Political coup for 8

[prompter]

It appears the first politcal season salvo has been fired by the news gatherers at Channel 8. Evan Axelbank was able
to snare Ms. Kryzan live last night via satellite---the others ran tape. Axelbank has quickly become one of the best
young grinders in the market---a pit bull in a china shop. It was a good win and perhaps a sign of things to come in
November. It was nice hustle and a good win for the Little Engines that Could over on Humboldt St. Now back to my
crossword puzzle.

 

[ShredNebula]

I'm sure it was outstanding. The PROBLEM is that I didn't watch it, along with the thousands of other people your station alienated on Monday when you decided that showing commercials was more important than running the US Open Championships.

I know you're Nexstar and you only care about money, but come on, you didn't need to make it so obvious. Talk about loss of credibility.

 

[rocktv]

You're joking right?

When Evan starts breaking major political stories, let me know.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

It appears the first politcal season salvo has been fired by the news gatherers at Channel 8. Evan Axelbank was able
to snare Ms. Kryzan live last night via satellite---the others ran tape. Axelbank has quickly become one of the best
young grinders in the market---a pit bull in a china shop. It was a good win and perhaps a sign of things to come in
November. It was nice hustle and a good win for the Little Engines that Could over on Humboldt St. Now back to my
crossword puzzle.

This has to be one of the most hilarious posts I’ve read on here in a very long time.
To give some rookie reporter at Channel 8 credit for interviewing a unknown candidate running in a primary where only 12 % of eligible voters bothered to vote, and making it sound like a major exclusive is a laugh. My response is: So what... Who cares?
Channel 8 let go, or forced out, so many talented people over the years and replaced them with a bunch of kids who will work for peanuts just to pad their resumes all for the sake of saving Nexstar money. If you want real news in Rochester, then watch R-News. (And no I don’t work for Time Warner)

 

[Mr. Kite!]

It appears the first politcal season salvo blah blah...

Jerry, please take your hand out of your pocket. Your never ending game of pocket pool is creeping out your colleagues. Nice one with the tennis pre-emption. Like ShredNebula said, I'm sure less people were watching than would have been pre-US Open fiasco. What's the point of showing any US Open at all if you're not going to show the CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH. Instead, viewers were treated to a never-ending deluge of political ads. Cha-ching! BTW All us haters are just jealous. :

 

[rochnewsman]

I watched the tennis match without a problem on channel 1008. As a matter of fact, if you people did some research, you will find many CBS affiliates bumped the tennis match for local programming either to a sister station or their digital channel. I thought it was a great use of their digital channel, and looked great in HD.

 

[prompter]

First of all R-News doesn't count----it's regurgitated cable product, end of story. And until they turn a live product and not recorded, they don't belong in the same league as the big three, period. As for the U.S. Open, many stations throughout America did the same thing they did at 8, including the Buffalo and Albany markets. The tennis doesn't belong on over the air tv anymore, too many hassles with the weather and the interest is waning, just look at the ratings. WROC-TV absolutely did the right thing, all the while rolling out a new product at 5:30pm. And regarding the Voice of Reason, 8 isn't the only outlet hiring young reporters--my goodness, look at what 13 and 10 are putting on the air these days---some of these kids wouldn't have made it on cable access ten years ago. It's an evolving industry, one which 8 got an early start on adapting to dating back to the Sunrise days---lean and mean. The others are learning---and it can be very painful. 8 has hired some very capable people and Mr. Axelbank happens to be one of those diamonds in the rough. This guy will give John Stossel a run for his money some day. You heard it here first.

 

[Mark Giardina]

First of all R-News doesn't count----it's regurgitated cable product, end of story.

Except for the fact that R-News has carried more live events and reported on more breaking stories than Channel 8.

8 has hired some very capable people and Mr. Axelbank happens to be one of those diamonds in the rough. This guy will give John Stossel a run for his money some day. You heard it here first.

And Axel Foley, or what ever his name is, won't be working for ABC or any other network in the future. And you heard that here first.

