'Live From Lincoln Center,' it's Fresno's Audra McDonald

If you've been watching the "Live From Lincoln Center" series on KVPT (Channel 18.1), you've had the chance to see Fresno's Audra McDonald show off her hosting skills. She goes from host to performer for the episode of the concert series airing at 9 p.m. May 24.

Being on the stage at Lincoln Center is familiar to McDonald, who studied at The Juilliard School and performed on every Lincoln Center stage during her multiple-Tony winning career. Read more →

KFTV dominates regional Emmys

KFTV (Channel 21) collected eight nominations for "The 42nd Annual Northern California Area Emmy Awards."

The local Univision affiliate picked up nods for its 6 p.m. newscast, plus several individual honors among Spanish-language television stations from the Northern California region, which covers from Visalia to the Oregon border and includes Hawaii and Reno. Read more →

KMJ stays in the hunt in latest ratings

The first official Arbitron radio ratings period since the loss of syndicated programming on KMJ (AM 580) reveals that while the local talk/news station's numbers are down from the three previous ratings periods, it's attracting enough listeners to tie for second place with sister station KSKS (FM 93.7) with a 5.4 share.

KBOS (FM 94.9) is the top station with a 6.7 share for the winter period of Jan. 3 to March 27. The number is based on listeners older than 12 who tuned in a local radio station from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday-Sunday. Read more →

Vincent Kartheiser defends his 'Mad Men' character

Vincent Kartheiser believes Pete Campbell has gotten a raw deal.

He keeps hearing about how awful his "Mad Men" character is because he was the one who suggested Joan (Christina Hendricks) sleep with a client as a way to land the Jaguar advertising account. Read more →

Fresno's Miranda Rae Mayo lands on BET's 'The Game'

Fresno's connection to Hollywood continues to grow.

Fresno's Miranda Rae Mayo can be seen in late May on the BET comedy series "The Game." She has a multi-episode arc that begins at the end of this season and resumes in the seventh season. Read more →

KVPT to screen 'Orphans of the Genocide'

Filmmaker Bared Maronian and actor Ken Davitian ("Borat," "The Artist") will be the special guests at the KVPT (Channel 18.1) studios for two screenings of Maronian's documentary "Orphans of the Genocide."

The film is dedicated to the more than 150,000 orphans of the Armenian Genocide. Read more →

Hollywood Notes: Hamm mum, China Girl chatty

It's always an interesting challenge talking to the cast of "Mad Men" just before a season opener. They are always available for interviews, but they are under a strict mandate not to say a word about the upcoming season. Most of the cast will only give their name, rank and serial number when asked about what will happen.

Also, most members of the cast don't know what's going to happen past the scripts they've seen. Only Jon Hamm is told what will be happening through the entire year. He's used as a sounding board by the writers to get his reaction about the upcoming plot lines. Read more →

Kate Scott talks her way into a career

Kate Scott turned the two things she loved to do in high school -- talk and sports -- into a career in radio and it's taken her to the fourth largest market in the country.

She anchors the sports report on San Francisco's KNBR (AM 680) weekdays during the "Murph & Mac" show from 5-9 a.m. and on the "Gary Radnich & Larry Krueger" program from 9 a.m. to noon. Local cable subscribers can see the Radnich show, which is simulcast on Comcast SportsNet California. Read more →

TV Beat: Anchor Harrison's hair draws attention

Like so many people who go through cancer treatment, KFSN (Channel 30.1) anchor Liz Harrison had to deal with the loss of her hair in her battle with breast cancer.

This can be tough for anyone. But in her case -- working in a business where appearances are such a big part of the job -- it meant going back on the air without hair. Read more →

Hollywood Notes: Saoirse Ronan ('The Host') will kiss and tell

Almost everyone remembers that first kiss.

It was probably a moment that was so awkward you were happy no one was around to see it -- except for the person on the other end of the smooch. Read more →

TV Beat: KMJ's ag expert cultivates radio skills

KMJ (AM 580) program director Skip Essick is facing an entirely different situation with his new agriculture reporter, Don York, than he faced with previous ag guy, Sean Michael Lisle.

"Sean was a disc jockey who we made an ag reporter. Don's an ag man who we need to make into a broadcaster," says Essick. Read more →

‘0 to 5 in 30 Minutes!’ digs deeper with panels

The seventh season of the locally produced “0 to 5 in 30 Minutes!” — starting at 7:30 p.m. tonight on KVPT (Channel 18.1) — will feature a slight change.

Over the first six seasons, each episode has looked at multiple topics. The difference this season is that four of the 24 episodes will be devoted to a single topic discussed by an on-camera panel of experts. Read more →

Former TV anchor launches Web show

Former KMPH (Channel 26.1) anchor John Malos will host “Straight Talk with John Malos,” a talk/news show Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. on centralvalleytalk.com. The Web site was created by Mike Briggs, a former member of the Fresno City Council and the state Assembly, and features several locally produced talk shows.

Programming on the Internet based radio-video network is simulcast on KSDI (Channel 33.1). Malos will discuss a range of topics from politics to entertainment. His plan is for viewers to call in their questions. Read more →

Big changes for Valley broadcasters in 2009

With the end of 2009 rapidly approaching, it’s time to look back at some of the biggest local television and radio moments of the past 12 months.

* Change is good: Local television stations switched from analog to digital signals, which led to better pictures and opened the door for local stations to add multiple channels. Read more →

KVPT adds the channel Create TV

KVPT (Channel 18.1) adds the new channel Create TV (Channel 18.2) to its digital lineup at 6 a.m. Sunday. You may already have seen the channel during test runs before the official launch.

Create TV is the second new service offered by the local public television station. It launched the Spanish-language V-me (Channel 18.3) in February 2007. The new channel can be seen via an antenna or on Comcast Cable channel 194. Read more →

TV Beat: KAIL rolls out two spooky specials

Halloween comes early on KAIL (Channel 7.1) with two locally produced spooky specials airing this weekend. “Eye on Horror,” at 8 p.m. Sunday, explores several central San Joaquin Valley haunts and offers a sneak peek at the locally produced horror film, “Stricken.” Sharon Kille Jenkins hosts.

It’ll be followed at 9 p.m. by “Hauntings in Central California: The Sierra Sky Ranch” where the Central California Paranormal Investigators look for proof that Sierra Sky Ranch is haunted. Read more →