Monthly Archive for September, 2008

Post Newsweek Execs: You Are “Ground Clutter”

Published
by
admin
on 9/29/2008
in Local Media and WTVJ Sale
. 9 Comments

Yes people. Post-Newsweek executives think you and your standing in the way of them buying WTVJ is the usual “ground clutter”.

This from an article today in the local Daily Business Review (reg. required):

Post-Newsweek executives say the petition filed this month with the FCC against its purchase of WTVJ, Channel 6, by the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Competition and Fairness in Broadcast Journalism is nothing but the usual “ground clutter” found in such acquisitions. The executives say the sale is best for WTVJ and its viewers in what has become a saturated and rapidly changing news market.

The article also says a lot of the people involved in the opposition are WTVJ staffers! Hm, so much for yelling and threatening people with firing for talking to this blog then.

/via Save WTVJ/

Sauer Might Kiss WPTV Goodbye With a Lawsuit

Published
by
admin
on 9/29/2008
in Local Media
. 0 Comments

Uh ohs!
The Palm Beach Post’s Page 2 reports that freshly bounced Laurel Sauer may not get a glitzy send off from her station. When asked for comment Sauer told Page 2 “I can’t comment, I just hired a lawyer”. Ow! We wonder what’s up.

Page 2 says she was either fired or quit, depending on whom you ask. Her lawyer says they’re “exploring their options”.

When Sauer was removed from the 11pm at WPEC in 1988 and left the station she filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit which was later dismissed.

Sauer was also removed from WPTV’s 11pm newscast last fall and replaced by Kelley Dunn

WPTV-ers what have you heard? What’s all this drama about?

Rick Sanchez on The Economy in 2 Minutes

Published
by
admin
on 9/29/2008
in Videos
. 4 Comments

It wasn’t long ago when Rick Sanchez was pontificating reading (while almost falling trough my TV) news about the latest shooting in Miami.

Then he went on to bigger and better things, at MSNBC, came back to WTVJ as a daytime show host. Left for CNN where he got tasered in the name of journalism, sparred with anti-immigrant loudmouth Tom Tancredo.

Here’s Rick talking economy on CNN.

And he’s super hip. He knows what Twitter is and reads tweets from twitters. Cool!

Laurel Sauer Leaving WPTV!

Published
by
admin
on 9/26/2008
in Local Media
. 8 Comments

update 4.25pm: TCPalm article says Sauer will be out September 30. No comment from station prez/vp Steve Wasserman either.


The Palm Beach post says WPTV’s lead woman Laurel Sauer is leaving the station.

What’s striking though is the Post 2nd paragraph:

News Director Peter Roghaar sent a terse e-mail to staff Thursday, right before the 6 p.m. show that Sauer still hosted with Jim Sackett.

It read: “Laurel Sauer’s employment with WPTV ends on September 30. I know you join me in thanking Laurel for her years of service to WPTV and offering her your best wishes.“

The Post’s article also notes Sauer hasn’t been in any of the station’s promos for the last year and that there may not be any tearful goodbyes and week long send offs. When asked for comment WPTV ND Peter Roghaar answered with “I’ve got no comment”.

Sauer has been with WPTV for 20 years anchoring along with Jim Sackett. She worked at WPEC before that for 8 years.

Rival Denver, St. Louis Stations Combine Operations

Published
by
admin
on 9/18/2008
in Media Headlines
. 0 Comments

Here’s another twist on TV station cost cutting.

Denver FOX affiliate KDVR, until recently a Newscorp station but owned by Local TV Stations LLC is moving in with Tribune-owned KWGN, a CW affiliate.

The two stations will combine their facilities, news operations, share programming (!) and offer advertisers an easier way to buy advertising at both stations.

The two companies are doing the same in St. Louis. Combining KPLR, CW station owned by Tribune with KTVI, a FOX station owned by Local TV LLC.

KTVI is moving into KPLR’s facilities and both stations will produce 9-hours of news daily “with no overlap”.

“These arrangements enable us to create efficiencies between the FOX and CW affiliates in each market to serve the local community like never before,” said Ed Wilson, president of Tribune Broadcast. “On top of that, we can provide advertisers the ease and efficiency of one-stop shopping, delivering even greater reach.”

Tribune and Local TV have been running some administrative, corporate and engineering functions via a broadcast management company since December 2007.

Locally Tribune only has CW, there are no Local TV-owned stations in Miami. For now, the closest to sharing we’ve come is WSVN and WPLG sharing choppers during refueling and building a new broadcast tower together. Of course the WTVJ-WPLG merger is still pending.

/via Lostremote/
MediaWeek: Tribune and Local TV Holdings Combine Denver, St. Louis Stations

CNN’s Breaking News Bonus

Published
by
admin
on 9/15/2008
in Bloopers and Videos
. 3 Comments

breaking news this morning on CNN, with a nice bonus

Weather Man Has Creepy Stalker

Published
by
Alex
on 9/14/2008
in Bloopers and Site News and Comments
. 6 Comments

I thought I was a fan of local news.

