Gene Norman returns to Houston

[FilioScotia]

Longtime KTRK weatherman Gene Norman, who left these precincts a few years ago for a job in Atlanta, is returning, and he's coming to KHOU Channel 11.

Here's a link to the official announcement in Atlanta.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/radiotalk/entries/2007/12/05/125_cynne_simps.html

Now. Let's get the rumor mill going. That announcement says Norman will be the "primary meteorologist," which, I guess is the same as "Chief Meteorologist."

Does this mean that Dr. Neil Frank's long-talked-about retirement is finally about to happen?

Frank was in his late 50s when he retired from the National Hurricane Center in 1987, and he's been at KHOU for exactly 20 years. He's now in his late 70s and I've been told by friends over there that he's wanted to retire for years, but every time he even thinks about it out loud KHOU just throws more money at him.

I predicted some months back that he would probably hang'em up at the end of this year, and, with Gene Norman coming in to take over as Chief Meteorologist, it appears the time has finally come. He may finally do it. I expect his announcement any day now.

 

[Slambang]

Wow,too bad we cant get a guy of his caliber to move here, instead we get hacks like Pete Delkus taking over for the now-retired Troy Dungan.

 

[adguy]

Wow,too bad we cant get a guy of his caliber to move here, instead we get hacks like Pete Delkus taking over for the now-retired Troy Dungan.

You talk about hacks. Hell, Houston probably leads the top 10 markets. KPRC is notorious since Post Newsweek bought them in the early 90's. You start with Frank (Mr. Depression when the cat 5 hurricane misses Galveston) Billingsly, then you get the morning yutz with pronunciation problems, the 13 year old (looking) weekend guy and so on. On KRIV you have the weekend guy who can't read a teleprompter and can't complete a sentence without 5 to 10 "uhs". On KHOU you have good talent and Gene Norman apparantly coming, but you deal with Neal Franks lack of the 7 day forecast like everyone else has. As for the rest it's pretty average to below.

 

[rageradio]

Yeah I remember Gene Norman... when did he leave KTRK?

 

[texasskywatcher]

Yes, Neil is set to retire in 2008. Here's the link to the story in the Chronicle...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5376808.html

 

[purpledevil]

Wow,too bad we cant get a guy of his caliber to move here, instead we get hacks like Pete Delkus taking over for the now-retired Troy Dungan.

You talk about hacks. Hell, Houston probably leads the top 10 markets. KPRC is notorious since Post Newsweek bought them in the early 90's. You start with Frank (Mr. Depression when the cat 5 hurricane misses Galveston) Billingsly, then you get the morning yutz with pronunciation problems, the 13 year old (looking) weekend guy and so on. On KRIV you have the weekend guy who can't read a teleprompter and can't complete a sentence without 5 to 10 "uhs". On KHOU you have good talent and Gene Norman apparantly coming, but you deal with Neal Franks lack of the 7 day forecast like everyone else has. As for the rest it's pretty average to below.

adguy, you are a gem! I couldn't have summed Frank Billingsley up better myself. I thought he was going to whip out the razor blades and start slashing away when Rita took that turn towards Beaumont. His demeanor when Humberto jogged NE towards High Island instead of heading up I-45 like Frank predicted was equally somber. That guy lives for destruction. I love how his forecasts are ALWAYS more doom and gloom than Tim Heller, Neil Frank, Casanova Nurse, and what's his face from KRIV COMBINED. BTW, what has happened to Cecilia Sinclair at 26? I miss her hair, and Jan Jeffcoat's everything. Sibila Vargas leaves much to desire. She certainly doesn't brighten my mornings like Jan did.

 

[bhayes1016]

BTW, what has happened to Cecilia Sinclair at 26? I miss her hair, and Jan Jeffcoat's everything. Sibila Vargas leaves much to desire. She certainly doesn't brighten my mornings like Jan did.

Cecilia left the station for personal reasons.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

Yeah I remember Gene Norman... when did he leave KTRK?

He left in 2000 to be the Chief Meteorologist at Atlanta's WGCL-46-CBS. I believe he joined the station just before they rebranded as WGCL (from their former calls WGNX) where he joined former Calvin Hughes and former CBS-er Jane Robelot during the much maligned "Clear News" format. Hughes and Robelot left some time in 2002 or 2003, but Norman stuck around until this year.

