“We got married over Easter weekend,” Anaya, who co-anchors weekends on KENS, said Thursday.

“The ceremony was intimate, heartfelt, emotional, and unique to us,” Romero added. “We included special surprise readings from our close friends and family, and recited our own vows.  We laughed, we cried, we celebrated.  It was a perfect day!”

Naturally, the newscasters’ adorable son, 7-month-old Eli, was there to see his mom and dad tie the knot and enjoy the colorful festivities.

The setting was “spectacular,” Anaya said of the April 4 wedding.

The couple said their vows in the picturesque Old San Francisco Steakhouse, which is no longer a restaurant but a catering and private events venue.

“We picked the Old San Francisco for its quirky, fun, and offbeat vibe, and their staff did an amazing job of coordinating our special day,” Romero said, adding:   “There was dancing, music, casino tables and live performers.”

As for when and where the two might take their honeymoon, Anaya said they’re talking about a possible family trip this summer.

Courtesy photo

Witherspoon’s S.A. cop character — complete with the familiar Alamo arm patch (photo at right) — isn’t the only connection to our city in the film, set to open May 8.

KENS-TV anchorman Phil Anaya pops up in a fun cameo, joining a long list of current and former S.A. media personalities who have nabbed roles in movies and TV series.

In the trailer, he delivers a TV news report that the female leads are watching.

Weekend newscaster Anaya’s unintentionally insulting descriptions of the characters played by Witherspoon and Vergara –  bumbling Officer Cooper and Daniella, the widow of a drug dealer she attempts to protect during a wild ride across Texas — contribute a moment of hilarity.

In the scene, the anchor describes the pair this way: Officer Cooper is 4-feet-9 inches (Witherspoon) and traveling with a 50-year-old suspect (Vergara). To that, both women rail at the screen with the police woman pulling her gun and blasting the TV.

See for yourself in the official trailer. below;  Anaya pops up after half-way mark.

Anaya said a producer reached out to KENS, “asking if I’d shoot some lines. It was pretty flattering. It looks like a funny movie.”

Would he consider doing something like this again? “Sure, if asked,  I’d do it.  It was fun and I’m looking forward to showing Eli (his and Isis Romero’s baby boy).”

Anaya isn’t the only S.A. personality who’s dipped a toe in the world of feature films and TV series.

Others who have played reporters onscreen include former “Great Day SA” hosts and co-hosts, Lu Parker, Kristina Guerrero and Megan Alexander;

Former KSAT and KABB anchorman Ted Garcia has appeared as a reporter/newscaster in too many movies and TV series to list, most notably on the big screen in “Bruce Almighty,” and recurring roles in TV dramas “Medium,” “Boston Legal” and “West Wing.”

Sea World and Spurs personality Chuck Cureau also has played a TV newsman in several series and movies, including “Friday Night Lights” and one of the “Spy Kids” movies.

Kimberly Crawford, host of KABB’s “Daytime at Nine,” appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality.”

Moreover, KENS anchorwoman Deborah Knapp shone as a pretty farmer’s daughter and brief love interest of Robert Redford’s character in 1975′s  “The Great Waldo Pepper.”

A year earlier, former KENS anchorman Chris Marrou had a bit part in the 1974 “Benji.”

Check out the above slideshow for more details.

Photos: Warner Bros., KENS

SAN ANTONIO – It’s always a risk sharing the stage with an animal, as a San Antonio anchorman found out on live TV Friday when a puppy answered nature’s call. . .all over his suit.

“He’s a Rottweiler and Shepherd mix; he is so cute,” KENS morning newscaster Mat Garcia said of Thistle as he picked him up for an adopt-a-pet segment, “and he’s peeing all over me! Oh no!”

However, the unexpected shower did anything but put a, um, damper on the moment. Instead, it added more frisky fun to the segment, as Garcia’s co-anchor Sarah Forgany noted.

“You know, it makes for good live television,” she said.

“I love the dogs, and it happens, but I’m going to let you finish,” Mat said to Forgany as he handed the errant pup over to a producer while he tended to his wet suit.

Relive the moment here:

In a story about the incident on KENS’ website, Mat said he knew such a moment had to happen sooner or later.

“We hold them ourselves because we think it’s more personable,” said Mat of the dogs provided by the San Antonio Humane Society. “We always thought in the back of our minds that this could happen, and now it did!”

