Year In Review – Part Two (May-August 2010)

Greetings TV Garth readers! This is my attempt to summarize the year in reception, as well as other TV related treats from 2010! This is Part Two of a three part series covering the year’s highlights. This entry is a BIG one, so sit back, grab a snack and enjoy the events of May through August 2010!

MAY

- Rochester, NY’s WXXI (RF16) was wrapping up their annual fundraising auction, which featured items from Rochester area businesses as well as some Canadian attractions. I noticed passes to Toronto’s Casa Loma as well as African Lion Safari were up for grabs! (Pic below as seen on WXXI’s PBS World subchannel on May 5th.)

- I was bowled over when I got a shout out on-air from Don Shipman of Utica, NY’s WKTV! (Don was another awesome personality who came across my blog in early 2010 and that led to my interview with him back in March!) On May 13th, I was picking up WKTV (RF29) along with Syracuse, NY’s WSYR (RF17) and sent a Tweet to Don about getting to see their morning news! He then mentioned it on their morning show! Click here for my recap of that day’s reception and check out the video below:

- Tropo was heating up throughout the month with reception from Utica and Syracuse, NY popping up more frequently in addition to Rochester, NY. Erie, PA was also showing up in larger doses towards the end of the month. Check out Reception Reports: May 13-28 as well as Reception Reports: May 28 – June 6 for a more in depth look at what was coming in! Some brief Tropo Highlights include:

• Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) on May 12th.

• Syracuse, NY’s WSYR (RF17) on May 13th.

• Erie, PA’s WQLN (RF50) on May 20th.

- Springville, NY’s WNGS finally returned to airwaves with a new digital signal on RF7 (PSIP 67-1) in late May. At various times the station was affiliated with UPN, RTN (now RTV) and This TV. However, bankruptcy forced the station off the air in June 2009 before a DTV transmitter could be installed. Religious broadcaster Daystar bought the station, got a digital transmitter up and quickly resold it to ITV of Buffalo. (One condition of the sale is that Daystar programming must be carried on a digital subchannel for the next ten years.) By September, WNGS re-affiliated with This TV.

- I quite enjoyed the “WHAM Warmup” on Rochester, NY’s WHAM (RF13) which would run from 4:57am until the morning news “officially” started at 5. This consisted of anchors shooting the breeze while goofing around, opening up laptops and organizing papers. (See pic below from May 27th with Doug Emblidge, Holly Maynard and Marty Snyder.) The first time I saw it, I actually thought they’d turned the cameras on too early! Wacky, but fun!

- Also seen on WHAM May 27th was the awesome backdrop pictured below during Glenn Johnson’s Memorial Day forecast. It almost looks like he’s saying “Now, hold on a sec, this Day is also to celebrate our freedom to forecast!”

JUNE

- June 2nd brought live coverage of the annual Tim Horton’s Camp Day on Rochester, NY’s WROC (RF45). I loved seeing this, as Tim Horton’s is a Canadian institution and it still impresses me how well they’ve done in Western New York! Below is WROC’s Bob Metcalfe interviewing owner Meagan Lewandowski!

- Rochester, NY’s 21-2 WXXI-W (PBS World on RF16-2) ran the documentary Ask Not on June 6th as part of their Independent Lens series. The film detailed the challenges that LGBT service members faced inside and outside of duty. The airing came at a time when the Obama Administration was seriously looking at repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. (Thankfully the repeal became a reality in December 2010!)

- On June 23rd, a mild earthquake shook the North East! It was centered around Quebec and rumbled its way through a large swath of North America. Buffalo, NY stations quickly jumped on this with hilariously over the top news graphics like the ones seen on WKBW (RF38) below! WIVB even had the word “Earthquake” in bold letters shaking up and down on screen during the intro to their story. (Later on, even ABC’s World News Now covered the quake, as seen in the second pic.)

- The G20 Summit was being held in Toronto and it quickly turned into a flaming disaster. (Not even the fun kind of flaming disaster like the Toronto Pride festivities, which were bumped to July to accommodate the G20.) CFTO (RF40) along with most Toronto stations showed live coverage throughout the weekend.

- Also during the G20 weekend, I squealed when I saw an NBC News truck at Queen’s Park, as shown on City TV (RF53) below. I quickly called my pal Mr. A and the conversation went something like, “Hey Mr. A! Things are looking crazy downtown. Are you alright? Um….if it’s possible can you sneak past the chaos and take pics of the NBC News van? Thanks!” Turns out he’d already taken a picture the day before!