Weather Man Has Creepy Stalker

DOJ Kills Richmond, VA CBS-FOX Duopoly

Published
by
admin
on 9/13/2008
in Local Media, Media Headlines and WTVJ Sale
. 1 Comment

In light of the DOJ involvment into the WTVJ-WPLG merger I thought this was interesting.

Sinclair Broadcasting made a move to buy WTVR, the CBS affiliate in Richmond, VA, from Raycom Communications while still owning WRLH, the FOX affiliate in the same market.

All was said and done until the DOJ rejected the deal last month. Sinclair says they were going to sell WRLH to Carma Broadcasting LLC to avoid owning two stations in the same market but DOJ still rejected them. I’m guessing here that WRLH and WTVR are in the top 4?

DOJ didn’t specify why they rejected the acquisition leaving Sinclair to guess that it might have something to do with their duopoly. Apparently DOJ can nix any deal without giving a reason.

found via Save WTVJ blog

NBC6 Sale Trouble

Published
by
Alex
on 9/12/2008
in Local Media, Site News and Comments and WTVJ Sale
. 18 Comments

This article appeared on FTVLive today. It is true according to people involved and NBC executives have confirmed it.

NBC 6 Sale hits a snag:

“It appears that the WTVJ (NBC O&O Miami) sale maybe in trouble.
Insiders tell FTVLive that the Department of Justice has been in Miami and looked at the client lists for the two stations and there’s concern that Post Newsweek may have too much of the market and the deal could be in trouble.
If so, this is a big issue for the NBC-Local Media Group. They needed the money from the WTVJ  sale to cover budget misses. If the sale doesn’t go through, you could be looking at some more very deep cuts at the O&O’s”
The one bad side of it is that Dave Boyland told several people that the sale will still go through. It just may be delayed until February.

Brian Andrews’ News In English Is Growing

Published
by
Alex
on 9/8/2008
in Site News and Comments
. 7 Comments

Brian Andrews’ news in English is growing. As you may know, the RCN webcast from Colombia is a pre-recorded show posted on the RCN website. In a few months, I’m hearing they’ll be adding an additional webcast, and a 30 minute newscast on RCN’s new 24-hour international channel.

Keep up-to-date on all of this at Brian’s blog, facebook, or website. Good luck with the expansion!

WHDH Oops: He Does What Now?

Published
by
admin
on 9/7/2008
in Bloopers and Videos
. 8 Comments

Video from WHDH Gustav coverage going into break.
The live shot of the levee included a train car with the words “I fuck till my dick hurts” sprayed on it and clearly visible right under the lower 3rd graphic.

We All Want The Gold

Published
by
Alex
on 9/3/2008
in Site News and Comments and Videos
. 6 Comments

First off, i know this is old. If you’re ever in Mobile, Alabama, please say hello to the leprechaun for me! I really can’t get over the fact that they would air this. No matter how slow of a news day it is, this is just not news worthy. Perhaps this is why so many people now-a-days hate local news. Make sure to catch the “Amateur Sketch” at 0:45.

The Bill O’reilly Meltdown Remix

Published
by
admin
on 9/3/2008
in Bloopers and Videos
. 0 Comments

So good, it’s catchy.
Watch out for the bad words

NBCU: College Edition

Published
by
Alex
on 9/2/2008
in Links and Local Media
. 5 Comments










They call it NBCU: College Edition. College kids get to play NBC6 TV news anchor at WTVJ. Wannado City called, they’d like their attraction back. Just kidding. I really is a great oppertunity for these soon-to-be anchors and reporters. Most of them you can tell are new and really don’t have an idea of what to do, but others you can really see potential. Watch their 30 minute “fake” newscast here.

Hanna, Ike, and Josephine

Published
by
Alex
on 9/2/2008
in Local Media and Site News and Comments
. 11 Comments

Well, three are brewing out there and looks like some may be heading our way. Hanna, just downgraded to a tropical storm, doesn’t know exactly where it wants to go.  Ike and Josephine are “areas of concern” and look like they may head our way. So my South Florida neighbors, be prepared so you’re not out at 2AM the night before the storms expected landfall like i always am. Of course, i know everyone can’t wait for that fearplex news that will lead us to belive the world is ending. We’ll see what happens. Stay safe!

WSVN.com Using MyWeather LLC Tools

Published
by
admin
on 9/1/2008
in Local Media
. 2 Comments

It looks like WSVN have finally gotten around to add some better tools to the hurricane section on WSVN.com

They added an animated radar map, done in flash and using Microsoft Virtual Earth. And hurricane tracker map, also in flash, providing projected path and

Both the radar and hurricane trackers are by MyWeather LLC, the online weather solution part of WeatherCentral which provides on-air weather graphics solutions for TV stations.

I believe WSVN switched to WeatherCentral’s HD offering recently as part of their transition to HD.

/hat tip sflv reader/