Lots of new faces

 Media Buzz has been busy reporting lots of departures recently. Of course, that means that there are loads of new faces on local newscasts. No official notices have been sent in regarding the new hires at each of the stations featuring new faces, but it's not hard to figure out that a new batch of young reporters are here.

At KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6) there is a new reporter and a new weather forecaster. The station recently lost weekend morning anchor Abe Lubetkin and weather guy Andrew Chung. Presumably to replace them are two new people: reporter Gaby Loria and forecaster Jennifer Myers. We're still waiting for an official notice from KVIA on the new hires and we'll share whatever background information we can about these two new faces on Channel 7. We do know that Loria is a Miami native and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, for which she had the distinction of being a student anchor during the 2009 national convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Perhaps the most new TV faces are on KTSM-TV Channel 9 (cable Channel 10)/KDBC-TV Channel 4 (cable Channel 3). The sister stations have at least four new reporters, which they are labeling as multimedia journalists because they are mostly shooting their own video. The stations have had their share of recent departures (Nichole Ayoub, Melanie Olivas, Trevor Connor, Ramon Herrera and Russ Papas) and that means loads of new faces on the two oldest stations in town.

The new reporters on the Channel 9/Channel 4 combo are Alexa Helms, Lindsey Reiser, Eric Fink and Matt Rivers. They are all on air now and posting stories to the stations' webpages. They join recent hires Anthony Garcia and Phillip Mena.

Again, not much information has been provided, but we can tell you that Mena is a local guy who graduated from Montwood High School and went to college at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Also, Helms is a Dallas native who graduated from Oklahoma University. Don't let the last name fool you. Helms is a Latina and fluent in Spanish. This is her first reporting job out of college.

One new face on KFOX-TV Channel 14 (cable Channel 14) is Kandolite Flores. She's beeing doing the morning traffic reports for several weeks now. You can read her bio on the KFOX website here.

This last one is not necessarily a new face, but rather the return of a familiar one. Former KVIA News Director Eric Huesby is back at the station. We don't know exactly what his new role at the station is (News Director Brenda de Anda-Swann is still in charge at ABC 7) but he has been making appearances on air with some in-depth stories.

Gaby Loria

Jennifer Myers

Alexa Helms

Lindsey Reiser

Eric Fink

Matt Rivers

Kandolite Flores 

Comments

[Blago]

My, oh my, where to begin? It's quite an array of hotties on the page but when you see them on the air, they're not nearly so attractive. Take Jen Myers, for instance. She has a curly do now that makes her look like a barbarian in some ways. Her eyes also looked a little beady on the air at noon. I'll wait and comment on the other fine women until I have a chance to really scrutinize them. However, I am so excited for Eric Huseby to be back on the air. I've always admired him after meeting his first wife, Nancy. His expose last week on the health care debacle was first rate. He blew the lid off of all the misconceptions and went straight to the horse's mouth to show how doctors are suffering terribly under the new legislation.

[epnuzguy]

Wow, this post was comment-free for almost 12 hours before reading the blather that Blago spews. I thought it would be much sooner but I guess he needed time to compose his thoughts (a term I use very loosely). Of course we'll never see a picture of Blago to determine whether his hair makes him look like a barbarian or whether he has beady eyes. If looks are the only thing that determine whether you watch someone on a newscast Blago, stick to reading the newspaper.

[gayboy]

None of these newbies come close to matching the sexiness of one Raul Martinez - KVIA's hunk of man-meat.

[Blago]

I don't need to compose my thoughts as they are always floating through my transom. However, I do need to compose my words so as to carefully and delightfully express the wonderment I constantly experience when watching the local news. My hair, since you ask, is a soft chestnut with auburn highlights, although the number of true colors in my lettuce approaches the dozens. I assure you I look completely civilized and cultured. My eyes are a deep blue and not beady in any way, shape or form. You can see my photo of facebook if that would appease your curiosity. I do read the newspaper too, although I greatly prefer the motion picture medium so as to see the gentle bounce of the gorgeous women who deliver the news, weather and whatnot. Finally, if you're having a problem with looseness, I suggest something over the counter. I'd tell you what I use when I have problems with my bowls but I can't remember the name.

[honest abe]

I heard Eric Huesby is a hack who had to beg for his job back. He's awful. I hope the new people don't get advice from him.

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

Holy mama at Alexa Helms. I'll watch that station just for her.

[Willard Shmekel]

Kandolite Flores is totally horrible. What in the hell was KFOX management thinking when they hired this train wreck? She speaks 90 miles an hour and fails to enunciate. Did she actually graduate from UTEP with a degree in communication? Tell me it ain't so.

[Jennifer]

"Don't let the last name fool you. Helms is a Latina and fluent in Spanish."

This was unnecessarily racial, don't you think? I would say "racist", but it's clear most people here don't understand the meaning.

[FlyOnTheWall]

What is KFOX's management EVER thinking? C'mon guys that place is a cess-pool...they just got another cheap maggot to keep the O'Hara chain of losers going.

