBS affiliate WGCL-TV. Over the years, he has covered the Olympics, Super Bowls, the Daytona 500 and the World Series. He was let go by CBS Atlanta in 2009 when the sports department was disbanded and outsourced. (It has since been resurrected.) He joined GPB in 2010 and was promoted to sports director in 2012.

GPB recently dropped high school basketball, meaning there was no need for a full-time staff. Bert Huffman, vice president of external affairs and chief development officer, texted me to say GPB will ramp up again a part-time sports staff this summer in time for Friday night high school football.

GPB offered Harmon to return part time to cover football but he said he needs a full-time job to survive.

Mark Harmon at work at GPB. CREDIT: GPB

This was posted Wednesday, March 8, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Former CBS Atlanta sports anchor Mark Harmon is now employed, thanks to a local sports marketing entrepreneur who was already considering him for a job.

Vince Thompson, who runs sports marketing firm Melt, had been talking to Harmon by phone about a potential position. But after he saw my story regarding Harmon’s wife’s illness and his house burning down March 4, Thompson called Harmon this morning and gave him a spot in his company starting Monday, March 13.

“His story just grabbed my heart,” Thompson said. “I have been a big fan of his work, just being in the sports scene as long as I have. I knew he was a good man and good journalist. He has high values.”

Harmon was shocked but grateful at the same time. “He’s taking a leap of faith,” Harmon said. “It just blows me away. We’ve never even met face to face.”

A sports anchor and reporter for CBS Atlanta from 1992 to 2009, Harmon joined Georgia Public Broadcasting in 2010 and became full-time sports director in 2012. But in December, 2016, GPB informed him they had to let him go because the station was no longer covering high school basketball. He was already grappling with his wife Margaret suffering from congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. The accidental house fire March 4 stressed her out even more but Harmon said she’s doing better.

On Monday, two days after the fire, Harmon’s friend Simeon Smith posted a GoFundMe page for Harmon and has raised $25,000 so far to help Harmon pay for medical supplies for his wife and other immediate needs before home insurance kicks in.

When Thompson read about Harmon’s plight, he said it reminded him of Job in the bible. At first, he planned to contribute money on the GoFundMe site but then thought, “What am I waiting for? I need to do the right thing and figure out the rest later. He’s a great journalist who will make a great contribution to my business.”

He said he is advancing Harmon his first month’s salary upfront to help him out.

Harmon said he had met with William Pate, president and CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Pate passed Harmon’s name over to Thompson.

Thompson said he considers Pate a mentor and took Pate’s recommendation seriously.

The Alabama native started Melt, an independent sports marketing company, in 2000 and has grown it to 100 employees with 30 clients including Coca Cola, Caterpillar, Kia, Aaron’s and InterContinental. He specializes in college sports sponsorships for events such as the Final Four.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Harmon said. “I’ll be ready to go Monday. I told Margaret, ‘This is day four of the Team Harmon bounce back. We’re bouncing back!’ “

LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 21: Author/television host Robert Osborne poses for photographers during the book signing for his new book “80 Years of the Oscars” at Barnes & Noble located at The Grove on February 21, 2009 in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

This was posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Atlanta-based Turner Classic Movies is planning an entire weekend to honor the legacy of veteran host Robert Osborne, who passed away March 5 of unspecified health issues. Airing all day on Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19, the 48-hour tribute will replay many interviews Osborne conducted with Hollywood greats over his 23 years since the network launched.

He was the voice of the network and taped more than 50,000 introductions to classic movies, much of that time at Turner’s Midtown studios.

Among the clips:

• Alec Baldwin interviewed Osborne in 2014.
• A clip of Osborne’s very first intro clip in 1994 to “Gone With the Wind.”
• His “Private Screening” interviews with Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Betty Hutton and Ernest Borgnine.
• TCM’s annual “Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival” interviews with screen legends such as Peter O’Toole, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Alan Arkin and Luise Rainer, who was 101 at the time of the interview and without her hearing aids, a situation Osborne graciously worked around by writing each question out on a noteptad for her to read.

The complete schedule for TCM’s tribute to Osborne is included below:

Saturday, March 18

6 a.m. – Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

7:30 a.m. – Private Screenings: Norman Jewison

9 a.m. – Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

10:15 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Alan Arkin

11:30 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Luise Rainer

12:15 p.m. –  Private Screeniings: Liza Minnnelli

1:30 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

3 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Eva Marie Saint

4:15 p.m. –  Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

5:30 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Peter O’Toole

6:45 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Kim Novak

8 p.m. –  Robert Osborne introduces Gone with the Wind in his first-ever on-air appearance as TCM’s host

8:05 p.m. – Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

9:30 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Debbie Reynolds

10:30 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Betty Hutton

11:45 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Liza Minnelli

12:45 a.m. – Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

2:15 a.m. – Private Screenings: Norman Jewison

3:30 a.m. – Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine

4:45 a.m. – Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

Sunday, March 19

6 a.m. – Private Screenings: Liza Minnnelli

7 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Eva Marie Saint

8:15 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Kim Novak

9:15 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Peter O’Toole

10:30 a.m. – Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

Noon –  Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

1 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Alan Arkin

2:15 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Luise Rainer

3 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine

4:15 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Norman Jewison

5:30 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

7 p.m. –  Private Screenings: Liza Minnelli

8 p.m. –  Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

9 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Eva Marie Saint

10:15 p.m. –  Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Luise Rainer

11 p.m. –  Robert Osborne’s 20th Anniversary Tribute

Midnight – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Peter O’Toole

1:15 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Kim Novak

2:30 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Alan Arkin

3:45 a.m. – Private Screenings: Robert Osborne

5:15 a.m. – Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival: Luise Rainer

(All times Eastern)

***

Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Katie Walls is expected to return next week from maternity leave after having a son three months ago.

She posted on her public Facebook page: “In one week I’ll be leaving this cutie pie and returning to work. See you soon!”

She joined the news team in 2014.

***

Channel 2 Action News has beefed up its technology from its chopper so people can see street names as the copter flies over Atlanta.

It also allows real-time comparison using satellite images to show what a location looked like in the past versus what it looks like now. This can be used to show situations such as damage from a fire or flooding, or to show progress on new construction.

The station used it for the first time this week to show the area around the new Suntrust Park.

More details here.

And Mark Arum and Fred Blankenship Thursday morning honored the 20th anniversary of Notorious B.I.G.’s death this way:

***

Variety wrote an extensive piece about how IHeartMedia’s unwieldy debt is increasing the chances the company will have to file for bankruptcy protection.

They built up more than $20 billion in debt in 2008 after a private equity takeover just as the economy was cratering. Although the economy has since recovered, radio revenues have not come back to pre-recession levels.

And while IHeartMedia does throw off plenty of cash, it’s not enough to reduce its burdensome debt.

“They’ve got a ticking time bomb,” says Jude Gorman, general counsel of Reorg Research, which analyzes distressed companies, in Variety. “They clearly thought they had a path, and so they gave it a shot. It didn’t work out.”

IHeartMedia owns more radio stations than any other company, including Power 96.1, Radio 105.7, 94.9/The Bull and 640/WGST-AM in Atlanta. It owns 860 nationwide.

Bob Pittman, who started MTV 36 years ago, is trying to turn IHeartMedia (once called Clear Channel) into a digital powerhouse. While his app is third largest nationwide, it is well behind Pandora and Spotify.

***

Star 94.1’s is wisely trying to grab listeners away from B98.5, which recently took Melissa Carter off the air as a morning host: