Bongwater said:
"NewsTouch"? That's got to be the worst name for a local news show ever! Runner-up - "Eleven Alive" in some podunk town I visited once - can't remember which one.
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Worst local TV Newscast ever.
- Thread starter MarquisP4
- Start date
"NewsTouch"? That's got to be the worst name for a local news show ever! Runner-up - "Eleven Alive" in some podunk town I visited once - can't remember which one.
That podunk town was Atlanta.
So do I, but WXIA had to work out some kinks.
On the first "11 Alive" broadcast, investigative
reporter (if you could call him that) Russ Nichols,
the "11 Alive Newshawk," did an insubstantial report
about the time it took EMS vehicles to respond to
emergency calls; and sportscaster Steve Somers had to
inject editorial comments into his report on the Falcons'
loss the previous day. Weathergirl (sorry for the sexism,
but it's what she was) Gail Janus never seemed to appeal
to anyone but teenage boys.
Yet for a time the ratings were fairly good, but surveys
showed that viewers wanted more traditional weather and
sports people, so Russ Minshew took over the weather and
Art Eckman the sports in 1978.
I think the problem with "Pro News" was that it was too much
like what WSB and WAGA were doing; "11 Alive" at least looked
different, sort of like ABC's "World News Tonight" when it was new.
It also didn't help when "Pro News" was moved to 5:30 in the fall
of '75, followed by ABC News at 6 and Merv Griffin at 6:30. That
experiment ended in January 1976 when "Pro News" was moved back
to 6, but the damage had been done.
On the first "11 Alive" broadcast, investigative
reporter (if you could call him that) Russ Nichols,
the "11 Alive Newshawk," did an insubstantial report
about the time it took EMS vehicles to respond to
emergency calls; and sportscaster Steve Somers had to
inject editorial comments into his report on the Falcons'
loss the previous day. Weathergirl (sorry for the sexism,
but it's what she was) Gail Janus never seemed to appeal
to anyone but teenage boys.
Yet for a time the ratings were fairly good, but surveys
showed that viewers wanted more traditional weather and
sports people, so Russ Minshew took over the weather and
Art Eckman the sports in 1978.
I think the problem with "Pro News" was that it was too much
like what WSB and WAGA were doing; "11 Alive" at least looked
different, sort of like ABC's "World News Tonight" when it was new.
It also didn't help when "Pro News" was moved to 5:30 in the fall
of '75, followed by ABC News at 6 and Merv Griffin at 6:30. That
experiment ended in January 1976 when "Pro News" was moved back
to 6, but the damage had been done.
I remember seeing video of KKTM Channel 13 in Flagstaff, AZ (now KFPH-TV) and its newscast from 1994, and it was about as laughable as that Brownwood cable access newscast. Its graphics were early basic Video Toaster-esque, drab set design, and bad lighting. The video had been online a few years ago, but it has since disappeared.
Pat Cook said:Hi everyone:Yeah but consider the point of origin - The U.S. Virgin Islands.MarquisP4 said:
If that was someplace like Miami or Tampa/St. Pete, I can see the the concern. But there's no concern here. KUAM 8 on Guam & KHNL 8 in Honolulu, HI are much the same way.
Cheers
Pat
Wow, I think somehow I could put up with a few bad newscasts if I lived in USVI
PTBoardOp94 said:
No...my memory is that I saw Eleven Alive News when I was in some small city - not Atlanta or New York. Despite being a stupid handle for a news broadcast, it must be one of those names that was used in many cities around the country with Channel 11s - like Eyewitness News and NewsCenter <whatever> .
WUHF 31 in Rochester featured a former actress turned newscaster. One story she was reporting on was a coup in some country. Unfortunately, for her, she pronounced it coop, like in chicken coop.
Needless the say she made numerous other mistakes which eventually ended with her leaving broadcasting to " pursue other career opportunities."
Before the "actress" the station ran something called News Central...I think it was called. It was god-awful program anchored by some Ted Baxter wannabe. Once the station was sold News Central went bye bye....thank goodness.
Needless the say she made numerous other mistakes which eventually ended with her leaving broadcasting to " pursue other career opportunities."
Before the "actress" the station ran something called News Central...I think it was called. It was god-awful program anchored by some Ted Baxter wannabe. Once the station was sold News Central went bye bye....thank goodness.
The Voice of Reason said:
At least in California, it's typical for new anchors from other parts of the world to mis-pronounce many of the Spanish names of local cities and places. The worst offender I can remember was anchor Richard Brown, who was Canadian. But after a few weeks practice, and was fine.
It's worth noting that Ted Knight (Ted Baxter) was a George Putnam wannabe.
