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November 15, 2009
TV Profile: Leila Rahimi
You might know them or you might not, but chances are you have no idea what they watch. This week we hop onto the couch with a face familiar to sports fans. Next time it could be another television personality, a politician or an ordinary couch potato like you or me — check back to find out.
Leila Rahimi
KXAN Sports Reporter
Number of years in this position: 2
I love my job because: I get to cover people doing what they love, exercise my sense of humor, and show people’s kids doing great things on TV.
Here’s what’s on my DVR: I don’t have a DVR! Isn’t that terrible? Maybe this article will shame me into getting one. I watch shows online. Does that count? I guess I have to admit to what those are …
1. “Gossip Girl” on the CW (How’s THAT for honest?)
2. “E:60” (the fantastic ESPN magazine show)
3. I still tape sporting events. Yes, I said “tape.” As in “on VCR.”
My all-time favorite TV show is: “SportsCenter.”
You’ll never catch me watching: Scary movies. Hate them.
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: Anything Sci-Fi. I just can’t do the whole “suspension of disbelief” thing.
A current show I never miss is: Other than KXAN Austin News … “The Rachel Zoe Project” on Bravo. Woman can not live on sports alone.
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: ESPN or FSN Southwest.
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November 9, 2009
KVUE's Smith talks 'Good Morning America'
An article on Broadcasting & Cable’s Web site about the impending anchor moves at “Good Morning America” quotes KVUE president and general manager Patti Smith. The story asks ABC affiliates to weigh in on the replacement of Diane Sawyer when she takes the network’s evening news anchor chair in January.
Smith notes NBC’s smooth “Today” transition from Katie Couric to Meredith Vieira:
“They found the right person, an impeccable journalist and a terrific morning host [in Vieira],” she says. “If NBC can do it, then so can we.”
Who would you like to see as “GMA” anchor?
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November 3, 2009
Chris Pelikan comments on KEYE firing
“I just kind of wanted to put my side out there” Chris Pelikan tells me.
The former KEYE sports personality’s contract — he had been at the station since February 2008 — was terminated on Sept. 9 after the broadcast of a segment two nights earlier featuring interviews from the locker room of the Round Rock Express. Pelikan had operated the camera for and edited the segment, which showed a brief flash of nudity in its final seconds.
On Sept. 7, the day the segment was taped, KEYE Sports Director Bob Ballou suggested the pair head to the Dell Diamond to interview a few players who were being called up to the Houston Astros. Pelikan operated the camera while Ballou interviewed players. Pelikan had spent a lot of time in locker rooms throughout his career, he says, but he hadn’t operated a camera in one since college. (Pelikan says that he was asked to start shooting video about three months after he arrived at KEYE when the sports photographer was moved to news.)
Pelikan says that when he and Ballou got back to the station about 4:30 p.m. he edited the segment for broadcast on the 6 p.m. news, showing a group of interns how to use the equipment while he worked.
After the newscast, the KEYE sports department received an e-mail from a viewer pointing out that a player’s naked rear end could be seen in the background of the segment. Pelikan said he and Ballou immediately examined the piece.
“Sure enough, for probably the last second of the sound bite in the sort of deep recesses of the background, a guy sort of came from around the corner — like, after he had gotten out of the shower — and he sort of just turned around and flashed part of his butt,” Pelikan recalls, “for no more than a second, second and a half. And, honestly, not a single person who was working the control room or any part of the show noticed it.”
Pelikan says Ballou responded to the viewer’s e-mail, apologizing and promising greater vigilance. “And we thought that was kind of the end of it.”
The next morning, the station received another e-mail. Pelikan said the content was basically the same as that of the first message, with the writer noting that he or she was not offended, but that somebody might have been.
That’s when Pelikan says KEYE News Director Suzanne Black first contacted him about the matter, forwarding the message to Pelikan and Ballou, asking them for an explanation.
“I responded first, saying I shot it, I edited it, it was my fault,” Pelikan says. He explained the time crunch and apologized. “I took responsibility for it; I said I was sorry.” He says that when Black told him they would have to talk further, he began to realize how serious the matter was.
“And it wasn’t like I didn’t take it seriously, because I understand obscenity and all that sort of thing,” he says. “But it was a complete and total oversight and you really almost had to be looking for it to see it. “
When management had him anchor the 6 and 10 p.m. shows that day, he thought things would be OK.
On Sep. 9, Pelikan met with Black and KEYE President and General Manager Amy Villarreal in Villarreal’s office. He says Villarreal spent the first few minutes of the meeting praising Ballou and Pelikan’s chemistry and their work.
“But we’re going to have to terminate your contract today,” Pelikan remembers her suddenly saying.
“And I honestly lost my breath for a few minutes. I couldn’t believe it,” Pelikan says.
He says that Villarreal brought up the possibility of a fine from the Federal Communications Commission, telling him the offense was grounds for dismissal. “She gave me a letter of termination that she wanted me to sign, and I wasn’t about to sign anything at that point in time, “ he remembers, “because I couldn’t just sit there and believe that what they were doing was right, or legal even.”
But “contracts work the way contracts work,” he tells me, “and technically I did violate a station policy on obscenity. The whole thing was just very difficult for me to accept because I felt like I had done a lot to help out that station.”
He says that the last time he had been in Villarreal’s office was four or five months earlier, when the station manager had asked him to pass on his contractual raise to help the station out in these tough economic times. “And I did it in two seconds because I thought it was the right thing to do for the station.”
He says he felt blindsided by the termination.
“I’m sitting there with a 4-week-old baby thinking, ‘how the heck am I going to provide for her? How am I going to have insurance for her?’ “ he says.
He tells me that his daughter, now 12 weeks old, is the twinkle in his eye these days. “It’s been a real nice silver lining to this whole cloud — that I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with her.”
I ask Pelikan if he hates Janet Jackson, whose wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl is regularly credited with increasing standards scrutiny for broadcast television.
“Her name came up in the meeting,” he laughs.
He says he never had a performance review that came back without excellent marks. “The only time Suzanne or Amy would come and talk to us was to say ‘Stop working so hard. You guys are killing yourselves; you’re going to burn yourselves out.”
I ask him if he feels that the punishment fit the crime.
“I guess this is negligence. But I feel like I did everything that I was asked to do there and then some and for something like this to be the end, no,” he says. “I can’t believe that they thought a punishment like this was the right way to go.”
Would he be upset if one of his children saw something similar to the segment in question on the news someday?
“Obviously, I would prefer that my child not be introduced to anything on television of any sort of sexual nature before I feel they’re ready for that,” he says. “And I am sincere when I say that if someone was sitting there or their child was sitting there and that caused a difficult moment, I sincerely apologize for that. You figure if you turn on the 6 o’clock news you’re not going to see something like that.
“But it’s hard for me to look at it that way, because I feel like so few people — even those who were watching — saw it. I don’t know how many people were watching that day and how many saw it, but we got two e-mails on it. I don’t know how many you got.”
I received one.
Pelikan says he’s had an offer to return to his native St. Louis to do a radio show, but says that family issues make that unlikely. His father has spent his life in medical sales, so he’s got feelers out in that industry. He has applied for a few PR jobs, but he hasn’t heard much back.
“It’s a tough economy right now,” he says, “and here I am trying to switch careers with a resume that just has TV on it. I think patience is going to have to be an important thing for me right now.”
It took Pelikan almost two months to begin receiving unemployment compensation. “Fortunately, the Texas Workforce Commission didn’t agree with (KEYE’s) assertion that I engaged in ‘gross misconduct’ and approved my claim,” he says.
Pelikan doesn’t want to leave Austin, but if it comes to that he would consider relocating to St. Louis or to Dallas, where his wife’s family lives. Regardless of what happens, he will have fond memories of Austin.
“My time here has been wonderful,” he says. “It’s a very special breed of person who lives down here. No matter what happens professionally, I will always love Austin and I will always treasure my time here. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Villarreal declined to comment on the record about Pelikan’s dismissal.
“As always our policy is not comment on personnel issues,” wrote Jerry Wagley, KEYE’s director of creative services. “It would be unfair to our staff and their privacy to do that.”
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October 21, 2009
KXAN launches 'MyAustinTV', sports programming
MyNetwork TV is back. The programming had shared a signal with The CW and has not had a local home since LIN-TV’s Austin NBC affiliate KXAN dropped it in favor of a 9 p.m. local newscast in mid-September (MyNetwork TV has recently dropped its network model, becoming a syndicated programming provider).
KXAN today launched “MyAustinTV,” which station President and General Manager Eric Lassberg is calling a MyNetwork TV partner station. The content will broadcast in high definition on KBVO-TV (digital channel 14), a full-power television station that formerly simulcast KXAN.
Sports fans should be happy — much of MyAustinTV’s content will cater to them.
The channel will air San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball games, Houston Texans NFL pre-season games and Big 12 college basketball games, including University of Texas Longhorn basketball games. The station will also air other UT sports programming, including “Longhorn Sports Center Weekly.” In addition, MyAustinTV has the capability to air live UT sports such as baseball, women’s basketball and softball.
MyNetwork TV’s primetime programming kicks in at 7 p.m. and includes such shows as “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Unit” and “WWE Smackdown.”
“MyAustinTV is dedicated to providing local and regional sports and entertainment programming to Central Texas,” Lassberg said. “We especially want to thank the University of Texas, the San Antonio Spurs and our other partners in the community for helping us provide viewers with their favorite local content.”
Beginning today, MyAustinTV can be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 1525 on the HD tier and on DirecTV on channel 51. Launches on Grande Communications (channel 18 and 318), Suddenlink and AT&T Uverse will happen “soon,” Lassberg says. Digital over-the-air consumers can pick up KBVO on channel 14.
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October 12, 2009
New meteorologist joins KVUE weather team
Chief Meteorologist Mark Murray announced via Facebook that Albert Ramon has joined the KVUE Storm Team. Here’s Mark’s post:
My thanks to Ilona and Micah McCauley for doing a little fill-in work for us over the past few weeks! Now, help me welcome the newest member of the KVUE Storm Team, Albert Ramon! Albert is from Corpus Christi, where he worked as the Chief Meteorologist at KZTV. Albert will normally be working our weekend newscasts, but will be filling in for Meghan on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. He’s on Facebook, too!
Here’s a link to Albert’s bio on the KZTV Web site. Some highlights:
— Grew up in Beeville, Texas
— Studied Atmospheric Science at Texas A&M University
— Received his Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications in Media Studies from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
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October 5, 2009
JB and Sandy make KEYE TV debut
Radio personalities JB and Sandy of Mix 94.7 made their daily television debut this morning on KEYE. The CBS television affiliate recently axed its morning news program, moving anchor Fred Cantu to Spanish-language Telemundo and co-anchor Michelle Valles to the station’s new 4 p.m. lifestyle show.
Airing from 6-7 a.m., the show — a simulcast of the duo’s morning radio program — is pretty much what you’d expect. It features the pair shooting the breeze, along with sidekick Alex Franco. Sara Osburn joins in the discussion and handles the newsier aspects of the telecast.
Four people sitting around a table, wearing headphones and talking into microphones … it’s not much of a television show (visuals amounted to still photos and file footage) but who really sits in front of the TV for a solid hour on a weekday morning? You’re getting ready for work or getting the kids ready for school and you really just want some chatter in the background with occasional weather and traffic breaks (this morning’s show had three, deftly handled by KEYE’s Kelly Slifka).
The four personalities have an easy rapport, but the chatter — this morning centering on David Letterman, the Austin City Limits festival and the worst Austin intersections for traffic — didn’t seem particularly amusing or insightful. Let’s cut the quartet some slack, though, it must be odd for radio guys to suddenly have cameras thrust upon them. Sandy seemed a little nervous and Sara kept glancing up at the overhead camera. Franco was too comfortable, twisting back and forth in his chair. Only JB seemed perfectly at ease, and I’m sure the others will come along.
Interestingly, toward the end of the broadcast, Sandy betrayed a radio reflex: to call Alex over, he waved his hand and silently motioned for him, then whispered to him off mic while a caller complained about a particularly snarled intersection. This is the kind of thing that’s best kept from radio listeners but sticks out like a sore thumb to television viewers. JB and Sandy are going to have to figure out how to reconcile their approach to two separate and distinct audiences.
Toward the end of the show, Sandy teased a segment that would be coming up at 7:15, after the televised portion would have concluded. It was a smart move … clearly they hope people will hop into their cars for their commutes and tune to the Mix. They never even said goodbye to their television audience; that duty was left to Slifka.
As a whole, the broadcast reminded me of the water cooler chit-chat you hear (or participate in) when you arrive at the office. It’s fun to listen to, but I’m not sure why I wouldn’t just turn on the radio.
Note: Sandy McIlree was kind enough to contact me and thanks me for my comments. He also pointed out that I had confused him with JB Hager. Oops. I think I’ve swapped all the references above; they should be correct now. And I’ve got the visual, so I won’t make that mistake again. See? The simulcast is already paying off!
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October 4, 2009
TV Profile: Leslie Rhode
You might know them or you might not, but chances are you have no idea what they watch. This week we hop onto the couch with a local anchor. Next week it could be a different television personality, a politician or an ordinary couch potato — check back to find out.
Leslie Rhode
Co-anchor/Reporter KXAN Austin News
Number of years in this position: 10 months this time around (I held the same position previously for 3 years.)
I love my job because: It allows me to never stop learning, and it’s here in Austin!
Here’s what’s on my DVR: a couple of old college football games, KXAN Austin News and Jack’s Big Music Show (Noggin)
My all-time favorite TV show is: The Carol Burnett Show (I have great memories of watching it as a child with my parents.)
You’ll never catch me watching: really scary movies or boxing
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: any program on a home shopping network
A current show I never miss is: KXAN Austin News
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: I’d like to say KXAN, but since I have two preschool children, the TV is usually on Noggin, Playhouse Disney or PBS.
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October 1, 2009
Cantu debuts on Telemundo; Retro TV disappears
Veteran newscaster Fred Cantu kicks off his new gig as anchor of “Conteo Noticias,” a Spanish language newscast, on Austin CBS affiliate KEYE’s Telemundo 42.2 today. The program airs at 5 and 10 p.m.
U.S. Spanish-language television network Telemundo produces content for Hispanics including primetime novelas, news, and weekend primetime movie showcases.
“We are very excited that our new partnership with Telemundo allows us to serve Central Texas’ growing Hispanic viewer base,” KEYE President and General Manager Amy Villarreal said in a press release.
Cantu, known as “Uncle Fred” to his fans, began his career at KTBC-TV in 1990 and has been an Austin anchor for almost 20 years (and at KEYE since 2002). The morning newscast he recently co-anchored with Michelle Valles was cancelled and Valles was moved to KEYE’s new 4 p.m. lifestyle program, “We Are Austin Live” with Jason Wheeler (the morning news slot will be filled by a simulcast of local radio duo JB and Sandy beginning Monday, Oct. 5). News of Cantu’s departure generated many comments on his Facebook page, with some fans expressing outrage and others simply wishing him well.
“Conteo Noticias” is co-anchored by Emmy-nominated Karla Leal, who brings Telemundo experience with her to Austin, having anchored and reported on Bakersfield, California’s KKEY-TV, Telemundo 11. Reporter Erika Gonzalez comes to Austin from the Rio Grande Valley where she was an anchor on XRIO-TV, Fox 2 News and reported on Univision 48. Villarreal heaped praise on the trio, noting their strong ties to the Hispanic community.
Also beginning today, Telemundo 42.2 viewers can watch Telemundo Sports, including Futbol Liga Mexicana on Futbol Estelar and Futbol Telemundo, as well as the most Mexican League Soccer broadcasts.
An unfortunate byproduct of the switch is the loss of Retro TV, which had been broadcast on the channel previously. KEYE spokesman Jerry Wagley lamented the loss, which had a small but loyal viewership (the station received calls whenever they ran a notice that Retro TV was going away, Wagley said).
“We would have loved to have kept it because of that following,” Wagley noted, but he pointed out that although some Retro TV shows got traction, the programming as a whole hadn’t moved in the ratings. “It wasn’t working for us,” he explained.
Since Retro TV is provided by a syndicator, the programming could be picked up by another local broadcaster, but none has announced plans to do so.
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September 23, 2009
Cantu's Telemundo newscasts begin October 1
KEYE finally announced what we’ve suspected for some time … Fred Cantu, local news stalwart and recent co-anchor of KEYE’s morning newscast, will anchor the new Spanish language newscasts on Telemundo 42.2.
New details on the 30-minute program, called “Conteo Noticias,” include the announcement of Karla Leal as co-anchor and the air time of the newscasts, 5:00 and 10 p.m. weekdays. Erika Gonzalez will serve as a reporter during the live newscasts.
Read KEYE’s full announcement after the jump.
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September 21, 2009
KXAN's 9 p.m. newscast debuts tonight on The CW
KXAN Austin News will premiere tonight at 9 p.m. on The CW, a week earlier than originally planned (The CW is KNVA, Time Warner cable channel 12 and HD cable channel 1550). Veteran reporter Shannon Wolfson will anchor the shorter, more concise newscasts.
“Our new 9pm newscast on The CW Austin offers great local news coverage and the area’s most popular local weather forecast in 30 minutes, 7 days a week,” says Eric Lassberg, president and general manager, KXAN-TV, KNVA-TV and KBVO-TV. “It reflects our ongoing commitment to provide viewers with more options and convenience.”
KXAN Austin News at 9pm will be followed by episodes of The Office at 9:30pm Monday through Sunday.
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TV Profile: Crestina Chavez
Each week we hop on the couch to find out what you’re watching. Check back every Monday to see who’s next.
Crestina Chavez
News 8 Austin Evening Anchor
Number of years in this position: 3-1/2 years; at News 8 Austin for almost 7 years.
I love my job because: There’s nothing more intriguing than meeting the characters in Austin that make it such a great place to live. I also love working in the town I grew up in.
Here’s what’s on my DVR: Last season’s final episode of “Lost,” just in case I ever get the urge to make sense of it all; last season’s final episode of “CSI” and “CSI: NY,” I WILL get around to watching them before the season begins; the latest episodes of “Monk” and “Psych”; a ridiculous number of episodes of “Yo Gabba Gabba” and “Little Einsteins” for my 2 year old to enjoy.
My all-time favorite TV show is: “The Dick Van Dyke Show” — classic!
You’ll never catch me watching: I’m not a big fan of reality TV — so no “Bachelor,” “Survivor,” “Fear Factor,” “Amazing Race,” or “America’s Top Model” for me. Having said that, I LOVE “American Idol”!
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: I’ll watch reruns of “CSI,” “Law & Order,” or “Law & Order: SVU.” It has to be a rerun or I’ll end up watching it.
A current show I never miss is: Thank goodness for DVR or I’d miss all my shows! My husband and I always watch “The Office,” “Lost” and “24” together. But, my guilty pleasure that I end up watching all by myself … “Grey’s Anatomy”.
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: Probably Channel 875! (The DVR Channel). Seriously, working at night means I have a lot of catching up to do. I watch “News 8 Austin” when I get ready for work. I do watch a ridiculous amount of ESPN.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Local news, Local people on TV, TV Profile
September 18, 2009
Austin stations get Lone Star Emmy nominations
The Lone Star Emmy Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced its nominations for the 7th Annual Lone Star Emmy Awards.
KLRU, Austin’s PBS affiliate, led Austin television outlets with 12 nominations, including 5 for programs or program segments from “Downtown,” the series produced in conjunction with Downtown Austin Alliance & Action Figure Studios. The station received another pair of nominations for episodes of “Texas Monthly Talks.”
Producer Elena Ramirez’ “Gifted/Talented Awareness Spot” was nominated for Community/Public Service (PSA) — Single Spot/Campaign; Editor Dutch Rall was nominated for Editor — Program (Non-News) for “Deja Donne: Deja View”; and Journalist Patricio Espinoza’s “The Women of ‘Fuerza Unida’ ” received a nod for Historic/Cultural — News Single Story/Series/Feature.
ABC affiliate KVUE received a trio of nods: one each for anchors Terri Gruca and Tyler Sieswerda and a Spot News nomination for a feature called “Mansion Fire.”
Fox affiliate KTBC received a nomination for a Single-Spot Program Promotion titled “So Justified” (Carissa Green, Producer/Editor) and Univision affiliate KAKW’s “Asi Quiero A Mi Presidente” (Juan Jose Rodas, News Reporter) was nominated for News Single Story/Series/Feature in Politics or Government.
The Lone Star Emmys will be awarded Saturday, October 17, 2009 in Dallas.
Read the list of Austin nominees after the jump, and the complete list on the Lone Star Emmy Web site.
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September 17, 2009
Cantu's last KEYE morning newscast is Friday
Fred Cantu wants you to tune in to his final newscast on KEYE Friday morning.
“Roll those DVRs Friday for the final KEYE TV Morning News. Radio’s JB & Sandy take over the time slot on Oct 5,” Cantu wrote on his Facebook page. Earlier, he wrote, “Just today & Friday left on the morning news before we vacate to make room for radio’s JB & Sandy. Roll those DVRs.”
Cantu would not comment when I asked if he had anything to say to his fans. He referred me to KEYE general manager Amy Villarreal, who did not return calls or e-mail messages. Cantu responded only sparingly to the comments his posts generated — many of which expressed dismay at his departure and disbelief about his replacement with a simulcast of JB & Sandy’s Mix 94.7 radio show beginning Oct. 5.
“Can’t imagine what the station is thinking! The last thing I’d ever do is ‘watch’ two radio people on tv. There’s a reason we have different medias!” one commenter posted. “Radio DJ’s on TV as NEWS CASTERS? Bad move on the station’s part. What the heck are they thinking??” read another typical response.
Many of the comments wished the venerable and beloved broadcaster well and asked about his future. KEYE will not comment on Cantu’s status nor his rumored transfer to its new venture with Telemundo. Cantu’s posts included this link to a Sept. 2 press release about KEYE’s changes, including this information: “Anchor Fred Cantu will remain at the station; his new role is yet to be announced.”
Cantu’s last KEYE morning broadcast is Friday from 5-7 a.m.
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September 15, 2009
KEYE kicks off 'We Are Austin Live' at 4 p.m. today
Co-hosts Jason Wheeler and Michelle Valles rehearse the opening of “We Are Austin Live.” (weareaustin.com photo)
Austin CBS affiliate KEYE kicks off its new lifestyle show, “We Are Austin Live,” today at 4 p.m. The show stars former morning show co-anchor Michelle Valles and Jason Wheeler, former weekend news anchor. The show was originally slated to debut Monday, Sept. 14, but was delayed a day due to televised tennis.
“It is unlike any other show I’ve ever worked on in my 11 year television career,” Valles wrote in her blog. “We were given some talk orders to create fun-paced show using limited resources. And our production crew has done a fabulous job rolling with the punches. It is going to be a great time.”
Valles told me the show would focus on lifestyle subjects and community events. “We are taking a major leap of faith,” she said, “but knowing our personalities it is going to be a lot of fun! And it’s going to look different; we are going to dress very casual and hip, and there will be very little news.”
Is now the right time for less news and more entertainment? Take a look today and let me know what you think.
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Review: The Jay Leno Show
Well that was … uneventful — safe, pleasant enough, not hilarious — yep, Jay is back.
Jay Leno’s new, nightly prime-time comedy show debuted Monday night and it was a lot like Jay Leno’s old, late-night comedy show. Oh, the desk and couch were gone (replaced with two easy chairs) and Leno did his popular “headlines” segment at the end of the show instead of the beginning, but otherwise, you’d hardly know the difference.
The show opened on a particularly low-key note that failed to live up to the hype. Jay was announced, walked out and slapped hands with a few audience members standing at the foot of the stage. They then awkwardly returned to their seats (weird) while the host delivered a standard-issue, topical monologue. A taped “Cheaters” segment with Leno confronting his band leader Kevin Eubanks (cavorting in the park with a Leno look-alike) was one of the funnier pieces of the night, although it had an odd, homophobic undercurrent.
The segment with musical comedians The Dan Band (“The Hangover”) was really long, as they serenaded a young woman while her car was washed. That bit was marginally funny, but it’s going to get old fast (and, frankly, it seemed more “Conan” than Jay, except Conan would have done it himself instead of sending out hired guns).
I like Jerry Seinfeld (he’s hilarious later this season on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) but I have to admit I agreed with his confession to Jay that, when he heard that Jay had chosen him as his first guest, he was a bit disappointed. As the tuxedo-clad Seinfeld put it, “I haven’t been on TV in 11 years.” Jerry had a few good lines: referring to Leno’s return, the comic said, “In the ’90s, when we quit a show, we actually left. But not in the Brett Favre, Lance Armstrong double o’s.” Jay asked Jerry leading questions that allowed the comic to launch into a few well-rehearsed bits, including parts of his stand up routine and a short segment with Oprah Winfrey that was more than a little too obvious.
