Webster News Coverage

[JustPastBuffalo]

The tragic shooting deaths of two volunteer firemen in Webster received national coverage. How has the story been handled locally by WHAM, WXXI, WYSL, as well as the FM music stations?

 

[fybush]

I can't speak much to what anyone else in town was doing on radio, having been so deep in the weeds with WXXI's coverage over the last few days. We had pretty much everyone who wasn't out of town involved with our coverage from early Monday morning onward, including some behind-the-scenes voices who usually aren't on the air. Juan Vazquez, who's part of our Innovation Trail team, was up in Webster all day Monday along with Elissa Orlando, our VP/television. LeShea Agnew was gathering community reaction most of the day. (I think she started out anchoring Monday morning, but it's honestly all a blur at this point!) Julie Philipp anchored through midday Monday, and then I took over Monday afternoon with help from Alex Crichton, who came in on what was supposed to be his day off to help.

Beth Adams did her usual masterful job on Tuesday morning, and she and I traded off roles on Christmas afternoon, when I came in from the field and she went out to cover the afternoon briefings. Somewhere in there we found time to feed material to NPR and a bunch of local stations elsewhere, too. We were back up closer to full strength today, with LeShea and Carlet Cleare out in the field, Beth anchoring this morning and me again in the afternoon. Bob Smith was back in house, too, and he devoted his show to the story today.

I didn't get much of a chance to hear what WHAM or WYSL were doing, except for a little bit in the car. It sounded like Lonsberry was on with Randy Gorbman most of the day Monday, and I'm pretty sure they blew out Rush to keep Bob on the air. I think I heard that Lonsberry's 3-6 show in Syracuse was a pre-recorded holiday show Monday, which would explain why I think Bob was still live Monday after 3 on WHAM. I heard Bob on the air again Tuesday morning on the way up to Webster, but lost track of what they were doing on WHAM after that.

I've had more of a chance to see what the TV stations are doing, and all of them have been top-notch. It looked on Monday morning as though Sean Carroll at WHAM-TV was first to figure out who owned the house and begin putting together the back story, complete with 1980 file video. All three of the affiliates (and YNN) seemed to very quickly gear up from typical barebones holiday staffing to "all hands on deck." And the D&C was extraordinary on the story, too, both online and in print the last few days.

I'm very proud of the work I've seen and heard from everyone in the market. This has been a week we'll all be talking about for a long time to come.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

First allow me to express my deepest condolences for those killed and wounded in a cowardly act by a deranged individual. Also to the residents of Webster for displaying courage while I am sure their hearts were broken over this tragic loss of life.

As for radio news coverage, I was driving home Christmas Eve evening and turned my car radio on to WHAM only to hear some female caller to Lonsberry’s extended show singing a song. I have no idea what she was singing about but immediately changed the channel because considering the horrific crime that occurred I did not feel it was time for the “Ted Mack Amateur Hour” or Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits.

Then I did switch over to WXXI but that station was carrying one of NPR’s programs with no mention of the Webster shooting, so I tuned in WYSL on their FM frequency and they were running a syndicated national talk show.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

Scott Fybush and his colleagues at WXXI can stand tall today for their outstanding coverage. I heard Scott on NPR newscasts throughout the holiday. He even found time to do two-ways with Buffalo's two news radio stations. Thank you, Scott, for keeping us informed. VOR, in his usual snarky way, intimated in his post that WXXI wasn't meeting his needs by playing NPR programming when he tuned in. Well, I'm sure if you tuned in during a local break, you would have heard the very latest. There comes a point when everything that has to be said on a tragic day like Christmad Eve in Webster has been said, and you move onto other stories and/or programs. Scott and the others who gave up their holidays to serve the Rochester community by providing the very latest have nothing to apologize for.

 

[Mark Giardina]

The Rochester news media performed a stellar job in the coverage of this tragedy which my town has yet, and may never, recover from.

I could not bring myself to listen to the radio on the way to my daughter’s house Christmas Eve because it was too painful. The police Lieutenant killed was a personal friend and co-worker.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

VOR, in his usual snarky way, intimated in his post that WXXI wasn't meeting his needs by playing NPR programming when he tuned in. Well, I'm sure if you tuned in during a local break, you would have heard the very latest.

Pardon me?
If you are going to interpret my post as being “snarky” against any one radio station in particular then you are sorely misinformed.

For the record I turned to WHAM first because I wanted to hear any late-breaking details on the fatal shootings. Instead, as I pointed out, I heard some female caller singing. So my second choice was changing channels to WXXI figuring that they would have the information I sought as part of special coverage by the local staff. Instead they were running a program from National Public Radio; therefore I switched over to WYSL which was also airing a national program.

