October 30, 2009
New GM Works to Make Chicago's WFLD Stand Out
Chicago Sun-Times
Two months into his new job as general manager of WFLD-Channel 32, Michael Renda is pursuing a simple management philosophy.
"It's all about putting good people in the right places," Renda said. In that vein, earlier this week, Renda brought back Debbie Carpenter, who previously held general sales manager and general manager posts at WFLD, and reinstalled her as the station's general sales manager, a key post in these days of dwindling revenue in local television.
Carpenter had been out of the television business since she left her last post as WFLD's general manager in 2006. Renda said he considered internal candidates for the job, but Carpenter apparently had more of the expertise he sought.
"She's got great sales skills and knows the market well," Renda said.
WFLD's new leader last month replaced Pat Mullen, who couldn't find a way to significantly boost the station's puny ratings for its 9 p.m. newscast, an important revenue generator. More...
October 29, 2009
In Indianapolis, WXIN Launches Health Care Site
TVSpy
Indianapolis's WXIN announced on Thursday that it is partnering with the medical website network YourCity.MD to create Indy.MD. The new site will be a platform for residents of the Indianapolis area to find information about illnesses, medical treatment, and doctors.
"WXIN is excited to be chosen as the www.Indy.MD TV partner, this partnership will provide great synergy between our expanding News/Health coverage on WXIN both on the air, and on the web." said Jerry Martin, Vice President/General Manager of WXIN.
Partnering with YourCity.MD, is an opportunity for WXIN to expand its reach online and generate non-traditional, health-based revenue. YourCity.MD has been partnering with stations around the country. In September, WLEX in Lexington teamed with the company to launch Lexington.MD.
Joe Benza, founder and CEO of YourCity.MD, is clear about his company's goals: "we are looking to partner with TV stations in over 500 markets," he said.
In making the announcement, Martin added, "WXIN is committed to providing the best local news and information every day, and www.Indy.MD is an extension of that commitment."
October 28, 2009
Louisville Anchor Retiring After 22 Years With WAVE
Courier-Journal
After 32 years in broadcasting, nearly 22 of them at WAVE-3, award-winning anchor Jackie Hays announced her retirement Tuesday.
Her last day on the air is expected to be in mid-December.
"I've been talking about retirement for the last two contracts and I'm very excited," Hays said. "But it's hard leaving something that you love."
Hays co-anchors the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts on WAVE and has long-time Kentucky roots. A graduate of Murray State University, she started her professional career at WPSD-TV in Paducah, moved to Louisville and WHAS-TV in 1980, and spent five years there before moving to Philadelphia, the nation's fourth-largest TV market.
A veteran reporter who has interviewed two presidents--she lunched with President Ronald Reagan--Hays reported live from the bombing scene at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and co-anchored coverage of the Kentucky Derby 25 times. More...
October 27, 2009
WAND Names Takahashi to ND Post
TVSpy
WAND-TV, an NBC-affiliate serving Decatur/ Springfield/ Champaign/ Urbana, Illinois, announced on Monday that it has named Tai Takahashi as the station's News Director.
Takahashi comes to the Block Communications-owned station after serving as News Director at WTVQ in Lexington, Kentucky. WAND is the latest stop in a career that has spanned much of the country as Takahashi has held positions at KOMO in Seattle; WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville; and WXIA in Atlanta.
After graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism, Takahashi got his first TV job at KTKA in Topeka, Kansas. Over an 18-year career, he has been honored with a handful of awards including a 2007 Edward R. Murrow Award for Spot News.
As a News Director, Takahashi's focus has been on respecting his staff's opinions and unifying the newsroom. "People under my watch will be respected," he said when he was named to the WTVQ post. "Their ideas will be appreciated and their accomplishments will be celebrated."
October 23, 2009
Sinking 'Leno' Hurts Chicago's WMAQ
Chicago Sun-Times
Jay Leno's new prime-time talk show started out big in the ratings in Chicago, but what a difference a few weeks makes.