A faux interview with President Barack Obama that spliced Jay’s questions with answers from an actual Obama appearance (pretty lame but technically well-done) was followed by Kanye West, who caused a stir Monday night by stealing the spotlight from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards. Leno practically made the contrite musical guest cry by asking him how his mother would have reacted to the VMA incident, then immediately and enthusiastically asked him if he was ready to sing. Nice, Jay. And by nice, I mean nice and awkward. This is the kind of situation that David Letterman deals with really well; Leno just wasn’t up to it.
The most interesting thing that happened all night was that KXAN cut smack into the middle of West’s performance (with Jay-Z and Rihanna) to promote its upcoming newscast’s top stories, then cut back to the end of the song. I’m assuming it was a timing glitch, but after watching the show I wouldn’t blame the station for wanting to grab any remaining viewers before they fell asleep (and besides, there’s something poetically just about West’s moment in the spotlight getting interrupted). NBC affiliates across the country are worried about Leno providing a weak lead-in to their local newscasts and I now think that fear is justified. “The Jay Leno Show” had little competition tonight, going up against reruns and movies. But the fall season is here and it’ll be up against real programming soon.
The show-closing “headlines” segment scared me for a minute: Jay used to do this piece at the top of the show and, for a second, I was afraid that I’d have to sit through another 40 minutes or so.
I’m not a big Leno fan and I’ll admit that I did not go into Monday’s debut with high hopes. That said, Jay didn’t even meet my low expectations. Twitter commentary was brutal: “You couldn’t pay me to watch Leno every night. He’s the least funny thing on TV,” one Austin Twitterer wrote during the show. “It’s just boring. Missed first part of monolog. So far haven’t seen anything funny. If Seinfeld isn’t on soon, it’s good bye Jay,” another local tweet read. But Jay’s not going anywhere. The show is cheap to produce and doesn’t need to win its time slot to be considered successful.
That’s the financial bottom line. The bottom line for viewers is this: if you liked “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (and a lot of people did) you’ll probably like “The Jay Leno Show.” If you weren’t a fan before, there’s nothing new here. Move along.
Did you watch the show? Will you tune in again? Sound off!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV, Local news, Random thoughts
September 14, 2009
Pelikan off the air at KEYE
KEYE, Austin’s CBS television affiliate, has pulled weekend sports anchor and sports reporter Chris Pelikan from its roster. According to sources close to the station, Pelikan was dismissed Sept. 8 following a Sept. 7 broadcast from the locker room of the Round Rock Express. During that segment, a brief moment of nudity aired in the background of an interview shot.
KEYE management did not return repeated phone calls requesting comment on Pelikan’s firing, which is reminiscent of the station’s dismissal of sports anchor Robert Flores in 2004. In that instance, a tape was aired that found Flores muttering an expletive under his breath. Similarly, neither KEYE nor parent company Viacom would comment on that matter, although a Viacom spokesman at that time cited the group’s “zero tolerance” for these types of incidents.
Sources expressed regret and shock over the firing of Pelikan, whose wife recently gave birth to the couple’s first child. A Midwest native, Pelikan joined KEYE in February 2008.
All traces of Pelikan have been wiped from the station’s Web site, but an archived copy can be seen by clicking here.
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September 7, 2009
TV Profile: Quita Culpepper
You might know them, but do you know what they watch? This week we hop on the couch with our first KVUE victim. Check back each Monday to see who’s next.
KVUE Reporter/Weekend Daybreak Anchor
Number of years in this position: almost 11 years (I started at KVUE in Nov. 1998). Time flies when you’re having fun!
I love my job because: I’m a storyteller at heart — not only do I get to bring interesting, compelling issues to the forefront, I get to meet so many great people, and every day is something new and different
Here’s what’s on my DVR: Iron Chef, Dr. Who, Being Human and The Soup
My all-time favorite TV show is: Family Guy — funny, raunchy genius!
You’ll never catch me watching: Jon and Kate Plus 8
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: A golf tournament. Zzzzzzzz
A current show I never miss is: Private Practice
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to: BBC America or the Food Network
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September 5, 2009
The weather doesn't change -- just the KVUE weather staff
In the wake of weekend weatherman (say that five times fast!) George Kanuck’s exit from KVUE — his last appearances were August 30; he left to take a job outside of television — you’re probably seeing a familiar face.
Ilona McCauley (you may remember her as Ilona Torok) has temporarily rejoined KVUE while the station continues to search for a new weekend meteorologist. She’s on Weekend Daybreak weather for about a month, much to the delight of Quita Culpepper, anchor of that show (“Yay!” Culpepper writes on her Facebook page; the anchor will be the subject of this blog’s TV Profile feature next Monday, Sept. 7).
“These days, Ilona is a science teacher in one of our local schools. She loves it!” says KVUE chief meteorologist Mark Murray. “And, speaking of science teachers, I heard from Tom Harris the other day (Harris, former weekend meteorologist & environmental reporter, left KVUE in June). He’s now an 8th grade science teacher in Corpus Christi. I think it’s great that two former members of the ‘KVUE Storm Team’ are now science teachers. It says a lot about the quality of the people that I’ve been fortunate enough to work with at KVUE over the years.”
What do you think? Are you happy Ilona’s back? Will you miss Kanuck? Sound off, below!
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September 4, 2009
The KEYE puzzle comes together
Michelle Valles, Sandy McIlree, Jason Wheeler, J.B. Hager and Fred Cantu: one big, happy KEYE family?
A puzzle piece stream of KEYE announcements over the past week — through social media channels such as Facebook and official press releases — have interlocked into a more or less coherent picture of what’s happening at the Austin television station.
On August 26, Michelle Valles announced on her Facebook page that she would be leaving KEYE’s morning newscast to co-anchor a new, lifestyle-oriented show on that channel.
“Happy to announce I will co-hosting our new lifestyle show on KEYE TV beginning Sept. 14th at 4pm. No more 2am wake up calls! More details to come. Stay tuned:),” Valles wrote.
She later revealed that her co-host would be KEYE weekend anchor Jason Wheeler.
Okay, so what about the morning show? Who would be Valles’ replacement? Would co-anchor Fred Cantu go it alone?
The list of questions only increased 5 days later when KEYE sent out a press release stating that it would begin to air Telemundo programming on Channel 42.2 beginning Oct. 1, displacing the Retro TV network.
Anchors for the Telemundo signal’s two Spanish language newscasts — weekdays at 5 and 10 p.m. — would be announced soon, KEYE president and general manager Amy Villarreal said.
It wasn’t a big leap to imagine Cantu anchoring a Telemundo newscast, a good idea that became even more obvious with Wednesday’s announcement that KEYE would be canceling the morning newscast and replacing it with a one-hour simulcast of radio’s JB & Sandy show (and leaving local news legend Cantu without a gig).
Re-enter Valles, who announced, again via Facebook, that Cantu would be anchoring at Telemundo.
KEYE management will neither confirm nor deny that information. “A press release has not been sent out regarding this,” is all Jerry Wagley, KEYE’s director of creative services, would say via e-mail.
If it’s true, it seems like all of the talent wins: Valles gets a sweet lifestyle gig that suits her personality; the cherished Cantu becomes the face of Telemundo in Austin; Wheeler gets a nice weekday slot; KEYE gets more exposure in Austin’s ever-expanding Spanish language market; and JB and Sandy get their mugs on TV for an hour a day.
It’s a bit frustrating that information from a trusted news source was disseminated in such a piecemeal fashion, but aside from official word on Cantu’s fate, the only remaining question seems to be: what will viewers think?
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September 2, 2009
JB & Sandy bringing their act to KEYE-TV
UPDATE: Michelle Valles is posting, via Facebook, that KEYE morning co-anchor Fred Cantu will be assigned to KEYE partner Telemundo. Valles announced last week, in a similar fashion, that she would be leaving the KEYE morning newscast to co-host a 4 p.m. lifestyle show with weekend anchor Jason Wheeler.
Details to follow.
==============
Austin’s award-winning morning radio talk show “JB and Sandy in the Morning” will be aired on KEYE-TV live every morning beginning October 5. KEYE-TV cameras will be in the studio every morning with the talk show hosts for the first hour (6am  7am) of their four-hour radio show.
Here is KEYE’s press release:
Austin, Texas (September 2, 2009) - KEYE-TV, the CBS affiliate serving the Austin market, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Entercom Communications and KAMX-FM “Mix 94.7” to launch Austin’s first television broadcast of the JB and Sandy in the Morning radio show beginning October 5, 2009 at 6:00 am CT on Channel 42.
Amy Villarreal, President and General Manager of KEYE, commented, “As most of our viewers are aware, Austin has four great television news morning shows that are all essentially the same. Through KEYE¹s unique partnership with Entercom, KAMX, and the JB and Sandy radio morning show, we will offer our early morning Central Texas viewers and advertisers an innovative, entertaining approach to morning television.”
JB and Sandy in the Morning launched in January 1996 and is hosted by morning team personalities JB and Sandy, sidekick Alex Franco (Digitz) and features Sara Osburn and Cassiday Proctor. The award-winning show has emerged as a leading radio morning show in Austin with its compelling blend of humor, reality and listener involvement and interaction and airs weekday mornings from 6:00 am to 10:00 am on Mix 94.7 and worldwide at mix947.com.
During the KEYE-TV television broadcasts, KEYE¹s morning meteorologist Kelly Slifka will provide live local weather and traffic updates from the KEYE-TV studios.
In addition to hosting one of Austin’s leading morning shows, JB and Sandy have used the show as a platform to underscore their commitment to community service and their loyal listeners. Over the past 12 years, their “Bikes for Kids” program has raised more than one million dollars and put more than 10,000 new bicycles in the hands of Central Texas children in need. Recently, they raised $600,000 for a Child Life Activity Center on the oncology floor of the Dell Children¹s Hospital.
“There are only a handful of radio personalities across the country that engage their listeners, serve their communities and deliver superior advertiser results like JB and Sandy,” said Nancy Vaeth-DuBroff, Vice-President & Market Manager for Entercom Austin. “Partnering with KEYE-TV and CBS will allow JB and Sandy to reach a larger audience, thus benefiting our valuable advertisers, listeners and viewers and the local Austin community.”
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August 31, 2009
KEYE to air Telemundo programming on Channel 42.2
KEYE is going bilingual.
The station will air Telemundo programming on Channel 42.2 beginning Oct. 1, displacing the Retro TV network. CBS shows will continue to be shown on Channel 42.1.
KEYE will produce two local newscasts in Spanish — airing weekdays at 5 and 10 p.m. — for the Telemundo signal. Anchors will be announced soon, according to president and general manager Amy Villarreal.
“Approximately 23 percent of viewers in Central Texas are Hispanic and this demographic continues to grow,” Villarreal said in a news release. “KEYE-TV’s Telemundo programming will ensure that the market’s Spanish speaking audience is both entertained and informed.”
Austin is currently the largest city in Texas — and one of the largest cities in the nation — without a Telemundo affiliate. Cable viewers, however, have been able to watch a national feed.
The Univision network, another Spanish broadcaster, can be seen locally on KAKW Channel 62. It, too, offers local news and has posted significant ratings gains in recent years. Telefutura, an offshoot of Univision, has a local presence as well, and KVUE will add the Estrella network on a digital subchannel soon.
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TV Profile: Michelle Valles
You might know them, but do you know what they watch? This week we hop on the couch with a friendly face from KEYE who is about to switch jobs. Check back each Monday to see who’s next.
Michelle Valles
Morning news co-anchor at KEYE 42
Number of years in this position: 11 years of broadcast journalism, 8 months at KEYE.
I love my job because: I get to interview incredible people and share stories with thousands of viewers (getting a press pass or access doesn’t hurt either)
Here’s what’s on my DVR: KEYE mornings shows, Austin City Limits featuring Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel, and HBO series Weeds and Hung (my boyfriend recorded those)
My all-time favorite TV show is: Austin City Limits
You’ll never catch me watching: Soap operas ( unless they are mexican novelas) or Nancy Grace
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: Golf
A current show I never miss is: CBS Sunday Morning News
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: KEYE 42 or PBS (KLRU)
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August 28, 2009
FOX 7 features football on Fridays
Today, Austin’s FOX 7 (KTBC) kicks off HomeTeam Fridays. Each week throughout the 2009 high school football season, the FOX 7 News team will visit different towns and local neighborhoods around Central Texas.
Throughout the day, the station’s newscasts will feature the local school and its events, history, places and faces. Evening newscasts will include in-depth coverage of the featured school’s team as well as a look at their mascot, bands and fans. On location each week will be FOX 7 Chief Meteorologist Scott Fisher or Mike Warren, anchor of FOX 7 NEWS EDGE at 5:00 and 9:00 p.m.
This year, viewers can get in on the game: FOX 7 will let them vote for their school to be part of HomeTeam Friday in an online poll at MyFoxAustin.com. The poll is divided by district and the winners will be visited on 9/18 (5A), 10/9 (4A) and 10/30 (3A). At the site, viewers can also upload photos showing their team spirit.
This week, the focus is on Liberty Hill, where the Panthers take on the Giddings Buffaloes tonight. Here’s the schedule for September and early October:
8/28 Giddings @ Liberty Hill
9/4 San Marcos @ Bastrop
9/11 Austin @ Westwood
9/18 FIRST POLL WINNER - 5A
9/25 Lexington@ Lago Vista
10/2 McNeil @ Cedar Park
10/9 SECOND POLL WINNER - 4A
The FOX 7 team will be visiting the town listed in boldface.
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August 27, 2009
KXAN launches 9pm newscast on The CW
From KXAN’s press release:
(Austin, TX) - KXAN-TV announced today that beginning September 28, 2009, the station will air KXAN Austin News at 9pm on KNVA-TV, The CW Austin (Time Warner cable channel 12 and HD cable channel 1550).
This expansion of local news and weather coverage an hour earlier furthers the KXAN Austin News commitment to serve Central Texas according to the viewers’ schedules.
KXAN Austin News at 9pm will better serve the Austin area through shorter and more concise newscasts. For example, Jim Spencer’s First Warning Weather forecast and all the day’s important stories will air in 30 minutes, as opposed to the standard 60-minute 9pm newscasts that air on other television stations.
“Our new 9pm newscast on The CW Austin offers great local news coverage and the area’s most popular local weather forecast in 30 minutes, 7 days a week,” says Eric Lassberg, president and general manager, KXAN-TV, KNVA-TV and KBVO-TV. “It reflects our ongoing commitment to provide viewers with more options and convenience.”
Veteran reporter, Shannon Wolfson has been chosen to anchor KXAN Austin News at 9pm. Wolfson has been a reliable, award-winning reporter for KXAN Austin News for the past three years.
KXAN Austin News at 9pm will be followed by episodes of The Office at 9:30pm Monday through Sunday.
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August 26, 2009
Michelle Valles announces new KEYE gig
Michelle Valles announced today via a posting on her page at the social media networking site Facebook that she is changing jobs at KEYE:
“Happy to announce I will co-hosting our new lifestyle show on KEYE TV beginning Sept. 14th at 4pm. No more 2am wake up calls! More details to come. Stay tuned:),” Valles wrote.
Valles joined KEYE on December 17, 2008, co-anchoring the morning newscast with veteran personality Fred Cantu. Previously, Valles had worked at KXAN.
In a follow-up conversation, she was scant on details, saying the new program would focus on lifestyle and community events and that she and co-host Jason Wheeler (KEYE weekend anchor) are trading news for entertainment reporting.
“We are taking a major leap of faith,” Valles said, “but knowing our personalities it is going to be a lot of fun! And it’s going to look different; we are going to dress very casual and hip, and there will be very little news.”
Valles’ Facebook posting drew dozens of congratulatory comments, including one which noted that Valles and Wheeler will be going head-to-head with Oprah Winfrey.
“Thanks amigos!! Your support means so much,” Valles wrote. “This is exactly what I want and I get to co-host with Jason Wheeler. Fred (Cantu) is solid and will hold the fort down solo for a while. I will of course miss the crew but not the crazy hours!”
In July, Austin360.com readers named Cantu and Valles the top morning news anchors with 45 percent of the vote.
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August 24, 2009
TV Profile: Robert Hadlock
You might know them, but do you know what they watch? This week we hop on the couch with a familiar face from KXAN. Check back each Monday to see who’s next.
Robert Hadlock
Weeknight news co-anchor at KXAN Austin News
Number of years in this position: 19
I love my job because: I work with a great team on the air and behind the scenes. Plus, I’ve had opportunities to do some really neat things.
Here’s what’s on my DVR: 5 episodes of Man vs Food; the final episode of Friday Night Lights from season 3; a news blooper from a competing station; Big Brother (for Mrs. Hadlock); Fr. John Corapi; 3 or 4 movies that we were going to “finish watching later.”
My all-time favorite TV show is: Friday Night Lights
You’ll never catch me watching: The Daily Show
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: The Larry King Show
A current show I never miss is: The PGA Tour on NBC/CBS
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: KXAN (except for Kathie Lee and Hoda’s 4th hour of TODAY)
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August 10, 2009
TV Profile: Scott Fisher
You might know them, but do you know what they watch? A prominent meteorologist kicks off our series of local personalities and their viewing habits, but it could be anybody: a television personality; a politician; that oxymoron of a couch potato from your health club. Check back every Monday to see who’s next.
Scott Fisher,
Chief Meteorologist, KTBC FOX 7
Number of years in this position: Nine Years
I love my job because: I love talking to people and telling stories. You name the topic … I love to talk about it! As a FOX 7 meteorologist, I get to tell stories about the weather — it’s my perfect television job in what I think is the perfect city! The fun for me is each and every day finding new and interesting ways to explain what is happening, why it’s happening, what may lead to weather changes and when and how those changes (even subtle ones) may occur.
Here’s what’s on my DVR:
Family Guy
American Dad
Loads of History Channel Stuff (which is interesting, as I dreaded history in high school)
Forensic Files
South Park
Baseball’s Greatest Games and Heroes
Modern Marvels
My all-time favorite TV show is: Seinfeld but Family Guy is my favorite when it comes to what’s still on the air.
You’ll never catch me watching: C-SPAN but C-SPAN2 is AMAZING (just kidding)
If I have insomnia, the show that lulls me back to sleep is: Antiques Roadshow
A current show I never miss is: Family Guy, South Park, 24, The Mentalist, Prison Break (alas, just canceled) and any METS baseball game.
If my TV is on, it’s probably tuned to this channel: Comedy Central or of course, FOX 7
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August 3, 2009
FOX Austin eliminates '7 On Your Side' unit
Who’s watching out for the watchdogs?
Fox Austin, KTBC, has laid off its “7 on Your Side” unit.
Casualties of hard economic times, six full time positions were cut last week according to a source who asked to be referred to only as a station spokesperson due to FOX policy: two graphic artist technicians, three camera operators and one investigative producer were let go.
“In addition to that, investigative reporter Chris Coffey’s contract was not renewed,” the spokesperson confirmed.
Coffey anchored the consumer watchdog “7 on Your Side” reports for KTBC. The series reported on unethical business practices and scams, including door-to-door alarm system sales; comp time versus overtime pay; credit report scams; and false charity donation solicitors.
“Investigative reporting will continue to be handled by the rest of the news team,” according to the spokesperson.
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July 22, 2009
Your A-List winners: Best morning news team
Which morning news team is the area’s best?
KEYE: Fred Cantu and Michelle Valles 45.076588%
KXAN: Sally Hernandez and Chris Willis 33.406273%
KVUE: Melissa Gale and Olga Campos 11.670314%
KTBC: Joe Bickett and Katherine Kisiel 5.9810357%
News 8 Austin: Todd Boatwright 2.7716994%
KAKW: Leslie Montoya 1.0940919%
It’s no surprise that Cantu and Valles have captured the (k)eye of A-List voters. The two had been friendly for years prior to their December, 2008 pairing on Austin’s CBS affiliate, and their chemistry and easy charm provides viewers a pleasant and informative way to ease into the rigors of another day in capital city.
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Elise Hu leaving KVUE
Elise Hu, KVUE’s state political reporter, is leaving the station to join the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news site that will cover state government and public policy.
Hu made the announcement on her blog. The new site could launch as early as November, Hu writes in her blog.
Hu’s post reports that she gave notice at KVUE on Monday and that she will leave the station sometime in late August.
It’s been quite a week for the reporter: She also got engaged to Matt Stiles, another journalist who’ll be part of the Texas Tribune.
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July 21, 2009
Kimmel, Vessel and the 4pm news: KEYE speaks
Nothing on my beat results in more contact from you guys than the machinations of local television news. Lately I’ve been bombarded with e-mail messages wondering what’s up at KEYE.
First there were reports that Troy Kimmel was returning as the CBS affiliate’s chief meteorologist, which led to speculation about the status of Susan Vessel. Then came the announcement that the station would be discontinuing its 5 p.m. newscast, shuffling its early evening lineup and placing an expanded newscast at 4 p.m.
“Troy Kimmel is our chief meteorologist. Susan Vessel will be doing weekends with us until further notice,” said Amy Villarreal, KEYE’s general manager. And that’s all she offered on that.
She was more forthcoming about the afternoon shake-up.
“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while,” Villarreal admitted. The impending expiration of a syndication contract for the game show “Deal or No Deal” offered a window to make some scheduling changes.
“We’ve been looking at how we grow our news presence,” she said, and an expanded, hour-long local newscast seemed to offer opportunities.
“There are some things I can’t tell you about right now,” Villarreal said, but she indicated that viewers can expect to see more lifestyle and interview pieces in addition to hard news. She pointed to the station’s quirky “We are Austin” profiles as an example.
The 4 p.m. newscast kicks off on September 15, 2009.
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July 18, 2009
UT President praises Walter Cronkite
William C. Powers Jr., President of the University of Texas at Austin, released the following statement early Saturday about legendary journalist Walter Cronkite, who died early Friday evening:
“Walter Cronkite defined broadcast journalism in the 20th century. He set the standard for honesty and integrity, and he remains an enduring symbol of credibility in news reporting. No one will ever match his deeply resonant voice of authority, wisdom and gravity. For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted source of news for Americans from all walks of life.
Throughout his life, Walter Cronkite remained deeply connected to The University of Texas at Austin. We have lost one of our most treasured, honored and accomplished native sons.”
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July 15, 2009
KEYE announces 4pm local newscast
From a KEYE press release:
KEYE TV is pleased to announce a one hour, locally produced newscast to air weekdays at 4pm starting September 15, 2009.
The show will focus on all things Central Texas, highlighting local events, places, news, weather and interesting people in and around Austin. “Ron Oliveira and Judy Maggio are Austin’s most experienced journalists. They know Austin so well,” says President and General Manager Amy Villarreal, “and each show will highlight their great storytelling and love of Central Texans.”
The show is still in development and further announcements will be made closer to the launch date.
KEYE TV Program schedule starting Sept 15th
3:00pm Dr Phil
4:00pm KEYE 4pm News
5:00pm The Insider
5:30pm CBS Evening News
6:00pm KEYE News at 6pm
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July 10, 2009
Kimmel to deliver weeknight weather on KEYE starting Monday
Turns out Troy Kimmel’s second tour of duty at KEYE will last longer than initially advertised.
Much longer.
The well-known meteorologist, who has been delivering weekend forecasts on a temporary basis this summer, will permanently move to 5, 6 and 10 weeknights starting Monday. The transition marks a return to a shift Kimmel first filled in 2000, when he was hired as the CBS station’s chief meteorologist.
He left in 2003 to focus on teaching at the University of Texas and delivering weather reports for Clear Channel’s Austin radio stations, but was wooed back as a fill-in earlier this year by news director Suzanne Black and general manager Amy Villarreal.
“Troy is the real deal,” Black said in a news release. “He knows Texas and the Austin area in particular, and we are proud to have him back at KEYE.”
Black and Villarreal didn’t immediately return phone calls inquiring about the fate of Susan Vessell, KEYE’s current evening meteorologist. Vessell was bumped up from the morning shift after the station parted ways with weathercaster Byron Webre in an August 2008 round of layoffs that claimed more than a dozen employees.
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June 20, 2009
Austin viewers have trouble tuning in Fox 7
KTBC graphic
Since the digital conversion Friday, June 12 some Austin television viewers who previously had no problems viewing Fox 7, KTBC, have found themselves unable to attain the station’s signal. These viewers primarily use antennas and converter boxes to receive the new, federally-mandated digital transmissions.
