Every Toilet Paper Reference Rolled Up Into One Story

Well some of you may say that local news is going... well you know, to the.... well... toilet, to keep it clean. KWCH demonstrated that literally on Friday night. In an interesting subject on the Hutch correctional facility limiting toilet paper to inmates, Kim Wilhelm held nothing back when it came to toilet paper. I normally think she does some of the best work consistently in town, but I think her Friday piece could have been flushed (sorry I had to use it) down the toilet at 12. She obviously couldn't interview the concerned inmates, and had to fill the time somehow. So she basically played with toilet paper during the whole story, plus even had it appear as if she was sitting in the stall during one part. For entertainment value it is well worth the watch. Is the subject interesting enough to do a story? Yes, because it is one of those definite next day cafe or water cooler chatters, but in my tastes I think it was just too gimmicky. Like I said, getting an interview on this on camera probably was tough, so how do you tell the story? I am interested to hear your thoughts after watching it. Please watch and comment. -Hal
http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=6439649

Fred Rogers and Cayle Thompson plus Counting lessons on KWCH

Saturday's newscasts on KAKE and KWCH had something in common. It was like they were aiming for the toddler crowd. KAKE's Cayle Thompson was doing his best impersonation of Fred Rogers and we learned KWCH's Linda Mares could count to at least 27.
Linda did the typical first nice day of spring story and how open garage doors lure thieves into stealing. She tried to get "interactive" by driving around the neighborhood counting open garage doors. One thing we learned from this story: KWCH must have a requirement that you have to count to 27. Outside of that, I do not think anything else was gained.
Meanwhile at KAKE Cayle Thompson had a decent story about how recent rain and the late snowfall has replenished water levels at Kanopolis Lake. Not a bad story with some new info. Not that it was necessarily bad, but I had to laugh at his appearance on camera at the end of the story. I immediately thought Cayle might break out with Mr. Roger's "Won't you be my Neighbor" and toss his shoes up in the air like Fred used to do. He appeared on camera with his shoes off and feet naked next to the water with a shoe in his hand talking about how nice it was and the improved lake levels. -Hal

Sweeps Woody Warning

Well and here I thought I would get a few days break from the Woody Warnings, then I turned on the 10PM newscasts and the heavily produced stories hit the airwaves. I thought they started in May, but no doubt we have issued a Sweeps Woody Warning.
First, KWCH, took on an issue close to those at their station. One of their reporters was severely injured in a car wreck months back involving an alleged drunk driver who had charges pending on him at the time of the incident. The information was very good. It could have been easy for them to exploit one of their own, but they did not. They used that situation as a hook into the story and then they told of the backlog of DUI cases at the DA office. One problem with the story. It was so jarringly different than anything else they do. The screen was smaller (I believe they call this wide screen or something. Its supposed to bring a cinematic, grandiose, and I don't know feel.) I think it is very distracting. There were real quick shots and everything. I thought it went a little overboard. The facts in the story were almost lost in the post production of the story. Was it better than a normal day's story? Yes, no doubt, but I think the post production work went overboard. Take a look.
http://kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=6418130

Then there was KAKE. Jeanene Kiesling took on pets and what food should they eat. Like KWCH's story, it had way too many effects in post production. But unlike KWCH, the information in the story was lame. I am sure it will save a few pooches' lives. And I am a pooch lover just as much as the next guy, but this story was merely (like many Sweeps stories) put in the line-up to tug on the heartstrings of pet lovers to watch. In this regard not a bad strategy by KAKE, because when it comes to their animals, many (sadly) will more likely choose that story over something that could effect them like a backlog of pending DUI cases.
Again take a look.
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/7206306.html
Update: I guess I was busy flipping the channels on Thursday and didn't hear all the story. In what could go into a compilation of classic local quotes on TV. A lady interviewed says of her pooch, "He's just got really bad gas that could just clear a room." Ok then. Thats a real fitting quote for a story that is about as equally as appealing. I also can only hear a pooch chomping down on a dog biscuit so many times.
Lastly there was KSN. I don't know if it was a sweeps story or not, but at the same time KAKE had the pooch food story, KSN was pulling in the demos with a story from their Doctor on female knee replacements. Way to go to KSN in trying to pull in the over 60 crowd. Metamucil needs to advertise somewhere.
Its just day one and already Wichita TV News expects a full month of Sweeps Woody Warning fun. -Hal

