WLWT-TV

5:40 p.m. Friday Oct. 25 update:  Low-power WKRP-TV (Channels 20 and 25) returned to the airwaves at 5:30 p.m. Friday for the first time in more than a week.

The 10 WKRP multiplex channels went dark Thursday, Oct. 17,  for the digital channel "repack" (TV frequency changes) on Oct. 18.

Turns out  Rod Serling was right: There is a dimension as timeless as infinity called The Twilight Zone.

Since Serling's iconic drama anthology premiered on CBS 60 years ago today – on Oct. 2, 1959 – the show has never gone off the air.

Order in the court! The fall TV season's biggest daytime battle will be waged by former talk show host Jerry Springer against Judge Judy Sheindlin, starting her 24th season on television.

Daytime TV viewers also will see new shows starring Kelly Clarkson and Tamron Hall replacing Steve Harvey, Pickler & Ben and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. See my list below.

Flintstones! Meet The Flintstones! They're the modern Stone Age family!

From the town of Bedrock, The Flintstones are heading to MeTV at 6 p.m. weekdays starting Monday, Sept. 30 in Cincinnati on WLWT-TV Channel 5.2 and in Dayton on WHIO-TV Channel 7.2.

On July 26, 1949, WCPO-TV debuted on Channel 7 as Cincinnati's third television station.

WCPO-TV – which was moved to Channel 9 by the federal government in 1952 – has done a wonderful job in recent weeks recalling its rich history.  And it will air a one-hour anniversary special Thursday, July 25 (7 p.m., Channel 9).

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

Longtime WKRC-TV anchor Cammy Dierking has told her bosses she's leaving the station at the end of her contract in December, multiple sources tell me.

For a fourth consecutive year, WKRC-TV will telecast the annual Western & Southern/WEBN-FM Riverfest fireworks at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1.

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:

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.

What happened to Barak Shapiro? Where's Aly Cohen? How will WLW-TV fill Lisa Cooney's anchor job? And who are all these new TV reporters on Cincinnati newscasts?

Before May ratings' sweeps start Thursday, here's a look at the major changes and new faces on TV since last May:

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:

Jerry Springer's new fall court show will air on WSTR-TV (Channel 64), which broadcast his daytime talk show for years.

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.

Courtis Fuller hosts a town hall-style broadcast called Where We Stand 2019 with Cincinnati city leaders 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14 (Channel 5).

The discussion, part of Hearst Television's corporate-wide Project CommUnity announced in December, will focus on four main topics -- crime and justice; employment; poverty and health; and education.

Fifty years ago today, WLWT-TV broadcast one of the most memorable telecasts in Cincinnati history: the wedding of two rubber chickens.

On a live broadcast of the Paul Dixon Show.

Update at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 1:  This just in from Branden Frantz, WLWT-TV general manager, about Let's Talk Cincinnati, premiering 7:30 p.m. Saturday March 2 on WLWT-TV (Channel 5) with Courtis Fuller and Alexis Rogers:

UPDATE AT 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28:  Jeff Hirsh's coworkers praise him for being able to do it all. And he did.

In 40 years of Cincinnati television – 21 years at WKRC-TV after 19 years at WLWT-TV – he did breaking news; features; live shots; taped packages; stories about long, tedious court trials and complicated government issues; and wrote and produced several one-hour documentaries.

Thursday April 4 update: Lisa Cooney anchors her final News 5 Today morning newscast on WLW-TV Friday, April 5.  

Original post Jan. 17, 2019: Forget what Lisa Cooney told me last month about how she loved the mornings, as she was celebrating her 30th anniversary at WLWT-TV.  

No better way to remember Cincinnati TV entertainer Bob Braun on the anniversary of his death than to enjoy this 1984 Bob Braun Show clip when Columbus zookeeper Jack Hanna let goats run wild through the WLWT-TV studio while singer David Cassidy looked on.  

Braun died on Jan. 15, 2001, at age 71.

With Braun's live noon show, you never knew what could happen… or who would show up. Braun hosted a live weekday noon variety show on WLWT-TV from 1967 to 1984, taking over from the legendary Ruth Lyons.