• A New York local TV anchor was suspended after a chaotic broadcast was widely shared online.
  • CBS6 Albany's Heather Kovar, whose father died in May, said she was "exhausted" on Saturday.
  • She told Insider that she had been working a punishing schedule for weeks. 

An "exhausted" New York State TV news anchor was suspended on Sunday after a chaotic and disorientated segment.

In the aftermath, she told Insider that a punishing schedule where she was doing her job plus another person's had preceded the incident, as well as the death of her father.

Heather Kovar, a weekend anchor on CBS6 Albany, slurred her words and got the name of the weather anchor wrong during the 6pm newscast on Saturday.

A short clip was shared widely online, where it prompted both amusement and concern: 

In the clip, she spoke enthusiastically about soaring temperatures, before referring to the weather anchor by the wrong name, and then correcting herself.

"And of course, just like me, meteorologist Craig Gold is working a double shift," she said. 

The network's vice president Robert Croteau told the Times-Union newspaper on Sunday that it suspended Kovar "pending our internal investigation." 

Kovar told the newspaper that she was "sleep-deprived and exhausted" for Saturday's 6 p.m. broadcast. She had already done the 6 a.m. broadcast that day, and was slated to continue through to the 11 p.m. one, but was replaced by a weekday evening anchor for that, the paper reported. 

Kovar told Insider that she had been working this sort of pattern since June 19th, when she returned from family leave. Kovar said that she volunteered to take on extra work for one weekend but ended up doing it over and over.

She told the Times-Union that the punishing schedule came after she cut her leave short to come back sooner than plan after her father died in mid-May.

She told Insider that as soon as she returned, she was anchoring both on 6 a.m. shifts and evening shifts, which are 6p.m. and 11.pm. 

"Usually my bed time is around 8 or 9pm," she posted to Facebook on June 26. "But tonight we will see you at 11:00 pm."

She told Insider that she had initially volunteered for the punishing schedule after the weekend night side anchor left, but thought it would be temporary.

"I had actually suggested the weekend I returned I could fill both," she said. "I didn't realize it would continue."

Kovar said she had told the network on Friday that she would not be renewing her contract, according to the Times-Union. 

Read the original article on Insider