Weather Woody II

KSN might get the turnaround award after their performance on Tuesday's latest Weather Woody. For a storm that was hyped as much as it was on a local and national level, the system gave the local media a nice little "photo op" with a few funnels and a touchdown that looked equivalent to a dirt devil, all while not injuring anyone nor damaging much of anything. I must say the funnel looked real good on the three stations and unlike on Monday, we actually could see video of it on KSN. Like I have said in earlier posts, when a story is in or very proximate to Wichita, KSN can excel (that's not always a given). Once again today they did. Reporter Chanda Brown did a nice job interacting with the meteorologist during continuous coverage. She used terms that weather experts like to hear, yet "Joe 6-pack" in his recliner could probably still follow. As far as the newscasts, Chanda's package at 10PM was interesting on two points. First, the Australian who comes to Kansas every year for tornadoes was good as well as the video of all of the traffic while the funnel cloud is about. Clearly the others were putting all their marbles in thinking they would be able to find damage somewhere and interview the surprised homeowner and witnesses and make that their story. When that didn't happen they had to resort to just showing video. KSN, on the other hand had a little sidebar with Chanda's story and that worked, since the tornado turned out to be minor. Although I might be stretching it if I called their 24 hour turnaround (from their disaster in coverage on Monday to Tuesday) a miracle, I will say it was a very respectable comeback. Once again, though, it was closer for them to get to it as opposed to Western Kansas on Monday. I still question if they are indeed the "Kansas State Network." Despite Tuesday, they still don't have me convinced. They will need similar performances this storm season to prove me otherwise. Meanwhile KAKE brought in little used meteorologist Tanner Swift in a totally useless live story on the touchdowns in Harvey county. I know they had to use the "Team Coverage" banner, but was it really worth dusting off a little used meteorologist and dragging him out to a corn or wheat field so you had two people on the story? I don't think so. KWCH had solid coverage from their spotters the night before but, the station didn't perform as well on Tuesday. Although their reports during the break-ins were great as usual, the 10PM newscast wasted time, when they had one of the spotters live, then showed video, they had just shown during Michael Schwanke's report. Once again I am wondering if they had thought the tornado damage would be worse and thought they could fill the time with a longer story about that from Schwanke. Overall Weather Woody II proved a little surprising to me, especially with KSN's comeback and KWCH, who had so much promise on Monday, seemed to go back to the conservative "we are number 1" approach. -Hal

Severe Weather Woody I

Well, we had our first Severe Weather Woody Warning of the Spring on Monday with weather breaking out mostly to the West, but a few storms in North central Kansas. The Radars, arrival times, and hook echoes all appeared rather equal in the coverage on the 3 stations. As far as weather personalities, I'll hold judgement to later in the storm season. As for the presentation of the coverage in the actual newscast, the 3 field horse race was quickly reduced to 2. KSN didn't even even make it out of the starting gate. I know the "starting gate" is an overused cliche, but it aptly fits here. We'll consider the starting gate, as far as news goes, being after we see the weather guys for the first time in the 10PM newscast. KWCH and KAKE use great tools for showing video out in the field. Its amazing that in many of these places, just getting a clean cell phone call is a feat, yet alone live moving video of tornadoes. The video doesn't quite look like normal video. I am sure it has something to do with coming over a phone line or something, but the technology looks like it really has improved compared to the early days where it looked like still pictures being rotated by hand across a camera. Not only did the two stations have tornadoes on video, but both had several spotters telling of conditions they were experiencing. One of KAKE's spotters said he saw something like 10 tornadoes!! Great work and it definitely shows a commitment to weather. Meanwhile at KSN, outside of Freeman and his weather cut-ins, it was just a normal night. Their coverage, besides Freeman, consisted of some pictures sent by e-mail. That was sooooo 5 years ago. For a station who likes to pump itself as a weather leader, the news performance of this storm tonight was very disappointing. After Tonight, they might as well just say, "If it happens in Wichita, we may cover it. If it happens anywhere else, we don't care." The other stations had live or nearly live tornadoes on the ground in earlier cut-ins throughout the night. This technology is amazing and really compliments the reports from the various storm spotters and their pictures. Also I think Jay Prater and Merril Teller do a nice job in tossing to the weather spotters and asking them questions and steering away from talking too much weather talk. Another factor, their spotters are just that spotters. I don't think a single reporter phoned in a report. Nothing against reporters, but nothing beats an informed and educator spotter. I think I heard a few "mesocyclones" (not sure of spelling, not a meteorologist) in the coverage, but overall they did a good job in making their conversation understandable for all.
Although KSN may have struck out on the weather coverage they had a great piece expanding on the death of former Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin, who died Today. He came to Kansas in the late 90's and Dana Hertneky had a well done piece showing clips from the visit and an interview with the people who hosted him at their farm. Good example of effectively localizing a national story. The key was it didn't feel like a local story. KAKE had Larry Hatteberg do a little video reflection on the visit, not bad, but KSN did a better job having an updated angle. Chris Sadeghi on KAKE covered the latest shooting live. Note to Chris, check a local Wichita map before going live. He said on air, "The whole incident began several blocks away at the Walmart at Hillside and Broadway." Hillside and Broadway run parallel to each other and are not several blocks away. Ahead for tomorrow, possibly more weather Woodys. -Hal

