Not All News Develops 9AM to 10:30PM

Some thought I was a little rough on KAKE and some of their young hires in my last post. I stand by and say their inexperience does show. At the same time I will say, KAKE reporter Parrish Alleman handled the breaking news story of a shooting that left two dead and one in critical condition very well last night since it happened East of Wichita on the edge of the viewing area in Eureka, KS. She had the most amount of information in her 10PM live shot, while the other two stations were quoting the local Eureka, KS newspaper. KWCH was live at 10, while KSN was not there. With that I was curious to watch the morning shows.
  KAKE was live with Jordan Shefte. She is one of those reporters who needs some experience but she is getting it on the KAKE morning show with live shots every morning (when not anchoring) and it is showing. She did a nice job leading the coverage compared to the other stations.
  KWCH had Pilar Pedraza at the scene with sound from the Sheriff. Nothing spectacular but at least you could see the sunrise and presence on the story.
 Meanwhile at KSN, they must have the news version of  "banking hours." They must be open from 9AM until 10:30PM. Although they had some night time video, there wasn't a live report from Eureka during the show. The Wichita TV stations have a tough dilemma when they cover nearly 2/3 of the state. Eureka is in the extreme Eastern part of the viewing area, but when two people die in a shooting, and one is in serious condition it warrants coverage. The most important part also to consider from last night's info is a suspect was identified and believed to be headed toward Park City.
 Once again, KAKE did a nice job in coverage from the beginning last night to early this morning following the story. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out through the day. -Hal

KAKE's Shuffle-Roo

 KAKE continues to intrigue me. I thought it was just a fluke when I saw the "Dumb and Dumber" anchor team of Jordan Shefti and Annette Lawless anchor KAKE's modern version of "Degrassi High," last week. However, they were on again Today with some new cheesy weather guy named, "Frank." Also the guy normally in the morning anchor chair, Mike Iuen anchored this weekend and reported Today. It looks like he is the new weekend anchor taking the spot of veteran Larry Hatteberg who is on the main desk again after Jeff Herndon left for Chicago affiliate WFLD. If that is what Hatteberg truly wants, good for him. Looking at Today's shows, he is anchoring 4,5,6 and 10PM. As for the normal morning female anchor, Jemelle Holopirek remains on the show. According to the Wichita Business Journal, she has been on vacation last week and set to return Tuesday. Some new cheesy weather guy named Frank does take the spot of Ben Pringle. He will be the weekend evening meteorologist. Also citing the Wichita Business Journal, a replacement for Jared Cerullo has been found in Annette Lawless. According to once again the Wichita Business Journal, things are messy in regards to Cerullo's exit at KAKE, including a pending lawsuit. (I have been out of this for awhile; I didn't know this had happened.) Jared Cerullo may have left KAKE, but if KAKE thinks Annette will replace Jared's experience, competence and ease on camera, Jared may have the last laugh on this one. -Hal

Has "Degrassi High" replaced KAKE's "Good Morning Kansas."

I've been asleep for a few years and it would take something to wake me up. Well I turn on the morning news this morning and I had a flashback to the days of the PBS teen show, "Degrassi High." Jordan Shefti anchoring, some new cheesy weather guy named, "Frank" and new clueless live reporter Annette Lawless. The team (I use that word loosely) looks like a Teenage broadcast and the happy talk is of same caliber. KAKE's normal morning show cast unfortunately must have taken off at the same time. I haven't commented on the TV news in this town for quite some time, (not sure if I ever really will) however the mornings on all three stations now have the most sound talent throughout the day. But at least this morning KWCH and KSN definitely led the way. If you wanted to feel like you were watching a video version of "TeenBeat Magazine" than KAKE delivered. -Hal

