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Dale Hansen's "blow-up" 10/27

K

KERCAlum

I don't know if anyone happened to be watching WFAA/8's 10pm news last night (10/27), but I tuned over just as the Cardinals wrapped up the World Series. As I tuned over, John McCaa was announcing that the Cards had just won the Series, then he and Gloria tossed it over to Hansen on sports. McCaa made some sort of comment about this being a big win for the Cards, and Hansen said -- I kid you not -- "I have no idea, John, why don't you do it?" Gloria got that "deer in the headlights" look and they tossed to a break. After the break, they come back full on Hansen, who invokes Terrell Owens' line about "why am I here?", then does the rest of the sports. After sports on the 3-shot, McCaa's smile was decidedly forced, and Gloria looked like she had been trying to play peacemaker.

Okay, now that I've gotten the play-by-play out of the way, time for some commentary:

That was the most petulant, unprofessional display I have ever seen on the air. Dale Hansen is supposed to be a grown-up, but he acted like a put-upon 10-year-old on the set. And his commentary at the beginning of the sportscast was totally uncalled-for. I would not be too surprised (and definitely not upset) if last night turned out to be Hansen's last sportscast on WFAA. The whole thing was just bad.

And I can't believe nobody's commented on this yet.
 
Hansen holds a tight reign on his turf, so anyone daring to venture onto it and steal Dale's thunder risks his wrath. It's not as if Hansen was the only one privy to the win and would have had the glory of breaking the news to one and all. Seems as if the news anchor's quick mention of the win was a good segue into Hansen having all the details. IIRC, Hansen's last hasty departure from Channel 8 closely followed a really inappropriate remark about "going home and slapping around my old lady." Oh to be a fly on the wall when this latest incident is discussed among Dale and the powers that be.

If the folks at home only knew of the egos and politics that prevail in a TV studio (and elsewhere about the station, as well).
 
Sounds like typical hansen to me. He thinks anything sports at 8 is his own personal territory. I just wish the "powers that be" would rid themselves of his sorry rear. No offense, but its way past time to clean house at Belo Communications Center.
 
Sorry I missed that. I hope someone posts it on youtube.

Dale Hansen vs. John McCaa = bad news for WFAA. If they lose either one, they're screwed.
 
Part of the problem in TV news is the endless "need" for teases. It seems like they have to write these things without "giving it all away". How about just having the anchors say, "Sports is next as News 8 continues in just 2 minutes..." or something like that??? Let Dale tell ALL the sports.

I agree that having John and Dale fighting with each other may bode the end for WFAA. I'm sure that any of the other stations would quickly find a spot for John (watch out Mike Snyder, you may be anchoring First at Four soon!)
 
Call in the peace makers. An interesting development to watch. If events go to an extreme, possible that neither would stay, so if one were to go (or be let go if it came to that), which one would it be.

Better, even an uneasy truce is called and everyone walks on the proverbial egg shells. Channel 8 has trouble enough without breaking up an on-air team that's established in its own right. Of course the stories are legion from everywhere in the business whereby news co-anchors sittiong next to each other don't even speak and look in opposite directions during commercial breaks. If the situation between Hansen and McCaa gets really bad, surely the psychic and physical distance between them in the studio would be buffer enougeh to maintain the integrity of the on-air product.

Better still, John and Dale settle it on their own and get back to the job at hand, perhaps with the proviso that in the future all sports teases are generic. That way when the Cowboys win another Super Bowl Dale will have the story--complete, on his own, and all to himself. Surprising that Hansen didn't retaliate by trying to read the next news story that came up on the prompter.
 
They were all smiles at the end of tonights 6 o'clock news :)

Wonder what we will have to talk about next.
 
formeraa said:
I agree that having John and Dale fighting with each other may bode the end for WFAA. I'm sure that any of the other stations would quickly find a spot for John (watch out Mike Snyder, you may be anchoring First at Four soon!)
Click to expand...

We can only hope someone of Johns' calibre replaces Ron Burgandy at NBC5, seeing that him and jane are getting long in the tooth. My vote is for busty traffic bunny Tammy Dombeck to coanchor ;)
 
As I hear it Dale wasn't upset with John. In fact, John and Dale were both upset with the producer who wanted to make the Cards winning the world series "breaking news!!" John thought sports should handle it. So did Dale. The producer made John do it by running the breaking news open and coming out to John on camera. That's when Dale's blow up happened.

There won't be any repercussions over this for Dale. He and John are on the same page.
 
Tested is right on the money....in Dale's own words from D Magazine FrontBurner:

RE: DALE HANSEN AIN'T HAPPY WITH JOHN McCAA
Hansen would like to set the record straight on that awkward exchange between him and John McCaa. He's heard from a bunch of people who thought it sounded like he was mad at McCaa. Not true. In an e-mail, Hansen writes:

"Good audio maybe, but like all good stories, it's a little bit off. They didn't bring me in to do the World Series story. They were having John do it all along, just before sports. I was mad at some decisions being made behind the scenes. But I was NEVER upset at or with John.

I have a tendancy to let my real emotions show through sometimes, and this was certainly one of those times. Childish on my part. But just for the record: there is no problem between John and me."
 
If it's true that the producer overruled Dale and John and turned it into "breaking news" (god, how I hate that term), then the producer should be at least demoted to the morning show.

The way I produced news, the sports guy always (and I mean always) handled his deal, and I handled the news. There was never any crossing of lines, unless there was some sort of sports-related news story, and then I always relied on the sports guy's judgement. (Keep in mind it was small market TV.)

However, it was a childish display on Dale's part, regardless. Certainly worth at least a reprimand (yeah, like that's going to do any good).
 
Dan Dennis said:
then the producer should be at least demoted to the morning show.
Click to expand...

What did the folks on the morning show do you? to get you to wish that on them. :eek:
 
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