Its the Weekend, but tuck your shirt in!!

"Anonymous" requested a few days ago for me to review the weekend shows. I must admit I was "out of the viewing area" this weekend, so much of what I'll write will be generalities from other weekends I have watched and Tonight's 10PM. First I think the main anchors are all very solid, but at the same point varied in their styles.
At KWCH, Michael Schwanke probably would come off as the most outgoing of the three. Nothing too offensive with him and does a solid job. He seems very friendly and inviting. This newscast probably has one of the best segments in the city all week long, in its "Answerback 12 Segment." If you haven't seen it, anchor Roger Cornish takes viewers e-mails and phone calls on its coverage from the week. In fact, this week one lady called to say how much she admires Cindy Close and how she thinks Cindy should have Katie's job. Of course Roger always follows with a classic one liner of some sort, to make it a worthwhile segment more than just shameless promotion. Sometimes they address negative comments on their coverage. It just comes off real well and shows Roger's sense of humor which many may or not know about. Weather wise Ross Janssen is nothing flashy, but at the same time nothing to make one want to turn the channel which in many ways is winning the battle.
Meanwhile KAKE has the dean of anchors, Larry Hatteberg. I think he instantly brings credibility to the newscast, something it lacks the rest of the week when he doesn't anchor. You cannot argue that Jeff Herndon is a good young product and probably should be in the main chair weekdays, but I am just a little more old school I guess. I know he is getting older but I still think Larry does good and comes off well. Their weekend meteorologist isn't bad. He might come off like he is trying to be a tad smooth. Not a fan of James Sido in sports, I have commented on him before. In Tonight's newscast I must say, is it too much to ask a reporter to tuck his shirt in? I know its Sunday and the weekend and all, but reporter Chris Sadeghi needed to look at the rear view mirror or the car's side mirror and look over his appearance, before he hit air with his live story.
Over at KSN, Anthony Powell is probably the most straight laced of the three. He doesn't get off many one liners. He has a good voice and reads well. One drawback, at times he could use a little pick-me-up or a little pep. Although I must say it is refreshing compared to the sometimes phoniness seen on the main casts Monday-Friday. I'll admit it, I may have been a tad hard on back-up, back-up meteorologist Andrew Kozak in an earlier post. He might have a few issues, but does a solid job. Good turnaround. All the weekend weather guys are about even.
Tonight I saw again the KWCH weather promo where Kim Wilhelm and Michael Schwanke are trying to figure out a TV and Merril Teller comes in to save the day. The commercial says, something like Merril can't help to interrupt to keep you informed. I am hoping this is just a preview of a new style of promos to come. It would be fun and entertaining if they would move to this form of promotions, similar to the popular ESPN Sportscenter campaign.
Keep the comments coming and I want to hear what you think about the issues I bring up and stuff you like or don't like about the TV news in Wichita. Looking to the week ahead, we might have another Weather Woody ahead for Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll keep you posted if it develops. Also since May is around the corner, that means let the scarry music begin with promos for crazy sweeps stories. -Hal

