Jenn Dombrowski has left KFOX-TV Channel 14 (cable Channel 8). Dombrowski had worked KFOX's Las Cruces bureau for two years. Sources at the station said Dombrowski left on her own terms and will take some time off before deciding what to do next.
KFOX moved quickly to replace her. Their web site already lists new reporter Phil Anaya as the Las Cruces reporter.
Over here at Media Buzz, we're often reporting on the troubles of stations like KDBC, or wondering if Newspaper Tree has finally shut down.
But honest and true discourse requires we also point out that MediaNews Group, the parent company of the El Paso Times, has troubles of its own.
Rumors were rampant today that MediaNews Group might declare bankruptcy. This article out of Minnesota pushed the rumor, and the article breaks down the large debt load of MediaNews Group.
But later today, MediaNews Group put out a news release saying the bankruptcy rumors were not true. An excerpt:
Though the large debt load is troubling, MediaNews leaders believe it is manageable. And the El Paso Times, in particular, is still doing well, despite the national economic recession.
In other media buzz today, the former owner of the El Paso Times, Gannett, had this bad news come out: Gannett to cut 1,400 jobs in new round of cuts.
The Lionstar is branching out to TV.
A trailer for a new TV show he is hosting is below. It appeared on Sunday on Time Warner cable channel 15, and a recent news release says the show will be available in its entirety with the launch of ElPasoHotSpots.com in July.
The team is taping episode two on Wednesday and is hoping El Pasoans will come out to watch it live. From the release:
You'll probably never live your dream of being called down during a taping of The Price is Right, so you might as well show up to this instead.
I attended the National Association of Hispanic Journalists annual convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last week and -- as always -- I ran into many, many old friends. The convention is normally packed with journalists from throughout the country and dozens of people who have at one point worked here in El Paso. This year, though, the convention was a little bit smaller due to the economic hardships that the country and the news media industry are experiencing.
Still, I ran into several people. Here's an update of what are they doing:
*Noma Garcia and I went to UTEP together and early on she began anchoring the news at KINT-TV Channel 26. After graduating from UTEP, Norma left El Paso to try her luck in Chicago and then California. She now works for Telemundo in Dallas. She says she loves her job and was happy to hear about the Socorro Bulldogs winning the state baseball championship (she's an alumna).
*Rebecca Medina, a Miami native, spent several years at KDBC-TV Channel 4 as a reporter. She left for a job in Tennessee but is now working for the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Fla. Rebecca told me she misses El Paso and would consider coming back to anchor or do special projects in the future. She also told me that she was saddened at the hardships her old station is experiencing and sent her love and support to her friends at Channel 4.
*I also met into Sergio Urquidi, the former weekend anchor of the national Univision newscast. I didn't know this, but Urquidi is a Juarez native who graduated from UTEP in the early 1990s. We talked about how tragic the violence in Juarez has become (he was just across the border in the spring to visit his parents, he said) and how much UTEP has changed since he was there.
*People may remember Mekahlo Medina as a reporter and weekend anchor at KTSM-TV channel 9 in the late 1990s. Since then, Mekahlo has landed himself a sweet gig as anchor of an online newscast for the NBC station in Los Angeles called "News Raw." Mekahlo is an awesome journalist and for the last decade or so he has volunteered his time to help future reporters in the NAHJ student projects during the convention.
*Speaking of student projects, El Noticiero is the student version of a newscast during the convention. It's a student-produced show that gives convention-goers news from throughout the region and features on our host city. There are dozens of talented students from throughout the country that participate and UTEP has always been featured prominently. This year, UTEP was at the forefront. Adriana Gomez Licon, who graduated from UTEP last month and was an El Paso Times intern, was picked as one of the anchors. She did great, by the way, especially since her degree is not in broadcasting but rather print media.
In case you are interested, here's a link to the full El Noticiero, in which Adriana serves as anchor. Well done, Adriana! And Go Miners!
I was out of town over the weekend but I did get several emails asking if Newspaper Tree had folded and ceased publication. The questions arose after the site went offline during the weekend. Typing in the NPT address would have gotten you to a failure notice.
