Media Beat

Former WCPO-TV reporter Hagit Limor returns to Channel 9 Monday night with a half-hour special retracing her father's journey to survive the Holocaust called Hope After Hate  (7:30 p.m. Monday, June 17).

This is a year of anniversaries for the Cincinnati Reds.

It's the 150th anniversary of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first all-professional team…  The 100th anniversary of the Reds winning the 1919 World Series… The 75th anniversary of Joe Nuxhall's historic debut as the youngest Major League Baseball player, at age 15.

Joe Nuxhall made baseball history 75 years ago, pitching for the Reds at age 15 in an 18-0 loss to the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals on June 10, 1944. It was four days after D-Day when Nuxhall took the mound at Crosley Field, and it wasn't pretty.  

Historian Greg Rhodes celebrates the career of Waite Hoyt, the Reds' radio play-by-play voice from 1942-1965, at the main Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County downtown at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 8.

Jeff Henderson's retirement from WLW-AM news has nothing to do with iHeartMedia's decision in April to name him regional news director over dozens of stations in six states, all without news directors.

"This was planned over a year ago," says Henderson, 63.

WMKV-FM (89.3) turns back the clock 75 years Thursday to broadcast radio bulletins and news reports about the World War II Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944.

The 12-hour marathon was originally produced and broadcast as D-Day Plus 50 Years by WVXU-FM in 1994, before Xavier University sold the station to Cincinnati Public Radio.

Hillbilly Elegy stars Glenn Close and Amy Adams and others from the  Netflix movie visited Middletown Saturday and lunched at Ami Vitori's Gracie's restaurant downtown, according to the Journal-News.

Director Ron Howard also was seen in town scouting homes on Harrison Street for the film version of J.D. Vance's memoir of growing up among working-class "hillbillies" in the Butler County steel town. However, most of the film will be shot in Georgia, starting later this month.

Ryan Clark and Brent Donaldson grew up watching Ripley's Believe It Or Not! TV shows and reading the Ripley's books and comics celebrating bizarre or unusual events, animals or items. Now they're part of the team.

Sheree Paolello, Mike Dardis and their WLWT-TV coworkers are celebrating a historic win at 11 p.m. in May sweeps – days before the main anchors get married.

A one-hour special at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, on WVXU-FM will explore why so many senior citizens are victims of con artists, fraudsters, and even family, friends and caregivers who take their money and abuse their trust.

It's like the circus rolled into town – a high-tech TV circus starring acrobatic ninjas cheered by hundreds of onlookers.

A dozen 18-wheelers hauled the rigging, lights and 32 cameras to The Banks for NBC's American Ninja Warrior obstacle course on Second Street, in front of the GE Global Operations Center building between Race and Vine streets.

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.

Riverfront Stadium… Bob Braun… Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall... The Uncle Al Show … Uncle Al's accordion… Great American Ball Park…

The more I talked to actor Rob Lowe, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio, from 1964 to '76, the more I was surprised by his flood of Cincinnati memories. 

Woody Harrelson has played many memorable characters since winning an Emmy for Cheers bartender Woody Boyd 30 years ago.

On Wednesday, May 22, he takes on one of the most daunting roles of his career: Archie Bunker.

Even though you may have missed the Jan. 2 entry deadline for American Ninja Warrior, filming here this weekend, you still have a shot at competing on the NBC reality show through the "walk-up line."

Walk-up line information was announced late Monday on the A. Deign & Co. Facebook page.

Cincinnati native Doris Day, who parlayed her wholesome "girl next door" image into an award-winning movie and music career, will be celebrated with a 24-hour marathon of her movies on TCM Sunday, June 9.

Everybody loves Patricia? Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton, who starred nine years on ABC's The Middle after nine years on Everybody Loves Raymond, returns to CBS this fall in Carol's Second Act as a 50-year-old rookie doctor.

Welcome to the Minimalist Fall TV season. ABC will add just three new fall scripted series – the same as NBC and Fox announced Monday – and a reality show.

So instead of about 20 new fall broadcast series, as in past years, viewers should expect to see only about a dozen, as Hollywood grapples with increased competition from streaming services.

Only three new shows will debut this fall in NBC's new "year-round lineup," as the network saves The Good Place, Manifest, Will & Grace, Blindspot and a new sitcom starring Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson for later in the 2019-2020 TV season.

Expect to see a lot of familiar faces on NBC in the next 12 months.