 

[adguy]

BTW, what has happened to Cecilia Sinclair at 26? I miss her hair, and Jan Jeffcoat's everything. Sibila Vargas leaves much to desire. She certainly doesn't brighten my mornings like Jan did.

Cecilia left the station for personal reasons.

Cecilia was certainly a sweetheart. From what I heard, KRIV made her life miserable when she wanted more flexibility to deal with her personal situation. They were very uncooperative. That is certainly reflective of their GM. He poops into just about every key decision he makes. Once he leaves I suspect KRIV will put some real talent in that position and take that station to where it should be in Houston's pecking order of stations.

As for Jan Jeffcoat, she took a much higher profile job from the Fox station in Chicago where she anchors the morning news and hosts "Good Day Chicago". I agree, she was greatly talented and was the ONLY reason KRIV's morning news numbers jumped during her tenure there. KRIV had the opportunity to lock her up for the long term, but the GM was looking at the bottom line and blew that one too.

Jan's replacement Sibilia Vargas is barely average at best. She has nothing compared to Jan and it shows in the ratings. KRIV has slipped back to 4th place in the morning after a rise to #2 with Jan.

 

[Lexperto]

I agree with adguy. Dartanian Bebel is the weakest link at Fox 26...or maybe the second weakest to the news director Kathy Williams. Once both these folks are gone, Fox's ratings have a better shot of getting out of the basement. Sibila is marginal...Jan was phenomenal!

 

[snoman]

Agreed with everything said about KRIV, except about Jan. At times Jan was very good, but if you watched her closely, she mispronounced words and depended on the Teleprompter way too much. She was hard to work with behind the scenes. If you tried to correct her, she would get angry and tell you not to do that, so everyone quit doing it, and she sounded like an a$$ sometimes. She was only nice when you did something nice for her, or she needed your help. Needless to say, most of the newsroom was not upset when she bolted for greener pastures. The morning spike in numbers started before she arrived. It started with Tom and Pattie. Sure, the numbers continued upward under Jeffcoat, who viewers did like. Management thought Tom & Pattie were too flaky together and didn't take the serious news serious enough, and that's when they hired Jeffcoat. I will defend KRIV on one position. On every blog I see, people think it was KRIV's decision to get rid of Jeffcoat, when nothing can be further from the truth. The station tried to keep her, but Chicago is a bigger city, bigger market, and more money, so she left on her own. And, to tell the truth, I heard she never really liked it here in Houston. Sibila is a sweetheart behind the scenes, but she's not a "hard news" type of talent. She came from entertainment reporting and anchoring and it is not the right fit for her. Yes, the numbers are dropping as well. I still think Pattie should be anchoring, but that's just me. She is the perfect fit with Tom.

As far as Cecilia goes, she has a special needs child, that needs her full-time attention. She tried to change schedules and such to accomodate her child, but it was too much for her. She really misses her job, but being a good mother to her child is more important that doing the weather. I like Dr. Jim, I think he's good and he's funny. Sure I miss Cecilia, but I think he does a fine job. Now, the guy who has been filling in for him this week, is TERRIBLE. He looks like someone who's in school, trying out for their first weather gig. He does not belong on camera in Market #10.

 

[adguy]

Snoman, I agree with just about all you say. I have heard the same things that you mention in your last post. The only disagreement is that KRIV did have an opportunity to lock up Jan long term, but Bebel did not want to cough up the money. Jan's husband, from what I heard, is her agent and always looked at Houston as just a stepping stone to a NY, LA or Chicago market and that is just what happened.

If I were running that station I would have done everything possible to lock Jan up. Their AM news ratings sky rocketed with her. As soon as she departed their numbers caved. I agree that Patty and Tom have great chemistry and should be anchoring all morning every morning. Jose Grinan is an arrogant ass, both on screen and off. They should also put Lanny Griffith in the traffic chair where he is funny and entertaining. It's funny how KRIV has the talent IN HOUSE to boost its AM news numbers without Jan Jeffcoat, but because their management is so blind and untalented, they will never act on the obvious or when they try to it will be too late.

As for KRIV's new weather guy, it was very hard to watch him the other day. He looks like some college kid that won a contest and gets to do the weather on TV. He seemed very nervous, didn't know where the camera was at times and had zero personality. Hell, he didn't even attempt banter with fellow anchors before or after the weathercast, nor did the anchors banter with him.

