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KING hires new weeknight Meteorologist

crainbebo said:
What's up with all of these ex-Seattle people in Texas?! Will we see Tracy Vedder ex-KOMO going down there next? Or someone else from NWCN?
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Larger state + more stations = more openings. There's an old saying in the local TV news biz: "weather wins". Texas plus the South in general have been experiencing much more extreme weather over the past couple years. Weather folks rightfully see opportunity in larger markets and locations with more exciting weather to report.
 
Kelly A said:
Larger state + more stations = more openings. There's an old saying in the local TV news biz: "weather wins". Texas plus the South in general have been experiencing much more extreme weather over the past couple years. Weather folks rightfully see opportunity in larger markets and locations with more exciting weather to report.
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I agree with this. Weathercasters tend to flock to areas that actually have weather. Of course, LA and NYC probably are exempt here for obvious reasons. But plum weather jobs exist in places like Chicago, Minneapolis, perhaps Boston, Atlanta, and as aforementioned, Dallas and Houston. Anyone remember David Grant at KING-TV? He came from the S.E. , and word is he was bored with Seattle's weather and went back to Florida to finish out his long career in Tampa.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/david-grant-former-wfla-meteorologist-dies-at-79/1264241
 
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According to Jordan's blog he will be the main weeknight meteorologist. So either Rhonda Lee or Jim Guy will be the secondary evening meteorologist with the other getting assigned a new shift or pushed out.
 
JoseRM303 said:
According to Jordan's blog he will be the main weeknight meteorologist. So either Rhonda Lee or Jim Guy will be the secondary evening meteorologist with the other getting assigned a new shift or pushed out.
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Jim Guy is a KING employee, while Rhonda Lee is freelancing. That probably matters in this discussion.

Marriott and Dery are doing weekday mornings
Guy and Jordan presumably would do weekday evenings
Who will do weekend mornings and evenings?
 
formeraa said:
Jim Guy is a KING employee, while Rhonda Lee is freelancing. That probably matters in this discussion.

Marriott and Dery are doing weekday mornings
Guy and Jordan presumably would do weekday evenings
Who will do weekend mornings and evenings?
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It remains to be seen how these new changes will play out. My best guest would be Jordan as the new weeknight weather anchor. Jim Guy is certainly talented, and will perhaps be part of the evening line-up, but where and when is up in the air.

As for KING's adventure to expand their set, my insiders tell me that they will not be doing much in terms of size, as they simply don't have the room. The plan is to focus off the wndow and produce a set without the window. This is smart, as the outside background from their window set was mostly trucks.
 
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seatownmedia said:
It remains to be seen how these new changes will play out. My best guest would be Jordan as the new weeknight weather anchor. Jim Guy is certainly talented, and will perhaps be part of the evening line-up, but where and when is up in the air.

As for KING's adventure to expand their set, my insiders tell me that they will not be doing much in terms of size, as they simply don't have the room. The plan is to focus off the wndow and produce a set without the window. This is smart, as the outside background from their window set was mostly trucks.
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A slight correction: My source says that getting rid of the window is just one idea that was kicked around. Either way, it is likely that KING will be upgrading their studio set.
 
I didn't realize Rhonda Lee was freelancing. That certainly does matter in this discussion.

I suspect Guy and Jordan will share weekday evenings ... It is clear that TEGNA is trying to find the combinations of talent that resonate with a rapidly changing Seattle market. Just like we see in other day parts, this move continues to contrast the difference between an old veteran and a young rising start in the same timeslot. TEGNA can basically play survivor with combinations of talent, looking for the best team. This is something we haven't seen in the market since Kathi Goertzen and Kerry Brock shared weeknight anchor duties at KOMO in the 80s. Kathi won.

I also don't think that Jim Guy is lead weather guy material. He's a great talent to have on your team, but I just don't think he has the personality and delivery to be chief. On that note - no one has officially been anointed "chief meteorologist" yet, though Rich Marriott has received the title of "Senior Meteorologist."

