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Thursday, June 01, 2023

Texas Radio Hall of Fame nominations start June 1st for 2023

Texas Radio Hall of Fame


Nominations for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame’s 2023 Induction Class may be submitted beginning at Noon on June 1, 2023. 

The nominations portal will be accessible to voting members at www.TRHOF.net through Friday, June 30, 2023.

In the initial phase of the selection process, qualified candidates may be nominated by voting members in good standing, a status that is open to not only broadcasters but their fans, friends, and family.

“The TRHOF’s Executive Board feels strongly that radio’s listening audience, as well as the broadcast professionals involved with the creation and delivery of quality radio, should have a say in this selection process,” says Doug Harris, a 2011 Inductee who now serves as the organization’s Executive Director.  “We’ve been continually working to refine, streamline, and demystify the nomination and voting process to ensure that we will once again have a group of outstanding broadcasters for consideration by our voting members”,

Once nominations have been received, they are presented for consideration and vetting by an internal TRHOF Review Committee, These broadcast professionals then work collaboratively to identify up to fifty candidates for consideration by the voting members. Voting in this final phase determines the twenty individuals who will be honored at the TRHOF’s Induction Ceremony and Radio Reunion Weekend on November 4, 2023, This event is staged annually at the Texas Museum of Broadcasting and Communications in Kilgore, TX.

Information on becoming a TRHOF voting member is available on the organization’s website and interested parties may still join—and vote—in this year’s selection.


(Taken from a release sent to me by TRHOF)



Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Natalie Haddad joins WFAA DFW


Natalie Haddad announced she is headed to WFAA 8 Dallas - Fort Worth from TEGNA sister-station KVUE Austin where she is a reporter.

Here is a portion of what Haddad posted on social:


"My time at KVUE has come to a bittersweet end...

Here, I have covered severe weather, crime and high profile cases, state and local politics, mass shootings, health-related societal concerns, and have pursued investigations into local school districts and student safety...

I can’t thank KVUE news enough for providing the space for one to blossom. See you sooner rather than later, Austin. 

Next stop: KVUE’s sister-station, WFAA, in Dallas!"


Haddad joined KVUE in April 2022 from KRDO NewsChannel 13 Colorado Springs, Colorado.


Before Colorado, Haddad worked as a:

- Associate Producer/Fill-in Producer for FOX 4 KDFW Dallas-Fort Worth

- General Assignment Reporter KFDM 6 & FOX 4 Beaumont, Texas

- Associate Producer CW39 KIAH's Newsfix Houston


The Stephen F. Austin State University grad interned at abc13 KTRK Houston.





2 KPRC anniversaries

Keith Garvin


KPRC 2 anchors Keith Garvin and Andy Cerota are celebrating decades in the news business!







Derrick Lewis apparently exits abc13 Houston


Derrick Lewis has apparently left his reporting role at abc13 Houston KTRK as his bio has been removed from the station's website and his abc13 branded social media has changed name or no longer exists.

Channel 13 viewers started notifying me over the last few days that Lewis' bio was gone.

Just last week, when his bio was still on the site, I asked "Where is Derrick Lewis?" Viewers had been asking me since Lewis hadn't apparently been on channel 13's newscasts since February.

Lewis joined abc13 Houston in 2022 from Black News Channel where he was a national correspondent out of Houston for the now shuttered network (now rebranded as theGrio).


Before BNC, Lewis worked as a:

- NBC 6 Miami WTVJ freelance reporter 

- CBS 17 WNCN Raleigh, NC bureau reporter 

- WKBN 27 First News Youngstown, Ohio reporter 


He is a Temple University grad.



Erika Castillo apparently no longer with KFOX El Paso


93.1 KISS-FM KSII is reporting that KFOX 14 El Paso anchor Erika Castillo is no longer with the station as her bio has been removed from its website and her station branded Facebook account erased.

On KFOX News at Nine Tuesday night, co-anchor Robert Holguin appeared solo with no mention of Castillo at the beginning of the newscast.

Back in April 2023, other El Paso television station's reported Castillo was jailed on criminal mischief charges. KSII reports that Castillo has not bee on the KFOX airwaves since then. 

Castillo joined KFOX in 2011 after working for KRQE News 13 Albuquerque, FOX 4 KDFW Dallas-Fort Worth and KTSM 9 News El Paso.



Tuesday, May 30, 2023

KFDX Wichita Falls has a snake in the newsroom


If you ever worked in a TV newsroom, you might have thought you had a snake as a co-worker.  But news staffers at KFDX 3 Wichita Falls really had a true serpent among them!

I believe that is KFDX photog Joshua Rowe taking care of the scaly business.






Elyse Smith officially announced for abc13


Elyse Smith was announced as abc13 KTRK's newest meteorologist on Memorial Day, May 29, 2023.

If you read my blog regularly, then you knew back in early May that Smith was joining abc13 Houston







Julie Fine signs off NBC 5 DFW


Julie Fine officially signed off from NBC 5 KXAS on the Dallas-Fort Worth stations' "Lone Star Politics" show May 28, 2023.

"Thank you all for your kind words today, and for watching Gromer Jeffers and me each week," Fine tweeted.   "I had the greatest partner, who is even a finer person."

As I blogged in early May, Fine is joining Bloomberg as its Texas Bureau Chief.




Monday, May 29, 2023

Erik and Bill Barajas are dueling cousin anchors


Gina Gaston announced she was leaving the abc13 Houston 10pm news Friday night, but that was not the only big event happening.  

"Crazy to think that my cousin Erik Barajas and I will be on the airwaves at the same time but for competing stations in the city we love," posted KPRC 2 weekend anchor Bill Barajas.

So yes, two members of the Barajas TV Dynasty were on the air against each other!  Bring in Bill's brother, John Paul, from KSAT San Antonio, put him at his dad, Mike's former station of FOX 26 KRIV, and then you have the Barajas media triumvirate!






Drew Davis joins Hawaii News Now


Drew Davis is saying goodbye to the KBTX News 3 Bryan-College Station weather department and Mahalo to Hawaii News Now.

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Here is what Davis posted on Facebook:


"Aloha y’all! I’m excited to announce that I will be joining the Hawaii News Now First Alert Weather Team after the end of my  GrayTV Fellowship at KBTX. I am incredibly thankful for my time in the Brazos Valley and at Texas A&M University. See you soon, Hawaii!"


The senior meteorology major at Texas A&M graduated in May of 2023.

Davis joined the KBTX weather team in the summer of 2022.

He came to the Brazos Valley from KTEN 10 News Sherman where he was a part-time weather anchor.