Video: KENS-TV

He was 61. Salter toiled as an anchorman for both KENS and KSAT for nearly two decades in the ’80s and ’90s and, most recently, worked as a helicopter pilot for Air Evac Lifeteam based in Kerrville.

His romantic partner and friend of 30 years, KENS-TV assignments desk manager Sue Calberg, found him.

“As far as we can determine, he went for a 20-mile bike ride. He came home. It looks like he cut the grass,” an emotional Calberg said in a phone call Saturday. “It looks like he went in, took a shower, put on his favorite comfy robe, got into his favorite comfy bed and lay down and took a nap. And never woke up.

“He was at peace,” she said. “He was safe, his house was secure, there was no sign of foul play.”

Calberg said he was supposed to call her Thursday night, but when she failed to hear from him, she went to check on him the next day and found him.

Salter got his start on KENS-TV in the early ’80s and had a good run as evening anchor there. But it was on KSAT, where he co-anchored with Karen Gallagher and worked alongside good pal, weathercaster Steve Browne, and sportscaster Greg Simmons, that he made ratings history.

In February of 1995, Salter and his team brought the station to No. 1, a status which  KENS and then-anchorman Chris Marrou seemed to have a hammerlock on for two decades.

So, it wasn’t surprising when the CBS affiliate wooed Salter less than a year later with a fat offer to anchor that included a sizable pay boost and a chance to do what the licensed pilot always wanted to do: fly a news helicopter.

The job didn’t work out as well as he’d hoped, however. In 1999, he sued the station for breach of contract after KENS demoted him from anchor to reporter. After a settlement was reached, Salter and KENS parted company in 2000.

According to a story published earlier this month in Hill Country Magazine, Salter followed up his TV newscasting career with flying helicopters for a living. He flew copter tours of the Grand Canyon for four years, piloted choppers for an aeromedical evacuation service in Arizona, then spent another four years ferrying crews to and from oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

He joined Air Evac Lifeteam in 2009, and was stationed at Kerrville/Kerr County Airport. That’s where Salter and fellow rescuers offered ’round-the-clock responsiveness to emergencies: vehicle crashes, heart attacks, strokes, even gunshot wounds.

As for the cause of his death, Calberg said an autopsy is being conducted.

“It must have been something sudden and catastrophic, because he never even got out of bed,” she said.

Salter was incredibly fit and athletic, Calberg added.

“Actually, a 20-mile bike ride was short for him, he usually did 30 or 40,”  Calberg said. For her last birthday,  ”Captain Bob,” as she affectionately called him, bought her “a really nice bicycle” so they could enjoy these scenic rides together.

His death naturally came as a  shock to those who knew him and had worked with him. Calberg’s Facebook page was filled with heartfelt  condolences.

Deborah Knapp, his former co-anchor at KENS, wrote that his death was “impossible to believe.”

Gallagher, upon hearing of her old KSAT partner’s “untimely death,” wrote in an email, “My heartbeat slows and my body is paralyzed. . .there is no way to process the words.”

Always up for a new adventure, Salter took time before he died to  post the latest edition of a video webzine he and Calberg were developing, called  ”2WheelinTX.” His last post chronicled a ride across Texas honoring fallen law enforcement officers.

On KENS’ website, Calberg wrote that he is survived by and is fiercely proud of his children and their spouses: Shannon and Rob Kiley; Avery and Jay Caldwell; and Ryan and Melissa Salter. He also delighted in Norah Paige and Forrest James, his two grandchildren, and his niece and nephew, Leah and Scott Forrest.

He’s also survived by his parents, Forrest and Phyllis, and by his brothers and their wives: Scott and Lisa, and Jeff and Ann.

She said his three children, who all live in Texas, are currently conferring about the funeral arrangements. Stay tuned for an update on those.

Salter, whose contagious grin and sense of humor never quit, was one of this city’s more popular TV anchormen. Years after leaving the air, people would greet him by repeating his catchy news opener, “Right now!”

As recently as 2014, in fact, he wrote to this columnist about a hankering to re-enter television news here. “Find me a part-time TV gig, Jeanne,” he joked in an email,  “and I’ll give you a finder’s fee.”

Photo: Courtesy of Salter

His family will be hosting the S.A. remembrance at 10 a.m. June 27  at Epworth United Methodist Church, 5718 Pecan Valley Drive.  Salter’s ashes will be scattered at Cannon Field, a privately owned airport located east of the central business district of Somerset, Texas.

