FORMER COLUMBIA NEWS ANCHOR EYES COMEBACK …
By FITSNEWS || Remember Ben Hoover? He’s the exceedingly telegenic news anchor who was unceremoniously dumped by local television station WIS TV 10 (NBC – Columbia, S.C.) back in July.
Hoover’s abrupt departure – which played out all over the local press – has yet to be fully explained. We know it had something to do with his efforts to score a job in a larger media market – and allegations of double-dealing on the part of WIS station manager Donita Todd – but beyond that the details have been pretty well kept under wraps.
Earlier this week our friend Kara Meador caught up with Hoover – who apparently yet to land a new gig.
“Like many South Carolinians who’ve found themselves out of work, Hoover’s family is learning how to live differently,” Meador wrote for The (Columbia, S.C.) Free Times. “Ben and his wife Rachel are working to handle all of the big changes that come with being out of work, while trying to maintain some normalcy for their two children 10-year-old Anderson and 5-year-old Hollis.”
According to Hoover, things haven’t been easy in the months since his departure from WIS. In fact he told Meador the difficulties faced by his family during this time have prompted him to rely more extensively on his faith.
“Especially with young children, you have to provide. You have to keep moving. You have no other choice,” he told Meador. “More than anything, I’ve noticed this is the first time in my life when I’ve spoken out loud to God. I’ve always talked to Him in my heart and mind but never really out loud. That has calmed my spirit.”
Left unaddressed in Meador’s piece, however, is the real question surrounding Hoover … what next?
According to sources close to the anchor, he is eyeing a comeback in the Columbia, S.C. media market as one of his options – as soon as a one-year non-compete clause runs its course.
That makes sense.
Judging by the apoplexy attending his departure, Hoover clearly has an energized fan base in the Columbia, S.C. media market – and his hiring by one of WIS TV’s rivals would represent a major coup. In fact if a rival station were to supplement Hoover’s hiring with an anti-establishment news-gathering philosophy (as opposed to the establishment-coddling perfected by WIS), it could mark a real quantum shift in the direction of the state’s legacy media.
44 comments
Knowing what I know about the petty contracts television stations impose on their on air “personalities”, Ben is probably about another 9-21 months from being able to appear on air at another station in this market. I’m Ron Burgundy?
“…who apparently yet to land a new gig….”
Damn Will, what’s up with the grammar today – editor on strike or did she have a mandatory assembly at the high school this afternoon?
He’s still head and shoulders above the shitty “reporting”, or whatever passes for it at WIS. I find it difficult to comprehend how (apparently) most of their “reporters” got through journalism school. They will give a “something happened somewhere” type of story with something close to zero details and pertinent facts that people would like to know. One for-instance was about a fire at some plant or company in Sumter the other day. They have a street address and told that two people were reportedly injured, but didn’t bother to name the plant. I guess these journalistic cretins never imagined that people would like to know the name of the facility where the incident and injuries took place. Yeah, I could Google it but why should I (and a few hundred others) need to do that? If the reporter did their job, it wouldn’t be necessary.
They will commonly give a location of an incident that is not a household name or place and give a road name or street address, but do not tell what part of the city or county it is in. Again, yeah I could Google it but why should I and hundreds more have to do that? I don’t know if this is the fault of the dolts they hire as “reporters” or the professors at the journalism schools who for some reason believe we are more interested in whether or not the perp in a crime has procured the services of an attorney or not.
This is a very common situation there. How these people get and keep jobs is a mystery to me.
“He’s still head and shoulders above the shitty “reporting”, or whatever passes for it at WIS. ”
Give me truth & no BS, versus a well edited PC propaganda laden grammatically perfect article any day of the week. (yea, I know it’s a run on)
Better yet, make it free on the internets instead of having to pay .75 for crappy reporting during the week or 2.00 on a Sunday so the wife has coupons.
Okay guys, I’m just poking the bear here, relax. I agree that Wills a whole lot more fun than WIS (and The State for that matter) and generally more accurate.
I LOVE poking bears;)
Why didn’t I see that coming…
Whoaaa. Another ‘loaded’ comment…;)
Will must have re-hired that cute Chinese girl as a proofreader. She was previously at the State Paper, after a gig at WLTX …
It’s “Guest Editor Friday”…Today’s Special Editor: GrandTango.
Take that, you liberal mother f$@%ers!
“[A]nti-establishment news-gathering philosophy (as opposed to the establishment-coddling perfected by WIS)”
Will, why haven’t you hired him already?
Come on Dave Chapelle…………….you of all people know that you BUY low and SELL hi…….
Wil is just waiting for the right “low” media fog….and THEN swoop in to mentor an “energized” rusty anchor…!!!
Ben Hoover………Warren “Peppa” and the right Mande Wilkes “weather gurl” would make FITSNEWS more dangerous in South Carolina than the Colbert “Re-burp”……
Dave…..WIl is no dummy…..
You bring up a good point. Even if Will can’t afford him, what’s Hoover doing right now anyway?
Hoover could do a little snooping and article writing for free to keep his name out there. Let’s see if his brain works as well as that pretty face of his.
Coming on board with FITS (or any alternative, non-mainstream outlet) would be the death knell of ol’ Hoover’s journalism career. He’d be “tainted” in the eyes of the MSM world, so a move like that would represent putting all of his eggs in the FITS basket. That’s just not wise from a career standpoint.