When so called "techical advances" awake you from a deep sleep

Hello. I didn't intend to write again ever on Wichita TV News. Why did I stop? I dont know why. Then 12:00PM hit.
KWCH's Dave Roberts did a teaze for coverage later on in the day for the trial of one of 2 men accused of racing down Kellogg when the car jumped a barrier crashing into a vehicle, killing a 5 year old. Roberts took his cell phone, held it feet from his head outside of the courtroom and did a teaze saying he will have more coming up in the day. It looked very amateur. Bad video and grainy. The viewer got nothing from this. NOTHING!!!! It was like they were showing off they could do this. I think its safe to say most people dont have bag nor brick cell phones anymore and most phones have cameras on them so shooting video from a cell phone isn't that big a deal. An anchor could have easily teased the story or have Roberts shoot a standup outside the courthouse earlier in the day. Plus in this HDTV world where cameras and televisions are becoming so very clear, video from a cell phone really looks bad. Let me say this, Im not setting blame on Roberts. I think he may be a "multimedia journalist" a 1-man band who shoots and voices the stories. He does a nice job doing something that probably many coudn't do daily. Sadly its becoming a standard around the country. In that case its me blasting the industry, however if you are doing that, KWCH needs standards on how to do teases and not with cell phone standups!! The KWCHers will reply complaining that I have in the past always been hard on them. Actually local news product on all 3 stations have been decent lately (there have been some exceptions), but this example at Noon was terrible. The video quality was bad and cell phone use in this case (any case) degraded what couldve been good product. I would rather see black and white news film from the 50's then this digital stuff.
Hal

Eagle Report: Susan Peters Faints on the Set

Carrie Rengers has an interesting nugget today. -Hal

Random Thoughts

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

KWCH Promos For Roeder Trial Access

A Judge banned the media on Jan. 11 from portions of jury selection at the Scott Roeder trial. Roeder is accused of killing abortion doctor George Tiller. A day later the Kansas Supreme Court reversed the Judge's ruling after KWCH, The Wichita Eagle, The Kansas City Star, and the Associated Press petitioned the High Court to reverse the District Judge's ruling. A day later the Judge agreed to open jury selection to those media outlets who petitioned. I think that was the fair and right thing to do. However, in the days that followed, KWCH promoted the fact they were the only Wichita station allowed in the courtroom. The promos bothered me slightly, however I did think that since they were part of the filing to the Supreme Court they ought to get something out of it. The KWCH promo department, it seems, wanted to have more fun than they already were having. In a promo that ran on Tuesday phrases like, "One station stepped in," and "Take a stand for your rights," were used. Give me a break. I bet if it wasn't for the print publications and the AP getting things rolling, KWCH wouldn't have even gotten involved. The promos are over doing something that once the trial starts and testimony gets going, most viewers wont even remember that KWCH was the only TV station present for jury selection. -Hal

KAKE Sports: JV or maybe even the Freshman Team

Its been about a month since KAKE sports director Alan Shope left the station. It will certainly take some time for KAKE to find a replacement, but the last month really shows they have a weak bench of back-up sports people. It appears Chris Frye would be their main fill-in anchor. Then you have Terrell Benton and hockey player Jason Duda. I could use an overused cliche and call this a Motley Crew of sports types, but this would certainly be slamming the band and I'm not even a fan of the group.
This week I started seeing OT Live Producer Abby Lippold fill-in on the main sports desk on KAKE as well. She has appeared on the OT Live show and I might have even seen her fill-in on the weekend, once or twice. You can definitely tell she tries hard, but she is rough to watch doing sports. Not that Wichita is a huge Top 25 market, but she certainly shouldn't be on air in this market.... yet. That's what the small markets are for to develop her talent. However, I know there will be some reading this that are saying Wichita has dropped to a small market from a psychological standpoint. I disagree. I think overall there is a good product shown on the stations, especially for the economic and industry conditions occurring. Stealing a term from a comment of a previous post, she should appear on Wichita State's Studio B and get some experience. -Hal

KSN Bankruptcy Finalized

According to the Wichita Eagle, KSN is finished with an 80 day Bankruptcy restructuring process. I know nothing about bankruptcy, so I am curious if anyone does, especially as it is concerned with a TV station and might be able to shed some light. -Hal

Slain Deputy Coverage

The tragic news of a Sedgwick County Deputy losing his life while on duty is very difficult for a community. The three stations got the information out very quickly and it seemed with accuracy. KAKE was the quickest on live coverage of press conferences, however I thought KWCH and KSN had the best storytelling of the event. KAKE might have had more angles, but it wasn't put together as well as the other two. Your thoughts. -Hal

Is Alan Shope Gone From KAKE?

