Smith, headed to Motown (Courtesy WPTV)

Now that the Atlantic’s churning with hurricanes, the heat’s turned up on South Florida TV weathermen.

And that’s the moment that one of them chose to exit the kitchen!

WPTV-Channel 5’s Keenan Smith, who was the first to forecast the day’s weather for T-Coast and Palm Beach County viewers at 4:30 a.m., is hightailing it outta Dodge. His last day was today.

Check this out: He wants to work somewhere that has four seasons!

So he picked Detroit, a dying city that people usually leave, over vibrant West Palm Beach.

Sup with that?

“I’m thrilled to be moving back to the Midwest and back to a climate with four seasons,” he said in a statement. “I’m also excited to be moving to the Detroit area.  There’s a unity of spirit in the people in Southeast Michigan that you don’t find everywhere.”

Smith’s new gig at WXYZ-TV, Motown’s ABC affiliate, starts in two weeks.

We hardly got to know the guy, except that he seemed competent enough albeit a little stiff. Smith arrived in 2008 from Chicago to replace long time forecaster Dean Tendrich, who quit to go into real estate. The 4:30 a.m. dudes are now weekend meteorologists James Wieland and Glenn Glazer, who’ll rotate in and out of the shift.

By the way, Keenan, we have four seasons here: Football, snowbird, mosquito and hurricane season, in case you didn’t have the time to notice!

 Loading ...

WPTV-Channel 5 anchorwoman Chandra Bill retired from the news biz this week after 24 years in the local television. She was feted by some of her current and former colleagues Friday night at John Bull English Pub in West Palm Beach. Bill is among a slew of Channel 5ers who have left over the past months, or who are packing their bags. Click on the Michael Price photo for a gallery of the party:

Chandra Bill (right) with prime-time anchorwoman Kelley Dunn, one of the station's last recognizable faces (Click on the photo for more of the party)

Among those at the party: Channel 5 anchor/reporter Paige Kornblue, whose last broadcast is Sunday, and reporter Nichelle King, who’s also gone; current on-air WPTV personalities Kelley Dunn, Marci Gonzalez, Thalia Hayden, Lauren LaPonzina, Tania Rogers and sportscaster Evan Cohen and Lauren LaPonzina; former stars from the NBC affiliate, including Miranda Kahn and Ryan Lieber; WPBF-Channel 25 reporter Ted White; and family and friends. Sorely missing was anyone from WPTV’s management and supposed newsroom leader Jim Sackett. That’s Klass with a big K, guys!

Tim Malloy

Another WPTV-Channel 5 staple is calling it a career.

Tim Malloy, who’s been on the Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast television sets for 17 years as an anchor and war correspondent, tells Page2Live exclusively that he’ll be gone within a month.

Malloy, who turned 60 on St. Patrick’s Day, has accepted a teaching position at the Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. He’ll lecture on journalism, with emphasis on war zone work, in a school that’s mostly known for its non-partisan presidential polling.

“I’ve been working on getting this job for a year,” Malloy said. “I’ll be living in Manhattan and Connecticut. My mother and brother live around there. This is a great opportunity and I’m truly happy about it. It’s really the job I’ve been looking for.”

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

WPTV-Channel 5 anchorwoman Chandra Bill is retiring from television next month after 24 years on Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County televisions.

Bill, 51, announced her departure in September in Page2Live.

Check out the latest story about Bill in pbpulse, and the video:

Remember Deano?

To find out what the former WPTV-Channel 5 hurricane guy and morning weathercaster Dean Tendrich is doing now, look below or click  (Read more…)

Sackett (Courtesy WPTV)

Television’s Energizer bunny has been re-charged for another year!

Perpetually tanned and manicured WPTV-Channel 5 anchorman Jim Sackett, who turns 65 in August, has agreed to stay on for one more year, according to two boob tube sources.

Sackett, who’s been No. 1 in prime time in the market for most of his 32-year career here, signed a five-year deal in 2005, swearing that it’d be his last contract.

But over the past few weeks, station officials convinced their star news reader to stay on.

They wanted him for two years.

He agreed to one, with six months on a part-time basis.

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Evan Cohen (Palm Beach Post photo)

WPTV-Channel 5 is letting the contracts of its two sportscasters, Ryan Lieber and Jay Gilmore, lapse and will outsource its sports news to West Palm Beach sports-talk radio station WEFL-760 am, the ESPN affiliate that covers Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

Starting Jan. 1, 760 afternoon drive-time star Evan Cohen will anchor the sports segments on Channel 5’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. 760’s Jason Pugh, a former Florida Atlantic University defensive lineman and Palm Beach Post sports department part-timer, will anchor weekend TV sportscasts. That’s in addition to their ESPN radio duties.