Well, NPT is back. And to explain what happened, editor in chief Sito Negron sent out a mass email saying the "embarrassing" incident came after NPT failed to receive a notice of renewal for their domain address. Basically, NPT didn't get its Web site bill and thus its "water" was turned off.
Sito didn't give many details in his email about the incident, but he did say that NPT has enemies that would like to see them fail at trying to bring news about corruption to the people of El Paso.
KDBC-TV Channel 4 (cable Channel 3) announced today on its Web site that it is making programming changes that include the cancellation of its weekday 6 p.m. newscast. The announcement doesn't say why the troubled station is making the changes.
The new line-up shifts the 5 p.m. cast to 5:30 p.m. and forgoes the 6 p.m. cast for episodes of Jeopardy! Instead of the 5 p.m. show, viewers will now see the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, which previously showed at 5:30 p.m.
The changes take effect today.
Officials at KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6) announced today that a new weekend sports anchor will start work on June 20. Paul Cicala of KESQ in Palm Springs, Calif., will replace Autumn Sam, who left the station last month.
Cicala was the sports director at KESQ, and he previously worked in Las Vegas and Tucson. His first job was at FOX Sports in Los Angeles. A press release indicates that he is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
The same press release also announced the hiring of Jorge Torres as a weather forecaster to replace Amber Sullins. Torres has been on the air for a couple of weeks now. He started doing morning weather during the weekend, but has now moved on to the Good Morning El Paso weekday weather spot.
I was originally not going to blog about this out of principle since the El Paso Times was not invited to participate, but I'm going to swallow my pride and talk about the good work that the TV folks did this weekend.
Four stations: KDBC (Channel 4), KVIA (Channel 7), KTSM (Channel 9) and KFOX (Channel 14) participated in a media softball tournament on Sunday at Cohen Stadium. Admission to the event was a canned-food item for the West Texas Food Bank. More than 750 pounds of food were donated.
So in the first round of competition KVIA defeated KDBC to advance to the final. In the other side of the bracket, KTSM defeated KFOX.
The final was brutal. In the end, KTSM defeated KVIA 11 runs to 10.
I don't have complete rosters, but I know these reporters and anchors participated: Trevor Connor, Ken Molestina, Ashlie Hardaway, Marissa Monroy, Chester Lampkin, Adrienne Alvarez, Beau Bagley, Daniel Novick, Israel Balderas, Sandra Diaz, Dave Speelman, Jorge Torres, Jessica Moran, Robert Bettes, Ramon Herrera, Martina Valverde and a new KFOX reporter named Phil Anaya.
The city of El Paso this week announced that a new public affairs coordinator (read: spokeswoman) had been hired to handle Sun Metro issues. The new spokeswoman is Laura Curz-Acosta, a former staff writer for the El Paso Times who covered Fort Bliss and the county during her tenure with the paper.
Laura who until last month worked as a writer and spokeswoman for the University of Texas at El Paso, is a graduate of New Mexico State University.
She had to hit the ground running in her new position, too. The city had the first of three major community meetings on the bus rapid transit system on Tuesday, her second day on the job.
With KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6) missing forecaster Amber Sullins in the morning and noon shows, the question is: Who will replace her? Andrew Chung has been filling in, but according to some Facebook updates he is not itching to take the morning spot, which would require him to start his day at 4 a.m.
The same chatter on Facebook states that KVIA is grooming a recent Texas A&M graduate to take over for Sullins. His name is Jorge Torres and he will start getting his feet wet starting this weekend. Not sure if he'll do the morning or prime-time shows.
In another Facebook update, former KFOX-TV Channel 14 (cable Channel 8) morning anchor Elizabeth Alvarez announced she and her husband, José Escobar are expecting ... and it's a boy! Alvarez, a SoCal native, is now an anchor/reporter for the Fox affiliate in Orlando, Fla. Congratulations, Elizabeth!
This one is not from Facebook, but rather from Twitter. My friend Jeorge Zarazua, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News says a hip-hop station in San Antonio changed formats today. Power 106 will now be called Santa 106 ... a station that plays nothing but Christmas music year round. I can't make this up, people.
Recent Comments