Battle of Sweeps: The stations are ramping up their stories for ratings. I saw promos on two of the stations for Sunday stories. KWCH is promoting a story entitled, "DNA of an Athlete." Apparently its about a company which says it can tell through DNA which sports a child will be successful at. Meanwhile, KSN interviewed Defense Secretary Robert Gates about his Kansas roots. Although the KWCH topic intrigues me I am more interested to see the piece on Gates. However, considering demos and how many parents want their kids to succeed at athletics, I could see more people would be interested in the DNA of an Athlete. It will be interesting to watch and see which one is better.
KWCH certainly started the book out with a bang or should I say without a claw. The story entitled, "The Declaw Debate," was actually produced and edited fine, but its a goofy topic and I think in someways shows proof of the dumbing down of news. Ironically I am sure it takes quite a bit of thinking to dream a story like that up and even more so to make it not come off low brow.
The Revolving Door - I have been getting a number of comments about various reporters leaving stations and some of the reasons given are interesting, but I'm not posting those because some of those reasons given would be inflammatory if not true. Also, most of the names given are people about ready to leave, but they haven't yet and still are posted on the stations' web sites. However, here are two mentioned in comments and I haven't seen them on the air and they do not appear on their stations' websites: Anya Sehgal of KWCH and Jennifer Bocchieri of KAKE. -Hal
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Ayna Sehgal left KWCH nearly a year ago. Way to keep up Hal.
I will bet you that Jennifer B. IS SO RELIEVED to get out of this low paying/stressful/exhausting business.
Everyone I've ever talked to who has left the business has said OCCASSIONALLY they will miss a big story, but overall they in no way miss the day to day b-s.
ESPECIALLY in this day and age when the b-s mounts by the minute.
Good luck Jennifer, you are so much better off!
If KWCH no longer subscribes to Nielsen, why are they doing special reports during sweeps?
They simply aren't paying Nielsen thousands of dollars to get the ratings books.
Numbers that always show they are #1 by far. Use the money elsewhere.
These links might help answer your question:
http://www.kansas.com/business/story/1101831.html
http://www.rentrak.com/section/corporate/newsroom/press_release_detail.html?release_no=909
There are still national ratings and KWCH still competes with the other guys so emphasis must still be placed on the 4 months out of the year.
Other stations are or are considering doing the same thing nationwide to break Nielsen's monopoly and to fight its history of under-reporting viewers in rural areas.
At the end of the 5pm news today on KSN, Dave and Stephanie said goodbye to Andrew Kozak and he was on set briefly at the end. Said something about working for the old ND or GM of KSN where he is going now, but didn't catch all of it. So that's one official departure.
I also heard of at least 2 or 3 others that we leaving within the month.
Gray will soon implement a system to cut more employees. They won't say how MANY will get cut. But they're running the News Production with just 2 people at the one place they're doing this now: WOWT/Omaha
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/445853-Gray_Expands_Use_of_Ross_OverDrive.php
And you wonder why when KAKE's shows have so many problems to begin with. Ex. the other night Jeff and Susan sat there for 2 minutes just staring ahead during the Palin coverage when the show was crashing around them.
Also, ref. the B&C story...it is not possible to put on a better product with less people.
From Kozak's Facebook Fan Page:
This page will be up for a little bit, then sometime in the near future it'll shift over to a new one for FOX 23 down in Tulsa. I'll be sure to update in case anyone still wants to follow. Thanks again, good luck and God bless! Andrew
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Hey Kansas... THANKS for 4+ GREAT Years here! I am going to miss KSN and the awesome friends I've made in Wichita. This move to Tulsa is a great opportunity, and one I could have never obtained without the priceless experience I've gained working in such a diverse weather market. The great thing is that I'm only 2 1/2 ...hours away, so visiting will never be a problem, and who knows-- I might be back one day.
Kozak is going to Tulsa to work with his old ND.
The man who in many ways messed up broadcasting, Frank Magid has died.
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