These are just some of the many highlights that stood out to me in my DXing journeys this past year. Most of them are culled from my “tropo” enhanced TV reception (with a few locally based highlights as well.) Like American Idol, I’m making my list a Top 12!
1. TV Station Anniversaries
There were several stations celebrating BIG milestones this year including Utica, NY’s WKTV, Erie, PA’s WICU, Rochester, NY’s WROC and Buffalo, NY’s WNED.
WKTV from Utica, NY had a series of wonderful commercials celebrating their 60th anniversary. (Including a triumphant song singing about “WKTVeeeeee!”) There is also an extensive section on their website covering the milestone.
Check out this 2007 Video of Mohawk Valley Living, which Features A Segment On The Station’s History:
WICU from Erie, PA is also celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. They will be airing a special about the occasion on Dec. 26th at 7pm and repeating it on Dec. 27th. Check out the special website they’ve created to showcase past WICU memories. There are also some great videos of the WICU 60th Anniversary promos you can watch at the Erie Press and Tower site.
Rochester, NY’s WROC also celebrated their 60th year of broadcasting, and July 16 was declared “WROC-TV Channel 8 Day.” Other than this, WROC has not promoted their anniversary the same way WKTV and WICU have.
Last, but not least, Buffalo, NY’s PBS station WNED turned 50 this year!
2. Conan O’Brien Recommends A Kathie Lee Gifford Video
My jaw dropped when Conan O’Brien (as the “new Oprah”) jokingly suggested that viewers go out and buy the Kathie Lee Gifford Christmas video “Rock N Tots Cafe – A Christmas ‘Giff’” Why did my jaw drop? I purchased this very video as a gag gift a few years ago for 99 cents during a vacation in California! (Seen Dec. 10, 2009 on Buffalo’s WGRZ.) Watch the video by clicking here.
3. Moonwalking Into The Weather With Erie’s WSEE
Lisa Weismann introduces a story on the WSEE news about a casting call for a Michael Jackson musical in London, which doesn’t seem unusual. But the hilarity begins when Weismann says, “Successful applicants must be edgy with strong hip hop skills,” over footage of a guy half-heartedly dancing and touching his crotch. Weismann and meteorologist Cheryl Scott then valiantly try to banter about how great that dancer was (they seem to be improvising.) But the highlight is when Weismann transitions to weather by saying "You can moonwalk in the....not so cloudy skies tonight!" (Seen in late July 2009.)
Watch video:
4. LFO Appears On WSYR’s Bridge Street
I remember strongly disliking LFO’s songs when they burst onto the music scene in the late 90s. (Summer Girls and Girl On TV both had, in my opinion, some of the dumbest lyrics to ever appear in Billboard’s charts.) So I felt a little guilty for finding it funny that a decade later they’re playing Syracuse for only $10 a ticket. They promoted this concert with an appearance on WSYR’s Bridge Street. (To be honest, they still look pretty good, and I would not mind replacing the lead singer in the threesome below. You know, just to sing with them, of course.) Click here to find their interview and performance in the Bridge Street archives.
LFO even stuck around to enjoy the food that was prepared later in the show with hosts Carrie Lazarus and Dan Cummings! Carrie even generously made a joke about how LFO would fly in on a plane after their “next big hit.”
5. She Really Didn't Sea It Coming – A CSI: NY Episode on WBNS
In September, I was excited to be picking up WBNS from Columbus, OH for the first time, but was not so enamored of the program that was on. I caught a CSI: NY ep where a woman is having kinky sex, and is being fed “exotic” foods while being blindfolded and tied up. (This scenario is inadvertently censored by the program guide in the pic below. The program info is wrong due to sports pushing the schedule forward.) The woman is then fed a deadly octopus as CSI: NY scales new dramatic heights (or lows depending on your perspective.)
6. Detroit News Vs. Erie News – A Harrowing Comparison
When I picked up Detroit, MI’s WDIV for the first time in late July I was excited to see their newscast, at least until the awful stories began to pile up. Even Rhonda Walker looks shocked at the chaos in the pic below. In the first five minutes it went something like:
- Man kills girlfriend in bar and then sets the bar on fire.
- Three teens killed in car crash.
- Serial rapist brought to court with 24 charges.
- Hit and run driver sought after teen killed.
By contrast, later in the Summer, I saw a story on Erie, PA’s WICU about anchor Amanda Post’s son attending school. Yep, they featured a whole story about the station anchor’s son beginning his new school year.
This isn’t to say that Erie never has violent crime, but WDIV’s news looks terrifying if they can show that many terrible things in the first five minutes. (Even Toronto news tries to balance it out a bit more.) Erie seems to have plenty of robberies, and does have grittier fare, but I can’t imagine an innocent story such as a news anchor’s son going to class appearing on WDIV.
7. Station Amalgamations And Financial Woes (WICU, WSEE, WQLN and WWTI)
One big controversy this year was the “merger” going on in Erie, PA between long running stations WICU and WSEE. The situation involved WSEE moving into the WICU studios and many of WSEE’s staff were let go as a result. WSEE’s news is now prerecorded, as the amalgamated studios can’t handle two simultaneous live productions. As well, certain members of the on-air staff have been let go as their contracts expired (including the fabulously named Raychel Vendetti, who probably had a Vendetti against the station after being let go so abruptly!) Even as late as this month, Jill McCormick of 12 News Today was let go when her contract was up. There are also rumours that Jacqueline Policastro of WSEE will be leaving to go to a station in a bigger market.
