April 5, 2012, by Rodney Ho

December 18, 2012, by Rodney Ho

By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sept. 28, 2010

>Long-time news director Budd McEntee resigned today from his post at Fox affiliate WAGA-TV this afternoon.

He’s leaving at the end of the week. A WAGA spokeswoman said a replacement is being sought but has yet to be named. This is the second major shift in management in just a few weeks. The station’s veteran general manager Gene McHugh stepped down last month, replaced by Bill Schneider.

McEntee, 55, said his decision to retire was independent from McHugh’s.

“It’s been a fascinating opportunity and a great ride,” McEntee said in an interview today. “I need some time to throttle back a bit and take care of me and my family.” He will take some time off before deciding what his next step will be.

An insider took a shot of his going-away announcement today.

McEntee, who joined the station as a producer in 1982, has been news director at WAGA since 1991. His proudest accomplishment: turning I-Team investigative team into an award-winning powerhouse. (“That team is so bloody committed!” he said.)

WAGA runs more local news than any other station in town and is a strong second place behind ABC affiliate Channel 2 Action News in overall ratings.

Its 10 p.m. news often beats scripted fare on other networks, especially if Fox airs a strong 9 p.m. program such as “American Idol.” Its morning “Good Day Atlanta” show has been consistently popular for years, anchored currently by Mark Hayes and Suchita Vadlamani.

Brett Martin, the former “Good Day Atlanta” Road Warrior features reporter who was let go from the station in 2007, said McEntee was liked by some, not so much by others. Martin said he hardly ever dealt with McEntee because McEntee was not a fan of feature stories.

“He was passionate about being first, getting it right and getting it on the air,” said Angeline Hartmann, who worked at WAGA-TV from 1996 to 2005 and is now a correspondent at “America’s Most Wanted” in Washington D.C.

She said for people he knew were loyal to WAGA, he treated well. And even when she left, he would joke to her, “You’ll always work for me.” Years later, he would still call her for tips and would ask her when she was returning. (“When you leave WAGA, you have a little 5 carved in your heart,” McEntee added. “It’s a special place where people take care of each other and turn out some of the best storytelling and reporting I’ve ever seen.”)

“The longer you’re there, the more you can appreciate him,” Hartmann said. “I’ve had my share of him calling me into his office letting me know he wasn’t happy about this or that. But he made me a better reporter and helped me develop a thick skin.”

She said she was shocked he was stepping down: “We always thought he’d die there!”

McEntee admitted he could be tough on his people. “It’s not nirvana,” he said. “It’s not heaven. People may say, ‘I didn’t care for Budd or care for Channel 5.’ But I have to tell you: I have been blessed with an incredible team of people who are just so good at what they do. They will continue to be great at what they do. And it doesn’t hurt to have a corporation stand behind you [like News Corp.]”

He also thinks the growth of Fox News during his tenure WAGA has only helped the station. “It’s a very strong name and a name people instantly recognize,” he said. “And to be honest with you, a lot of people call us with tips we wouldn’t have gotten in other instances.”

He has built some loyalty. “Why do they stay?” he asked, jokingly adding, “Must be my cheerful personality!” He said: “I want to be the best it can be. I don’t want viewers to have to work. I don’t want viewers to have to sit there and figure out what we said. We were fair and balanced at WAGA before fair and balanced was cool!”

McEntee, as a background guy, didn’t embrace the front of the camera. A quick Google image search for him landed exactly one tiny single shot, taken for the Live Apartment Fire blog, written by former WAGA-TV reporter Doug Richards, now at WXIA-TV:

There is video of him at an Atlanta Press Club meeting from 2009 responding to a question of whether local news “stinks,” a statement a rival news director said in general.

And for folks who like seeing old promos, here’s one for the I-Team circa 1994.

Here’s when the station moved from CBS to Fox:

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David Chandley worked at WSB for nearly 26 years but begins January 26, 2015 at WAGA-TV. CREDIT: Fox 5

By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed January 26, 2015

David Chandley, a long-time mainstay on Channel 2 Action News until last summer, is joining rival Fox 5 as chief meteorologist. He officially starts today at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts.