The Voice of Reason said:
News Central was a group-wide attempt to centralcast news by Sinclair Broadcasting (which still owns the license WUHF, by the way). It did not work in any market Sinclair tried it in. The recently-defunct Independent News Network was another example.
Speaking of which, I believe that the "American News Network" is still in business, and it's as bad as ever. I don't think they customize newscasts anymore, but they still air on a few small religious networks.
Eric Stein said:
I watched it the other night for some reason, and they aired video news releases raw and unchanged right from the source, including those released by the USDA and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Their sports report is mainly there as a joke (I think they were covering a little watched golf tournament that night). At least WSVI has some excuse to have that kind of newscast (and hey, Wes is covering all the crime, that's commitment to your work!), but all American News Network has going for it is that it's free and the anchors are sort of hot, although they fumble their words horribly since I heard four mispronounciations in the entire show.
There's been threads on this before and here's my take.
NewsCentral was a disaster. But centralized news isn't necessarily bad: BBC does it very well these days for the BBC 1 6 O'clock and 10 O'clock news programs.
The one thing that struck me about WFMY when I first saw their news is that they had this AWFUL! echo. When you grew up on BBC news and the independents having to meet BBC standards... WFMY in 1999 looked *very* amateurish and their logo at that time looked so 1970s. Now the echo has diminished over the years but yep, it's still there.
The original posting about US VI TV... well... hmm... well I can't do better but still... what can I compare it to?
I grew up with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-dNA78zML0 - this was Thames TV News from the 1980's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnCjvUHWITQ - this was Southern TV afternoon news from 1977 (yep the quality is ropey, was apparently recorded on video whilst DX-ing)
And then there was Nationwide. The BBC's main evening news show throughout the 1970s and early 80s. When you have a startup sequence like THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnCjvUHWITQ (this is a montage of ones used but plays the theme music that was remembered best). I don't know many news shows that would have cult status, but Nationwide would have it.
Sorry, UK TV may not have so many disasters in the traditional sense, at least not in the mainstream.
Oh don't mind about L!ve TV... the UK cable channel better known for News Bunny, Topless Darts, Topless News, Weather in Norweigan, Bounciest Weatherman... now it was total crap but it was at least making fun out of itself.
NewsCentral was a disaster. But centralized news isn't necessarily bad: BBC does it very well these days for the BBC 1 6 O'clock and 10 O'clock news programs.
The one thing that struck me about WFMY when I first saw their news is that they had this AWFUL! echo. When you grew up on BBC news and the independents having to meet BBC standards... WFMY in 1999 looked *very* amateurish and their logo at that time looked so 1970s. Now the echo has diminished over the years but yep, it's still there.
The original posting about US VI TV... well... hmm... well I can't do better but still... what can I compare it to?
I grew up with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-dNA78zML0 - this was Thames TV News from the 1980's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnCjvUHWITQ - this was Southern TV afternoon news from 1977 (yep the quality is ropey, was apparently recorded on video whilst DX-ing)
And then there was Nationwide. The BBC's main evening news show throughout the 1970s and early 80s. When you have a startup sequence like THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnCjvUHWITQ (this is a montage of ones used but plays the theme music that was remembered best). I don't know many news shows that would have cult status, but Nationwide would have it.
Sorry, UK TV may not have so many disasters in the traditional sense, at least not in the mainstream.
Oh don't mind about L!ve TV... the UK cable channel better known for News Bunny, Topless Darts, Topless News, Weather in Norweigan, Bounciest Weatherman... now it was total crap but it was at least making fun out of itself.
My personal pick for worst newscast is a three-way tie among
all Birmingham affiliates in the early '70s. WBMG (WIAT), the CBS
affiliate, didn't have the budget, and the most memorable thing
about their newscast was the late Tommy Charles throwing his
copy over his shoulder; WBRC (ABC) did its own world newscast
for 15 minutes, followed by local news for 15 (a practice that ended
when ABC forced them to pick up the network news in 1972 and the
local news expanded to 30 minutes), WAPI (WVTM), the NBC affiliate,
was the best of the three (WBRC's was by far the most popular), but
both it and WBRC divided their news, sports, and weather into separate
segments the way stations did in the '50s. The best thing I can say
is that WAPI's weathergirl, Rosemary Lucas, was a hottie and I'd tune
in just to look at her.
In truth, Birmingham viewers would have been perfectly happy to keep
WBRC's local news at 15 minutes; the ultimate commentary on that
market's early-evening preferences in those days is that "To Tell The
Truth," which aired on WBRC at 6 PM, was the number-one show in
the market.
