tvspy.com is reporting that a new morning anchor, Steve Bunin, has been hired to co-anchor with Joyce Taylor. What is happening with Greg Copeland? I thought Greg was on the rise at KING 5. I know that Joyce is a bit "difficult" to co-anchor with in the mornings -- perhaps Greg wasn't the right "fit"???
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New AM Anchor at KING
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http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/steve-bunin-joins-king/182452
According to the link Bunin has left Houston's KGOW and Comcast Sports Net.
Per a Facebook post from Joyce Taylor Greg Copeland will anchor weekend nights.
Steve is a Seattle native with a sports background. Welcome Home, Steve!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bunin
In my opinion, Greg Copeland was never ready for a "lead" anchor position like working AMs alongside Joyce.
He toiled in obscurity at NWCN for 15 years, and then started filling in here and there on KING, particularly on the noon news. He got the second evening anchor position because he was in the right place at the right time when Rob Piercy left, not necessarily because he was the right fit.
I didn't think the move to morning would last long, and it didn't.
He seems like a nice, genuine guy, but his delivery is a bit wooden, and, worst of all, he frequently trips over his script.
I agree that Copeland seems like a nice guy, but will be a better fit on weekend evenings.
It's a bit confusing right now, but Cam said on Facebook that Joyce Taylor insisted that KING management let Cam join KING 5 Morning News. It sounds like a reporter job, because Cam was fitted for her very first "Yellow Jacket".
It sounds like Greg will anchor on weekends with Angela King.
It's a bit confusing right now, but Cam said on Facebook that Joyce Taylor insisted that KING management let Cam join KING 5 Morning News. It sounds like a reporter job, because Cam was fitted for her very first "Yellow Jacket".
It sounds like Greg will anchor on weekends with Angela King.
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Don't think Angela King was offered a position with King. Cam Johnson will be filling on weekend evenings until Greg takes over in a couple weeks. Sounds like King wants to keep weekend evenings a solo anchor show. Cam stated she would be trained in the traffic department as well so sounds like she will do traffic from time to time until a permanent replacement is named. Also I could see Cam being a fill in anchor on the mornings and eventually in the future be a permanent noon co-anchor.
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KING is announcing that Joyce Taylor and Steve Bunin will anchor from 4:30am to 7:00am on KING with Cam Johnson doing traffic. Then Mimi Jung and Jake Whittenberg will be on the desk at KONG from 7:00am to 9:00am.
It also looks like they are following the Q13 2 person weather model, as Ben Dery joins Rich Marriott as weather anchor in the morning.
http://www.king5.com/about-us/king-5-news-welcomes-steve-bunin/392115833
It also looks like they are following the Q13 2 person weather model, as Ben Dery joins Rich Marriott as weather anchor in the morning.
http://www.king5.com/about-us/king-5-news-welcomes-steve-bunin/392115833
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Another note is that the newscast is now titled "KING 5 Mornings" (no mention of news in the title). This follows other TEGNA stations in producing a "softer" morning show. For example, in Phoenix, the morning newscast was recently re-titled "12 Today" (previously titled "12 News Today").
How is the MJ McDermott / Rebecca Stevenson split working on Q13? Isn't Rebecca doing the early, early AM hours and the updates for the Portland tribune station, while MJ handles the rest of the morning? It is an awful long show for one crew today.
Meanwhile, on KING, Mariott has done 0430-0900 for a long time on his own but gave up doing the noon news a few years back (to Keisha Burns).
Are they going to be switching off or splitting the 5.5hr block or something else? Presumably Ben Dery sticks around for the noon show.
Also, looks like Keisha Burns is still around... is she going to be the weekend evening weather anchor? Weekend mornings?
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I'm sure Tegna research shows that a "softer" morning show is likely to be more successful. But how soft can you go? Q13 is already someone on that edge, and if KING copies then I suppose they could compete in that arena. However, Seattle has been a strong news-centric market and not so much with fluff, or whatever fluff is defined as today. The mornings wars will play out, but I still find the evening/late competition more interesting. Especially with KOMO's changes in the anchor chair.
