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Issue # 2,895
Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A crew from WPTV-5-NBC in Palm Beach (Market #38) was covering the DUI manslaughter trial of polo mogul John Goodman yesterday, when the live truck, parked outside the courthouse, was rocked by what seemed to be an enormous explosion.

The microwave dish had fallen from the top of the extended mast and crashed onto the roof of the truck. Luckily, the crew, inside editing video, escaped injury. Chief Engineer Steve Billing called it an "extremely rare event" and blamed "metal fatigue." He ordered weekly "rooftop" inspections to check "for bolt tightness" and "mechanical wear."

"This is the first time this has happened to one of our trucks," Billing wrote in a memo to staff, obtained by NewsBlues, "and frankly I have never heard of it happening anywhere before."

In fact, according to Mark Bell, who publishes the ENGsafety.com website and newsletter, mast "blowouts" are not entirely uncommon. According to Bell, the bolt or pin securing the dish to the mast can wear or fall out. When the mast extension is activated, the unsecured microwave dish can be "launched by air pressure."

Bell supplied us with photos of a similar incident at an unnamed station in which the pan/tilt head assembly "blew out of the mast of a live truck." The chief engineer reported the news van "had been on scene for better than an hour and the crew was preparing for their fourth live hit when the thing launched like a mortar round." The incident, like the one in Palm Beach, was attributed to metal fatigue causing a securing pin to fail.

"Once again the industry gets by another incident without killing somebody," noted Bell. "Luck is a good thing."

WPTV's Billing agreed. "We can't be too careful after what happened."

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TICK, TICK, TICK

Media General, crippled by more than $658 million in long-term debt, yesterday was able to temporarily douse the fuse on its ticking financial time bomb. Faced with the very real possibility of defaulting on a scheduled $363 million loan payment in March 2013, the company was able to renegotiate terms...at a higher interest rate...and delay the payment long enough to sell its roster of regional newspapers and pay down the debt.

In exchange for the reprieve, lenders are forcing Media General to raise a minimum of $225 million in new notes by May 25. Of that, at least $190 million will be used to pay down the outstanding debt. The company is only valued at $116 million.

Media General stock jumped 5% yesterday on news of the three-year extension.

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CHICKEN WALK

Katie Davis, a reporter at Media General's WJAR-10-NBC in Providence (Market #53), got pecked on the leg by an angry rooster while she did a walk and talk. Video of the "attack," posted on Facebook, has already become something of a sensation.

"That rooster actualy [sic] chased me 3 or 4 times," reports Davis. "We thought he went back into the chicken coop, when suddenly he suprised [sic] me! Ironically he was the smallest rooster in the farm!"

Try to grasp the irony of a rooster getting more media attention than a company trying to refinance debt five times its value, and you get a pretty good idea of who watches local TV news and where their priorities lie.

"This is the Best!" wrote one viewer. "She should get combat pay for that one!" said another. "That's hilarious," said yet another. "LOL! That was great! It's refreshing to laugh at the news as oppose [sic] to getting that sinking feeling in your stomach everytime you hear the all the bads news [sic] going on in the world."

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A.H. Belo stock price fell 45% in 2011, but company executives are still getting big pay raises. CEO Robert Decherd's base salary will jump 25% in April.

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GASSING UP

Gas Station TV, the Birmingham company that pumps TV ads into gas pumps to further irritate already irritated motorists, is expanding its services to 32 ARCO stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco and will soon expand to the Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Seattle markets.

Gas Station TV's programming includes news from HLN, sports from ESPN, business reports from Bloomberg TV, entertainment headlines from "Showbiz Tonight," and local weather from AccuWeather.

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THE ADVERTISING CHANNEL

As more and more people turn to mobile devices for up-to-the-minute weather news, viewership has dwindled at The Weather Channel. Only when severe weather strikes, do viewers return to cable in large numbers.