KTBC’s Web site has a graphic explaining the problem: prior to June 12, the station’s analog antenna was 1,040 feet tall. Since beginning its digital broadcast, Fox 7 has been broadcasting on a temporary digital antenna at 400 feet and 37 kw. In a few weeks (no firm date has been provided) a new antenna will reach 1,070 feet, outputting 72 kw of signal strength.
According to KTBC General Manager Mark Rodman, this was due to the station’s FCC designation as a “phased transition station.” Since Fox 7’s signal was being transferred from one digital frequency to another (the station fired up their digital signal some time ago) the FCC gave KTBC a temporary digital broadcasting authorization with lower power.
Rodman admits that Fox 7 has received many calls from upset and confused viewers, but says these viewers have largely responded with “goodwill and understanding” when learning that the problem is temporary.
“We’ll be ready for the Cowboys’ home opener,” he promised.
In the meantime, KTBC says the following 4 steps have helped some viewers recapture the station’s signal:
1. Disconnect the antenna from your converter box or digital-ready TV
2. Rescan the converter box or TV set
3. Reconnect the antenna
4. Rescan one more time
KTBC suggests viewers check in at the Fox 7 Web site for progress updates and rescan every few days until their full power signal is restored.
The station’s digital television hotline number is (512) 495-7790 and their email is news@fox7.com.
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June 16, 2009
Austin's digital TV transition goes smoothly
Mike Wenglar hasn’t shut off the analog signal yet, but when he throws the switch, his KVUE career will have come full circle. Wenglar, the station’s Director of Technology, turned on the analog signal nearly 38 years ago when KVUE first started broadcasting and he will switch it off in two weeks. When the static slate with the digital television transfer hotline telephone number disappears, Wenglar will be the one executing that particular program’s cancellation.
Friday, June 12 was the deadline for U.S. television broadcasters to have their digital signals up and running and most have shut off their analog broadcasts. There was a good deal of pre-transition hand wringing in central Texas, the fourth-least-prepared television market in the country just prior to the switch. But the transition appears to have gone well.
KVUE (ABC), which shut off its digital signal during Friday’s 10 p.m. newscast, fielded fewer than 60 calls this past weekend with over half of them coming before midnight the day of the transition.
KXAN (NBC) General Manager Eric Lassberg said his station’s transition went “very well. We had minimal calls.” Most were related to issues with pre-scanning, the process of teaching your digital television or converter box to find and pull in digital signals for viewing.
The folks over at FOX affiliate KTBC fielded about 480 calls throughout the weekend at their fully-staffed hotline. There were some questions about coupons and converter boxes, but many of the callers had problems receiving the station’s digital signal. According to General Manager Mark Rodman, this was due to KTBC’s FCC designation as a “phased transition station.” Since KTBC’s signal was being transferred from one digital frequency to another, the FCC gave the station a temporary authorization with lower power. Rodman stresses that this was planned and that the signal strength is scheduled to be back up in 2-3 weeks.
“We’ll be ready for the Cowboys’ home opener,” he says, adding that he appreciated the goodwill and understanding from KTBC’s loyal viewers. Rodman touted the fact that these particular callers had converter boxes and knew how to use them as proof that the transition awareness campaign was effective.
“We’re in the digital age,” he said. “Welcome.”
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June 15, 2009
News news: Staffing changes at KEYE, KXAN
Austin journalist and news analyst Jim McNabb, over at media blog News McNabb, has a great roundup of staffing changes at the KEYE and KXAN newsrooms.
Included are updates on KEYE Capitol reporter Alexis Patterson; former KXAN Williamson County reporter Stephanie Serna; KEYE’s Troy Kimmel; a new KXAN reporter; and KEYE’s Rosie Gomez, who is leaving the station for Honduras to teach English as a second language.
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May 20, 2009
Troy Kimmel returning to Austin's airwaves
Troy Kimmel is heading back to KEYE — albeit for a limited run.
Kimmel, who served as the CBS station’s chief meteorologist from 2000 to 2003, will spend the summer filling in on weekend newscasts while management attempts to find a replacement for Megan Campbell.
One of the city’s best-known weathercasters, Kimmel has also spent time working at KTBC and KVUE. Currently chief meteorologist for Clear Channel’s Austin radio stations and a senior lecturer at UT, he broke the news in a Facebook post Wednesday:
“Ok.. it’s official.. I’m headed back to KEYE TV (CBS) here in Austin to freelance and help out in the weather department with Susan Vessell. Just a summer commitment.. but should be fun!!”
Kimmel starts this weekend, and can be spotted on KEYE’s weekend newscasts, which air Saturday at 6 and 10 p.m. and Sunday at 5:30 and 10 p.m.
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May 6, 2009
Short on contributions, KLRU cuts its staff
The nation’s continuing economic woes have hit Austin’s PBS station, forcing KLRU to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff, reduce the number of hours it broadcasts each day and proceed with other cuts to make up for a projected budget shortfall of almost $1 million this fiscal year.
A dozen people will be out of work by week’s end, according to station president Bill Stotesbery. The downsizing, which hits nearly every department, represents 18 percent of the broadcaster’s 65 current employees. Each affected worker will receive two weeks of severance pay, and health benefits will be paid through the end of June.
“These are folks who are playing very important roles at the station,” Stotesbery said. “These aren’t faceless decisions.”
Among those out of work are Domenique Bellavia and Sean Cunningham, producers of the locally produced, Emmy-winning “Docubloggers.” Production on the show, which features viewer-submitted documentaries, has been suspended because it lacks a corporate underwriter.
“We’re sad to see the show go, sadder to lose our jobs, but most importantly, sad to see this experiment in social media come to an end,” Bellavia and Cunningham wrote on their blog. “For all our fans and docubloggers, this is the Docu-Duo signing off.”
Also as part of the cutbacks, members of the station’s management team, including Stotesbery, will see their pay slashed by 5 percent to almost 20 percent. Positions currently open will remain unfilled for the foreseeable future, and most travel has been halted.
“In Context,” a program focusing on the local arts and design scenes, will go largely into reruns, with newly produced specials popping up occasionally. Other KLRU-affiliated shows, including “Central Texas Gardener” and “Texas Monthly Talks,” are unaffected, Stotesbery said, and plans for a new “Austin City Limits” studio at the site of the W Hotel and Residences in Downtown Austin are proceeding as planned.
The move that will be most evident to viewers is a reduction in the number of hours KLRU broadcasts each day. The station will go dark from 1 to 6 a.m. daily as a result of the staff cuts. A small savings on utility bills is also expected, Stotesbery said.
“We have a lot of pretty loyal overnight viewers,” Stotesbery said. “We’re going to work to see if there’s another way we can get information to the educators and others who watched or taped us during those hours.”
Estimated to take in $9 million this year, station executives now say they expect KLRU will have only about $8.1 million to spend in 2009. Even after slashing payroll and other costs, Stotesbery said there may still be a need to raise as much as an additional $400,000 by the end of September due to dips in membership and a reduction in contributions from foundations PBS traditionally depends upon and Corporate America.
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April 29, 2009
What's Jason Hill up to? A little of everything
Jason Hill is alive and well, TV viewers.
And he’s surprisingly busy for someone who was laid off just a month ago.
Hill, who spent seven years at KVUE, was one of four local employees let go in late March as part of a nationwide reduction in force by Belo Corp., the station’s owner. He anchored the morning and midday newscasts, as usual, on Friday, March 20, then disappeared without explanation. His bio was taken off the station’s Web site. Video of him was edited out of promotional spots. And less than a week later, veteran 5 p.m. anchor Olga Campos slid into the seat he once occupied alongside Melissa Gale and meteorologist Meghan Danahey.
“Not being able to say goodbye is an ugly part of the news business,” Hill says.
Definitely not an ideal exit, but one he understands after spending two-plus decades delivering the news here in Austin and elsewhere.
“I have no animosity toward the station. Business is business. I was treated well during my time there.”
A month later, viewers who watched him each morning still stop Hill at the gym, at the grocery store … pretty much everywhere. What happened?, they want to know.
“I want to thank everyone,” he says. “All the well wishes I’ve received are very humbling.”
Now it’s time to move on — and he has in near-record time.
He’s joined Austin City Living as a Realtor after spending some time the past few years working out of the Round Rock Keller Williams office. His “On the Road” test drives of new cars, a staple on KVUE’s newscasts, have found a new life on the recently launched OnTheRoadWithJasonHill.com. And, oh yeah, Hill and his wife run a martial arts studio, Round Rock Kenpo, out of the Lifetime Fitness location in North Austin. Got all that?
Hill also had TV viewers rubbing their eyes last week when he popped up as a reporter on KXAN. It’s an occasional freelance gig made possible by KXAN news director Michael Fabac, who worked with Hill at a Detroit station.
“I approached him,” Fabac says. “I know him, and I know his work”
So does that mean Hill could pop up on KXAN — or another Austin station — one day soon?
“I would definitely consider it,” Hill says. “I love Austin, and I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
That love of all things Austin — and a desire to not uproot his wife and two sons — means he’s turned down leads on a couple out-of-town jobs lined up by his agent in recent weeks. For now, Hill’s quite happy with the opportunities that have come his way. And he especially likes being able to sleep in.
“The biggest shock has been not having to get up at 1:30 in the morning,” Hill says. “I’m still getting accustomed to telling people I can do things after 6 p.m.”
Deborah Cannon photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Your A-List: Best Weathercaster
Austin’s favorite meteorologist just so happens to be the featured forecaster on Austin’s most-watched TV newscasts.
Funny how that works.
KVUE’s Mark Murray was the winner in this year’s Your A-List poll for best weathercaster, grabbing 48 percent of the vote. Murray, who arrived in Austin nearly two decades ago, can be seen weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. alongside news anchors Terri Gruca and Tyler Sieswerda. He also delivers the forecast — with a little help from fellow meteorologists Meghan Danahey, Tom Harris and George Kanuck — found in the Metro section of the American-Statesman each day.
Second place goes to KXAN’s Jim Spencer with 36 percent, and News 8 Austin’s Burton Fitzsimmons was third with 8 percent. KEYE’s Susan Vessell, replacement for last year’s winner, Byron Webre, snagged 4 percent, good enough for fourth. Scott Fisher (KTBC) and Blanca Gaytan (KAKW) round out the list with 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
So what makes Murray so popular? Maybe it’s his calm, level-headed approach to reporting the weather — even in the nastiest of conditions. The marketing gurus at KVUE seem to think so, airing commercials that call Murray “the calm in the storm.”
A music lover, he’s also a long-time fixture on the radio dial, delivering the forecast on KGSR’s morning show, where he’s known as the “rock and roll weatherman.”
Congrats, Mark!
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April 27, 2009
AP awards aplenty for Austin broadcasters
Austin’s television stations picked up nearly 40 awards in this year’s Texas Associated Press Broadcasters competition.
Plaques were handed out in a ceremony Saturday night at the Headliners Club.
In Division 2 — comprised of Austin and San Antonio stations — our local TV newsrooms snagged honors in virtually every category, even managing to sweep several categories, including best Web site.
KVUE was the night’s big winner, bringing home 20 awards total, including first-place honors in nine categories. The full list of honors won by Austin broadcasters, courtesy of the TAPB Web site, is below:
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April 22, 2009
KXAN airs mayoral debate tonight
If you missed last week’s mayoral debate, you’ll have another chance to see the five hopefuls square off this evening.
KXAN and the Center for Politics and Governance at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs will host the debate tonight from 6:30 to 8 at the LBJ Library. Moderator Robert Hadlock, anchor of KXAN’s evening newscasts, will be joined by panelists Veronica Vargas Stidvent, director of the Center for Politics and Governance; Austin American-Statesman editorial writer Bruce Hight; and Cathy Kincaid from the Community Impact newspaper group.
Questions for the debate, which will air on KXAN and be streamed on the station’s Web site, can be submitted in advance via e-mail or Twitter.
Tonight’s meetup of mayoral hopefuls comes a week after a debate sponsored by the American-Statesman, KUT and KLRU. To watch (or re-watch), click here.
Early voting for the May 9 election begins Monday and runs through May 5. Get more election coverage at statesman.com/elections.
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April 17, 2009
News 8 Austin: Where are they now?
We wrap up our week-long trip down Memory Lane with details on the whereabouts of former News 8 Austin journalists:
Antonio Castelan—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, XETV/San Diego
Jenny Hansson—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Morning news anchor and health reporter, KOIN/Portland
John Hygh—
Then: Sports anchor/reporter
Now: Sports reporter, KTBC/Austin
James Keith—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Weekend news anchor, KABB/San Antonio
Denice Menard—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Communications coordinator, Thomas Jefferson School of Law/San Diego
Erin Ochoa—
Then: Reporter
Now: Senior account executive, Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations/Austin
Scott Prinsen—
Then: Chief meteorologist
Now: Weekend meteorologist, KTBC/Austin
Erica Riggins—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Morning news anchor, Bay News 9/Tampa, Fla.
Doug Shupe—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Reporter, KSAT/San Antonio
Nicole Traynor—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Public relations director, The Ellman Companies/Phoenix
Where are they now?
Monday: KTBC
Tuesday: KVUE
Wednesday: KXAN
Thursday: KEYE
Today: News 8 Austin
Have someone you want us to track down? Got an update on someone not listed? Post it in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of XETV, KOIN and Bay News 9
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April 16, 2009
KEYE: Where are they now?
It’s Thursday, and we’re keeping tabs on KEYE alums today:
Keith Elkins—
Then: Political reporter
Now: Executive director, Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas/Austin
Jason Feinberg—
Then: Morning news anchor
Now: Morning news anchor, KVVU/Las Vegas
Robert Flores—
Then: Sports director
Now: Anchor, ESPN/Bristol, Conn.
Steve LaNore—
Then: Weekend meteorologist
Now: Chief meteorologist, KXII/Sherman
Andy Liscano—
Then: Sports director
Now: Reporter, KZTV/Corpus Christi
Lisa Manzo—
Then: Noon news anchor
Now: Health reporter, KMOV/St. Louis
Dan Plante—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Morning news anchor, KUSI/San Diego
Rosenda Rios—
Then: Anchor/Reporter
Now: Reporter, KSAT/San Antonio
Shaun Robinson—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Anchor/reporter, “Access Hollywood”/Hollywood
Cile Spelce—
Then: Anchor/reporter
Now: Director Of Chancellor’s Council Program & Communications, UT System/Austin
Nanci Wilson—
Then: Investigative reporter
Now: Soon-to-be investigative reporter, KXAN/Austin
Where are they now?
Monday: KTBC
Tuesday: KVUE
Wednesday: KXAN
Today: KEYE
Friday: News 8 Austin
Have someone you want us to track down? Got an update on someone not listed? Post it in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of KVVU, KXII and KSAT
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April 15, 2009
KXAN: Where are they now?
Happy Wednesday! Today we’re tracking down former KXAN staffers:
Sgt. Sam Cox—
Then: Traffic reporter
Now: Morning co-host, NewsRadio 590/Austin
R.J. DeSilva—
Then: Morning news anchor
Now: Spokesman, Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs/Austin
Sharon Gibala—
Then: Traffic reporter
Now: Traffic reporter, WJZ/Baltimore
Jenna Gross (nee Cooper)—
Then: Weekend news anchor
Now: Spokeswoman, Northwest Natural Gas/Portland, Ore.
Silva Harapetian—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, WDIV/Detroit
Sonta Henderson—
Then: Reporter
Now: Spokeswoman, AAA Texas/Austin
Colin Jackson—
Then: Weekend weathercaster
Now: Morning weathercaster, KSEE/Fresno, Calif.
Dana Larson—
Then: Weekend sports anchor
Now: Anchor, Fox Sports Southwest/Dallas
Ellen McNamara—
Then: Traffic reporter
Now: Weekend morning anchor, WFTS/Tampa, Fla.
Veronica Obregon—
Then: Reporter
Now: Chief communications officer, Texas Department of Agriculture/Austin
Rich Parsons—
Then: Political reporter
Now: Spokesman, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst/Austin
Russ Rhea—
Then: Weekend morning news anchor
Now: Vice president, TateAustinHahn/Austin
Stacie Schaible—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Consumer reporter and evening news anchor, WFLA/Tampa, Fla.
Julie Shields—
Then: Weekend news anchor
Now: Governmental relations, Texas Association of School Boards/Austin
Where are they now?
Monday: KTBC
Tuesday: KVUE
Today: KXAN
Thursday: KEYE
Friday: News 8 Austin
Have someone you want us to track down? Got an update on someone not listed? Post it in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of WDIV, KSEE and WFLA
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April 14, 2009
KVUE: Where are they now?
We continue our week-long search for Austin TV alums with a look today at the whereabouts of former KVUE staffers:
Kris Gutierrez—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, Fox News Channel/Dallas
Christine Haas—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Morning news anchor, KHOU/Houston
Amy Hollyfield (nee Grizzaffi)—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, KGO/San Francisco
Troy Kimmel—
Then: Chief meteorologist
Now: Senior lecturer, UT/Austin and chief meteorologist, Clear Channel Radio/Austin
Ryan Korsgard—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, KPRC/Houston
Ed Lavandera—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, CNN/Dallas
Michelle Levy—
Then: Reporter
Now: Spokeswoman, Farmers Insurance/Austin
Walt Maciborski—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Evening news anchor, KDAF/Dallas
Lee McGuire—
Then: Political reporter
Now: Reporter, KHOU/Houston
Erin Ochoa—
Then: Reporter
Now: Senior account executive, Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations/Austin
Casey Stegall—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, Fox News Channel/Los Angeles
Joel Thomas—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, KTVT/Dallas
Ilona Torok—
Then: Morning meteorologist
Now: Science teacher, Leander school district/Leander
A reader asks about former KVUE reporter Melissa McGuire. Can you help?
Where are they now?
Monday: KTBC
Today: KVUE
Wednesday: KXAN
Thursday: KEYE
Friday: News 8 Austin
Have someone you want us to track down? Got an update on someone not listed? Post it in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of KHOU, CNN and Fox News Channel
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April 13, 2009
Fox 7: Where are they now?
Austin’s a big town. Each day, people come and go. That’s certainly true when it comes to the local TV news. Anchors and reporters spend a year or two doing their thing here, then it’s off to greener pastures.
In their short time here, many of these folks manage to make an impression on you. How do we know? You call and e-mail asking what ol’ What’s His Face is up to these days. So, all week long, we’ll be tracking down TV types. Up first: KTBC.
Erik Barajas—
Then: Weekend news anchor
Now: 4 p.m. news anchor, KTRK/Houston
Rick Carr—
Then: Sportscaster
Now: Lawyer, TVContract.com/Denver
Arezow Doost—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, KTVT/Dallas
Dick Ellis—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Spokesman, Leander school district/Leander
Catherine Garcia—
Then: Morning news anchor
Now: 4 p.m. news anchor, KNSD/San Diego
Troy Kimmel—
Then: Chief meteorologist
Now: Senior lecturer, UT/Austin and chief meteorologist, Clear Channel Radio/Austin
Craig Lucie—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, WESH/Orlando
April Molina—
Then: 7 On Your Side reporter and 5 p.m. news anchor
Now: Investigative reporter, KSAT/San Antonio
Stephanie Rochon—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Evening news anchor, WTVR/Richmond, Va.
Mike Rosen—
Then: Poltical reporter
Now: Communications director, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul/Austin
Carrie Schumacher—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Physician relations, SETON Family of Hospitals/Austin
Brooke Wagner—
Then: Evening news anchor
Now: Morning news anchor, KCNC/Denver
Marissa Wingate—
Then: Reporter
Now: Reporter, KTVK/Phoenix
Where are they now?
Today: KTBC
Tuesday: KVUE
Wednesday: KXAN
Thursday: KEYE
Friday: News 8 Austin
Have someone you want us to track down? Got an update on someone not listed? Post it in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of KTRK, KSAT and KCNC
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April 10, 2009
Austin TV stations shut out at Murrow awards
Austin’s TV stations — big winners in last year’s Edward R. Murrow Awards competition — failed to snag a single trophy this year.
In Region 6, which includes Oklahoma and Texas, stations from Tulsa were the big winners this time around, snagging five of the nine awards presented to “small market” broadcasters. Stations in Beaumont, Sherman and Weslaco also took home some hardware.
Last year, KVUE scooped up six awards, including overall excellence honors for the fifth straight year. KEYE, KXAN and News 8 Austin each got one Murrow award.
The news wasn’t quite as bleak in the radio division, where KUT, Austin’s NPR affiliate, claimed four awards:
Overall excellence;
Continuing coverage for its reporting on the raid at a West Texas ranch housing members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints;
News documentary for a piece on Willie Nelson; and
Sports reporting for a feature on members of the 1948 Austin American Legion baseball team, who are still friends 60-plus years later.
The Murrows are presented annually by the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
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March 31, 2009
General manager's office vacant (for now) at News 8 Austin
One of the architects of News 8 Austin, Time Warner Cable’s 24-hour local news channel, has been let go.
The departure of general manager Brian Benschoter, who helped launch News 8 nearly a decade ago, was announced Monday by Steve Paulus, head of several Time Warner news outlets around the country. A replacement has not yet been named.
“It was a management change I felt needed to be made,” Paulus said. “Decisions have to be made, and sometimes they’re not pleasant ones.”
Paulus was unsure of Benschoter’s future plans, but expects he’ll land on his feet. The now-former general manager could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
“He’s a very smart guy and very knowledgeable about the business,” Paulus said.
Time Warner continues to grow its cable news operations — a new 24-hour channel was recently launched in Buffalo, N.Y. — and execs are pleased with News 8 Austin and believe “interesting growth opportunities” are ahead for the station, according to Paulus.
“This is not a reflection of the performance of the channel,” he said. “I only see great things in the future for News 8.”
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March 24, 2009
KXAN's Ellen McNamara bound for Florida
Upbeat KXAN traffic reporter Ellen McNamara will soon hit the road for Florida, putting Austin in her rearview mirror.
After almost three years of guiding Central Texas commuters to work each morning, McNamara is off to Tampa, where she’ll co-anchor the soon-to-launch weekend morning newscasts at ABC affiliate WFTS. Her last day on the air here in Austin is April 1.
“I have always wanted to anchor and report,” she said. “This is the perfect combination for me.”
Execs at KXAN aren’t sure just yet how the station will fill McNamara’s spot. At least initially, news director Michael Fabac anticipates morning anchors Chris Willis and Sally Hernandez will pitch in and share traffic duties.
“I’m really pleased for Ellen,” Fabac said. “She’s a really great journalist.”
Since arriving here from Lubbock in 2006, McNamara has done a little of everything at KXAN, filing reports for the station’s evening newscasts and filling in on the anchor desk in addition to monitoring morning traffic.
“It’s hard for me to leave,” she said. “I have really good friends here, and I love my co-workers and the city.”
McNamara and fiance Marcus DeVere won’t be gone for long though. They’ll be back in town this summer for their wedding. DeVere popped the question on Austin’s Mount Bonnell.
Photo courtesy of KXAN
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March 23, 2009
KVUE lays off 4, including anchor Jason Hill
Layoffs at Austin’s ABC affiliate have left four employees jobless, including morning co-anchor Jason Hill.
Hill, who was missing from his usual perch next to co-anchor Melissa Gale on KVUE’s “Daybreak” and “Midday” newscasts this morning, will be replaced beginning Wednesday by veteran 5 p.m. anchor Olga Campos, according to Patti Smith, the station’s president and general manager.
“These are extraordinary times and we’ve had to make some very difficult decisions,” she said.
Newly hired evening anchor Terri Gruca will fill Campos’s spot alongside Tyler Sieswerda at 5 p.m. weekdays. Gruca and Sieswerda already co-anchor KVUE’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
The layoffs of Hill and three behind-the-scenes employees are part of a companywide reduction in force announced earlier this month by Belo, the station’s owner. Similar moves have taken place in recent days at other Belo outlets, including KENS in San Antonio, where 12 employees were laid off, and Houston’s KHOU, which lost at least a half dozen workers, according to published reports. Nationwide, the company hopes to trim 150 positions by next month.
The moves give KVUE a weekday morning newscast helmed entirely by women — Campos, Gale and meteorologist Meghan Danahey — something no other Austin station is doing at present.
“That was not a factor,” Smith said when asked if the change was meant to differentiate “Daybreak” from its competitors. The station’s 5 to 7 a.m. newscast, once a dominant No. 1 in its time slot, has struggled in recent months. “That’s just how it worked out.”
Bret Gerbe photo / FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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March 10, 2009
The TV blog e-mail bag explodes!!
