WIBW: Will it Be Seen on Analog Cox Cable in Topeka after Friday Night.

You might be wondering why I am blogging about Topeka station WIBW. Well, one reader of this blog had written me about the issue early this week and I wrote back asking for more info and now it seems as if the issue is coming down to a deadline. But in what may describe the complexities of the issue, neither party could agree for awhile on what the deadline was or when the current contract expired, Thursday or Friday. As of this blog's posting on Thursday night, WIBW says the contract ends at Midnight Friday, so unless a deal can be reached the signal will not be seen on Topeka and I think Manhattan Cox Cable systems, after 12:01 AM Saturday morning. WIBW is wanting to charge Cox to run its signal. I just posted comments from someone very angry at WIBW. You can read it by clicking on the comments of the previous post. The commenter believes if the parent company of WIBW, Gray, gets their way with Cox in Topeka its only a matter of time before it happens to sister station KAKE here in Wichita. If you comment on it, please click back on this topic, so I can keep all the comments on this topic under this subject heading. Here are links for articles from the Topeka newspaper which describes the issue well. The first was published Thursday morning and discusses the issues before the two sides decided when the deadline was. The 2nd link updates the situation since they agreed to Friday night as the deadline. Maybe this will be the first of two agreements in consecutive days. The last link is from WIBW, explaining its side of things. If you are from Cox or know of a link representing them, send it to me and I'll post that too. -Hal

http://cjonline.com/stories/022808/loc_251935671.shtml
http://cjonline.com/stories/022808/bre_coxwibw.shtml
http://www.wibw.com/freetv

Friday Morning Update - Now in an article in the Capital-Journal, WIBW's GM says if a deal is not reached the signal will not be made available anywhere on Cox including the digital tier. Previously, it had been reported, the HD signal would be available if a deal was not reached.
http://cjonline.com/stories/022908/bus_252274890.shtml

Saturday Update - Looks like Cox and WIBW are even closer to making nice now. Following up on Friday's update, WIBW's GM says they have made progress and are "in the same ballpark." In Saturday's Capital-Journal, it was also written that deals with other Gray stations including KAKE are being negotiated. -Hal
http://cjonline.com/stories/030108/bus_252624967.shtml

A Fatal Fire or a Dog Caper: What Leads?

Friday's 6PM newscasts left me head scratching over KWCH's lead. Why did they lead with the Doggie Caper instead of the fatal fire which took the life of a father and son? I know the fatal fire happened the night before and probably lead every newscast up until this point of the day, but the 6PM newscast would be the first one of the day to catch most people after they come home from the day's activities. However, it was a good decision for KWCH and KAKE to not lead with the fire by 10PM, because most people probably had heard by then and it was time to move on. KAKE was smart to find a spot for the solved caper in the 2nd segment at 6. Don't get me wrong, the "Doggie Caper" deserves mention, but the 2nd segment is the place for it, even on a slow news day, yet alone on a day where a 4 year-old and his dad lose their lives in a fire, plus the fact there was a homicide. All the stations treated the doggie caper as a big story from the start. Sure, its not everyday a woman shoplifts a Yorkie terrier by putting it in her bag and leaving the store, however a story like this has its place buried in a newscast.
Utensils, number of newscasts and tampons - Wow, this post is short, but I had to do it just to hopefully move on from the comments from the last post. Things definitely got a little nuts, and I guess I need to reject even more comments then I do now. Have a fine weekend. -Hal

Case Study: Is Wichita Becoming a Starter's Market?

A commenter from the previous post wanted to know what specific advice I could give the newest KSN reporter, Aja, (I still don't know her last name) after I was highly critical not as much of her but of her being hired in a town the size of Wichita for what appears to be a starting job. I think any viewer could watch and give her plenty of advice so I'll hold off for now. Enough on her, but it got me to thinking. Is Wichita becoming a starter's market? I did a quick search to see of the 3 stations, which ones have reporters who started in Wichita as their first job (not in a bureau or smaller maket.) I will say I have never thought about this before so I really cannot compare this to other times in Wichita TV, however, there are at least two reporters where Wichita is their first stop. And frankly if I had to guess a name, theirs would have been two of three to come up. After checking station bios I discovered one came to KAKE after graduating from Wichita State and having the solid experience of being an intern at KAKE. It doesn't appear she had any bureau experience. When she started and even now at times, she can be uncomfortable to watch. I cannot remember if I have been critical of her before, but she is one that has improved in her time at KAKE. However she is far from being on my All-Star team of Wichita reporters. Her lack of skill is somewhat covered up by a confidence she has on air. At times that can hurt because when she does bomb, that confidence can cause her to bomb big time. I think a year or two at a bureau or a smaller station really could have helped her career. Another KAKE reporter moved to the position after being a producer. I will say at least she had some newsroom experience, although she is one I would say needs a lot of improvement, despite being a reporter for a few years. There is one reporter at KWCH who I still wonder if Wichita is her first stop, but I can't tell from the web site.

