Tuesday, December 4, 2007
"The Gremlins" at KSN
A commentor wanted to know what went down on KSN Tonight. I tuned in about the time that new reporter Jennifer Pruitt is staring in the camera as her story doesn't play, then the uncomfortable pause between her and Anita as they and everyone else must figure out what is going on around them. This is far from the first time a technical glitch or as meteorologist Leon Smitherman referred to it later as a "gremlin" has struck KSN since they switched to a computerised system awhile back. I'll assume they still have the system that messed them up many months ago and set up the infamous "F**K Off Buzz" incident and numerous other system flare ups, since then. I think the station does good product, it is just a shame that it is marred by technical glitches that appear to be allowed to continue and rear its ugly head. I'm not quite a traditional viewer since I watch 3 stations at a time and might have a more critical eye, but even someone like me is growing tired of the messes. In my case it just provides more material to blog about, but if I was at home just wanting to see the news, at what point do I just give up on KSN and watch one of the others, if I haven't made the switch already? -Hal
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9 comments:
http://hdnews.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0041/t.4648.html
Hal...take a look at this article. It's one to laugh at.
WOW!
That is unbelievable. I don't work at KSN, but know plenty of people who do and know the last year hasn't been as pleasant of a ride as the chief engineer wants to portray it as. Unless they are all liers, I think he should move into a career as a spinster or maybe even a novel writer, because the reality he speaks is far from anything I have heard from those who work in the trenches day in and day out.
The chief engineer is quoted as saying in the article,
“What we didn’t realize here at KSNW until we installed the Ignite system is that running a tight production can be good for morale.”
I am sure if you were to talk to those on air last night left staring on camera during the "Gremlins" and those scrambling behind scenes, they would say last night wasn't a 'tight production' and that they don't really love working for a company where profit margins rank much higher than its on air look and even ratings for that matter. Then there was this fine quote from the article,
"What we’ve got now with Ignite is a system that is streamlined and allows you to produce shows that duplicates or exceed the values that you had on a traditional systems, with fewer people and fewer on-air mistakes,” said Kunkle.
Hmmmmmm. If that's so I would have loved to see a pre-Ignite newscast. I don't think one with that many mistakes exists.
His few people line is the only correct words of those sentences and that means less costs and more profits so for those at the station that probably means more awkward pauses and stories freezing and all while stuck with a crazy system.
“What we didn’t realize here at KSNW until we installed the Ignite system is that running a tight production can be good for morale.”
Yeah...cause we all know that losing a third of your staff is *really* good for morale.
That ENTIRE story is crap from start to finish. I worked at KSN for many years before the ignite system was installed and thankfully I left there long before it arrived as well. Here is the reality of what ignite did for KSN.
1. Almost the entire production staf was let go. I know in the article it speaks of the directors staying on staff but no mention of audio ops, camera ops, CG ops....all of those people were sent packing.
2. KSN is not even competitive in this market anymore. The other stations don't even consider them to be a threat they just sit back and watch them self destruct night after night.
3. That line about making their newscasts cleaner and helping morale....YEAH RIGHT! They have more glitches and on air screw ups than KWCH and KAKE put together. And as far as morale the people I still talk to who work there are looking for the door and the ones who remained there are dinosaurs and don't have any other choice but to deal with it because thanks to ignite most of them have NO recent experience doing anything other than ignite.
4. "F off BUZZ!" Need I say more?
I could go on and on about how IGNITE has crippled what used to be a station on the move but there is no need. Anyone who works or has worked in the WIchita market knows the truth no matter how hard KSNW tries to spin it otherwise.
KSN's problems continue. Biggest story of the day, 9 gunned down in Omaha and KSN has nothing on their site until 6pm...about 4 hours late. I guess they have a lot of problems.
and their on air staff sucks... doesn't it?
Now that its back to the Dave Freeman and Anita show... And they are behind the other main talents at 10 and 12.. I consider KSN behind..
Why do Freeman and Anita get a free pass there?
"on air staff" is a pretty broad category of people...
Not all of the "on air staff" sucks.
They get a free pass because management is blind, and has been. With new owners now, both should be a little worried. It's only a matter of time before someone comes in and realizes a big part of the problem is those two.
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