The Show Must Go On

For the most part, watching KAKE's Sunday 5:30 newscast, you would have never known they had a major problem happen. Water came through the ceiling in the their main on-air control room this afternoon. It sounds like it was related to snow and ice melt. Larry Hatteberg on the newscast apologized to viewers and said it was just him, a camera, a tape machine, and many people making it happen. Once again, like we needed anymore proof, Larry shows why he is a legend and a professional in the highest form. He did a fine job in what had to be tough. For the most part the newscast went very smoothly. One little problem came out of the local story, when it went to black for awhile. Also coming out of video there would be a little video glitch, but overall I thought most people probably wouldn't notice the difference. They were missing graphics and cut-away shots, but outside of that it looked pretty decent.
Radio Station Tower Falls - More weather problems for local broadcasters, Wichita radio station, KYQQ, (106.5FM) part of the Journal Broadcast empire was off the air for a short period of time on Saturday after their tower collapsed due to what they believe was ice.
-Hal

Winter Weather Woody Coverage Notes

-Leading up to the storm it bugged me that KAKE didn't really have a clear forecast accumulation map like the other stations did. On Friday morning, I remember morning meteorologist Ben Pringle showed something that looked like one, but then for Wichita he said we would get a different amount then what showed on the map. It was too confusing. Once you get past his delivery, I thought KSN's Dave Freeman's map was easiest to see how much he thought everyone would get.
-Kudos for KWCH for expanding their Saturday morning show to 4 hours, but apparently they were so busy putting that together it interfered with them making beat calls and getting new info out. They had a live shot from Kim Hynes on Rock road and it was good because as it got light out, it showed me people were out and about and even had an interview with someone who got stuck. However, it appeared KWCH didn't do their homework on other counties' conditions compared to KAKE. KWCH clearly didn't make use of the resources they had. In the 4th hour of their show, they went to a phoner from Jim Grawae who was in Pratt! He got stranded overnight there and had to stay in a motel. Why wasn't he used earlier, because he gave firsthand information? I don't understand. Poor execution all the way around. More airtime sometimes isn't always better. They should have used him more often. It should work out well for KWCH as the day progesses.
-I generally am critical of KAKE's Abby Barnett, but her live shots the last couple of days have been better compared to her normal work. Not much her fault, but a live shot outside in the station's parking lot doesn't show me much, however Abby more than made up for that with information regarding people being trapped in cars in Pratt county for several hours and the Sheriff's department and Emergency management being immobile. Not that I am a huge fan of getting interviews from people basically saying its bad out but, KAKE didn't have any fresh sound, and KWCH did. In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have information like KAKE did about Pratt County rather than an interview with a lady who lost her bumper on KWCH. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody

It's been a relatively quiet Winter. Someone will surely say in the next couple of days the overused cliche, "March is going out a lion." As we have done for past storms, it's definitely time for Wichita TV News to issue a Winter Weather Woody Warning for the local stations. All the meteorologists have been touting the storm for days. It was even sad to see KWCH do a storm preparations story on Wednesday in front of a sand truck, nearly 48 hours ahead of the snow in the Wichita area. That is hype. KWCHers will say that it was less than 24 hours for those people in Western Kansas. That's what your bureaus are for. Show video of plows out there and trucks out there getting fitted for the storm. Wait at least a day before doing that angle here. In all seriousness, somewhere in the large viewing area of the local stations, is bound to get dumped on and it will be a serious situation if the snow forecasted does fall. It will be interesting to see how the local stations do mobilizing their crews, especially if the heaviest snow falls in areas of Western Kansas. -Hal
Vote in the Poll - For some fun I added a poll, and based on what you see from the local stations and your meteorological expertise, or lack there of, how much snow will the Wichita area get by Tomorrow?

