Source: Little Rock Reporter Leaves For Connecticut Job

Stephanie Simoni (Courtesy: Twitter)

KATV reporter Stephanie Simoni will be leaving the Little Rock, Ark., station very soon to take a job in New England.

Arkansas TV News reports Simoni has been hired at WTNH, the ABC affiliate in New Haven, Conn., according to a tipster for the blog.

Little Rock Morning Anchor Signs Off After 21 Years

Pamela Smith (Courtesy: KATV)

Longtime morning anchor Pamela Smith has ended her career at Little Rock-Pine Bluff ABC affiliate KATV after 21 years at the station.

In a farewell article on the station’s website, Smith said she felt “tremendously blessed to have been in a field that I have enjoyed [for that long].”

KATV Attributes November Ratings Win to Viewers’ Facebook Interactions

KATV

In November, Little Rock’s KATV-TV edged out its competitors in every newscast but noon.

The ABC affiliate came in third at 11:30 a.m.

In addition, the website reports KATV’s household ratings actually improved in every category but the station’s 10 p.m., sliding from a 9.6 to 9.4.

So what caused the boost?

New KATV Assistant ND Jumps from Competing Little Rock Station

KATV

Nick Genty will be KATV’s new assistant news director, starting this month, according to industry insider Rick Gevers.

He comes to the ABC affiliate from competing CBS affiliate KTHV, where he worked as an executive producer.

KATV News Director Leaves; Third Station Exec to Quit in Less Than a Month

KATV

News director Randy Dixon says he’s moving on after 31 years with the Little Rock-Pine Bluff ABC affiliate.

He told the Arkansas Times the move was something he’d been thinking about “for a long time.”

The Arkansas industry news site ArkansasBusiness.com reported earlier this week that Dixon was not the first; KATV’s assistant news director and chief engineer also left this year.

Jury Selection Begins Today for Man Accused of Killing KATV Anchor

Anne Pressly

The man convicted of beating, raping and murdering KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly in 2008 will go to trial soon.

Curtis Lavelle Vance was convicted of capital murder in 2009 for raping a teacher in east Arkansas; once his DNA was in the system, investigators discovered a match in the Pressly case as well.

From the Log Cabin Democrat:

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Vance for the Pressly killing, but jurors opted for a sentence of life in prison without parole after listening to penalty phase testimony about Vance being abused as a boy by his drug-addicted prostitute mother and about his devotion to members of his family, including his three children.

Vance, 30, was linked to Pressly’s killing by a single hair that was found in her bedding at her Little Rock home. He has appealed his conviction, arguing among other things that the evidence from the Marianna rape case should not have been allowed at trial. Vance had emerged as a suspect in the Marianna case even before DNA samples from the victim were analyzed.

The teacher’s testimony was a key part of Vance’s capital murder trial in Little Rock. The victim described how her attacker, whom she did not see, entered her home and assaulted her, threatening her if she dared to look at him. There were similarities in the way the women were brutalized, which prosecutors highlighted for jurors.

Some legal experts have speculated Vance may get the death penalty this time around.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Arkansas’ Broadcast Television Markets

Within , there are four different media markets, as defined by Nielsen Media Research (2014-2015)

• The largest in the state, Little Rock-Pine Bluff, is ranked 56th in terms of population size.  It has a station from every major U.S. television network within its market: KARK (NBC), KATV (ABC), KTHV (CBS), KLRT (FOX), KASN (CW) and KARZ (MyTV).  KTHV has consistently been the market leader in ratings for the area. All stations mentioned above broadcast their newscasts in high definition.
• The second largest market is also hyphenated: Fort Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers. It’s ranked 101st by Nielsen and its DMA also includes a small portion of southeast Oklahoma. Stations include: KFSM (CBS/MyTV), KFTA (FOX), KHBS (ABC), KHOG (CW) and KNWA (NBC). KFSM has been the ratings leader for years. KHBS/KHOG broadcast their newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition, not HD.
• The Monroe-El Dorado market, #137, shares a good portion of its south Arkansas coverage area with northern Louisiana. Stations include: KNOE (CBS), KTVE (NBC), KMLU (ABC) and KARD (FOX). KNOE has been the market leader in news for more than 25 years; KNOE airs its newscasts in high definition. KTVE’s news operation is partial HD; studio cameras are not high definition, but their field cameras are.
• Jonesboro, ranked 181st by Nielsen, has ABC affiliate KAIT and NBC affiliate KJNE-LP (as a subchannel of KAIT) within the DMA borders in terms of national network affiliates. The market is served by other stations from the Little Rock-Pine Bluff market, predominantly. KAIT began broadcasting newscasts in HD in October 2011. It’s also the smallest media market in the state.

(Above was updated February 1, 2015)

That covers just one of several states we’ll be covering. If you work for one of these affiliates and have news about new hires, on-air graphic updates, HD overhauls, or anything that would be of interest to this local news blog, please let us know.. I’m not necessarily talking about station gossip, but that works, too. If someone uttered a profane word on-air, for example, that’d be something. Station sales, downsizing, things like that are also newsworthy. You can do so anonymously, of course, but have to prove you work for the station in question for credibility purposes by sending us an email to southtvnewser@gmail.com.