MIA in Williamsport
Did you know WBRE has a bureau in Williamsport? It's hard to know, because the station hasn't used it in a while. Even though they covered the Susquehanna Health System announcement last week, there was no sign of Lorena Beniquez, their central PA reporter. Her bio is still on WBRE's website, so it's not as if she was canned.
Bureau neglect seems to be a common problem with WBRE. They had a much-ballyhooed grand opening for their Stroudsburg newsroom over the summer, and even hired two one-man-band reporters to staff it. But they're not in any rush to use it.
Bureau neglect seems to be a common problem with WBRE. They had a much-ballyhooed grand opening for their Stroudsburg newsroom over the summer, and even hired two one-man-band reporters to staff it. But they're not in any rush to use it.
posted by Howard Beale at 7:36 PM
12 Comments:
FYI: Lorena Beniquez still works for WBRE, but she has been very sick lately. Best wishes to Lorena, hope you feel better.
Also, LB *was* at the Susquehanna Health System announcement last week. I saw her on the local cable feed walk across the front of the room to ask a question.
Ahh. I should clarify: I didn't see any packages from her, just an anchor V/O. I didn't know she was actually at the event.
Chances are, I just wan't paying attention.
It's too bad to hear Lorena's really sick, though. Whatever it is, best wishes to her in her recovery.
See how rumors get started, Howard?
WBRE used their Williamsport bureau every day when Joe Garrison was the reporter...and when now-proven pedophile Jeff Holloway was his photog/editor. Joe would one-man-band when Jeff was off. I'm assuming after Joe left, the use of the Williamsport bureau has dwindled. During Lorena's absence, shouldn't WBRE/WYOU send one of their Stroudsburg bureau one-man-band crews to work in Williamsport?
Oh, my dear friends...the Williamsport office thrived not only with Joe Garrison, but with the three reporters before him too. Rick Mason, Wayne Gray and Dave Thomas made a lot of waves out here- breaking stories wide open. In fact, as you may not know, WNEP reporters used to drive out and back in the same day to cover the same stories and only after the lack of good contacts and getting scooped one too many times by the boys at WBRE did they finally set up the office in the mall....they were getting their butts kicked every night out here in Billtown.
I believe Rick Mason is now a PennDOT spokesman.
Lorena is indeed out on sick leave and missed by all. Also, Joe Garrison pokes his head in for WBRE from time to time during football season for sporting events.
The WBRE Williamsport Bureau has been open for business since the late 70s... and very soon, they will have a new address, with the same old attitude. It seems covering news in Central Pennsylvania has been and always will be a priority for WBRE. However, PROMOTING the bureau, its location, or its talent has never been a priority. You never see the Central PA talent used in special promotions, events, or even on-air commercial inserts touting some coming event which the station sponsors. Any chance Lorena will be riding on a convertable in a local parade any time soon? Probably not. They once had a billboard in Billtown, but that was about it. Will that change? Will Williamsport continue to be the station asset no one knows about? Will they return to daily live reports any time soon? I think the viewers west of Bloomsburg are being served quite well by the local television stations. You just see a higher profile with one station over the other. Then again, what do you expect from WNEP? What they do best is remind the television viewer what station their TV happens to be on, and they are doing such a good job there is no reason to change the channel. It's self promotion to be sure, but you cannot fault them for it. Until WBRE gets better at tooting their own horn, they probably will continue to make less noise than the big monster on Montage Mountain. The Bureaus would be a place to start making noise, but so far, there has been hardly a shout, or live shot for that matter. That may change, but one-woman-band style reporting lends itself to taped stories without a live presence. Stay tuned.
WBRE is sooo behind when it comes to taking a good story and promoting it: there's no brainstorming on how to really "play it up." Then again, the station has a pathetic promotions department, if you even want to call it that.
Pathetic is right. Hell, I didn't even know they still had a promotions department!
Sorry to hear that the Billrtown bureau isn't getting the recognition that it deserves. But nothing new there. Joe Garrison and I broke more stories and offered the network more than our share of lead stories in the time that we worked together. It's a terrific region with a lot to offer -- and not just in the way of bad news. I remember my time there fondly...
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