Anchor Israel Balderas leaves WCCB

Israel Balderas, evening anchor at WCCB (Channel 18), parted ways with the station Monday.

Balderas, who anchored the 10 p.m. newscast with Morgan Fogarty, left before his contract was due to expire late this year. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Balderas joined WCCB in 2010 on the station’s morning show, then was named 10 p.m. anchor in 2011 when longtime co-host Brien Blakely left the station in 2011. Balderas, a key figure during the station’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention, worked for Fox News Channel while getting his law degree at Catholic University in Washington.

Balderas was named TV news anchor of the year in November by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.

His departure follows that of veteran sports director Bruce Snyder and news director Ken White in the last six months. In January, WCCB was told by Fox that it was losing its affiliation with the network after the network bought rival WJZY (Channel 46). WCCB recently announced it would affiliate with the CW network beginning July 1.

Two from Charlotte area to vie on 'Bachelorette'

Once again, the Charlotte area is donating manpower to ABC's "The Bachelorette."

On the next season of the romance series, debuting 8 p.m. May 27, a lawyer from Hickory lawyer and a Charlotte investment adviser will be among the 25 potential suitors for Desiree Hartsock. 

Jonathan Vollinger

Jonathan Vollinger, 26, is a December graduate of the University of Miami school of law from Hickory. In his ABC profile, he described his worst date: "The girl yelling expletives across the street as she went back to her building. It didn't end well."

Nick Mucci

Nick Mucci, 27, is an investment adviser for Vanguard from Charlotte who grew up in Rochester, N.Y. In his ABC profile he said his dream job would be sportscaster. "My job would be to analyze football games and I'd have the best seat in the house." 

Their competitors include a former pro soccer player, a federal prosecutor and a professional magician.

Hartsock, 27, a fashion designer, was dumped by Sean Lowe in the last season of "The Bachelor." This time around, Hartsock will be taking her retinue to Munich, the Alps and Barcelona. 

Charlotte has always been a rich source of potential mates for ABC's romance franchise. Best known is Emily Maynard, who appeared on both "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette." Katie Levans, a Charlotte yoga instructor, was a colleague of Hartsock's on the last season of "The Bachelor." Other bachelorettes from Charlotte over the years have included cocktail waitress Blakeley Shea, grad student Emily O'Brien, marketing specialist and former Panthers cheerleader Kimberly Coon and fitness trainer Kristine Heffelfinger.

WCCB makes it official: It's the CW's new home

Charlotte’s WCCB (Channel 18) said Thursday it will pick up the CW network this summer, filling the void left when the station lost its 27-year affiliation with Fox.

CW programs – including “90210,” “America's Next Top Model” and “Arrow” – had aired on WJZY (Channel 46), which was purchased by Fox along with sister station WMYT (Channel 55), in an $18 million deal signed in January. Fox has not said yet which of the two stations will carry the network’s shows, which include the top-rated NFL football and “American Idol.”

"We are delighted that we have this opportunity to join such an up and coming network with even more contemporary and creative program series to come," Beverly Bahakel Poston, president of Charlotte-based Bahakel Communications, said in a statement.

WCCB will continue to produce morning and evening news show, a profit center for the station.
But overall ratings and ad sales will likely sag at WCCB because the CW network, weakest of the major broadcast networks, does not carry shows that attract as many viewers. In January, for example, the highest-rated show in Charlotte aside from sports was Fox’s “American Idol,” which pulled about 260,000 total viewers.

By comparison, the highest-rated show on the CW network in Charlotte was the superhero drama “Arrow,” which drew about 29,000 total viewers.

While WCCB loses Panthers games during the season, it has retained the rights to the team’s four pre-season games.

Foxx chose WSOC's Miller for exclusive

Blair Miller's Friday exclusive with Mayor Anthony Foxx came as the result of cultivating a long-term relationship, the WSOC anchor says.

At the top of Friday's 6 a.m. newscast, Miller's taped interview aired in which the mayor said he would not seek another term in office.

"Foxx and I have gotten close over the last year or so and developed a good relationship," says Miller, who joined Channel 9 in 2002 and moved up to the high-profile job on the evening anchor desk with Erica Bryant in 2010.

Blair Miller in the Channel 9 newsroom.

After Miller returned from Denver to report on how the Democrats' 2008 convention had gone there, Foxx was the first interview he did locally to gauge the impact of the DNC on Charlotte. Miller says they have remained in touch ever since.