Thanks for all the wonderful calls, e-mails and online comments about my American-Statesman and Austin360 finale.
I’ve always said the TV column and the TV blog have the best readers in Texas. There were a few nasties, of course …
“Thank God you’re leaving,” chirped one caller.
“Your column today had a misplaced comma,” another caller whined.
Yeah, well … bite my tongue!
Fred Cantu and Michelle Valles gave me a little shout on their KEYE morning show. That was sweet. Thank you. And a few other local TV newsies, past and present, sent very nice words. Much appreciated.
Former reporter/news director Jim McNabb wrote a lovely, thoughtful piece in his online newsletter.
Kevin Benz, news director of News 8 Austin, topped off his sweet farewell e-mail with the following, which I thought was hilarious (newsworthy, but funny nonetheless in the farewell context):
“Thank goodness you are still working long enough to get this in the paper! News 8 has been awarded the national Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Reporting. I’ve forwarded the official press release below. This is the third time News 8 has been so honored by USC Annenberg and is outstanding acknowledgment of our commitment to serving the community through our journalism. The award is given only every 2 years, coinciding with national elections.”
News 8, which indeed always has lots of good election coverage, won in the category for “local cable station,” with the judges praising the “Voters’ Voices” series as “a refreshing approach to political coverage.”
Congrats, News 8. Well-deserved.
And thank you, readers. I’ll keep pecking through the responses through Friday!
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March 2, 2009
KVUE rakes in big barrel of Texas AP Awards, "FNL" ratings sinking
The Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Awards were announced over the weekend, and KVUE raked in nine first-place prizes and five second-place trophies. That’s the biggest load for any station.
KVUE’s top honors included Tyler Sieswerda for best anchor; former anchor Christine Haas and photographer Todd Rogenthien for Best Feature, General Assignment and Investigative Story; the station for Best Photojournalism; Olga Campos and Kathy Hadlock for Best Documentary; Elise Hu for Best Beat Reporting; and Steve Alberts for Best Reporter.
KEYE had two first-place awards: Jason Wheeler for Best Series and the station for Best Web Site. The station also had one second-place award.
KTBC had one first-place win, Foti Kallergis for Best Feature. And KXAN and News 8 both had two second-place awards.
For a complete list of the winners, check out the TAPB site. The awards will be handed out Apr. 25 at the Headliners Club in Austin.
“Lights” blinking?
We won’t know the fate of Austin-filmed “Friday Night Lights” until later in the spring, but a fourth season looks pretty iffy — assuming the decision is based on ratings.
In the most recent Friday Nielsen ratings, “FNL” ranked a disappointing third in total households, behind CBS’s “Flashpoint”and Fox’s “Dolhouse.” The “FNL” episode had a 1.5 rating and 4.2 million viewers.
Even with financial support from DirecTV, it’s hard to imagine NBC sinking millions of production dollars into “FNL” again … but we’ll keep hoping until we hear the final bell.
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February 27, 2009
Austin TV stations to share news video
Austin’s local TV stations are jumping into pool coverage. It’s a sign of the sagging economy in general and the state of TV news and journalism in particular.
Early this week, news seeped out of KXAN that the NBC station would soon begin sharing video of standard events such as news conferences with Fox-owned KTBC. By the middle of the week, all five local stations, including News 8 Austin, were on board for pool coverage.
An invitation has been extended to Univision’s KAKW, but the station hasn’t officially signed on yet.
The group, including Univision, will meet next Wednesday to finalize the plan and iron out details.
“We all have limited resources, so it comes down to choice. Do you cover this or that?” said Frank Volpicella, news director of KVUE. “This arrangement allows us to cover more and to cover enterprise journalism, stories that are unique for our viewers. It’s not a big cost savings for us. The big value is we’ll be able to get more video.”
In the early going, the partnership will apply to daytime weekdays only. News directors and assignment editors will agree on an event to be covered and shared, and a photographer from one station will be sent to cover it. The pool shots will then be distributed to all the stations, and each newscast would write and air its own stories. Occasionally stations might send their own reporters to the event covered by the pool photographer.
Sharing news video is not unheard of in Austin. Stations have pooled coverage of trials from time to time. Other TV markets around the country have been doing it for years, as have network news divisions. Pool coverage of political conventions, speeches and press conferences is standard operating procedure these days.
But this is the first time all of our competing local news operations have joined hands in an official capacity.
“We’re all competitive, but there was a deep sense of camaraderie and respect that we all have,” Volpicella said. “We all are faced with choices, and there are lot of news conferences in this town, especially during the legislature, that happen at the same time or within a half-hour of each other. We can’t be everywhere at once.”
Not everyone champions this idea. Jim McNabb, former Austin TV news reporter, producer and manager, believes pool coverage can be a slippery slope leading to further homogenization of the news.
“If all the local media are reporting from the same stuff, I believe that the consumer/user/viewer of broadcast journalism may be losing something of great value,” McNabb said in his NewsMcNabb blog. “I do have faith in some of the journalists in this market who will ensure that the important work of (getting) information to the audience is being done. Some, however, may be lazy. Some stations may simply take the rote sound bites of the day to fill the news hole.”
“Idol” does the right thing
Nick Mitchell, the weird dude with the nerdy alter- ego, got what he deserved on last night’s “American Idol” results show. He got bumped.
Voted through the the Top 12 were Allison Iraheta, 16; Kris Allen, 23; and Adam Lambert, 26.
Mitchell, you may recall, is the strange guy with the alter-ego Norman Gentle. We didn’t like him one bit. He made our skin crawl, and he took up valuable space on the show.
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February 24, 2009
KXAN's Chris Willis back on the air soon
Next week, KXAN’s morning news team will be back together — at long last.
At various times over the past couple of months, anchors Chris Willis and Sally Hernandez have been (a) on medical leave or (b) vacation. Both are fine now and plan to reunite just in time for the March sweeps.
Readers/viewers have been concerned, especially because Willis has been missing for so long. Good reason: He recently had the second of two hip replacements. Gulp. We feel for him.
“I’ve been trying to respond to the viewer e-mails through my KXAN account, but because I’m recovering at home and out of the office, it’s been kinda tough,” Willis wrote today. “I had my second hip replacement surgery on the 28th of January. My first one was a year earlier. Years of sports and degenerative arthritis finally caught-up with me.
“I’m planning on returning to work (on the air) next Tuesday. Poor Sally has had to carry the load by herself. And David Scott has been great this week, filling in for Sally while she was on vacation. Feel free to update your readers. I’m chomping at the bit to get back at it. Believe me … I’ve got two boys, ages 3 and 14 months, so I need to get back to work so I can get some rest!”
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February 12, 2009
KEYE wins Your A-List poll for best newscast
“The Ron and Judy Show” topped our Your A-List poll for best local newscast.
KEYE, our CBS affiliate with evening news anchored by long-time vets Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira, raked in 50 percent of readers’ votes.
In second place, with 41 percent, was KTBC’s Fox 7 News, anchored by Loriana Hernandez and Mike Warren.
Finishing a distant third and fourth were Austin’s top-rated stations, according to Nielsen: ABC affiliate KVUE (4 percent) and NBC affiliate KXAN (3 percent).
Also receiving votes in the A-List poll:
News 8 Austin (Time Warner Cable) with 1 percent
KAKW (Univision) with < 1 percent
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February 2, 2009
KEYE's Nanci Wilson resigns
KEYE announced today that long-time investigative reporter Nanci Wilson has resigned “to make a change in her personal life and pursue other interests,” according to the release.
Wilson did not respond to our request for details, but she says this in KEYE’s announcement:
“I’ve had wonderful opportunities to tell stories that needed to be told. They were stories no on else would tell, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to make a difference.”
Wilson has won many awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative journalism, two Texas Emmys and a Texas AP award.
Wilson, who has worked for KEYE for seven years, began her career as an anchor at KXII in Sherman. She went on to produce and anchor Texas Entertainment News (a statewide syndicated program) and report for CBS.com, The News of Texas and KVUE.
Wilson’s reports reflect a deep love of digging through piles and piles of information — a rarity in today’s shrinking TV journalism. She was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship to study clinical data and evidence-based medicine at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
And she was one of only a few journalists invited to participate in the National Judicial College’s course, Media and the Courts. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Criminal Justice Journalists and is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors group.
We wish Wilson well and hope to hear from her soon about exactly where she’s going and what “other interests” she’s pursuing.
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December 31, 2008
Viacom keeps cable nets on Time Warner
Time Warner customers dodged the bullet.
In a contract showdown, Viacom, which owns 19 cable networks on Time Warner’s lineup, had threatened to take a hike if the cable company didn’t agree to an increase in its carriage fees.
Word came just before the midnight deadline that a deal had been reached, and MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and all the other Viacom networks would remain.
On Wednesday customers saw a “crawl” warning viewers that the aforementioned channels would go dark at midnight if Viacom and Time Warner didn’t reach a deal. More than 13 million subscribers nationwide and 300,000 in Central Texas would have been affected.
Viacom demanded fee increases of about 25 cents per subscriber per month for its channels, according to The Associated Press. Time Warner said it would not pay more, claiming it would have to pass on that increase to customers. At this time we do not know whether Time Warner agreed to pay more or Viacom agreed to take less.
In November Time Warner had a similar smackdown with LIN TV, which owns our NBC affiliate KXAN and several other TV stations around the country. LIN wanted cash for carriage; Time Warner didn’t want to pay. At the end of the face-off, however, Time Warner did pay.
Whatever the contract resolution between Viacom and Time Warner, the result is that our cable lineup still includes “SpongeBob,” Jon Stewart and many hours of MTV reality shows. Happy New Year.
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Time Warner yanking 19 cable channels? Happy New Year!
If you woke up this morning to an ominous crawl on one of your kids’ favorite cable channels, you know that Time Warner, the major cable provider in Central Texas with some 300,000 customers, is at it again.
Seems like only yesterday (actually it was only a month ago) that Time Warner had a smackdown with LIN TV, which owns our NBC affiliate KXAN. At issue was money, of course. LIN wanted cash for carriage, and Time Warner didn’t want to pay. At the end of the face-off, however, Time Warner did pay.
Now it’s Viacom, the media giant that has 19 cable channels on Time Warner — including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and VH1. The message that greeted viewers of “SpongeBob” this morning and “The Daily Show” late last night said that all of the Viacom channels will disappear from Time Warner at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if an agreement is not reached.
The last time Time Warner was in this position we lost our NBC station on cable for a month. The breakdown will affect 13 million Time Warner subscribers nationwide, which you would think would be a very big deal. This is, by the way, a national corporate confrontation, not anything that the Central Texas Time Warner folks have anything to do with.
Viacom has asked for fee increases from Time Warner about 25 cents per subscriber for its channels, according to the Associated Press. Time Warner is refusing, claiming they would have to pass on that increase to customers.
Here is the full list of Viacom channels that could go off Time Warner at midnight tonight:
Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul.
Negotiations are either ongoing or not, depending on which corporate statement you believe.
Time Warner says the two sides are at the table, trying to work things out. Viacom insists Time Warner is not negotiating at all. The truth may lurk somewhere in between: negotiations are ongoing, but nobody is prepared to compromise.
Can’t we all just get along?
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December 23, 2008
KXAN News goes HD
If KXAN’s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts look sharper and brighter today — if you suddenly realize that anchors Robert Hadlock and Leslie Rhode have a few freckles you hadn’t noticed before — there’s good reason.
The station is debuting its new high-def local newscasts.
The NBC affiliated station is the third Austin station to offer local news in HD. KEYE led the way in November 2007, and KVUE followed this past June (2008).
KXAN worked with the Emmy award-winning lighting design firm FX Group to design a flexible news set that will be used for all newscasts.
And the station has updated its studio cameras, weather and graphics equipment for HD telecast.
“High definition newscasts and cutting edge visuals highlight our commitment to quality and clarity, in both content and presentation,” news director Michael Fabac said in a release.
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December 22, 2008
Recapping the two-week TV blog break: big doings in normally dull December
Holy moly! A girl takes off a couple of weeks for the holidays, and all heck breaks loose on a beat that’s normally dead as rock during December.
On December 8, “Boston Legal” ended its run with Alan and Denny tying the knot in a ceremony presided over by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia. The sparring, loving legal couple allegedly wed for financial reasons, but fans of the show know these guys have been the perfect duo from the beginning. Scotch and cigars on the balcony … sigh.
On December 15, KVUE’s new prime-time partner for Tyler Sieswerda finally arrived. Terri Gruca slipped into the seat formerly occupied by Christine Haas, who left Austin in the summer for a morning anchor gig in Houston. Like Haas, Gruca comes from Minneapolis, which means she must really think Austinites are wimps for whining about 32-degree weather.
And Michelle Valles, who departed KXAN’s evening news in a nasty contract dispute, made her debut as Fred Cantu’s co-anchor on KEYE’s early morning news.
By the way, kudos and thank you to colleague Gary Dinges, who reported the aforementioned anchor changes in my absence.
In the November overnight Nielsens, KVUE held onto its traditional No. 1 perch at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., but KXAN eked out a victory at 6 p.m. and finished first in the 6 to 7 a.m. slot.
KTBC’s Fox 7 was No. 3 at 5 p.m. with its hour-long newcast.
KEYE was last (fourth) at 5 p.m. but third at 6 p.m. and an impressive No. 2. at 10 p.m.
In the sagging world of the broadcast networks, NBC more or less officially gave up on prime time when it announced a week ago that Jay Leno will have a talk-variety show Monday through Friday at 9 p.m. next fall, after his “Tonight” hosting concludes. (Conan O’Brien steps into “Tonight” after Leno’s finale May 29.)
The decision to bail on hour-long dramas in the 9 to 10 p.m. hour means NBC will save millions of dollars, but if Leno bombs in prime time, the Peacock can kiss its tail feathers goodbye. NBC also has mulled pulling out of programming on Saturday nights.
I’m sure lots of other things happened during the two weeks the TV blog took its December break, but re-entry has rendered me semi-blank. Better to look ahead for now, which we’ll try to do in the coming days.
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December 15, 2008
KVUE's new anchor debuts tonight
Tonight’s the night, KVUE viewers.
After flying solo for nearly four months, Tyler Sieswerda will be joined by new co-anchor Terri Gruca on the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
Gruca arrives from Minneapolis, where she was weekend anchor and consumer reporter at CBS-owned WCCO. Here, in addition to her anchor duties, she’ll be filing investigative stories as part of KVUE’s Defenders franchise. In fact, her blog — featuring tips galore for saving money — is already live on the station’s Web site.
Another anchor debut happens later this week, when Michelle Valles returns to the Central Texas airwaves.
Valles, who walked away from her evening gig at KXAN earlier this year, will be teamed with Austin veteran Fred Cantu on KEYE’s 5 a.m. newscast starting Wednesday.
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December 11, 2008
Michelle Valles joins KEYE news team
KEYE’s Fred Cantu will soon be joined by a familiar face on the station’s 5 to 7 a.m. newscast.
Michelle Valles, who spent five years as co-anchor of KXAN’s evening newscasts, starts work Wednesday, according to a news release.
Valles left Austin’s NBC affiliate in September of this year after turning down a contract extension she deemed unacceptable. At KEYE, she replaces Elizabeth Dannheim, who was let go in an August talent purge that also saw the departures of meteorologist Byron Webre and reporter Keith Elkins.
“Fred and Michelle have known each other for years,” said news director Suzanne Black. “We are excited to bring their energy and chemistry to morning viewers.”
The move — while certain to be a shock to Valles’ body clock — keeps the University of Texas graduate in Austin, something she’s desperately wanted.
“I am so thrilled to work with journalists the caliber of Ron Oliveira, Judy Maggio and Fred Cantu,” Valles said.
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December 1, 2008
Couch spuds logging more viewing time, UT's ABC News Campus Bureau getting KVUE time
While we can watch TV shows on computers and even on our cell phones, we’re still a nation of loyal couch potatoes who prefer plopping down in front of our big-screen sets.
Nielsen reports that TV use is at an all-time high now, with home TVs turned on for an average of 8 hours and 18 minutes a day. That’s an hour more than the average viewing time a decade ago.
During the fall, when the Olympic Games and presidential debates were sucking us in, Americans gobbled up more than 142 hours of TV a month. That’s more than 4.5 hours a day.
New media options remain the trend to watch, but they’re not taking over yet.
Nielsen found that people who use the Internet spent about 27 hours a month online, with about 2.5 hours of that time watching TV programs and videos. But that’s nothing compared to actual TV viewing.
The bigger trend, which is no surprise, is that DVR viewing doubled last year, with Americans logging about 6.5 hours each month watching TV shows time-shifted by recording. And nearly 30 percent of TV households now have digital video recorders, so we can look for this trend to grow.
And people who have DVRs watch more TV shows because they don’t have to choose between two or three competing programs — and they don’t have to miss anything because they didn’t get home in time.
No wonder we don’t read enough books or exercise enough! We don’t have time!!
ABC News’ UT Campus Bureau
The University of Texas’ ABC News On Campus Bureau has made a deal with KVUE to introduce and package one or two reports a week live on the station’s weekend morning show.
“It’s such an incredible opportunity for them,” crowed UT faculty advisor Kate Dawson of her energetic team.
We’ll be watching.
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October 30, 2008
Time Warner bumps KLRU2 from Channel 20 to Channel 255
Time Warner is jiggling its lineup — again. And this time KLRU2 is following “The Dog Whisperer” to the cable company’s digital tier.
KLRU2 is public TV station KLRU’s second channel, currently available on the standard tier’s Cable Channel 20 and also on digital Cable Channel 255.
Effective Tuesday, KLRU2 will be dropped from Cable 20 and available only on Cable 255. (KLRU’s main channel will remain on Cable Channel 9.)
Launched in 1988, KLRU2 carries self-help and how-to programs in the daytime and mostly repeats of PBS programs in prime time.
You may recall Time Warner did the same thing with the National Geographic Channel (NGC) a few years ago, effectively bumping “The Dog Whisperer,” one of NBC’s most popular shows, off the basic lineup and onto the digital tier (Cable 232).
Time Warner spokesman Roger Heaney says the move was necessitated to free up bandwidth for more HD channels, although no replacement has been announced.
KLRU general manager Bill Stotesbery says he and his staff found out about the move in September, when they saw the notice on Time Warner’s Web site.
“We’re concerned to see it go off Channel 20 because it has developed a substantial audience, and we don’t know if they’re going to follow us to this digital tier channel,” Stotesbery said.
If you’ve got digital cable through Time Warner, KLRU2 will not cost extra on the digital-only tier.
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October 29, 2008
KXAN back on Time Warner ... who blinked?
After nearly a month off Time Warner Cable, KXAN returned to Austin’s biggest cable provider early Wednesday morning. Without notice, “The Today Show” beamed back into living rooms across Central Texas.
KXAN, an NBC station owned by Rhode Island-based LIN TV, had been off of Time Warner since Oct. 3, when negotiations between LIN, which owns 15 TV stations nationwide, and Time Warner broke down over LIN’s demand for retransmission payment for its signal.
“We’re very pleased with the outcome,” said KXAN general manager Eric Lassberg. “It provides what our original intent was, which was to receive fair market value.”
Specifically, LIN wanted “less than a penny a day per subscriber,” Lassberg said when the negotiations first broke down. That would have come to about $1 million a year for the 311,000 Time Warner subscribers in the Austin area. Time Warner insists it does not pay other local stations a per-subscriber fee to retransmit a free over-the-air signal and thus balked at LIN’s demand.
“We’re glad we’ve got KXAN back on,” said Stacy Schmitt, vice president of public affairs for Time Warner Central Texas. “We know it’s been an inconvenience, and we want to thank everyone for being patient.”
So who blinked? Did Time Warner pay or did KXAN cave? It’s not clear. A non-disclosure clause signed by both sides prevents terms of the new contract from being made public. It is likely that KXAN received some compensation for retransmission but probably not the per-subscriber fee originally requested.
After nonstop negotiations over the past few days, a deal affecting LIN’s stations nationwide was made late last night — a day before the beginning of the all-important November sweeps. Coincidence? Probably not. The sweeps help local stations set advertising rates for several months and help boost viewership of local news and network programming.
During the month KXAN was off Time Warner, ratings dropped off as much as 40 percent. Such a precipitous decline would also indicate lost revenue, although Lassberg insists the economic impact was not that great.
“We had some advertisers wanting lower investment levels, but we were able to work with them and re-negotiate,” Lassberg said. “It’s not just about flat rates but also about frequency the ads are played, so we were able to restructure the delivery in most cases. And since we felt this was a short-term situation for long-term prosperity, the impact was pretty much what we expected.”
KXAN’s local news took the biggest hit. According to Nielsen overnight ratings, the 6 p.m. newscast averaged a 5.7 rating during the week of Sept. 22 (before the blackout), compared with a 3.5 rating for the same newscast the week of Oct. 6, the first week after the station was dropped from Time Warner. (A rating point is one percent of 635,860 TV households in Central Texas.)
Time Warner says its customers did not flee during October, as some had predicted.
“We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as far as disconnect,” Schmitt said.
Retransmission contracts with cable companies typically include ads and station promotions rather than cash payments to the stations. But with cable companies forking over large fees to carry signals from cable channels such as ESPN and TNT, local stations have been asking for money in recent negotiations.
Cable companies insist they would have to pass on such station payments to their subscribers, but local stations counter that cable companies already have such large profits that they wouldn’t have to charge customers more.
During KXAN’s absence from Time Warner, viewers could watch NBC programming online, over the air with an antenna or on satellite services such as DISH or DirecTV. About 65 percent of KXAN’s Austin audience comes from Time Warner (21 percent from satellite and 14 percent over-the-air).
In the early going, viewers tended to blame Time Warner, but increasingly the negatives turned toward KXAN. And as the days dragged into weeks in mid-October, viewers soured on both sides in online comments.
“Our family is getting tired of all this and may stop watching NBC and give up Time Warner,” wrote Mary Lou Morrison earlier this week.
Comments posted after KXAN was back on Time Warner on Wednesday morning included multiple shouts of “Who cares?” and more than a few shrugs of “I stopped watching them weeks ago.”
LIN and Suddenlink, a cable company that serves about 30,000 subscribers in Williamson County, had a similar contract dispute earlier this year. KXAN was dropped from that cable system from January through March, although Suddenlink replaced KXAN with an NBC station in Temple. The Federal Communication Commission frowns on such substitutions, because KXAN has an exclusive right to NBC programming, and is about to hand down a rule prohibiting it, which is why Time Warner substituted Starz Family Network for NBC in Austin.
LIN also owns TV stations in Buffalo, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Green Bay, Wis.; Indianapolis; Mobile, Ala.; Springfield, Mass.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and Toledo, Ohio.
Luckily for KXAN, the new contract was signed before NBC’s Nov. 16 “Sunday Night Football” game featuring the Dallas Cowboys. According to the Buffalo News, the LIN station there lost about $50,000 in ad revenue on Oct. 14, when the Buffalo Bills game was dropped from Time Warner.
Austin’s other local stations either have retransmission contracts in place or are close to signing them, according to Schmitt. But whether the deal with LIN has an impact on those negotiations remains to be seen.
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October 27, 2008
KTBC gets new general manager
Fox Television announced Monday that it has promoted Mark Rodman from sales manager to vice president and general manager of KTBC Channel 7, Austin’s Fox-owned station.
Rodman replaces Danny Baker, who was general manager of KTBC for more than a decade until he retired earlier this month.
Rodman was sales manager at KTBC for 10 years. He previously worked in sales at TV stations in Salt Lake City and Providence, R.I., but he began his broadcast career as a reporter-producer in Fort Wayne, Ind. and Orlando, Fla. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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October 10, 2008
Familiar face to replace KXAN's Valles
A familiar face will soon be perched alongside Robert Hadlock on KXAN’s evening newscasts.
Beginning Oct. 27, Leslie Rhode — better known to Austinites as Leslie Cook — will slide into the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. co-anchor slot vacated by Michelle Valles. Valles left the station last month after turning down a contract extension she deemed unacceptable.
Rhode returns to KXAN, where she helmed the station’s morning and evening newscasts from 1995 to 2003, after relocating to Washington, D.C., to be with husband Patrick, who worked with President Bush. In D.C., she was a reporter and weekend anchor at ABC station WJLA. The two moved back to Texas earlier this year.
“The way things timed out was great,” said KXAN news director Michael Fabac. “Our opening came up at the same time Leslie became available.”
“I’m just thrilled to be back,” Rhode said. “Austin feels like home to me and home to my family.
“I did not expect this opportunity to come up. I kind of feel like this was meant to be.”
