Suspended Albany Anchor Blames Exhaustion for Erratic Newscast

By Kevin Eck 

WRGB anchor Heather Kovar, who was suspended by the Albany, N.Y. CBS affiliate after appearing disoriented on Saturday’s evening broadcast, blamed her performance on sleep deprivation and exhaustion.

Kovar’s voice was slurred and she seemed unfocused during Saturday’s 6 p.m. newscast. She had also anchored the station’s morning newscasts starting at 6 a.m. At one point when introducing the weather report during the evening newscast, she referred to meteorologist Craig Gold as Craig Adams.

In a statement to the Times Union on Sunday, Kovar said she had “returned early from family leave following my dad’s death. On Friday, I notified the station I would not be renewing my contract which expires July 31. Saturday I was scheduled to work the early morning 6 a.m. shift and the evening shift. I was sleep-deprived and exhausted.”

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Yesterday, the station told TVSpy, “Heather has been suspended pending an internal investigation.”

Kovar was replaced on the Saturday night 11 p.m. newscast by weekday evening anchor Greg Floyd. Floyd also filled in on Sunday.

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