The official announcement was made on YouTube at 6:43 a.m. with Joanne Feldman. “It’s finally here,” he said on the video with the hashtag #WelcomeDavid. “I’m just so happy to be here. I’m just so blessed to be here. This is going to be a whole lot of fun.” At 6:47 a.m., Feldman introduced Chandley on “Good Day Atlanta.”

After thanking God, he said, “This is my home town. This is my state. My people!” Later, in an interview, he repeated what he has said on the air: “I’m living the dream.”

Chandley, who worked at WSB for nearly 26 years, said he loved working there but wanted to become a lead meteorologist, a responsibility he had never held before. “It’s being front and center when there’s a big weather event, dictating the tone and coverage,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be the messenger and navigate the ship.”

At WSB, Glenn Burns has been chief meteorologist for 30 years and has no near-term plans to retire. As a result, Chandley said he wasn’t sure he’d ever get his shot there.

Fox 5’s Ken Cook retired last summer after 35 years at the station, leaving an opening Chandley thought he could fill.

It’s unusual for on-air staff to  leave WSB, the long-time leader in the market in ratings, for another station in the same market.

Chandley had a six-month non-compete clause that expired January 10. He wasn’t able to start negotiating with any Atlanta TV station until after that date.

WSB, which has been running billboards espousing its weather team as a whole and Burns individually, has the biggest unit among the four local Atlanta stations with five full-time meteorologists.  Katie Walls and Brian Monahan were hired last year. The other stations have three or four.

There has been a marked turnover in meteorologists in the Atlanta local news market this past year. Last year, 11 Alive dropped Mike Francis and boosted Chris Holcomb to chief. CBS46’s Markina Brown left in November, replaced last month by Jim Kosek.

WSB is part of Cox Media Group, which also oversees The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ajc.com.

Ken Cook is forecasting danger ahead that might involve the need of Monge & Associates. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com off my TV

By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, February 25, 2015

When veteran Fox 5 meteorologist Ken Cook was about to retire last year, he told me he planned to find some endorsement work now that he’s out of the news business. He has found his first.

This week, Cook’s ads representing accident attorney Scott Monge began airing on multiple networks – including his old home WAGA-TV, where he worked for 35 years. The commercials are certainly attention getting because they look at first like he’s about to give a regular weather forecast.

But instead, he uses weather terms to tie in with how dangerous the world can be and how an attorney at Monge & Associates could help you out. These types of personal injury attorneys are common on daytime TV (think Ken Nugent: “One call, that’s all!”) and are mocked on the AMC show “Better Call Saul.”

In one of the 15-second ads below, in front of a green-screen fake five-day forecasting screen, he says, “Weather forecasting is rarely 100 percent accurate but if  you’re caught in an accident, there’s one law firm that offers you 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed.”

Cook, in an interview, said he heard about the firm through a friend of a friend. “Hopefully, I generate some business for him and he’ll have me back,” he said.

Monge, in a follow-up interview Thursday, said he was willing to work with Cook because he “has a large following. He has people who grew up as children who watched him their whole life delivering the weather. The reaction has been positive. He’s a straight shooter, a very honest guy, a really great guy. He has the valued that I have in my law practice. It seemed like a really nice fit.”

Monge, who is based in Atlanta and has a 50-person law firm, has run ads on TV for more than a decade. He said his firm does personal injury as well as disability cases. “Our mission is to deliver a first-class VIP level of customer service for our clients by winning their cases. We firmly believe in treating our customers the same way we treat our friends and family.”

Given Cook’s love for landscaping and plants, he hopes to land a spokesman account with a place like Pike’s.

Today, he’s a volunteer weather advisor for Forsyth County, which will likely have three to six inches of snow tonight.