Fabac said news of Rhode’s return was warmly received by KXAN staffers.
“People here were sad to see her leave,” he said, “and they’re glad to have her back.”
The station plans to place Rhode into the field from time to time to take advantage of her reporting skills, something Hadlock regularly does, as well.
“Her credibility and familiarity with the market will let her hit the ground running,” Fabac said.
Photo courtesy of WJLA-TV, Washington, D.C.
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October 7, 2008
KVUE's Tyler Sieswerda gets a new co-anchor
KVUE’s Tyler Sieswerda won’t be flying solo much longer.
Without a partner at 6 and 10 p.m. since the August departure of Christine Haas, he’ll be joined soon by Terri Gruca who, like Haas, comes to Austin from a station in Minneapolis.
“It’s a really interesting set of circumstances,” said Frank Volpicella, KVUE’s news director.
Gruca says she had just arrived in the Twin Cities five years ago when Haas left for Austin, but she’s kept tabs on her former competitor over the years. And when Haas departed for a job in Houston earlier this year, the two reconnected.
“Christine is terrific,” Gruca said. “She understands what it’s like to go from Minneapolis to Austin, and that really helped me.”
Gruca, who grew up in North Carolina, says she fell in love with Austin — and KVUE — instantly.
“The station has such a rich history of quality journalism,” she said. “The people are amazing.”
That admiration extends to Sieswerda, her new co-anchor.
“He and I completely connected from the moment I walked in the door,” she said. “You just don’t see that very often.”
Volpicella says more than 200 people — from all corners of the nation — applied for the job. Gruca immediately impressed him.
“She’s a good reporter and a good anchor who has broken a lot of solid stories,” he said.
Those stories include an expose on the jewelry found in gumball machines that led to a nationwide recall, a look at the dangers escalators pose to small children, and a piece on exploding thermoses.
In Austin, she, like Haas, will file investigative reports for KVUE’s Defenders franchise.
Gruca starts Dec. 8, but plans a house-hunting trip before then with husband Greg, a day trader.
“I love the way Austin feels,” she said, “and I want him to experience that.”
Photo courtesy of WCCO-TV, Minneapolis
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October 3, 2008
KXAN goes dark for Time Warner customers
It’s midnight, and KXAN has been dropped from Time Warner Cable’s lineup. The Oct. 2 deadline for a new retransmission contract came and went without a settlement.
Negotiations will continue Friday in an attempt to settle the dispute and return KXAN and its NBC programming back to Time Warner’s Cable Channel 4. At issue is KXAN’s demand to be paid “less than a penny a day per subscriber,” according to the station, and Time Warner’s insistence that a free, over-the-air station should not be paid for its signal.
But “Today” viewers and fans of other NBC shows today likely will need to switch off their cable and resort to rabbit ears. Or, if you planned ahead, you may already be on Dish or DirecTV satellite services or AT&T’s U-verse. Smaller cable companies in your areas, like Grande and Suddenlink, also continue to carry KXAN. And you can also go to NBC.com to watch most of the network’s prime-time shows.
Here’s what Time Warner customers saw if they tuned into KXAN after midnight:
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September 18, 2008
KVUE and KXAN need anchors . . . we're here to help
Want to be a local TV news anchor? Austin has a couple of big openings.
KVUE is still searching for a replacement for Christine Haas, who left during the summer for a morning anchor job in Houston. The empty seat next to Tyler Sieswerda still needs to be filled.
And KXAN is looking for a co-anchor for Robert Hadlock in the wake of Michelle Valles’ abrupt departure.
Nobody asked, but we have some thoughts on what we’d like to see (and not see) in the new anchors:
The unwritten rule in local news is that co-anchors must be male and female. We don’t think the world would come to an end with two male or two female anchors. “Good Morning America” is doing just fine with Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts. So, hire the best partner for los lonely boys at KXAN and KVUE; don’t worry about gender.
Austin is the 49th market now, which finally places us in the Top 50. We shouldn’t have to hire super-green anchors or reporters any more. Make sure the candidates can read a teleprompter. And give them some time to learn pronunciations, people and places that make Austin special.
Reporting skills? Local anchors don’t do a lot of reporting, but they should be able to cover a story. Hadlock is probably the best reporter/anchor in town. He handles political stories, environmental stories, and he’s even trotted off on foreign assignments as well, including a series of pieces about Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba. His new co-anchor should have some reporting credentials.
Looking good on the air doesn’t mean you have to be a beauty queen or a stud muffin. It’s all about grooming and presence. If the anchor is confident and smart — and doesn’t have any obvious, distracting physical deformities — beauty shouldn’t matter that much.
Communication is key. Talking to a camera, no matter what the average viewer thinks, is not easy. You have to pretend the cold, dead lens staring you in the face is a living, breathing person. And you have to do that while reading the teleprompter AND listening to people yammering in your ear-piece. A good anchor makes this juggling act look effortless — like Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira at KEYE and veteran sports anchor Dave Cody at Fox 7.
It’s about the news; it’s not about the anchor.
OK, stations. You know what we want, so go out and fill those empty chairs!
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September 15, 2008
Updated: KXAN off Time Warner Cable? Michelle Valles gone from KXAN
UPDATE on the retransmission flap between KXAN (with its corporate owner LIN TV) and Time Warner Cable:
Here’s what KXAN has to say about this retransmission situation: “I’m hopeful but at the same time I’m skeptical,” said KXAN general manager Eric Lassberg. “Usually we do resolve these things before the station is pulled off a cable system. The difference this time is we haven’t even heard a response back.”
Here’s what Time Warner has to say: “This is a typical negotiation tactic for LIN,” said Roger Heaney, director of public affairs for Time Warner Austin. “We’re trying to manage cost for our customers, and LIN is just trying to make more money.”
And our FINAL UPDATE on Michelle Valles:
“Michelle Valles is no longer employed at KXAN,” said the station’s general manager Eric Lassberg.
So it’s official. As of Monday afternoon, Valles is gone.
Valles turned down a contract offer last Thursday and left the station. She plans to stay in Austin. KXAN will begin searching for a new co-anchor to work with Robert Hadlock.
ORIGINAL POST from earlier today:
KXAN and its parent company LIN TVannounced today that its current contract with Time Warner Cable will expire on Oct. 2.
You can check out the dire-warning announcement here.
What does this mean? It’s possible that Time Warner customers will be without the station’s local and NBC network programming, including local news, “Today,” “Tonight,” “The Office,” “30 Rock” and a slew of new and returning fall series.
You may recall that KXAN and SuddenLink Cable, which serves about 30,000 people mostly in the Williamson County area, engaged in a similar meltdown in January.
When KXAN’s retransmission agreement with the cable company expired Dec. 31, 2007, SuddenLink dropped the station from its lineup and substituted an NBC station, KCEN in Temple.
KXAN was off the air in SuddenLink’s service area until late March, when a new contract finally was signed.
What is a retransmission agreement? It’s payment by a cable or satellite company for programming from local stations. Local stations increasingly want more money for their programming, in part to offset the cost of digital and high-definition transmission.
It’s hard to imagine KXAN and LIN would profit from losing local viewers for any length of time, especially at the beginning of the new TV season and with the November sweeps just a few weeks away from the Oct. 2 deadline.
We haven’t heard back from Time Warner or KXAN management yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
For the good of Austin couch potatoes, this madness must be solved!
And speaking of KXAN … Anchor Michelle Valles said today that, as far as she’s concerned, she’s no longer with the station. Her contract negotiations ended less than pleasantly last Thursday, and she left the station.
Her photo is still up on KXAN’s web site, and station management still considers her to be employed there. So the impasse lives on.
We wrote about this situation Friday, and that little piece of news generated the biggest — and at times the nastiest — reader response the TV blog has ever seen.
Just so you know, I don’t post comments that are obscene or just too nasty for public consumption. Share your opinions, but keep ‘em decent.
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September 12, 2008
Michelle Valles in or out as KXAN anchor?
Valles says she walked away from her TV station home of the past five years on Thursday, after a contract renewal was offered that she deemed unacceptable.
“It was tough, but, yes, I walked away,” Valles said in an emotional conversation Friday afternoon. “We were under contract negotiations for a while, but they presented me an offer yesterday afternoon that wasn’t in my best interest. I wouldn’t even consider the deal that was offered.”
Eric Lassberg, KXAN’s general manager, disputes that claim, insisting that contract negotiations with Valles are ongoing. He released the following statement to the American-Statesman:
“Michelle Valles is a valued employee at KXAN Austin News. We are in the process of negotiating a long-term contract with Michelle. It is our policy not to comment on personnel matters.”
Neither Valles nor Lassberg would reveal the specific contract dispute. Asked if the problem was salary or job position, Valles said, “Both.” Lassberg would not comment at all.
KXAN may have offered her a contract with different duties than anchoring the station’s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts. Valles, a University of Texas graduate, has co-anchored the newscasts with Robert Hadlock since joining the station in 2003.
KXAN news usually finishes behind top-rated KVUE, but KEYE often gives it a run for second place at 10 p.m. The Beijing Olympics in August, however, gave KXAN’s newscasts a boost.
But it has been a tumultuous year for Valles, who was arrested last November for driving while intoxicated. After a long weekend, Valles was back on the air, supported by the station, and made a tearful apology to viewers.
Last month, Valles, who has insisted she was not drunk at the time of her arrest, pled guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving, and the DWI charge was dropped. She was sentenced to two years probation.
Rumors of Valles’ current contract troubles bubbled up in July, but negotiations continued with both sides apparently hoping to work out an agreement. It is unclear if Thursday’s breakup is truly the end of Valles’ tenure at KXAN or if tempers will cool and she’ll be back.
“I’m really hurt right now,” Valles said. “But anything’s possible in time. I just want to be appreciated.”
Photo by Amber Novak FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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September 10, 2008
KVUE wins A-List's Best Newscast poll
Alert the media! Austin’s top evening newscast, according to Nielsen ratings, also ranks at the top of our recent Your A-List poll for Best Evening Newscast.
Even without co-anchor Christine Haas, who traded Austin for Houston last month, KVUE is the favorite among our online readers.
Flying solo for more than a month, evening anchor Tyler Sieswerda and KVUE news raked in 49 percent of the votes, with Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira of KEYE a distant second with 28.5 percent of the vote.
KVUE, an ABC-affiliated station owned by Belo Corp., has been the most-watched local news for more than a decade, so this is not much of a surprise.
Although the poll listed local stations and their news anchors, weather forecasters play a big role in local news popularity rankings.
KVUE’s Mark Murray, aka The Music-Loving Meteorologist (never misses a festival or concert), has been with the station since 1990 and undoubtedly has lots of fans.
Others receiving votes
- Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira (KEYE), 29 percent
- Robert Hadlock and Michelle Valles (KXAN), 16 percent
- Gustavo Monsante (KAKW), 3 percent
- Loriana Hernandez and Mike Warren (KTBC), 2 percent
- Crestina Chavez (News 8 Austin), 2 percent
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August 27, 2008
Familiar faces leaving KEYE's airwaves
Tough economic times continue to ripple through Austin media, most recently striking CBS station KEYE in the form of layoffs.
A couple of weeks ago, 14 of the station’s approximately 110 employees were quietly let go. Most of them worked in sales and administration. Next will be the departure of some of the station’s on-camera personnel.
KEYE general manager Amy Villarreal confirmed Wednesday that the station has decided to drop chief meteorologist Byron Webre, morning co-anchor Elizabeth Dannheim and veteran reporter Keith Elkins. Reporter Rebecca Taylor also will leave at the end of her contract.
“We are restructuring on-air talent, and there will be some changes beginning next week,” Villarreal said. “We are adjusting to accommodate what’s going on in the industry. The economy is down and advertising is down, so we’re making some tough calls. But we’ll come out of it when the economy comes back, and we’ll be well-positioned for the future.”
Because they have been instructed by station management not to comment on the down-sizing situation, none of the newsroom staff would speak on the record. The previous wave of layoffs included the station’s long-time receptionist Rose Davis and community affairs manager Thad Rosenfeld, who is married to KEYE news anchor Judy Maggio.
Villarreal shot down reports that the entire newsroom had been asked to take salary cuts or that, as one anonymous e-mailer claimed, the lights had been turned off in the station’s hallways to save money.
KEYE is owned by New York-based Cerberus Capital Management, which bought the station from CBS in February 2007 in a seven station deal worth $185 million.
Until recently, KEYE routinely finished third or fourth in the ratings among local newscasts, behind top-rated KVUE and second-place KXAN. But after launching the first high-definition local newscast last November, KEYE’s ratings began to improve, and in the most recent May ratings, the station finished second behind KVUE at 10 p.m.
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July 24, 2008
KEYE news guys hit by Dolly
Covering a hurricane is exciting duty, especially for TV folks (Dan Rather launched his career that way), but Austin’s KEYE news team found themselves in a little too much excitement on South Padre Island on Wednesday when Dolly struck.
Gregg Watson reported island damage from the storm on the 10 p.m. newscast, adding the personally scary stuff after anchor Judy Maggio asked him about it. Seems Watson and photojournalist Pedro Garcia got caught in some high winds when they scampered out of the Radisson Hotel to make sure their satellite truck was secured.
In the parking lot, glass started blowing out of cars and hotel windows, including two windows from the KEYE truck. Garcia took glass in his hand and knee; Watson had a few scratches but nothing that required medical attention. They rode out the worst of the storm for two hours in the truck, rocking and swaying in the wind.
“They’re both OK now,” said Deke Jones, KEYE’s news assignment manager back at the station. “But the truck is out of commission for now. We’re hoping to bring everybody home today.”
The guys on the ground for Dolly duty lucked out after their flying-glass attack because several doctors were staying at the Radisson and helped remove glass from Garcia’s knee. He later went to the hospital for stitches.
Dangerous duty, hurricanes, even when they’re relatively weak (Category 2) like Dolly. We’re glad the KEYE guys are safe and sound.
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July 7, 2008
Christine Haas leaving KVUE for Houston's KHOU
Christine Haas, anchor of top-rated KVUE’s evening news, is leaving the station in August to anchor the weekday morning news at KHOU in Houston. Both stations are owned by Belo Corp.
Rumors have been swirling for months about Haas, with speculation that she would be leaving Austin for a Top 10 market soon. When a morning anchor job opened up at WFAA in Dallas, Haas looked like a likely suspect, but that didn’t happen.
Now it turns out Haas is heading south instead of north.
“I am thrilled with the opportunity and so excited to make this move forward in my career, but it was a very, very difficult decision,” Haas said Monday night. “I am leaving behind so many friends, and Austin had truly become my home.”
Haas came to Austin from Minneapolis in 2003, replacing Judy Maggio after Maggio jumped from KVUE to KEYE.
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June 11, 2008
Your A-List: Best TV Reporter
KVUE consistently tops the Nielsen ratings for local news, but in our A-List poll for best TV reporter, a journalist from KXAN — Shannon Wolfson — took top honors.
After a week of voting, Wolfson received 32 percent of the online clicks with KVUE’s Clara Tuma coming in second with 22 percent.
Wolfson has been reporting for Austin’s NBC affiliate since November 2006. A University of Texas graduate from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, Wolfson started her TV career in Sherman. Along the way she’s covered everything from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans to crime and flooding right here in Central Texas.
Tuma also is a native Texan and UT grad, but she started out as a print reporter for the Houston Post and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. After a decade reporting for Court TV, Tuma joined KVUE in 2001.
Here’s the full ballot and tally:
Shannon Wolfson, KXAN — 32 percent
Clara Tuma, KVUE — 22 percent
Bob Robuck, News 8 Austin — 11 percent
Amy Hadley, News 8 Austin — 11 percent
Nanci Wilson, KEYE — 5 percent
Reagan Hackleman, News 8 Austin — 4 percent
Quita Culpepper, KVUE — 3 percent
Kate Weidaw, KXAN — 3 percent
Arezow Doost, KTBC — 3 percent
Jim Swift, KXAN — 2 percent
Keith Elkins, KEYE — 2 percent
Jenni Lee, KTBC — 1 percent
Jason Wheeler, KEYE — 1 percent
Jim Bergamo, KVUE — 1 percent
James Irby, KTBC — < 1 percent
Write-ins: Stephanie Bradford, KAKW; Luis Gomez, KAKW; Christine Haas, KVUE; Loriana Hernandez, KTBC; David Herrera, KAKW; Elise Hu, KVUE; Ellen McNamara, KXAN; Matt Mitchell, KVUE; Diego Munoz, KAKW; Juan Jose Rodas, KAKW; Regina Rodriguez, KAKW; Nancy Zambrano, KTBC
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June 2, 2008
HD News: KEYE launches new channel, KVUE News goes HD
If you live in the HD world (and more of you do every week), you may have noticed that KEYE has a second channel now featuring classic TV series such as “Leave It To Beaver,” “Happy Days,” “The Fugitive,” “Perry Mason” and “Mission Impossible.”
The channel, called RTN (Retro Television Network), launched today over the air on Digital Channel 42-2 and Time Warner’s Digital Cable Channel 1532.
KEYE tested the equipment late last week, so some viewers may have gotten a peek at the channel early. But today’s the day for the full schedule, which runs 24 hours a day.
In addition to the old reruns, RTN is replaying KEYE’s early morning news, anchored by Fred Cantu and Elizabeth Dannheim, from 7 to 9 a.m. — a much more civilized time than the normal 5 to 7 a.m. (In my world, that’s still night.)
Also Sunday evening, KVUE jumped out early with a successful “soft launch” of its HD newscasts at 5:30 and 10 p.m. Today is the official HD debut, featuring a new set and all the bells and whistles that HD brings.
Check tomorrow’s Life & Arts section of the American-Statesman and Austin360.com for more info on KVUE’s HD transition. It is the second Austin station to go HD with local news. KEYE made the switch last November.
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May 7, 2008
ABC News opening 'digital bureau' at UT
University of Texas journalism students could wind up on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “World News” and “Nightline” in the fall when ABC News opens a “digital bureau” here as part of an new initiative called ABC News on Campus.
Only five universities around the country have been invited to participate. Besides UT-Austin, the program includes Arizona State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The UT bureau will open in September under the supervision of broadcast journalism lecturer Kate Dawson, a 14-year TV news veteran who spent her career at Fox News Channel, WCBS in New York and ABC News Radio. She joined the UT faculty in 2006.
“ABC was really impressed with UT’s credentials and considered this a great journalism school,” Dawson said.
The ABC News-campus partnership will create a multimedia bureau at UT that will include new video and computer equipment, paid internships for student staffers and a paid position for Dawson as the faculty adviser. The first student bureau chief is Sara Loeffelholz, a senior from Aledo. The other bureau staff members have not yet been chosen.
“These college bureaus will extend the newsgathering reach of ABC News throughout the country,” said ABC News president David Westin in a statement. “In addition, they will enable us to nurture bright young journalism students, giving them hands-on training from some of the most seasoned news professionals in the business and the opportunity to see their work appear on ABC News platforms.”
No doubt ABC also sees the campus initiative as a way to lure some of the country’s 33 million 18- to 25-year-old viewers into watching TV news. Younger viewers have abandoned nightly newscasts since the arrival of online and cable news.
The UT bureau will receive training and on-site mentoring for the student bureau chief and faculty liaison at ABC News headquarters in New York twice a year.
Every day, year-round, students will pitch stories to the ABC news producers. If one is accepted, the bureau will engage its multimedia operation. A print journalism student might write the script, a broadcast journalism student might do the standup and several students would be in charge of shooting and editing, with online additions available, too.
“This is an amazing opportunity,” Dawson said. “We’ll learn from each other and have access to resources at the other college campuses… . ABC News is interested in a variety of issues, from campus security to features on college trends. They want the college student’s points of view, which is something you don’t see very often on network news.”
In the fall, the UT group also will help out with ABC affiliate KVUE’s general election coverage.
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April 28, 2008
KVUE News going HD soon!
Christine Haas and Tyler Sieswerda are about to get new makeup and a spiffy new look to their anchor perch on KVUE’s local newscasts.
Why? The Belo-owned station is switching its newscasts to HD. We’ve noticed for several weeks that the anchors aren’t in their usual set, and the lighting looks a bit harsh sometimes. Turns out that’s because KVUE is building a new deck for their old set to accommodate the transition.
We found this out, by the way, not from the station but from an article in Broadcast Engineering.
This morning we called for confirmation from KVUE’s long-time chief engineer Mike Wenglar. The specific date for the HD debut has not been released, but late May or early June look probable.
Look for a big promotional extravaganza closer to the premiere, when news, weather, sports and field reports all will be telecast in HD.
KEYE’s newscasts, you might remember, went HD last November — just in time for the important sweeps period. Ron Oliveira and Judy Maggio sailed through their ready-for-their-closeup makeovers.
KXAN and KTBC both have HD-ready news sets but no launch time for the high-def switch. Presumably, however, all local Austin news will be in HD by the end of this year.
J.Lo and the twins on reality TV
TLC has landed a deal with Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony for a reality series that will focus on the glam life of J.Lo and the more down-and-dirty job of taking care of twins Emme and Max, born Feb. 22.
The series will be produced by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, another celebrity couple. No air date has been set — and no title either.
Suggestions? “Hot Mama?” “J.Lo & The Babes?”
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April 21, 2008
Austin stations win Texas AP Awards
Austin stations, not surprisingly, hit the motherlode in the just-announced Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Awards.
Competing in Division 2 (against San Antonio but not Dallas or Houston), Austin’s ABC affiliate KVUE raked in the most, winning 14 awards and 5 honorable mentions.
But every local news station in town won AP Awards.
Kudos to all. Here’s the list, as posted by Texas AP:
Best Newscast
KXAN, Austin. Staff. News at 6 p.m.
KENS, San Antonio. Kara Gennett & Ray Silva. 6 p.m. News.
Honorable Mention: KXAN, Austin. Staff. News at 10 p.m.
Best Sportscast
WOAI, San Antonio. Don Harris & Mike Klein.
KVUE, Austin. Mike Barnes. KVUE Sports at 6 p.m.
Honorable Mention: KEYE, Austin. Bob Ballou. 10 p.m.
Best Weathercast
KVUE, Austin. Mark Murray. 10 p.m.
KXAN, Austin. Jim Spencer. 10 p.m. Weathercast.
Honorable Mention: News 8 Austin, Austin. Burton Fitzsimmons. 8 a.m. Weather.
Best News Anchor/Team
KVUE, Austin. Christine Haas.
WOAI, San Antonio. Randy Beamer.
Honorable Mention: KTBC, Austin. Jenni Lee.
Best Spot Coverage-Station
KVUE, Austin. Georgetown Drowning.
KENS, San Antonio. Eagle Pass Tornado.
Best Spot Story/Individual
KVUE, Austin. Kevin Peters and Robert McMurrey. Georgetown Drowning.
KENS, San Antonio. James Munoz and Larry Burns. Corn Collapse.
Honorable Mention: News 8 Austin, Austin. Amy Hadley and Ed Keiner. Ice Storm.
Best Feature/Serious
KVUE, Austin. Shelton Green and Woody Harrison. Ghost Bikes.
WOAI, San Antonio. Delaine Mathieu and Ben Cruz. Babies Saving Their Own Lives.
Honorable Mention: KEYE, Austin. Judy Maggio and Dennis Bateman. Champion for Kids.
Best Feature/Light
KENS, San Antonio. Marvin Hurst and Patricia Norman. Selling the Moon.
KVUE, Austin. Amy Johnston and Doug Naugle. Cedar Park Quints.
Honorable Mention: News 8 Austin, Austin. Crestina Chavez and Ed Keiner. Fidographer.
Best Investigative
KVUE, Austin. Rudy Koski and Dathan Hull. Justice Denied.
WOAI, San Antonio. Brian Collister and Steve Kline. VA Medical Mistakes.
Honorable Mention: KVUE, Austin. Christine Haas and Todd Rogenthien. Maravilla Troubles.
Best Photojournalism/Station
KVUE, Austin.
KXAN, Austin.
Hon Men: KENS, San Antonio.
Best Photojournalism/Individual
KXAN, Austin. Jonathan Uhl.
KVUE, Austin. Todd Rogenthien.
Honorable Mention: KENS, San Antonio. Michael Humphries.
Best Sports Story
WOAI, San Antonio. Don Harris, Keith Van Prooyen, Mike Klein. Daddy is on God’s Team.
News 8 Austin, Austin. Shane McAuliffe. Deaf Football Team.
Best Series
KEYE, Austin. Ron Oliveira, John Salazar and Benjamin Pollchik. Manopause.
KABB, San Antonio. Staff. S.A. 360.
