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July 8, 2008
Not much more has been said about former News 10NBC Sports Director Mark Gruba. RNYN understands that Gruba was escorted from the building upon learning his contract would not be renewed. In a somewhat surprising move, WHEC has named medical reporter and former anchor Robin DeWind as their new sports director.

July 2, 2008
Word has just come in that News 10NBC Sports Director Mark Gruba was let go from WHEC today. An anonymous e-mail that I received claims that News Director Michael Goldrick told staff he wants to go in another direction. More details will be posted when they become available.

June 30, 2008
Due to unfortunate events in my personal life I have not been able to keep RNYN updated over the past 3 months. I will try my best to fill in the gaps from the time I missed. Please feel free to e-mail me if I happen to miss something. I appreciate your loyalty to RNYN. Thanks again!

WROC-TV/WUHF: Ali Touhey joined the station in March from WICZ, the FOX affiliate in Binghamton, NY. Touhey graduted from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Communications.

WHEC-TV: Greg Talone now does the weather for News 10NBC on a fill-in basis. Talone has worked previously at other stations across New York State, including WSTM, WTVH, and WWTI. Meteorologist Jim Lytle departed the station in May to become Pastor of Family Ministries at the Cavalry Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

WHAM-TV: There are many changes to report about WHAM. Due to corporate cutbacks, both Susan Ashline and Jen Markham were laid off. Chalonda Roberts has voluntarily left the station to move back to her hometown of Providence, RI with her soon-to-be husband. On the up-side, WHAM has hired Steve O'Brien as a reporter. New cuts from the Advantage theme package can be heard throughout WHAM's newscasts. They have also changed voice-over talents and re-hired John Young, who voiced their newscasts in the late '80s and early '90s. "Your breaking news and weather authority" seems to be WHAM's new slogan.

March 25, 2008
It's been a little over a week since WHEC debuted their 7PM newscast. On that same day the station unveiled new graphics, which are the same graphics currently in use by most NBC O&O stations. WHEC is only the 2nd non-O&O station in the country to begin using the graphics which recently became available for affiliates to use. A Broadcasting Engineering article from 2003 describes the way this graphics system works (or at least how it worked 5 years ago). The new newscast also features a segment called "Newsflash" where each reporter tells us a different story. One of WHEC's new reporters hired due to the expansion in news is Thalia Hayden. Hayden comes to News 10NBC from WCJB, the ABC affiliate in Gainesville, Florida. Hayden also has experience doing "one-man-band" work in New York City. The "one-man-band" approach is new to WHEC and some might argue is the future of TV News. It is certainly a first for this market. Since Rochester isn't a metered market, we will have to wait a little while before we know how successful this 7PM newscast has been.

Correction - March 31, 2008:
A loyal RNYN reader has informed me that R News has been using video journalists for a while now. Both Casey Bortnick and Bonyen Lee report, shoot, and edit their own video. I apologize for the error in claiming that WHEC's use of video journalists was a first for this market and I also apologize for not using a more professional term than "one-man-band"!

March 16, 2008
The sale of WHAM-TV and all other television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications has successfully been completed. We learn all of the details in a press release from Providence Equity Partners.

March 1, 2008
Jenny Chu will be leaving WROC/WUHF in a couple of weeks. Chu has decided to move back to California where she will become a part of a public relations firm.

Feburary 20, 2008
WUHF will be expanding their 10:00 news to one hour starting March 3rd. The 10:00 News on FOX Rochester started off as an hour-long show, but was cut back to a half hour in 2005 when Nexstar took over operations of WUHF.

WHEC plans to launch their still unannounced 7PM newscast on March 17.

February 10, 2008
Somehow I forgot to post this... WROC's newest reporter is Evan Axelbank. Axelbank comes to Rochester from News 10 Now, the Time Warner owned cable news channel in Syracuse.

January 7, 2008
Bob Metcalfe is the new weekend meteorologist at WROC. Metcalfe grew up here in Rochester and interned at WHAM-TV during college before venturing off to WDTV in Clarksburg, WV.

December 28, 2007
Brian Neudorff writes in his blog that he is the new weekday morning/noon meteorologist at WROC. He joins WROC from WJET Erie, where he has been weekend meteorologist for nearly 5 years.

December 20, 2007
WHEC staff members were told today that the station would be starting a 7PM newscast in March. More details will be provided as they become available.

December 18, 2007
WHAM-TV has hired reporter Edward Moody from KDLH Duluth, MN where he spent the past 5 years. Moody is a native of Kansas City, MO.

December 8, 2007
WGRZ has officially hired veteran WROC reporter Dave McKinley:

"WGRZ, Channel 2 is thrilled to announce Multi-Media reporter, Dave McKinley will soon be wearing a Red Coat. Dave McKinley is an experienced, well respected and multi-award winning journalist with roots in Western New York. Dave has been a reporter for WROC in Rochester for the past 8 years and before that for WHAM radio for ten years. Dave worked for WBEN radio in Buffalo for several years while he was attending Buffalo State. Dave is well known for his fantastic writing, unique story telling and his ability to always ask the tough questions and challenge the status quo. Dave has been watching 2 On Your Side from his home in Brockport for years and can’t wait to hit the streets with the other Red Coats. Dave will start working on our 11pm newscast January 7th."

It has also been learned that Forecaster John Stehlin will be leaving WROC by the end of the year.

Newsblues reports that WHAM-TV weekend anchor/reporter Kristen Miranda will be leaving the station at the end of the year. Miranda has been hired by WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, NC.

November 25, 2007
WROC has hired Jecoliah Ellis as a general assignment reporter from WENY, the ABC affiliate in Elmira, NY. Ellis has been with WENY for nearly 2½ years. You can see her on WROC starting January 1.

