Alycia Lane

Lane was last seen on the air in December 2007 after the now-infamous incident involving an NYPD cop and a few choice words. She was no stranger to making news in Philly, not necessarily for good reason.

Lane has sued CBS3 for wrongful termination. But she is leaving Philadelphia behind and following her beau, radio host Chris Booker, to Los Angeles. She says she hopes to get a job in TV, although rumors of a future in real estate are also swirling.

Larry Mendte (larrymendte)

Mendte is a household name in the Philadelphia area — a local guy who people trusted. However, he was convicted last August of illegally accessing former co-anchor Alycia Lane’s e-mail account hundreds of times. He recently got off his sentence of six-months’ house arrest.

He has kept himself under the radar lately. He has started a blog in which he shares stories, poetry and other writings. Mendte’s wife, Dawn Stensland (dawnstensland), anchors the 10 p.m. newscast on Fox 29.

Gerald Kolpan (geraldkolpan)

Kolpan was a 21-year veteran of Fox 29, the most tenured member of its on-air staff. Kolpan was the go-to features reporter, known for his quirky stories and quirky delivery. He was released from the station earlier this year.

His release came just months before the release of his book, Etta, which is a fictional tale of the Sundance Kid’s companion. Kolpan is also keeping busy with an age discrimination lawsuit against Fox 29. (See the update.)

Don Tollefson and Billy Vargus

Within a year, Fox 29 canned two of its three sports anchors. Don Tollefson, a well-known broadcaster in Philly, was released last year (literally days after returning to the air after recuperating from a car accident). Billy Vargus was released this spring after 12 years at the station. No word on any future in the Philadelphia sports scene, though. Vargus still has a link to Fox 29 — his wife, Sue Serio (sue_serio), is the meteorologist for Good Day Philadelphia.

Joe Staszak is now the lead sports anchor/reporter, occasionally getting help from former Eagle Hugh Douglas and 610 WIP’s Anthony Gargano. Senior sports producer Tom Sredenschek has also taken up anchoring duties.

Angela Russell (thenewslady)

Russell was an anchor/reporter at CBS3. She co-anchored the 4 p.m. newscast with local news legend Marc Howard and reported for the 11 p.m. newscast. Known for her conversational tone and engaging reports, she was released from the station in January.

However, she quickly landed on her feet. She picked up the lead anchor job at KIRO in Seattle, Wash. She anchors the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

Paul Deanno (pauldeannoKOMO)

Deanno was a popular morning meteorologist for CBS3. He was one of the few reporters to (reportedly) leave on his own terms to become chief meteorologist at WTVJ in Miami a few years back.

Miami must not be like Philadelphia. There were no reports on why Deanno quietly left Miami in the fall of 2008, but he is reunited with former CBS3 colleague Angela Russell in Seattle. He is the morning meteorologist at KOMO. (See the update.)

Sally Ann Mosey

SAM, as she was known by colleagues, was a popular, cheerful meteorologist at 6ABC. Like Deanno, she (reportedly) left on her own terms, making a name for herself at WNBC in New York City.

However, WNBC announced some hefty layoffs beginning in December 2008. The station released many of its big name personalities, likely to cost cut. Mosey was among the cuts.

Rumors quickly swirled in Philadelphia about a possible return to the area, much like Fox 29 meteorologist John Bolaris after his stint in NYC. Mosey has followed his example. She is now a freelance meteorologist for WTXF, and her first appearance back on air in Philadelphia will be on July 19.

Lane is moving to the Hollywood Hills to follow her boyfriend, former Q102 DJ Chris Booker, who is working at KAMP in Los Angeles. She reportedly has a house in the Hollywood Hills.

Not familiar with the Lane name? You will after reading a few posts. She’s been absent from here for a while.

Her future plans — Lane said she hopes to land a TV job. Just no more trips to New York City this time.

Fresh off house arrest, former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte is suing the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Also involved in the suit is Inqy columnists Michael Klein and Jonathan Storm and retired Daily News columnist Jill Porter.

The suit alleges that the three columnists put Mendte in a negative light and prevented him from salvaging his broadcasting career. He says Klein and former co-anchor Alycia Lane formed a close friendship that, in essence, distorted some facts in his reporting. The inaccuracies, the suit says, caused the district attorney to up the charges from misdemeanors to felonies.

Mendte is seeking $50,000 in damages.

Meanwhile, Lane is still in the process of suing Mendte, CBS3 and Daily News gossiper Dan Gross.

An all new cbs3.com. It’s basically the same, but cleaner and whiter. Good? Bad? Indifferent?

The template is the same that all the CBS owned and operated stations use. If you were to go to KCBS in Los Angeles or WCBS in New York City, you’d see a very similar site.

Following the news of the Philadelphia Bulletin’s folding yesterday, the CW Philly followed it up with the announcement that the station is halting its morning newscast.