Just last week, Miller texted Foxx that he was interested in doing an interview on the mayor's future. Foxx's name has been floated for a possible position as U.S. secretary of transportation.

"I knew we were coming to a point where something was going to happen -- either he was going to decide to run again or go to D.C. or do nothing," says Miller. 

Then Wednesday, Miller got a call from one of Foxx's aides. They asked him to be at the government center at 10 p.m. Thursday. Miller figured it would be about Foxx's future and thought he would announce plans to run again.

Instead, Foxx told him he was planning to do the opposite.

"First thing I said to him is, 'Are you serious?' We have a good joking relationship."

Foxx handed him a copy of the statement he planned to release Friday. Then they negotiated an embargo on airing the interview for 6 a.m. Friday so Foxx could share his plans with staff members beforehand.

Miller was curious why Foxx had picked him for the announcement. He asked an aide after the interview. 

"How did this go down? I didn't want to be the one the next morning calling and asking why I didn't get picked," says Miller, describing what turned out to be the scene in virtually every newsroom in town by 6:10 a.m.

Miller says he believes that aides encouraged Foxx to do one interview rather than just issuing a statement, and Foxx chose him because of their rapport. 

More of Miller's interview with Foxx will air on WSOC's 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts Friday. They will discuss Foxx's thoughts on a future political career and how his family was a big part of the decision not to run again.

From his perspective, Miller says, he thinks Foxx has a good relationship with the local media. During the DNC, he remembers Foxx walking around doing a circuit of network interviews, then taking time to talk to local reporters as well.

"He wasn't  just doing the big dogs. That spoke volumes to me. This isn't like him to do just one big exclusive interview."

WFAE to replace 'Talk of the Nation'

NPR is ending on July 1 its weekday call-in show 'Talk of the Nation' with Neal Conan, the network announced Friday, and Charlotte's affiliate, WFAE-FM (90.7), will likely replace it with a second hour of the news magazine 'Here and Now' at 2 p.m.

Dale Spear, WFAE's program director, said Friday he hasn't been happy with 'Talk of the Nation's' ratings performance for some time.  

WFAE expects to continue carrying 'Science Friday' with Ira Flatow at 1 p.m. Saturdays, where the station has rebranded it as 'Sci-Fri Matinee.' 

News 14 changing its name

News 14 Carolina, the 24-hour local cable news channel, will be changing its name by year’s end to Time Warner Cable News.

Alan Mason, the Raleigh-based vice president of News 14, said Friday that the rebranding will include all 13 of the TWC local channels across the country, including the flagship NY1 channel in New York City.

Currently there are three different branding protocols for stations serving TWC cable systems in the Carolinas, New York and Texas.

By settling on one name, it makes it easier to share content between the stations without changing microphone flags three times for stories developed by the Washington or NYSE bureaus for regional distribution.

It will also end some confusion among viewers who don’t understand that the channel is an exclusive service available only on Time Warner Cable, said Melissa Buscher, director of media relations for the Carolinas.
News 14 debuted in North Carolina a decade ago.

Newscasts will get updated graphics for the change, expected in the fourth quarter, said Mason.

Fox names manager for its new Charlotte stations

Fox Television Stations has named a veteran North Carolina broadcaster to lead the two stations it is acquiring in Charlotte.

Karen Adams, now general manager of the Fox affiliate in Greensboro-High Point, will take over when the Fox network group takes control of WJZY (Channel 46) and WMYT (Channel 55) in June. Fox is buying the two stations from Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting in an $18 million transaction announced in January.

Karen Adams

Fox's programming lineup will move from longtime affiliate WCCB (Channel 18) to one of the former Capitol stations in June.

Adams was an executive at the Greensboro station, WGHP (Channel 8), when it was  owned by Fox from 1996 to 2008. It was sold as part of transaction when parent company News Corp. was raising money to purchase The Wall Street Journal.

"I couldn’t be happier to welcome her back," Jack Abernethy, chief executive officer of Fox Television Stations, said in a statement Thursday.

Adams, 58, started at WGHP in 1976 on the production floor as a camera operator and worked up into other positions including program director, anchor and producer on the station's morning show and vice president of creative services before becoming general manager, a post she has held for 16 years.

"North Carolina is my home and I look forward to rejoining my Fox Television Station colleagues," Adams said in a statement.

Adams has a BA in theater arts from High Point University, where she serves on the advisory board of the communications department. She is also on the advisory board of the Salvation Army of High Point and  Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem.