Editorial: Dialing for News is cool
So sayeth Casey Jones in the Times Leader. "The set is impressive," he writes, "The interactive call-in format is innovative. And the 'No Wait Weather' is, well, interesting."
Now all that's left is for WYOU to remember that news also belongs in a newscast. Once they get that down, I think this format could go somewhere.
Now all that's left is for WYOU to remember that news also belongs in a newscast. Once they get that down, I think this format could go somewhere.
posted by Howard Beale at 9:51 PM
33 Comments:
I think the naysayers and the folks who don't want 22 to succeed are just sad little people. It's a format that's really never been tried before. It will have some glitches. It will take time to get them straightened out. The less time the better of course, but when all else fails at least you get to look at Candice Grossklaus.
And not to change the subject but if we were putting together a calendar of the Women of NEPA TV you really wouldn't need anyone else. Candice is just lovely. Matter of fact I can't think of anyone else who belongs in that calendar. Julie Sidoni maybe. Paola? I don't think so. She's lookin' rough. Is there another newsbabe anywhere in the market? I think not.
Sorry to get off the track.
who would you have as your next guests on YOU's gabfest?
mine?
1. nolan johannes
2. HUGO
3. Mrs. Andy Mehalshik
Well, maybe the whole point is to provide an alternative to watching 16 run the same stories 10 times from 5-7:30pm.
I don't think WYOU's format has it perfect, but it's does have something different going.
Candice's agent needs to stop posting in this blog. Filter, anyone?
Candice Grossklaus is pretty but Diane Lee was the prettiest. She was a better anchor also. Sidoni is cute too. I've watched WYOU and it was better before this new format. Every broadcast has technical problems now. The panel and call-in segment is a mess. They spend too much time on it and they will always have problems with the call-ins. That will not go away. I tried it for a week but I want to hear news. Why would I want to hear them talk about real estate for over 10 minutes? The person who decided on this format is a complete moron.
Regarding Paola...I meant there's something about the light or whatever the reason, but she looks a LOT better in person than she does on TV. That's what I meant.
Candice's agent needs to stop posting in this blog. Filter, anyone?
I agree. I know a lot of you think Candice Grossklaus is hot. Fine and dandy. Now, can we stop the obsession? If I wanted to read people drooling over anchors, I'd hop over to WNEP's Talkback 16 message board.
You're the moderator, Howard...you can strike any comments you want. And I agree, let's keep the high-school drooling out of here.
And I agree with 9:59am...this is certainly an "alternitive" newscast, but the topics seem to be hit-or-miss so far. The Don Sherwood interview was great, but the real-estate thing was a bit of a snore.
And lay off the technical problems. Every station has them. You're fooling yourself if you think DubyaNEP is free of them.
12:03 said: The real-estate thing was a bit of a snore.
A friend wants to buy a house and watched that segment with me; it was her reason for switching from 28 to 22 that night. She was disappointed and I thought it could have been moderated better and kept on topic with tighter direction from Eric Scheiner (and a call screener).
The two sections of the whole segment seemed to lack a cohesiveness, a unity. My opinion.
I hope they will have had some meetings over the weekend and come back tighter on Monday. I know it takes a few days to find your feet, no matter how much rehearsing you might have done.
16 may be the news station, but 22 has the potential to be the news and information station. We'll see how it goes.
12:41am...that's because 16's lighting sucks.
Regarding WNEP and lighting, is there a Lighting Director? He or she isn't doing the job. When there's a lone anchor on camera, one side of the face is hot and the other is dark.
Also, what's going on with the Central Pennsylvania newsroom? When reporters wear dark colors, which is most of the time, they get lost in that new and very dark background.
There you go again. It's not about the "news." It's about the classy looking female anchor. Hah, hah, hah.
This really is "dialing for dollars" all over again. Why not spin a giant roulette wheel on the set during each evening's "show?"
Or have viewers call in their bets on what they think the daily Lotto numbers will be?
We were always able to run circles around WNEP's production department and it wasn't hard. It's unfortunate but people equate quality with ratings. 16's look is ugly and the shows are sloppy. Lighting is horrid.
Lighting Director...! What size market do you think this is? Hank changes the burned out lamps. But keep in mind, most of the lights on the news set are dimmable flourescent tubes in square reflector boxes. You make due with what you have to work with. They are very expensive. It's amazing how dark the lighting is on the set. However, with all that fancy gear, the lighting is way too flat.
the personalities shine through in spite of it at wnep!!!
you can't deny that
You know, if they want to go for a real user(viewer) driven format, they should just steal Diggnation's forumla. Have the 22 website set up like digg.com where people can submit and vote on stories for the area and then the newscast can run stories on the top rated stories.
But, that's where they should stop as far as Diggnation goes, I don't know how drinking beer on air in this market would do.
Snedeker is the only personality there. Some of the others are nice, and some of them are giant, blazing idiots and their own biggest fans.
In any case, ask yourself if you're looking for personalities or journalists.
what do u call a journalist? certainly not an "I" team (where I=andrew michalshek)
certainly not 1 and 1/2 hours of mindless, uninteresting guests and phone calls and waitweather and standing anchors.