I agree. The evenings in Seattle are suddenly a huge question mark. KING has gone with a tenured team in the early evenings and a newer team in the late evenings (with the exception of Lori at 11pm). As a whole, TEGNA is pushing their stations toward more feature stories and just a summary of the crash and burn-type news. It will be interesting to see how KING changes in Seattle, since they have been a mainstay in serious news for their entire history. KOMO's new guy at 6pm and 11pm is a huge surprise and it remains to be seen if he catches on. KIRO seems relatively stable, although they seem to still be searching for a strong female co-anchor (since the demise of Susan Hutchison 15 years ago). KIRO now has some of the longest tenured reporters in the market. And, then, of course there is Q13's renewed efforts in the evenings, adding an 11pm newscast.
This has been an interesting week to "test" TV news. When I heard (text, social media, internet) of a breaking item ... I grabbed my TV remote and started punching in channel numbers to get more details as they happen. Found myself asking "whose channel am I instinctively punching in first" ... much like you might punch a radio station when traffic is jammed in front of you. Whether it's local or national, we tend to have a "go-to" station that we check first; but if that source doesn't deliver, a personal "go-to" can easily be replaced. I used to think that about news radio stations who were locked in sports coverage of a live game and couldn't keep their brand in the news world during a breaking story ... and this morning when I turned on KING to see if they were covering something, I just get the tight news wheel and LOTS of anchor-social-interaction. They will lose my loyalty if this keeps happening. On the national front ... so-called "Headline News" just runs Forensic Files (making one wonder how the hell they keep the "Headline News" identity); and FOX, MSNBC, CNN are usually rerunning prime-time shows for Pacific Time Zone ... they are useless. Bottom line = the internet WILL be the primary news source soon enough; and TV stations can only blame their own strategy for cutting their own throat. Probably too late to change. Viewers have already mostly left the living room.
The fall of KING began as soon as Gannett bought out Belo. From there on out it was nails in the coffin. Their set is an eyesore to look at, in my opinion (based off of viewing newscasts online occasionally). Then Tegna taking all the veterans off the air, and eventually shutting down NWCN. If I want to watch a local newscast from Seattle, I usually stick with KIRO, and occasionally KOMO.
As I posted earlier, expect KING to revamp their set. They are under tight space constrictions, so this project is complicated. Taking longer than expected, hopefully ready to go for Spring 2017.
In my book KING didn't do themselves any favors when Stan Boreson passed this week and NOT ONE WORD on KING's newscasts or web site. A creative director in the "classier" days would have put together a 5-second ID with a bit of theme song, graphic with "the dash", and station ID info. Too bad, because some of KING imaging in recent days has been about longevity and nostalgia of the station. One theory some of us have is that no one left there who knows who the guy was..... everyone eligible has been "force retired".
Stan Boreson was a legend. His afternoon kids' show was a KING staple in the 1950s and 1960s. And not one word from KING itself, very much disappointing. RIP!
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ing-of-scandinavian-humor-and-show-host-dies/
So any of the Seattle kids television legends left? I know JP Patches passed on in 2012, and I don't think Captain Puget is with us anymore (but I could be wrong).
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ing-of-scandinavian-humor-and-show-host-dies/
So any of the Seattle kids television legends left? I know JP Patches passed on in 2012, and I don't think Captain Puget is with us anymore (but I could be wrong).
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Bill McLain is still around, as is Bob Newman. Newer generation (e.g. MJ McDermott) as well; not sure about the Romper Room host from KSTW (nee KTNT).
What's unclear to me is why TEGNA is taking the station in the direction they're going.
KING5 was the market leader in all, or nearly all newscasts, for decades. They have a strong following doing what they're doing. If you're a follower, you try to differentiate yourself from your competitors to gain marketshare. If you're the leader, you should keep doing what you're doing as long as the numbers are good.
I haven't seen newscast ratings in a long time. Is KING's position falling? As the broader market for broadcast news tanks, is KING losing more or less than expected? Do they believe that the switch to softer in the morning will help either shore up their losses or grow the market?
Or is TEGNA simply rolling out the same format across all stations across the country, assuming that every market will respond the same? Doing that, I suspect, is something that is fraught with peril but may not seem that way when you're looking at the 36,000ft level from HQ.
EDIT: Also - Remember when KING launched the 7-9 newscast on KONG? They went soft... really soft with that product. They built a new set (also used for the 10PM news on KONG). They hired a dedicated features reporter (Jane McCarthy's husband, whatever his name is), etc.
It didn't last long. Slowly the 7-9 morphed to match the earlier AM product, and they've been most indistinguishable from each other since.
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