The CW Philly Wake Up News, which airs from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., will broadcast its last show on June 26. Eyewitness News This Morning, anchored by Ukee Washington and Liz Keptner, will continue to air its normal time — 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. — but will add two hours, which will air on the CW.

CBS3's Natasha Brown

This means the three-person crew who hosted Wake Up News — anchor Natasha Brown, traffic guy Sean Murphy and meteorologist Christa Quinn — will be somewhat displaced. Brown, who also reports for CBS3, will move to the field for the morning show. Murphy and Quinn will serve as back-ups.

CBS3 began consolidating the CW a few months ago, adding the aforementioned personalities to the CBS3 bios page and making the CW Philly’s Web site a Web page hosted on cbs3.com.

In the tough economic times, CBS3 is taking advantage of its sister station, the CW Philly 57.

On its bios page, CBS3 has added two personalities from the CW to its own news team.

First, Sean Murphy, the traffic guy on the CW’s Wake Up News, is playing double duty at CBS3 as a back-up traffic reporter and features reporter.

Now, Christa Quinn, the perky morning meteorologist, has joined the CBS3 meteorology team under Kathy Orr.

All this after CBS3 did not renew anchor/reporter Angela Russell from her contract. She landed on her feet — in a gig as the lead anchor for a Seattle station. But clearly, they’re trying to be frugal.

When I was talking to Fox29 reporter John Atwater last week and informed him I was a graduating senior, he did one of those breathing-in-with-clenched-teeth things.

“It’s an interesting world out there right now,” he said. The reality of that becomes more evident day by day.

Former CBS3 reporter Angela Russell got a new gig in Seattle not long after being dumped in Philly.

For good or for bad, some of our favorite on-air personalities will land on his or her respective feet after all.

VINCE DeMENTRI

The ousted NBC10 anchor, who allegedly fought and may have had an affair with co-anchor Lori Delgado, is heading back to his earlier days. WPRI in Providence, R.I., is accepting DeMentri back after he left the station for bigger and better things in the early 1990s. The Temple alum settled with NBC out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Of course, it’s a huge downgrade for DeMentri, going from the No. 4 market to No. 43. But perhaps he should be thankful for having a job in the first place.

BOOKER

Alycia Lane can rest easy. Her radio boyfriend, Chris Booker, who was fired from Q102 last year, has returned back to his alma mater, K-Rock 9.23 F, in New York City. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Booker never gave up his NYC apartment, which happens to be right across the street from K-Rock.

Booker was unexpectedly fired in May despite a popular radio show. His girl, Alycia, is from Long Island and began her television career there. Perhaps there will be an opening there sometime soon, so she, too, can get back to her roots.

ANGELA RUSSELL

My favorite, and perhaps the most deserved, soft landing goes to CBS3 alum Angela Russell. She, also, was unexpectedly axed earlier this month after KYW decided not to renew her contract. However, another station across the country noticed Russell’s talent. Instead of her 4 p.m. anchor job in Philly, she’s heading west to Seattle where she’ll be the lead anchor for KIRO, the CBS station there, at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

Russell has always been one of my favorite anchors/reporters in the Philadelphia market, and perhaps one of the least controversial, so I’m very happy to see her with such a great opportunity. Gives me reason to move to No. 13 Seattle, despite the rain.

Broadcast journalism lives on.

Former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte received six months’ house arrest, among other punishments, for hacking into the e-mail account of former co-anchor Alycia Lane. His other punishments include:

• $5,000 fine
• 250 hours of community service
• Three years’ probation
• Filtering device on computer
• No contact with Lane

Here’s Mendte’s version of the story.

The sentencing comes nearly one year after the entire Lane-Mendte debacle began unfolding at CBS3. Lane was arrested in New York City in mid-December for allegedly punching a cop. She was subsequently released from her contract. In May, Mendte’s computers were confiscated after an FBI probe into the hacking accusation; he accessed Lane’s e-mails more than 500 times since January.

Both Mendte and his wife, Fox29 anchor Dawn Stensland, directly addressed Lane at the sentencing hearing today, apologizing for his actions. Check out all the local coverage below:

CBS3
NBC10
Fox29
6ABC
Philly.com
Wikipedia (yeah, the intro graph is kind of entertaining)

While browsing cbs3.com, I was proud to see my alma mater’s football team featured on the Sunday Kickoff — with intro remarks from Coach Ricci. Beasley Reece gave a lesson in tackling and had excellent advice for members of the football team.

Definitely worth checking out the link.

I’m thinking of hosting a party on Monday.

For one, it’s my one and only week off from The Temple News this semester. But more importantly…

It’s the day of Larry Mendte’s sentencing!

Odds are he’ll receive a fine, probation and some community service — the six-month jail sentence is unlikely — for hacking into Alycia Lane’s e-mail account. But this whole thing is actually nearing an end (or, at least, so we think…).

Any bets?