Monday, July 03, 2006

Shaking things up

Now that he's officially in control, WBRE/WYOU news director Ron Krisulevicz appears to have big changes in mind...and the biggest of all involves WYOU's bottom-ranked newscasts. This job posting for an anchor calls for someone to work on WYOU's "soon-to-be reformatted, non-traditional evening newscasts."

Non traditional? Reformatted? Whatever it is, it can't hurt. WYOU has been last place in this market for a very long time, and it's clear their current formula isn't cutting it. What's the worst that can happen? The big question here is how WYOU will change its newscasts. Shoot me an e-mail if you know what's going on.

In related news, WBRE has a new job description...it's called a "field meteorologist." The job posting calls for someone to forecast the weather from the station's Williamsport or Stroudsburg bureaus. Why? Unless this person is going to chase storms, I don't think anyone cares where the forecasting happens, as long as it's correct.

62 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Connie Chung has shown 22 the way to generate buzz. They are looking for a piano-playing cohost to accompany the lovely Ms. Lee.

4:25 PM  
Blogger Tom Carten said...

*
Unless this person is going to chase storms, I don't think anyone cares where the forecasting happens, as long as it's correct.

It may bring those outlying areas "into the fold," so to speak. Yes, you are part of our area, we care about you, we will mention your name prominently in our cast.

*
I don't think anyone cares where the forecasting happens, as long as it's correct.

You forget the backyard. Cutting edge weather commentary, forecasting from where it's happening. Who knows better what's going on than someone who doesn't know when to come in out of the rain?

5:06 PM  
Blogger Howard Beale said...

It may bring those outlying areas "into the fold," so to speak. Yes, you are part of our area, we care about you, we will mention your name prominently in our cast.

That's one thing that could help WBRE/WYOU. Both stations seem to forget that the market is more than Luzerne and Lackawanna County.

5:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here are some tid-bits I picked up about both stations.

WYOU's new newscast will be based upon the call in shows that they do every now and then. They say they are going very well and want to expand upon that. Don't know if it will be in every single show or what.

WBRE's weather: they're going to have a few Mets in the show all from different locations, all giving forcasts for the region they are in. So one will be in WB, one in Williamsport, Strouds, and even possibly Scranton. That way each region will have their own forcast in the show. Also, from what I understand, they are building an outdoor weather set. And since they are located in the middle of WB, there is only one place to put it: on the roof.

Should be interesting!

6:23 PM  
Blogger Tom Carten said...

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6:23 said: Also, from what I understand, they are building an outdoor weather set. And since they are located in the middle of WB, there is only one place to put it: on the roof.

Didn't someone try going outside a whole bunch of years before? I don't mean 16. It rings a bell somewhere in the back of my head that 22 or 28 was doing some sort of rooftop thing.

9:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just what this market needs. A "goof on the roof". Other markets have tried that and failed. When there is real weather, they pull the shot for fear of lightening or sparks or shorts or something. And at night, it is just a big black hole behind the weatherman. Why doesn't Fifty do the right thing and just move away from that three story closet they call home? Plenty of free parking is sure to boost morale!

That said, the mets they will get will have to be willing to work cheap. And those that are, what kind of talent will they have? If you are Met with talent, don't you already have a job, one that does not require you to set up your own live shots and cover late afternoon parades and/or evening liquor store hold-ups? The last thing Fifty needs is more weak reporters who can't go walk and talk when the red light comes on.

Good luck to them. I can only wish the Mets give us more than just the weather at the moment. The folks at home can do that. Anyone can look out the window. If they are to give forecasts, what kind of technology will they be using? Will they have time to use it properly if they are out covering news of the day while they wait for their turn to go live?

It's not their format, it is their image. Find it, promote it.

12:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

22 had rooftop weather, back in the 90's when they were still in Scranton.

It wasn't that bad, but there's only so much you can do on a roof.

1:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Didn't WYOU some years ago have Barry F. doing roof top weather?

7:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was 22, which in the late 90s, during the Barry Finn era, had Rooftop Weather from the adjacent Lewis and Reilly building in downtown Scranton.

Ah the good old days...when 22 was in Scranton...

7:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wouldn't 22 and 28 be better off getting some real content, like photogs and reporters on the road? They're going after gimmicks. The viewers will see right through it and go back to 16. NEP has more than its share of gimmicks, but it does have a large reporting and shooting staff.

