Houston Car Chase & Coverage

[listenupnow]

If anyone happened to be watching any Houston TV station this afternoon (1/18) they witnessed a car chase that ended in a head-on collision with the car being pursued going the wrong way on a busy freeway entrance ramp. Apparantly KRIV was late on the coverage. KTRK had the chase start to finish and a clear shot of the collision. After KTRK signed off I flipped to KRIV where it looks like they missed it. Mike Barrahas and a co-anchor had on the phone, apparantly, the husband of the woman in the car that was hit by the man being chased by police. As I was listening, the man said his wife's name was Katrina and the baby in the back seat of the hit car (the man's daughter) was also named Katrina. He said they were Katrina refugees and their last name was Chase. Barrahas mentioned that he really did not see the chase nor knew what was going on, but he and his co-anchor played the shock and sympathy card with the caller claiming to be this woman's husband. Does anyone think KRIV got snookered on this? Would it surprise anyone if they did? KTRK, KPRC & KHOU all deferred to their late afternoon newscasts before delivering any more news on the story. It's called investigative reporting. At KRIV it's called "playing TV". You can't go to their website to follow up on this because they still have no website. It has been their General Manager's.(D'Artanean Bebel) decision not to build one because it's not in the budget's best interest. Just another example of the rank amateurism that runs rampant at a station of that importance in a top 10 TV market. The Fox bosses should clean house and take that station to a place where it would shine.

 

[bhayes1016]

As I was listening, the man said
> his wife's name was Katrina and the baby in the back seat of
> the hit car (the man's daughter) was also named Katrina. He
> said they were Katrina refugees and their last name was
> Chase. Barrahas mentioned that he really did not see the
> chase nor knew what was going on, but he and his co-anchor
> played the shock and sympathy card with the caller claiming
> to be this woman's husband. Does anyone think KRIV got
> snookered on this?
>

Baba Boooey, Baba Booey.

 

[TimInHouston]

> As I was listening, the man said
> > his wife's name was Katrina and the baby in the back seat
> of
> > the hit car (the man's daughter) was also named Katrina.
> He
> > said they were Katrina refugees and their last name was
> > Chase. Barrahas mentioned that he really did not see the
> > chase nor knew what was going on, but he and his co-anchor
>
> > played the shock and sympathy card with the caller
> claiming
> > to be this woman's husband. Does anyone think KRIV got
> > snookered on this?
> >
>
> Baba Boooey, Baba Booey.
>


HAHAHA...exactly!

From all I've read, KRIV - at one time - was considered one of the best-run stations in the country. This was early 90s when the now-deceased former GM was in charge, though.

Honestly, Memphis' Fox O&O station WHBQ-13 is an incredibly bush league station and has been since they were the ABC affiliate for the "Mid-South." Guess who was the GM there before going to Houston?

 

[adguy]

> > As I was listening, the man said
> > > his wife's name was Katrina and the baby in the back
> seat
> > of
> > > the hit car (the man's daughter) was also named Katrina.
>
> > He
> > > said they were Katrina refugees and their last name was
> > > Chase. Barrahas mentioned that he really did not see
> the
> > > chase nor knew what was going on, but he and his
> co-anchor
> >
> > > played the shock and sympathy card with the caller
> > claiming
> > > to be this woman's husband. Does anyone think KRIV got
> > > snookered on this?
> > >
> >
> > Baba Boooey, Baba Booey.
> >
>
>
> HAHAHA...exactly!
>
> From all I've read, KRIV - at one time - was considered one
> of the best-run stations in the country. This was early 90s
> when the now-deceased former GM was in charge, though.
>
> Honestly, Memphis' Fox O&O station WHBQ-13 is an incredibly
> bush league station and has been since they were the ABC
> affiliate for the "Mid-South." Guess who was the GM there
> before going to Houston?
>
Funny you should mention that. I worked for the legendary Jerry Marcus for 9 years until his retirement. I was there in the 90's when KRIV was considered the top Fox affiliate in the country. It was very well run and the had the ratings and sales revenue to prove it. Jerry was Rupert Murdock's right hand man from the TV station level. I worked for some very good GMs in my career, but no one was in Jerry's league. When he was forced to retire in 2000 it left a gigantic hole in Fox, not to mention the TV business in general. When Jerry passed away last year, it left a tremendous void here on Earth. He was not only a great leader, but a great man. KRIV was a fun place to work under Jerry and you felt proud and honored to be there. I also had the experience of working under the new GM and it did not take me long to figure out this guy's incredible incompetence. It quickly became a horrible place to work because of the serious lack of leadership the new GM possessed. Today, from what I hear from recent former employees, it has turned into an embarassment to be associated with KRIV. WOW, what a 180 degree turn around. That is a prime example of what great leadership, experience and competance means to a station. I, along with about 3/4 of the staff eventually left for greener pastures over the course of this GM's first 18 months. As for the incident described above, Jerry would have possibly fired the person responsible for letting this hoax on the air in the middle of a huge breaking news story. Bottom-line, under Jerry Marcus and the News Director under him in the 90's (Denise Bishop), this hoax would NEVER have happened. Under Bebel, the current GM, it is no surprise that it did happen. I would have thought by now he might have gotten some legs beneath him and possible turned KRIV back into a better place, but it is obvious he is as clueless as he was in 2000 when he so sadly took over.

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