Cincinnati Television

Why did WLWT-TV hire Seton High School graduate Alanna Martella to replace traffic reporter Vanessa Richardson after only two years?

WCPO-TV has such a rich history that it's taking several months to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

Update 7:15 p.m. Sunday July 7: The part needed to fix the master control and restore broadcasting for  WCET-TV, WPTD-TV and WPTO-TV is scheduled to arrive Tuesday, says Kitty Lensman, WCET-TV chief operating officer.

"Then we will make the repair as quickly as possible," says Kellie May, WCET-TV public relations and digital media specialist. 

News anchor Rob Braun says it was "time to move on" after 35 years at WKRC-TV because "I don't fit well with the Sinclair News model."

Cincinnati's longest-tenured main anchor, in his first public comment about his departure, says he wasn't fired and he's not retiring.

May sweeps ratings, Part Two: The demographics are in for the May ratings' sweeps, and WXIX-TV is the big winner.

Wednesday 10:45 a.m. June 19 update:  WKRC-TV General Manager Jon Lawhead says the station wanted anchor Rob Braun "to stay, but he decided it was time to move on."  The station is starting "an immediate search – both internal and external – to find our next main evening anchor," Lawhead said.

As I reported yesterday, Braun told the newsroom Monday he was leaving WKRC-TV after 35 years when his contract expires June 28. WKRC-TV posted a story Wednesday morning with these comments from Lawhead:

NBC has delayed the American Ninja Warrior Cincinnati episode by one week, to July 8.

American Ninja Warrior was thrown off schedule this week when the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs went to a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday, pre-empting the summer reality series.

WCPO-TV is searching for a news director after Chip Mahaney's promotion to a newly created position at the E.W. Scripps Company headquarters downtown to recruit and mentor journalists.

Mahaney, who came to WCPO 2-1/2 years ago from being Scripps' regional digital general manager, will be replaced for now by Mike Canan, Scripps senior director of content strategy.

Pittsburgh native Kelly Rippin, a reporter at WXIX-TV five years ago, returns to Cincinnati in June to take Lisa Cooney's chair on the weekday News 5 Today anchor desk with Colin Mayfield and meteorologist Randi Rico.

Since Cooney retired after 30 years on April 5, weekend anchor Megan Mitchell has worked weekday mornings with Mayfield.

Second Street between Elm and Walnut will be closed Saturday, May 18 through Memorial Day for production of NBC's American Nina Warriorr competition.

Updated 10 a.m. Friday May 17: Only tickets for overnight taping sessions of NBC's American Ninja Warrior are available for Memorial Day weekend.

Update 8:45 a.m. Thursday April 18:  Clyde Gray says he's "blown away." Carol Williams quoted a Macklemore/Kesha song. Here's what the former WCPO-TV news co-anchors told me about heading into the Greater Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame June 27:

Laure Quinlivan's film on the innovative design of Cincinnati Police District 3 headquarters in Western Hills is getting national play on public TV stations in celebration of Earth Day.

Now called Blue Goes Green, the program will air statewide in Kentucky at 10:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, on KET. It was called Cincinnati LEEDs The Nation when it premiered in 2017 on WCET-TV.  

The one-hour film about E. Lucy Braun, an ecology pioneer and University of Cincinnati professor, will be distributed to over 100 public TV stations by the National Educational Television Association.

A Force For Nature: Lucy Braun, which premiered Oct. 7 on WCET-TV, was produced by Meg Hanrahan of Madeira and Voyageur Media Group, a nonprofit organization which creates media about science, history and culture.

Former WKRC-TV news anchor Brad Johanson is gone from WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., after one year.

"There was a personnel matter and we handled it immediately," said Joel Davis, WRAL-TV general manager, in an email to the News & Observer. "Brad Johansen is no longer with the station."

On this date: Cincinnati's second television station, WKRC-TV, debuted as Channel 11 on April 4, 1949. It moved to Channel 12 on Oct. 20, 1952 as part of the nationwide TV frequency realignment.

The Taft family owned the station, and until 1960 it broadcast from the Tafts' Cincinnati Times-Star evening newspaper office at 800 Broadway downtown. That's where Rod Serling did his first TV drama, The Storm, and comedian Soupy Sales (known here as Soupy Hines) did his show in the early 1950s.

Top of the ninth inning. Bases loaded. Reds up 5-3. Game on the line.

So why did WKRC-TV cut away from the Opening Day game to air CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament? Talk about March madness.

Play ball! Fox Sports Ohio's Opening Day plans again call for the 4:10 p.m. Thursday game to be simulcast on WKRC-TV (Channel 12).

WCPO-TV, WLWT-TV, WXIX-TV and WKRC-TV will provide extensive Opening Day coverage on their morning newscasts. All four stations, plus FSO and CitiCable, will air and stream the noon parade.

Nick Lachey had this crazy idea – making a Fame-style national TV series starring the talented students at Cincinnati's School for Creative & Performing Arts.

It became a reality 10 years ago today, when MTV premiered Taking The Stage on March 19, 2009.

The Williams Hall TV studio where former NBC executive Rick Ludwin got his start will be named in his honor in a ceremony Tuesday, March 19, on the Oxford campus.

It's a fitting tribute to Ludwin, a 1970 Miami graduate who has returned to the Williams Hall studio for 36 years at his own expense to talk to students about TV trends and answer their questions.