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New Weekend Anchor KPHO

M

MusicFan2009

Guest
Last night on KPHO Christina Wofford anchored her final newscast with KPHO. She introduced her replacement Greg Gurule who co-anchored along with her throughout the newscasts. I actually enjoyed both of them anchoring together. I thought they worked off one another very well. I've stated this before I'm sorry she was let go but tough times for employers/employees/economy. Greg Gurule comes from KRQE the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. I'd love to hear what you guys think of new anchor, changes.

Here is his bio:

http://www.kpho.com/newsteam/18318170/detail.html
 
As I mentioned before, I thought Christina Wofford did a great job anchoring (solo) the mid-day and weekend newscasts. She worked well with Sean on Sundays.

Sort of surprised that she was allowed to say goodbye on the air.

I hope she finds a new job soon. Good Luck Christina!
 
During a recent hospital stay I had no alternative but to use the Phoenix locals for news. It was a brain cell killing experience. Aside from the usual national lead-in stories (usually already covered in detail on the national news) the local news stories can only be described as asinine. A good example was one covering the opening of the light rail system. The reporter breathlessly standing in front of an antique automobile talking about demo rides on the rail. Not informative in the least and entertaining only because an obviously disturbed street urchin tried to usurp the reporter's speech. Most stories are equally shallow and tend to cover the sensational rather than the important.

I have nothing but disgust and contempt for what passes for local news on the local network affiliates. And the "Walter Winchell" method of breathless delivery makes it even more comical. These people make a mockery of the journalism profession.

That a number of viewers are apparently getting most of their "news" from these sources is perhaps one significant reason for the decline of intelligence and knowledge in this country.
 
On Sunday (12/28) I heard Greg Gurule refer to the East Valley city as "Meh - Sa" instead of "May-Sa". Kind of strange since he did spend some time in the southwest in Albuqueque.
 
Landtuna --

The decline in local news is due to the relentless cost-cutting initiatives. They hire 22 year olds to shoot and report many stories. Most of these young people know very little about the local area and it shows. I believe that they've fired most of the reporters with any experience or gray hair over the past few years. For example, I like the 12 News anchors but most of the reporters are HORRIBLE and should be in Yuma for a few years to hone their skills.
 
formeraa said:
Landtuna --

The decline in local news is due to the relentless cost-cutting initiatives. They hire 22 year olds to shoot and report many stories. Most of these young people know very little about the local area and it shows. I believe that they've fired most of the reporters with any experience or gray hair over the past few years. For example, I like the 12 News anchors but most of the reporters are HORRIBLE and should be in Yuma for a few years to hone their skills.
Click to expand...

You're obviously correct about the recent decline but that doesn't explain the long-time poor selection of stories by news directors (most of whom I would expect are seasoned veterans). I am much more concerned about the type of stories being covered than the actual delivery. Tire fires, vehicle crashes, and the price of artichokes at my local market are not subjects which affect me. Nor am I interested in "happy news".

Local news programs seem to be nothing more than superficial headline fillers between car dealer commercials.
 
landtuna said:
You're obviously correct about the recent decline but that doesn't explain the long-time poor selection of stories by news directors (most of whom I would expect are seasoned veterans). I am much more concerned about the type of stories being covered than the actual delivery. Tire fires, vehicle crashes, and the price of artichokes at my local market are not subjects which affect me. Nor am I interested in "happy news".

Local news programs seem to be nothing more than superficial headline fillers between car dealer commercials.
Click to expand...

Please tell us how you, if you were a News Director, would run a 6:00 or 10:00 PM local newscast?
 
My old journalism professor told me you select stories based on their relevance to your readers/viewers. It is a sliding scale from most impact/importance to least. Not too difficult to figure out what stories do not fit this model.

Some examples:

Car crashes, spectacular as they might be, don't usually fit unless they cause significant disruption. Same with structure fires and "dog on the freeway" coverage.

Sheriff Joe, as colorful as he might be, is not usually news either. To report suspected racial profiling for the umteenth time serves no purpose except to inflame racial tensions. Is the AG taking him to court? Fine, that's news. But just another illegal spouting racial discrimination....sorry, no.