8:50 AM  
Blogger D.B. Echo said...

Call-in news? How will that work?

"OK, next caller..."

"Yes, I was wondering what's going on with the Hugo Selinski case."

"Glad you asked, caller. We'll go to the Luzerne County Courthouse to get your answer. Tom, what's the latest?"...

I was betting on nude newscasts. Well, maybe newscasts in underwear for six, but then fully nude for eleven. Vince Sweeney would get a whole new legion of fans. That would have me hoping more than ever that April Amonica would be coming beck to the area.

9:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why doesn't 22 just GIVE UP! I understand the May ratings had them listed in at least one news time spot where there was NO measurable audience!

12:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

7:34 AM
Ah the good old days...when 22 was in Scranton...


AMEN TO THAT!

1:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

9:46 AM
I was betting on nude newscasts. Well, maybe newscasts in underwear for six, but then fully nude for eleven. Vince Sweeney would get a whole new legion of fans.


"Let's go now to Vince Sweeney, who'll tell us more about the forcast. Vince, is that a cold front I see in our picture?"

1:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Deck chairs, I say: rearranging deck chairs.

10:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If weather is the number one reason why people watch, why not give us a second reason, rather than just more and more of the first?

Find your image, then promote it.

And how LAME will all this be when the weather is seventy degrees and partly cloudy, and will be for the next four or five days? Now I don't have the first reason to watch, nor will I for the next three days.

Find your image, then promote it.

11:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...

Deck chairs, I say: rearranging deck chairs.

10:05 PM "

Funny, I heard the same thing in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004...and yet they still remain afloat.

1:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HA, HA!!! 10:05 PM POSTER, THAT WAS GREAT!!! (get it? deck chairs, Titanic, sinking? HA, HA, HA...)

Let's face it, WYOU needs to pack it in and go black. NO ONE WATCHES, NO ONE CARES, THE NEWS IS BORING!! (bad shooting, awful reporting, no image, no look, moronic leadership). And may I also add, WYOU gets treated like the ugly stepchild to 'BRE, you can tell.

4:54 PM  
Blogger Tom Carten said...

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4:54 says:
Let's face it, WYOU needs to pack it in and go black. THE NEWS IS BORING!! (bad shooting)

How the coitus can 22 have bad shooting when it's the same as 28's? I can't be sure of this, but I don't think the v/o's are all that different, either.

As to the station's quality, it's a YMMV thing and I don't watch it all that much anyway. I'm busy at 6:00 and watching The Daily Show at 11:00.

6:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with 1:01pm...half of you posters here would have bet the farm that WYOU would have "sunk" in '97 or '98, and yet we keep having topics and discussions about them.

7:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:54 PM
"And may I also add, WYOU gets treated like the ugly stepchild to 'BRE, you can tell."

But who treats them that way? Old owner, and present financier, Perry? Old G.M. Dittmeier? Old cheese, and current Station Manager Randy? Frank (who's still in that office)?

Who is the WYOU "G.M." anyway? Get him on the phone and bitch about it!

8:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not to get off the exciting nuptial track here but someone mentioned Hugo Selenski. Can anyone tell me what it is that some women see in this guy? "Oh, he's cute." "He's so handsome." I'm a heterosexual male but I think I can pick out a handsome guy when I see one. When I see good ol' Hugo on TV all I can think of is I'm probably looking at the product of fetal alcohol syndrome and that "wry" smile when a reporter asks him a question is just a stupid grin that he employs to conceal the fact that he likely does not understand the question. Am I wrong?

Also, to keep on topic, Julie Sidoni is cute but must have a screw loose if she'd even give Schaeffer the time of day much less marry him.

9:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Umm...I think I meant that comment for one post down Howard. Guess I wasn't on topic after all unless you cut and paste the Hugo/fetal alcohol syndrome/Julie Sidoni comment I just left here and stick it in there. And may I just say "duh".

9:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Funny, I heard the same thing in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004...and yet they still remain afloat."

1:01 PM

And it was true, every time. Glub, glub, glub, glub. How long can you keep deluding yourselves? How long can you tread water?

I can't wait for the next innovation. As described it sounds like "newsless news" to me.

9:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's my perspective...as a journalist in Central Pennsylvania.

From a fair and unbiased "non-tv" perspective....