Name me one full time street reporter, besides Elizabeth Harness, who worked at Channel 8 for more than three years. Plus I'm willing to bet that a parachute comes with a contract so that when a new job opens up in another market these so-called future John Stossels can bail out.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Filling in the Score Card

Let me see if I've got this straight...

Prompter uses this board to stroke the ego of the kiddies that 8 hired to replace experienced reporters.

One of the cubs got a scoop on election night.

If we're to believe that said cub is on his way to the bigs, he simply has to repeat this process - and tune up his act - a few hundred more times over the next couple of years. It's like the instructions on a shampoo bottle - "wash, rinse, repeat".

Maybe the other guys in town will respect the "pit bull in a china shop" if this happens regularly. Until then, one scoop is like the blind squirrel who manages to find an acorn.

I do find it amusing that "Prompter" uses a message board to stroke his minions - and that he evokes so much venom when he does.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

8 has hired some very capable people and Mr. Axelbank happens to be one of those diamonds in the rough. This guy will give John Stossel a run for his money some day. You heard it here first.

I'm sure that John Stossel is losing sleep nights worried about losing his job to some reporter from Channel 8 :

 

[Rochwatcher]

So this is what qualifies as a scoop these days in Rochester? An interview? Seriously? Channel 8 must be the most miserable place ever for an employee to get on a message board and beat his chest about an interview! I can't stop laughing. ;D

 

[prompter]

First of all, I am an independant contractor who works out of a home base. I make observations of all four network affiliated stations in town.
I have heaped praise on each station at one point or another. "The" story Tuesday night was what happened in Lancaster, NY. It wasn't just a normal interview, rather a live interchange between a woman who just pulled off a stunning political surprise, and an aggressive young reporter who showcased his tenacity. I try not to favor one station over another. 8 has made some considerable strides the last couple of years, their ratings underscore that point. For 30 years that station has gotten beaten up, much of it justified. They've had more management and personnel in there than Hugh Hefner has house guests. I root for the underdog (go Obama). The good people (most of them) on Humboldt St. deserve some love once it a while. No venom intended for anyone out there, just some honest observations.

 

[rochnewsman]

Was a pretty big story. Front page on D&C Wednesday if I recall. And didn't 13 run a 1 hour primary night special on their CW channel I saw then advertise earlier in the day?

Good job by 8 on this one.

 

[fybush]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem to me that landing an interview with a politician who's just won a race is any sort of a "coup" - I was working our coverage at WXXI, and it took all of one phone call and about 5 minutes to get Alice Kryzan on our air once the results were in.

And maybe it's just the former assignment editor in me talking, but if the real "coup" was having a truck and crew in the right place at the right time to go live from Kryzan headquarters (something I could swear 13 did, also)...shouldn't the credit for that really go to the desk?

I was busy enough with our own coverage that I didn't see everything that everyone else was doing, but I definitely noticed the 10 PM hour on CW16 that 13 put together. Nice work.

(Also noted: no sign of election returns on democratandchronicle.com until the night was pretty much over...)

 

[The Voice of Reason]

First of all, I am an independant contractor who works out of a home base. I make observations of all four network affiliated stations in town.
I have heaped praise on each station at one point or another. "The" story Tuesday night was what happened in Lancaster, NY. It wasn't just a normal interview, rather a live interchange between a woman who just pulled off a stunning political surprise, and an aggressive young reporter who showcased his tenacity. I try not to favor one station over another. 8 has made some considerable strides the last couple of years, their ratings underscore that point. For 30 years that station has gotten beaten up, much of it justified. They've had more management and personnel in there than Hugh Hefner has house guests. I root for the underdog (go Obama). The good people (most of them) on Humboldt St. deserve some love once it a while. No venom intended for anyone out there, just some honest observations.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion and it's welcomed on here. However, after stating that, I have to agree and disagree with your post. Granted that Channel 8 has had personnel problems for over more than 30 years. It's not because of the people who worked (or work) there, but the series of owners and bad management. If 8 has increased it's audience for local news it has to be in large part because of the strong CBS network lineup of shows. Having said that, I have nothing personal against the current staff at Channel 8. Actually I feel bad for them considering the past history at 201 Humboldt Street of how management has treated their employees. It is almost a given that most of the reporters at Channel 8 took the job so they can add a medium-size city to their resume with the hopes of landing in a larger market. I won't repeat my eariler comment about the so-called "coup" that you discussed because I don't believe that's the right word for what happened. As Mr. Fybush wrote in his post, while working at WXXI he was able to obtain an interview with the candidate over the telephone. That's not a "coup" but just a reporter doing his/her job. What I really disagree with you is your observation that this Mr. Axelbank is in the same league as John Stossel. I can think of just a handful of reporters on Rochester television that might be able to land a network job and Mr. Axelbank's name is not among that group.
To be honest with you I don't think any of the current field reporters at Channel 8 could land a network job. They just don't have the experience reporters at 10, 13 and R-News have.