Portrait of Bob Salter

Salter was a newscaster for both KENS and KSAT during the 1980s and 90s.

His co-anchors included Debora Daniels and Karen Gallagher on KSAT, and Deborah Knapp on KENS. Among his many close friends still in the TV business are KSAT sportscaster Greg Simmons and meteorologist Steve Browne.

For more on his colorful career history, click here.

As reported earlier, Salter, 61, was found dead by his close friend and romantic partner Sue Calberg in his Hill Country home on May 22. He apparently died of natural causes.

In an update just released, Kerr County Justice of the Peace J.R. Hoyne states that Salter’s preliminary cause of death is listed as arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Hoyne adds the final ruling will be made when toxicology reports are received in a few weeks.

During his television career, Salter took up flying. He was so passionate about it, he eventually switched career fields and became an aeromedical helicopter pilot.  For the past five years, he worked with the life-saving crew at the Air Evac Lifeteam base in Kerrville, Texas.  He enjoyed aerobatic flying as well.

Salter is survived by his three children and their spouses:  Shannon and Rob Kiley, Ryan and Melissa Salter and Avery and Jay Caldwell and by two grandchildren, Norah Paige and Forrest James.  Additional survivors include his parents, Forrest and Phyllis Salter, and his brothers and their spouses, Scott and Lisa, and Jeff and Ann.

The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, anyone who would like to honor Salter’s memory do so with a tax-deductible contribution to the group that operates Cannon Field.

Salter was an active member of the club, the Alamo Liaison Squadron, and had been involved with the small flying history museum that for years has restored World War II era aircraft.

Contributions can be made by email to als.cannonfield@gmail.com; or by mail to Alamo Liaison Squadron, 2352 S. Loop 1604 W., San Antonio, Texas, 78264

Simmons recently aired a tribute to his fellow KSAT-TV teammate and pilot on his sports program, “Instant Replay.” Watch it here.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Tickets for the second show go on sale this Wednesday, July 1 at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased online here, via phone 210-223-8624 and at the Tobin Center Box Office, 100 Auditorium Circle.  Tickets cost $26-$44.

Original post:

Come on down, San Antonio!

The live version of veteran TV game show “The Price is Right,” which has been a hit for decades both nationally and locally, is coming to the Alamo City.

“The Price is Right Live!” will present all the money-winning thrills that have pleased TV audiences for years, and will happen Sept. 13 in H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

But tickets go on sale much earlier: at 10 p.m. Friday.

Instead of Bob Barker’s successor, Drew Carey — whom you see currently at 10 a.m. on KENS-TV — the touring production of “Price is Right Live” is hosted by Todd Newton of TV’s “Family Game Night” fame.

It’s an interactive stage show that gives eligible people the chance to “come on down,” play and, possibly, go home richer. Just like on TV, contestants compete to win cash and prizes by guessing the pricing of merchandise.

Prizes may include appliances, vacations and possibly a new car.

Contestants will be able to play classic “Price is Right” games such as Plinko, Cliffhangers, The Big Wheel and even the always exciting Showcase.

Playing to near sold-out audiences for nine years, “The Price Is Right Live!” has given away more than  $10 million dollars in cash and prizes and has sold more than 1.2 million tickets.

 Tickets can be purchased online, via phone 210-223-8624 and at the Tobin Center Box Office (100 Auditorium Circle).  Box office hours are Monday- Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Tickets are $26, $34 and $44.

However, he has no plans to leave San Antonio, where he has settled in with his wife Danielle and four cute kids.

On his last day on the air next to co-anchor Sarah Forgany, weatherman Paul Mireles and traffic reporter Jennie Stencel, Garcia — whose unusual first name is short for Mateo — said a sentimental goodbye on KENS and on his Facebook page.

“After long consideration and discussion with my family,” the handsome and amiable Garcia wrote on Facebook, “I’ve decided to pursue another exciting opportunity.

“I’ve enjoyed my time at KENS 5,” he continued. “I will miss many of the wonderful people I worked with. I was honored to serve the viewers of the San Antonio market. One viewer asked if I was staying in San Antonio. The answer is yes. It’s my home.”

As for who’ll succeed Garcia in the mornings, that’s yet to be announced.

After I asked KENS’ relatively new news director, Jack Acosta, for a comment on Garcia’s departure, he referred me to general manager Bob McGann, who hasn’t returned my calls.

Garcia also hasn’t responded.