From the impressive 13.8 rating in the Chicago market the night it debuted on WMAQ-Channel 5 in September, Leno's numbers have plummeted. And that has created big problems for Channel 5's flagship 10 p.m. newscast, which was hoping to use a strong lead-in from Leno to gain ground on perennial 10 p.m. news front-runner WLS-Channel 7.
Instead, WMAQ finds itself in the unenviable position of battling to remain the No. 2-rated 10 p.m. newscast as WBBM-Channel 2's 10 p.m. newscast -- long the underdog -- shows real signs of gaining momentum, thanks to huge lead-ins from several popular prime-time shows this fall, including "The Good Wife." For the five-day week that ended Oct. 16, for example, the Leno lead-in to Channel 5's 10 p.m. news averaged a paltry 3.4 rating, compared with a whopping 8.8 rating lead-in on Channel 2, and a 6.7 rating lead-in on Channel 7. More...
October 20, 2009
Veteran Meteorologist Jumps to Rival Station
TVSpy
Veteran Meteorologist Chuck Collins has a new home. Granite Broadcasting announced on Monday that Collins would be joining its Central Illinois NBC-affiliate WEEK-TV. He will begin forecasting weather for the station on Monday, October 26th. Through shared services agreements that WEEK holds with Barrington Broadcasting Group's WHOI and Four Seasons Broadcasting's WAOE, Collins will be appearing on all three TV stations.
Collins will take over the late evening newscasts while veteran Lee Ranson will continue to forecast weather for WEEK's "Live at Five" and WHOI's "News at 5:30." "Chuck Collins and Lee Ranson together form a weather forecasting dream team," said Mark DeSantis, President and General Manager of WEEK, WHOI and WAOE, in making the announcement. "The communities of Central Illinois will be well served by having these weather experts and our terrific news crew," added News Director Don Shafer.
Collins was born and raised in Central Illinois and has been a familiar face on area TV. For the last 23 years, he worked at WEEK's rival WMBD. For the last 10 years, he held the position of Chief Meteorologist for the Nexstar Broadcasting-owned station.
"After three decades in the business, I am thrilled to be a part of the top-rated news and weather operation in Central Illinois," said Collins. "I look forward to serving Central Illinois viewers for many years by providing weather for WEEK, WHOI and WAOE." Collins' last appearance on WMBD was October 8th.
Lansing's WSYM to Simulcast Popular Radio Show
Lansing State Journal
Beginning Nov. 2, Michael Patrick Shiels' show will be simulcast from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. weekdays on WSYM (Channel 47). "We want to make (him) a TV star," said Gary Baxter, the WSYM general manager.
Shiels originates his talk show at WJIM (1240-AM) from 5:30 to 9 a.m.; it airs on 10 other stations around the state.
The TV duties bring one new obligation, he joked: "I have to lose 60 pounds in the next three weeks."
The idea of telecasting a radio talk show is relatively unusual. The "Mike and Mike" show is on ESPN; Don Imus' show has gone from MSNBC to RFD to Fox Business Channel. Also, Mitch Albom's Detroit show had an MSNBC run; Howard Stern and "Bob and Tom" edit their TV versions.
And the notion of doing it at a local broadcast station is even rarer.
"We thought there would be a lot of stations we could steal ideas from," Baxter said. "But we called around and couldn't find any." More...
WXIN Expands News sion: A Question About Viability
Editor's Note: 'From The Field' is a regular ShopTalk column that offers first-hand reports from the front lines of broadcast journalism. Today's editorial comes from Jerry Martin, VP/GM of WXIN in Indianapolis. We asked Jerry to offer some insight into why WXIN has recently expanded its news programming.
The rationale for our news expansion is our confidence to deliver a viable product to our viewers that will be supported by our advertisers. I think that anyone running a newsroom or station has to be certain that their product will deliver ratings and revenue in the long run, and, in these tough economic times, the expanded product may need to be profitable right from the start.
