The "Fagbug" Adventure at Toronto Gay Pride 2010!

Greetings TV Garth readers! Before I do my official Toronto Pride recap (including my adventures with TV personalities, reporters and reception) I wanted to blog about marching in the parade with an awesome car known as the "Fagbug" and present my interview with the women behind it!

At last year's Toronto Pride I was dressed in drag as "Anne Tenna" as a tribute to my love of television reception. This year because I was slightly lazier and didn't want to spent a giant chunk of the weekend shaving, I was "Man Tenna". As Man Tenna, I had a shirt created that showcased some of my favourite TV station logos (all from pics of my actual reception!)



I was strutting my stuff, and getting ready to march with a few friends when I saw the Fagbug fabulously sitting in the Parade route. I spotted the New York state license plate and was curious what city the car was from. (My dream was to bump into people from out of town and see if they were from any of the cities I've picked up long distance reception from.) We struck up a conversation and when they mentioned being from Syracuse, NY I shrieked and told them that I pick up WSYR occasionally from my house! That's Sonya Parrish and her partner Erin Davies pictured with the Fagbug below.



Davies recently created a documentary about how the Fagbug came into existence and her experiences travelling with it. It all started in Albany, NY when a rainbow sticker on Davies' car led to someone spraypainting the words "fag" and "u r gay" on the vehicle. Davies eventually decided to leave the graffiti on the vehicle and embarked on a roadtrip through the US and Canada to collect peoples' reactions to it. A year after that roadtrip, it was made over into the version you see here. Find out the whole scoop on http://www.fagbug.com Also check out a great article from the Syracuse Post-Standard here.



When we were talking with Erin and Sonya, they asked if we'd like to march with them and carry a Pride flag behind the car. It was a neat opportunity and we agreed. You can see us carrying the flag below (photo by Louie Chan.)



I also took the opportunity to interview Erin and Sonya about the car, the film, and Syracuse television! Watch the interview here:



Roughly two weeks later the Fagbug travelled to Rochester, NY and I squealed when I saw it was featured in a story by Matt Molloy on WROC! Click here for the article and video.

I was a little sad I didn't get to capture the Fagbug story "live" on WROC (I was at work so I couldn't even check if I was getting reception of it.) But I was picking up Rochester, NY stations during the closing weekend of their Pride festivities. Guess what I saw on the late Sunday news?



That's right! I got to DX the Fagbug via Rochester's WHAM (RF13) only a short time after marching with it! The pic above was from the July 18 newscast.

Stay tuned to TV Garth for more fabulousity and TV related treats!

Reception Reports: May 28 - June 6, 2010 A look at Erie's morning shows, along with Syracuse, Rochester & Utica!

Greetings TV Garth readers! Continuing my big catch up, I present more of my late May and early June reception adventures! The most exciting part of late May was a string of hot weather that ushered in my first look at Erie, PA's morning news shows since late 2009. I was also excited to continue my tradition of DXing at my pal Mr. A's downtown Toronto apartment during the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival. So sit back, grab a snack, and follow me for some more reception recapping!

May 28, 2009 (Late Friday)

I stayed over at my pal Mr. A's apartment during the last weekend of the Inside Out LGBT Film Fest. My overnight bag included a CM4040 Indoor-tenna, as well as my recently purchased Zenith DTT900 digital converter box. (I loved the DTT901 so much that I wanted another Zenith to use for "travel" DXing.) It was a year ago in May that I picked up Syracuse & Utica, NY stations for the first time at Mr. A's place. Sure enough, I picked up Utica again in time for the late repeat of WKTV's evening news featuring Caroline Gable (via RF29)!



What made this evening especially neat was that Mr. A had recently gone on a trip to New York with our mutual friend Chantal. Chantal brought back a TV Guide for me, and Mr. A brought back a Syracuse newspaper!



Mr. A laughed as I sat on his couch reading the Syracuse newspaper as I waited for Syracuse's WSYR (RF17) to come in. And luckily, I got it...I got it...I got it, got it, baby yeaaaahhh.



I was on a reception high, which seemed appropriate given the time on the Doppler Radar screen pictured below on WSYR-2. (Or as Mr. A likes to put it - I'm a recluse for Syracuse...)



I was also astonished by the most divatastic alligator strolling by on WSYR! He looks like a shady character, if you ask me.



May 30, 2010 (Late Sunday)

Back at my own home, Erie, PA's WQLN (RF50) popped up with one of many Memorial Day specials being shown on TV.



Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29) showed up with their overnight infomercial block with Joan Rivers promoting her Right To Bare Legs campaign. At least they leave a nice station ID bug on screen during the infomercials. (On a sidenote, the recently released documentary Joan Rivers - A Piece Of Work is excellent!)



Syracuse's WSYR (RF17) also arrived with an ad encouraging criminals to turn themselves in to police, featuring Helen Hudson and Frank Fowler. (What's with all the awesomely alliterative names?)




Later on, WSYR was showing ABC's World News Now and gave us pictoral proof that, indeed, Miley Cyrus can't be tamed.