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed November 12, 2012

Amanda Davis, a veteran evening anchor at Fox 5 Atlanta, has been arrested on charges of driving under the influence in a wrong-way crash, according to the Atlanta police. She was reportedly driving northbound in the southbound lane on Piedmont Ave. at 12:30 a.m. early Sunday morning. She was taken to jail and released later that day.

Details are in this story on ajc.com with her mug shot.

You have to give WAGA-TV credit for reporting the news on air and on its website, though the headline does not reference the DUI.

Davis has worked at Fox 5 since 1986 and anchors the 6 and 10 p.m. news. She was an original anchor in 1992 for “Good Day Atlanta.”

Ken Rodriguez will be wearing a Cavs t-shirt soon because the Fox 5 station lost a best to Fox 8 in Cleveland thanks to the Hawks loss to the Cavs last week. CREDIT: Fox 5

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, June 1, 2015

The local Fox 5 affiliate held a good-natured bet with the Fox affiliate in Cleveland before the Cavs-Hawks Eastern Conference final series. The losing city affiliate would have to wear the other city’s shirts, eat their food and read an essay espousing how great the other city is.

Unfortunately for WAGA-TV, the Atlanta Hawks were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. So soon, you’ll be seeing Ken Rodriguez, Russ Spencer and Cynne Simpson in Cavaliers gear and eating Cleveland fare (Buckeye chocolates, Stadium Mustard). The gloating Cleveland broadcasters at Fox 8 also provided tissues and sent off the “loser box” Friday.

I’ll add the video from Fox 5 once it happens.

Beth Galvin has been with Fox 5 for 19 years. CREDIT: Fox 5

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed June 9, 2015

Beth Galvin, the long-time Fox 5 medical reporter, today is donating a kidney to an anonymous recipient in Los Angeles, inspired by a Chamblee police captain’s similar journey that she covered for the TV station.

She posted this note on her public Facebook page on Friday:

I am taking a few weeks off from FOX 5 to do something I’ve felt led to do. On Tuesday, June 9th at Emory University Hospital, I will become a kidney donor through the Paired Kidney Donor program.

I will be the beginning of a kidney transplant chain that will stretch across the country. I do not know who will receive my kidney, except that it is someone in LA who needs it.

UPDATE: Thursday, June 11, 2015. I haven’t been able to reach Galvin for comedy post-surgery but she did post this on Facebook:

Thank you to the surgeons and doctors and nurses (especially the nurses) at Emory Healthcare for taking such great care of me. It’s been an emotional, beautiful journey. I’ve heard that the recipient of my kidney, a California father of two young children, is doing really well. After two years of dialysis, he can get back to living his life. That makes everything I did absolutely worth it. Please keep him in your thoughts as he heals from his surgery. I hope my kidney works like gangbusters for him.

Galvin, who has been at WAGA-TV since 1996, had the surgery on Tuesday, June 9:

Here is the story that made her join in:

As the story noted, Emory University since 2010 has been part of a Paired Donor Kidney Exchange Program. Often, people want to donate a kidney to a friend or loved one but it’s not compatible. By using a national database, they can find those who have the right kidney and do a “chain” exchange. In paired donation, a donor and recipient are matched with another incompatible donor and recipient pair, and the kidneys are exchanged between the pairs.

Galvin is part of a chain of involving six people.

Mike Beller, the Chamblee police captain in the story above who donated his kidney in 2013, said today that he is happy to see Galvin create a new kidney chain.

“I’m very proud of her,” Beller said. “I’m happy for the people whose lives are going to change by her donation.”

People often have to wait years for a new kidney while suffering from the harsh reality of dialysis treatment. Many die long before a kidney comes along. The waiting list can exceed 100,000 people.

According to Wired magazine, “today, about a third of the 16,000 annual kidney transplants come from living donors, a number that keeps rising through paired procedures.”

Beller said the recovery time isn’t too bad. He was back at work within two weeks. “I have a desk job,” he said. “It would have been longer if I had to run around chasing bad guys. I’d call it a temporary setback. You go on with life as before. Sometimes, I even forget I ever did it. At the same time, there’s a feeling of accomplishment thinking about the people in the chain whose lives have been positively changed in a very long-term way.”

