Local Anchor Badly Slurs Her Words and Seems Borderline Incoherent During News Broadcast

Ken MeyerJul 10th, 2022, 11:55 am
 

Local news anchor Heather Kovar seemed out-of-sorts during an evening news broadcast out of Albany, NY on Saturday — drawing major concern from viewers on social media.

Kovar was hosting on CBS Albany affiliate WRGB, and began the troubling broadcast by reporting news of an explosion at a natural gas plant in Medford, Oklahoma. Kovar was not only somewhat disheveled in her appearance, but she was slurring her words and careened between different topics and stammering sentences.

Evacuations have been ordered for the town of Medford, Oklahoma, with unknown fatalities and injuries…injuries are unknown in this situation. Alright, so, well, hello! Good afternoon! Like, I was telling you this morning, if you watched us this morning…I told you, you know what? What a beautiful day outside! It is just amazing.

The seeming incoherence continued as Kovar introduced a package from one of WRGB’s reporters about “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” and the local impact it had on Schenectady, NY.

She’s so amazing! And she spoke with local businesses and, as well as, Discover Schenectady about the discover impacts it’s bringing to, uh, Schenectady.

Kovar continued to talk about Schenectady after the package aired, and she seemed to have some trouble breaking off of that topic and pivoting to the next story.

And so, moving on tonight, is we have to tell you also, y’know, like other news that’s happening in the area, and across the area, in the nation.

The broadcast only got worse as it went along. Towards the end of the show’s A-block, Kovar was slurring again while she talked about heat waves around various parts of the country. This included more rambling as she meandered with her sentences and bounced from one thought to another in a matter of seconds. She also misidentified the station’s meteorologist during the toss to the weather.

In the final moments of the broadcast, Kovar appeared to be plagued by tech issues — as she tried to talk about the baseball game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins. She then tried to provide an update on the gas plant explosion, but appeared to have no idea that the show was wrapping. And indeed, she was cut off mid-sentence.

So we’re talking about sports, and so, as we continue, we’re gonna let you know what we can expect as we continue [outro music] Alright, you know, developing now, we are learning more of a massive explosion [cut]

Kovar’s presentation didn’t go unnoticed among viewers, who took to Twitter with concern and questions about whether there was something wrong.

Mediaite has reached out to WRGB for comment, but had not received a response as of publication.

UPDATE – July 11th, 8:50 a.m. ET: CBS6 suspended Kovar following the broadcast.

Watch above, via CBS6.

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