I can think of only three stations that did "11 Alive": WXIA, WPIX,
and Pittsburgh's WPXI. There were a number of other stations that
used "Alive" (like "5 Alive" in Oklahoma City and "32 Alive" in Louisville),
but I can't think of any other stations on 11 that did. I do recall that
WTVD Raleigh/Durham called theirs "11 Together."
WFMY still has sound problems.
The classic case of an anchor mispronouncing local names may be
Larry Kane, whom WCBS hired away from WPVI Philadelphia back in
the '70s. Kane refused to move to New York and probably logged
more miles on the Garden State Parkway than anyone else in history.
He also refused to learn the local pronunciations, and one night he
pronounced Houston Street (HOUSE-ton in New York) like the city
in Texas (HEWS-ton). He was soon given a one-way ticket back
to Philadelphia.
all Birmingham affiliates in the early '70s. WBMG (WIAT), the CBS
affiliate, didn't have the budget, and the most memorable thing
about their newscast was the late Tommy Charles throwing his
copy over his shoulder; WBRC (ABC) did its own world newscast
for 15 minutes, followed by local news for 15 (a practice that ended
when ABC forced them to pick up the network news in 1972 and the
local news expanded to 30 minutes), WAPI (WVTM), the NBC affiliate,
was the best of the three (WBRC's was by far the most popular), but
both it and WBRC divided their news, sports, and weather into separate
segments the way stations did in the '50s. The best thing I can say
is that WAPI's weathergirl, Rosemary Lucas, was a hottie and I'd tune
in just to look at her.
In truth, Birmingham viewers would have been perfectly happy to keep
WBRC's local news at 15 minutes; the ultimate commentary on that
market's early-evening preferences in those days is that "To Tell The
Truth," which aired on WBRC at 6 PM, was the number-one show in
the market.
I can think of only three stations that did "11 Alive": WXIA, WPIX,
and Pittsburgh's WPXI. There were a number of other stations that
used "Alive" (like "5 Alive" in Oklahoma City and "32 Alive" in Louisville),
but I can't think of any other stations on 11 that did. I do recall that
WTVD Raleigh/Durham called theirs "11 Together."
WFMY still has sound problems.
The classic case of an anchor mispronouncing local names may be
Larry Kane, whom WCBS hired away from WPVI Philadelphia back in
the '70s. Kane refused to move to New York and probably logged
more miles on the Garden State Parkway than anyone else in history.
He also refused to learn the local pronunciations, and one night he
pronounced Houston Street (HOUSE-ton in New York) like the city
in Texas (HEWS-ton). He was soon given a one-way ticket back
to Philadelphia.
Working in a larger market and mostly watching major market stories, it's always jarring to watch a small market newscast.
In 2005, I spent a night in Brookings, Oregon, which carried Medford stations, as well as KIEM/Eureka, California. Watching KIEM, I genuinely thought I had traveled back in time to the 1970s. One of their 2008 clips is on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWDlWZ6oGRU&feature=related
In 2005, I spent a night in Brookings, Oregon, which carried Medford stations, as well as KIEM/Eureka, California. Watching KIEM, I genuinely thought I had traveled back in time to the 1970s. One of their 2008 clips is on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWDlWZ6oGRU&feature=related
Eric Stein said:
Ah yes, I had that video and used to have it posted on my website (which has since fallen into disrepair...).
The station had a horrible signal, thus the poor quality of the video. The newscast was done out of Northern Arizona University - students probably taking Journalism classes. The newscast didn't last long, but, when your only other local option was KNAZ, Flagstaff was a giant news "hole"...
Once Gannett purchased KNAZ, they at least put money into the newscast (at least more than Grand Canyon Television did - until shutting it down). I recall one early morning (6:30am) newscast, someone brought up tone on the in-studio speakers and you heard it on the air and watched the anchors cringing, since you couldn't hear them talk and it obviously was annoyingly loud... KNAZ's animation graphics were done by a (local?) company called "Logomotion" which included their animated logo at the end of the newscast credits...
I remember when I was in college we did some newsbreaks for our PBS station - our prof insisted that everything look and sound crisp and clean before it was allowed on air - sets, video, etc. - if the newsbreak sucked, it didn't air (and your grade reflected it...).
Jim
I'm sure you recognize by now that your professor
was doing you a favor: a local newscast should be
polished, and he (I assume a he) was preparing you
for what viewers expect from their news.
I'm critical of my students' writing, especially spelling
and grammar, because anything less than perfect isn't
going to cut it in the real world.
was doing you a favor: a local newscast should be
polished, and he (I assume a he) was preparing you
for what viewers expect from their news.
I'm critical of my students' writing, especially spelling
and grammar, because anything less than perfect isn't
going to cut it in the real world.
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