He said he doesn’t know who has his kidney but the recipient did send an anonymous thank you note to him a few weeks  after the surgery.

“Someone inspired me to do this,” Fuller said. “I hope Beth can inspire others.”

A Fulton County judge cleared Amanda Davis of the most serious charges related to a vehicular accident she was in in November, 2012. But she was arrested again on June 15 ,2015.  CREDIT: Fox 5

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, June 15, 2015

Former Fox 5 anchor Amanda Davis, as my colleague Tyler Estep reported this morning, was arrested earlier today for driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane.

Davis was set to debut as part of the CBS46’s new “Just a Minute” commentary team at 5:56 p.m. today.

But CBS46 released a statement at 10:49 a.m.:

For personal reasons Amanda Davis has requested leave from the Just a Minute Project.  We at CBS46 respect her decision.

The commentaries are pre-taped so the station will sub her commentary out. CBS46 has a set of 10 mostly former Atlanta journalists doing one-minute commentaries, including Sally Sears, Ken Watts and Kimberley Kennedy. Cynthia Tinsley, formerly of 11 Alive, will be heard first tonight instead.

Based on a poll I posted when I first wrote about “Just a Minute” on June 4, Davis was by far the most highly anticipated contributor with nearly half of those who took the poll looking forward to seeing her the most.

CBS46 general manager Mark Pimentel, the day “Just a Minute” was announced earlier this month, said contributors are compensated but acknowledged it wasn’t a lot.

Davis retired from Fox 5 after 26 years in 2013 and several months after being arrested for DUI while driving in the wrong lane and hitting another vehicle. In 2014, she was cleared of all charges and assigned 20 hours of community service. She has not been able to get another full-time job in Atlanta TV. Presumably, the “Just a Minute” part-time gig was a way to get back in the spotlight.

She talked to Maria Boynton of V-103 last week. “I thought I was done. Got a call from CBS46 and I’m back,” she told Boynton. She was going to talk about Caitlyn Jenner and how so many others don’t have his resources.

She also addressed the reaction to her 2012 DUI for the first time in public:

“It was awful,” she said. “People don’t think about you as a person. They were hateful. They were mean.” She said she couldn’t address the case because of the legal case. She said the night of the accident she had a single drink but didn’t think that was the problem. She blamed her driving the wrong way down a one-way street less on drinking and more on “distracted” driving. She refused to take a sobriety test because she was afraid, she told Boynton.

Davis admitted she was depressed and isolated for a period of time after that.

She did not acknowledge any drinking problems to Boynton although to be fair, Boynton never asked that question directly.

Estep got a hold of the police report in the afternoon of the latest DUI arrest. The details were sparse.

Tom Haynes has been host for the Fox 5 News Edge for more than seven years. CREDIT: Fox 5

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, August 3, 2015

Fox 5, which already airs more local news than any other Atlanta broadcast network by a wide margin, is expanding its 11 p.m. news to a full hour starting September 14.

The “Fox 5 News Edge,” which came to be in 2007 hosted by Tom Haynes as a 30-minute show, will become the first one-hour 11 p.m. news program in the top 50 markets.

The other three major broadcast networks air talk shows during that second half hour. Currently, Fox 5 airs a repeat of “Access Hollywood” at 11:30 p.m.

Fox 5 starting next month will air a whopping 62.5 hours of local news a week. That’s more than 37 percent of its weekly schedule.

Chief meteorologist David Chandley and sports anchor Ken Rodriguez will continue to help Haynes out in studio.

Mike McClain, the vice president of news for Fox 5, said this is a way to give people more choices in local news, as fewer and fewer people work traditional 9 to 5 jobs. He noted that in recent years, local news has begun airing as early as 4:30 a.m. as well. This now means two sports segments and Chandley’s ability to be the last person in the market to provide a forecast before midnight rolls around.

