OCTOBER 28, 2011
My excitement mirrored Vinita Nair's when I saw her return to TV on NBC's Early Today. I've liked Nair since her days on ABC's World News Now and was very happy to see her back on air. (Seen via Buffalo, NY's WGRZ, RF33.)
OCTOBER 29, 2011
During a repeat of Kathie Lee and Hoda's Today Show, I got to see skater Johnny Weir give a fierce as F$%$k performance to Lady Gaga's Poker Face. He werked that rink so Divatastically that I thought the ice would melt! Go Johnny Go! (Seen via Buffalo, NY's WGRZ, RF33.)
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
It was nice to usher in November with an appearance of the awesome meteorologist Scott Hetsko on FOX First At Ten. I love his lively forecasts! (Seen via Rochester, NY's WUHF, RF28.)
Even anchor Kevin Doran had to put his hands up for the Hetsko! (Seen via Rochester, NY's WUHF, RF28.)
WUHF ran a promo with the sassy and fun Maureen McGuire talking about the Scholastic Arts Spotlight alongside Frank H. Hamlin III and George W. Hamlin IV of the Canandaigua National Bank! The program was "created to recognize outstanding high school senior musicians, visual artists, dancers, and actors in the Greater Rochester Area."
Syracuse, NY's WSTM (RF24) came in very briefly, with Laura Hand popping up on their CNY subchannel. In Central New York, the Hand is always in demand!
The guy below certainly wouldn't be Excused if I were in charge of the show! (Seen via Rochester, NY's WUHF, RF28.)
NOVEMBER 5, 2011
I have to give props to the hunky George Stroumboulopoulos, seen below with Kermit the Frog. His talk show rocks and his interviews are pretty awesome! (Seen via Toronto, ON's CBLT, RF20.)
Rochester, NY's WROC (RF45) featured a hilarious parody of political attack ads with sports director John Kucko.
WROC's newscast featured more evidence of Stacey Pensgen's fierce fashion sense! Not only does the "Lady In Red" rock her ensemble, but she serves up a pretty cool forecast too!
Tina Shively introduced a segment about the sad passing of legendary newsman Andy Rooney during WROC's newscast.
Later on, Rochester, NY's WUHF (RF28) was airing a repeat of the awesome comedy New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel.
What I love about New Girl is how accurately it reflects situations I've experienced in my own life!
Over on Rochester, NY's WXXI-W (RF16-2) they were airing the "Sitcoms" episode of Pioneers of Television which featured a great segment about I Love Lucy with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz!
NOVEMBER 7, 2011
My eyes popped out when I got London, ON's CFPL (RF10) for the first time! From the looks of it, their signal was in full bloom!
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
Subchannels in Canada are very rare, which is why it was a surprise to see that Toronto's CIII (Global) added an SD subchannel on RF41-2.
Rochester, NY's WUHF (RF28) ran a promo for the Hometown Heroes segments airing on WROC during the lead up to Veterans Day. On a serious note, I was glad to see that stations are still recognizing the people that have fought for our rights.
Rochester, NY's WROC (RF45) ran this amazing Life Alert ad, where your call for help apparently gets time warped back to the 1980s! (Give them a decade or two to arrive at your home.)
NOVEMBER 9, 2011
Syracuse, NY's WSTM (RF24) made its last appearance of 2011 with Megan Coleman anchoring their morning news!
Niko Tamurian pitched his CNY Central Sports report to viewers that morning! Niko is awesome, and I was lucky enough to interview him recently!
WSTM's Matt Mulcahy has some impressive credentials, and writes an online blog called Matt's Memo. Check out Mulcahy delivering his Memo to AM viewers below.
Here's a great promo for an Ellen contest sponsored by WSTM! Love that golden "3" logo!
Who needs a 3D TV when meteorologist Peter Hall looks like he can climb through your television at any minute?
Brandon Roth was reporting live during WSTM's coverage of local Central New York elections.
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
Toronto, ON's CIII (RF41) featured a story on the iconic music store Sam The Record Man. I loved making trips to shop there when I was growing up, but sadly they closed in 2007. The story detailed how Ryerson University (who purchased the building) originally wanted to display Sam's historic signage, but has currently shelved those plans.
NOVEMBER 11, 2011
Hamilton, ON's CHCH (RF11) featured Morning Live: First Edition with anchors Jaclyn Colville and Tim Bolen wearing red in honour of Remembrance Day. (As a sidenote, Jaclyn is awesome and the next time there's a thunderstorm in her forecast, I want her to do a segment called "What's Cracklin' With Jaclyn!")
Like most Canadian personalities, CHCH's Sean Leathong wore a poppy to commemorate Remembrance Day.
CHCH also featured this a beautiful wreath of poppies during their Remembrance Day coverage. I'm glad that stations on both sides of the border still set aside time to honour the people who have fought so valiantly for our freedoms.
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
Rochester, NY's WXXI (RF16) was showing Tavis Smiley and his guest Ellen Barkin. She needs to have an autobiography or a one woman show called, "Barkin Up The Wrong Tree: My Life In Show Biz."
