Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

[Joseph_Gallant]

Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

Broadcasting and Cable.com is reporting on their website (registration may be required) that several TV station news directors are concerned that a new "WOW" ("Whip 'em Out Wednesdays") campaign may be launched by shock jocks Opie and Anthony.

In the past, these campaigns have been aimed at TV news reporters doing live shots, either trying to plug the Opie and Anthony show on the XM satellite radio service, and/or females baring their breasts within sight of a live TV camera.

You will recall that a few months ago, WCBS-2 New York reporter Arthur Chien lost his job after yelling a four-letter obscenity live on-air at a couple of Opie and Anthony fans who had disrupted a live shot he was doing for a station newscast.

More recently, a live shot during a 10 P.M. newscast on WFXT-25 here in Boston was disrupted by two Opie and Anthony fans trying to plug the duo's show. In this case, they were screaming in the background while reporter Bianca De La Garza was doing a live shot and about to introduce the taped portion of the piece. The station went to the pre-taped section of the report but switched back to the studio when the taped portion had ended.

 

[HomerJay]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

It's pathetic that people will participate in such juvenile stunts. I fully understand why the news directors are concerned--beause O&A and their ilk have zero class, and even less intelligence and originality.



> Broadcasting and Cable.com is reporting on their website
> (registration may be required) that several TV station news
> directors are concerned that a new "WOW" ("Whip 'em Out
> Wednesdays") campaign may be launched by shock jocks Opie
> and Anthony.
>
> In the past, these campaigns have been aimed at TV news
> reporters doing live shots, either trying to plug the Opie
> and Anthony show on the XM satellite radio service, and/or
> females baring their breasts within sight of a live TV
> camera.
>
> You will recall that a few months ago, WCBS-2 New York
> reporter Arthur Chien lost his job after yelling a
> four-letter obscenity live on-air at a couple of Opie and
> Anthony fans who had disrupted a live shot he was doing for
> a station newscast.
>
> More recently, a live shot during a 10 P.M. newscast on
> WFXT-25 here in Boston was disrupted by two Opie and Anthony
> fans trying to plug the duo's show. In this case, they were
> screaming in the background while reporter Bianca De La
> Garza was doing a live shot and about to introduce the taped
> portion of the piece. The station went to the pre-taped
> section of the report but switched back to the studio when
> the taped portion had ended.
>

 

[Markxxx]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

> It's pathetic that people will participate in such juvenile
> stunts. I fully understand why the news directors are
> concerned--beause O&A and their ilk have zero class, and
> even less intelligence and originality.
>
Agreed 100%

But it's hardly a complicated issue. Use a 5 second delay when broadcasting an reported item. Or have the reporter position himself behind a wall so no one can jump behind him

This kind of thing has been going on since radio in the 30s. When people first discovered they could yell out things on "live" broadcasts

Kind of a paradox, the news needs "interviews" with people for ratings, yet these people are becoming more demanding and hard to control

Ad Darren Hayes sungs "We think real life is reality TV."

<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>

 

[hintomedia]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

> > It's pathetic that people will participate in such
> juvenile
> > stunts. I fully understand why the news directors are
> > concerned--beause O&A and their ilk have zero class, and
> > even less intelligence and originality.
> >
> Agreed 100%
>
> But it's hardly a complicated issue. Use a 5 second delay
> when broadcasting an reported item. Or have the reporter
> position himself behind a wall so no one can jump behind him
>
>
> This kind of thing has been going on since radio in the 30s.
> When people first discovered they could yell out things on
> "live" broadcasts
>
> Kind of a paradox, the news needs "interviews" with people
> for ratings, yet these people are becoming more demanding
> and hard to control
>
> Ad Darren Hayes sungs "We think real life is reality TV."
>
>

On the other hand, a bunch of live shots consist of reporters standing outside an empty building at 11pm with nothing actually going on around them, so they're pretty useless in the first place. However much I think these stunts are pathetic, I was kinda hoping it'd teach the ND's to not go live just for the sake of going live.<P ID="signature">______________
Derek
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.tvvancouver.cjb.net>TV.Vancouver</a>: Covering TV stations in Vancouver, BC</P>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

Derek commented:

> On the other hand, a bunch of live shots consist of
> reporters standing outside an empty building at 11pm with
> nothing actually going on around them, so they're pretty
> useless in the first place. However much I think these
> stunts are pathetic, I was kinda hoping it'd teach the ND's
> to not go live just for the sake of going live.

I think too many TV station news directors and newscast producers do go live for the sake of going live. They're probably being pressured by both station management and corporate to go "Live, Live, Live!".

Let's assume that a television station's news department has six "live" ENG trucks. That station may have a policy (perhaps even implemented by someone above the news department, such as station management or corporate) that all six of it's live units are to be broadcasting live reports during each local newscast, whether or not the value of the news story warrants live shots.

Do you feel that such a policy increases the chances of a live shot being disrupted by rowdy people such as Opie and Anthony fans seeking to either plug their favorite shock jocks and/or exposing "private body parts"??

 

[Nate Wesley]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

> On the other hand, a bunch of live shots consist of
> reporters standing outside an empty building at 11pm with
> nothing actually going on around them, so they're pretty
> useless in the first place. However much I think these
> stunts are pathetic, I was kinda hoping it'd teach the ND's
> to not go live just for the sake of going live.
>
Exactly! Little chance of being heckled taking the 'old school' route of sitting next to the regular anchors, instead of wasting electricity and fuel shuttling off for vain live-shot.<P ID="signature">______________
"Not fixing [New Orleans'] levees before Katrina struck will now cost us untold billions. Not resolving the nation's issues of race and class has and will cost us so much more."
--Wynton Marsalis
</P>

 

[w9wi]

Re: Broadcasting And Cable.com: TV Station News Directors On Alert For More "WOW" Incidents

> But it's hardly a complicated issue. Use a 5 second delay
> when broadcasting an reported item.

On TV, a delay is FAR easier said than done. And a lot more expensive than radio.

I might venture an educated guess that many smaller-market stations would choose to forego live remotes altogether if the only alternative were to install delay equipment.