TV Talk: Royce Jones exits KDKA-TV, Penguins on Channel 19

KDKA-TV reporter/anchor Royce Jones, who anchored the 10 p.m. news on KDKA-TV sister-station WPKD-TV, Channel 19, is no longer employed by the stations.

In a two-sentence email sent to staff this week, KDKA/WPKD news director Shawn Hoder wrote, “FYI Royce Jones is no longer employed with CBS News Pittsburgh, KDKA/WPKD. We wish him well with future endeavors.”

Hoder did not immediately respond to questions about the departure or who will take over as anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast. Jones also did not respond to queries.

Jones joined KDKA-TV in January 2020 as a freelance reporter. Before KDKA, Jones worked at WTRF-TV in the Wheeling/Steubenville market as a multimedia journalist and weekend anchor. Jones interned at KDKA-TV while in college. He studied broadcast reporting at Point Park University.

While Jones’ image was still on KDKA’s website Friday night, it no longer linked to his bio but instead brought up an error message, “The page cannot be found. The page may have been removed, had its name changed, or is just temporarily unavailable.”

Penguins on WPKD-TV

WPKD-TV, Channel 19, (AKA KDKA+) will televise two Penguins pre-season games at 1 p.m. Sept. 24 and 7 p.m. Sept. 28.

Channel surfing

“Monster High 2,” the sequel to last year’s live-action movie musical based on the Monster High dolls, will stream on Paramount+ on Oct. 5 and air on Nickelodeon at 7 p.m. that same day. Like the original, the sequel was directed by Todd Holland, a Kittanning native who grew up in Meadville. … ABC canceled “The Wonder Years” after two seasons. … Netflix renewed true crime docu-series “Missing: Dead or Alive?” for a second season. … After a couple of weeks without negotiations, the striking Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers intend to resume talks next week.