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Is your local news as bad as ours?

Yet, as Dan Rather points out in his autobiography "The
Camera Never Blinks," KENS, even in the early '60s when
Rather was at KHOU, was considered the model for any
Texas station looking to get out of third in its market,
simply because of its "fuzz and wuz" (police blotter) approach.

As for WFAA, as far as I'm concerned there will never be a
better "front four" than Tracy Rowlett, Iola Johnson, Troy
Dungan, and Verne Lundquist. And I've been especially happy
to see Verne attain prominence at CBS Sports.
 
bpatrick --

I don't know about Dan Rather's time, but more recently KSAT was very flashy, police blotter approach. KENS was known for more of a "sarcastic happy talk" -- Marrow along with Dan Cook could be incredibly sarcastic and FUNNY at the same time. WOAI just had a lot of flashy graphics with a "consumer investigation" focus (Dirty Dining, "shocking" product recalls", etc.) and tried to convince the viewers that its tired aging talent (i.e. Randy and previously Tanji) were top broadcasters. KABB was just flat.
 
pintobuddy said:
KONO TV In San Antonio(been KSAT since 1968) was the dramatization station. KENS with Gene Tuck then Chris "Munuedo" got works with its "happy talk " format..but in SA it was a hit! SA has been know to have since 1960 terrible radio stations and tV stations. *th largest city in the US with a small market mentality.
DFW HAD Outstanding stations in radio up until 1996. WFAA TV was great in Journalism with the late Marty Haag as news dir. He passed away,then Channel * under Kathy Clements Hill went to "Oprahize" itself and the news became tabloid on a plate. Real reporters replaced with eye candy Ken and Barbie. Only Bret Ship and Jim Douglas are reporters . Everyone else actors in suits. Channel 11 has come up i n the market delivering News for the most part. KXAS is a great learning tool how not to do a newscast.
KDFW channel 4 is a joke. My Weekly Reader in a grade school has more journalistic content.
Click to expand...

I remember once when Marty Haag was WFAA's news director the Columbia Journalism Review ranked it and Minneapolis/St. Paul's WCCO as the two best local news operations in the country. But the WFAA I remember from the late
'70s was a class act all the way; I met both Mike Shapiro and then-g.m. Dave Lane (both of whom have joined Haag at that great ABC affiliate in the sky) and was impressed with both of them.

As for the San Antonio stations it's been years since I've watched them (I think Dan Cook was still alive the last time I watched KENS), so I don't know how much things have changed. I just know that they essentially pioneered the police-blotter approach which, as Dan Rather recounts, other Texas stations picked up when they wanted to get out of third.
 
What is surprising to me is that Channel 11, KTVT, the CBS affiliate doesn't have a noon news braodcast. That just boggles my mind, especially since this is such a large market, the DFW area.

Channel 5 is the one I hardly watch at all, I either watch Belo 8 or KTVT and finally Fox.
 
The noon TV news audience has been in decline for some time now that people have access to the web at work to get their news fix.
 
After KDFW switched from CBS to Fox, did their ratings decline over these 15 years? Are they really that bad now? Ill bet that Clarice Tinsley "demanded" that Channel 4 keep the newscasts at 10:00 after the switch to stay competitive.


Also... San Antonio news is a joke, its all about muders, robberies, car jackings, and poor people who cant pay bills.

Ch 4 - Joke! Enough said! They don't deserve their NBC affiliation at all. They should be taken away NBC and given MyNetworkTV or independent status.

Ch 5 - Good newscasts, but a little boring. No flashy graphics that get your attention, or "in your face" news to report.

Ch 12 - Best newscasts in SA. Ursula and Steve work well together. Steve Browne is a good too. I like the morning and noon newscasts with Mark and Leslie.

Ch 29 - Someone said it... Its like high schoolers reporting the news. Its a terrible Fox affiliate!


As for Austin....

Ch 7 - Had great newscasts as a CBS affiliate, now the news has taken a nose dive as "Fox 7 News Edge." Its really bad! Loriana Hernandez, your all the station has to keep it profitable!

Ch 24 - Their news presentation gives off a "serious news" feel. Melissa and Olga are not pleasant to wake up to in the mornings. The look like they can cut you with dollar bills, if you don't like the news they report. And Tyler looks out of place, like he doesn't belong there. The ONLY anchor that gives me a welcoming feel when I watch is Terri Gruca.

Ch 36 - The best newscasts so far in Austin. Robert Hadlock and Leslie Rhode make a great news team. Jim Spencer is a cool meteorologist too. He reminds me of my dad - a guy with a little Texas accent and easy to listen to. Fair and accurate reporting, and not into tabloid style news, which is good to me. Josh Hinkle is hot.

Ch 42 - They are trying to be up to par with the other stations, which is good. Not bad newscasts at all, good reporting. I am not a fan of Troy Kimmel though.
 
KSAT 12's news is mostly internet crap and sensational news from anywhere else but here. KENS TV 5 has more local news among the big 3, its not perfect, but more palatable then the others unless you're interested in a sob story about someone's transgendered, HIV positive, undocumented future progressive and intestinally challenged gerbil, then 12s the spot for you. The ONLY reason that anyone even watches KSAT 12s news is Steve Browne, the most experienced and reliable meteorologolist who provides LOCAL weather info for our area and doesn't just read something off of some internet weather site based in Mumbai.

