Monthly Archive for February, 2005

You can say buh bye to NBC6 as you know it

Starting in March, NBC6 will have a new executive producer by the name Jose Suarez. He comes from Toledo, Ohio where he was the News Director for Fox affiliate WUPW.

With him chances are the days of slow paced, calm NBC6 are probably over. If you thought WFOR looked and copied WSVN soon you probably won’t recognize WTVJ. His 3 year stint at WUPW has been an interesting one to say the least. As the station’s News Director he made the station devote two and a half hours of commercial free “breaking news” coverage of a puppy trapped in a six inch diameter pipe. Insiders tell me that Suarez is known to be a very aggressive and very sensational guy so it won’t be huge stretch saying look for a 7-ized NBC6 very soon.

Thanks to one of my regular insiders for the heads up on this news

Toledo Blade
Suarez brought creativity and innovation to Channel 36


Suarez brought creativity and innovation to Channel 36

Jose Suarez arrived in 2001 as the youngest news director in the Toledo television market. He will leave next month as the one with the longest current tenure.

Suarez, 33, is heading home to Miami. He has been hired as an executive producer at WTVJ-TV.

His time at WUPW-TV, Channel 36, has been anything but ordinary. As he put it, “It’s been an action-packed 31/2 years.”

Snapshots from 2001: 1. WUPW expanded its 10 p.m. newscast from 30 minutes to an hour; 2. The station devoted 2 hours, 38 minutes of live, commercial-free coverage to the story of a puppy that fell down a six-inch-diameter pipe.

From 2002: 1. WUPW received a Regional Emmy for best newscast, a shocking victory over its Toledo rivals; 2. Suarez was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. (After eight months of treatment, doctors declared him cancer-free.)

From 2003: 1. WUPW won its second consecutive Regional Emmy for best newscast; 2. News anchor Ryan Serber was diagnosed with a lime-size brain tumor. (Serber was off the air for 14 months before returning as a reporter; he eventually quit because he was convinced he would not get the opportunity to anchor again.)

From 2004: 1. The Fox affiliate launched the market’s first 4 p.m. newscast; 2. The station brought some comic relief to the ongoing local “weather war” with spoof promos featuring a nonexistent radar, the “Super Duper Whoppler Dopplar.”

Suarez will stay at WUPW through the current ratings period, which ends March 2, and start at NBC-owned WTVJ five days later.

“My time in Toledo has been great,” he said. “I went through a lot personally; I went through a lot professionally. It’s very hard for me to leave, but how do you turn your back on a great opportunity?”

WUPW general manager Ray Maselli praised Suarez for advancing the station’s news operation.

“His arrival here came at a time when his specific abilities were needed,” Maselli said. “He brought us a great deal of creativity and innovation.”

Maselli said he hopes to have a new newsroom manager in place before the end of April.

Meanwhile, Suarez will be joining “a station I grew up watching” and working with some of the same people who, unbeknownst to them, “inspired me” to get into TV news.

KEY POSITION: Brian Olson is the new market manager for the eight Cumulus-owned radio stations in the area, including top-rated WKKO-FM (99.9) and WRQN-FM (93.5). He replaces Kathy Stinehour, who resigned in December. Olson, who started last week, previously was the market manager for Cumulus’ four-station cluster in Flint, Mich.

SPORTS MOVES: WNWO-TV, Channel 24, has hired Brian Ojima as a sports reporter. He previously worked at KSPR-TV in Springfield, Mo.

WTVG-TV, Channel 13, is advertising for a sports reporter. Jason Brown, who started in November, is being let out of his contract, according to assistant news director Anthony Knopps, but there is no firm departure date.

Russ Lemmon writes two columns per week for The Blade. His Behind The News column appears on Sundays. His column on the local media appears on Mondays.
» E-mail him at rlemmon@theblade.com or call (419) 724-6122.
» Read more Russ Lemmon columns at www.toledoblade.com/lemmon

Bob Soper retiring this summer

The Miami Herald is reporting that WFOR’s meteorologist Bob Soper has announced he’s retiring and his last day with the station will be July 27th.

Miami Herald
Veteran TV weatherman Soper to retire


Posted on Fri, Feb. 25, 2005

TELEVISION

Veteran TV weatherman Soper to retire

Weatherman Bob Soper has been a fixture on South Florida TV since 1979, except for a brief but public departure in 1992 after he was fired by WSVN-Fox 7.