[whatever stupid]

What is KFOX's management EVER thinking? C'mon guys that place is a cess-pool...they just got another cheap maggot to keep the O'Hara chain of losers going.

KFOX is probably thinking, "Thank God we didn't hire that loser FlyOnTheWall! His sentence structure, grammar, and general grasp of the English language is atrocious!"

[jordan retro 1]

Lying disguises our mortality, our inadequacies, our fears and anxieties, our loneliness in the midst of the crowd. We yearn for the comfort of familiar lies to create a more amenable reality.What do you think?

[John T]

Obviously KDBC/KTSM is hiring solely based on looks and not talent. After watching this weekends "Local 4" newscast I can honestly say I have never seen a worse series of newscasts in my life. The management of KDBC/KTSM has done a great job of turning what was once a watchable newscast into something equal to a high school production. Poor writing, stories running out of order and weak reporting are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. KDBC ex-employees have found their way to markets like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas and even Los Angeles after leaving News 4, but that's not in the future of this group. Through no fault of their own, they just accepted the job after it was offered to them, they are helping to turn El Paso into a starters market. I guess the big question before us is will I continue watching KDBC? Of course I will. A group of friends, some adult libations and a challenge to "do a shot" with every mistake should make for an enjoyable and quite intoxicating evening.

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

I applaud John T's post.

[Sean Paisano]

Is Channel 9-KTSM-trying out a new new's format. I saw where they had two female anchors (three actually if you include the male "straight" anchor) and the male anchor reporting the news? Anyone know what's going on over there. Please let me know since (if we haven't already) we're probably going to be voted the "LESS ATTENTIVE CITY" in the nation and I can't really keep-up with all that many people "reporting" the news to me, though I will say that Lindsey Reiser is HOT!!!

[WyoDan]

I HATE the new trend of using these so-called 'multimedia journalists' or the overused term 'MoJo' who do their own shooting and editing. The quality of broadcast news just continues to sink. Not only are these distractions from writing and news gathering, the art of photojournalism and editing is becoming a dying breed. It's unstoppable now, sadly. Once an embarrassing reality of small markets, the 'MoJo' is becoming the standard everywhere...even ABC News apparently.

[Read Me]

Interesting article about anonymous comments: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/19/commenting.on.news.sites/?fbid=Sy8acKNOvYp#fbid=OcUleAbUIHH&wom=true

EPT officials could stand to read this.

[John T]

Multimedia journalists. I like that term, multimedia journalists. What a nice way to say "we're to cheap to hire real photograhpers." One-man bands, as they are better known as, have been around for sometime, but they're usually found at stations in smaller markets. Stations that are too poor to be able to hire a full staff. Those smaller markets are known as starter markets, where reporters fresh out of college and finished with their internship, go to get enough experience to be able to, hopefully, land a job in a market like El Paso. Or at least that's the way it used to be. The way it was before stations started mergining together to save money. Before stations started sharing reporters and anchors as well as news stories. Before stations canceled their newscast in lieu of informercials. Before stations started passing up quality reporters and producers so that they could a hire less experienced, cheaper, on-air staff. Multimedia journalists, a nice term that used to mean someone who was working in a starter market, but today, can be associated with a cheap, poorly produced newscast.

[Kevin T]

Sounds like there are a few former TV folks commenting - and they're not too happy with the changes that have taken place in television over that past few years. Indeed, as John T explains, "one-man bands" or MMJ's as they are being called now, used to be the providence of small stations in small markets. Unfortunately, the economy has taken it's toll on the television business just as it has in so many other industries. 

Additionally, as more and more people either get their news from other sources like the internet or use DVR's to watch television on their schedule (which rarely includes news and almost always means skipped commercials) the economic model that afforded the large staffs and fantastically executed product that we all grew up watching will forever be a thing of the past.

I enjoyed working in television during it's hayday and am sad to see what it has become, but at the end of the day I know that I have played a large role in it's demise by surfing the net, reading blogs and being content to watch an online "news report" comprised of poor journalism and even worse production value made by some college dropout with a cheap video camera and an internet connection.

Shame on me . . . shame on us all.

[USAmerica1st]

Kandolite Flores is my favorite of the new bunch. She's totally hot in her tight dresses and with her 10 mega watt smile. And yes, she's a proud UTEP communications grad. Oh, yeah, and she was a UTEP Homecoming Queen. Oh and she was also a Sun Carnival Princess. You guys must not be aware that traffic reporters are almost 'required' to speak fast. Check out Eddie Gonzalez on KHEY radio and 'Charlie One' on the other radio stations. These guys speak FAST because their spot is usually sandwiched between weather and news. Check around the nation and the traffic reporters ALL speak fast. Second fastest speakers are the weather reporters. LOVE Kandolite Flores, she's adorable. Get off her case, trolls.
*When John T talks of those KDBCers who made it to Los Angeles he's probably talking about Raymond Mesa who was a cut above everyone except Nick Miller and Gary Warner and went to a large Spanish language station in LA,.