Media Buzz | News/views about local media

Swann, Ashcraft leave KTSM

Management at KTSM-TV Channel 9 announced today that main anchor Ben Swann will be leaving the station next week. Swann has taken an anchor job at WXIX-TV, the Fox affiliate in Cincinnati.

Swann has been the anchor at Channel 9 since March 2008. Before that he had been a morning anchor at KFOX-TV Channel 14, where he started off as a photojournalist. He also spent time working at KVIA-TV Channel 7, where at least two of his brothers have worked or currently work.

It is still not known who will take his position at KTSM.

Also out from KTSM is reporter Lindsey Ashcraft. Her last day is on Wednesday. Ashcraft -- a native of Kentucky and a graduate of the University of Kentucky -- arrived at Channel 9 in July and she has not lined up a job after she leaves El Paso.

Swann and Ashcraft join a growing list of on-camera talent at Channel 9 that have recently exited the  station. 

In just the last year Nichole Gomez, Eric Fink, Javi Perez, Oscar Garcia, Melanie Olivas, Nichole Ayoub, Russ Pappas,Trevor Connor and Ric DuPont have left the station.

Mr. Molestina goes to Washington

KVIA-TV Channel 7 Reporter/Anchor Ken Molestina will leave the station to take a job at WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. His last day on the job is Dec. 5. At WUSA, Molestina will be a general assignments reporter focusing on crime, public safety and immigration.

Molestina has been in El Paso for four years, and he has made a strong mark during his tenure. He was a board member of the El Paso Press Club and won both Emmy and Associated Press for his work at KVIA.

He also found time to become a certified volunteer fireman and spent more than two years working for the West Valley Fire Department.

"I will forever be indebted to the city and the people of El Paso  who gave me a fantastic place to work and a great place to call home," Molestina said. "Throughout my time here I've met wonderful people and had the best responsibility in the world: to tell their stories."

Gomez out at KTSM/KDBC

Nichole Gomez, the weather forecaster and reporter at KTSM-KDBC (the so-called Channel 49) has left the station. Sources say she left earlier this week. No reason for her departure was given.

This is the second high-profile on-air departure for the station. Reporter Erik Finke was let go earlier this fall after being in El Paso for only weeks.

Telemundo launches El Paso newscast

Spanish-speaking viewers in the El Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces area will have another option for news starting Nov. 16. Telemundo affiliate KTDO-TV Channel 48 (cable Channel 11) will launch 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts starting that week to go head-to-head with the news giant of El Paso — Univision's KINT-TV Channel 26.

The high-definition newscasts will be Monday through Friday in the beginning and will rely on several familiar faces and names in El Paso, as well as some new ones to the market.

Anchoring the news will be former Channel 26 anchor Ricardo Vela, an Emmy winning journalists that began his career in El Paso but has worked in California for several years. He was most recently the anchor of San Diego's Univision newscast. Vela is a graduate of the ITESM in Juárez and UTEP.

The reporting staff will consist of Fernanda Camarena and Gabriel Preciado. Camarena is a Juárez native who got her start in the news business at Televisa. The UTEP graduate also has worked for Univision in Washington, D.C., and for CBS Evening News and for Channel One News. She is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Preciado, a native of Colima, Mexico, has worked in television and radio throughout Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

The weather will be presented by Georgina Terrazas, a Torreon native who has been a mainstay of the news business in Juárez. Terrazas has anchored and done weather for Juárez's Channel 5 and Channel 44. She has also worked throughout Mexico and California doing radio, television and newspapers.

The news director at KTDO Telemundo is Uriel Posada, who returns home to El Paso after stints for Univision in Albuquerque, Denver and Sacramento, Calif., where he last worked as an executive producer.

Uriel said the newscast will focus on the news of the border that Spanish-speaking viewers want to see.

"We will tell the stories that are important and relevant to this community,' he said. "The Telenoticias El Paso team is dedicated to bringing tis viewers the news that matters most."

 

Azteca America now under KVIA's umbrella

KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6) announced today that it will begin broadcasting TV Azteca America programming on its digital line up starting in December. The Spanish-language network will be shown on digital channel 7.4, the space currently held by LATV, also a Hispanic-oriented network. 

“We’re pleased that we’ll be offering Azteca America’s outstanding programming to digital over-the air TV viewers in the borderland,” KVIA General Manager Kevin Lovell said.

Azteca America is not new to El Paso. Viewers have been able to watch the news, telenovelas, soccer and other entertainment on analog channel 9. Most of the programming on Azteca America is filmed in Mexico City.