BY GLENN GARVIN

ggarvin@herald.com

TV weatherman Bob Soper, whose firing a dozen years ago as an unstylish relic of television’s prehistoric era touched off a firestorm of viewer protest, is leaving again — but this time under his own steam.

”Everybody’s day comes, and it’s about time for mine,” said Soper, who announced Thursday that July 27 — the final day of the summer Nielsen ratings sweeps — will be his last day on the air at WFOR-CBS4.

”July 1 is my 62nd birthday,” Soper said. “I’ve got a couple of grandchildren, 8 and 10 years old, and I want to be around them now, before they get to that teenage era where they don’t want to be around a granddad.”

Soper, who does the weather on WFOR’s 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts, was at pains to say the decision to retire was his own. ”Nobody at WFOR is pushing me out, nobody is trying to get rid of me,” he said. “I don’t want anybody writing the station angry letters.”

FOX DROPS THE AX

It was a none-too-subtle reference to the last time Soper left the air in 1992. Back then, Soper worked for WSVN-Fox 7. Station officials there said Soper lacked ‘’style, fashion and glamour,” and abruptly fired him after 13 years. He was replaced by a young women who favored high skirts and low necklines.

Petitions demanding his return flew faster than the bullets on WSVN’s if-it-bleeds-it-leads newscast. Some Miami Beach hotels, already angry about the way crime reports dominated WSVN’s news, blacked out the station. And viewers bombarded both WSVN and The Herald with furious letters.

Soper’s absence from South Florida television was brief — WFOR (then using the call letters WCIX) hired him two months later — but he was off TV during the greatest weather story of his lifetime, Hurricane Andrew’s rampage up the coast, which occurred after Soper left WSVN but before he took his new job.

”Of all the luck!” Soper ruefully recalled. “I did cover it, but for radio.”

He stayed on the air at radio station WIOD for 16 hours during the storm — and set the rest of the station staff into fits of laughter as he spun his finger counterclockwise to describe the hurricane’s movement, forgetting that he wasn’t on camera.

NO-NONSENSE STYLE

Soper came to South Florida in 1979 after seven years doing the weather on stations in Austin, Texas, and Spokane, Wash. His approach then was much the same as it is now — a simple, no-glitz-no-blitz style.

He cast a baleful eye on even the simplest TV gimmicks after a prankster on the production crew at his Spokane station reversed the polarity of a steel weather map and sent all his little magnetic symbols of clouds and sunbursts flying into the air during a broadcast.

And he was touchy about attempts to jazz up his words. When a WSVN newscaster led into the weather one night with the headline, ”A hurricane is barreling out of control toward Miami,” Soper looked into the camera and replied: “I don’t know what hurricane you’re watching, but the one I’m watching isn’t going anywhere.”

”Bob is a legend in the market,” said Shannon HighBassalik, WFOR’s news director. “He really is an institution. We’re going to miss him.”

First 7Skyforce, now Sky10

WPLG’s Sky10 saved boaters who’s boat had capsized off the coast of Miami Beach. Sky10’s pilot saw the capsized boat and contacted authorities guiding them to the boaters’ location.

Previously 7’s Skyforce helped rescue a fisherman who got lost in the Everglades

Newsies: it’s NOT Krak(c)ow

It is pronounced KrakoV, with a V like vagina. No cows in the city or the name.

Same as Moscow, ends with ow as in Owl. Not cow

Sofia is Sofia with emphasis on the O not on the i

Just scratching my pet peeve with incorrectly pronounced names on TV :)

CBS4 may go to Rome

Email from an insider

cbs 4 is making arrangements to send CBS 4 Investigator Michele Gillen to Rome to cover the Pope’s health .. and death, if it happens. She has made many sources at the Vatican and with the US ambassador to the Vatican.

Changes at NBC6?