Finally, someone, at KOMO/KIRO/KING should sign Parella Lewis to a full time contract. She's too good to be freelancing ... but could be just another in a long line of outstanding weekend weather talent that "got away" from the Seattle market.
 
With Jordan Steele being named Main evening meteorologist he's obviously getting the 10 & 11 pm shows so here's what I was thinking:

4:30-7:00a Rich Marriott
7:00a-9:00a Ben Dery
12:00p-1:00p Ben Dery
4:00p-5:00p Jim Guy
5:00p-6:00p Jordan Steele
6:30p-7:00p Jordan Steele
7:00p-7:30p Jim Guy
9:00p-10:00p Jim Guy
10:00p-11:00p Jordan Steele
11:00p-11:35p Jordan Steele
Weekend mornings: Parella Lewis
Weekend evenings: Rhonda Lee

We may even see Jim Guy going back to weekends evenings with Rhonda Lee or Parella Lewis getting 4, 7 & 9pm. We'll know In March or April what the new lineup will be.
 
Amazing how KING has changed. The only ones I know are Rich, Jim and Parella (from her weekend KCPQ days). I'm shocked they haven't canned Rich Marriott yet, or Lori Matsukawa. They're 'veterans' as well...
 
Roddybob said:
Looks like Jordan Steele started as the KING 5 main night time weather anchor on Monday April 3rd. They are referring to him as "lead innovator."

Per the KING 5 promos, the weather staff now consists of Jordan Steele, Rich Marriott, Jim Guy, Ben Dery & Rhonda Lee. No mention of Parella Lewis.

http://www.king5.com/entertainment/...g-5-meterologist-and-lead-innovator/425046840
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And, according to a press release on tvspy, Rhonda Lee is a permanent KING employee now. The press release names her as a "weeknight meteorologist". http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/on-the-move-432017/188090
 
JoseRM303 said:
So it looks like Jim Guy got shafted back to weekends with Rich & Ben sharing morning duties, Ben at noon & Jordan & Rhonda sharing weeknight duties. Wonder where Parella fits in all this?
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Who does weekend mornings now? Are they splitting KING and KONG broadcasts and having their own anchors now? That's what it seems like
 
Drewgu111 said:
Who does weekend mornings now? Are they splitting KING and KONG broadcasts and having their own anchors now? That's what it seems like
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KING-TV is a mess, IMO. They are trying to move talent around, but the whole news department is woefully lost . They need new leadership, again IMO. They are consistently outdone by KOMO, KIRO and KCPQ. Too many losses of veteran talent, (thanks Tegna), and now just a medium market looking news organization. Wow, what a fall for a once great news organization.
 
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seatownmedia said:
KING-TV is a mess, IMO. They are trying to move talent around, but the whole news department is woefully lost . They need new leadership, again IMO. They are consistently outdone by KOMO, KIRO and KCPQ. Too many losses of veteran talent, (thanks Tegna), and now just a medium market looking news organization. Wow, what a fall for a once great news organization.
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It doesn't bother me too much that a lot of the old talent has departed KING over the last two years. As I've mentioned, before, most of these guys showed up at KING in their mid to late 20s or early 30s, and were now pushing 65. They were going to retire anyways.

What bothers me more is much of replacement talent isn't up to snuff.

Nearly 20 years ago, Todd Mokhtari scoured the country for young up and coming talent to staff up Q13 when he started the news department there. He plucked a ton of winners out of small and medium market stations ... talent that has, for the most part, seen success in markets higher ranked than Seattle or on a national level.

Meanwhile, some of KINGs hires just aren't very polished. They don't seem like the cream of the crop of up and coming reporters. Some of them don't have the look. Some have weak writing. Others have terrible broadcast voices ... which matters less for TV than it does radio, but when you're voicing over some b-roll footage, it matters a lot.