- Tropo for the month of June included lots of Rochester, Syracuse & Utica, NY plus Erie, PA (including the harder to get WFXP on RF22 and WSEE on RF16) and a dash of Cleveland, OH. Check out Reception Reports: May 28 – June 6, Reception Reports: June 7-14, as well as Reception Reports: June 15-17 for a more in depth look at the month’s reception. For more pics check out my Flickr galleries covering June 23-25 and June 26-28. Here are some of the main Tropo Highlights of June:

• Clearfield, PA’s WPSU (RF15) came in on June 15th with the Best of the Joy of Painting on WPSU’s Create subchannel.

• Rochester, NY’s low powered analog station WGBT-CA arrived on Ch. 40 (weak and very fuzzy) when CFTO’s digital signal was intermittently off the air on June 18th. (Commercial below was for Everest College.)

• Watertown, NY’s WWTI (RF21) showed up on June 25th. It always seems to come in during FX Caprara car infomercials!

• Cleveland, OH’s WEWS (RF15) came in showing Kaleidoscope with Leon Bibb and Marsha Mockabee from the Urban League of Greater Cleveland on June 26th. (When this decoded it took an extra minute for the PSIP to change on my Panasonic TV as the last RF15 decoded was WPSU, seen above.)

• Cleveland, OH’s WQHS (RF34) also arrived on June 26th with a promo for the telenovela Soy Tu Duena!

JULY

- On July 2nd I caught Syracuse, NY’s WSYR (RF17) in the morning before heading downtown for the Toronto Pride weekend. The pic below shows a promo for Bridge Street with hosts Chris Brandolino and Tanja Babich!

- I stayed in downtown Toronto from July 2nd to July 4th for the LGBT Pride weekend festivities! While many TV reporters were there chasing stories, I was running around chasing them! Below is a montage of the personalities I got pics of during the weekend. TOP: I met CP24’s Kumutha Ramanathan who was covering the Trans March. (CP24 is a great Toronto-based satellite/cable news channel.) MIDDLE: A cameraman for Global, along with Global Toronto reporter David Shum. BOTTOM: I also met CTV Toronto’s Naomi Parness, who was covering the impromptu Take Back The Dyke march, followed by the scorching hotness of CP24’s Gurdeep Ahluwalia, who smiled when I yelled “CP24! CP24!”

- During the Pride weekend, I stayed at the Econolodge hotel at Jarvis & Church St. in downtown Toronto. I brought a Zenith DTT900 digital box with me, plus a Channel Master 4221HD clone (the real one was safe at home.) I was astonished to find that I was getting some Rochester, NY reception on the bottom floor inside of the hotel room! Check out my face when I saw Faces of America on WXXI (RF16)!

Also take a look at the Insanity of the position my antenna had to be in to receive Rochester, NY’s WROC (RF45) inside the hotel! It’s right on the floor like any good Pride weekend reveler should be!

For the second year in a row my reception was good enough to pull in a live report from CBC’s Rick Mercer on the day of the parade! He was so excited to see my antennas that he pulled out a remote to see what was on. I also met Sonya Parrish and filmmaker Erin Davies, who brought her fab Fagbug to Toronto Pride. My pals and I marched with them and it was awesome. Check out my full coverage of the Fagbug experience and watch the documentary by Davies – it’s excellent! The last pic on the bottom right captures the fabulousity of CP24 reporter Nneka Elliott working the crowd in pink! (I have to give huge props and appreciation to CP24 for broadcasting the Pride parade live and giving it such great coverage on TV!)

- I came home from Pride just in time to see Baby GaGa on WXXI (RF16) as part of their special A Capital Fourth.

- On July 5th WUHF (RF28) provided coverage of a trial that still Merritts a lot of attention in Rochester. He was just in the Rahn place at the Rahn time, I suppose. The former Greece police chief’s son was also in trouble with the law around the same time, proving that two Rahns don’t make a right.

- Also on July 5th, I caught reception of Syracuse, NY’s WSYR in time to see a woman with a mascot for Pringles! Er…maybe not…Wendy’s Schoen us that the mascots are really named Scooch and Pops, and they’re ready to cheer on the Syracuse Chiefs baseball team.

- July 5th also brought in Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) with this awesome promo featuring reporter Liz Crawford. Her name is the best hybrid of classic Hollywood legends…I wonder if she busts open the WICU closet and screams “No wire hangers EVER!” before getting married eight times.