Honorable Mention: KVUE, Austin. Clara Tuma and Todd Rogenthien. Looking for Love.
Best Specialty/Beat Reporting
1.KTBC, Austin. Chris Coffey, John Craven and Shane Gordon. 7 On Your Side.
- KVUE, Austin. Elise Hu. Political Reporting.
Best Reporter
KEYE, Austin. Jason Wheeler
KABB, San Antonio. James Keith
Best General Assignment
WOAI, San Antonio. Jaie Avila and Joey Mendoza. Car Wash Theft.
KABB, San Antonio. Stephanie Rivas and Jack Greene. Amber Jones Memorial.
Honorable Mention: KVUE, Austin. Clara Tuma and Todd Rogenthien. Intel Implosion.
Best Continuing Coverage
WOAI, San Antonio. Brian Collister and Steve Kline. Failed Principal.
KENS, San Antonio. Staff. Mount Helotes Burning.
Honorable Mention: KVUE, Austin. Staff. Goodbye Lady Bird.
Best Website
KEYE, Austin.
KVUE, Austin.
Honorable Mention: KTBC, Austin.
Best Feature Editing
KENS, San Antonio. Patricia Norman. Taking on Taggers
KVUE, Austin. Todd Rogenthien. Canine Chaos.
Honorable Mention (tie): KVUE, Austin. Todd Rogenthien. Seaholm Swan Song.
KENS, San Antonio. Wes Sewell. S.A. Street Racers.
Best TV Magazine/Special
KVUE, Austin. Kathy Hadlock. KVUE Close-Up.
News 8 Austin, Austin. Rachel Elsberry, Drew Moses and Chris Rodriguez. ACL Music Festival.
Honorable Mention: WOAI, San Antonio. Don Harris, David Chancellor and Mike Klein. Race for the Rings Spurs Special.
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April 11, 2008
KVUE rakes in six Regional Murrow Awards
Austin stations fared well in the Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, announced Friday afternoon.
Competing in Region 6 (which includes Texas and Oklahoma), KVUE raked in six prestigious Murrows, including one for overall excellence. KVUE, an ABC affiliate owned by Belo Corp., also won for its 10 p.m. newscast, investigative reporting, sports reporting, spot news coverage and videography.
CBS affiliate KEYE received a Murrow for its Web site (KEYETV.com), Time Warner’s 24-hour local news channel News 8 won for (what else?) continuous coverage and NBC station KXAN picked up an award for news writing.
In the radio category, KUT won three Murrows: overall excellence, feature reporting and news documentary.
The Murrow awards are bestowed each year by the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
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March 27, 2008
Time Warner's Weather Radar Channel moving to digital-only tier
Weather nerd alert!
Time Warner Cable is moving the Color Weather Radar Channel to the digital-only tier, effective April 10.
Why? Allegedly to add lots of bells and whistles to the previously basic Sven-narrated radar picture. But it doesn’t take a genius to know that this is just another nudge by Time Warner to move customers from basic service to digital. More channels, yes; more money, you bet.
To make the move even more annoying, Cable Channel 44, where weather radar currently resides, will be blank after the new-and-improved weather radar channel moves to Digital 355.
Why not just leave the old-fashioned weather radar on the soon-to-be-empty Channel 44? Time Warner spokesman Roger Heaney, who is always polite and pleasant, didn’t know but figured it was a “technical problem.”
What’s the big deal with the digital-level radar channel?
“We’ll be able to provide customized, community-level imagery,” Heaney said. “The enhancements they’re making requires it to be on digital.”
Heaney said the digital weather radar channel will customize the radar image right down to your neighborhood and, through the miracle of digital transmissions, automatically know where you are — or at least where your cable box is.
Heaney also said moving the weather radar channel off the lower tier opens up the possibility of adding three or four HD channels in the future, for which he says customers are clamoring. More HD, less weather. Really?
Time Warner customers who are not on digital service, Heaney says, can still catch weather updates every 10 minutes on Time Warner’s local cable news channel, News 8. And, of course, weather radar is plentifully available on various Web sites.
But that’s not exactly the same as watching the big red and purple storm blobs roll in as Sven calmly describes “possible tornadic activity in the area.” Those of us already on digital no doubt will relish the fancy technology, but we’ll miss Sven’s comforting monotone and the hypnotic images of Central Texas weather.
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March 25, 2008
KXAN back on Suddenlink Cable
After months of wrangling, KXAN and Suddenlink Cable have reached a retransmission agreement, and now viewers in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Leander can watch weatherman Jim Spencer again. And for the first time, they can see KXAN in high-definition.
KXAN was bumped off the Suddenlink system in Williamson County on Dec. 31, leaving viewers without NBC programming for almost a week, until NBC station KCEN in Temple joined Suddenlink’s lineup. Neither KXAN’s corporate owner LIN Television nor the Missouri-based Suddenlink would divulge details of the arrangement. But effective Tuesday, KXAN’s local news, syndicated programming and NBC shows were back up and running in 30,000 Suddenlink households.
“The terms are confidential, but I will say we’ve always stated that it’s about fair market value, and we’ve received fair market value,” said Eric Lassberg, general manager of KXAN.
The dispute between Suddenlink and KXAN did not affect the more than 300,000 households in Central Texas that have Time Warner Cable.
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March 11, 2008
KEYE's Allison Smith gone ... 'The Saint' returning?
Time sometimes gets away from us, and before we realize it, someone we’re used to seeing on TV isn’t just gone for a little while, she’s gone for good.
Allison Smith, KEYE’s hard-working and wonderfully competent weekend and fill-in weeknight sports anchor has moved to Los Angeles with her husband. Bummer.
“We would love to have kept Allison,” said KEYE’s news director Suzanne Black. “She’s a terrific person.”
We’ll try not to begrudge Allison her personal happiness, but we’ll miss her.
The new weekend/fill-in sports anchor is Chris Pelikan, hired from a station in St Louis. Yes, he’s been on the air for a while, but (duh), we thought maybe he was either a third sports anchor or temporary replacement. He’s full-time and permanent.
Sorry for the late welcome, but welcome to Austin, Chris.
Return of ‘The Saint?’
Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, famous for such hard-hitting, gritty crime dramas as “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and “Oz,” are this close to helming a revival of the light-hearted, 1960s crime series “The Saint.”
British actor James Purefoy (Mark Antony in HBO’s “Rome”) is at the top of the list to star in the show as Simon Templar, the super-rich sophisticate who specializes in helping the less fortunate.
“The Saint” revival was originally on TNT’s development list last year but was dropped and now is searching for a network home. A two-hour pilot starts production later this spring … surely someone will step up to the plate and pick up the series. Please?
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March 10, 2008
February Nielsens: KVUE top dog in local news, 'Family Guy' big in late-night
The Nielsen ratings for February are in, and the big news isn’t that KVUE continues to hog the lead in local news ratings. Or that KXAN remains in second place with KEYE giving it a run for its money.
No, the big news in February is the late-night competition. Was “Nightline” No. 1 in our highly educated TV market? No, that was No. 2, followed in order by “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS and then “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” No, dear readers, the top-rated late-night show in Austin was (drum roll) “Family Guy” reruns on KTBC.
Now, back to the news ratings. At 5 p.m., Austin’s Univision station KAKW finished behind our four English-language network affiliates but ahead of KNVA’s reruns of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” That’s a move up for Univision.
Austin continues to favor “ABC’s World News” among the network newscasts, with “NBC Nightly News” in second place and the “CBS Evening News” last.
At 6 p.m., KVUE remains top-rated, but KXAN is a very close second. At 10 p.m., again with KVUE on top, KXAN and KEYE are neck-and-neck.
KTBC’s late Fox 7 News, which runs for an hour at 9 p.m. (instead of up against the other guys at 10 p.m.), had extremely strong ratings this time around — maybe because the writers strike has caused prime-time ratings to sag or maybe also because we’re in the heat of a blockbuster run of “American Idol.” Or maybe because Central Texans just like Fox 7 News.
FEBRUARY NIELSEN RATINGS
5 p.m. local news
KVUE - 7.1
KXAN - 3.6
KEYE - 3.0
KTBC - 2.3
KAKW - 1.9/4
KNVA (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) - 1.2
5:30 p.m. network news
ABC - 7.3
NBC - 4.8
CBS - 3.4
Univision - 2.2
KNVA (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) - 1.3
6:00 p.m. local news
KVUE - 6.5
KXAN - 5.3
KEYE - 3.9
KTBC (“TMZ”) - 2.6
KNVA (“Friends”) - 1.7
10 p.m. local news
KVUE - 6.1
KXAN - 5.3
KEYE - 5.1
KTBC (“The Simpsons”) - 4.4
KAKW - 2.7
[KTBC (9-10 p.m.) - 6.2]
(A rating is 1 percent of the 602,340 TV households in the Austin viewing area.)
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January 22, 2008
Laura Hall professes innocence on ‘48 Hours'
Local news coverage of Laura Hall, including pre-arrest photos of her grinning and partying in Mexico with murderer Colton Pitonyak and, later, rolling her eyes at TV cameras in court in Austin, bear little resemblance to the pretty woman proclaiming her innocence on tonight’s edition of “48 Hours” (9 p.m. on CBS, KEYE Channel 42).
You remember the University of Texas student, accused by Pitonyak of dismembering the body of Jennifer Cave, whom Pitonyak killed in some sort of drug-induced rage in 2005. The gruesome murder rocked Austin and especially UT, with the enigmatic Hall perhaps the most mysterious character of all in this bizarre saga.
Hall was convicted of evidence tampering and helping Pitonyak flee to Mexico, but she is petitioning for a new trial in hopes of overturning those convictions.
The “48 Hours” news release titles tonight’s episode “In Too Deep,” and the clear implication is that Hall might have been more of a victim than a villain in the murder of Jennifer Cave. Throughout her trial, Hall was seen entering the courtroom expressionless, sporting a variety of hair colors and styles. She never spoke to reporters, she usually frowned and she frequentlly sighed and looked alternately bored and annoyed by the whole mess.
Scenes from tonight’s interview show a strikingly different Hall, and not just because she’s been professionally styled for the cameras. She proclaims her innocence with great energy, insisting she had nothing to do with the murder or the dismemberment. She says she was afraid of Pitonyak and that he forced her to go to Mexico with him. She is earnest and occasionally even smiles.
Is Hall conducting a public relations performance or telling the truth? You be the judge. If what she’s saying now is different than what came out in her trial, why didn’t she say it then? And if she did say it then, why didn’t the jury believe her?
KXAN’s Sally Hernandez promoted
KXAN news director Michael Fabac announced over the holiday weekend that Sally Hernandez will permanently take the morning anchor job, partnering with long-time morning guy Chris Willis. She has been filling in for quite a while, replacing Tonya Kerr, who quit abruptly and rather mysteriously in October 2007.
Hernandez, who graduated from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio in 2001 and immediately went to work for KXAN, has anchored weekend mornings and weekend evenings during her tenure at the station.
“Sally’s impressive track record is a testament to her skills and strong work ethic. I am proud to be able to internally promote an employee who has established strong connections in the community and proven herself as an advocate for our viewers,” said Fabac.
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December 28, 2007
KXAN dropping off Suddenlink cable?
Are Suddenlink cable subscribers in Central Texas going to lose NBC programming on New Year’s Day? No parades? No bowl games?
Possibly, but probably not.
Austin’s NBC station KXAN raised the prospect in a rather alarming message on its 10 p.m. newscast Thursday night. The written posting came from general manager Eric Lassberg:
“I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about our negotiations with Suddenlink for carriage of KXAN-TV, Austin’s NBC affiliate station on Suddenlink’s cable systems. Our current contract with Suddenlink expires on Dec. 31, 2007. We have attempted to reach an agreement with Suddenlink for the fair market value of our station, without success, and therefore we expect Suddenlink to pull KXAN-TV off its cable system on December 31, 2007.”
The station manager’s full message is posted on KXAN’s Web site. Lassberg apologizes for “any inconvenience to our viewers.”
But an executive with the Missouri-based Suddenlink Communications insists the cable provider will not yank KXAN off its lineup — unless the station’s owner, LIN TV, refuses to agree to a short-term extension of the current agreement while negotiations continue.
“We are not that far apart on a final agreement and are hopeful KXAN’s parent company will recognize the same and continue these negotiations, which have been very friendly and cordial to date,” said Pete Abel, Suddenlink’s vice president of corporate communications. “In good faith negotiations, where both parties are making progress toward a reasonable agreement, we believe it would be incredibly unfair of LIN to use KXAN’s viewers as pawns in this matter. We don’t want that outcome. Viewers don’t deserve such treatment.”
Courtney Guertin, public relations specialist for LIN, issued the following statement: “We have not reached an agreement with Suddenlink yet, but we certainly hope to.”
In a reply to Lassberg’s posting, Suddenlink’s Abel wrote on KXAN’s site: “We were surprised and confused that KXAN’s owners would direct the station’s GM to put up this message on their Web site. Regardless, please know that we will leave this station on your line up as long as KXAN’s owners allow us to do so. Only they can force it to be removed.”
Suddenlink serves about 35,000 customers in our area, mostly in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Leander. Time Warner is the major cable provider in Austin and Central Texas.
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November 16, 2007
KXAN's Michelle Valles busted but keeps her job
Michelle Valles, who anchors KXAN’s weeknight newscasts, was busted last night for DWI. She posted $3,000 bail and was released early this morning. This is very sad news, and we hope she is able to recover and make the best of a bad situation.
Eric Lassberg, her station’s general manager, told me this morning that Valles still has her job. He said she will take some time off to deal with the situation, but he fully expects her to return to the anchor desk with Robert Hadlock.
Valles, a UT grad, has been a vital part of Austin’s Hispanic community since joining KXAN in 2003. She is active in a variety of charities and does more than just lend her name. Drinking and driving is incredibly stupid and dangerous, but we hope Valles uses the incident to educate herself and others as we enter the holiday season.
‘Family Guy’ feud
Creator/executive producer/star Seth MacFarlane is decidedly unhappy that Fox is airing an episode of his animated comedy “Family Guy” this Sunday.
Why is that?
According to industry trade papers, the upcoming episode of “Family Guy” was nearly finished when the writers’ strike started, but the fine-tuning that always happens before broadcast had not been done. With MacFarlane on strike, Fox added the finishing touches.
Like many other so-called hyphenates (writer-producers), MacFarlane is siding with the writers’ and refusing to perform his show-running duties — hoping the additional pressure will force producers back to the bargaining table.
Legally Fox has the right to tinker with nearly completed episodes, but writer-producers traditionally handle the final cuts. MacFarlane might be out-gunned on this one, but without him on board in the future, “Family Guy” will be dead.
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November 13, 2007
KEYE's HD news gets ratings boost ... 'Damages' survives
Cause or coincidence? Hard to know, but KEYE got a nice little boost in the ratings from its Nov. 1 introduction of HD local news.
It’s still early in the November sweeps, but the 10 p.m. KEYE news, anchored by high-def anchor duo Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira, is now comfortably in second place, behind long-time leader KVUE. That surge gently shoves KXAN into third place at 10 p.m. — at least for now. On Nov. 1, the night the HD newscast debuted, KEYE won the time period with a healthy 7.2 rating and a 12 percent share of the audience.
We’ll have a better sense of how HD is playing into viewers’ choices for local news at the end of the month. We’ll keep you posted.
And while we’re patting KEYE on the back, let’s give it props for something other than high-def. The newscast has ditched the annoying, messy-looking “crawl” at the bottom of the screen. The look is cleaner and clearer. Thanks, guys. I can’t be the only one who finds these grammatically challenged “headlines” distracting.
Blue Monday turned happy
Yesterday, as most Mondays are, was a drag — especially with the writers’ strike threatening to leave us with nothing but “Survivor” and “Big Brother” for months to come.
But we did get a nice piece of good news from FX: “Damages” has been renewed for not one but TWO new seasons. The fabulous legal thriller, which debuted in July, will return next summer, assuming the strike doesn’t drag on and turn it into a winter series. The deal is for a total of 26 new episodes, played out over two summer seasons.
Glenn Close and FX apparently were both on the fence about whether they wanted “Damages” to continue. Close picks her projects carefully, and as the star of an hour-long drama, she knows the work days will be long. FX was disappointed in the lackluster ratings for the show, especially compared to some of its hits, such as “Nip/Tuck” and “The Shield” (which inspired Close’s decision to do a series).
As for details about the new season, we have only a few. Close has signed on (natch), and so has her young protege, played by Rose Burne. Tate Donovan, who co-starred as Close’s right-hand man, will return.
But the corporate villain, played by Ted Danson? Not signed — at least not now. So one might assume that his character really was shot dead in the first-season finale. Maybe.
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October 29, 2007
Austin stations win Lone Star Emmys
The Lone Star Emmy Awards were handed out Saturday night in Dallas, and several Austin stations, people and programs picked up statues.
**News Excellence””
KVUE News
Frank Volpicella, news director
Breaking News
Georgetown Drowning - 3/13/07
KVUE News
Kevin Peters, reporter
Robert McMurrey, photographer
Spot News
Georgetown Drowning - 3/14/07
KVUE News
Kevin Peters, reporter
Robert McMurrey, photographer
Arts/Entertainment-Program Feature/Segment
“Downtown: Slam Poets” on KLRU
Downtown Austin Alliance & Action Figure Studios
Health/Science - News Single Story
“Stolen From The Grave”
KEYE News
Nanci Wilson, reporter/producer
Health/Science - News Series
“ER: In Critical Condition”
KEYE News
Seema Mathur, reporter
Texas Heritage - Program Feature/Segment
“Downtown: The Magi’s Gift’s Before He Was O. Henry” on KLRU
Downtown Austin Alliance & Action Figure Studios
Molly Alexander, executive producer
Children/Youth (12 & under)
“The Biscuit Brothers: Folk Songs”
Allen Robertson, producer
Jerome Schoolar, producer
Documentary - Historical
“Sniper ‘66’’
KTBC News
Whitney Milam, director/producer/writer/editor
Magazine Program - Program/Special
“Docubloggers: The Pilot”
KLRU
Domenique Bellavia, producer
Sean Cunningham, producer
Public/Current/Community Affairs-Feature/Segment
“Downtown: Experience Caring”
Downtown Austin Alliance & Action Figure Studios
Molly Alexander, executive producer
On-Camera Talent-Reporter, Specialty Assignment
“Covering Texas Lawmakers”
KEYE News
Nanci Wilson, reporter/producer
Permalink | | Categories: Local news
October 11, 2007
KXAN's Tonya Kerr quits
Tonya Kerr, KXAN TV’s morning and noon news anchor, resigned Thursday after the early morning broadcast and had left the station as of mid-afternoon.
News director Michael Fabac says the parting was amicable and referred us to the following statement:
“Tonya has been a valued member of the KXAN team since 2004. Her decision to leave is based upon family obligations.”
Fabac said weekend anchor Sally Hernandez will join co-anchor Chris Willis on the morning newscasts beginning next week, and a search has begun for a permanent replacement.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Local news
September 12, 2007
Your A-List: Best evening news anchors
Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira might be anchoring a ratings-challenged newscast on KEYE, but they squeaked out a victory in the Best Evening News Anchors category in our Your A-List poll.
Just a few percentage points behind Judy and Ron were KVUE’s Christine Haas and Tyler Sieswerda, who helm the top-rated local news in Austin at 6 and 10 p.m.
Why did the No. 3 anchors beat the No. 1 anchors in our poll? Name recognition might have something to do with it. Ron and Judy have been anchoring together and separately in Central Texas for a couple of decades — including a victorious stint together at KVUE.
KXAN’s Robert Hadlock and Michelle Valles were a distant third in our poll, although a couple of the station’s weekend warriors — anchor Sally Hernandez and meteorologist Laura Skirde — received write-in votes.
Here’s how the poll results stack up:
Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira (KEYE) — 43 percent
Christine Haas and Tyler Sieswerda (KVUE) — 40 percent
Robert Hadlock and Michelle Valles (KXAN) — 10 percent
Loriana Hernandez and Mike Warren (KTBC) — 3 percent
Crestina Chavez (News 8 Austin) — 3 percent
Gustavo Monsante (KAKW) — 1 percent
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August 30, 2007
KVUE's weatherman wings it well!
Mark Murray gets the Golden Remote Award for stretching a 30-second weather tease into almost the entire first half of last night’s 10 p.m. news.
KVUE was felled by audio problems in the studio Wednesday night that affected anchors Tyler Sieswerda and Christine Haas but not Murray, huddled in his weather pod.
While the station wrestled with the audio problem, Quick-on-His-Feet Mark, the Music-Loving Meteorologist, plowed ahead, serving up hour-by-hour weather for Austin, Texas, the Southwest and much of the United States. All the bells and whistles of TV weather made an appearance, and Murray filled time without skipping a beat.
After a few extra-long commercial breaks, sometime around 10:15, Sieswerda and Haas were audible at last and started the newscast.
“Well, better late than never,” quipped Sieswerda upon returning.
Technical difficulties happen. It’s how you handle them that counts, and KVUE’s Murray charged ahead in splendid fashion. But I bet some weary late news watchers wondered if we were in a major weather crisis when they saw him flying solo through a big chunk of the newscast.
Dave & Oprah — Together again!
Whatever nasty feud existed between Opray Winfrey and David Letterman is officially over.
Dave, who NEVER does talk shows other than his own (maybe once or twice on pal Regis Philbin’s morning yapper), will plop down on Oprah’s couch on Sept. 10. What will he talk about? Geez, it’s hard to know. Oprah usually has themes to her shows. Maybe late-life celebrity dads? We’ll see.
The decade-long bad blood between the powerful show-biz duo apparently began when Letterman started making frequent jokes about her exploding wealth and her weight battles. Winfrey was not amused and declined several invitations to appear on Letterman’s “Late Show.”
But in 2005, Winfrey decided to drop by Letterman’s gig on her way to the opening of her Broadway production of “The Color Purple.” When she arrived, Letterman was at the curb to meet her and escorted her inside. He also escorted her out when she headed for the theater. And the two appeared in a Super Bowl ad together in February.
Kissing and making up no doubt benefits crusty Dave more than the beloved Oprah.
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August 1, 2007
KXAN News: shifting and expanding
KXAN is shifting and expanding its local news. Viewership for TV news might be splintering and declining overall, but KXAN believes it’s time to grow.
“It’s more about what we feel is our core competency and core business,” said station general manager Eric Lassberg.
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 4, the NBC affiliate’s late afternoon news will move from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. And then on Monday, Sept. 10, the station is adding an hour-long newscast at noon.
Before all you “Jeopardy!” fans have a cow, the enduringly popular game show is not going away. It will air for an hour, from 4 to 5 p.m., with a rerun from the previous season leading off at 4 p.m. and the new episode a half-hour later.
“I’m hoping that people who really love ‘Jeopardy!’ will be pleased because they’ll have an hour,” Lassberg said. “It’s really just an hour time-shift.”
The station’s 5 p.m. news will have the same anchor team on board: Robert Hadlock, Michelle Valles, Roger Wallace and Jim Spencer.
KXAN resisted having an early-evening newscast for years, at least partly because “Jeopardy!” has been so successful against the other local stations’ 5 p.m. news. A few years ago, KXAN introduced the 4 p.m. news, but the audience available at that time of day is considerably smaller than the 5 p.m. time slot.
“We’re in the news business, and we’re serious about news,” Lassberg said. “It just makes sense from the viewers’ standpoint to do it at 5 p.m.”
The noon newscast — to be anchored by KXAN’s early-morning team of Tonya Kerr and Chris Willis — will launch the same day that NBC’s “Today” adds another hour.
I know your head is spinning at this point, but here’s how KXAN’s daytime schedule will look as of Sept. 10:
7 to 9 a.m. “Today”
9 to 10 a.m. “Live with Regis and Kelly”
10 a.m. to noon “Today”
Noon to 1 p.m. “KXAN News”
1 to 2 p.m. “700 Club”
2 to 3 p.m. “Days of Our Lives
(Note: “Montel Williams” moves to KXAN’s sister station KNVA at 11 a.m. weekdays.)
Why is British TV filming in Austin?
“Wire in the Blood”, a popular procedural crime drama produced by the BBC, is filming an episode in Austin right now.
The series, which returns to the BBC America schedule sometime in the fall, focuses on an enigmatic clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill, played by Robson Green.
What does this have to do with Austin? Tony becomes an expert witness in the case of an American Iraq War veteran accused of killing his family. The killer claims he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Tony is hired to prove the claim is false, and he winds up in an Austin courtroom to make the case.