I only started observing WICU and WSEE’s news this past Summer (which was after the merger.) What I noticed was that many of the stories are nearly identical, and sometimes the only difference is the anchor used to introduce the story. (Sometimes it’s even the same reporter, with only the station logo changed in the background.) Below you can see this in action with Kristin Kane’s same story appearing on both WICU and WSEE.
WQLN, also of Erie, PA, suffered financially this year. Their state funding was cut, and on top of that they were at risk of losing nearly $200,000 of Canadian pledge support. Initially, Rogers Cable planned to drop WQLN from their London lineup in favour of Detroit, MI’s WTVS. Loyal Canadian viewers began fierce protests, as WQLN is known to cater to its Canadian audience (they even identify on air as Erie – London.) The station was blindsided by the move. (They were notified about the situation by viewers rather than Rogers.) Rogers claimed it was poor reception from the over the air signal that prompted their decision to switch PBS feeds. After WQLN promised to provide a fibre optic feed, Rogers agreed to keep them on the London cable lineup.
This past Summer I learned that it was fairly difficult to pull in the digital signal from Watertown, NY’s WWTI. My first time pulling it in for any significant length of time was this past September, and it was only a week after they’d changed their branding to “Myabc50” from the former “Newswatch 50.” The reason for the slogan change? They gutted their news department and began simulcasting news from Syracuse’s WSYR. Below is an ad with WWTI’s old logo in the background with Mark Mason promoting the station’s Greenwatch initiative.
8. Steven And Chris Get A Visit From Oscar The Grouch
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Oscar The Grouch show up for a guest appearance on CBC’s Steven And Chris show. What made it stand out to me was the fact that an iconic children’s television character could appear on a show that features two openly gay, male hosts. A small bit of progress, but progress nonetheless. Steven And Chris has also made a comeback of sorts. Their show was on hiatus for over six months due to CBC budget cuts, but is now slated to return with new episodes in January 2010!
9. "I Not Stupid" Pops Up On Bad Axe, MI’s WDCQ
During the surprising tropo opening to Michigan in mid-November, I stumbled onto the show "I Not Stupid" on Bad Axe, MI’s WDCQ. In the midst of peaceful New Age music, a woman chews out her kids over a "hand phone" that needs to be paid for. (I didn’t see the whole episode, but the gist seems to be that the kids need to pay for a phone that was lost or stolen.) When the youngest kid claims that the family will have more “face” with a more expensive phone, the anti-Claire Huxtable shouts, "Do you want face or a lash of the cane????" I guess this kid has to face the consequences! After You Tubing some other entries in the “I Not Stupid” TV series (which itself is based on a movie) I noticed it all seems to involve children getting yelled at, crying, and being lashed with canes. Maybe I Stupid, because I really don’t get it….. The pics and video below, though, are pop culture hilarity with the mother’s crazy anger faces and cane sharp banter!
Watch the video:
10. The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse
In Toronto, we have the CNE (The Canadian National Exhibition!) In Syracuse they have The Fair (The Great New York State Fair!) I enjoyed getting to see reports of this on WSYR. There were plenty of commercials for this on Rochester and Utica stations, so it was neat seeing news coverage of the event directly from a Syracuse station! (It was especially fun to see this the day before I went to the CNE in early September!)
Acts like Boyz II Men and MC Hammer performed free concerts in the popular Chevrolet Court area of the Fair.
Ray Villeda reported on the crowds at Chevrolet Court, and this newscast was actually his last for WSYR. (He has since moved to a job at Hartford, CT's WFSB, according to CNY Television News.)
11. How Do You Spell That Again?
In addition to all the woes facing WSEE this year, spelling didn’t seem to be on their side either, at least in the caption below, seen in late July 2009. (“Trade In You Old car, Receive Rebat.”)
12. Stop The TV Tax Vs. Local TV Matters
I still don’t know exactly where I stand on this. Canadian broadcasters as well as cable and satellite providers have been having an ugly battle over whether or not over the air stations should be paid for their signals.
My main problem with the broadcasters’ side of the issue is that they want money for their over the air signals, yet drag their feet about upgrading their stations to digital signals. There are only digital transmitters in some major Canadian cities (generally at very low power) and the broadcasters are relying more and more on cable and satellite to distribute them. (CTV recently asked the CRTC if they could delay their full digital transition to 2013!) If local TV matters, why are they eager to throw away a distribution system that provides people with free access to those signals? The other problem with the Local TV Matters campaign is that it leans towards emotional blackmail in holding up examples of stations that have closed down, and emphasizing that your local news could be in danger. These examples are used without any reference to the financial mismanagement of the broadcasters, or the fact that many “local” stations across Canada are run from master controls located in large cities like Toronto.
My problem with the cable and satellite side of the coin is that their prices are, indeed, inflated to ridiculous levels. They don’t particularly care about “local” issues (see the situation with Rogers wanting to drop PBS stations from Erie and Watertown that cater to London and Ottawa audiences, respectively.) But I do agree with many of the points they have made against fee for carriage and the fact that most of the broadcasters don’t even have a concrete answer for what they would do with the extra fees they want to obtain.
Fee for carriage is a sticky issue (even in the US where Time Warner is currently battling with FOX over their requested fees.) Time will tell if the “TV tax” is just a bail out for poorly managed networks, or a shot in the arm to help them get their acts together and rebound.
Stay tuned to TV Garth for more Year In Review updates!
#9 I enjoyed the woman's comments! "lash of the cane" - haha
ReplyDelete