May 31, 2010 (Early Monday)

I got my first real look at the morning news on Erie, PA's WICU (RF12) which had undergone major changes since I last saw it. Jill McCormick was let go in Dec. 2009, and even meteorologist Julie Coates was relegated to weekend duties after being a longtime staple of 12 News Today. Kara Coleman was brought in to co-anchor with Mark Soliday, and also does the weather reports now. (Kara is very professional, and growing on me, but I still miss Jill McCormick's more off the cuff humour and presentation style. On a sidenote, Jill hilariously lists former rival WJET's "Good Morning Erie" as a "Favorite Show" on her Facebook page.)



WICU featured reports on Memorial Day events in Erie, and the second pic features reporter Liz Crawford, another new station hire.




Erie's WQLN (RF50) has been promoting their Road Trips program which includes a stop at the Andy Warhol Museum. Check out my pal Mr. A's Flickr set from his own road trip to Pittsburgh which included a visit to the Museum!



June 1, 2010

I remember going to bed and thinking the tropo wasn't very strong. Rochester, NY signals seemed to be blinking a bit on the Zenith DTT901, so I left my antenna aimed in that direction and parked it on RF45 so I could see if WROC got strong enough to decode overnight. Imagine my shock upon waking up to see Detroit, MI's WDIV stored on the box the next day! (See pic below.) Getting WDIV itself isn't tremendously unusual, but receiving it while aimed at Rochester's WROC is highly unusual. It makes me wonder just how strong the Detroit tropo was to be able to come in with that positioning! It's a shame I missed it!



Here's some more fun with Erie, PA's WQLN (RF50) and their Road Trips campaign. This ad includes the cutest sandwich and baseball loving stick figure I've ever seen!




I was quite surprised and impressed to see an ad on Rochester, NY's WHAM (RF13) promoting a law firm that specializes in cases regarding same sex partnerships! Go Richard A. Kroll!






While antenna surfing, I came across Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Rochester, NY's WHEC (RF10) with Kim Cattrall and Jimmy in drag doing a faux Sex and the City 2 promo with some atrocious puns. (And by "atrocious puns" I mean puns so bad I wish I'd thought of them myself!)



June 2, 2010

It's always fun to see the morning news with Rebecca Leclair on Rochester, NY's WHEC (RF10)! She gives the news with personality! Click here to watch her bio video at the WHEC site.



Erie, PA's WICU (RF12) was also coming in again, and I saw their story about a Rib Cook Off that included a Canadian team as part of the competition!



During the commercial break I got to see an ad with WSEE's Ray Petelin and WICU's Kara Coleman, who were both off their trolley (shortly before getting on it for the Flagship Wine Tour!)




At 6am, I switched over to Erie, PA's WSEE (RF12-3) for Mornings Live With Stephanie And Ray. I liked this show before, but totally fell in love with it during this broadcast. I also noticed that they started the hour with a "candid" look at the team before officially opening the show.



Stephanie and Ray make a great team because their banter is fun and snappy, and feels very natural. I especially enjoy the humour of meteorologist Ray Petelin, who made some hilarious cracks after his weather report about Erie's Rib Cook Off.



During breaks from WSEE's Mornings Live, I switched to WICU's subchannel WBEP (RF12-2) for The Daily Buzz which seems like a fun show. I've seen Daily Buzz mentioned before on fellow TV blog DXing From Lincoln County AR. I only get to see The Daily Buzz when I have reception of "CW Plus" affiliates from Erie, PA or Utica, NY. Buzz doesn't air on any stations closer to me (like Buffalo or Rochester.)



Back on WSEE, Stephanie and Ray are discussing how the upcoming rain would help folks attending the Erie Rib Cook Off wash their hands after the contest.



Rochester, NY's CW affiliate (CW-WHAM, RF13-2) chooses to run their own newscast (with Doug Emblidge and Marty Snyder) instead of The Daily Buzz. Note the CW16 branding in the bottom corner of the screen, which is inspired by their cable positioning.



June 6, 2010

Pledge drives never looked as divalicious as they did this day on Rochester, NY's WXXI (RF16)!



Carole King was belting out "I Feel The Earth Move" on WXXI, which would have been more appropriate a few weeks later when a mild earthquake rolled through much of the Eastern parts of Canada and the US!



I was also lucky enough to catch the Independent Lens documentary Ask Not, which is about the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy recently struck down by the Obama administration. It aired on WXXI's subchannel 21-2 PBS World (RF16-2). It was neat to see as it bridged the gap between the Inside Out festival, and the upcoming Gay Pride parade in Toronto! (It didn't also hurt that some of the subjects were very attractive!)




Stay tuned to TV Garth for more Reception Reports and TV related fun, including my big Toronto Pride recap coming soon!

Reception Reports: May 13-28, 2010 Catching up with Rochester, Syracuse, Utica & Erie!

Greetings TV Garth readers! I've had a terrible lack of updates recently, so I threw together some sets on Flickr featuring highlights of the last month and a half of my DXing! Since mid-May I've noticed Utica, NY and Syracuse, NY making more frequent appearances, as well as some nice tropo openings to Erie, PA. I'll be trying to do these as chronologically as possible, so grab a snack and catch up with TV Garth!