According to the press release:

This expansion will utilize the station’s interactive news stage to present Atlanta’s trending stories. Social Media Producer, Natalie Tejada, will share stories that are “Trending Live.” A new opinion segment, “Like It or Not,” will provide a fresh take on the traditional news editorial, allowing viewers to engage directly with topics that are important to the Atlanta and North Georgia regions.

The “Like it or Not” sounds a bit like CBS 46’s recently instituted “Just a Minute,” where a rotating crew of former TV reporters offer their take on the news. In this case, McClain said he will cull from a broader array of Atlanta experts to do editorials.

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, May 2, 2016

Fox 5 has decided not to renew Lisa Rayam’s contract, according to six different unnamed sources. My information came from former Fox 5 employees and friends of Rayam herself.

She will be off the air by the end of the month. Rayam has been anchoring the noon and 6 p.m. newscasts.

The Arizona State University graduate has been a popular presence at Fox 5 for 22 years, arriving at the time the station was switching its affiliation from CBS to Fox.

Rayam declined to comment, referring me to her higher ups.

UPDATE 5/3/2016 4:23 p.m.: Rayam just posted a note on her public Fox 5 Facebook page, noting that “I need more time with my awesome children. I need early dinners with them. I need to help with homework. I need to show up ‘on time’ for them everywhere. Some of you also know that my son is being heavily recruited and I can’t wait to help him explore his own opportunities across the country! I am extremely sorry that many of you heard about my news through a media report that was inaccurate. My hope had been to share my announcement with you first. I thought it was important that it came from me. Unfortunately, due to the misinformation, I am addressing this differently than I had planned. It’s a shame.

Let me be clear again – this is my decision. Trying to spin this in any other way is unnecessary and untrue. It saddens me that some have done so.”

(My rebuttal: I had multiple, very reliable sources who spoke directly to Rayam who said her contract wasn’t being renewed.)

A Fox spokeswoman from New York said the station has no personnel announcements to make “at this time.”

UPDATE: On May 3, the network provided this statement from Bill Schneider, VP and GM of WAGA FOX 5:

“After 21 years with the FOX 5 family, we wish Lisa the very best in the next chapter of her life. We thank her for her incredible commitment to this station and the service she has provided to our viewers for all these years. ”

Rayam, according to her Fox 5 bio, loves to sing and work with children in her spare time, visiting schools on a regular basis. She is a big supporter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Dress for Success, Hope House and My Sister’s House of Atlanta.

She would be the second anchor to leave the station this spring.

Gurvir Dhindsa, a host of “Good Day Atlanta,” stepped down last month.

This was posted on Tuesday, February 15, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Fox 5 Atlanta (WAGA-TV) recently adopted a future canine assistant named Max. The Fox 5 staff over the next 18 to 24 months will work with the golden retriever, who will hopefully become a service dog for a military veteran.

Through a Milton-based non-profit Canine Assistants, trained employees rotate as foster parents who take Max home every day. By being at the TV station during the day, Max will learn how to become socialized and inured to meeting strangers who visit “Good Day Atlanta’ regularly. Over time, he will learn skills such as opening doors and turning on lights.

Max came to Fox 5 January 17.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ybY4Hm7t3o&w=640&h=390]

Constance Jones, morning host for “Good Day Atlanta,” is one of the enthusiastic fans of the program. She said other TV stations have done similar adoptions such as NBC’s “The Today Show” and the Fox affiliate in Austin, both last year.

“Needless to say, there are no shortage of volunteers,” she said.

Foster parents watch him for two weeks at a time. “He can learn to be with kids, learn to be with other dogs,” Jones said. She just moved to Atlanta last summer and moved into an apartment that does not allow dogs so she cannot foster. But she sees him every day.

“It’s fun to go to work every single day and Max is there,” Jones said. “Something about being around a dog is just amazing. No matter what I’m going through, there’s Max wobbling down the hallway.”

He’s also doing media visits, to 94.9/The Bull and “Dish Nation.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkHLWaDv7IM&w=640&h=390]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sf-qD8znFw&w=640&h=390]

Jones’ father served in the military for 25 years, serving in Desert Shield and Desert Storm at Fort Hood, so she feels connected to the program’s tenets.