It's simply amazing how Fox Corporate has kept Bebel as GM at KRIV for so long. He has done nothing (except hire Jan Jeffcoat) but bring that station down from its glory days of its medioric rise in the 90's under the direction of the late great Jerry Marcus.

I don't know what it is about Houston TV. KRIV isn't the only station to dumb down its presentation. Equal to the task has been KPRC. They managed to rid itself of top talent in the reporter and sports departments over the last few years. Under their new GM Blackerby, they have managed to bring that station's look from a top 10 market to a top 100 look. At least you have the always consistent KHOU and KTRK to counterbalance the sub-professionalism that KRIV and KPRC bring to the market. It's interesting too that both HOU and TRK both have long term consistent management running them. Perhaps Fox and Post Newsweek should take a lesson from the market leaders and hire good, professional and most importantly knowledgeable management that listen to market needs and react to them instead of forcing their own management philosophies without market knowledge.

 

[snoman]

You are right about Jan's husband being a talent agent, but she wanted to move up as quick as possible. She struck "while the iron was hot" so to speak. From the scuttlebutt that I heard (which is not necessarily true), she wanted A LOT more money, and I am talking about close to what Barajas was making. Now, while I agree that Jan is better than Barajas, it just simply does not work that way. A mutual friend of ours, who was the former morning EP while she was there, said Jan really disliked Houston. She didn't care much for the weather here and the city as a whole. So, I think she basically pulled a power play, knowing how Fox worked and if they called her bluff, so be it, she would have gotten paid a lot of cash to stay, but she probably knew by just how the place operates, that they would say no and she was able to move up the food chain. It's her goal to be doing something like Good Morning America, Today, or one of those type of programs... news and entertainment mixed. That's why she's been on Montel and she did a national TASTE OF CHICAGO program that aired after she arrived at WFLD, that aired on MY Network TV.

Bebel is a mystery on why he is still here. He has had opportunities to move up and the revenue and station expansion has happened under his watch, so he certainly has a padded resume. I cannot understand why he hasn't moved up the corporate ladder?! I don't know if he has even tried. It was rumored after being in Houston for about a year, that he didn't like it here either. I could tell you things all day long about him, but most of it would get edited out. Needless to say, it is one of the poorest run TV Operations that I have ever seen. Jerry Marcus was an @$$hole, but at least the place was happier and a more pleasant place to work when he was there. They seem to be happy mired in mediocrity, because they don't want to spend the money or do any of the leg work that it takes to be as good as KTRK. They don't want to hire top notch people, because they don't want to pay them the market value. They want to cut costs on equipment and everything else. KHOU is also a mystery on why they are so good, because while they don't cut costs on talent, they cut everywhere else. They have surpassed their flagship station in Dallas, WFAA as far as ratings and presentation goes, and talent. But, I know people that have left KHOU to go to KRIV (behind the scenes), because morale and the pay has gotten so bad over at KHOU. I worked for Belo in San Antonio, and they are notoriously cheap these days. KPRC is one of the weakest NBC stations I have ever seen. One of their biggest problems is stability and imaging. When Post-Newsweek took over, the place nose-dived. Every time I watch KPRC, I see someone new. In a market this big, I've never seen so much turnover as far as reporters and anchors go. Instability with talent is a ratings killer. They are badly mismanaged. KSAT, their station in San Antonio does not have this problem and neither does WDIV in Detroit. I thought getting Jerome Gray would help them compete better again. They also toned down the newscasts quite a bit, dumping the "in-your face, flashy" styled presentation. However, it has only shown a mild increase in their ratings. KTRK seems to be the only one that gets it. If you spend money on quality talent, and your behind the scenes personnel, you will reap the rewards, as they have for many years now. KRIV & KPRC cannot grasp that and while KHOU is fine now, if it keeps operating as they are, it will bite them in the butt sooner or later.

 

[adguy]

Bebel is a mystery on why he is still here. He has had opportunities to move up and the revenue and station expansion has happened under his watch, so he certainly has a padded resume. I cannot understand why he hasn't moved up the corporate ladder?! I don't know if he has even tried. It was rumored after being in Houston for about a year, that he didn't like it here either. I could tell you things all day long about him, but most of it would get edited out. Needless to say, it is one of the poorest run TV Operations that I have ever seen. Jerry Marcus was an @$$hole, but at least the place was happier and a more pleasant place to work when he was there.