NOT a Renaissance with KSN's 5PM show

So after a long work week it was time to kick back and relax. I had an idea on the sugestion of a reader wanting to know what I thought of the morning shows and then the weekend. I will have a weekend review coming on Sunday. With my feet kicked back I began watching the 5PM shows. I flipped the channels and came across some guys dressed in armour and had to stop. Things looked like some fun. It was the KSN 5PM show. If you are not familiar, KSN goes a totally different route when it comes to its 5PM cast. They go live every night at a different location in the area. Its less news and more entertainment. On paper it sounds OK. One problem, management brass forgot about the talent. This show is probably nearly 2/3 driven by the anchor. There are few stories on tape and basically a lot of interviews, except for the few minutes of news. So to make someone want to watch, the viewer has to like the person steering the show. And in this case its Paul Petite. I mentioned in an earlier blog about the morning shows, I dont think I'd let the main news anchors (5,6,10) for KSN even in my living room, because I am afraid they would try to sell me something. That is exactly what I feel like I get with Paul and this show. If he has a joke or a gag, it is often cliche or recycled. For instance, on the Friday show at the Renaissance Festival, of course he had to use the "Hear-yee, Hear-yee," phrase with a bad European accent, that sounded more New Yorker than it did from the Renaissance. Others probably could pull that off, but with him it just came off as a bad act. It might be good for St. Joe, Peoria, or a smaller town, but not here. That's sad when I make it sound like Wichita is a huge metropolis. I am interested to see what happens when he is gone or on vacation and if he has fill-ins. My feeling is the show probably comes off a little more genuine. I am not so quick to necessarily give up on the show style. I think they go to some interesting places, have good material and it seems like the producers try hard, but once again the captain of the ship, Paul, just steers it in a bad direction. So what do I think of the other 5PM shows, hmmmm. Interesting question. I couldn't flip off of 3 on Friday, because I was intrigued when the phoney act was going to end. So I guess KSN got me on this one. They had me watching the whole show, even though I didn't like the captain, at least for this one night, anyway.-Hal

From the Comment Box: Morning Shows Opinions

I received a post from "Jon," who wrote that I spend a lot of time blogging about the evening newscasts, but he would like to know my feelings of the morning and Noon shows. He suggested I watch some and comment. I will make it a point to watch a few weeks of shows and post what I think. However, I'll give you a few comments from the things I have noticed in my viewing from time to time. I honestly think Wichita has strong local morning shows. I must admit I do not watch them as often and with as critical of an eye as I do the later shows. Considering the producers are working with the "hand-me downs," from the day before, they make excellent use of what they are given and do create new content, all while having to stick to a strict format of time and temperature every few seconds and traffic reports, which always sound like play-by-play of hockey games.
I think KSN starts the day off with the station's best anchor team all day in Stephanie Bergman and Mark Bogner. One could argue that the morning show format allows for a little more personality and light heartedness to be shown. I give those believers that one, but when Stephanie has fun with Mark, it comes out genuine and not so forced or fake. These seem like people I would like to chat with at the local cafe with eggs and bacon. Once again, readers could say my last statement is further proof that it may be unfair to compare morning personalities to that of the 10Pm newscast. I still say, whether you watch at 5:34 AM or 10:07 PM, you have to have a connection with the people you let in an intimate place like your bedroom, through the TV. Stephanie and Mark definitely have that for their station, compared to those on 3 at other times of the day, who I'd be lukewarm to even let in my living room, feeling like they are selling me something I don't want.
KAKE's team of Mike Iuen and Jemelle Holopirek works and it is refreshing not to feel like you are on constant edge, compared to their evening shows. I also like Ben Pringle and didn't understand why he was moved to mornings awhile back in favor of bringing in Jay Prater. Jay has grown on me and both are OK. Ben kind of has that down home Kansas feel you get when you watch Mark Bogner, which enhances the morning show feel. Jemelle sometimes needs to be careful not to be like Happy Happy Cheer Cheer reporter Jennifer Bocchieri. Jemelle can sometimes get a little too giggly, but overall her personality is pleasant in the morning.
KWCH's team of Felicia Rolfe and Matt Mauro fit a number one station. As I said before, KWCH runs a pretty consistent safe ship, not taking any big risks and have personalities largely unoffensive. However I will say, I think Matt Mauro will eventually find himself in a larger city, but his biggest problem is one he doesn't have a lot of control with. I guess he could have a tacky fake moustache or something, but he looks really young. His on camera demeanor is OK, but watching him in "mute" makes me feel I am watching a student broadcast at WSU or another college. As far as Noon, I am a big Kim Setty fan. I think she is one of the most underrated personalities in the market, right there with Stephanie Bergman.
As I wrote earlier, I will take a little more of a concentrated look at the morning shows and report back in a few weeks. -Hal

Supreme Court ruling or fatal house fire.. what leads?