WNEP beats the every living socks off of poor, sweet Lorena Beniquez. Real nice gal. Real bad reporter. Not like Ron the new N.D. will do anything about it. She and Carmen Grant roam the fringes alone with some kind of camera that must not take digital pics...because it looks like crap on air. It's a mere question of Channel 50's investment in every county outside of Luzerne County.

For Pete's sake....we joke in Lycoming County that Lorena found out her old news office was being torn down and replaced with a parking deck...when she saw the story on WNEP.

Will adding a meteorologist to a crammed office in Williamsport or Stroudsburg help? It certainly can't hurt!!!

So, Good Luck I guess....weather is the number one reason women 25-45 watch the news. Hopefully it will give WNEP a run for their money....because in Central Pennsylvania, they've got a license to print it.

11:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ever since the "merger," WYOU has always been treated like the red-headed stepchild to WBRE. Even Zobel admitted that several times during his worthless tenure there.

2:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny, I heard the same thing in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004...and yet they still remain afloat.
1:01 PM

Help me out, please. Where do these events fall on your
WYOU timeline?

The year "Shared Services" went into effect.

The last year WYOU had its own general manager.

The year WYOU closed its building and left Scranton.

The year WYOU stopped airing its own morning and noon newscasts.

The year the huge layoffs started.

BGut don't worry, everything's fine, and Nexstar is making a lot of money.

6:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

2:29 AM
Ever since the "merger," WYOU has always been treated like the red-headed stepchild to WBRE. Even Zobel admitted that several times during his worthless tenure there.


Jeez, this guy again. If I had a buck for every worthwhile comment Zobel made, I'd be in debt.

Oh, wait...I AM IN DEBT!

10:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"BGut don't worry, everything's fine, and Nexstar is making a lot of money."

You're right, they are. Regardless of ratings, staffing, content, personalities over the years, Nexstar is still pulling in a profit. Which makes all the talk of "WYOU is a sinking ship" repetitive BS that goes back eight years.

10:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WYOU may be a cash cow...and Nexstar may be pulling in a profit...but the employees are not seeing that extra money in their paychecks. I heard that the people didn't even get a raise for busting the union. Sook promised the union busters a raise too...and a lobster dinner.

12:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it's important to remember that when both BRE and YOU because Luzerne County and Lackawanna County's news sources, respectively.

Yes, those counties have the most population and probably the most metropolitan population, but there is a huge audience elsewhere.

And that other audience is full of ppl who simply want to see their town on the news. IE: NEP's "We're Proud to Serve"

Maybe that's all BRE and YOU have to do to get an audience back.

1:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...as a journalist in Central Pennsylvania.

Central Pennsylvania is the Harrisburg area, not Williamsport, etc. Williamsport is Northcentral Pennsylvania. WNEP came up with that inaccurate "Central" designation years ago because it sounded better. Seeing how you're a "journalist" and all, you really shouldn't need me to tell you that.

2:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"[WYOU] is still pulling in a profit."

And that's all that matters, right?

Dittmeier, please stop posting here.

4:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a journalist in *central pa* (not to be confused with northeastern/northcentral, etc.) and someone who worked in NEPA when the youknowwhat went down at WYOU (and who knew a number of people who lost their jobs due to the "shared services BS), I wouldn't trust Sook or Dittemeier as far as I could throw them.
If you look at other markets that did the whole "shared services" soiree, you'll find a number of them failed, and miserably. Sure, Sook and company are rolling in the dough, but the morale at 22 in particular is beyond bad, and while I haven't had the chance to take a look at the ratings, the overall consensus -- even before my tenure in NEPA almost ten years ago -- shows that 22 and 28 are on a decline with viewers.

5:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"[WYOU] is still pulling in a profit."

And that's all that matters, right?,


Yeah, you got it, that's it, simple and plain enough, easy to see, easy to understand, not a difficult concept, right? You might not like it, and you sure aren't alone, but that is all that matters - PROFITS. And it's not like Nexstar is alone in the hunt for obscene profits, it's just that Nexstar is particularly nasty about it. Consider this - the new WYOU set is costing in excess of 200K. Does that sound like a news operation that is about to shutter its doors? Hardly. Whatever the plan is, ceasing operations sure as hell isn't it, at least not right now.