Ah well. After 32 years of covering S.A. TV, I’m used to writing around such silence.

Back to Garcia. . .The anchorman’s KENS tenure has seen both highs and lows. During his first year here, ratings were fairly good for the morning team.

But more recently, the audience numbers began to decline with “Eyewitness News This Morning” falling to third place behind both No. 1 KSAT and No. 2 WOAI.

This represented quite a departure from the heyday of KENS’ morning pairing of Vicki Buffolino and Fred Lozano and their long a.m. ratings reign.

It’ll be interesting to see if a new morning combo will make a difference.

Photo: KENS-TV

Davis slid into the morning co-anchor seat next to Sarah Forgany with ease this week, embodying the sort of commanding presence that Lozano had when he helped helm that morning show.

He also has a flair for the sort of dry, off-the-cuff humor that Lozano was known for.

Moreover, Davis is the stern face and voice of “Eyewitness Wants to Know,” just as Lozano was during a good chunk of his years at KENS.

No official word has come down on who will succeed Mat Garcia, who left his job as morning co-anchor on Friday.

Considering July Nielsen ratings sweeps begins Thursday, KENS could be in wait-and-see mode. In other words, station managers may be using this month as a kind of trial period for Davis.

KENS general manager Bob McGann couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

The station certainly could do worse than to put Davis in the slot permanently. He’s a KENS veteran of 12 years and a seasoned newsman who’s covered all kinds of major stories around the world during his three decades in the business.

He’s collected awards from the Associated Press and the regional Emmys.

Davis also is rugged. Waking up pre-dawn for the 4:30 a.m.-to-7 a.m. “Eyewitness News This Morning” hasn’t seemed to faze him — and he’s doing it with a hurt and bandaged arm.

“He broke his arm while ice skating with his son,” co-anchor Forgany wrote on her Facebook page. “If you’re watching us now, he hides it well under that fancy suit.”

He also wrote in his bio: “Television has allowed me to be paid to hunt, fish, scuba dive, fly an F-16 (the Air Force Thunderbirds)” and more.

Although born in Hannibal, Missouri, he considers himself “half Texan,” his bio states, as his father was born in San Angelo. Davis met his wife in San Antonio and, as his bio states, “am now blessed to not only have her family here, but my mom and dad live here.”

Davis already has gained a morning following for his 6 a.m. news show on KENS Sundays, as  McGann noted proudly during a recent conversation.

Who knows? The addition of Davis, who seems to match up well with the attractive and teasing Forgany, may boost the weekday a.m. ratings as well — and help lift “Eyewitness News This Morning” out of its bothersome third-place ranking.

Photo: KENS

People keep asking both women if they’re mother and daughter – or at least related in some way.

“I have been answering questions about that for years now,” Buchanan said in an email. Lucero, too, has been asked the question “ever since I started working in television news in San Antonio.”

I get asked as well. In fact, the subject came up again in May and I’ve been getting the query over and over since. That’s because I mentioned Buchanan in a May Express-News 150th Anniversary story that chronicled the history of WOAI, the first TV station in San Antonio.

Buchanan was the first woman to co-anchor a local evening news broadcast here. It was on a Channel 4 panel program in 1965 called “Early Evening Report,” which aired from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. It wasn’t until ’72 that she broke ground state-wide, however.

That’s when WOAI launched its weekday 6 p.m. broadcast and introduced Buchanan as co-anchor, making her the first woman to head a prime-time news telecast. “Jessica Savitch was anchoring in Houston. . .but she was doing weekends, ‘’ recalled Buchanan in a 1999 interview.

Buchanan also paved the way for pregnant anchors; she stayed on-air, “in all my blooming glory,” until two weeks before giving birth.

These days, that’s a given. Lucero, for instance, has co-anchored KENS’ news broadcasts through all four of her pregnancies.

But back to the original reason for this blog and why people associate the two anchors.

Buchanan’s married name is Lucero; Martha’s husband is Pepe Lucero (seen above in a Christmas card photo supplied by Buchanan), and their union became well-known because he also was in the news — as a prominent politician.

In fact, the couple moved to Washington D.C., where they still live, when, in 1980, he was asked to serve in President Carter’s Treasury Department as the Chief of Revenue Sharing.

As for that other question. . .

“Would that she were my daughter,” Buchanan replied, “but that is not the case.   My daughter, Lia Lucero, lives in North Carolina and, with her husband, is bringing up two gorgeous little girls.”

