SPACEY TV ANCHO AWAY IN ALBANY
Suspended after live meltdown
Albany TV news anchor Heather Kovar shocked viewers over the weekend when she slurred her words and appeared disheveled during an evening broadcast, and her station told The Post on Sunday that she has been suspended from her job pending an investigation.
The weekend morning newscaster for WRGB/Channel 6, a CBS affiliate, was jittery, wide-eyed and at times incoherent during her Saturday segments.
At one point while trying to pivot between segments, Kovar said, “And so, moving on tonight, is we have to tell you also, you know, like other news that’s happening in the area, and across the area, in the nation.’’
The anchor also began having trouble while discussing an explosion at a natural-gas plant in Oklahoma, stumbling over her words.
She quickly changed subjects during the report, too, saying bizarrely, “Well, hello! Good afternoon!”
Kovar continued: “Like, I was telling you this morning, if you watched us this morning starting at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., I told you, you know what? Today, what a beautiful day outside! It is just amazing. And so, a great time for outdoor music.”
She was clearly also having some technical issues during the segment, and was seen holding a wire at one point during the broadcast.
The anchor was ultimately cut off from speaking mid-sentence.
She could not be reached by The Post.
The station said Kovar was suspended pending further investigation.
Kovar had said on Twitter on Saturday that she would be back on the air Sunday morning, but she did not appear on the station’s broadcast.
Did not return next day
She instead was replaced by Emma Quinn, who did not return a request for comment.
Kovar has been an anchor for the station, which also goes by CBS 6 and is owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting Co., since July 2016. Online, some viewers expressed their concerns for the newscaster.
“I hope heather ok . . . she looks a wreck and she is slurring,” someone wrote on Twitter.
Social media users worried she might have been having a medical issue.
Kovar recently returned from leave, during which she was tending to her father before his death, according to the Times Union of Albany.
She wrote in a May Facebook post that “the station has graciously allowed me to take some time off to be with my family in Texas.”
He passed away that month, according to her social media.