A critical look at the Wichita TV news

Sunday, March 29, 2009

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

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh come on. I don't work at KAKE, but let's give them a little leeway. No one would have wanted to face that.

Anonymous said...

"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."- Hal?

Anon 709:
He doesn't say the show went fine, just decent with errors...you are a freakin idiot--learn how to read before you end up serving me my fries at Mcdonalds.

Anonymous said...

As a current KAKE employee let me just say that a leaky roof has been a problem since I started here a few years ago. Management has had numerous opportunities to fix the problem but have always elected to put a band-aid on the problem instead of going all out for a fix to the situation. Do I feel badly for what happened? Hell no! I think its rather funny that now management will be forced to fix 1 of the 1,000 problems this building has. In the mean time be on the look out for newscasts that look like they are being produced by 3rd graders.

Anonymous said...

Hal,
I do tip my hat to Larry and a few other select people at KAKE who have talent, lord knows that list gets smaller every day, but their shows looked like CRAP even before the equipment flooded so maybe that is why you didn't notice much of a difference!

And for those of you that don't work there here is something that will make you laugh....this is not the first time water has dripped from the ceiling. Not too far back there were buckets in the control room gathering water coming through from the leaks on the roof. But what does KAKE do? The same thing they ALWAYS do, put a patch on it and pray it holds. Well this time it didn't and now they are screwed for weeks to come.

KAKE is a pit! KAKE pays their help peanuts and most of them are part-time. In fact they had a full-time director that was making 9.50 an hour....I pay my babysitter better than that. They have had handfuls of people leave and to date none of them have been replaced. Their parent company is going under faster than the Titanic did. Their evening news production staff consists of 4 people, 3 of which have no clue including the production manager. They are so short staffed a couple weeks ago they had 1 guy directing the morning, 4, 5, 6, and 10 news!

As for the news department....well they put Abby B on the air and let that loud mouth Herndon run loose in the building...need I say more?

KAKE does have talented people that are still there, however they are few and far between, and Herdon you are NOT one of them and stop posting anonymous on here cause everyone knows when it is you!

KAKE should hope that Gray decides to swing with the times and put in automation as it is their last hope to ever be competitive again. They sure can't do it with the skeleton crew they have now.

Sad to see what has become of local TV....long gone are the glory days of full crews, EFP shoots, and newscasts that ran like well oiled machines. Now it is all about getting by with the bare minimum and put any piece of trash on the air. Giving key positions to the dummy who will work for nothing not to the guy who has the most talent. Run as fast as we can to cover every dog up a tree and fender bender on the flyover. The garbage that is considered "Breaking News" now wouldn't have been a 10 second VO 10 years ago.

These are the times we live in.....and news people wonder why more and more people are turning to the web everyday to get their news....GEE I wonder?

KAKE a four letter word for CRAP!

Oh and to whomever posted previously asking about Hal and his qualifications....does it matter? Hal represents the viewer, the public, the people you are supposed to reach out to with your newscasts. Now Hal obviously knows a little more about TV news than your average viewer, but it doesn't change the fact that he IS indeed a viewer. Everyone needs a reality check and needs to ask themselves this question.....are we doing what we do for the viewer, or doing it to impress the other stations in town? Because 90% of the garbage we TV people think is so important doesn't mean a damn thing to the viewer!

Anonymous said...

They can buy new weather graphics but can't fix a roof.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Anon9:53 that is really sad. I think people need to understand the challenges EVERYONE faces--before throwing pot shots. Out of curiosity, you refer to KAKE as "they" and "we". Do you still work there? The concerns you raise seem to be spot-on in every respect.

Anonymous said...

(9:53 is right on about Hal. He stands in for your average viewer. Re: KAKE's Sunday shows. Viewers make allowances for leaky roofs, etc. However, it looked and sounded like no producer (or anchor, for that matter) read through the scripts in advance because there was way too much repetitive info in the top block (And someone teach Abbie B to speak like a real person: "people EMERGED from their homes????!!!). Making sure info flows from story to story is Newsroom 101 and that is what was unforgivable about that newscast, not the production element stuff related to the roof. What's unforgivable about the roof is asking employees to work in a dangerous situation when you (the manager) have not taken the necessary budgetary steps to protect them from your idiocy and cheapness!!!

Anonymous said...

We was used in reference to the people who work there and the media in general I believe. And if that person does still work there I doubt they are going to want to stand up and say howdy for fear of retribution by KAKE management.

Anonymous said...

you guys are funny.

Anonymous said...

KAKE better supply their folks in the control room with some rain slickers & rubber rafts. Row... Row...Row your boat...gently down the...oh wait, it's a television studio and not a stream!!!

Anonymous said...

First off, I do not work for any of the stations in town, and never have.
Second, I didn't get that excited about the elections Today, however kudos to KSN for taking a step back and thinking what is the biggest surprise of the night? It was the Park City Mayor's race and that was the story and they led with that. Sure Park City is much smaller than Wichita, however who cares about all of the landslide wins for the city council races. I believe the other 2 stations led with those races. The interesting race was that of Park City Mayor Dee Stuart losing to former Mayor Emil Berquist and a good move on KSN's part to lead with that. With all the things that go on in Park City, it seems as if one of the 3 stations do some sort of a story in Park City on a Monthly basis, so I think a race like that is interesting to people.

Anonymous said...

I this Blog still open for comments?

Anonymous said...

This is it. Anita's last night at KSN is Friday. There is some big onair special being aired tonight. What thoughts do you have, Hal?
And are you ready for the whole new look to KSN? Everything new starts on Monday but there is a rumor some new things will happens this weekend.
Anita spent 20 years in Kansas onair so how will this change news in Kansas?

Anonymous said...

Where have you been Hal!!! It's Anita's last week on the air in WIchita!!! I thought you would have some comments. I am sure KSN will run some sort of tribute that will probably illicit more cheers then tears.

Anonymous said...

I liked Anita's going away story. She did a nice job.

Anonymous said...

That's the problem-- she did it!! Who does their own tribute video? Talk about your egos.

Anonymous said...

Did KAKE ever get the leaky roof fixed?

I wonder if they had someone come in and test for mold?