Likewise, the weekly ranking of movie revenues and latest bad behavior of some idiot pop-tart at the local watering hole. How many news cycles did the DMX (Dumb-X?) story stay afloat? Don't these morons have real names? Doesn't this story belong on E!?

And, can you justify the expense of sending a video van from Phoenix to Flagstaff to cover five snowboarders at the Snow Bowl? Does having some blow-dried airhead report his/her story while standing in front of a huge pile of used tires increase the value of the story? And why, minutes after the national news ends on the same station, the local talking heads repeat those stories verbatim?

And depth of story? The news concerning the new license plate law has been frequent but to date I've heard no one explain just why the new law was necessary.

I lived in NYC when the local ABC affiliate began the "happy news" concept. Little did we realize it was the beginning of the end of responsible local TV journalism. When stations started pushing their news personalities instead of their news content we should have known the end was near.
 
I agree that the "breathless immediacy" is tiring. No, I don't need to know that the bank at xx and yy was robbed today -- unless the robbers took hostages and initiated a 10 hour standoff. I certainly agree on the car crash issue -- unless it is a hydrogen-fueled bus that could have exploded (and then I want to know more about the safety of such busses and how many incidents in which they've been involved).

In addition, Phoenix is the capital of Arizona. I see very little in-depth political coverage of any kind on television.

What's driving me crazy right now is the endless cycle of "reminders" that DTV is coming and many people will not be able to see their favorite tv stations. Are these people idiots?!? 12 News ran a Rick DeBruel report on "how to hook up your DTV converter box" on every newscast for at least 3 days. Again, are these people idiots? If they don't know how to hook up the converter box, a 30 second report is NOT going to help them.
 
formeraa said:
If they don't know how to hook up the converter box, a 30 second report is NOT going to help them.
Click to expand...

Especially when the Rickster didn't go into detail about the need to have the box scan for digital stations. I wonder how many people will get the coax hooked up correctly and still not have reception because they didn't scan.

I'm loading up on popcorn. This should be fun!
 
formeraa said:
In addition, Phoenix is the capital of Arizona. I see very little in-depth political coverage of any kind on television.
Click to expand...

And you won't either. Not with the incestuous relationship between Phoenix media and our politicians. Too many media folks have turned their fame into political careers, or in at least one case, was married to a sitting public official while anchoring the news for a network affiliate. Like (but not limited to) the following:

Jack Williams (KOY general manager, Guv in the '70s)
Howard Pyle (KOY DJ/announcer, Guv in the '50s)
J.D. Windbag Hayworth (Channel 10 Sports-blowhard, Congresscritter 1995-2007, KFYI Talk-blowhard)
Grant Woods (Attorney General, KTAR talk host)
Marlene Galan (Channel 10 anchor in the '90s, married to the above)
Jim Howl (Channel 3 weather-groper, ran for Governor)
Keith DeGreen (Financial advisor for folks with a net worth of at least $3 Billion (;D), ran for US Senate in 1988)
Ernest McFarland (Senator, Governor, AZ Supreme Court Justice, founder of Channel 3)

And probably others I can't think of right now. If one wants a political career in this state, being a member of the media does help. That's why I don't think there will be too much reportage on our local crooks and liars elected officials. One of those reporters might want to join them one day,
 
KeithE4 said:
Not with the incestuous relationship between Phoenix media and our politicians.
Click to expand...

With said relationship being extended into perpetuity by all the former media folks
who become spokespersons for politicos and state/county/municipal departments
and agencies.

The Guv's (as in Janet...we'll have to see about Jan) mouthpiece, at least one
of Joke Arpaio's 14 or 15 spokesjokesters, ADOT's apologist, just to name a few.

Heck, there are agencies you've never heard of that have a former media dude or
dudette fronting each one's PR spin.

You could probably staff a couple of TV news departments with those who have
gone over to the dark side, there are so many. ;)

And on rare occasions, some even return to TV/radio/newspaper gigs. :eek:
 
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