I'm looking for journalists who know how to tell a story. Check the ratings. The public has spoken. Journalism lost.
1:45am...
Nice to see DubyaNEP's promotions dept. posts here.
Trying to impress the new owners, are we ?
9:14 said, "I'm looking for journalists who know how to tell a story. Check the ratings. The public has spoken. Journalism lost."
Journalism lost to what? Do you mean you think it's because of the "personalities" on 16? Name one besides Snedeker. The only other bonafide personality 16 has ever had was Joe Zone.
16 isn't #1 because they're loaded up with "personalities". 16 is #1 largely because old habits are hard to break. When 22 and 28 were Tom Powell and Franklin D. Coslett against a flat grey wall for a half hour and 16 brought in the hair and teeth in the head of Gary Essex they hooked the viewing public. They made the news visually appealing and viewers ate it up and made watching a habit. Today there's nothing special about 16 except that when they WERE special, they were first to be so. They won the ratings race 35 years ago and will have to screw up royally to lose that momentum.
I fully agree with comments about 16's on air look. Set is entirely too dark. Boring. Lighting is flat an makes anchors look unappealing. Maybe that will change with new owners. The raven haired Paola blends right into that dark, dingy monitor background.
22's news experiment is a risk, but at least they are taking it. I watched tonight's Mohegan Sun segment at 11PM and it was helpful and informative. If you catch the early news on the other stations, it doesn't hurt to check 22 out if the topic interests you. Especially if you don't CARE about a fire in a shitty rundown residence in Podunk-a-dunk- Coalville, Schulykill County, or a car smashup on Route 1745 near Crapola Valley, Union County.
It's ironic, though, that the anchor is standing while the weather presenter gets a "anchor desk" and chair.
The set is obviously cheap. I'm not sure why it's being labeled as "impressive."
Just watching the opening sequence they used on premiere day and the thing looked like it was going to fall apart; wires hanging just off the set but still in view.
Plus, check out the photos on WYOU's site - the weather center background is ALL FAKE and there are places where the wall's graphics don't even match up.
Plus, can't they even move the empty chairs off the set when they're not in use? And you gotta love that mic wire trap in full view under that crappy coffee table they obviously bought at some furniture outlet.
Plus, low production values all around damaged the newscast --- missed punches, anchors' eyes drifting to off-air monitors, clunky, inconsistent graphics and that annoying white ticker that sometimes runs in commercial break. Yuck.
"Journalism lost to what? Do you mean you think it's because of the "personalities" on 16? Name one besides Snedeker. The only other bonafide personality 16 has ever had was Joe Zone."
Perhaps you never saw Gary Essex or Nolan Johannes! Snedeker is not a personality. He is a clown who dresses like he's on a closed circuit channel. What is even more amazing, it that Lou Kirchen allows hin to get away with such mediocrity.
10:24...
Nolan Johannes and Gary Essex, personalities? You could wring them like a sponge and not get more than a drop of personality out of them.
Snedeker is why people watch 16 in the morning, has the highest Q rating of anyone on TV in NEPA and is compensated for that fact in a manner that makes most others in the market including "anchors" pale in comparison. Go ahead and argue with Snedeker's success. You'll be wasting your time but knock yourself out.
It amazes me that Snedecker gets away with the poor way he dresses. Last week he wore a beautiful yellow short sleeve dress shirt that was so wrinkled, it looked like he had slept in it, and of course it was not tucked in, so he looked a mess. Obviously no one makes him follow a dress code, which befuddles me. It is distracting, and his sloppy attire may be an issue when and if a new owner takes over. I'm sure he will conform if they tell him to. It's a shame he doesn't care more about his choice of clothes because he could really look great, he's a nice looking man. Like the song says, "Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man".
Snedeker's success is due to the fact that he keeps things real, and people appreciate that more than the stuff-shirt professional attitude that is the norm. His persona is on the same level as most people watching, give or take a few, and viewers can relate to that. The way he explains the weather makes it understandable, and the fun factor keeps the kiddies tuned in, because he entertains them. Entertainment = $$$, so I bet Snedeker stays, and keeps getting paid the big bucks. Knowing he draws in more viewers than he repels, they may decide to let him to continue with the hijinx and sloppy attire.
Snedeker is doing just fine without worrying about tucking his shirt in.
When new owners come in I think their first priority ought to be to have someone explain how they've managed to make Paola look so swarthy on-camera. That and to get an explanation about that carefree youthful shock of hair that likely takes Mike Lewis ten minutes to get just right.
WYOU's Web site hasn't been updated since Sept. 13 (and two the show topics are blank). What's going on with "interactivity" if you can't even update your site!
I think the naysayers and the folks who don't want 22 to succeed are just sad little people
I'd say anyone who comes here with anything good to say about 50 is someone on one of their shows.
to 7:28 - yeah that is gay - they didn't update the front page of the website. i guess the "newness" has worn off. either that, or the high school IT student who is in charge of the site (it's obvious) is out with the measles or something.
6:49 PM:
Wrong.
I am not on one of their shows and I've said plenty good about it. Intelligence goes a long way.
Does anyone else find it funny that WYOU's new slogan is "It's all about you" and that slogan is used by Luzerne County Community College?
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