- July 9th brought a shakeup to ABC’s World News Now. Jeremy Hubbard left to take on a different role at ABC, and was replaced with Rob Nelson. I started enjoying the show in 2009 because of Vinita Nair and her banter with Hubbard, but Nelson has since impressed me with his hilarious take on celebrities. (Pic below as seen on Utica, NY’s WUTR, RF30, July 26th.)

- On July 11th I was jazzed to see a story about Rochester’s Gay Pride Week Kickoff on WROC (RF45) with Evan Axelbank reporting. On a sidenote, he should totally become a skating commentator! When an athlete does well on the ice, his image would multiply three times on screen and he could say “Now that’s a triple-Axel, and you can take that to the Bank!”

- I was flabbergasted when I saw my city pop up on the Pinpoint Doppler on Rochester, NY’s WHEC (RF10) on July 18th! Markham is listed on the map behind Josh Nichols, which surprised me, since they usually list Toronto instead. (Check out the close up in the second pic.)

- An interesting story was shown on Rochester’s WROC (RF45) on July 22nd. WROC photojournalist Chetan Rakieten was harassed when he was sent to cover the closing of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Irondequoit. Soon after, WROC reported on the incident as part of the station's “One Community, Many Faiths” series, which aims to open dialogue and understanding between various religions. (I was also lucky enough to meet Chetan during a trip to Rochester in November 2010.)

- Mr. A was awesome enough to snag us free tickets to the Lillith Fair Tour on July 24th. We saw many great musical acts, and I was very excited to meet the fabulous Tanya Kim of CTV’s eTalk. She was totally friendly and fun! I was also squealing with excitement when I met a Lillth Tour worker who was from – wait for it – Rochester, NY! I immediately told her that I loved her city’s TV stations. (She then told me she liked watching Canadian stations!) Last, but not least, Mr. A and I chatted up a fun lady we nicknamed “The Inside Scoop” because she sold ice cream along with Divalicious tales of other live performances she had seen at the concert venue.

It felt appropriate to see the Lillth Tour after seeing Sarah McLachlan all over various PBS stations throughout June. (See pic below from Rochester’s WXXI, RF16, as seen on June 26th.) I wonder if Sarah greets all her Lillith cohorts with that same expression, all “Heyyyy Girl! Wasssup?” The second pic comes from her performance during the tour!

- Only days later, Cleveland, OH’s WEWS (RF15) rolled in on July 28th with coverage of their booth at the Lillith Tour! Many WEWS personalities were on hand to sign autographs, and give away mini fans with the NewsChannel 5 logo on them. (Funnily enough, while Toronto’s Lillith Tour date was quite rainy, it was Hot in Cleveland during their Ohio stop!)

- Tropo for the month of July included more from Rochester, Syracuse & Utica, NY. Late in July there were a couple of strong days of Erie, PA and Cleveland, OH reception. I didn’t do any full on Reception Reports, but I did Flickr much of the month. Check out my Flickr galleries of TV DXing that cover July 2-4, July 7-11, July 12-17, July 18-25, July 26-27, and July 27-28. Here are some of my Tropo Highlights for the month of July:

• On July 11th I picked up WSPX on RF15 for the first time! WSPX is the ION affiliate from Syracuse, NY.

• The dopplar radar on Rochester, NY’s WHEC-DT (RF10-2) was totally insane on July 22nd! It was pouring rain but the tropo still came through!

• Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) had been experiencing transmitter problems throughout late June and early July. However, they bounced back mid-month and I saw lots of their newscasts, including the following edition with Jill Reale and Bill Worden on July 26th!

• July 27th was the first time I saw WSEE’s new anchor Dapper McHotkins…er…sorry, I mean Scott McDonnell. (Seen on Erie, PA’s WSEE on RF12-3.) It was also my first time seeing weatherman Joey Stevens on TV since meeting him in December 2009.

• Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) did a story about the closure of Moon Meadows Campground on July 27th. They featured this shot of an abandoned bed in a field which was crying out to be part of an edgy abstract art installation.

• Also on July 27th, some CanCon in the US popped up on Erie, PA’s WFXP (RF22) with a promo for a Toronto boat (Pathfinder and Playfair) that was part of the 2010 Tall Ships Erie festival.

• July 27th continued to be a nice night for tropo with Cleveland, OH’s WQHS (RF34) coming in with an ad for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission en Español. (One of the rare “local” ads for WQHS, as most programming seems to come direct from Univision.)