An interesting case study tonight at 6PM. KSN and KWCH lead with the Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortions. Meanwhile KAKE leads with a fatal house fire. Any other day, I think the house fire leads, but because of the history the abortion issue has in Wichita, I think it was good to lead with the later. Things were a little awkward over on KWCH. Reporter Kim Hynes did the abortion story. Note to the KWCH brass, if you need a health reporter, don't pick her. Coming out of the story, she got very confused discussing abortion 101 and tried to consult her script. She got lost, all while Roger Cornish had to sit there on camera with her, watching her sink on the air. Keeping the partial birth and the normal abortions straight is confusing stuff, but she made it even more confusing. The other big story of course is follow-up on the Virginia Tech tragedy. KSN couldn't of had a better lead-in with Nightly News and the letter NBC News got from the gunman. KSN showed video from Nightly at the end of their first block, which was a great move. On the other hand, I am not a fan when they have Anita put her voice on a national story, especially if there are no local ties to it. I think its deceiving the viewer, although I feel the viewers have little clue whether Anita's voice is on the story or some unknown network person. I understand though, that much of the planning for this probably occurred, before it was known what NBC had in regards to the suspect's video. If NBC hadn't received the letter, I still would have complained about the story with Anita's voice, but could see some of the merits for having a story on it in the show. I am not a fan of throwing a local voice on a national story to make it appear local or part of the station. I know it's a part of the business, but not one I like.
Also thanks to the couple of people who have posted comments at the end of these blogs. I am hoping for a fun spirited discussion on some of the issues I bring up. Please pass this blog address onto others and feel free to comment. -Hal

Team Coverage Going Too Far

No surprise here. Leave it to KAKE to over cover and exploit a very tragic story. 36 hours after the event, they were doing local "Team Coverage." I realize this is the worst shooting in US history, but having 2 local stories on an event that happened in Virgina 36 hours ago is a little too much. Granted this is the story everyone talked about today, but I think we can only hear so many Wichitans say what a tragedy it is. I will give KAKE's Jeanene Kiesling credit for her story on a guy from Hutch who lost a friend in the tragedy. I think she actually kept her yelling to a minimum in this story. Just as I was thinking positive KAKE thoughts, they followed with a story at Wichita State and a student reaction piece. Stealing a line from teenage lingo, "that was sooo Yesterday." FRANKly, they should have just recued the stories from yesterday. After the national newscasts had just went wall-to-wall with coverage, why do stations like KAKE think they need multiple stories told at a mediocre level far from the high level of stories you saw on ABC World News Tonight. Give credit to KWCH for leading with a story on Sunday liquor Sales. I didn't say it was good, I am just recognizing them for leading with a local story.
10PM Update: All the stations led with national stories about the shooting. I agreed with this, but how many local angles can we go with? I was actually happy with KSN moving onto other news, at least for the time. As part of KWCH's "Team Coverage" (terrible broadcasting cliche) they had a story with Michael Schwanke basically repeating what the national story said. I usually like his stuff, though tonight's story was wasting my time. Then they moved onto, yet another story, this time on a local guy who thinks he has a service to warn college students. Not bad, but just way too many stories on this event. I think they finally moved to Merrill around 9 minutes in. KAKE really thought long and hard for a local angle. It actually came out OK talking to an English professor about creative writing and how do you know if a student is going over the edge in their writings. Not bad. I was happy with KSN, having their lead story recap the day and then they moved onto other news, this about tax day. It felt when watching the news like tax day was canceled today. Normally every newscast on the day taxes are due, opens up with lines of cars at the post office drop boxes. Not Today. I actually didn't mind that. Too bad it had to be a terrible event that caused this to happen this year. KSN would get back to the Virginia Tech story in a later segment after a commercial break. The story was nothing to write home about, but because of the height of this tragedy I can see why, they went back to the event. Out of the 10PM, I think KWCH probably went a little overboard, although we got to see one of those trademark Jim Grawe stand-ups. I am a Grawe fan, but not of his story tonight. It was less of his fault and more to do with the subject matter. -Hal