That was not always the case at WXIN. Five years ago, the station had a successful 30-minute, 10PM newscast, which, some may argue, was simply a newscast of convenience. The station also produced a light-hearted, expensive morning newscast that wasn't viable. There was little doubt that news plan really didn't work. So, we had two choices--rent out our time periods to a competitor, or expand the 10PM to an hour and revamp the morning news product. Obviously we chose the latter, which has paid off with rapidly increasing ratings and revenue. That success has given us the confidence to further expand last month with an extra half hour in the morning at 4:30am and and an hour of early news at 4PM. Furthermore, with the growing popularity of our 7-9am news hours, we announced this week that we are adding another hour to our morning news, continuing our coverage to the 9-10am hour.
Why are we expanding now in the middle of the Great Recession? Again, it came down to our confidence that we could be viable from the get-go. We truly believed that our viewers and advertisers would support us, and that we would be profitable from the start. In addition, with us providing more convenient times for news, we are building a reputation with our viewers that we are there for them more often than any other station in town.
Most importantly, we have confidence in our news team to deliver on a consistent basis, strong corporate support, and the technical infrastructure to successfully pull off the additional newscasts. In other words, the timing was right. I don't think for a moment that we would have tried this expansion even last year. However, with our past expansion successes and continued product improvement, we felt that we could be successful in new time periods.
The other overriding benefit of news expansion, especially with the addition of our 4pm newscast, is that it allows us to be less reliant on syndication and feeds our growing need for relevant content on our web and mobile sites. We don't pretend to know exactly how the future will play out but we know we will have a better chance at success if we take control of our local content. Our best guess is that people will still desire local news--they just may be agnostic on which device they receive their news.
Jerry Martin is the VP/General Manager of Tribune-owned WXIN and WTTV in Indianapolis.
October 14, 2009
Chicago Anchor Gives Birth on Expressway
WLS
On Tuesday, WLS's Judy Hsu delivered Baby Number Four, nicknamed Ike, who couldn't wait, arriving on the Eisenhower Expressway, with dad, Tracy, acting as a doctor.
"I'm having a better morning than yesterday!" Judy said from the hospital Wednesday morning. "Can you believe it? It is wild. I'm still in shock, I think."
After he made his big debut Tuesday, Judy says, the baby--whose actual name is Alexander James--has actually been a very good, peaceful baby. Hsu was on her way to the hospital around 3 a.m.when "Ike" came. They made it to the inbound Ike at Cicero when they had to pull over.
While mom and baby turned out fine, Judy says this is the story of what not to do when you are pregnant with your fourth child. More...
October 12, 2009
Mini-Newscasts Gaining in Popularity
Broadcasting & Cable
Two and a half might not seem like a very substantial number to most, but it's got great significance at WWJ Detroit. The CBS O&O launched a 2 1/2 minute late mini-newscast in January 2008, which leads into--yes--"Two and a Half Men" repeats. This past May, WWJ debuted the two-hour First Forecast Mornings program, which features hard-news briefs on the quarter-hour from the Detroit Free Press newsroom that run some 2 1/2 minutes.
WWJ has taken small steps toward building its news presence since CBS bought the station, formerly the urban outlet WGPR, in 1995 and made it a CBS affiliate.
The recent news launches, however modest, have been successful enough that VP/General Manager Trey Fabacher is considering adding more mini-newscasts elsewhere on the schedule--either on the CBS station, its sister CW outlet, WKBD, or both. "It's helped us create a personality and local content that the station did not have before," he says. "To say that has been huge is an understatement."
While some might wonder just how much punch a newscast the size of a commercial pod might pack, programs running from 2 1/2 to 12 minutes are finding viewers from Detroit to Knoxville to San Diego. More...
Sinclair, Cunningham Rework LMA Deal
Broadcasting & Cable
Sinclair Broadcast has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cunningham Broadcasting to rework its local marketing agreement (LMA) deals with Cunningham.
The two Maryland-based companies are closely aligned, with various members of the Smith family owning the bulk of both broadcasters. The LMAs with the six Cunningham stations earn Sinclair about $70 million annually. In July, Sinclair execs said Cunningham could drag both into bankruptcy if Cunningham were to default on its loan.
Cunningham is still facing "significant financial and economic challenges," said Sinclair in an 8-K form, with a significant debt balance due Oct. 30, after multiple extensions. The approaching deadline prompted both parties to restructure their arrangement. More...