• Cleveland, OH’s WEWS (RF15) rolled in from late July 27th to early July 28th. I got to see a great promo for Good Morning Cleveland, followed later on by the actual show itself! (From the looks of it, the WEWS Divas Christine Ferreira, Kimberly Gill, and Patty Harken have backed Pete Kenworthy into a corner with an embarrassing question!)

• On July 28th I got to see a neat battle royale of American DTV versus Canadian Analog! A little after 5am Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) showed up with Kara Coleman and Mark Soliday delivering the morning news. Then several minutes later the signal dropped like a rock and CHEX (Peterborough, ON’s CBC station) took over. Soon, CHEX fuzzed over with DTV snow again and WICU came back with – wait for it – a health segment imported from CBC Halifax! (Check out the Canadian flag behind Michael Habib!)

- Near the end of the month I embarked on my annual camping trip with pals Mr. A and Brian. We went from July 30th to August 2nd and while I missed my local over-the-air reception, I found ways to squeeze some TV magic out of our journey! Here are some highlights:

• I wanted to use the following pic as an intro for my camping recap, but never got around to it. So here it is – Matt Molloy is on deck to help us pitch our tents! (Seen April 2nd on Rochester, NY’s WROC, RF45.)

• During the camping trip, my pals wouldn’t let me drain the car battery with my digital converter box, so I settled for bringing my portable Casio mini-TV. We were near Kingston, ON, so I was able to pick up CKWS on Ch. 11.

• On the drive back from the trip, I spotted a City TV news van in traffic next to us as we approached Toronto!

• During shopping for the camping adventure, Brian got us to buy a whole bag of apples from the supermarket. (Mr. A whispered that I should put them back, thinking we wouldn’t use them, and of course the bag travelled back with us unopened.) So I laughed when I came home on August 2nd and saw the following story on Rochester’s WUHF (RF28).

AUGUST

Tropo for the month of August included the usual suspects from Rochester, Syracuse & Utica, NY along with Erie, PA. Early August also brought some Cleveland, OH and Detroit, MI reception. Like July, I didn’t do any full Reception Reports, and I only did one Flickr gallery of Aug. 2 TV pics. So this August recap is going to be all about the reception! Here are some of my Tropo Highlights for the month of August:

- I came back from my camping trip thirsting for some long distance reception and was rewarded with a Four State Tropo explosion on Aug. 2nd! Here’s some of what popped in:

• Rochester, NY’s WROC on RF45 with 11pm news featuring Thad Brown, Kevin Doran, Maureen McGuire and Scott Hetsko!

• Cleveland, OH’s WEWS on RF15 with a Northern Ohio Ford ad!

• Erie, PA’s WBEP on RF12-2 showing a repeat of the WSEE evening newscast. This was my first look at the station’s relatively new hire Jamison Hixenbaugh, along with some arresting policemen, plus Scott McDonnell and Joey Stevens.

• Detroit, MI’s WDIV on RF45 made it’s first real appearance since January 2010! I got to see a great station ID under Carson Daly, followed later by their 4:30am newscast with the awesome Rhonda Walker and Andrew Humphrey. I actually wrote to Rhonda about how much I enjoyed her on the newscast that day and to my surprise she wrote back!

- August 3rd brought some interesting promos from Erie, PA’s WQLN (RF50) including their latest “Erie Style” bus tour, and a retrospective on the station’s history.

- August 3rd also brought the welcome appearance of meteorologist Julie Coates on WICU’s (RF12) evening newscast (alongside Amanda Post and Kevin MacDowell.) I was disappointed that she wasn’t a part of the 12 News Today morning show anymore, so I was happy to see her pop up on other newscasts over the Summer and Fall!

- It’s been awhile since I threw in a Diva glare from Telma Hopkins, so here she is! This was seen on the Aug 4th airing of Half & Half on Rochester, NY’s WUHF (RF28).

- On August 9th I posted my interview with Andrew Donovan from Utica, NY’s WKTV! Donovan gave some great insights into his role at the station and television news in general! Check out his excellent blog @AndrewDonovan or follow him on Twitter! (Photo below as seen on WKTV, RF 29 on Aug. 16, 2009.)

- On August 9th, Rochester’s WROC (RF45) ran a story about a soccer dad who was accused of bear hugging a player to break up a fight. I couldn’t believe he had the balls to do that! (Apparently the jury couldn’t believe it either!)