New KSN Anchor team announced

On Jan. 30, the KSN website announced that longtime KSN anchor Anita Cochran was to step down as anchor. Immediately the question rose as to who would replace her: (A)someone from within the station, (B)from another station, or (C)someone new entirely. Those who chose A and C are right. Two will replace Anita. Stephanie Bergman, the longtime KSN morning anchor will soon become a main anchor. Its actually a move I think was long overdue. Of the talent at KSN I always thought she would be someone viewers could relate with more than Anita. Kudos to KSN management for making the change. As to a male counterpart, a former cable news network anchor will soon be sharing the desk with Stephanie. According to a column in Today's Wichita Eagle, by Carrie Rengers, John Snyder will be moving from North Carolina to the Air Capital. Snyder most recently worked in North Carolina. He certainly has an impressive biography. Included in that are stints in sports broadcasting in Oklahoma City, the Big 10 network, MSNBC, CNBC and ABC. He anchored the early ABC morning news and also served as a backup news reader and reported on Good Morning America. He most recently worked for WCNC in Charlotte as a midday anchor. The article says that Anita's final day as anchor will be April 24, but did not say when the newest team will premiere.I am actually interested to see Stephanie and him paired up. I think its a good move for KSN, but now they must promote this idea they are a new KSN (as new as they can be while still having Dave Freeman). They need to actively promote this new anchor team and let people know there is some new blood on the main show.

With that I think they need to get John out in the community, meeting people and letting them know that they (hopefully) have a friendly anchor for people to watch each night. I think with Stephanie that persona comes across on the morning show and I have no doubt that it will with John. I like the fact he has a little sports background. I think that should work well with Jim Kobbe. Along with Stephanie, I think the two men should really create some fun moments for the three on camera. As for Freeman, I am not holding my breath. I must admit much of what I have read about John comes from his former station's website and I haven't seen him on set. I have never been a Freeman fan. If John comes across just a tad schmucky, and being along side a schmucky Freeman, might make it as uncomfortable to watch as the pairing now of Anita and Dave. I have hope though, John can put Dave in his place early and all four will be more watchable than it is now.
Thanks to an email for a link to some of John's past work. -Hal
UPDATE 3-22: I have been in and out of town the last week and have not been able to post. I also thought it was weird I didn't have any new comments. I tested it myself and couldn't get one of my own "test" comments to work so I don't know what is going on. Sorry about that. I am sure you all have some opinions. I will be occupied for most of this week too.
Weather Woody - All the stations are hyping the chances for a possible tornado or hail outbreak on Monday in the area. KAKE and KWCH both led off with that, (KSN always leads off with weather so no big deal). Lets see what happens. -Hal

Weather or Jayhawk Basketball?

So Kansas has this University based in Lawrence with a Jayhawk as a mascot. The University has educated many people over the years who have contributed to the world in countless ways. This University also fields men's and women's teams which compete successfully in many different sports.
Then there is men's Jayhawk basketball. And now as the people at KWCH know, you cannot separate the KU fan from watching his or her team. On Saturday as KU was playing Texas in a key Big-12 match up, nearby counties are placed in a tornado warning. (Eventually Sedgwick county would be placed in one as well.) The game was close at this point, but they do what a station must do and break in with the information. Unfortunately it was treated as if they were interrupting a nightly edition of Inside Edition, and viewers had no way to watch the game. Personally I think that weather is important and I admit I am not that heavily into basketball so it didn't bother me not to see basketball. But obviously it bothered many people and KWCH heard from them. KWCH addressed the topic during their Sunday newscast in a statement read on the air by anchor Denise Hyntka. It was the typical statement about how weather is important and lives could be at risk so they had to interrupt programming, about what you would expect.
Fortunately after a day of thinking the situation through, KWCH GM Joan Barrett responded with this statement online this afternoon.
I have never met her, but have a lot of respect for her now. Its not often that a GM admits they might have made a mistake. She did and discusses ways in which they could avoid the situation in the future. I must agree that I like her ideas including those getting KWCH on a now digital antenna, might be able to go to one of the digital channels like 12.2 for the weather data. She also writes about using sister station KSCW as a place to put either the special programming or weather information on. She admits they were trying to get a split screen on quickly of both the weather coverage and the basketball game, but had technical issues. I thought her statement came off heartfelt and showed they wish to improve the situation. I was also impressed they even came up with a separate e-mail address to address the complaints and concerns.
What do you think should have happened? Vote in the latest poll question to the right. -Hal

KAKE Premieres "New Weather Look" " . . . . "

While Merril Teller is "training on new equipment," Kake has a "new weather look." (FYI: all the quotes are from the stations' web propaganda.) I think the new weather look is a gimmick. Its not a surprise and really doesn't bother me, since a lot of TV news is a gimmick. It basically is in a sense a virtual weather center. As Jay or the weather guesser of the hour summons, a different piece of the background weather center pops up. I am curious what your opinions are of it. -Hal