The local angle on a Tragic National story

No joking tonight. A terrible tragedy in Virginia. No surprise the local stations had to scavenge for the local angle. They didn't go far. All had some sort of story at Wichita State. I didn't like the stations' routes of having two stories from the Wichita State angle. I (cant remember who did it this way) preferred wrapping the national incident and the WSU angle all up in a single story. After seeing so much on the national news it just seemed smart that way. I am curious though with the KWCH story from anchor Roger Cornish who had a story looking back at the Wichita sniper shootings from the 60's. I have several thoughts on this. First the story looked real good and looked like some time went into it. That leads to the question if this story ran before. One could say, it was a bit of a stretch to link the two together. I would say,, "No," but it might have been more of a fitting day-after story.
Enough about the shooting. First props to KAKE on a story about a backyard wrestling match that got out of hand. 2 things: it fits the KAKE demo (WWE viewers) and is just bizarre. The execution of the story is nothing to write about (or scream about in this case with the reporter), but the subject matter just kind of makes the story a great one. Second, after you do 2 local angles on the Virginia Tech stories, what are they thinking having a story about the beautiful Spring day and the excitement of buying spring flowers. I don't think I need Rachel Phillips to tell me that the selling of spring plants is big business. I just don't think of one of America's Deadliest school shootings and a beautiful Spring day really deserve to be so close to one another in the newscast. -Hal

KWCH promos

I saw a new promo for KWCH that if it is a new promotion plan for the station, it is certainly welcome and can only be a good thing. It shows Kim Wilhelm and Michael Schwanke around wide screen TVs trying to turn the channel. It so happens they are in the weather center. Suddenly Merril Teller walks in and helps them out by telling them which buttons to push to change the channel. The voice says something like Merrill Teller will always interrupt and help out a situation when he needs to, referring to weather break-ins. It kind of matches the fun of ESPN commercials. I liked it. No scare tactics or "we're the best" commercials, just a fun but effective promo. -Hal

Wichita State Woody Surprises

There may be some unsung heroes as far as the coverage of the Wichita State basketball coach goes. I cannot believe I am about to write this, but one guy who did a surprisingly OK job has been Casey Walkup of KSN. I am still pinching myself as I write this to make sure I am awake, alive and not under the influence of any chemicals. (Pause) Ok I checked I am not dreaming, am awake and am not intoxicated. Although I would not put him in my starting line-up, in the fill in capacity on this story he did a decent job. He probably filed the best news story of the whole event Yesterday, when he interviewed the new coach's family. Actually Casey might have found himself a new role in TV. He interviewed the coach's son who had a great quote where he said looking for houses was no fun. That got me to thinking. Maybe Casey could be the new host of the latest version of Kids Say the Darndest Things. Art Linkletter did it on House Party and Bill Cosby later did it in a show, now Casey could be the latest host. His writing on his stories is very primary. If he did a kids show, most of the kids he interviewed could probably give him some writing tips. So I think it might be a great gig for him. Heck, maybe it could be "Casey says the Darndest Things." Every sentence from his mouth would start with, "Cobra." Oh yeah he does that already. He would have to make sure he had a Kleenex or paper towel handy to wipe his upper lip occasionally.
I thought the coverage was strong on KSN. KWCH pretty much handled it safe like a number 1 station by not taking many risks and just scratching the surface and no more. KAKE handled it, like you would expect, a little crazy. I have one question from the press conference on their station. Did they think the coach was suddenly going to grow a foot or more as he was sitting, because they left all of this room above his head in their shot of the press conference. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody Warning! UPDATE

The Winter Weather Woody Warning has been officially canceled. However, I got some big news. I received my very first e-mail from doing this blog. It told me two things. First, I have at least one reader. Hey Anonymous, thanks for reading. More importantly "Anonymous," wrote that they were in Valley Center, Today and Judy and Paul's group garage sale, did go off today without a hitch. Thank God. I sure wish KAKE would have provided "live, local, late breaking, and on my side," coverage of this after their Happy Happy Cheer Cheer reporter, said it could be in doubt with the impending Winter Weather Woody. -Hal

Wichita State Woody Warning

They say they come in threes. Whats next. First we had the Winter Weather Woody Warning, that showed despite how many weather gadgets the weather boys have, they can be wrong. They were definitely wrong in the Wichita area. Didn't look like 2-5 inches (I even checked my grassy area) they were forecasting for Wichita. Now Garden City and places out west can say Dave, Merril and the boys were right. The second Woody Warning to hit the area had to be the WSU coaching search which wrapped up with a quickly called presser early Saturday afternoon with the naming of Gregg Marshall as coach. Yesterday were stories of the guy being at WSU, but no fresh video of him. Schaus must be a mastermind of hiding candidates from the media. You usually can always count on the classic shot of a guy getting off of an airplane, acting like even though he had never been in town that its perfectly normal for him to be in a town, off the beaten path. Then he acts all shocked when asked if he has been offered a coaching gig. Normally the coach acts if he hasn't even heard the word, "basketball" muttered before. In this case none of that, just the new coach Gregg Marshall on the podium announced as new coach. I will say as much as it pained me to see Mark Turgeon on the podium at Texas A&M they did it right. They made him get in a burgundy blazer in front of the media. Why cant Wichita State do that for their coach. Oh yeah, I forgot an Ugly yellow sports coat might spoil the whole coaching contract negotiations. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody Warning! UPDATE