Ryan Lieber (Courtesy Channel 5)

“It’s a win-win situation for us and Channel 5,” said Steve Politziner, a part-owner of 760. “Members of our staff have been guests on the Channel 5’s extended sports Sunday nights for almost six years. We’ve always had a strong relationship with Channel 5.”

Politziner said 760 will be totally in charge of its segments and is providing three employees — Cohen, Pugh and producer Herb Uzzi — to replace Gilmore and Lieber. With the added body, he said, viewers will get more complete and far-reaching reports. Channel 5 gets the ESPN logo and news it doesn’t have to produce.

Jay Gilmore (Courtesy Channel 5)

Neither Gilmore, who’s been at the station for three years, nor Lieber, a nine-year veteran, returned calls.

A Channel 5 insider tells me the move isn’t as much a cost-cutting measure as it is a ploy to attract Cohen. No detail about the value or length of the contract is available.

 Loading ...

Jim Sitton, staring at one of his awards for a story titled "Dangerously Dim" (Courtesy b-roll.net)

The WPTV-Channel 5 newsroom is going through the toughest day in its 55-year history.

Tragedy struck the station’s best-known, award-winning photographer, Jim Sitton, on what should have been one of the happiest times of the year.

A gunman related to Sitton’s wife, Muriel, entered their Jupiter home and allegedly shot six people gathered for the Thanksgiving feast. Four have died, including Sitton’s 6-year-old daughter, Makayla. The suspect, Michael Merhige, remains at large.

“Since Makayla was born, Jim has been taking pictures of her every single day to chronicle how she was developing and growing,” said a station insider who asked to remain anonymous. “You’d turn on the computer used for editing tapes, and there’d be pictures of Makayla all over the screen. It’s like everyone at the station knew her.”

Sitton, 48, has been at the NBC affiliate for about 15 years, after a short stint at WPBF-Channel 25. Sitton mostly worked investigative assignments with the station’s Contact 5 reporters, Shannon Cake and Kelley Dunn. Both women spent some time with Sitton at the home after the 10 p.m. shooting.

“He’s the most amazing friend,” Cake said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I just can’t talk about it.”

For more about the tragedy, look below or click (Read more…)

James Wieland! Such a romantic guy!

The WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman just got engaged to advertising rep Jennifer Dalla Riva.

Wieland and his Chosen One

And boy did he dream up one Blue Lagoon-themed scheme to make sure his betrothed wouldn’t say no.

Wieland, 37, first bought a conch shell. He then stuffed it with clay, and set a 3-carat sparkler into the clay.

Then, as he and his blonde sweetie frolicked in waist-deep water in Atlantic near radio talker Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach home, he half-buried the conch in sand.

“At one point, I thought I lost the shell,” he said.

But the future bride, 38, was digging nonchalantly nearby, and suddenly yelled out: “I found the motherload of shells!”

Wieland actually snapped a picture as Dalla Riva found the ring, which probably will cost him a couple brownie points.

Bingo!

But he had a dozen red roses hidden in the car, just in case she needed another push.

She didn’t.

The lovebirds are looking for a beachside wedding venue. It’ll be the bride’s second marriage, Wieland’s first.

 Loading ...

Brooks in last year's election

Former WPTV-Channel 5 general manager and Town of Palm Beach Councilman Bill Brooks underwent his third round of chemo this week.

The 75-year-old is suffering from lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes.

“The doctors are telling me they’re confident we can beat this thing,” Brooks said from his Seabreeze Avenue home Wednesday.

Because the treatment has lowered his immune system, he’s home-bound for the next two months.

Brooks, who left the Catholic priesthood in the 60s then married a former nun, Martha, now spends his days bathed in classical music, Beethoven and Mozart. He mostly reads books on history and spirituality.

“The first chemo (in late May) knocked me on my fanny,” said Brooks, one of the architects of Channel 5’s rise to one of the nation’s top-rated local stations. “But I’m a fighter. There’s no whining here. Like Nike says, ‘Just do it.’”

And Brooks, who lost this third reelection last year, says Canada Dry has replaced whisky and wine, both longtime staples of his diet.

“I haven’t had a drink since May 14, and to tell you the truth, I don’t feel like having one,” he said.

Brooks never suffered any serious illness in his life. But the announcement in May that he was sick made him contemplate the true meaning of humility.

“I realized that, no matter how many press clippings you have about the things you’ve done, that’s insignificant when it comes to mortality.

“But I’m calm about it. Very content.”