Goodbye, So Long, Auf Wiedersehen

December 24 is my anniversary.  It was five years ago on this day that I sat at the anchor desk at WREG and said goodbye.  Not many people watch TV on Christmas Eve which meant that not many people saw my farewell.  Some of the managers were okay with that.  Some I had worked with [...]

I’m Free, I’m Finally Free, & Life as a VJ in San Fran

Man gets out of prison after many months and starts shouting “I’m free, I’m free!”.  He runs by a little boy while still shouting “I’m free, I’m free!”.  Little boy says “Big deal, I’m four.” (rimshot)
That’s a very old joke, and this is a very old show.    Seriously, as I shout “I’m free” it is [...]

Is It a Case of “The Grass is Greener….”& Showing Breasts on Local TV News

I traveled to Louisville this past weekend to visit my son and his family.  It also gave my lovely and talented bride Bethany a chance to dress up for Halloween with our 4 year old granddaughter Patterson. Patterson loves the Wizard of Oz and wanted to go as Dorothy and asked Bethany (her Granny B) [...]

A Familiar Face Back on Memphis TV & I’m Taken to Task for NOT Watching Local TV News

I always enjoy touching base with my former co-workers.  Okay, I enjoy touching base with MOST of my former co-workers.  Reconnecting with a former compadre from Southeast MO has led to other reconnects and so on and so forth.  I most recently heard from Amy Spears/Speropoulos who used to be an anchor/reporter at WREG.  Amy [...]

We Will Let You Sleep With Our News Anchors if You Will Just Watch our News During Sweeps, What is Going on With the Make-up On CNN, & Instances of Lip-Lag are Growing here in the MidSouth

Having been out of the TV Nooz business for coming up on five years now, I kind of forget when we enter into ratings periods.  Yes, there was a time for me when it was all about “the book” as TV folks call the ratings period.  If you hadn’t taken vacation time or had some [...]

The CALM Effort, E-D Remedies, Motorized LA-Z Boy charges & Corn Nuts

I generally don’t watch commercials on TV much anymore.  (To the horror of The GM) yes, I zip through most of them thanks to TIVO.  Hey, I understand that paid advertisements are the lifeblood of television but I don’t know of anyone who really LIKES watching commercials and I really don’t.
For years when I worked [...]

Would You Pay to View “On-Line” Content and What Would TV Stations do Without local Newspapers

The boom of the Internet has been a thorn in the side of news gathering organizations from almost the beginning, especially the print media.  How do they make money on something that in many cases is given away free of charge.  The news gathering organizations still have to pay reporters/producers/editors etc. and when they make [...]

Anchors Who Aren’t Selling It & Other Observations from the Road

I’m on the road in Rhode Island.  Actually, I’m siting in a conference in Newport and had a couple of minutes in between sessions so I thought I’d hit the keyboard for some observations.
Maybe it’s just me but it seems like there are some prompter related issues with the good folks at The Weather Channel.  [...]

Odds and Ends on an Overcast Thursday Morning

“Hey Joe, where you been man.  Are you ever going to post anything on your blog again.  Do you realize that it’s been almost a month since you posted last?” This is what I’ve been hearing lately from folks I’ve run into and I have to be honest.  There just hasn’t been a lot to [...]

It’s Not the Size But What You Do With It That’s Important & Another TV Group Faces Financial Issues

Some people will tell you size is not important but the bigger it is, the more bragging you will hear.  I’m talking about TV market ranking folks.  And the latest market rankings show that Memphis has slipped again, this time from #48 to #50. There was a time when it was the largest market in [...]