As for KENS’ 6 and 10 p.m. anchorwoman, Lucero said it gets even more confusing because she has an aunt named Martha Lucero, and sometimes, “I can’t  tell which Martha they’re talking about.”

In fact, she added, she’s even told “I resemble Martha Buchanan.

“I always tell people that I hope to be able to meet (Martha and Pepe) some day because everybody seems to know who they are and talks very highly of them as a great San Antonio couple.”

Buchanan shares that wish.

“Hopefully one of these days I can meet Sarah,” she wrote, “and congratulate her on all the really great comments I hear about her, and thank her for picking up the torch for women broadcasters.”

Photos: Courtesy of Lucero and Buchanan

After a little less than a year of giving road advice to S.A. drivers on the station’s early news show, and doing a little standup now and then on “Great Day SA,” Stencel said she’s on her way back to North Carolina to reunite with her husband and children.

Her family never joined her in San Antonio.

On her Facebook page today, Stencel wrote: “Bye everyone! I enjoyed it but I am looking forward to a good sleep schedule!”

Her successor in the mornings? “Stacia Willson will be handling the traffic,” Stencel wrote. “She is a hoot! You will love her!”

Willson also anchors the noon newscast on KENS.

Any other reasons behind her departure? In a private message, Stencel wrote: KENS management “seemed happy with my performance,” adding: she “left on great terms with the entire station … Super people.”

However, she took it as a signal that it was time to leave, she added, when “the executive producer removed me from ‘Great Day.’ ”

As for KENS-TV,  executive news director Jack Acosta wrote in an email: KENS5 does not comment on personnel matters.

Photo: KENS

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s TV-and-radio couple, Jennifer and Mike Taylor, are leaving the Alamo City. . .again.

Jennifer Taylor (formerly Jennifer Dodd), who many may remember from her days reporting on the air at KSAT-TV, has been the assistant news director at KENS-TV here for a little more than a year.

She confirmed Tuesday, however, that she landed a job further up the management totem pole at KYTX-TV, the CBS affiliate in Tyler, Texas.

She’ll be the station’s new news director, exiting KENS Sept. 4 and starting at KYTX on Sept. 8.

Sure, Tyler (No. 108) is a much smaller television market than San Antonio (No. 33), but it’s still a promotion for Jennifer within the company. Tegna, Inc. owns both KENS and KYTX.

Meanwhile, her husband, Mike Taylor, host of “The Mike Taylor Show” on local sports outlet, Ticket 760, will be moving with Jennifer and their twin daughters, Molly and Sevi, to Tyler, where he’ll continue to do his 6-to-9 a.m. show via remote broadcast.

Taylor is no stranger to such a long-distance arrangement. A couple of years ago, he accompanied his beloved bride to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she had landed a morning anchor post on the NBC affiliate.

He kept his Ticket 760 show then as well, delivering his sports talk via remote hook-up from their home.

It didn’t take long for the two to miss the much warmer climate of Texas, however, and, citing personal reasons, they returned to San Antonio.

Now on to Tyler, where Taylor said the two will each enjoy a winning arrangement.

“I may be moving to Tyler, but in essence my listeners will come with me,” Taylor wrote in a message. “ I’ll be able to cover the Cowboys. . .America’s team. . .and I’ll get to see my daughters grow up.”

His wife, Jennifer, also touted the new opportunity.

“KYTX is a great station with a team of smart, focused reporters and anchors and a general manager who truly cares about the community,” Jennifer wrote in a message.

“Tyler is a lovely city,” she added. “Most importantly, my step-daughters (Mike’s children from a previous marriage) will be much closer.”

However, she said she not only will miss San Antonio, but “the fantastic people here at KENS 5. I’ve made some great friends and learned a lot.”

Photo: Courtesy Jennifer Taylor

SAN ANTONIO — Just as San Antonio viewers were starting to really respond to KENS-TV’s Mayra Moreno, the striking and well-spoken reporter/anchor is leaving for a bigger market.

Moreno, who’s been at KENS four years – and has been more visible of late as a fill-in anchor on the evening news – will leave next month for a TV news job in the 10th-ranked city of Houston.

She said she’ll be anchoring and reporting at KTRK-TV, the ABC-owned station in the Bayou City.

Her last day at KENS is Sept. 11.

Another plus of Moreno’s new job?  It’s in her hometown, where her family still lives.