KENS TV 5 has just recently added a 4PM 1/2 hour news quickie, attempting to plug a hole from something they got rid of. But one has to wonder, how long will it last and are the newsreaders getting additional compensation for added airtime or taking another one for those oh so demanding shareholders?
 
1st of 5 said:
KSAT 12's news is mostly internet crap and sensational news from anywhere else but here. KENS TV 5 has more local news among the big 3, its not perfect, but more palatable then the others unless you're interested in a sob story about someone's transgendered, HIV positive, undocumented future progressive and intestinally challenged gerbil, then 12s the spot for you. The ONLY reason that anyone even watches KSAT 12s news is Steve Browne, the most experienced and reliable meteorologolist who provides LOCAL weather info for our area and doesn't just read something off of some internet weather site based in Mumbai.
Click to expand...

ease up on the gay and progressive bashing. Im all of those things.

ABC 12 and CBS 5 are definetly better than NBC 4 and Fox 29.
 
No bashing intended, however, if one actually listens to NPR, one will notice that those subjects, lifestyles, philosophies, or however one chooses to label them, are always an integral part of their "news". You don't hear that kind of "news" on any other news outlet, even the liberal slanted ones. Look in the archives and listen to that tear jerking saga from 2006, describing the suffering of a recovering THREE time CONVICTED child rapist in Florida, who couldn't get a job, obtain housing or understand the decrimination and ostracism he was subjected to once people learned what he was. If that is what some consider as "bashing" then maybe they're using a different dictionary than the rest of us? News, like entertainment, is in the eye of the beholder.
 
So HOW bad is the news in Austin?

The Fox station (KTBC) had to abort its one hour Saturday nine p.m. newscast at 9:25 due to a complete systems breakdown.

What. A. Joke.

(Unless you're an anchor, of course)
 
An equipment failure only takes the newscast or the station off the air. It has nothing to do with the quality of the news product.
 
mmnassour said:
So HOW bad is the news in Austin?

The Fox station (KTBC) had to abort its one hour Saturday nine p.m. newscast at 9:25 due to a complete systems breakdown.

What. A. Joke.

(Unless you're an anchor, of course)
Click to expand...

How'd they fill the remaining 35 minutes? Did the half-newscast lack weather and sports?
 
It WAS an equipment failure.

KTBC has an automated system for running the newscast. Everything is loaded in advance and then the computers take over and run the robotic cameras, audio, everything. I have not seen the tapes of that evening (yet), but will this afternoon. I understand they went to some kind of emergency syndicated programming.

My understanding is that there was no one in the station who was competent to manually switch the newscast. I've got it recorded at my office (hopefully) and will have more info this afternoon.

Apparently, the Fox stations group has fired too many good people and those that remain are not trained in even the most basic procedures of broadcasting.

It's kind of like.....today's radio.
 
My understanding is that there was no one in the station who was competent to manually switch the newscast. I've got it recorded at my office (hopefully) and will have more info this afternoon. Apparently, the Fox stations group has fired too many good people and those that remain are not trained in even the most basic procedures of broadcasting. It's kind of like.....today's radio.

Yeah. There's a lot of that going around. In TV and radio. Station management stupid enough to put a live program on auto pilot that way deserves whatever happens to them.

My sympathies are with the on-air people who're forced to sit there looking stupid when the equipment fails. Theirs are the faces the viewers see and remember. No one sees the faces of their managers whose incompetent stupidity created the situation that led to the problem.
 
mmnassour said:
My understanding is that there was no one in the station who was competent to manually switch the newscast.
Click to expand...

Chances are, any equipment that could be used to manually control the newscast has been yanked.
So even a few really good people probably couldn't have pulled it off.
 
Well, durnit, I don't have it here at the office, I'll have to check the house this evening. :mad:

The last time I was in KTBC, it still had a full sub-control, capable of producing a newscast. That's why I assumed that it was just a matter of staffing and being able to handle a last-minute emergency.

You'd think there was a kill switch for any malfunctioning computer. Apparently, Fox Stations Group thinks that's an unnecessary addition....along with things like directors, audio ops, and floor crews.

Coming from news, I feel for those folks. You work all day to get something on the air and then it blows up. I know that feeling....I worked with JVC 3/4" equipment! :eek: But that was long before Rupert Murdoch infested American television.
 
No system is invincible. I recall WCBS-TV in NYC once being knocked off the air for hours despite having two backup transmitters systems.
 
Absolutely correct. But there have been complaints about this system at KTBC ever since it walked in the door. Saturday, it jumped up and bit them.

I've finally seen the show. There are all the mistakes you can imagine. Bad audio levels, NO audio on field pieces, field pieces run more than once, etc. But the weather took the biggest hit. The graphics froze up at their first try at weather and the poor guy had to abort and walk across the screen to the desk. They did manage to get weather on later. However, the issues continued and they had to dump out at 31 minutes into a one hour newscast and run an episode of "Cops".

I so feel for those three anchors. They did their best, kept their good humor, and you could not have asked for more. But it's tragic when management shoves bug-ridden automation down a station's throat and the locals take the hit when it falls flat. I am so glad I do not work under those circumstances.

And I thought I had problems when our JVC 3/4" machines crapped out down at KRGV! ;D
 
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