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Apr 16, 2001  •  Post A Comment

WSVN anchor Sanchez heads to MSNBC
Miami’s high-profile Cuban anchor Rick Sanchez of Fox affiliate WSVN-TV will be joining MSNBC in June. Except for a year-and-a-half stint at KHOU-TV, Houston, WSVN has been Mr. Sanchez’s home for 18 years. The Miami native, 42, who came to America as a Cuban refugee during the Castro revolution, got his first job as a general assignment reporter at WSVN when he was 21. He covered the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 and the Contra wars in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
He now anchors WSVN’s 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts and will finish the May book at the station before moving to MSNBC. Speculation is he will have his own live interview/chat show. But MSNBC Executive Producer Ramon Escobar, who hired Mr. Sanchez, said he has not decided what his role will be. “I’m going to assess how we can best use Rick and his talents,” Mr. Escobar told Electronic Media. “It’s completely open. It’s obvious it will be something that plays to Rick’s skills and talents.”
Mr. Sanchez is excited about the move to a national audience. “I particularly like what MSNBC is doing; they are doing the news of the future,” he said.
Finlayson wrote the book on moonlighting
Andrew Finlayson, news director of the highly rated newscasts at Fox affiliate KTVU-TV, Oakland, Calif., now adds author to his title. It is rare for a news director in a top five market to work on a 360-page book in his spare time, but “Questions That Work: How to Ask Questions That Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation” became available in bookstores last week.
It took five years to complete the book, which talks about the value of asking questions and lists common situations in the business world, such as applying for a job and asking for a raise, and such issues as making ethical decisions. The book gives readers 65 questions that will help them negotiate their salaries and benefits, for example.
“One of the beaut[ies] of being a journalist is we use questions all the time, and some people are better at asking questions than others,” Mr. Finlayson said. “When you master the art of asking questions, you’re not only going to make a good impression, but you’ll also dramatically improve your performance.”
In the book, Mr. Finlayson credits former KTVU General Manager Kevin O’Brien, who now oversees several Cox stations, and former KTVU News Director Fred Zehnder for their unique questioning styles.
KCET cuts hours of digital broadcasts
Responding to the California power crisis, PBS station KCET-TV, Los Angeles, has scaled back the number of hours it broadcasts in its digital signal. As of April 1, KCET removed carriage of its digital kids block and its multicasting capability. The station is now broadcasting programs on its digital channel from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
KFSN goes digital; KMPH anchor arrested
ABC-owned KFSN-TV, Fresno, Calif., became the first station in its market to broadcast a digital signal last week, with the network’s “NYPD Blue” offered on Tuesday in high definition on its KFSN-DT channel. Each week “NYPD Blue” and any other network program in HDTV will be offered to viewers.
In other Fresno news, according to the Fresno Bee, on April 6, Tamara Henry, 30, weekend anchor/reporter at Fox affiliate KMPH-TV, was arrested on suspicion of battery against a cohabitant and felony assault with a deadly weapon. According to the Bee, she allegedly swung a 41/2-foot wooden pole at her boyfriend after a party at their house and “slapped him repeatedly.”
KMPH News Director Roger Gadley said she was suspended pending an internal investigation. Sources told Electronic Media she was not on the air last week for her reporting duties.
Karissa S. Wang can be reached by phone at 323-370-2430, via e-mail at kwang@crain.com or by fax at 323-653-4425.