“Not only am I overjoyed to return home but also work for the top station I grew up watching,” Moreno said.

Moreno’s announcement comes right on the heels of the exit by KENS’ chief anchorman Jeff Goldblatt, who came to the station three years ago.

Also leaving soon is the station’s assistant news director, Jennifer Taylor (formerly Jennifer Dodd). She’s accepted the job of news director at the CBS affiliate in Tyler, Texas. Her last day at KENS is Sept. 4.

Higher on the KENS totem pole is recently departed Bob McGann, who, after serving as general manager of San Antonio’s CBS affiliate for 18 years, retired this month.

Although his original plan was to leave at the end of the year, McGann turned in his reins early. He has been temporarily replaced by Ken Tonning. The interim general manager is a former Gannett GM who will be leading KENS until a permanent replacement comes on board.

With all these positions to fill, it should be an interesting next few months for San Antonio’s once-dominant station, which is now owned by Tegna, the broadcasting and digital arm of media giant Gannett.

Photo: Courtesy Mayra Moreno

SAN ANTONIO – Two San Antonio women got richer from appearances on national TV this week: a teacher in the Alamo Heights School District and the ebullient host of a Spurs pregame show.

The latter, Rebecca Perez (in photo with mike), said she was shocked to realize she suddenly was on the TV screen.

She was at a friend’s house, enjoying a night of wine and pizza. Suddenly, she looked up and saw herself on the premiere of Neil Patrick Harris’ new live variety series, “Best Time Ever.”

“I’m so glad you’re drinking,” Harris said, as Perez’s shocked face was shown on screen. He then got a big laugh when he quipped: “She’s wasted!”

(The show originally aired Tuesday, but will repeat at 7 tonight on NBC.)

It was part of a segment called “Singalong Live,” which surprised select viewers at three  homes across the U.S. with an impromptu karaoke session.

In a hookup from a friend’s house in San Antonio that was secretly arranged by Harris and NBC, Perez was asked to sing a portion of “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.

In fact, Gaynor was on the TV stage listening.

“When I saw her walk out,” Perez said in a phone chat Thursday, “I was ecstatic because I love her and know all of her songs.”

In fact, during her moment in the spotlight, she got the missing word right – “myself,” from the line:  “So I spent so many nights just feeling sorry for myself.”

“Gloria Gaynor was right there hearing me attempt to sing her song,” Perez recalled. “I was so embarrassed but so happy at the same time.”

She said producers had run out of the garage and “put a microphone in my hand, threw confetti in my face and told me to sing.”

Her reward for a good job: $1,000.

“It was so epically awesome!” Perez said.

Perez works for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. She said she’s a choreographer for the Rampage Hockey Dance Team and hosts a pregame show for the Spurs’ home games, called “Warm Up.”

To get a feel for Harris’ new fun-and-games hour “Best Time Ever,” check out Tuesday’s grand finale segment here (or watch the repeat Friday on NBC).

A.H. teacher on ‘Wheel’

The other local winner this week appeared Wednesday night on hit game show, “The Wheel of Fortune.”

Although Rebecca Gibbens, a married mom of three who teaches at  Cambridge Elementary School, finished second on the episode, she still came home with more than $12,600  in cash and prizes — including a luxurious trip to Hawaii.

The show aired at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on KENS-TV.

Gibbens, who was quick-on-her feet as she solved many a “Wheel” puzzle, gave a shout-out to Alamo Heights by saying “Go Mules.”

The teacher also got a smile from host Pat Sajak when she said one of her favorite things in life was sleeping.

Photos: Courtesy of NBC and  Carol Kaelson for “Wheel of Fortune.”

SAN ANTONIO -Former KENS-TV chief anchorman Jeff Goldblatt has landed a new job that will keep him in his adopted city of San Antonio.

According to an emailed release from Witte Museum, the veteran TV newsman, who left his KENS job as 5, 6 and 10 p.m. co-anchor two months ago, has been named vice president of marketing at the popular S.A. cultural destination.

“For the last 25 years, Jeff has been one of the most accomplished storytellers in the world of TV news,” said Marise McDermott, president and CEO of The Witte Museum.

“Jeff’s multimedia experience, his success with creativity and innovation, and his ability to build strong relationships in this community will all serve as tremendous assets to the Witte during one of the most auspicious times in the history of our 89-year old museum,” she added.

“Jeff will be a trusted and key member of the senior management team leading the Witte through its current $100 million transformation.”