She grew up in Oklahoma City and is acclimating to Atlanta. She lives near Piedmont Park and rides bikes on the Beltline regularly with her husband, an artist named Troy Simmons who specializes in sculpture. “I love the raw creative energy of the city,” said Jones, who has family in Montgomery, Ala.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYFfBegfKBM&w=640&h=390]

He has his own Twitter page, too:

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a news conference announcing Alexander Acosta as the new Labor Secretary nominee in the East Room at the White House on February 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The announcement comes a day after Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

This was posted Thursday, February 8, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Donald Trump Thursday at a press conference went after Atlanta-based CNN at least five times.

TVNewser recounted each instance, with an extensive critique of former Atlantan Don Lemon’s show at 10 p.m., without referencing his name.

Look at your show that goes on at 10 p.m. You just take a look at that show. That is a constant hit on me. The panel is almost always exclusive anti-Trump. The good news is he doesn’t have good ratings, but the panel is almost exclusive anti-Trump. The hatred and venom coming from his mouth. The hatred coming from other people on your network. Now I will say this, I watch it. I see it. I am amazed by it. I just think you’d be a lot better off, I honestly do. The public gets it. When I go to rallies they turn around and start screaming at CNN. They want to throw their placards at CNN. I think you’d do much better by being different. Just take a look, take a look at some of your shows in the morning and the evening. If a guest comes out and says something positive about me, it’s brutal.

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 18: Don Lemon attends the 2014 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History on November 18, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

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Leanna Taylor, the ex-wife of Justin Ross Harris, returns to the stand for her cross examination during Harris’ murder trial at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga., on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016. (screen capture via WSB-TV) WSB-TV

In a follow up to their recent “20/20” special on Justin Ross Harris, ABC News has landed an interview with his ex wife Leanna Taylor that will air Friday evening. The AJC also secured an interview with her. You can read that here on myajc.com.

Taylor was doubly victimized. She not only lost her toddler son Cooper when Harris left him in a hot car but also endured testimony about his double life cheating on her in the press and in court. The revelations were a factor leading to their divorce.

Until now, she has remained largely silent outside her courtroom testimony. She will defend herself regarding charges by some observers that she might have colluded with Harris. She was never charged by prosecutors. She’ll also talk about her son Cooper.

On the stand last fall, Taylor told the jury although she was “humiliated” and “may never trust anyone again,” she didn’t think Harris killed his son on purpose. But that didn’t stop the jury from sentencing him to life in prison without possibility of parole.

“His is anybody’s story who’s been betrayed by their spouse, who has been betrayed by the justice system,” she told ABC News’ Amy Robach. “The only thing that I can do right now is to offer hope in a world that doesn’t have much right now.”

The report also includes home videos of Cooper and interviews with prosecutor Chuck Borin and Taylor’s attorney Lawrence Zimmerman. “20/20” airs Friday, February 17 at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Our own AJC reporter Christian Boone also talked with “20/20” about the case.

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“Good Day Atlanta” has named a new weekend meteorologist Ryan Beesley, replacing Adam Klotz, who recently left for Fox News.

He will join Kaitlyn Pratt on weekend mornings for Fox 5 and will also make appearances on the noon Fox 5 newscast on weekdays. He is part of a team led by David Chandley, Joanne Feldman and Jeff Hill.

Most recently, Beesley was a weekend meteorologist for WATE in Knoxville, TN. Before that, he was weekend meteorologist for WALB in Albany and WLOX in Biloxi, MS.

Born in New Hampshire, Beesley spent his childhood in Minnesota and Atlanta. He graduated the University of South Alabama with a B.S. in broadcast meteorology.

“It’s always been my dream to return home and work in Atlanta,” he said in the press release. “I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist at a young age, and I remember being glued to my TV watching former chief meteorologist Ken Cook on Fox 5 and meteorologist David Chandley hoping to be like them one day.