It snuck up on me and caught me by surprise, but Tonight must be the beginning of the ratings period, judging by the hyped pieces running on the local channels tonight. KAKE went to chase down Wild West World creator Thomas Etheredge in Texas. I will say the story did get me to watch, which served the main purpose of the story. The other thing I learned is that there is a llama like animal, called an alpaca. Actually Etheredge now raises and sells them. They never were able to talk to him on camera, although on phone when reporter Deb Farris acted like she was interested in his business and didn't identify herself as a reporter. The audio recording was difficult to hear. They did talk to his wife Cheryl who said they as a couple were hurt more than anybody. I am sure that raised some brows here in Wichita. As a whole the piece got me to watch and taught me a few things, OK I guess a few more things besides there is an animal called an "alpaca." Overall not a bad piece and one that probably beat anything else which was running tonight.
Meanwhile KWCH, went with a safe theme of a "cold case." I think generally "cold case" stories do kind of peak people's interests because of the recent number of shows related to such content the last couple of years. There is one difference. The cable show, Cold Case Files, made famous by a former Wichita TV anchor, creates an interest in the victim. The majority of the time you are made to care about the person and the case. The piece by KWCH's Jim Grawae, failed to do that for me tonight. I'll admit I am normally a fan of Grawae's work. To his defense, the cable version of the show has more time to set up the story. He probably had a total of 2 minutes to tell the whole story. I just think it made me ask the question why is this case so unusual as opposed to other cold cases in Kansas and why does this one get more attention over any of the others. Plus it made realize an achilles of KWCH's I never noticed before. I don't know why but on some stories they want to make look important they chop off the top and bottom of the screen. I don't know if its to look or maybe it is HD or something but I think its one of those effects which looks like its just thrown in without a purpose other than say they are HD or can chop the picture up special like that.
Over at KSN, I am not sure if they got the memo yet on Sweeps. Maybe they had a piece tonight and I missed it, but I don't remember seeing one advertised or really notice anything different tonight.
Weather Woody Update - Well depending if you measured at the airport or other parts of Wichita, generally 4-5 inches fell in the Wichita area. Looking at the forecasts I will say because of the 3 inch windows left by the 3 stations they I guess all were right. Although KAKE's Jay Prater said 2-5 he emphasized the word "trace," a few times in forecasts and that didn't exactly come to fruition in Wichita or nearby. He as well as others were right on with the part about heavier totals to the SE. So I must give kudos to KAKE, KSN and KWCH for a pretty decent job on the forecast, although I think their prediction of gusty winds was overBLOWN. Sorry I couldn't resist. -Hal
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11 comments:
I'll tell you what the Etheredge piece taught me, Hal. It taught me that KAKE ought to consider an ethics policy.
Trying to lure a source into an interview by posing as someone you're not is one thing.
But the abject stupidity of reporting that you're unethical just boggles my mind.
Bottom line on the lesson: Don't trust KAKE.
Chris Sadeghi has been missing in action, and suddenly Jared Cerullo appears doing a story live. Interesting.
As a competitor, I thought he did a very good job, by the way. I've wondered since he left KFDI if bigger things are in store for him. He's a very good reporter. I just wonder if he can make the transition from radio to TV.
Hal, your thoughts?
No the bottom line is dont start a huge theme park and borrow money from tons of people and shut the business down 2 months later and run and hide...
I believe Jared does Crimestoppers stories for them now once or twice a week. When he left KFDI I seem to remember reading or hearing that he was moving to KAKE to work behind the scenes in the KAKE newsroom, but not sure what that involves. I think he does an OK job with Crimestoppers. He has a name viewers recognize, which is more than can be said for most of their reporting staff. Do I think he should report daily? No. I think though KAKE might want to let him try doing in-depth style pieces. Outside of Chirs Frank, the overall reporting staff is either young looking, comes across as inexperienced or both. Chris Frank has the credibilty, but I think he often gets assigned low priority stories, except for aviation. He is one of their better reporters compared to the others at KAKE and I think could improve their daily coverage of top stories if he was placed on them more often. Back to Jared, I think letting him experiement a little more with on camera stories once or twice a week in addition to his one or two appearances a week now, could be good for KAKE. -Hal
Following up on Anon 1037PM, I thought Jared did a fine job on the story. As I said above, vertainly no worse and actually quite better than KAKE norm collection of reports. At first I was suprised it was the lead, but the whole Magnum's Law tie-in, being Sweeps, people's love for animals and being a Friday I sort of understand. I just hope the cat starts meowing again. -Hal
Etheredge didn't run and hide. It's common knowledge that he's been in San Antonio.
Typical Wichita TV to report something that's old news and treat it like a scoop.
I've got a question for all you TV news junkies.....I know I'm just a novice/viewer and all, but I find Dave Freeman's use of that Palm-Pilot thingy annoying and riduculous.
Why does he do it? Is it to bring one's attention to it, kind of an anti-techno thing? Or did KSN just get a really good deal on 1980's Weather equipment?
I know someone went to a TV news seminar, and they told him to do this, but to the regular viewer, it looks nutz. Do KSN's cameras still have cranks on them too?
Dave's palm-pilot is just that: a big control. They can control everything with that thing. From what camera to take, to which source they want to use. Be it a radar, a weatherlab, a skycamera, or whatever. It gives anyone using it complete control that way they don't have to rely on someone else to do it. It makes severe weather much easier.
Anyone who has worked in TV weather knows how it stinks to be left hung out to dry because master control is asleep at the wheel. But I agree, it does seem oversized.
Did anyone else see the candidate graphics on KAKE around 5:15 AM Tuesday morning?! Someone in the Gfx department surely is going to lose their job... One candidate had a Hitler mustache, one had bucked teeth, and the other had Devil horns! What's the story with that, KAKE?
If this is true, I plan to file a complaint with the FCC to get their license revoked. At the very least the person who did it, their supervisor and probably someone higher up def. need to go.
No one should get fired. This is just a normal day for the trashest news station in the state of Kansas!
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