WXXI also aired a promo for the new documentary Women Who Rock featuring the Divatastic Mavis Staples.
Erie, PA's WQLN-S2 (RF50-3) arrived with NHK World News from Japan.
My reception of Erie, PA's WICU (RF12) was a bit sketchy, so I initially thought the station had bagged an interview with Albert Einstein! (Turns out it was an Albert of sorts - Al Messina of the Boys & Girls Club of Erie!)
Don't read too much into this interview with Bill Gonda, despite the fact that it's shot in a library!
Liz Crawford held an iPad as she delivered a story about Black Friday shopping during WICU's newscast.
Longtime anchor Kevin MacDowell anchored WICU's news that evening.
Though the signal was fading, I caught a nice Thanksgiving promo on WICU.
Erie, PA's WJET (RF24) came in briefly with coverage of the GOP candidates. I've heard of smear campaigns but this is ridiculous!
Erie, PA's WQLN (RF50) featured an interview with Diablo Cody during the "Misfits" episode of America In Primetime. Unfortunately, Pizzazz, Roxy, Stormer and Jetta weren't available to participate in the documentary series.
NOVEMBER 22, 2011
Toronto, ON's CFTO (RF9) showed Carson Kressley living out the dreams of many women and gay men by dancing with a Chmerkovskiy brother to Madonna's Vogue on Dancing With The Stars! (I admit, I was kinda jealous!)
Buffalo, NY's WKBW (RF38) featured a promo for a special report on Irv Weinstein. The legendary anchor helped turn "Eyewitness News" into one of the most recognizable brands in Western New York!
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
I caught part of the newscast on Kitchener, ON's CKCO (RF13) with Carla Fitzsimmons reporting!
CKCO's evening news featured some fun banter with sports director Randy Steinman, anchor Meghan Furman and weatherman Ross Hull! When viewers call the station with questions about the forecast, does the operator tell them to go to Hull?
Toronto, ON's CFTO (RF9) had eTalk on the set of Dancing With The Stars with Jessi Cruickshank interviewing the newly crowned winner J.R. Martinez!
At night, I saw Alliance, OH's WNEO (RF45) come in for only a few seconds!
Erie, PA's WQLN (RF50) also came in briefly with the special George Carlin: The Mark Twain Prize which celebrated the comedian's lengthy career.
NOVEMBER 24, 2011
Springville, NY's WBBZ (RF7) doesn't cop out when "This TV" airs arresting shows on their 67-2 subchannnel!
It certainly wasn't Payne-ful to see Clearfield, PA's WPSU-SD1 (RF15-2) airing an episode of the series For Your Home!
Johnstown, PA's WJAC (RF34) appeared in short bursts with Lindsay Ward anchoring their morning news!
DECEMBER 3, 2011
I was pretty astonished to see Johnstown, PA's WJAC (RF34) coming in during the early part of December! (WJAC is about 242 miles away from me!) I got to see adorable Christmas puppies on WJAC's MeTV subchannel!
Meteorologist Tony Martin appeared in a WJAC weather promo shown on their MeTV subchannel. Check out those wild names for towns at the bottom of the screen! Someday I'll have to check out "Black Lick"!
There was an updated version of WJAC's "Weather Coverage You Can Count On" promo with their revamped "6 News" logo. What I don't like about it is the removal of the WJAC call letters. Otherwise, it's pretty slick.
WJAC ran an ad for Cambria-Rowe Business College with their spokeswoman wearing an amazing off-the-shoulder butterfly outfit!
I also caught a festive looking ad for Wolf Furniture & Mattress on WJAC, which felt appropriate as I was wolfing down the last gasps of tropo for the year!
We close out 2011's Highlights reel with a great station ID for WJAC featuring meteorologists Jim Burton, Tim Tender and Tony Martin!
For the rest of December check out my Happy Holidays blog post!
That concludes my series of 2011 Highlights! If you missed any chapters, check out the following links:
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7
Stay tuned to TV Garth for even more television mayhem in 2012!
You got some nice pick ups there - some I've never had, others, like WQLN are almost regular for me in the summer. Surprised you've not had CFPL London before, though. I got it a few times last summer. My last day of good tropo was Dec. 12, when I got a number of the Cleveland and Erie channels. Had diddly squat lately.
ReplyDeleteHey Goldielover!
ReplyDeleteGlad you've been reading my recaps! (I was happy to get them done cause I was backlogged for so long!) I guess CFPL surprised me because I never really looked for it when it was in analog! (Way too much adjacent noise from CFTO.) Plus I was surprised it could overtake CKVR (at this point I've probably gotten CFPL and WHEC on RF10 more than CKVR, even though VR is closer than those two!)
Lately I've seen a *pinch* of tropo through February! Got CFPL again around Feb 6th, and mid-month WXXI came in a couple of times! I also got WUHF once! (When Rochester comes in, it's almost like the tropo version of waiting for the groundhog to announce an early Spring...heh...) Here's hoping for some great DX this year! :-)