And I think that Lorena Beniquez does a capable job, especially given her "one-man-band" status out in a very slow news town. Whoever the "journalist" was who said otherwise should maybe take a look at from what vantage point they are being critical. Writing for any newspaper in that part of PA ain't exactly working for the NYT. Hell, it ain't even working the Harrisburg Patriot, which is pretty good paper.

5:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also used to work in central Pennsylvania, and yes, WNEP clearly has the best television coverage there. It's not like they had to fight for the viewers...WBRE tends to forget that places like Williamsport, Lewisburg, and Sunbury exist. I recall one poster here, in the Oprah post, saying WBRE thinks Danville is "too far" to send a reporter. Too far from what...their freaking Williamsport bureau?

5:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the 5:56 poster: Yes, when I worked at WBRE, they would almost never send anyone to Danville, because the producers and the desk would say "it's too far." They had to make sure their photog was around the immediate area to cover the annual cow milking contest in Ashley, the latest barn fire in the Hanover Township boonies, or someone getting hurt while illegally climbing on the rocks at Nay Aug Park. They would barely send their Williamsport crew to Danville, because they usually had news to cover within Williamsport. When I was there, they only covered the Bloomsburg Fair once...because Bloomsburg was deemed "too far away." However, that year, they decided to grow a sack, and send a crew there.

Before the reincarnation of the Stroudsburg bureau, WBRE and WYOU would never go to Stroudsburg/Monroe County. Why? You guessed it. "It's too far away." WYOU would cringe when they had to send a crew to Tobyhanna...because "it's too far" and they had to make sure the crew pumped out three packages a day.

If my memory serves me correctly, Channels 50 covered events in Towanda/Bradford County only twice while I was working on South Franklin Street. Why? You got it. "It's too far away." I had to cover one of those two events in Bradford County...and a firefighter asked me "what are you guys doing up here? We watch the stations in Elmira. We don't watch Wilkes-Barre news anymore, because you guys never come up here." And Bradford County is part of the freakin' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton DMA!

Same thing with the towns out past the Carbondale area: Milford, Honesdale, Lake Wallenpaupack, etc. WBRE and WYOU won't go out there because "it's too far away." They are too cheap to get their satellite truck up there and do it the right way. WNEP doesn't go out there much themselves, but when they do, they get a truck out there, and they do it right.

7:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...even before my tenure in NEPA almost ten years ago -- shows that 22 and 28 are on a decline with viewers.

Well, not exactly true ten years ago. Ten years ago, WBRE was riding an upward trend that, if continued, would have had them breathing hot and heavy down WNEP's neck. (As an important aside; while WBRE was busting their collective ass, WNEP was falling on their collective face, due to the ND at the time.) In fact, in several books during '96-'97, WBRE's eleven was almost dead-even with WNEP's. Now? Not even close, not even, as they say, a horse race. WBRE has lost 2/3 of its audience in the last six years or so, and WYOU, sad to say, isn't even part of the equation nowadays.

Ten(and less)years ago, WBRE "owned" Williamsport, their bureau there went back to the '70s, long before WNEP even know how to pronounce Lycoming County(and it is LIE-coming). That is no longer the case. And this is important; lack of coverage and attention to Williamsport has nothing to do with the people who have staffed that office for the last ten years or so. Mid-level management shoulders the entire blame.

7:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As usual, quartermain has no idea what he's talking about.

PS leave the defunct, extinct union out of this.

7:51 PM  
Blogger Howard Beale said...

The union comments are piling up in the moderation queue again. But rather than close discussion on this thread, I'm automatically rejecting all pro and anti-union comments, because I'm getting sick of reading the bitching on both sides.

8:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How can anyone say before Carmen Grant WBRE wouldn't go to Stroudsburg?
They had Tim Cassidy there with Lou D. every day.

8:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why to people view 22's new set as a commitment to this market? If 22 flops, and it will, just pack up the new furniture and move it to another market. 22 and 28 lost viewers quickly. It will take a very long time to win them back.

10:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't understand why Susquehanna and Bradford County are still in the Scranton/Wilkes DMA. It seems channel 50 doesn't know, and WNEP takes the occasional 'road-trip' out there. Oh well, I know first hand Susq Co. Watches either WNEP, WBNG (Bing-CBS 12) or WIVT (Bing-ABC 34). Why? Cause those small town stations do a hell of a lot better at least trying to get down there. And Bradford, no doubt their watching Elmira. Why wouldn't they? A bomb could take out a town up there, and the national networks would be there live before Channel 50 would counsider whether its too far. At least WNEP makes a good attempt when news happens 'up north'

11:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bradford County may as well be absorbed into the Elmira market. WETM spends more time around here than WNEP, which does come up here to poke around every so often. As for WBRE and WYOU, the last time they bothered to come up here was for the Dustin Briggs trial.