As a result, TWC is increasingly turning to original "weather-related" programming to fill the down time. Last month the network began airing "Lifeguard!," about beach rescuers in southern California. April brings "Turbine Cowboys," about people who build and maintain wind turbines. "Iron Men," about New York ironworkers, starts in May. "Lights Out," in June, is about an Arkansas crew that restores power after severe weather. July brings the hurricane season and "Hurricane Hunters," a series about people who fly into storms to collect weather data.

Al Roker's thriving production company last year supplied TWC with "Coast Guard Alaska," a series that "throws the viewer into the world of the men and women of the United States Coast Guard stationed in rugged Alaska as they train and work in the harsh environment conducting dangerous Search and Rescue missions." The series was recently given a two-year extension and has already spun off a new series involving a U.S. Coast Guard station in Florida.

"The previous management didn't really see the big picture," Roker said. "They didn't think the audience would watch these kinds of shows." The premiere of "Coast Guard Alaska" increased viewership in its time slot by 35%.

So, is The Weather Channel still really about the weather? Or is it about turning a profit for Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, and NBC Universal, the consortium that bought TWC in 2008?

"Lately, I've been calling it 'The Advertising Channel,'" your Surly Editor® told the Associated Press. "I challenge you to visit TWC in prime time and not hit a commercial in progress."

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NEWSPAPER COVERUP

We told you last week that Bob Caldwell, the 63-year-old editorial page editor for The (Portland) Oregonian, died of a heart attack after having sex with a 23-year-old woman.

Initially, the newspaper simply reported Caldwell had died of a heart attack. Two days later, it said Caldwell had suffered his fatal heart attack while in his car. The following day, based on a police report, The Oregonian issued a "correction" and explained that Caldwell had suffered the heart attack after a sex act in the apartment of a 23-year-old woman. Caldwell, according to the paper, had befriended the young woman at Portland Community College and occasionally gave her cash for books in exchange for sex acts.

The woman, it turns out, wasn't exactly a college student earning extra money: She was a full-time call girl who advertised on a site called TNA Board, a multicity service that connects sex workers with customers. One admiring client, in an online review, called her “the reigning princess of the West Hills.” She charged up to $200 an hour and told prospective johns she wouldn't take them on as clients without at least two references from other prostitutes. According to her ad on tnaboard.com, "I do not see newbies!"

But, wait. It gets better. Oregonian Editor Kathleen Glanville was fired last week for telling the paper Caldwell had died in his car. Glanville reportedly "drove to the young woman’s apartment and moved Caldwell’s vehicle from the scene."

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CNN reporters John King and Dana Bash have separated after five years of marriage. They have a 9-month-old son.

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MARQUEE SHAKEUP

Jack Williams, 68, the longtime news anchor at CBS-owned WBZ-4 in Boston (Market #7), is stepping down from the 11:00 p.m. newscast "in order to spend more time at home with his wife." He'll continue to front the station's 6:00 p.m. newscast.

The change comes after WBZ shed a third of its 25-to-54-year-old viewers at 11:00 p.m. over the past year. “His talent has nothing to do with whatever the outcome of the ratings are at 11 o’clock,” said President and General Manager Ed Piette, who does not comment on personnel matters except when he does. “He’s an amazing talent, an amazing newsman. It’s his decision. We respect that.”

“This was my idea,” said Williams in a story posted on the WBZ website. “They told me I can work as long as I want. They've been very gracious to me. It's all good.”

Jonathan Elias will take over the 11:00 p.m. co-anchoring duties starting Monday.

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Don Shelby, who retired from CBS-owned WCCO-4 in Minneapolis (Market #15) in 2010, is joining BringMeTheNews's radio network as a morning news anchor. The network, which consists of 30 stations, is owned by former KARE-11-NBC personality Rick Kupchella. Shelby debuts April 4.