October 8, 2009
Sports Director Leaves WVUE to Focus on Radio Show
TVSpy
The sports director at New Orleans' WVUE, Eric Richey, announced this week that he is leaving the station. He plans to devote his attention to his 10 a.m.-to-noon weekday radio shift at WIST AM-690.
Richey began his career as a sports anchor shortly after graduating from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1989. He worked in Youngstown, Toledo, Indianapolis, and Mobile before coming to New Orleans.
He joined the Fox-affiliate in June 2007, where he anchored daily sportscasts at 5:30 and 9, and produced and anchored "Final Play," a weekly Sunday night sports show.
"This is amicable," said Mikel Schaefer, WVUE news director.
"It's something we've both been talking about for a couple of months now," Richey said. "I have been leaving my house at 8 in the morning every day and coming home at 11 p.m. I've been working 14-hour days doing radio and TV and trying to work something out...I leave with nothing but positive feelings about my time here at Fox 8."
John Henry Smith, III, who worked most recently at WPLG-Miami, has been hired to replace Richey. Smith, a 1990 graduate of Morehouse College, has an M.B.A. from the University of Rochester and a master's degree from Syracuse University. Smith is expected to start next week and appear on the air soon after.
FCC Proposes Changing Channel for Cincinnati's WCPO
Broadcasting & Cable
The FCC has proposed allowing Scripps' ABC affiliate WCPO-TV Cincinnati to move its channel assignment so it can reach more viewers with its digital signal.
The station told the commission that after the June 12 DTV switch it "received a large number of telephone calls and emails from viewers unable to receive the station's new digital service." It was not alone.
The FCC has continued to work with a handful of stations, mostly high VHF channel assignments, to help resolve coverage issues, particularly in big cities where tall buildings are affecting the digital signal.
Scripps asked to move from channel 10 to channel 22, saying that even with a post-June 12 (the date of the DTV switch) boost to its maximum allowable power, it was still unable to offer "acceptable service" on channel 10. More...
ND Arrives in Cincinnati Pledging to Stabilize WLWT Staff
Cincinnati.com
No more revolving door. That's the goal of Stacy Owen, the new WLWT-TV (Channel 5) news director.
"Every decision we're making is to see what is the best long-term play for us. No changes for the sake of change," says Owen, who arrived from KXTV-TV in Sacramento, Calif., four weeks ago.
Owen uses the same terms describing the chief meteorologist she'll hire to replace Derek Beasley, who quit in August. Beasley's successor will be the station's seventh chief forecaster in 12 years.
"We're looking for someone who will be a long-term player in the market," says Owen, who worked 13 years at San Francisco's KRON-TV.
"It's a very important position, and we're being very careful in this hire," she says. Her search includes internal candidates, she says.
Change has been the one constant since Channel 5 was No. 1 in the ratings, when Jerry Springer anchored in 1991. While the main anchor duos remained the same at top-rated Channels 12 and 9, News 5 viewers have seen Norma Rashid, Dave Wagner, Anne Marie Tiernon, Sandra Ali and Sheree Paolello. More...
Veteran Anchor Returns to Cincinnati's WLWT
The Enquirer
After nine months away from a TV newsroom, Jack Atherton is more than ready to return to the airwaves Monday for WLWT-TV.
"I can't wait to get back to work. I love what I do," says Atherton, 56, hired by Channel 5 in December as his WXIX-TV contract expired. The "noncompete" clause in his Channel 19 contract prevented him from working at Channel 5 until Oct. 1.
"Channel 5 didn't have a male anchor, so it just was the right fit. Channel 19 wanted me to stay, but they were facing budget problems. I'm very lucky," says Atherton of Montgomery.
Atherton, Channel 19's main co-anchor since the Fox station started news in 1993, will be paired with Sheree Paolello, a Channel 19 writer-producer in 1996.
They will anchor at 5-6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., until Sandra Ali returns from maternity leave, says Richard Dyer, Channel 5 president. More...
METEOROLOGIST 
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