The Winter Weather Woody Warning remains in effect for all of the Wichita TV viewing area. At 10:02PM a Weather Woody remained over KAKE news as Happy Happy Cheer Cheer reporter Jennifer Bocchieri reported on "Judy and Paul" worried about their garage sale being canceled in Valley Center. (A breaking news banner might be in order if "Judy and Paul" actually cancel their garage sale.) The Woody has grown in size and has moved to the East over KSN where the first pictures of people buying shovels and salt were spotted. Plus Dave Freeman couldn't get enough of seeing himself at the top of the newscast live, and also appeared later in the story about the impending storm. The outer bands of the Woody have moved into East Wichita and have reached KWCH, where weather forecasts lead the newscast , but the bands quickly passed and regular news was reported a short time later. Stay tuned for further bulletins on this Winter Weather Woody Warning. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody Warning!!

The Wichita TV News has issued a Winter Weather Woody Warning effective immediately for people in the Wichita TV news coverage area. People in the warned area should expect a period of station meteorologists reappearing in news stories on weather after just spending 2 minutes live on air saying this will be "the storm of the Century," cliche shots of people bracing for the next "Mother Nature Fury," and the interview from someone saying, "Darn, I've never seen it this bad."
At approximately 6:04PM, the early indications of the Weather Woody were spotted on Channel 10 as the station meteorologist was shown in a story dramatically hard at work behind his banks of computers, just seconds after he appeared live saying nearly the same thing. Cliche video of people going to the nearby hardware store and the manager saying he had to pull the salt and shovels out of his storeroom were also spotted.
The tracking of this storm should travel east and be over Channel 3 by 10PM and probably at a near identical time on Channel 12.
People in the warned area should expect conditions only to worsen from the impending Weather Woody and not let up until early to late Saturday afternoon. -Hal

Time to Take a Breath

Now that Turgeon has officially tried on the coat in Aggieville, said he's moving there, and thinking he wont pull a Dana (Altman of Creighton), I am sure the media will continue to do their prognosticating on who exactly will be the next Shocker coach and chase down airplanes and candidates headed into Koch arena under a veil of secrecy. Before everyone gets whipped into another flurry, lets take a breath and evaluate the local media performance up until now. The crazy thing is all of this news was broken by a reporter/blogger from ESPN, Andy Katz. Besides the fact he might have been off salary wise by a 1/4 million, he was pretty much right on from the beginning. KSN probably had the most interesting news story about the Turgeon thing than the other stations. It looked at the effect of the Internet and the way people get their information.
http://www.ksn.com/news/local/6962062.html
First off it provided a respite from the typical news story on a sports story when the fan is always consulted and gives pretty much the same ole interview. Stations might as well have a reel made, cued up, and ready to go called, "When news people need to do sports stories." On it would be several categories including:
A) Fans at a Bar watching a game.
B) Disappointed fans after a loss saying the overused cliche, 'There's always next year.'
C) The fan so excited his unranked team comes out of nowhere and upsets a better team, holds up the number 1 sign.
D)The fan disappointed his coach left but says, "We wish him the best but we cant wait for the new coach to come in and start winning again."
Although the team colors the fans are wearing would change a little, I am sure something like that could be touched up in the post production portion of the TV process. -Hal

Turgeon off to A&M Coverage

The worst kept secret in two states was finally confirmed late Monday, but by the time a face agreed to appear on camera, the 10PM shows were over. Give KWCH credit, they were the only station to break the news live, into Letterman, by saying a few players had just confirmed the news to them. The question comes, was it really necessary to break in for this, when after all 3 sportscasts, we were lead to believe it was only a matter of time before it would be confirmed that Mark Turgeon would leave for A&M. I would point out, however, the normal way most stations sign off when ending their reports is, "Stay tuned to Station (XYZ) and we'll give you the latest when it happens." In this case KWCH did do like they promised. Was a lot gained out of it, I dont think so, but I am sure we will be reminded many times through promos. KAKE had a reporter down in Aggie-land in the form of James Sido. I dont know why they even use a microphone on him. I went out on my porch during his report and I swear I could hear him screaming his cadenced delivery and acting like he was doing a bad impersonation of an ESPN anchor from Texas without a satellite and microphone. -Hal