Goldblatt said he and his family – his wife, Lori, and four kids – are thrilled with his new appointment.

“My kids started dancing around the kitchen and celebrating when they found out I accepted this job, and I celebrated with them,” Goldblatt said in the release.

“The future of the Witte is extraordinarily bright, and I am excited to help shape the messaging of this beacon of light and learning.”

It sounds as if viewers will be seeing Goldblatt on TV again, but this time as a media spokesman for the museum.

At the Witte, the release states, Goldblatt will oversee all functions related to marketing, branding, public affairs, media relations, as well as help the Witte increase its reach among tourists visiting San Antonio from across the country and the world.

As for his exit from KENS, the station’s interim general manager Ken Tonning confirmed Goldblatt had left his job in August but offered no explanation as to why.

Prior to his three years at the local CBS affiliate, Goldblatt spent nine years as a correspondent for  Fox News Channel.

There, he covered a wide-range of stories, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania; Hurricane Katrina, from its landfall to its aftermath; as well as “the war on terror” in Afghanistan.

Photo: Courtesy of KENS-TV

SAN ANTONIO – As the song goes, “a kiss is just a kiss” – unless, of course, the lip-lock is between San Antonio anchorwoman Deborah Knapp and meteorologist Bill Taylor.

Folks are still buzzing over the recorded smooch between the close KENS-TV colleagues that was posted Wednesday as part of Taylor’s Facebook feature, “Cubicle Confessions” — little colorful video tales captured at the office.

The subject of this one: Taylor’s fear of needles and how Knapp had utilized an old – and, by the looks of things, rather saucy – trick of hers to keep him from quaking during his annual flu shot. A recap:

“I’ll help you,” she recalled saying during flu shot time a couple of years ago.

“So, I told the lady with the shot, get ready: This is what I do with my children: 3, 2, 1!”

With that, she took Taylor’s face in her hands and planted a kiss right smack on the lips.

“Bill turned beet red and the lady with the needle was so surprised she didn’t even give him the shot,” Knapp recalled.

In fact, the weather anchor turned crimson during this latest kiss as well.

He knew it was coming, the weather anchor said in a phone chat later, but “I still blushed and I was still sweating.”

His wife’s reaction?

“I got a little nervous. . . maybe that was part of the reason I turned crimson, right?  But no, she was fine,” Taylor added. “She knows Deborah and knows we have a great relationship. So, she was fine. It was funny.”

In a call to Knapp, she said she’s known Taylor for 19 years and “we’re like brother and sister.” So, naturally, her husband and Taylor’s wife “were OK with it,” she said, laughing. “There was nothing romantic in that kiss.”

As she said in the video, the trick started when her children (Alicia and Austin) were little. “And they were afraid of getting a shot,” Knapp explained.

Her solution was to take their faces in her hand and give them each a kiss — at the same time the nurse gave the shot. “The idea was, it momentarily took their mind off the shot, so they wouldn’t feel it. It became a tradition.”

Naturally, the response to the Facebook post has been “huge,” she said, particularly from, well, men.

Now, guys keep teasing the pretty anchorwoman, offering: “It’s about time for me to get my flu shot.”

SAN ANTONIO — If you think the market already is saturated with local TV news, you’ll love today’s announcement: Another news half-hour will launch in San Antonio on Jan. 25.

WOAI-TV will join competitors KSAT and KENS and deliver local, national and weather news at noon.

While KSAT presents an hour at the midday mark, from noon to 1 p.m., WOAI will present a 30-minute format similar to that on KENS.

“News 4 San Antonio @ Noon” will feature the station’s current morning crew: co-anchors Michael Garofalo and Leslie Bohl as well as meteorologist Jeannette Calle.

“News 4’s morning newscast has continued to grow significantly. In November, we were a solid No. 2 in total viewers, and No. 1 with adult viewers 18 to 49 and 25 to 54,” WOAI/KABB’s news director Blaise Labbe said in a release. “We are excited to bring the News 4 brand of local news to noon as well.”

The addition brings the total of news half-hours on WOAI to 10. KENS also has 10, while KSAT delivers a total of 11.

Gossipy celebrity program, “The Insider,” will follow WOAI’s new newscast at 12:30 p.m. on WOAI.

Also on Jan. 25, “The Rachael Ray Show” will move from its current noon slot on WOAI to 8 a.m. on CW affiliate, KMYS-TV.