 

[Kohoutek]

"The" story Tuesday night was what happened in Lancaster, NY. It wasn't just a normal interview, rather a live interchange between a woman who just pulled off a stunning political surprise, and an aggressive young reporter who showcased his tenacity.

"The" story, Prompter, was actually in Williamsville, ...not Lancaster.

(I also heard a certain former Ch. 8 guy, who happened to be covering the race as well and who apparently still has some love for his former colleagues, may have "suggested" to the guys from 8 that they scram from where they had been staked out , and head over to Kryzan HQ instead...and that he even may have whispered directions on the quickest way to get there)

IMHO, Evan does some pretty good work,...and is not bad for his age.

As for giving John Stossel a run for his money, I think if you read his (or her) post, Prompter predicted this would happen "Someday"...not now. And who knows, maybe it will.

Of course, that might take 20 years,...and of course by then Mr. Stossel will be retired.... unless he has genes like Mike Wallace or something.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I also heard a certain former Ch. 8 guy, who happened to be covering the race as well and who apparently still has some love for his former colleagues, may have "suggested" to the guys from 8 that they scram from where they had been staked out , and head over to Kryzan HQ instead...and that he even may have whispered directions on the quickest way to get there.

I always thought McKinley was a decent chap. How is the "old boy" doing by the way?

 

[Kohoutek]

I also heard a certain former Ch. 8 guy, who happened to be covering the race as well and who apparently still has some love for his former colleagues, may have "suggested" to the guys from 8 that they scram from where they had been staked out , and head over to Kryzan HQ instead...and that he even may have whispered directions on the quickest way to get there.

I always thought McKinley was a decent chap. How is the "old boy" doing by the way?

He did pretty damn fine that night. He was the only reporter in Buffalo to have a live shot with Kryzan at 10pm, while the others guys were still at Powers' HQ.
Different market, ... same Dave.

Now if only they would let him create a "News 8 Then" style piece for Buffalo!

 

[Sxottlan]

First of all R-News doesn't count----it's regurgitated cable product, end of story. And until they turn a live product and not recorded, they don't belong in the same league as the big three, period.

Wow. And after I had actually paid 8 a compliment Tuesday night when I told Mike and Casey that the only other station to remotely go toe-to-toe with us was WROC.

Now since we're regurgitated cable product, that meant we only had a scene setter from the Davis camp live an hour before Fox/8 went on air along with an interview with the opponent. And since Casey got Lee so early, he was able to interview Kryzan and get that back to the truck so that Mike could front the update that she was winning with her soundbite at 10pm. Then while yes, it was nice for 8 to have her on at 11pm live, we had already talked with her, cut the bite and went live with it before 8 I think even went to Axelbank for that live interview.

So yeah, hey, good for them! :-*

I'll be even more impressed with 8 when they the work speak for itself without the tackless promotion.

That's Channel 10's thing, remember?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Spelling or Thinking Error?

I'll be even more impressed with 8 when they the work speak for itself without the tackless promotion.

Tackless? As in "without saddle & bridle"? Or perhaps promotion with a "sharp change of direction"?

Or, perhaps you meant "tactless"?

Journalists should use words carefully - and precisely. Perhaps it was just a typing error, but I'm seeing more and more reporters - especially TV reporters - using words incorrectly because they sound similar to the right word. When the story later goes up on the website, you realize that it wasn't just a mistake in pronunciation.

PS - This is a general rant, not a shot at Sxottlan in particular.