KAKE: On Your Bowling Side

If you didnt know, KAKE has a 4PM show. More news shows on a TV station, basically means more fluff. And we definitely got that in a story on a National senior bowing tournament rolling into town this weekend. Overall not bad, but I didnt like the end. Their little junior reporter did a little piece acting like the pro would show her how to bowl. If anything the story is worth a watch, just to see the senior pro do what he calls the "Hawk" dance. Predictably, she ends up getting a strike and acts all excited and claims that was her first strike in her life? What? Never? Not even bumper bowling? Its not like a turkey or if she bowled a perfect game or anything. The only thing that means is KAKE must not let her out very much. Here's the link to the story. -Hal

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/6910297.html

When Panties Make News

KWCH's lead story by Jim Grawe was definitely a talker. People had new panties thrown in front of their houses in Reno county. Bizarre story and told real well, although many people didn't want to talk about it. Another story on KWCH was interesting. A man in Belle Plaine won the Mayor's race as a write-in-candidate and didn't know he won until he went to the bank. I must say, however the interview of one of the Mayoral candidates, was a little fishy. In reporter Rebecca Gannon's story, one of the losing candidates listed on the ballot, was interviewed as if the camera was far away and left on a table. It was as if it were to make it seem to the guy, the camera wasn't rolling. It seemed really strange compared to all of the other interviews in the story. -Hal

And the Winner for Election Coverage is....

Well... I would say it was pretty much even on all accounts. Each station had weaknesses. To start KSN's ticker was slow in getting out the results for the Wichita races compared to the other two. The look also was not as clean to read as KWCH's, who probably had the cleanest ticker. Also KWCH rotated the main Wichita races it seemed more frequently amidst the smaller ones. KAKE gets props for having live interviews first of Brewer and Mayans. KWCH had these following KAKE, but audio was hard to hear at Brewer's site because you could see the monitor behind the reporter with KWCH on, so Brewer's supporters were cheering pretty loudly, knowing they were on. Plus Happy Happy Cheer Cheer reporter Jennifer Bocchieri (KAKE) further proved someone can be just too happy. Her and appearing live from a location on camera, just do not go together.
It would seem as KSN had their reports on tape for the 10. I'm basing this purely by watching the other stations at the same time and noticing a louder background on KAKE and KWCH. But if I have to go to these measures to notice, than I think KSN did fine and actually the whole presentation came out cleaner, because you could hear from the winners and losers. Since the Mayoral race was decided well before 9, this in my mind was a sensible thing to do, although others would argue live interviews are the thing do. My question would be, do viewers really notice in this situation or even care if a station is live? -Hal

The Battle of the On-Air Tornado

I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen. I was beginning to think I had overestimated KAKE and their promo machine. Well then the storm brewed on the airwaves beginning at the 6PM newscast on KAKE. There it was. Clips from the on-air tornado they broadcast live the other night appeared in a promo. I must say they handled it classy for KAKE and actually credible. After the NCAA Basketball game, KWCH showed off their live tornado, as well, in a promo. Once again not bad and not over hyping what can be a deadly (although not from this one in Kansas) event. The technology the two stations have is unbelievable and if used in the right situations as was with these tornadoes can provide a good perspective. This happened in March so we have a long way to go in the storm season and I am sure these won't be the last caught live this season. However, I am not convinced KAKE wont start with the hype beginning as soon as........ well probably tomorrow. -Hal

A Vacuumed Gerbil and KSN. Interesting Irony

KSN was moving right along in their 10PM newscast and starting their weather preview when suddenly the audio was gone and then they quickly went to commercials. It seems like they are proned to more technical glitches then the other stations. Maybe it has to do with the stories I read a while back about some layoffs there. One funny part was watching the commercials. Suddenly they had an commercial for a charity where a gerbil gets vacuumed up. Hmmmm. What great irony to run a spot about a gerbil being vacuumed up while the station awaits for the latest technical glitch to pass. -Hal