“I think it is a huge achievement for a small indie to move from the northeast of England to make a film in Austin, Texas,” executive producer Sandra Jobling said in a statement. “We are relishing the challenge of learning a new system of production and working closely with our American colleagues.”
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July 31, 2007
KEYE hires new sports guy
KEYE Channel 42 News is trading in a Baldwin for a Ballou on its sports desk.
Austin’s CBS station has chosen not to renew sports anchor Skip Baldwin’s contract, so he will depart KEYE on Aug. 10. Baldwin, a University of Texas graduate and 2007 Texas Associated Press award winner, came to KEYE in November 2004 from the Fox station in Nashville. He also has covered sports in San Diego, New Orleans, Midland and Waco.
We’ve been calling and e-mailing Baldwin for two days, but so far we have not heard back from him. We’ve seen him on the air, so we know he’s here. We’ll let you know if we talk to him.
“Skip is a wonderful man who has worked very hard, and we very much appreciate everything he’s contributed,” said KEYE news director Suzanne Black, who declined to say why she’s replacing him.
Bob Ballou, sports anchor/reporter for KENS, the Belo-owned CBS station in San Antonio, has been hired as KEYE’s new sports anchor. He joins the station the week of Aug. 13, but his on-air debut date has not yet been determined.
“Bob’s a very energetic guy,” Black said. “He has covered NBA championship teams, but the driving force for why we asked him to come work with us is his love of local sports.”
Originally from Dallas, Ballou is a graduate of the University of Missouri. He interned with WFAA in Dallas and worked in Columbia, Mo., for four years before joining KENS.
In the May local Nielsen ratings, KEYE’s newscast was ranked fourth at 5 p.m. and third at 6 and 10 p.m. The Belo-owned ABC affiliate, KVUE, is No. 1.
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July 19, 2007
'Friday Night' set visit: photos and video
The video of today’s visit to the “Friday Night Lights” set is posted. Cast members say hi to the fans in Austin.
And here are a few photos of cast members and crew I shot on the first day of shooting Season Two of “Friday Night Lights” and a video greeting from cast members Taylor Kitsch, Adrianne Palicki, Gaius Charles and Zach Gilford.
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'Friday Night Lights' cast returns for shooting
It was like the first day back to school for the returning cast of “Friday Night Lights,” which began shootings its second season for NBC on Thursday.
Probably compounding that feeling: they were shooting at an Austin alternative school.
Thought the show only earned two Emmy nominations when they were announced that morning (one for casting, one to Peter Berg for directing last season’s pilot), spirits seemed high on the set. Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins), returning from shooting an independent film called “Gospell Hill,” said he was glad to be back and was happy to slip back into Riggins’ world of problems.
“It feels funny. It feels good,” Kitsch said, “we are so lucky.”
Kitsch recently bought a condo in South Austin near the Alamo Drafthouse on Lamar Boulevard and is taking the show script by script. Kitsch said he wasn’t bitter about the show’s Best Drama snub, but, “Truthfully, Kyle Chandler really deserved it. He’s the spine of the show.” Kitsch thinks it’ll give the show more fuel for the fire and, “it hasn’t taken away from the confidence we all have in each other at all.”
Adrianne Palicki (Tyra Collette), who spent time back home in Ohio and in L.A. with Connie Britton for the summer, says a lot of loose ends from last season get tied up in the first two episodes of Season Two, including the return of a character who tried to rape Tyra near the end of last season.
She says she’s still getting lots of positive feedback from fans, especially those who appreciate the show’s strong female characters.
Gaius Charles (Brian “Smash” Williams) spent time in L.A., New York and the Caribbean in the summer and shot an episode of “Law & Order: SVU.” He spent the rest of his time off relaxing. “This is an intense job,” he said.
So what about Smash? The actor said that after last season’s championship win, the player’s on top of the world. “Imagine LeBron James in his senior year of high school. He’s exalted like never before,” Charles said. One of the first scenes of the season involves a college recruiter knocking on his door.
Gaius Charles said he enjoyed this year’s Television Critics Association tour, especially in contrast to last year. He says the show once fought to establish credibility, and now it’s getting “respect and reverence” from critics and supporters.
And Zach Gilford (Matt Saracen) returns to town with his dog Pippen (napping in his trailer during shooting) after spending time in his hometown Chicago and in L.A., Alaska and Seattle among other places. Gilford laughed as he explained some recent photos that had circulated from the press tour showing him shaggy of beard and wild of hair.
He was taking some high school kids into the mountains in British Columbia as he has the last five years and wasn’t sure what his start date would be for shooting. He let his hair grow for the whole summer and when he was told he’d have to clean up for the press tour, he decided to show some chutzpah and keep it. Fans will be glad to know, however, that he was clean-shaven and buzz-cut by call time. Whew. We were worried, dude.
You may catch him at Z’Tejas, which he plans to hit up immediately for some tasty food.
He says the first scene he shot for the second season took some adjusting to. “We were a little rusty and we all felt it,” he said. He was excited to begin shooting some scenes at his fictional house in the afternoon. He promises Matt will be beset by troubles as always, which is good for the character. As for the always modest and charming Gilford, “I’m just glad to be here,” he said.
Bonus: We’ve got video greetings to fans from the four “FNL” cast members mentioned in this entry. Click here to watch.
Permalink | | Categories: Entertainment, Local news
June 18, 2007
KVUE, KEYE win national Murrow Awards
KVUE, the long-time No. 1 local news station in Austin, has won a national 2007 Edward R. Murrow Award for overall excellence.
And KEYE picked up a national award for its news series, “ER: In Critical Condition” by Seema Mathur.
The winners were announced in Washington, D.C., this morning by the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The awards will be presented at the RTNDA Awards Dinner in New York on Oct. 15.
In all 52 news organizations were honored with 79 awards out of a pool of 3,150 entries from 580 news organizations.
To earn an overall excellence award, considered the top honor, a station or network must “consistently demonstrate depth and scope in its coverage,” according to the RTNDA.
Besides KVUE, which is owned by Belo Corp., the overall excellence winners this year are “NBC Nightly News” in the network category and KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the large market TV category. KVUE won in the small market category.
RTNDA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971.
To see the complete list of winners, check the RTNDA Web site.
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March 29, 2007
TV kudos, C-SPAN's bus and more movies-on-demand
Austin racked up another batch of awards for TV and radio news today.
The Radio-Television News Directors Association announced its 2007 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, given for excellence in electronic journalism. Three Austin TV stations and one Austin radio station picked up prizes.
KVUE was honored for overall excellence, investigative reporting and broadcast-affiliated Web site.
News 8 Austin won for news documentary, sports reporting and writing.
And KEYE picked up the award news series.
KUT-FM, our public radio station, received three awards — for feature reporting, news documentary and use of sound.
The Murrow Awards are among the most prestigious regional awards for broadcast media and have been around since 1971. Austin competes in Region 6, which is Texas and Oklahoma.
To see the complete list of winners, check out the association’s site.
Here comes the bus
C-SPAN is lumbering into Austin this weekend with its brand-new Campaign 2008 Bus. The 45-foot mobile production studio is traveling around the country to promote the cable network’s “Road to the White House” political program, now in its 20th year.
The program — and the bus — travels to major political events, including debates and speeches in early primary states, and makes it a point to visit state capitols as part of an educational component for students and teachers.
The C-SPAN bus will be open to the public Friday, from 9 a.m. until noon, at the LBJ Library & Museum, and Monday, from 8 a.m. until noon, at Huston-Tillotson University.
It will also be parked at Canyon Vista Middle School on Friday from 12:30 to 3 p.m. and Bowie High School on Monday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. — but it will be open to students and teachers only at those school locations.
Guinea pigs for Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable in Austin is test-launching a new movies-on-demand service that will make Warner Bros. movies available to digital cable subscribers on the same day they are released on DVD.
But you can’t linger over them. They’re only accessible for a 24-hour period. And copies cannot be made.
This new service, available today, is called Day-and-Date Movies on Demand. Digital cable customers can find the titles in the “all new” and “movies A-Z” categories on their movies-on-demand menu.
First up? “DeepSea 3D,” “Happy Feet” and “Blood Diamond.” Coming April 3 is “Letters from Iwo Jima.”
Besides Austin, the new service is being tested in Columbus, Ohio.
Permalink | | Categories: Local news
March 6, 2007
KVUE is No. 1 in local news -- again
In the recently completed Nielsen ratings for February, KVUE dominated in every major local news period, starting with the early morning news and winding up with the late news at 10 p.m.
KVUE’s 5 p.m. news, anchored by Olga Campos and Tyler Sieswerda, raked in almost three times as many viewers as KTBC, the closest competitor.
But a harbinger of things to come may be KEYE squeaking out a second-place position at 10 p.m., bumping KXAN to third place. Is “The Ron and Judy Show” on KEYE finally catching on? The CBS station has had lots of ups and downs, but maybe the big ship is turning around.
On the other hand, KEYE finished dead last in the early morning news race and third at 5 and 6 p.m. Changes in local news tend to be glacial.
KXAN, meanwhile, has suffered through considerable behind-the-scenes tumult (churning through several news directors and a station manager). And it hasn’t helped that NBC is in a major slump. Nevertheless, KXAN remains a strong contender at 6 p.m. and only a fraction behind KEYE at 10 p.m.
Look for more details on the February sweeps in Diane Holloway’s March 13 column.
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Austin's local TV news hauls in awards!
Once again, Austin stations raked in awards from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters.
In the Division 2 category, KVUE brought in the most awards, but all of Austin’s news stations, including Time Warner’s News 8 Austin, picked up honors.
Here is the list of our distinguished winners:
NEWSCAST
KSAT, San Antonio
KTBC, Austin
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin
SPORTSCAST
KENS, San Antonio
KENS, San Antonio
Hon Men: News 8 Austin, Austin (Jeff Power)
WEATHERCAST
KTBC, Austin (Scott Fisher)
KVUE, Austin (Ilona Torok)
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin (Mark Murray)
NEWS ANCHOR
KXAN, Austin (Michelle Valles)
WOAI, San Antonio (Randy Beamer)
Hon Men: News 8 Austin, Austin (Paul Brown)
SPOT COVERAGE/STATION
KVUE, Austin. Flash Flood
KTBC, Austin. Underground Explosions
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. May Storm
SPOT STORY/Individual
KVUE, Austin. Hays County Fire. Rudy Koski & Todd Rogenthien.
KVUE, Austin. Shoal Creek Flood. Lee McGuire.
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. San Marcos Hail. Kevin Peters & John Fisher.
FEATURE/SERIOUS
KENS, San Antonio. The Dead in our Midst. Joe Conger & Michael Humphries.
KEYE, Austin. Unwed Mothers. Seema Mather.
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. Amputee Golfers. Clara Tuma & Doug Naugle.
FEATURE/LIGHT
KXAN, Austin. J.L. Henry Mason. Jim Swift
KVUE, Austin. Band Fundraiser. Clara Tuma & Todd Rogenthein
Hon Men: KTBC, Austin. Videogamers. Craig Lucie, Chris Walker, Dan Goodman.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
KEYE, Austin. Stolen from the Grave. Nanci Wilson & Joe Moreno
WOAI, San Antonio. SAWS: Down the Drain. Tanji Patton, Mandi Johnston, Joey Mendoza.
Hon Men: WOAI, San Antonio. Sleeping on the Job. Jaie Avila, Joey Mendoza, Mandi Johnston.
PHOTOJOURNALISM (station)
KENS, San Antonio.
KVUE, Austin
Hon Men: KXAN, Austin.
PHOTOJOURNALISM (individual)
KVUE, Austin. Todd Rogenthein
KENS, San Antonio. Michael Humphries.
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. Doug Naugle
SPORTS STORY
KEYE, Austin. Amputee Golfers. Skip Baldwin & Anthony Geronimo
News 8 Austin, Austin. Trading Helmets. Crestina Chavez & Chris Hardie
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. Penguin Pride. Brian Mays
DOCUMENTARY
News 8 Austin. The Tower Shooting. Paul Brown & Rachel Elsberry
WOAI, San Antonio. Mission in Iraq. Randy Beamer, Maritza Nunez, Chris Graczyk.
Hon Men: KTBC, Austin. Tour of Duty. Arezow Doost, Chris Walker, Pam Vaught
SERIES
News 8 Austin, Austin. The Tower Shooting. Paul Brown & Rachel Elsberry.
KVUE, Austin. Star Loan Money. Christine Haas & Todd Rogenthein.
Hon Men: KEYE, Austin. Austin’s Miracle in India. Seema Mathur.
BEAT REPORTING
WOAI, San Antonio. Jaie Avila
KVUE, Austin. Elise Hu
Hon Men: News 8 Austin. Amy Hadley
REPORTER
KVUE, Austin. Melissa McGuire
KENS, San Antonio. Barry Davis.
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. Kevin Peters
GENERAL ASSIGNMENT
KVUE, Austin. Bereavement Photography. Melissa Gale & Doug Naugle.
WOAI, San Antonio. Bloody Leak. Delaine Mathieu & Francisco Barragan.
Hon Men: KXAN, Austin. Day Labor. Chris Willis & Frank Martinez
WEB SITE
KVUE, Austin.
KSAT, San Antonio.
Hon Men: News 8 Austin
MAGAZINE/SPECIAL
KTBC, Austin. Tour of Duty. Arezow Doost, Chris Walker, Pam Vaught.
KEYE, Austin. Sunday Sports Extra. Skip Baldwin & Anthony Geronimo.
Hon Men: KVUE, Austin. Town Hall Meeting: Austin’s Quality of Life. Kathy Hadlock.
Permalink | | Categories: Local news
December 26, 2006
Holloway is back ... and while I was gone ...
Yoo hoo! I’m ba-a-a-a-ck! Vacation’s over, I’m in the daily blog saddle again.
And not a minute too soon. December is supposed to be the dead month for television, with most series taking a winter snooze in reruns.
But this was a month that proved to be anything but quiet.
No sooner had I written the glowing please-watch-this-fab-new-show piece about “Day Break” then ABC axed it. No more Taye Diggs waking up to a new day of murder and betrayal.
ABC’s Ted Danson sitcom “Help Me Help You” got a pink slip for Christmas, too.
And “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” blew into town, built a house and left.
Our local stations, which should have been taking it easy during the holidays, got busy as well.
NBC affiliate KXAN hired a new news director, Michael Fabac, who replaced Bill Seitzler, the guy who stirred things up, oversaw the departure of several familiar faces (including weatherman Dan Robertson and weekend anchor Jim Bergamo, now at KVUE) and then left after less than a year on the job.
Fabac, who starts in January, comes to Austin from the Fox station in Little Rock, Ark.
KXAN reporter and former weekend co-anchor R.J. DeSilva turned in his resignation a couple of weeks ago. This is a big loss to the station and Austin’s local TV news. He was a terrific reporter and solid anchor.
KTBC’s Fox7 News hired a new co-anchor for Mike Warren, who had been flying solo on the weeknight 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts since Linda Stratton left in July.
The Fox 7 newcomer is Lori Ana Hernandez, previously of the NBC station in Dallas where she anchored the weekend morning news. She settles into her new anchor desk here on Jan. 8.
Now that I’m back, probably nothing new will happen for months.
Looking for some meaty TV?
Tom Brokaw puts a human face on the slippery topic of immigration in his latest NBC investigation, “In the Shadow of the American Dream,” at 7 p.m. tonight.
Focusing on a construction company in ski-resort heaven Colorado, Brokaw pays a personal visit to the company owner and immigrant workers who enable the building boom but are not legally allowed to be there.
The issue is looked at from several angles but is clearly sympathetic to the hard-working immigrants and the employers who skirt the law to hire them.
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December 14, 2006
1 in, 1 out at KXAN
The revolving door at Austin’s NBC affiliate continues to spin.
This time around, a new news director is entering the building and a veteran reporter is exiting.
Michael Fabac, currently news director at KLRT, Little Rock’s Fox station, will lead the KXAN news team beginning in early January.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity for me,” Fabac said. “I can’t wait to get there. The city obviously is a big draw.”
Fabac, 33, assembled Clear Channel-owned KLRT’s news operation from scratch, launching a nightly 9 p.m. newscast in 2004. Prior to Little Rock, he served as a news director at WNEM in Saginaw, Mich. His first paying TV gig was as a producer at KKTV in Colorado Springs, Colo., followed by stints as a producer at KTVI in St. Louis and WDIV in Detroit. He also served as executive news producer at CBS-owned WWJ and WKBD, both in the Motor City.
“I think Michael will bring a lot of positive energy to the newsroom,” KXAN General Manager Eric Lassberg said. “He comes across as a very passionate leader with a lot of integrity.”
Fabac’s hiring comes at a tumultuous time for the station. KXAN’s previous news director, Bill Seitzler, departed last month after less than a year on the job. Lassberg has been on the job for less than six months. An executive producer position remains open. And a number of familiar faces — avuncular weatherman Dan Robertson, weekend newscaster Julie Shields, and reporters Jim Bergamo and Silva Harapetian — also have disappeared from the station’s newscasts in recent months. Some were forced out; others left by choice.
Next out the door, according to Lassberg, will be longtime reporter R.J. DeSilva. The one-time co-anchor of the station’s morning and weekend newscasts has resigned and will leave later this month to work as a spokesman for a state agency.
Despite the well-publicized turmoil, Lassberg said the news director opening still drew a large number of applicants.
“Magid & Associates, our consultants, told us they had never seen so much interest in a news director position,” Lassberg said. He spoke with 15 hopefuls before inviting three finalists to meet with the station’s news team.
“Everyone’s very excited,” Lassberg said. “When I brought Michael in, I had him spend a lot of time in the newsroom. Everyone really liked his enthusiasm.”
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December 6, 2006
This just in . . . Big Foot
You know news is in short supply when “Austin’s news station” (that would be the self-proclaimed title of KVUE) features a big story on Big Foot. It happened Tuesday night at 10. I am NOT making this up.
I thought I was having some kind of horrible hallucination when anchor Tyler Sieswerda introduced the story, dubbed “the history of Big Foot in Texas.”
The piece appeared to come from Dallas (the reporter was not a recognizable staffer of KVUE), where a sad-looking fellow named Craig claimed to have seen Big Foot — the mythological creature believed by some to roam various woods and swamps in America.
Also interviewed were a couple of guys making a film about Big Foot in Texas.
As if to add authenticity, the report showed a clay mold of what was claimed to be a footprint of Big Foot. It was a big foot, alright.
To his credit, KVUE’s Sieswerda chuckled at the end of the report, but what the heck was it doing on the 10 p.m. news to begin with?
‘The King’ is back … do you care?
What does it say about the current state of sitcoms that CBS’ “The King of Queens”, which landed an Emmy nomination for star Kevin James last time around, is only now having its season premiere?
Not that I’m complaining about the show’s late arrival tonight (at 7 p.m.).
This is one of those lackluster shows, heading into its ninth — yes ninth season — that has always escaped me. The scripts are pedestrian at best and James is, well, NOT FUNNY. He tries hard but accomplishes nothing. Leah Remini, who plays his wife, is to be pitied. She is talented and deserves better.
The fact that “The King of Queens” is arriving at all is surprising. When CBS announced its fall schedule last spring, the show was nowhere to be seen. Execs vaguely hinted that it would return midseason. But after the Emmy nominations came out in July, the hurry-up-and-get-it-back plan was established.
We’ll see if anyone cares. Maybe it will help that most shows are in reruns this month, so competition won’t be terribly stiff.
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September 26, 2006
Austin's Lone Star Emmy nominations
The regional Emmys, dubbed the Lone Star Emmys, announced their 2006 nominations this week, and Austin stations fared pretty well.
The station with the most regional Emmy noms? KLRU, our swell public television station that has been churning out more fine original programming than ever.
“Downtown,” the magazine show produced by KLRU and the Downtown Austin Alliance, picked up five Lone Star Emmy nods in various arts and entertainment categories, as well as the magazine category.
Two of KLRU’s public affairs series, “Texas Monthly Talks” and “Austin Now,” received nominations, and the original children’s show “The Biscuit Brothers” earned a nomination in the children’s programming category.
KLRU also received two nominations for “Texas Parks & Wildlife TV” and one for its station promos.
KVUE was nominated for best newscast among TV stations in the 26 to 60 market size. (We’re No. 51, by the way.) KVUE also picked up nominations for a feature news report by Kevin Peters, a political report by Lee McGuire, for news editing and photography.
Nanci Wilson of KEYE got a nomination for a health-science story, and KEYE’s Kim Miller was nominated for a human-interest story.
News 8 Austin picked up one for its dependable and comprehensive weather programming and another one for community service.
And Fox’s KTBC was recognized for graphics.
All in all, a good haul for Austin stations. The awards will be handed out in Houston on Oct. 21.
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June 2, 2006
Local TV ratings in, 2 execs out
Two local TV executives were quietly ousted last week, during the final days of the May sweeps rating period.
Mike Reed, named general manager of CBS-owned KEYE in August 2004, was fired. Amy Villarreal has stepped in as interim manager while CBS searches for a permanent replacement.
And Carlos Fernandez, president and general manager of NBC affiliate KXAN and WB affiliate KNVA, was ushered out by parent company LIN Television of Rhode Island. Fernandez had been running both Austin the stations since February 2003.
As expected, neither CBS nor LIN would comment, citing “a policy against discussing personnel matters.”
In the just-released Nielsen overnight ratings for the May sweeps, Belo-owned KVUE (ABC) held its news dominance in early morning, 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
KEYE continues to tout itself as “the fastest-growing late newscast in Austin,” which is true. But considering how popular CBS’s prime-time programming is, finishing third and sometimes fourth in other local news time periods isn’t good.
It’s worth noting, however, that Fox was No. 1 in prime time here thanks to mammoth hits “American Idol” and “24.”
KEYE was third at 5 p.m., behind KVUE’s news and KXAN’s game show “Jeopardy,” and it was fourth at 6 p.m., beaten by two newscasts and Fox-owned KTBC’s reruns of “The Simpsons.”
In previous rating periods, KXAN has been a strong contender for top local news ratings, and it maintained its second place finish in local news in May. But at least partly because of NBC’s poor performance in prime time, the station’s numbers have sagged a bit.
Replacing Fernandez quickly will be important for KXAN and KNVA — especially since KNVA is taking on two new network affiliations in September. When the WB goes out of business, KNVA will have both the CW and My Network TV programming.
MAY NIELSEN RATINGS
Early morning news (6-7 a.m.)
KVUE 4.2 rating
KTBC 2.3
KXAN 1.7
KEYE 1.2
5 p.m. local news
KVUE 6.1
KXAN 3.6 (“Jeopardy”)
KEYE 3.0
KTBC 2.6
6 p.m. local news
KVUE 6.3
KXAN 5.4
KTBC 3.7 (“The Simpsons”)
KEYE 3.3
10 p.m. local news
KVUE 8.0
KXAN 7.7
KEYE 7.2
KTBC 5.0 (“The Simpsons”)
Source: Nielsen Media Research. In the Austin market, a rating point is 5,895 TV households, or 1 percent of the total TV households.
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April 18, 2006
Austin's WB to become new CW Network
Austin’s KNVA, currently home to the WB network, will switch to the new CW on Sept. 5 when the WB and UPN merge. The oddly named CW stands for corporate partners CBS and Warner Bros.
The fledgling network is expected to include successful programs, geared to young viewers ages 18 to 34, from both disappearing networks, including “Smackdown,” “Veronica Mars,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Smallville,” “Gilmore Girls” and “America’s Next Top Model.”
“We are very happy to have finalized an agreement for KNVA with the CW network,” general manager Carlos Fernandez said in an e-mail. “We’re looking forward to providing Austin and Central Texas the unique programming that will be the signature of this new, exciting network. Our partnership with the WB has been a solid one, and we expect even bigger things with The CW.”
There was speculation last month that KNVA, which is managed by LIN Television’s KXAN, might sign on with new Fox weblet My Network TV. That rumor swirled after KBEJ, a Fredericksburg station that serves San Antonio and Austin with UPN programming, signed up with CW. It was assumed that KBEJ would be Austin’s CW, too.
But after months of negotiations, LIN struck agreements with CW for four of its TV stations, including Austin. KBEJ, whose call letters will change to KCWX, will be exclusive to San Antonio.
KNVA, which launched in 1994 as an independent, became a WB affiliate the following year. It is owned by a company called 54 Broadcasters, of which KEYE anchor Ron Oliveira is a partner.
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March 30, 2006
New CW signs with KBEJ . . . But is it Austin's station?
A wee bit of hysteria spread through certain sections of cyber-Austin Wednesday when the CW announced it had signed a deal with KBEJ, the station in Fredericksburg that supplies both Austin and San Antonio with UPN programming.