I can't get the link to embed, but I watched the forecast that Ben Dery gave on this morning's Weekend News on KING's website. He can't get through two sentences in his forecast without an uhh or uhm, and a couple times he paused because he couldn't figure out what he was going to say about the next slide.

And this guy is the heir apparent to Rich Marriott? He's the best young weatherman they can find?

We've had tons of strong, young, weekend & AM weather talent pass through Seattle in the last 15 years, especially at KING and KIRO. Guys like Rob Mayeda, Patrick Hammer, Julia Sandstrom, Nick Allard & Shannon O'Donnell (who both left and came back). Paul Deanno, Monty Webb (3x times), Lisa Van Cise, Sam Argier, Mary Loos, etc. The list goes on and on.

Most of those guys were strong when they showed up, and when they either left the business or left the market, they were much stronger. Dery's been kicking around for 18 months, and was average, at best, on arrival.

And that is the bigger problem. At a time when KIRO finally has a male, evening anchor, Dave Wagner, that can really bring it, a decent weather department, and a very good team in the mornings (John Knicely was a great Bob Jordan find), how is KING going to protect their marketshare.

Here's hoping Jordan Steele is pretty good ... he's got big shoes to fill on weeknights.
 
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To put it in perspective, we oldtimers remember when KING lost their way in the early 80's. While KING continued to do old-style newscasts, KIRO had found their dream team of Gary Justice, John Marler, Susan Hutchison, Wayne Cody, Harry Wappler, and Chopper 7 (later joined by the KIRO News Jet). KIRO had faster-paced, lively newscasts that were much more interesting for many viewers, while KING's newscasts were old-school. It took KING several years to bounce back, but they did so with a stronger, more focused news team than ever.

So, it is possible for KING to bounce back. It may take some additional switching out of talent. I agree on Ben Dery -- he seems like weekend morning material at best. I will say that TEGNA is not afraid of experimenting with their newscasts.
 
formeraa said:
To put it in perspective, we oldtimers remember when KING lost their way in the early 80's. While KING continued to do old-style newscasts, KIRO had found their dream team of Gary Justice, John Marler, Susan Hutchison, Wayne Cody, Harry Wappler, and Chopper 7 (later joined by the KIRO News Jet). KIRO had faster-paced, lively newscasts that were much more interesting for many viewers, while KING's newscasts were old-school. It took KING several years to bounce back, but they did so with a stronger, more focused news team than ever.

So, it is possible for KING to bounce back. It may take some additional switching out of talent. I agree on Ben Dery -- he seems like weekend morning material at best. I will say that TEGNA is not afraid of experimenting with their newscasts.
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KING-TV 1980. I actually worked there.

The new buildout was completed in '81. As an employee, I could access almost all areas, and this was indeed a palace. I remember sneaking into the huge new news studio around this time and I knew from the beginning it was all wrong. The background was a map of the world. Nothing local about it. You can see it here.

When Bob Jordan came in as ND in '83 they immediately rebuilt the set to make it more local friendly. That set lasted until '91. Yes, KING regained their leadership during this era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivvNVf71wok

Of course this space has now been demolished for new apartments for Amazon geeks. (edit: employees).
 
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seatownmedia said:
KING-TV 1980. I actually worked there.

The new buildout was completed in '81. As an employee, I could access almost all areas, and this was indeed a palace. I remember sneaking into the huge new news studio around this time and I knew from the beginning it was all wrong. The background was a map of the world. Nothing local about it. You can see it here.

When Bob Jordan came in as ND in '83 they immediately rebuilt the set to make it more local friendly. That set lasted until '91. Yes, KING regained their leadership during this era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivvNVf71wok

Of course this space has now been demolished for new apartments for Amazon geeks. (edit: employees).
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Thanks for the history lesson! :) I'm trying to be positive about TEGNA, but it is hard to be positive about this company. And I thought KOMO was the station in REAL trouble with Sinclair taking over...oh how wrong I was!
 
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