Dan Kearney, David Meszaros swap jobs

[rho01]

Dan Kearney, GM for the River and B98.5, and David Meszaros, GM for WSB-AM, are swapping jobs.

The press release doesn't really provide a clear rationale why they are doing this exactly. I'll have to make some calls tomorrow. Also, Rob Babin, the GSM for the River (I just met him doing an unrelated story), will become GSM of WSB-AM, too.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

I knew something was up when I heard WSB repeat the same newscast 15 times yesterday. Similarly, Neal Boortz has a new feature at noon on The River - "Get The Led Out."

 

[fussbudget]

That's hilarious. If you were a regular listener to WSB-AM you would know they only repeat newscasts 14 times a day, not 15.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Additionally, Chris Osgood is out as GSM of WSB-AM. Chris has great credentials, having been with Susquehanna for years in Houston and then with Cox.

With the market down and WSB-AM's billings down, upper management apparently decided it was time to shake things up.

Dan's background is in AM news/talk, with KFI and then GSM of WSB-AM before becoming GM of B98.5.

 

[RTibbs]

Perhaps we will get even more VT weather reports.

Kirk Mellish comes on and says 30% chance of rain when the whole metro area is getting soaked for hours. Or when he says the highs for the day will be 55 and it is is 3:00 and the high for the day is only 45. Lame for a station like themselves. How about have David Chandley or Gelnn Burns just do weather reports during the drive home. At least it would be more accurate. Use your resources. It is not like Kirk Mellish has the draw of Capt'n Herb where you need to hear him in a.m. and p.m. drive. As a matter of fact I sometime think he is just a computer talking.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Tibbs, you must be listening to WGKA's weather promos.

 

[taylorengineer]

I disagree!
Mellish is just as important a draw as Capt'n AND...is by far more accurate than Glenn Burns.
Glen is a nice guy and has a great delivery but he is just plain horrible when it comes to hyping weather events. And he does not understand simple weather 101.
Ken Cook is the ONLY other forcaster who one should trust if the weather is breaking news.
Why the hell do you care if it's 55 or 45 anyway?? Put a wet finger in the air....you'll soon know whether to wear underwear/no underwear.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

I disagree!
Mellish is just as important a draw as Capt'n AND...is by far more accurate than Glenn Burns.
Glen is a nice guy and has a great delivery but he is just plain horrible when it comes to hyping weather events. And he does not understand simple weather 101.
Ken Cook is the ONLY other forcaster who one should trust if the weather is breaking news.
Why the hell do you care if it's 55 or 45 anyway?? Put a wet finger in the air....you'll soon know whether to wear underwear/no underwear.

Yes, weather is so hard to predict, especially when all one has to do is go to weather.com.

As for no underwear, I always consult Christopher Colandro.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I disagree!
Mellish is just as important a draw as Capt'n AND...is by far more accurate than Glenn Burns.
Glen is a nice guy and has a great delivery but he is just plain horrible when it comes to hyping weather events. And he does not understand simple weather 101.
Ken Cook is the ONLY other forcaster who one should trust if the weather is breaking news.
Why the hell do you care if it's 55 or 45 anyway?? Put a wet finger in the air....you'll soon know whether to wear underwear/no underwear.

Frankly Tom, don't they all use the same computer models? The rest is just packaging.

 

[andyfrom88]

Why the hell do you care if it's 55 or 45 anyway?? Put a wet finger in the air....you'll soon know whether to wear underwear/no underwear.

I don't want to know what you're doing in the transmitter room alone...

 

[RTibbs]

My pointis he is recording his weather updates in adv ance. They are a waste of time to listen to. Your right the te,perature is what it is. Nut I don;t like listening to him giveme irrelevant updates. Nor do I understand how the hell it could be 8 on the mellish meter when it is 35 degrees out.

 

[taylorengineer]

I just wear my OSHA required RF protective thong at the transmitter.....Ignore the young women behind the curtain......
You're right Roddy - they do all use the same modeling for building the forecast. But the real skill is interpretation of the computer data output....and which model to believe. There are quite a few different computer models which the weather scientists build their forcast from - the model predictions are very often much different.
Mellish seems to usually call severe weather correctly(and snow/ice events.) I've noticed that Ken Cook is very accurate regarding these weather events also.
Weather.Com is about the worst place to get info.....if it is a weather "emergency." They are just fine for "sunny and warm today" weather....
Jeez Neil.....I hope you don't start using the Weather Channel on DAVE. I'll never know when to *really* go commando -

 

[taylorengineer]

Yes Tibbs.....but on a "sunny with highs in the" kinda days why not record them?
In the summer you could just say " Sunny and hot today - highs in the 90's with a 30% chnace of a stray heavy thunderstorm afternoons and evenings. Low tonight around 70."
You could just tape that audio loop and play it practically any summer day.
Again....who cares what the temperature at White Collumns is?

 

[OgOgglby]

Everyone uses NWS info, but I've had a meteorologist tell me that WSB-TV uses another source as well. Isn't Accuweather is a TV consultant too? And in severe weather you can certainly see a big difference in the images since their radars are in different places. I was watching the severe weather the other day, switching between stations, and you could clearly see the hook pattern on one and not the other. I think 2's staff has better personality but the crew at 5 seems to have better interpretation of severe weather.

Of course, if the weather is calm, I'd rather watch Dagmar Midcap and Laura Huckabee.

 

[IFB64]

Some of the BEST weather forecasters in broadcasting are the engineering types...especially the ones that have been doing engineering for years. This goes along with the techie knowledge of; chemistry, civil engineering, plumbing, proper glue selection, heating and air conditioning, carpet upkeep, locksmithing...the list goes on and on.

Of course the weather forecasting done by engineers is purely selfish. It allows the engineer to know that he/she can lounge by the engineering mansion's pool, drinking bourbon, scotch or fine exotic wines...and not having to worry about the transmitter going off the air.

Because the engineer uses weather forecasting for purely him/her self, the engineer can never profit from this knowledge.(Pretty sure that is written somewhere)

I must leave now, and prepare my food-stuffs for Monday night. Enjoy the weather...its the only weather you've got.

 

[taylorengineer]

Your station's engineering mansion has a pool? How do you hide the "transmitter tan?"
(Definition: Transmitter tan is the darkened complexion engineers get when they "go to the transmitter.") Even the interns know the engineer is not really at the transmitter - who would want to go there?
Where does the engineer REALLY go?

 

[littlejohn]

Technical staff often repair to the transmitter. In bird season, the tower field often offers quail and dove. The woods around the guy anchors are excellent deer cover. The pond allows for pretty good fishing.
It has been often necessary to calculate the signal strength on various points on Lake Lanier, best done from a rented boat large enough for a generator and places to clip an antenna. If this means the boat also has a refrigerator, beer, and sunblock, well, the jocks get the free tickets to everything, the backroom staff gets the beer and the tan.
For those wishing to do 'Parker' measurements and assemble the results at Maunel's, I've got a pretty good set of Audemat Golden Ear <tm> readings taken back when there was water in the lake. And beer in the boat icebox.