Alert readers/viewers immediately began wondering where that left KNVA, the Austin station for the WB that had been widely rumored as the home for CW when it debuts in September.
For those of you whose heads are spinning right now, the background of all this is that corporate giants CBS and Warner Bros. announced in January that weblets WB and UPN would merge in the fall of 2006 to become the CW — a name that I still think smacks of country-western and will confuse the average channel-hopper.
With many of its Fox-owned UPN stations being threatened with extinction (since many of the new CW stations were expected to be former WB stations), Fox stepped up and announced the creation of a hybrid network, My Network TV, that would provide limited network programming and thus allow stations that signed on to be semi-independent.
What does it all mean and where exactly do we stand? Depends on whom you ask and whom you want to believe.
A spokesman for KBEJ, which is housed at KENS in San Antonio, said his station found out Wednesday afternoon that the deal had been struck with CW. He insisted on anonymity because he’s not allowed to speak on the record (“That’s for corporate to say. I’ll be fired.”) But his understanding is that KBEJ will be the CW affiliate for San Antonio, not for Austin.
KXAN general manager Carlos Fernandez, who also manages KNVA, said KNVA is still negotiating with both the CW and My Network and that neither new weblet had yet signed an agreement to broadcast in Austin.
But other off-the-record-in-the-know folks think KBEJ may well become the CW affiliate for both Austin and San Antonio, as it is now for UPN. And that means KNVA, unless it wants to be completely independent, will have to sign with Fox’s My Network.
Austin television hasn’t seen this kind of topsy-turvy since July 1995, when KTBC, the oldest station in Austin, switched from CBS to Fox. Independent station KBVO then became CBS affiliate and changed its name to KEYE. Nobody knew where to find “The Simpsons” or Dan Rather, and confusion ensued.
The September ‘06 switcheroo involving two mini-networks isn’t likely to be nearly as big a deal. But it’s a bit of an upheaval nonetheless. And with the transition only five months away, we’re still in a holding pattern.
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February 28, 2006
KEYE: What were you thinking?
Warning! This blog, like the cheesy “news story” it is about, might not be appropriate for everyone. Or anyone.
Sex-laced, seedy “investigations” are not new to TV news. They pop up from time to time, especially during “sweeps” months like February.
But last night’s centerpiece on KEYE Channel 42, our local CBS-owned station, was tasteless by just about anyone’s standards.
In case you missed it (and you’re better off if you did), reporter Gregg Watson went undercover — literally, in this instance — to see if massage parlors might be doing more than rubbing shoulders and backs.
Surprise, surprise! They’re selling sex. Who would have thought? The revelation that massage parlors are selling sex is not exactly news, is it? Anybody who wants a real massage wouldn’t go to a place called Midnight Cowboy. They’d go to a certified massage therapist.
But KEYE’s intrepid reporter went looking for massages on Sixth Street, private homes and apartment buildings that did not look like places specializing in licensed massage therapy.
In his boxers, with a hidden camera recording grainy images, Watson hopped in the sack and chatted with his massage ladies about specific sex acts that could be purchased.
You think I’m making this up? KEYE’s Web site relates the report in considerable (and considerably sordid) detail. Again, warning.
Network newsmagazines have been doing these undercover pieces for years, including trips to massage parlors and houses of prostitution. Usually a network underling does the undercover work. Or some guy who was planning to purchase services anyway. On-camera reporters don’t often hop into bed with a hooker and talk about $100 oral sex acts.
Watson’s report, supposedly the result of a three-month undercover “investigation,” continues tonight. He goes back to confront the women who offered him these “extras.”
Monday night’s report was not only tasteless, it was degrading to Watson and KEYE. You’d think KEYE, which is in the process of climbing out of low ratings and into new credibility with distinguished anchors such as Judy Maggio, Fred Cantu and Ron Oliveira, wouldn’t stoop this low.
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November 25, 2005
Erica Riggins leaves News 8 Austin
Erica Riggins is leaving News 8 Austin for a job with Time Warner’s original local cable news channel, Bay News 9 in the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla., area.
News 8’s solo prime-time anchor was born and raised in Austin and graduated from the University of Texas in 1995. Except for a three-month stint at KXII in Sherman, Riggins, who signs off tonight, has spent her entire life and career in Austin.
“I’m a little bit anxious about reporting in a city I don’t know,” says Riggins, 34, whose family on her mother’s and father’s side, all live here. “But I’m excited, too. I love covering severe weather. It’s the one time viewers really depend on local news, and that feels good.”
Riggins came to TV news on a slightly jagged road. Her degree from UT is in mechanical engineering, and her first job was in technology at Motorola. After a segue into public relations at Motorola, she decided to return to UT and study communications.
After the quick trip to Sherman, Riggins returned to Austin and joined News 8 as a reporter. She was promoted to weekend anchor and then to prime-time anchor. She received a Lone Star Emmy and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Award for her breaking news coverage of local Iraq war protests and a National Edward R. Murrow Award for a report on child abuse in Texas.
The move to Tampa Bay, the No. 12 television market in the country, is a career leap up from Austin, which is the 54th TV market.
Riggins leaves Monday, accompanied by her two dogs, and starts at Bay News 9 on Dec. 5.
“I’m guessing I’ll have a few days, but it’s a pretty quick transition,” said Riggins, who will be the the station’s weekend anchor and morning reporter.
Time Warner Austin has not announced Riggins’replacement here.
“Alias” is leaving … does anybody care?
ABC announced the pending demise of “Alias” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Maybe the network was hoping nobody would notice.
The long-running spy drama, which airs Thursdays at 7 p.m., will retire after its run ends in May.
Jennifer Garner’s once-hot romp has been dragging in the ratings for a while and is currently ranked 75th among prime-time series. Not good.
ABC’s announcement was strange: “We’re devastated to announce the end of the longest running unsuccessful prime-time series on television.”
If they’re really, painfully devastated, ABC execs could always keep “Alias” going.
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August 17, 2005
KXAN news director resigns
After a decade marked by dramatically improved ratings, KXAN News is losing its news director. Bruce Whiteaker announced his resignation Monday night after the newscast.
Whiteaker says he’s working on a book about the Navy air crew that flew Admiral Chester Nimitz around the Pacific during World War II. One crew member is Whiteaker’s uncle, Lawrence Frederick Whiteaker, 84, who lives in Tennessee.
“I’ve been dabbling at this for some time,” Whiteaker said. “I have several hours of oral history with Uncle Freddy and several other surviving crew members. Now I need to roll up my sleeves and get after it full-time. I’ve become very passionate about this subject.”
He says he’s discussing the project with the National Museum of the Pacific War (formerly the Admiral Nimitz Museum) in Fredericksburg.
“I’ll miss the people in this newsroom,” said Whiteaker, 56. “All but four of them are people I hired.”
When Whiteaker took over in 1995, KXAN was emerging from a long period of low ratings. In recent years, the station has alternated with KVUE for No. 1.
“Bruce has done an incredible job here,” said KXAN general manager Carlos Fernandez. “He brought the station up to a much higher level.”
Fernandez won’t have a replacement by the time Whiteaker leaves Aug. 26, but he isn’t worried.
“Austin is a wonderful destination, so there will be plenty to choose from,” he said.
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July 13, 2005
KEYE's Fred Cantu signs on for five more years
CBS-owned KEYE announced Tuesday that the station has signed a five-year contract extension with anchor Fred Cantú.
“We are thrilled to know that we will have the benefit of Fred’s extensive knowledge and expertise for another five years,” said KEYE General Manager Mike Reed in an e-mail. “Fred will continue to be a key part of our commitment to provide our viewers with coverage they can count on.”
Stations don’t normally announce contract renewals. Nor do they announce firings, contract cancellations or anything else of a negative nature.
So why announce a new agreement with Cantú? Because Ron Oliveira, formerly of KVUE Channel 24, was added to the station in the spring. Due to a noncompete clause in his KVUE contract, Oliveira will not be on the air until next spring, even though he is already working in KEYE’s newsroom.
When Oliveira was hired, questions arose about Cantú’s place in the co-anchor team with Judy Maggio. Neither KEYE nor Cantú, who joined the station in 2002 with 30 years in the Austin news business to his credit, will clarify the situation.
Some insiders insist the duties have not been sorted out yet, but KEYE must have had something in mind when the station hired Oliveira.
Will there be a new troika at 5, 6 and 10? Will Fred anchor just the 5 p.m. and turn over the 6 and 10 p.m. news to Ron and Judy, who co-anchored for years at KVUE? We might not know until Ron’s noncompete clause expires in March — but we’ll keep asking. And speculating.
‘Real World’ debates war … sort of
Last night’s “Real World: Austin” featured a blow-up about the Iraq War between Nehemiah, who said he doesn’t believe in war, and Rachel, who served in Iraq as an Army nurse.
They yelled and huffed — and then kissed and made up. Nehemiah apologized with a note left on Rachel’s pillow. Rachel accepted the apology, and the two hugged.
How come the rest of us can’t just get along? Who’d a thunk there’d be life lessons on “The Real World”?
Brats on parade
Joining the seemingly endless parade of summer reality shows tonight is ABC’s “Brat Camp”.
Nine out-of-control kids — none from Austin or even Texas — are shipped off to a remote Oregon disciplinary camp to get slapped into shape.
Not surprisingly, the kids are not happy when they discover that their wits-end parents have turned them over to “counselors” that make Marine drill sergeants look sweet.
Presumably during the show’s seven-week run some or all of the bratty nine will see the light and reform. In the meantime, viewers are expected to view this anguish as entertainment. Seems like an exploitation of the worst kind to me.
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June 29, 2005
KVUE's McCauley: going, coming? Getting married!
Weekend weatherguy Micah McCauley said goodbye on KVUE’s Sunday night newscast and then turned up subbing for chief meteorologist Mark Murray this week.
So, what’s the deal? Is he going or coming?
Well, it’s all good, at least for McCauley. He’s leaving the TV weather biz to work in real estate. And he’s staying in Austin.
Here’s the even better part: He and KVUE “Daybreak” meteorologist Ilona Torok are getting married Sept. 3. They’ve been together for three years, and with McCauley free on weekends, they’ll actually get to see each other.
“We’re both really excited,” Torok says. “This is a really good thing.”
Tonight is McCauley’s absolute last night on the air. Really. KVUE’s new weekend weatherguy is Tom Harris, who comes to Austin from Corpus Christi and will take over for McCauley this weekend on weather and will report during the week.
Cheers for Costas!
Bob Costas subbed for Larry King last night on CNN’s post-Bush speech edition of “Larry King Live” — and he did a terrific job.
Known for his smarts, Costas did not disappoint. He grilled supporters and critics alike with equal diligence and asked the kind of in-depth questions about the administration’s Iraq War policies that can only come from careful preparation.
King is a puffball thrower who sometimes lands a good punch, but his show has never been the kind of hard-hitting journalism it will be when Costas eventually takes over for good.
Oops! That wasn’t such a good idea.
After moving “Six Feet Under” from Sunday to Monday for its fifth and final season, HBO has now decided the move wasn’t such a swell idea.
Apparently I’m not the only longtime fan who had trouble remembering the show had relocated. Since returning with new episodes a few weeks ago, “Six Feet Under” has drawn 2.2 million viewers, which isn’t horrible for a premium cable channel, but it’s 40 percent lower than the show’s ratings Sunday nights last season.
So, after the July 4th showing, HBO is shifting the funeral parlor saga back to Sundays at 8. The weak-kneed comedy block of “Entourage” and “The Comeback” will move to 9 p.m.
When HBO announced the Monday time slot for “Six Feet Under,” the goal was to anchor a new night of original programming. Sunday nights have been HBO’s biggest night for years, since “The Sopranos” debuted in 1999.
But if HBO’s superb original fare can’t compete on Mondays in the summer, it’s probably not a good night for originals. Granted, TNT’s new crime drama “The Closer” is doing boffo business on Mondays, but HBO should be strong enough to take it on.
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March 8, 2005
Oliveira's departure is Austin's loss
Ron Oliveira said goodbye at the end of KVUE’s 10 p.m. news last night. His swan song began with a clip showing him saying goodbye earlier in his career, when he left the station in 1985 for a three-year stint in management at KGBT in Harlingen. He looked like a kid then, but he already knew more about Austin than a lot of other folks in TV news.
Last night’s farewell was more emotional. Oliveira, 49, thanked viewers for the nearly quarter-century run he’s had anchoring local news. Then he said he hoped to see us again “real soon.”
Let’s hope so, too. Austin’s television news has long been enriched by veteran anchors who have chosen to stay here rather than climb the big-market ladder. Having folks such as Oliveira, KXAN’s Robert Hadlock, KEYE’s Judy Maggio and Fred Cantu and former KTBC anchor Dick Ellis at the helm has been a plus.
The experience and stability pay off in a big way during local elections, when newcomers to Austin news sometimes stumble through names, districts, precincts and issues.
Oliveira’s negotiations for a new contract with KVUE stalled in January and then collapsed. We don’t know how much money he made, if he was asking for too much for his contract renewal or whether KVUE, which is owned by Belo Corp., offered him a decent raise that he decided wasn’t enough. Neither the station nor Oliveira will talk specifics.
When he said goodbye, Oliveira, who also has anchored at KXAN and KNVA, sounded like he might have something in the works here. Or maybe he just hopes to when he starts looking for a new job today.
But he has a noncompete clause that says he cannot work for another station in Austin for a year. Maggio was off the air for six months when she jumped ship from KVUE to KEYE. Occasionally such clauses have been overturned in court, but it could be at least six months before we see Oliveira back on the air.
Let’s hope Austin doesn’t turn into a market that sees young anchors come here for three years, pack their bags and move on. Local newscasts in cities like that are notoriously shallow and short on context. Anchors may not do a lot of reporting, but they do orchestrate the newscast and help viewers understand complicated local stories.
A revolving door is not a plus for Austin’s TV news.
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January 21, 2005
KXAN's DeSilva reports from Sri Lanka
It took him 39 hours to get to work when KXAN’s R.J. DeSilva flew to Sri Lanka to cover the relief efforts after the tragic tsunamis washed away thousands of people and their homes.
In case you’re wondering, the route to halfway-around-the-world took them from Austin to Chicago to Paris to Dubai to Sri Lanka. DeSilva and photojournalist Frank Martinez spent a week there before returning last weekend.
Talk about jet lag . . .
The weekend anchor/weekday reporter, whose father is Sri Lankan and who still has relatives living there, filed reports via e-mail, posted on KXAN.com under the title “Dispatches From the Disaster,” and filed voice reports by phone.
The KXAN newscast reports started Tuesday of this week and continue tonight and Sunday at 10 p.m.
DeSilva said he and Martinez were prepared for the worst, after seeing all the television coverage that preceded their trip.
“But we actually saw less than we had expected,” DeSilva said. “Burial of the dead was mostly done before we got there. We were braced for that, but didn’t get it. Of course the extent of the devastation and the debris was shocking.”
Most of their stories were filed from the southern city of Galle, where long stretches of coastal dwellings were wiped out.
“The governor of the province pointed out that what we were seeing was about a quarter of what was there before — and that’s frightening,” said DeSilva, adding that he agrees with one U.S. Marine’s assessment of the situation as “humbling.”
DeSilva, 37, was born in Washington, D.C., but lived in Sri Lanka for several years in the ’80s. KXAN, which is owned by Rhode Island-based LIN Television, suggested he cover the disaster not long after it happened Dec. 26. His reports were available to all of LIN’s 24 stations, but it is unclear which ones used them.
This isn’t DeSilva’s first overseas assignment for KXAN. He went to Bosnia to cover the peace-keeping troops that were sent from the Austin area a few years ago. The University of Maryland graduate came to KXAN as a reporter in ‘96 from a station in Dover, Del.
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November 11, 2004
Scrapping 'Private Ryan'
That little schedule change over at KVUE really has the town buzzing, doesn’t it?
On the radio, in Starbucks, at the office. Everybody is talking about the flap over KVUE and many other ABC stations pre-empting the scheduled Veterans Day telecast of “Saving Private Ryan.”
The decision was revealed in today’s A-1 story in the Austin American-Statesman.
KVUE and its corporate owner, Belo, agonized over the decision and came to the conclusion Wednesday that 48 uses of the f-word might prompt angry viewer response and a possible fine by the FCC. Violence was a potential problem, too.
Never mind that the context of the profanity and violence is Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning movie about World War II.
By the way, KVUE asked ABC for permission to run the movie later tonight, but said the network denied that request.
I don’t agree with KVUE’s decision, but I understand it. Sadly. The FCC under Michael Powell’s leadership is on a mission to rid television of all perceived dirt. Fines are being levied for surprise flashings on live TV (Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl) and other brief, unplanned incidents.
And the stations, not the networks, are at risk. Why is that? Because the stations are licensed to use the public airwaves and thus must meet certain FCC standards. The networks are program suppliers and not licensed for broadcast.
But even the FCC is not totally at fault here. The government entity responds to public complaints, and certain segments of the public have been complaining about perceived smutty television since the Super Bowl. It’s unclear how large a segment of the viewing public these complainers are, but they’re certainly loud, passionate and influential.
And TV stations such as KVUE risk losing viewers and advertisers in this environment.
Nevertheless, it’s a sad day when an edited “Lethal Weapon III,” a mindlessly violent movie about an unbalanced cop and his nicer partner, is deemed more appropriate than an unedited “Saving Private Ryan,” arguably one of the most realistic and moving films ever made about World War II.
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September 14, 2004
We'll miss Dick Ellis ...
I really hate to see Dick Ellis go. He brings a comforting credibility to local TV news with his 34 years of experience in reporting and anchoring in Austin. He’s the dean of local broadcast news and deservedly so.
Last week, we learned that Ellis and KTBC’s Fox 7 News are parting ways. Ellis’ last day at KTBC is scheduled to be Tuesday. His last night anchoring was Friday. He’s a night-side reporter this week.
Neither side will say on the record what caused the break, but the fact that KTBC assigned Ellis to reporting duties this week pretty much spells it out. The station wanted new anchors, so Ellis and Carrie Schumacher were ditched, and newcomers Mike Warren and Linda Stratton were hired.
What’s the big deal about Ellis? Newcomers may not know that this 54-year-old newsman knows Austin inside and out. He’s been reporting here since 1970, when he was a journalism student at the University of Texas. He worked briefly in city government, but covering local politics and government has been his staple for years.
Even as an anchor, Ellis has been one of Austin’s best reporters. Years ago I referred to him as “Austin’s Dan Rather” because of the tenacity of his reporting. One election night he was tossed around like a human beach ball as he forced his way to the front of a crowd to interview the winning candidate.
There’s nothing wrong with anchors who just read a TelePrompTer, and that certainly seems to be the trend. But Ellis has the kind of gravitas that only comes from knowing the history and up-to-the-minute goings-on in our city. He’s not the only anchor-reporter we have, but he certainly is one of the best.
But maybe Ellis was too much of a real newsman for Fox 7 News, which seems to spend way too much time spinning off Fox entertainment shows. I bet there were almost as many stories about “American Idol” last season on Fox 7 as City Council meetings.
Ellis says he has a job prospect that’s not in television, but I hope he winds up back on the air at some point. Austin viewers are poorer for losing him.
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August 25, 2004
KEYE defends Flores firing, viewers respond
Sports anchor Robert Flores, fired last week by KEYE for uttering an expletive on a taped segment that was never meant to air, is getting a lot of support from the public.
And perhaps as a result, KEYE’s management, which had declined to comment for our article in Tuesday’s newspaper, has decided to share some thoughts.
Michael Reed, on the job as general manager for only three days when the incident occurred, wants people to know he feels bad for Flores but he believes the firing was justified.
“I really do feel for Robert,” Reed said today. “It’s a tough situation for him to be in, but our company has a zero-tolerance policy on this. If you do slip up and say something, you should make sure it doesn’t go on the air. That’s where Robert’s accountability comes into play. He should have made sure that tape went no further.”
The tape was made Monday night for Tuesday’s early morning news. When Flores muttered the f-word after a loud noise in the studio, he assumed the subsequent re-take was taped over the flub. Instead, it somehow survived and wound up days later, on the air on KEYE’s Thursday morning news.
Reed says the tape operator was fired and the technical director resigned. He declined to identify those former employees. He says the “bad take” wound up on the air “through a series of mishaps.” The decision to fire Flores, Reed says, was “corporate-wide.” KEYE is owned by CBS, which is owned by Viacom Inc.
Until the article in the American-Statesman was published Tuesday and several radio programs began discussing Flores’ firing, Reed says KEYE received little response to the situation. He says they’ve still received only a few calls and e-mails.
But people are certainly calling and e-mailing the American-Statesman. Among the responses:
“This is a young man who made a silly mistake. I do not like this particular word, but have we not all cursed or used foul language at some stage in our life that we have regretted?”
“I am not sure I have heard of a more ridiculous circumstance for a firing. They should fire the person in charge of editing the tape. These type of incidents make blooper reels in prime time, and everyone laughs about them.”
“Isn’t that the very same word recently employed by Vice President Dick Cheney in the United States Senate against Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont?!? He didn’t get fired as a result, and he expressed no remorse whatsoever.”
“KEYE-TV’s decision to fire Robert Flores for the reason given is ludicrous. . . . Robert has done his work and is a victim of corporate decision-makers who not only do not know what they are doing, but are afraid of making the right decisions. He has been a victim of someone else’s mistake, and he has been punished unfairly.”
“Did he make a mistake in choosing the word he used when startled? Yes. I think a bigger mistake was made in production by airing an out-take that had no other value than to ruin his reputation. An even bigger mistake was made by management in firing Robert.”
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June 22, 2004
KXAN News tops at 6 and 10 p.m.
CBS may be the top-rated network in prime time nationally, but Central Texans prefer NBC and Fox.
We’re a big market for “Friends” and “American Idol,” the two shows that lifted NBC and Fox, respectively, to greater heights in our fair city.
The May sweep ratings — those magical little Nielsen numbers that help local stations set their advertising rates — aren’t loaded with Earth-shattering new trends. The order of preference is pretty close to past sweeps, with the exception of KEYE’s news no longer getting trounced by sitcom reruns at every turn.
KXAN’s news is still No. 1 at 6 and 10 p.m., and KVUE’s news is still tops at 5 p.m. and early mornings. KXAN’s “Jeopardy” at 5 p.m. managed to beat news in that time period on KEYE and KTBC. And KEYE’s news at 6 p.m. was bested by KTBC’s reruns of “The Simpsons,” as well as news on KXAN and KVUE.
Here are some local highlights from the May rating period:
Early morning news (6 to 7 a.m.)
KVUE 4 rating/24,000 households
KTBC (6 to 8 a.m.) 3/20,000
KXAN 3/16,000
KEYE 1/8,000
5 p.m. news
KVUE 7 rating/43,000 households
KXAN (“Jeopardy”) 5/27,000
KEYE 4/24,000
KTBC (5 to 6 p.m.) 3/18,000
6 p.m. news
KXAN 7 rating/40,000 households
KVUE 6/37,000
KTBC (“The Simpsons”) 5/28,000
KEYE 4/20,000
10 p.m. news
KXAN 10 rating/59,000 households
KVUE 8/44,000
KEYE 7/38,000
KTBC (“The Simpsons”) 6/34,000
Prime-time entertainment
NBC (KXAN) 8 rating/47,000 households
FOX (KTBC) 7/41,000
CBS (KEYE) 7/40,000
ABC (KVUE) 6/36,000
WB (KNVA) 3/16,000
“NYPD 24/7” arrives …
ABC is debuting “NYPD 24/7” in “NYPD Blue“‘s old time period, tonight at 9. For maximum confusion, the new documentary series also has Dennis Franz, the Emmy-winning actor who plays Andy Sipowicz on “Blue,” doing host and voice-over duties.
“NYPD 24/7” follows real New York cops on real cases. First up in this seven-episode series is the case of a young woman who was stabbed in the lobby of her former boyfriend’s apartment building.
An ABC news team spent more than a year following three New York police units. The cases are edited to fit into an hour-long time period but unfold chronologically with the cops telling us what’s going on.
On the surface, having Franz as the voice-over guy seems like a stroke of genius. But either Franz is trying to mimic how Sipowicz would read a TelePrompTer or he’s having trouble on his own, because he speaks in a halting monotone that is oddly annoying.
Nevertheless, some of the cases and cops are fascinating.
ABC came up with the “24/7” franchise in 2000 with a summer series called “Hopkins 24/7,” set in Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 2002, “Boston 24/7” followed local elections in Beantown.
The current “24/7” incarnation, unless it hits a home run ratings-wise, is the third and final installment.
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