- Rochester, NY’s WHEC (RF10) wished good luck to reporter Linzi Sheldon on August 11th. Sheldon was moving on to Charlotte, NC’s WSOC. What piqued my interest is that she’s a Canadian, hailing from British Columbia! (You can still see her bio at WHEC with a short video of her.)

- Emily Matson was slinging drinks for charity at the wonderfully named Sloppy Duck Saloon as seen on Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) on August 11th! Check out that fierce NBC top!

- Speaking of sloppy, there was a very messy looking Doppler radar behind WICU’s Rob Wilson during his weather report on that same newscast.

- I was Head Over Feet on August 12th when I saw news of Alanis Morissette’s pregnancy on Rochester, NY’s WHAM (RF13). Shortly after, the fabulous Norma Holland had to curb her enthusiasm when talking to Doug Emblidge about how much she loved the Larry David sitcom and Alanis’ appearance on it.

- I’m probably one of the few people who gets excited to see the pledge drives on PBS stations (like the one below seen on Erie, PA’s WQLN Aug. 12th!) It’s one of the few times to see any of the “local” flavour of a PBS station.

There were several great moments from August 20th, so I’m giving them their own special segment below:

• I published my interview with the Divalicious sensation Pandora Boxx! Pandora was featured on Season Two of RuPaul’s Drag Race and quickly became my favourite contestant. (She had me at “Rochester, NY” and kept me with her fabulous performances!) I was lucky enough to meet her a few months later!

• I saw a unique promo for Survivor: Nicaragua shown on Erie, PA’s WBEP (RF12-2) focusing on Jill, an Erie resident who was competing in the series. This also doubles as a shout out to my close pal Felix, who hails from Nicaragua! Hola amigo!

• Erie’s WICU, WSEE and WBEP (RF12) wanted to get all up in viewer’s grills and give a prize for the ugliest one in this sizzling contest!

• Rochester, NY’s WUHF (RF28) ran a great promo for the WROC/WUHF weather team which includes Brian Neudorff, Scott Hetsko, and Bob Metcalfe! They’re an awesome team, and were ranked the most accurate in Rochester by WeatheRate!

• I caught part of the evening news repeat on Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) with Caroline Gable looking pretty in pink! (I was lucky enough to meet her in September and she was super sweet!)

- On August 21st, I got to see the Sunday night newscast on Rochester’s WROC (RF45). I was excited to see meteorologist Brian Neudorff on weather duties that night, alongside Thad Brown and Tina Shively. Brian talked about heavy rain during his forecast – as I watched through a wicked downpour in Markham!

I declared August 28th a Mega Tropo Day, which had so many highlights, they get their own section here:

• It just felt Wright to watch the Weekend newscast on Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) with Jill Reale, Emma Wright and Mike Levin!

• Hopefully no one had a case of sour grapes if they forgot to sign up for the Covered Bridges & Cabernet excursion that was part of WQLN’s Road Trips series. Then again, people with sour grapes will always find something to wine about. (Seen on Erie, PA’s WQLN-S1.)

• I totally recognized this scenario! A couple of older guys set up a camcorder, start talking to some hunky young athletes and then offer cash to try and convince them to….wait a sec….this is a promo for high school football? Whoops! I guess I fumbled that one! (Seen on Utica NY’s WKTV, RF29.)

• Erie, PA’s WQLN (RF50) had a great promo for Erie’s Heritage Festival with a logo of the one Erie channel I haven’t gotten digitally – WJET. (I may have a shot at WJET on RF24 when the Canadian DTV transition happens on August 31, 2011.)

• Utica, NY’s WUTR (RF30) showed this intoxicating promo for the Booz Allen Hamilton Golf Tournament which featured a great set of logos including the one Utica channel I haven’t picked up – WFXV on RF27.

• Watertown, NY’s WWTI (RF21) floated in with some real programming, including Hometime, plus a neat promo for their web site. Of course, later on they were back to FX Caprara infomercials!

There were also many highlights from August 29th which earn their own mini-section below:

• NBC was promoting their Fall shows, and I was very excited to find out that Parvesh Cheena puts the “out” in Outsourced! An interview with the star on After Elton declared that he “might be the first out Indian actor on U.S. television.” His co-star below was positively shocked by the news! (Promo seen on Erie, PA’s WICU, RF12.)

• Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) ran this awesome promo for 12 News Today with Kara Coleman and Mark Soliday. The digital signal was a tad choppy, but luckily most of the image sailed in!