Snowman, you are well schooled on your Houston TV knowledge, but I must take issue a bit. The revenue grew as the market grew. KRIV's share, especially local, paced in 3rd and 4th place most of his tenure. Bebel pitched a NY job and was never in the running, but wants to go to NYC in the worst way. Fox has some sense. I heard he pitched an LA job and one other since he's been there and was never really considered in each and every case. People who really know him and have worked directly under him know first hand the lack of real TV and management talent this person really has. There are other reasons he has lasted so long and most Fox insiders know the main reason.

As for your Jerry Marcus comments, he ran a tight ship, but you never would have met a more compassionate TV broadcast chief executive. Jerry was known for his occassional tirades, but if you knew him and the situations you knew he was justified every time he blew up. Jerry did more for peoples' TV careers than most anyone I have every known. He was Rupert Murdock's right hand man when Murdock purchased the original 6 Fox TV stations in the 80's and Murdock relied heavily on Jerry when he risked everything to expand the Fox brand to network status in the early 90's. Jerry Marcus was a dear friend of mine and his retirement ended an era of great local television in Houston. Bebel and his arrogance single handedly destroyed the many years of good faith and community that Jerry Marcus built over 20+ years at the helm of KRIV. And he did most of that all within his first year.

 

[snoman]

You are right Adguy about the revenue and growth. Bebel wants to go to NYC, because that's where he is from, and it's the #1 Market. The FOX O&O in Philly had a GM gig open about a year/year and a half ago, and I was hoping he'd move up there. Philly's not too far from NYC, and it is a step up in markets. But, he did not go.

And, I am sorry I should not speak ill of the dead. Jerry was a brutal taskmaster at times with some of my friends in Engineering. He'd call the master control operators and curse them out when the slightest things went wrong, or he'd go into the control rooms if he were in the building. Now, I will admit some of them did deserve it at times, but others did not. When the crap hits the fan, the last thing you want is non-technical people trying to hinder you getting things back on track. But, I will take that over the current management anyday of the week.

Most of the management positions at KRIV are occupied by buffoons, who shouldn't be managing in Market 150, let alone Market 10. I had better TV management, when I worked in Tyler. And, what is even worse, is when one of them leaves, it seems like the hire someone more idiotic and hard to deal with then the last moron that was in that position. :-\ This is not how you run a Top 10 Market TV operation.

 

[stevenNOLA]

Thanks for the insight...very interesting since I'm not a native Houstonian. I went to Lafayette, LA (home) for the Christmas holiday. KATC-TV would beat the pants KRIV and KPRC in news presentation, content, and personalities...pretty sad commentary for sub-par Houston stations considering Lafayette is market 100something.

 

[KTN Corp]

KPRC is one of the weakest NBC stations I have ever seen. One of their biggest problems is stability and imaging. When Post-Newsweek took over, the place nose-dived. Every time I watch KPRC, I see someone new. In a market this big, I've never seen so much turnover as far as reporters and anchors go. Instability with talent is a ratings killer.

Remember Byron Miranda? When he did the local forecast cut-ins on the Today show, his voice made me want to go back to sleep. He may be good but not in the morning.

 

[adguy]

KPRC is one of the weakest NBC stations I have ever seen. One of their biggest problems is stability and imaging. When Post-Newsweek took over, the place nose-dived. Every time I watch KPRC, I see someone new. In a market this big, I've never seen so much turnover as far as reporters and anchors go. Instability with talent is a ratings killer.

Remember Byron Miranda? When he did the local forecast cut-ins on the Today show, his voice made me want to go back to sleep. He may be good but not in the morning.

Byron Miranda was just another in a long list of abysmal KPRC failures. The guy was hyped as the new Houston morning star from some other major market. The guy was an idiot, arogant and had no chemistry with the new crew of Conflenti and Freeman at the time. Word is KPRC received so much negative mail on this guy they just paid out all or part of his contract and told him to walk quietly. Yet another example of KRPC's complete lack of knowledge of the Houston TV market. When will these stations (KPRC & KRIV) wake up and realize they should perhaps put a well schooled Houstonian at the helm of their stations or at the very least, their news departments.