Late start
Pennsylvania Morning got off to a late start on WBRE/WYOU today. Many tipsters report the show didn't start until 5:30 a.m. Was it a power problem? Did a computer crash? Or, as one tipster put it, did someone sleep in late?
posted by Howard Beale at 12:19 PM
26 Comments:
Uh...the power was out? The alarm clock didn't go off? I couldn't take my shower because the water pipes were frozen? A tree fell on my garage? I forgot to "fall back"? The dry cleaning didn't come back in time? My kid had the flu? I slipped on the ice? The plow didn't make it down my block? I had to take the cat to the vet? My car wouldn't start?
The dog ate my script???????
A week ago I was sticking up for 22/28: hey, a tornado is an act of God, right?
But I'm eagerly awaiting an explanation, and it better be a good one. So far this sounds like a firing offense. It's unconscionable that a news department just wouldn't get around to doing a half-hour scheduled newscast. What was I thinking when I said it can't get any worse on Franklin Street.
Wasn't someone on another thread talking about all the WBRE/WYOU staffers who care? Must not be working the A-M shift.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
My guess is the entire morning crew had its traditional Christmas dinner last night at Taco Bell.
Asleep at the wheel. ZZZZ
What a crock.
There was a major computer crash...
We lost everything...and I mean everything for the morning news...
That's all the details I'm going to give away here...
Question: how many complaints were received? In other words, how many viewers really noticed? Any stats on this?
Whats PA Morning?
-slaps virtual knee
Computer crash? THAT'S your excuse?
I wasn't here in the late 80s, so I know this story only by legend. But I've heard there was a morning when a blizzard knocked out power to WNEP, but left power to the transmitter. That meant no newsroom--no studio--but a live truck could still hit the tower and get on the air.
So, the story goes, they fired up a live truck and aired a live, ad-lib newscast (mostly weather and reading school closings) from the parking lot. True or false? Who anchored?
THAT'S how winners do it.
22/28 got caught at 5:00 a.m., when it was easy to flip the switch and go to their network newscasts. What if this had happened at 5:00 p.m.??? 22 runs "Seinfeld" and 28 runs "I Love Lucy?" Or maybe you just fade to black until you're ready.
What happened to "The show must go on?" Pathetic.
I watched the evening newscast and they didn't even mention it. Or did they and I missed it?
Do stations, in general, have redundancy systems for that circumstance? Or would they all be SOL if it happens?
It's official. Channel 50 does have at least one viewer who noticed Channel 50 was late getting onto the air. That's one more viewer than I thought they had.
In regard to the posting by 11:25, you are correct. I was working that morning and pulling up to WNEP's old building near the airport, something didn't look right. Everything was dark. Power was out...one of the engineer's went to Penobscot and the live truck was pointed that way. Frank Andrews and Craig Jahelka anchored the entire newscast from the parking lot as the snow fell. School cancellations were received thru the radio stations that we did some work with. Calls to them were made from the satellite room, which had the only working phone that day, since the rest were tied in with the electrical system. I shot a number of photos that morning and one or two are part of Carl Abraham's WNEP site.
The parking lot newscast photos are on carlabraham.com
http://www.carlabraham.com/wnep3.htm
"I wasn't here in the late 80s, so I know this story only by legend. But I've heard there was a morning when a blizzard knocked out power to WNEP, but left power to the transmitter. That meant no newsroom--no studio--but a live truck could still hit the tower and get on the air."
That is very true. Frank Andrews was outside in strong winds reading school closings. I remember cuz I had to make sure my school was closed for the day.
Frank Andrews is the one I believe who anchored that WNEP broadcast from the parking lot.
50's back up plan used to be "grab scripts out of the trash from last night and go on the air to read something" -- to not come on the air for 30 mins doesn't make any sence.
Viewers will give you tons of credit for trying and being honest with them. It's 10x worse to not even try and ignore the issue.
"Do stations, in general, have redundancy systems for that circumstance? Or would they all be SOL if it happens?"
For WBRE/WYOU...SOL. There is nearly no redundancy system for anything in that building. Not even a generator for the building, if Wilkes-Barre loses power.
You had a producer who was deathly ill, a computer system which completely crashed, and a company who made so many cutbacks, there is no concept of setting up for problems like this one.
There is no program in place for preventative maintenance. It's all about fixing it after it happens...which in TV news is too damn late.
But here's the real issue. Nexstar isn't the only one playing this game. Sure, they've taken it to an extreme level in this particular market, but it is common policy throughout this business now to look at the bottom line in dollars and cents, not common sense.
Forget it takes lots of people with lots of hard work to make everything work. Just cut the staff, to make a better profit margin and add five jobs onto the existing employees responsibilities.
This isn't going to go away folks. It will only get worse. And the scary part? One day people will be talking about 2006 and the way things were as "the good old days."
Just think about that for a moment.
"Mister Boffo" strip in Sunday's CV:
Boss is speaking.
"Krinalty quit, and he was the only one with all the facts and figures. There's no way we can put together the presentation without them. If only he'd had an assistant we wouldn't be in this mess.
"From now on, every project leader is gong to have an assistant backing him up with every single bit of information so this never happens again."
Cartoonist's comment: "The way things used to crash before computers were invented."
"Viewers will give you tons of credit for trying and being honest with them. It's 10x worse to not even try and ignore the issue."
8:47 AM
Couldn't agree more. The viewer will cheer you on if you come out, shrug your shoulders, and say "You won't believe what's going on here," explain, and promise to do your best.
Am I wrong, or was there never any mention on-air of the previous weekend's power outage?
If you all hate PA Morning so damn much, why do you even give a shit that it was a half hour late?
The producer was "deathly ill," the computer crashed, the company has made big cutbacks: yada, yada, yada.
No one wants to hear it. We want to hear what YOU did to make it work, to get the broadcast on the air. Whining doesn't count.
Does anyone remember when a fire in a nearby building forced WYOU out of their building in the 90s? Ended up doing the news from outside with the help of their production and sat truck...
"If you all hate PA Morning so damn much, why do you even give a shit that it was a half hour late?
10:47 PM"
Because some of us here are professionals, respect professionalism, and abhor the sorry state of television as perpetrated by WBRE and WYOU.
It's sad to see that "outsiders" care more about the debasement of the 22 and 28 broadcasts than the "insiders" who might actually be able to make things better.
TIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An escape from the christmas tree pkg frenzy
Where in the world is Howard or Matt Lauer?
Vince wouldn't have let this happen
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