We don’t know if Rick Erbach deserved to get shown the door by WGCL, a station that’s been a basket case since it first rolled out “News at 10″ in the 1990s. We do know that he inherited a ratings-challenged (to put it kindly) shop, and failed to improve. And we know that WGCL’s staff [...]
Archive for May, 2008
29 May
A Glimpse at the Edge
With one-third of its programming day– eight hours out of 24– devoted to original local news content, WAGA made a remarkable decision last year: Do more. So it added a half-hour at 11pm, and decided to call it “Fox 5 News Edge.” It competes against the 11pm broadcasts of the other three Atlanta stations. It [...]
27 May
LAF FAQ
Q: Are you trying to get back into TV news? Coz you’ve got a funny way of showing it. A: My exit in 2007 was final. I overstayed by five years or so. The answer is absolutely not. Q: So now you’re God’s gift to TV news, sitting on the sidelines? A: My on-air skills [...]
22 May
Drive Straight Away from a Career in Television
By Race Bannon You’ve seen those brightly painted local television live trucks. The graphics are so fantastic. And there just might be (gasp!) a news personality inside! Is that the handsome Steve Day! No, O’migosh it’s the lovely Amanda Wi! And then three seconds later. . .REALITY CHECK. Wow. I almost hit that TV truck. [...]
22 May
Old v. new
Today’s post yields to a Tampa-based blog called “the Feed.” It suggests that the pressure to squeeze revenue from TV stations has impacted the thinking of local TV newsrooms. Y’think? Old rule: news is news. New rule: news is marketing. Old rule: news is never old New rule: news has an expiration date Old rule: [...]
21 May
Rough weather
Snapshots from the storm coverage: WGCL’s Joanna Massee, live at 11pm: “Take a look at this tree. It didn’t fall. It snapped.” WGCL actually leading its 11pm news with two storm damage pieces instead of an “only on CBS 46″ exclusive. WXIA’s Brenda Wood, beginning WATL’s 10pm newscast by saying “…due to downed power lines [...]
20 May
If it doesn’t bleed….
Some cliches will never die. “If it bleeds, it leads” is one of them, a cute catch-phrase grasped by smirking detractors of TV news. Like many cliches, it’s an oversimplification. It’s a stereotype. It’s tiresome. But it also hints at a larger truth. TV chases breaking news. It doesn’t have to “bleed,” though. It can [...]
20 May
Overstepping
WSB’s lead story Monday at 6 was terrific. Tom Jones interviewed a broke college student who went to municipal court to pay a fine for an HOV violation. When the court added some fees to the $75 fine, the woman said she couldn’t pay it in full. So the municipal court judge threw her in [...]
19 May
Prospects
Watching Atlanta TV news on weekends is a little like watching minor league baseball. It lacks the big names and the big audience. (It also lacks the whip-cracking management, which often makes the weekend shifts easier on the nerves and psyche.) There are rookie mistakes. But the game is still played with gusto, and there [...]
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