Dave Lopez of Channel 2 was voted the best local TV field reporter by readers of Ron Fineman's On the Record. Lopez finished ahead of Patrick Healy, who had won every year before, and sent a nice thanks to the site for Monday's edition. Yesterday was Fineman's fifth anniversary passing along tips and critiques for Los Angeles TV insiders (the last two years as a pay site), but he is now asking for volunteer fill-ins. After being free of cancer for some time, he posted some disturbing news Friday:

Back to Chemo

I sure hate to have to write that headline, but it is true. My latest scans showed what appears to be cancer on some lymph nodes in my abdomen. Given the location, which is the area where my cancer had spread in the first place, my doctor feels it is likely to be cancer.

I had been cancer free for about a year, and honestly felt I would go longer, much longer...I cannot tell you how much I disliked my last time on chemo last year. But my oncologist says he's giving me a different drug this time which is less toxic. So maybe it won't be so bad. And of course the reality is, I have no choice. Naturally, I will hope that these new six rounds of chemo will kill the cancer, and give me a shot at a normal life again.

I do hope to keep OTR going through it. But I do know last year that sometimes I just wasn't up for it, and other times the issues had to be short. So I hope you hang with me, and we'll see what happens.

Fill-ins do not need to be subscribers. Lopez, by the way, sent Fineman some words of encouragement, as someone who beat prostate cancer eight years ago.