May 13, 2010

This was the day that I picked up Syracuse's WSYR (RF17) for the first time since Sept. 2009! This was also the day that I got a shout out ON AIR from the awesome Don Shipman (pic below) on Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29). Click here to read about the shout out and watch the video of it!



I also feel Reale-y bad about not giving enough love to WKTV's meteorologist Bill Kardas, so here's a pic of him from this day's reception.



I was blown away by Christie Casciano's story on The Morning News below!WSYR has also added snazzy "logo" banners to fill the screen on HDTVs.



I also love WSYR's weather subchannel (RF17-2) which covers many Central New York cities including Syracuse and Utica!



Carrie Lazarus proves to us that back in the day the stories were big, but the hair was bigger! It was a great ad showing off her history with WSYR. Watch it here.



Here we have my Syra-crush, sports reporter Steve Infanti! (On a sidenote, the headline "Very High Honor" made me totally imagine a sitcom about a perpetually wasted court judge.)



I not only heart WKTV for giving me a shout out, but I also heart them for featuring Madonna in a trivia question!



May 19, 2010

I was getting excited about attending the annual Inside Out LGBT film festival in Toronto when I stumbled across a neat documentary on Rochester, NY's WXXI (RF16). It was called Out In The Silence and was a great warm up for the fest.



Below is a young gay student (with his mother) featured in Out In The Silence who fights harassment with the help of Silence's filmmaker Joe Wilson.



May 20, 2010

I caught Erie, PA's WQLN (RF50) with an appearance from their president Dwight Miller! I've come to think of WQLN as the "little station that could" because they've had to overcome a lot of setbacks, but they still manage to put on great programming.



May 26, 2010

I enjoy catching the morning edition of News 8 Now on Rochester, NY's WROC (RF45) which features Brian Neudorff on weather duties. Brian is very likeable and does a thorough job with his reports! (Much of the time his reports double for Southern Ontario's weather, as we often have similar conditions!)



Katrina Irwin co-anchors News 8 Now and the pic below features her with an awesomely Divatastic summer sun!



Springville, NY's WNGS made its return to the airwaves on RF7 on May 22. Click here for Digital Home's thread about the station's revival. They've had an interesting history as a station that relied mainly on cable for distribution (due to a restricted analog signal) and at various points were affiliated with UPN, RTN, and THIS! TV. They currently broadcast Daystar religious programming, but this will change when their new owners take over. (On a sidenote, this is bittersweet as having a station on RF7 this close to me limits DXing opportunities.)



Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29) popped up again just in time for Bill Kardas and Megan Koskovich to tell us the weather was as HOT as Megan's capri pants!



May 27, 2010

Rochester, NY's WROC (RF45) promoted Scott's Backyard BBQ, which is a contest where people can win a BBQ with the station's chief meteorologist Scott Hetsko!



Great ad with Kevin Doran showcasing WROC's coverage of Rochester mayor Bob Duffy stepping down to run for office.



I still think that NBC's Losing It With Jillian sounds like a bad 1980s sex comedy. (Seen via Utica, NY's WKTV on RF29). She'd probably bench press me for saying that.



Syracuse's WSYR Wood arrive in time for their evening newscast with Rod! (Seen on RF17)



NBC's Jimmy Fallon featured the hotness of Steve Ward, pictured below. (Seen via Utica, NY's WKTV on RF29). What was also neat is that I was picking this up on three NBC stations at the same time, including the aforementioned WKTV, as well as Rochester's WHEC (RF10) and Buffalo's WGRZ (RF33).



Making news this evening was the excellent news that President Obama had finally repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell! (Seen via Rochester, NY's WHAM on RF13 with anchor Elizabeth Schubert.)



If this is what they'll show to get me to donate clothes to Goodwill, it's probably not going to work. Or I'll at least try to coax them into filming more men in their skivvies before handing over my old clothing. (Seen via Rochester, NY's WHAM on RF13).



May 28, 2010

I really enjoy Rebecca Leclair on WHEC's morning show, pictured below with co-anchor Pat McConigle (seen via RF10 from Rochester, NY.) She adds pep and liveliness to her stories, and I will forever heart her for the BEST introduction to a flasher story that I've ever seen!



I also enjoy Norma Holland over at Rochester, NY's WHAM (RF13). Her personality is simultaneously warm, inviting and sassy. She carries herself with great humour and would probably make a great companion when hitting the bar. (It also doesn't hurt that she once fanned herself and exclaimed "It's HOT in here!" during the pre-show "WHAM Warmup". At that moment I seriously wished a dance beat would kick in and dancers would rise up from the news desk and flank her in sparkly outfits.)



And on that note, I have to take my own sassy self away and close this entry! Check out the full Flickr set of my TV photos here:

Garth's TV DXing May 13 to June 6 - Flickr Set

Stay tuned to TV Garth for more Reception Reports and TV goodness!