Comments in recent days to this blog talked about a "secret" meeting at KAKE. Still not sure what that was about, however a reader alerted me to the fact that Alan Shope no longer is on the KAKE website as part of the sports team. Hmmmm. It is certainly an interesting time to make a change with the start of football and that is usually the busiest part of the year for the local stations. -Hal

A HEAP of Radar Gun Stories

I'm baaaaaaaaaack, to a degree. I had a nice Summer break. Lets start with my first post back with one of my favorite, or not so favorite reporters in town.
For children, the start of the school year comes with it the unpleasant realities of early bedtimes and homework. However, for adults watching TV news in Wichita comes the reality one station will air useless stories of an obnoxious reporter with a radar gun showing people going fast in school zones. Don’t get me wrong, I think many people ignore school zones, go too fast and its an accident waiting to happen, however the obnoxious ways of Brian Heap do not make the stories easy to watch. Also, it was interesting the first time, maybe even the second time, but now they are old and have become the same thing each time with him pointing a radar gun at speeding cars, although the story this past week had him wearing a raincoat and catching a police car going too fast. - Hal

KWCH Reductions

Thanks to the readers for the link to this story on the KWCH website. Five full time positions eliminated and 3 others being reduced to part-time. All remaining employees must take a week of unpaid leave. WOW. It says the reductions are spread among all departments. I will be curious to hear how it effects the news side of things. On one hand you can say it is a surprise the #1 rated station in town is doing this, however, Sunflower Broadcasting, the station's owners are heavily invested in newspapers and that side of the media industry is under more attack than even the television side at this point. -Hal

The Tiller Death

Obviously the biggest story since the arrest of BTK happened, as longtime abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was fatally shot Today at his church. Not sure as to who exactly broke the news first. A commenter said KAKE broke it first. When I was watching both KAKE and KSN were on while KWCH had a crawl. I must say KSN's coverage early was good. I really like new KSN anchor John Snyder. He does a nice job in breaking news filling time, because it seems natural. It is clear he has some National experience doing it. Stephanie does a nice job with John on the set. I liked KSN's content especially at 5PM for such a quick turn. KAKE did OK, but Abby Barnett is not solid in live breaking news situations. By 10PM, the shows were all pretty even with the same information. It will be interesting to see how the stations handle this story in the days to come. -Hal

The End of a..... well..... The End of a 20 Year Anchor

To me that was what she was. I will not call her anything more than an anchor. I am referring to KSN anchor Anita Cochran who had been with the station for over 20 years and signed off for the final time Tonight. I could have titled the post, "The End of an Era," but to me that means success and overall accomplishment. I never really got that feeling watching over the years. I could have wrote, "The End of a Legend," but I do not feel that works either. I don't think you write "Era," and "Legend," just because someone has been at a station for over 20 years, unless they have earned it. I do not believe she has. They are, I think, in 3rd place in Wichita and I think her moving out of the main anchor chair is a great thing for KSN. Tonight's show was actually a little less cheesy than I would have expected for someone like her. Dave Freeman of course had to get all reflective and gave her a "Weather Geek", or something like that, kit. Overall I thought it could have been worse.
KSN Future: As to the future of KSN, Stephanie Bergman is moving to Anita's chair and I think that is a great move. Along with her on the desk is John Snyder who most recently worked in North Carolina. I do not know much more than that other than he has had some network stints over the years. I think it will be exciting to see this new pair and see if they can bring some positive reaction for the station. I think Stephanie has a very positive reputation so that should really help the main anchor desk and if her and John can interact well, they might have more people watching.
With Stephanie leaving the morning show, I am curious as to who will replace her. -Hal

Update: Thanks for the e-mails and comments who say the new KSN line-up will be as follows:
Morning and Noon: Anne Meyer and Mark Davidson
5PM -Stephanie Bergman and Anthony Powell
6PM - Stephanie Bergman and John Snyder
10PM - Stephanie Bergman and John Snyder
Weekends - Josh Witsman and Dana Hertneky

New Poll: Please vote in the new poll on whether you think the changes will help KSN's ratings.

Update 4-27-09 10:30PM: The new look KSN anchor duo completed a full slate of shows Today along with Yesterday's 10PM. I think there is some good chemistry between Snyder and Bergman. Tonight I also liked the moments between Snyder and Kobbe. I think there could be some fun moments. It will be interesting to see what happens in the ratings in the months to come. I think KWCH will remain #1, less for their reporting and more so because of Roger and Cindy. I will be curious, however, to see if the gap between KAKE and KSN diminishes and we'll see a competitive race develop for 2nd in Wichita. -Hal

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