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Jim Rosenfield, a former anchor at WCBS-2 and WNBC-4 in New York, will be joining NBC-owned WRC-4 in DC (Market #8) soon, according to DCRTV, which scoops he is likely to anchor the 5:00 p.m. news.

Rosenfield, who anchored the noon and 6:00 p.m. news at WCBS-2, was a victim of cutbacks in May 2008. He worked in New York television nearly three decades but has been on the beach for almost four years.

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Katy Brown, the primary sports anchor at Fisher's KATU-2-ABC in Portland (Market #22), is suddenly out the door after seven years. The station isn't saying why. 

Brown was recently named Oregon Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. She's been replaced by weekend sports anchor Craig Birnbach.

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Audrey Barnes, a former morning news anchor at WBAL-11-NBC in Baltimore (Market #24) who has been freelancing in the DC market, has been hired as a general assignment reporter at Fox-owned WTTG-5 in DC (Market #8). She starts next Monday.

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Teresa Priolo, a morning news anchor and reporter at WRGB-6-CBS in Albany, NY (Market #58), is leaving the station after four years to “begin anew.” She's found work as a freelance reporter at WNYW-5-Fox in New York, according to TVSpy.

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THEATRICALLY YOURS

Gus Gordon, the veteran chief meteorologist at Sinclair's WICS-20-ABC and WICD-15-ABC in Champaign, IL (Market #82), is leaving the station to become executive director of Springfield’s Hoogland Center for the Arts.

Gordon, a graduate of the Mississippi State University Broadcast Meteorology program, has long been active in local theatrical and music productions. He's worked at the Sinclair duopoly since 1990 and starts his new position June 4.

“While it will be sad to step down from a job that I have held and enjoyed for so long, I don’t think it will come as a surprise to my friends or to people who know me well that the opportunity to work full time at the HCFTA is the one thing that could lure me away,” Gordon said.

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NO MOVING EXPENSES

Jenifer Daniels, a meteorologist at Desert TV's KPSP-2-CBS in Palm Springs (Market #145), who was laid off when the station was sold in January to the owners of competitor KESQ-42-ABC, has been rehired as a morning news anchor. She starts Monday.

“I’ve been collecting unemployment now for about six weeks, so I’m really happy,” Daniels said. KPSP morning co-anchors Todd Piro and Stella Inger have both left since the station was sold. Piro has been hired as the new morning anchor at NBC-owned WVIT-30 in Hartford (Market #30). And Inger started this week at Belo's independent KTVK-3 in Phoenix (Market #13).

Shortly after Inger announced her departure in mid-February, Daniels said she got a call from the station's new owners. “When they could've hired outside, they went back to the people who, unfortunately, like me, who didn't make the cut.”

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"NewsFix," the anchorless newscast on Tribune's last-place KIAH-39-CW in Houston (Market #10), has added Bernard “Bun B” Freeman, an "award winning" rapper to its staff. Because every news staff needs a rapper.

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$6,000 TOUR OF FOX NEWS

Fox News Channel contributor Dick Morris has been reprimanded for offering a personal tour of Fox News headquarters in New York as an auction item to benefit a Florida Republican organization.

The tour sold for $6,000 but will not happen.

Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News, told TVNewser that “The tour will absolutely not take place nor would something like that have ever taken place if we were aware of it.” Morris, according to Shone, apologized profusely and admitted it "was a major mistake."

No word on whether the auction winner got his money back.

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MRS. BLUEZETTE'S GRAMMAR YAMMER
"A PBS mind in an MTV world."

A letter from a reader in New York inspired today's lesson:

You may have already covered this one, but Armen Keteyian, investigative correspondent for CBS News, [recently] used the 'word' "irregardless." I was under the impression that it's not a word. That it's 'regardless' or 'irrespective.' Can you clarify for me? I heard it's now in certain dictionaries. Perhaps it's evolved? I would love to hear your input.

Thanks,

Carol Perry, VP Broadcasting / General Counsel

IF Management, Inc