Maybe WYOU should go back to its "Lackawanna County's News Source" slogan, because it would at least be true. While we're at it, why doesn't WBRE just admit that it is "Luzerne County's News Source."

1:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

to the 8:46 a.m. poster: While I was working at WBRE, the station would never send anyone to Stroudsburg for anything, because "it's too far away." They wouldn't even cover ESU football on Saturdays. I was surprised they even got a shooter out to cover Bloomsburg football every week. And forget covering Lycoming College. When I was working for them, Lou was working out of the WYOU Scranton office...and Cassidy wasn't there then.

To the 7:51 p.m. poster: Most of the time, Quartermain does know what he's talking about. Evidently, he was a Nexstar victim as well...but he's vocal about it. Good for him.

1:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And when WBRE was kicking WNEP's 'collective' ass, who was the news director at the big 1-6? Who was leading the charge? Who's the man who called the shots? Who 'allowed' WBRE to get ahead by shaking up the market and by not fighting back?

None other than Frank Andrews Shimkus.

It's amazing how WBRE got their biggest gains at the expense of Mr. Shimkus, yet they turned around and hired him away.

Unreal.

8:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Shimkus seems to lead a magical life, doesn't he? Scarey, don't you think?

11:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Frank Andrews could have been a good news director at 16, but his priorities were anchoring and keeping his demons a secret.

Other WNEP news directors who failed didn't listen to the experience of managers who know the market. The crews at 16 seem to put Dennis Fisher in that category.

Anyone remember Nancy "soft news" Cope?

1:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WBRE kicking WNEP's ass?

In your twisted dreams.

For years WNEP's 6 a.m. news has been seen in more homes than WBRE's 6 p.m.!

And it's not because 16 is so great. Collectively, the "Newswatch" team is lazy and self-satisfied. It's that since the mid-seventies 28 has aggressively pissed away every opportunity to narrow the gap.

9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The attitude in Central Pennsylvania has been very reactive over the years. WBRE was the only station with a bureau in the late 70s and 80s, then WYOU placed an office there. This continued until the 90s when WNEP saw an opportunity to staff Lycoming County and keep Bob Reynolds close to home. The timing was right, as (sorry WNEP line producers, as I borrow one of your lines), Officials in Lycoming County... grew tired of Bob Reynolds. (just ask around) WNEP started slow, hired just one crew, then two crews for Central Pennsylvania. In that time, WYOU pulled their one-man-band out of Lycoming County and WBRE eventually went from two crew members who could both shoot news down to just one person to staff the bureau.

Getting back to the reactive part of the post, it is now Nexstar's move... do they get back to where they were, or do they continue to just "get by" in North-Central Pennsylvania. They used to have a two to nothing person advantage. Now their woman in Williamsport is out-gunned four to one. And WNEP seems to make sure one of those people is always around when they are needed, even on weekends, not to mention a standard evening schedule.

The quality of coverage has less to do about the talent working that part of the world and more to do about what kind of commitment each station is willing to make to that portion of their audience. When Channel 50 starts caring more about the outlying areas, then you will see more news coming from those places. Forget about Danville/Bloomsburg in the evenings, as they are short staffed after dark. They just don't have the warm bodies around to get there.

It goes back to staffing, then promotion. If they had a few more people, capable of doing good work, who in turn were promoted on air for their efforts, the audience would take notice.

Hire good people, find your image, then promote it.

9:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Was the possibility of an ethanol plant being built in Wayne county too far for all three channels to go? Didn't see it on tv but saw it in the paper.

12:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...Officials in Lycoming County... grew tired of Bob Reynolds.

Interesting comment. Could it be because Reynolds asks tough questions like a good reporter does? Too many television "journalists" here fail to ask the tough questions, and are content to simply play softball with anyone in authority in any given situation. Get that stand-up right, but never worry about solidly covering the story.

