local news

High school seniors graduating in 2020 and excited for their moment on stage got their dreams dashed when the coronavirus crisis forced schools to delay, cancel or postpone graduation ceremonies. In Jacksonville, Bob Ellis, the general manager of Graham Media’s independent WJXT, said he felt compelled to do something to help “fill the emptiness so many people felt at having to stay home and have those graduations cancelled. It seemed a natural to go and figure out how to make it happen.”

It’s one of the more anticipated events every year at the Promax Station Summit in Las Vegas, when attendees gather around the Stephen Arnold Music kiosk for the guitar giveaway drawing. This year, the contest was done remotely and the winner is a TV station general manager.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s MediaJobCenter include openings for assistant news directors, executive producers, news producers, reporters, promotion managers and engineers in Texas, South Carolina and Iowa.

“We all wanted to do our part to recognize our graduates, and I’m glad we were able to do that, while also letting them tell us what they had to say,” said Mark Klein, the creative services director for KALB, Gray’s NBC/CBS/CW affiliated stations in Alexandria, Louisiana.

When four news-producing TV stations in Richmond, Va., joined together in a promotional campaign pledging solidarity to the people of their city during this coronavirus crisis, little did they know that they would end up influencing “journalism on the other side of the globe.”

Shine On Minnesota included entertainment, musical performances, inspirational messages and stories of hope from some of Minnesota’s favorite artists and celebrities, including Dessa, who teamed up with the Minnesota Orchestra to debut a new collaborative at-home style music video of her hit, Skeleton Key.

Nexstar Broadcasting’s three-month nationwide campaign honoring the outstanding contributions that women have made to local communities has culminated in the selection of a Woman of the Year. The married mother of three works as an area lead for the Northern Illinois Food Bank, serving several counties located south and west of Chicago.

The two-hour special, Gordon Ramsey’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back: Save Our Town will show how Ramsey renovated local businesses culminating in a grand reopening of the town at the end of the makeovers.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s MediaJobCenter include openings in digital sales at Connecticut Public Television in Hartford, and in engineering at WRNN’s studio in Cherry Hill, N.J.

“The Good Stuff,” billed as stories that inspire, always delivers with stories so uplifting that they often produce a tear or two. And if ever there was a time when local TV news viewers needed a dose of inspiration, it’s now.