• That morning I saw The Insider with Scott Bremner airing on WICU. Bremner’s guest was Barry Grossman, who talked about his desire to bring a community college to Erie. The polls shown in the second pic seem to suggest it’s still an uphill battle!

• A commercial break brought this gorgeous logo of WICU, which was featured in a promo for the upcoming football season!

• Later on, I got to see the evening news on Rochester, NY’s WROC (RF45) with a vivacious Ali Touhey & Bob Metcalfe, who looks like he’s ready to disco down at the desk!

• WROC also ran this puzzling promo for the new 4pm newscast featuring Matt Molloy, which was slated to debut in September! (I wouldn’t actually get to see it until November…so watch for my coverage in Part Three of my Year In Review. It’s a pretty cool show and Molloy does a great job of incorporating social media into a traditional newscast!)

The end of the month was approaching, but not before I heralded August 30th as another Mega Tropo Day! Here goes the highlights reel:

• Hamilton, ON’s CHCH (RF18) totally revamped their morning news with some busy graphics that take advantage of the extra space on a 16x9 screen. (See pic below with Bob Cowan, Annette Hamm and Lesley Stewart.) They also returned to a modernized version of their classic “colour burst” logo!

• I was jazzed to see three different NBC affiliates at the same time! First up was Rochester, NY’s WHEC (RF10) pictured below with Rebecca Leclair and Pat McGonigle.

• Next up was Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) with this great promo for 12 News featuring Emily Matson! I think Matson is a great reporter/anchor for both WICU and WSEE and enjoy when she pops up on their newscasts!

• Last, but certainly not least, was Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) with Don Shipman (looking sharp in glasses) and Bill Kardas (showing us his Southern Valleys)!

• I enjoyed that WKTV kept viewers up to date with info on the New York State Fair, which is held in nearby Syracuse, NY!

• I was surprised to see something so long popping out from under Don Shipman’s jacket! Wait a minute…I meant his tie you dirty minded readers! (I’m not even gonna ask if bears are included in the Furry Fitness Challenge! Also, check out that dog on the treadmill!)

• I also got to see part of Mornings Live on Erie, PA’s WSEE (RF12-3) with Ray Petelin and guest co-anchor Emily Matson. I have to say I love me some Ray Petelin in the morning...er…on television. (His wife is probably ready to hit me with her purse at this point!) But seriously, Petelin has a great sense of humour and creates fun banter with all of his co-hosts. (And he’s had many over the Summer since former co-anchor Stephanie Schelkun left for another station.)

• 2009 began what I hope to be a continuing tradition of seeing New York State Fair coverage live from Syracuse on WSYR (RF17)! WSYR was missing for much of late August until I saw their 11pm news on the 30th with Racquel Asa delivering Fair (and balanced?) coverage!

• Adding to the unique fondue of the Fair was Sarah Kaufman, also known as the “Cheese Lady.” They mention that she carved a “masterpiece,” but anyone who cuts the cheese on such a regular basis should have some impressive skills!

• WSYR was promoting their 2011 Storm Team Calendar which was selling for only $9. I ordered one, and I can safely say that it’s awesome!

• I started to feel my age when I saw this ad and thought, “WSYR is selling licorice with their call letters??? Cool!” Later on I realized that these were shaped bracelets (like “Silly Bandz”) - a fad that the “kids” are all over these days. (However, I probably would have adored these as a young person!)

• I also caught the evening news on Rochester, NY’s WHAM (RF13) with Don Alhart, Ginny Ryan, and Glenn Johnson. The station had been broadcasting on a temporary set for much of the Summer while the main one was under construction. The new set was intended for their HD broadcasts, which would debut in September.

• Later on, I got to see a repeat of the evening news from Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) with Bill Worden talking about the Summer’s final evening of Utica Monday Nite.

The month closed on August 31st with another burst of my favourite distant NBC affiliates! This reception included:

• Utica, NY’s WKTV (RF29) with Don Shipman and Megan Koskovich below.

• A great promo for WKTV’s 6pm newscast with Jason Powles, Kristen Copeland, Bill Worden and Adam Musyt!

• Erie, PA’s WICU (RF12) with Kara Coleman rocking a glam top, and Mark Soliday with a funky tie!

• Rochester, NY’s WHEC (RF10) and Rich Caniglia delivering the forecast with temperatures I can only dream of during the current frosty weather!

That wraps up a massive four months of events and reception mayhem! Stay tuned to TV Garth for the final part of my Year In Review which will cover September to December 2010!