As to 50's failure to cover ESU or BSU football on Saturdays; my first impulse is to say who gives a s*** about state college football. But trying to be a bit more mature about it, I will instead say that it's a given that whatever audience you start any newscast with, roughly two-thirds of it leaves once sports begins. Sorry, but that's about the size of it. Covering a routine ESU, BSU, game isn't a priority. If you do, you do; you don't, you don't.

12:42 PM  
Blogger Tom Carten said...

*
9:29 said:
The quality of coverage has to do about what kind of commitment each station is willing to make to that portion of their audience. When Channel 50 starts caring more about the outlying areas, then you will see more news coming from those places. Forget about Danville/Bloomsburg in the evenings, as they are short staffed after dark. They just don't have the warm bodies around to get there.

Some years back, and maybe still, there was a video news company in NYC that used to hustle around the boroughs with its vans shooting footage, starting around 4:00-4:30, when the news crews quit for the day. Each station did its own v/o.

They sold the tape to the stations, each getting a different angle and violence content varying by station. WCBS, for instance, would see a wide shot of a wall collapsing; Fox would see the fireman about to be creamed.

Anyone want to go into business here? Get a few vans, a few one man bands, a few contacts with the stations and we might see more news from the outlying areas.

1:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For those who don't know(and maybe don't care), Pike County IS NOT within the Scr/W-B market, it's in NYC's. Covering stories in Pike County, which 16 and 50 do with some frequency, is stupid, it's pointless. Same with Tioga County, not in the viewing area, nor is Centre County. And while were at it, you can cross Northampton and Lehigh off the list, too. Schuylkill hasn't been part of Scr/W-B all that long either, maybe the last 10-15 years. It used to be Philly's.

2:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

12:16...You must not have been watching.

4:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

2:50PM got it right.

One of the big problems facing all the stations is the 20+ counties in the market. Everyone demands hometown coverage, but it's tough to sell hometown advertising.

16, 22 and 28 are expected to be in Bradford County regularly: but is a Towanda car dealer going to buy spots to reach customers in Stroudsburg? Never. Advertisers put their $$$ where the customers are.

Another example? Allentown. Prior to WFMZ's decent news effort the W-B/Scranton stations made at least a token effort to go the 80 miles to Allentown. Philadelphia, 20 miles away, never made the effort. The Phily stations knew where to get bang for their buck.

As news staffs shrink, as advertising choices (cable, etc.) become more numerous, as costs (equipment, manpower) rise, all the local stations are spread way too thin to do the kind of job they used to.

10:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:42, who had it on?

11:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...Officials in Lycoming County... grew tired of Bob Reynolds." >><<

Interesting comment. Could it be because Reynolds asks tough questions like a good reporter does? >><<

Er, no. Bob had all that time on the ride out to write the story in his head ahead of time. Ask his photographers. Ask those he interviewed. Ask the newspaper people who would stand right next to him while he worked. He would keep asking questions of those he interviewed until they said something which fit HIS story.

One of his photographers told me this... he would carry two tapes for each Bob story. One tape for the video, and one for the interview. Not so the reporter could look at the interview later on a seperate tape. No. The shooter needed the extra tape because the interviews would be sooo long.

Lawyers call it "leading the witness".

A fireman once told me that Bob Reynolds was the only reporter he would never talk to. Why? Because he would try to turn one story into something else way too often. It was not about investigation, it was about manipulation. Rather than cover the fire, he would rather talk about why the fire station was on the wrong end of the one way street and had to go around the block to get to the scene.

Seconds count, right?

5:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is there another market like this in the country? Not being facetious, but is there another market that is medium in size, strictly because it covers such a huge amount of real estate? Scr/W-B is responsible for a third of the state, or very close to it. Consider that driving from one end of this market to the other(e.g. Damascus to Lock Haven)would take roughly three hours. If the market were, say, Lackawanna and Lzerne Counties, we'd be about the size of Binghamton, or smaller. All in all, and again not being facetious, this market pays more like market #97(or smaller)anyway, so what is the difference. Admiitedly, there are a handful of people making respectable money here, but the rank and file are not, and they never have.

5:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

11:49...I know for sure WYOU had it in the 6pm.

8:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:42, And WYOU had the ehtanol thing on at five.
I love that so many people make their minds up about the stations around here without really knowing the facts.

11:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow 10:21. WFMZ and "decent news effort" in the same sentece.

5:48 PM  

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