So are you now going to claim that I am also being “snarky” with WYSL too?

 

[fybush]

Scott Fybush and his colleagues at WXXI can stand tall today for their outstanding coverage.

Thanks for the kind words. I've never been prouder to be part of the news staff at WXXI than I was this week.

And just for the record, we did indeed ramp down coverage Monday night, but not completely; we added an 8:04 PM local newscast, which we don't usually do, but given the limited staffing available and the lack of new information, that was it for local coverage until Beth took the reins at 5 AM for Morning Edition. (Even at that, it's my understanding that NPR was leading with the story pretty much all night in its hourly newscasts.)

 

[Philip_Airtime]

Well, Voice of Reason, it's not like you've been a big supporter of WXXI.  So, pardon me if I concluded that this was another shot at WXXI.  But if that wasn't the case, then I must ask what were you trying to get at with your post?  For the time you were in your car on Christmas Eve, you didn't hear anything about the shooting.  Well, so what?  That doesn't represent the great work Rochester radio journalists and program hosts did over the course of the day.  Any objective reader of your post would assume you thought Rochester radio dropped the ball.  And they certainly did not.  I'm not here to defend Bob Lonsberry.  But perhaps he thought after a full day of heart-wrenching calls about this terrible tragedy, this particular caller decided it might be nice to get in the spirit of the season by singing.  I don't know.  I didn't hear it.  But again, I don't think it's reflective of what I'm sure was great coverage by Rochester radio's news stations.  I just felt your post was rather insulting to those who, again, gave up their holidays to respond to this devastating news event. 

 

[chas108]

...putting together the back story, complete with 1980 file video...

Can anyone speak to how it was he received only 17 years for the 1980 murder of his grandmother?

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Can anyone speak to how it was he received only 17 years for the 1980 murder of his grandmother?

The D&C posted PDFs of old D&C and T-U clippings from the story. He was to go to trial in 1981 for second-degree murder, but on the Monday morning the trial was to begin, a guilty plea for manslaughter was accepted. He was paroled after 17 years of a 25-year sentence.

PDF: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/assets/pdf/A21985601224.PDF

 

[chas108]

Can anyone speak to how it was he received only 17 years for the 1980 murder of his grandmother?

The D&C posted PDFs of old D&C and T-U clippings from the story. He was to go to trial in 1981 for second-degree murder, but on the Monday morning the trial was to begin, a guilty plea for manslaughter was accepted. He was paroled after 17 years of a 25-year sentence.

PDF: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/assets/pdf/A21985601224.PDF

Thanks Ed for the link. It all makes sense now...charged with second-degree murder as the crime took place "in the heat of the moment" rather than being a premeditated act...and thru a last-minute plea bargain, goes to prison for manslaughter.

I'll be interested in how the local talk shows handle this.

 

[w9wi]

Being in Nashville I obviously didn't hear/see most of the local coverage.

I was however able to more or less hear some of WHAM's coverage Monday afternoon. At the time, they were airing several minutes of police calls. It was awfully chilling. (and I'm surprised they aired something that explicit for that long -- it wasn't just a few seconds of clips)

 

[Mark Giardina]

This should be posted in the NY category but just to let everyone know who might be interested, YNN is going to broadcast the funerals today (Sunday) at noon for the police Lieutenant and 10:30 am Monday the 31st for the young firefighter.
For you Webster residents, Cable Channel 12 will also be airing "Chips" funeral starting at noon.

 

[Bob1370]

Mark, I don't have to tell you how painful all of this was. Since that's your home turf and you've been working in town government these people are all familiar to you so my conodolences. How are people bearing up?

 

[Mark Giardina]

Mark, I don't have to tell you how painful all of this was. Since that's your home turf and you've been working in town government these people are all familiar to you so my conodolences. How are people bearing up?

Bob,
It is going to take a very long time for Webster to recover from this tragic loss of life.
Lt. Chiapperini was a beloved figure in our community and especially here at Webster Town Hall.
I personally want to thank the local media for displaying not only professionalism in their reporting of this story, but also for sharing our grief.
I especially want to thank you and the staff at WXXI for an excellent job in covering this horrific act of violence perpetrated by a madman. While I could not listen to coverage going to my daughter’s house in Parma on Christmas Eve because it was too painful, I have listened to 1370 a good portion of last week.
Let us hope 2013 is a better year for everyone and this spate of mass killings will come to an end.

Mark

 

[Bob1370]

Mark Giardina said, "Let us hope 2013 is a better year for everyone and this spate of mass killings will come to an end."

From your mouth to God's ears, my friend.....