Now lets look at a few cases of how this business should work and how working at a smaller market or a bureau can be beneficial to all: the reporter, the station and the viewer.

Nick VinZant - I cannot remember which bureau he worked at for KAKE, but here was a kid that was actually pretty decent for a bureau reporter. He did his time and now it appears he is in Wichita full time. Is he the best at KAKE, no, however he does a good job and shows how time at a bureau can build confidence and on-air skill.

Natasha Trelfa - I'll say it. I think she is now the best reporter on KAKE for the total package (on-air appearances and story content). I never saw her in Topeka, but she got her start there and then moved to Wichita. She has been here less than a year and I think, based on what I see of her, she won't be here long. A great example of how Topeka can be a great feeder for Wichita.

Megan Strader - I'll admit I may have called her out in the early days of this blog when she was a bureau reporter for KWCH. Since then she has improved her on camera work, her story content and now, I think, is based in Wichita for KWCH. Yet another example of how starting at a bureau, developing a style, getting the mistakes out of your system, makes reporting in Wichita all the more easier.

Chanda Brown - Another bureau start-up who I guess, for lack of a better word, graduated to Wichita a number of years ago. I really do not remember specifics from her time at a KSN bureau, but will assume she has improved.

Now don't get me wrong, Wichita isn't a big media town, but I think and hope it hasn't become a market to start out in. If it is then the 15-20 reporters currently here, who have paid their dues in smaller markets and bureaus should be angry (No, not jealous because they are head and tails better than the current start-ups.) -Hal

Benton Plane Crash Coverage

I was settled in for a Saturday night when I heard in the commercials, prior to various newscasts, about a plane crash. Being the weekend, I found it would be an interesting test to see how the stations can handle such a story, thinking most of their more experienced reporters and crews work during the week. All the stations had live pictures from the general area of the crash. According to the live reports, the crash happened in a remote spot so all video was of flashing lights and of deputies directing vehicles on a road and nothing of the plane. All the stations used pretty much the same sound bite it seemed and had the same elements. I will give KAKE kudos for a phone interview from an eyewitness. KAKE had former KFDI radio announcer Jared Cerullo on the scene. I don't see him much on KAKE normally except when doing Crimestoppers stories. I thought he did a pretty good job, if (like I'll assume) he hasn't done a lot of live reports before. And as had been said I think before, I think he does as good if not a better job than most of the current KAKE reporters. He kept his composure and did a decent job for the weekend. Over at KWCH, Megan Strader handled things well. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they were the only ones to mention the fact this is the 2nd plane crash to occur in the general area in less than a week. With not a lot of information known at the time, it was a decent tie-in. Meanwhile things at KSN were a little rough and it seemed like an intern, producer or someone normally not in front of the camera did the story. A gal by the first name of Aja?? (didn't catch the last name) did the live report and she seemed inexperienced and not very confident of the information she had. I think she might be a reporter, because I saw a story she did on Friday night about WSU text messaging and it was done OK. Tonight's report was much different. I know it is what they call breaking news and all, but it definitely came off looking the worse out of the three and it wasn't even close. If KSN was caught in a situation where they didn't have a reporter available and had to go to an intern, college student, producer or whatever she is, than that is maybe somewhat understandable. Still a stretch I think for a town this size. If she is an actual reporter than through no fault of her, one must ask what is going on there to hire someone with what appears to be very little experience. That is what bureaus and smaller stations are for: allow young and inexperienced talent to develop confidence, an on-air feel and style. -Hal

Kansas Caucus Reaction AND Graphics Mess Up?

Well a Weather Woody kind of trounced on the coverage of the Kansas Caucus. If anything I thought the weather coverage might have been a tad overboard. No I didn't need to see a shovel or ice scraper dipped in the snow to tell me that we had some on the ground (KAKE). I thought the stations were pretty even, although KSN had few cut-ins (if any) and the National News went an extra half hour and filled the 6PM time period. Since it was one party having a caucus and only one issue at hand, because it was a Presidential caucus, it had to be handled a little differently then a normal election. I would say two local reporters (in addition to a National piece) isn't overboard as long as the angle for the second story is somewhat different and legit, because afterall it is a big story collectively nationally. I am curious of your thoughts on this one.

Crazy KAKE Graphics: Someone first e-mailed me about this early Tuesday morning, but I held out posting it until I could somehow find out if it happened because it seemed so crazy to me. But after another 5 or so e-mails with the same story from different addresses I am sure it happened. I would be interested to see video (You Tube?) or a screen grab of it though. Here is the message from anon # 7 from the last post:

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?
February 5, 2008 6:07 AM

As I said, if anyone else knows of this incident let me know more. -Hal