November 17, 2007
A reliable source claims that a veteran staff member of WROC spent more than 4 hours at Buffalo's WGRZ on Thursday where he was interviewed by station management.

Also recently learned is the impending departure of WROC Meteorologist Jonathan Myers. Myers has reportedly been hired by a TV station in New Orleans and will leave WROC in December.

October 27, 2007
There are numerous changes/additions to report in this update to RNYN. You may notice that some of these are well past due and I apologize for not posting them sooner. This Windows Vista thing has not been very friendly to me.

Let's start off with WROC/WUHF: Kevin Carroll has joined the station as a sports reporter from R News, the 24-hour cable news network in Rochester, NY.

WHEC has hired Meteorologist Jim Lytle, also formerly of R News. Lytle spent more than a decade forecasting the weather at R News before venturing off to WGRZ in Buffalo.

WHAM has two new hires in the weather department. Stacey Pensgen is a recent graduate of SUNY Brockport. Prior to seeking a career as a meteorologist, Pensgen was a nationally recognized figure skater, competing in numerous events. She has been skating since the age of six. You can view her skating biography at Unseenskaters.com. WHAM's other recent hire is Meteorologist Howard Manges. Unfortunately I was not able to find much information on Mr. Manges, so if he happens to read this, please send me an e-mail and tell me a little about yourself! A reader of RNYN recently e-mailed a tip and pointed out that former Rochester weatherman Richard McCollough is now the weekend Meteorologist at WSPA, the CBS affiliate serving the Spartanburg/Greenville,SC and Asheville, NC television market. Finally, in the news department, WHAM has hired Jen Markham as a medical and general assignment reporter.

I can never say it enough... RNYN relies on its readers for the website to be successful. For the most part, RNYN is a "one man band". I cannot possibly watch every TV station and know what is going on 100% of the time. That is where you come in and send me those magnificent e-mails with all of the information that I have missed. Thank you for your continued interest in RNYN and keep those e-mails coming!

October 8, 2007
WHAM-TV went in to a bit of a crisis mode tonight. The station experienced a power failure during their live 6:00 newscast. A strong thunderstorm was located nearby the station when cloud-to-ground lightning hit somewhere outside or possibly directly on top of the studio building. This occurred while the station was rolling a pre-taped package. All video with lost, accompanied by static noise and vertical/horizontal alignment problems. The time/temp bug on the screen turned a multitude of colors before being lost completely. After the package completed with video restored, the live shot switched back to the newsroom where Jane Flasch was standing awaiting instruction with of course no IFB or any way of telling she was on the air. At one point she asked "Are we on?" The station put up a technical difficulties slide where it remained for approximately 5 minutes. After a few commercials rolled, the newscast continued from the newsroom with limited lighting and no graphics or music. Don Alhart informed us that the station had indeed taken a direct hit from lightning and was running off of generated power. For your reference, WHAM-TV is located in Henrietta near the intersection of Calkins and West Henrietta Rd. The station sits away from the busy street down a small hill. Several satellite dishes are located near the back of the building and there is a large antenna mast on top of the studio building. This mast supports the station's Doppler radar as well as its weather camera known to more people as the "WHAM Cam". Prior to the power outage you could hear the loud thunder in the area, something that isn't very often picked up by studio mics.

September 16, 2007
I have just set up a page containing news items that I am in search of. Please check out the link:
RNYN Trades

September 13, 2007
A new face is coming to WROC/WUHF. Next week Meghan Backus will join the station as a reporter.  Today was her last day at WSHM, the CBS affiliate serving Western Massachusetts. For the past year she has served as a producer as well as a weekend reporter. Backus is no stranger to the Rochester area. She graduated as Valedictorian in 2002 from Caledonia-Mumford High School. From there she went on to St. Bonaventure University where she earned a bachelors degree in journalism and mass communication.

August 31, 2007
Dave Yates will soon be leaving WROC/WUHF to become the communications director with the East Irondequoit School District. This will leave the station with only 12 on-air personalities.

August 17, 2007
RNYN has learned that Lia Lando will be leaving WROC/WUHF at the end of the month. Lando was hired in late 2005 to anchor the re-launched 10:00 news on FOX Rochester.

July 28, 2007
RNYN has learned that yesterday was Joylynn Whitfield’s last day with WROC. She has left the station to pursue other career opportunities in the Midwest where her family resides.

Starting Monday, Scott Hetsko’s weather will be cut back to 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Previously his allotted time was 3 minutes at 6:00 and 3 minutes, 30 seconds at 11:00. The reason for the cut is so that WROC can offer “additional news content”. Earlier in the week, WROC debuted a new “7 Day Forecast”.

There are two staffing changes to report at WHAM-TV. Christine Webb is headed to Central Florida News 13 where she will be the station’s medical reporter. Also, Kyle Clark is headed to KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver.

July 16, 2007
Richard McCollough, weekend meteorologist at WHAM-TV and former 11PM meteorologist at WHEC has given his final weathercast in Rochester. It has been reported that McCollough will be moving south to focus his attention on producing a new television show for the deaf and hard of hearing, set to debut in January on CW-WHAM. McCollough's Mirus Video Productions has won numerous nationally recognized awards, most notably for his 2004 documentary “Lulu and the Girls of Americus, Georgia, 1963”.

This may be old news by now, but I thought it might be worth mentioning that WHEC re-branded it's weather department to "Pinpoint 10". Some may recall that the "Pinpoint 10" moniker was used about a decade ago with WHEC's weather radar in what was then known as the "Doppler 10 Storm Center".

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