I’ve noticed NBC6 is going more … um … energetic. Someone over there must be trying to kick the pace up and make the station more energetic. I have noticed a new voice over. Male still, but with a much deeper voice. And one of their latest promos looks like someone from 7 did it’s so fast paced and dramatic if it weren’t for the faces and NBC6 logo you’d never guess it was WTVJ’s. I’ll try to catch it and post some video latta

Weather Plus is heeere

I just saw that NBC’s WeatherPlus got carriage here, channel 250. It’s only digital, not HDTV or anything - regular 704×480 feed. And it just looks like the Weather channel. Music with maps. Pre-recorded forecasts from the weather team at NBC6 runs every so often and during the breaks NBC6 promos one after another

Weather on Sofla TV

Just noticed something funny with the local forecast(er)s.
You know how 7News has the “7 on 7″ which is a fancy name for the 7 day outlook. I noticedCBS4 only shows 4 days ahead except it doesn’t call it anything fancy. Can you guess WTVJ? Theirs is a 6 day outlook . And WPLG? I guess TV weather systems aren’t yet up for the 10 day ahead job otherwise we’d end up having the 33 and 39 day outlook :D

The New Headline News debutes tonight

Headline News’ new primetime format debuts tonight with three new programs. The kickoff show will be Showbiz Tonight, something along the lines of what ET, Access Hollywood and Extra do, except it’s hosted by two hot people, then it’s that Nancy Grace woman (eeeesh) and from 9pm untill 10pm Prime News Tonight a 1 hour hard news show, I think.

Kamal Sentenced

Bill Kamal got sentenced today to 5 years in jail with no parole and a $20,000 fine. He will also be on parole for the rest of his life. The media went into a frenzy and all local newscasts are leading with the story.

WSVN
Miami TV Weatherman Gets 5 years for child sex solicitation

Local10
Former TV Weatherman Sentenced

Finally all is working … I think

Finally everything should be back to normal with few exceptions, comments are back on, but images in some posts may be missing till I reinstall the plugins

Update

I jumped the gun on this upgrade and as you see it’s not finished yet, not for the lack of trying but rather the template system for wordpress was changed and I can’t figure it out. Sooooo till I do things will look this way. Hopefully not for long

7’s style guru Martin Amado gets some press

The cute makeover designer on 7News re-doing people’s rooms on budget has been getting lots of press lately, and this time the Sun Sentinel has turned eyes to him just in time for Vallentine’s day with a looooong article about his work and just how does that 2 minute segment on 7News gets everything done so quickly.

Sun Sentinel
“Makeover Maestro” can turn up the heat in a room

Newspeople on the big screen

WSVN’s Charles Billi and station photog Christopher Volz have yet another entry for an indy movie festival, the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, called “Confessions of a Realtor” about a real estate salesman who fails to make the sale with a young couple and goes crazy.

The cast of characters? John Uzarek a.k.a Johnny U, that wacky funny movie critic on Deco Drive who is also a photog for WSVN. And also starring opposite of him is WFOR-CBS4 reporter Yusila Ramirez.

The movie played on Saturday at AMC CocoWalk in Coconut Grove.

Last year around this time Charles and Chris also had an indy movie come out, “Rotten Love” a 40-minute horror film Charles shot in college and re-edited with the help of Chris Volz.

If they really wanted to be cool and hip, they’d leak a copy of it online, but who knows! :)

Note: Photog for those of you who don’t know is the guy or girl who wear those heavy cameras bad people get chased by, and who make it possible for you to see the news every day.

miami herald
To the big screen

Media Screening full of horror

WPTV anchor tries to punk station , failes

Im a firm believer of the mantra - when you lie, make sure you’ve covered ALL your bases. Especially if you’re a lead anchor-woman at a leading station such as WPTV and you tell them during sweeps you are in Louisiana because your husband had a death in the family. Laurel Sauer apparently forgot to lock her husband in the closet untill it was all clear, because after their alleged lie he was prancing around West Palm Beach and a WPTV employee bumped into him. As a result Sauer was suspended untill Thursday which is a bad thing to happen to a station during the sweeps.

Palm Beach Post - Page Two
Anchor away after alleged vacation flap

Uuummm………

I’m chilin’, watching Golden Girls (rarety for me but anyways). It’s 12:30am and a Brawny ad comes on. Guy with deep voice talking seductively at me and suddenly a hunk making a cake, smearing that white whip cream on it… it’s oozing sex. Sexual suggestions all over, on a Browny ad!!!!!!! Next thing I know ….

Pause and rewind rox man.