Danita Todd has turned a mediocre shithole of a news station into an absolute clusterfuck of a shithole news station. Name one positive thing she’s done while at WIS.
Her “editorials” are amusing!
Does she still do them?
none lately
every time she does one I ask myself “is she fo real”???
But she has Diversity…that’s all Dumb@$$#$ like you care about. Go Search Ben Hoover or Donita Todd on SCPSD. Educate your Dumb @$$.
Hmmm…who outed Todd first?.. Plagerize. much….LMAO. ..You said something insightful ( for you anyway)…one time…and it turns out you lifted it from SCPSD….hahaha. ..
But nobody reads your site… so what difference does it matter?
What difference does it matter?…is that the new liberal-speak..LMAO…
Anyway: when I ran that story, it was a Bigtime Hit getter. I was just basically testing out fodder to see what drove traffic.
Anyway: you say: “Danita Todd has turned a mediocre shithole of a news station into an absolute clusterfuck of a shithole news station”…
Can you be specific? I’m mean what is she doing (has she done) wrong to damage WIS? Can you tell me of what you speak? (qualify your contention?)
Im waiting.
SC is a right-to-work state, and WIS fired him, he didn’t leave on his own. A non-compete should be null and void in this situation. What WIS’s contract is stating is that he can not work regardless of his termination from WIS, or basically stating that Hoover can not earn a living in his chosen profession.
Non-compete’s are notoriously difficult to enforce regardless of the state. One of their competitors should pick him up anyway just for the PR of having do so and getting sued by WIS. It would be a win/win for Hoover and his new employer and they’d never have to pay a dime once it landed in a jury.
So even though you’re a dog fucker that loves them more than niggers, you are still correct.
Who doesn’t love dogs more than…?
Why that’s the nicest compliment I’ve had all day.
That normally means that they gave him a severance package..on the condition he doesnt compete. If he does, then he owes it back as it was received only in order to keep him away from another station..
If he had refused to sign it…then he would have received no severance…
so..no money..no way to pay the bills…
he had no choice…
I agree. He should compete.
WIS has a strict no Beatle-wig policy.
FITS: “Hoover’s abrupt departure – has yet to be fully explained.”
Go look at WIS-TV’s 10-person reporting and anchor staff. It contains ONE White male, and that is the grandfathered-in, heavy-lifting position of Jack Kenuzie.
Then read Donita Todd’s bigoted (and FITS-like) rants calling all Southern White Men in GOP politics, Boss Hogg. Or her Demand that Columbia elevate the homeless to regal positions, at our costs. I have not looked – not really interested – but I’m sure she’s in neck-deep banging the drum to redefine marriage for the leftwing special interests.
GET the picture Mr. (Supposed-to-be) WATCHDOG. Ever hear of 2 + 2 = 4….Dumb@$$…we wrote about it extensively at SCPSD..and the page view numbers went through the roof, because we were the only media connecting the dots for a public that was as dumbfounded as FITS as to why Hoover was dumped.
That may be why you’re bringing this back up. You’re desperate for hit count as Sheheen, Hutto, Ervin and Ravenel crash and burn.
Without Ben, WIS-TV is unbearable to watch. In addition to being very nice to look at, he was professional. Sadly WIS would rather place inexperienced kids in the anchor chair that constantly make mistakes and do not have a clue.
As bad as they are on WIS, they’re still head and shoulders over that shitty WACH news team. Those ignorant fucks are unwatchable, at least they got rid of Brea Boyce, who apparently decided being she’d had enough of being thin.
So, he’s sitting home drawing his unemployment compensation…
I wonder what he does with all that money, doesn’t SC max out at something like $160/week?
Squishy123, if he were some black cashier, would you and little Ms. Kara be putting him up on a pedestal for struggling to raise his family when he could be in the North Dakota oil fields probably making more money than he ever made at WIS?
He’s a good guy. I do not like one bit how WIS acted towards him. Normally, I am a forgiving person. But WIS, never will I.
WIS can not afford for those who advertise on their station to be targeted, attacked, and boycotted.
Rick Henry – “Guess what day it is???”
Everyone who sees this ad – “Time for pipsqueak Rick Henry to shut the fuck up”.
Ben should be advised that The State of South Carolina does not recognize Non-Compete clauses in our statues. He is free to go back to work at any time.
At least Ben Hoover didn’t play the game like David Stanton. Stanton created this BS thing called person of the month or whatever his last few months at WIS. Then lo and behold, he did a whole glorification of Jean Toal. It was hideous and an incredible lie. The next month, Stanton is out of there at WIS and guess what? He is hired by Toal to work in her Court administration (read corrupt) office. Glad handing and doing whatever it is he can do to smooth over Toal’s corruption.
Toal whore, Stanton. That should be on your tombstone.
A non-compete and a dollar will buy you a Coke at the gas station in SC. Not sure why Hoover can’t get a job.
But seriously Donita Todd is a human waste.
I refused to let Donita Todd into a line of traffic as she was pulling out of WIS. She nosed her Benz forward in an effort to cut me off. I drove directly in front of her, and made her sit there. She honked, and gave me the finger. All class, that one.