Reception Reports: June 15-17, 2010 with Rochester, Utica, & Syracuse, NY plus Erie & Clearfield, PA!

Greetings TV Garth readers! This report covers the warm blast of reception from Rochester, Syracuse and Utica, NY along with Erie and Clearfield, PA observed from my Markham, Ontario home during June 15-17, 2010. Grab a snack and enjoy this recap of news, station promos and wacky commercials!

June 15, 2010

Erie, PA's WICU (RF12) made it through for the morning news, which included Emily Matson's report on several drug busts that took place at the time.



I think I must have softened because I actually like Kara Coleman now. (I still miss Jill McCormick, but Kara is good.) Kara appears below with Mark Soliday on 12 News Today.



World Cup soccer was reaching fever pitch in the Toronto area, but in Erie...er...not so much.



One highlight was a promo for the Saint Vincent Hospital's CMN fundraiser with Lisa Adams and Mike Ruzzi! Adams is a long time veteran of WICU, but I've never been able to see her on their newscasts. (For whatever reason I rarely get reception of WICU on the weekend, which is when she anchors the news.)




It's always good to see Brian Neudorff on Rochester, NY's WROC (RF45) with the weather report! Love the colourful tie he sports in the pic below!



The more elusive WFXP (RF22) from Erie, PA popped up briefly with Shepherd's Chapel.



I love watching Mornings Live With Stephanie & Ray! Even though Stephanie left earlier this Summer (and she was very good) I still enjoy Ray Petelin and his quick wittted quips. (Seen via 12-3 WSEE Erie, PA.)



CanCon in the US alert! It's an ad for Tim Horton's seen via Erie's WSEE (RF12-3)! I love how the chain has created a strong presence for itself in Western New York and surrounding areas. After visiting Erie last December, though, I think Tim's has a long way to go before overtaking Country Fair!



It was a surprise to see Clearfield, PA's WPSU decode on RF15. It's about 195 miles away from me, but generally more rare to catch than other stations. I also love the wonderfully punny title for this ep of Cyberchase.



WPSU also has PBS Create and World subchannels. Charlie Rose was airing on the World subchannel (RF15-3).



The Best Of The Joy Of Painting (seen on WPSU's RF15-2) features Bob Ross and his unintentionally hilarious instructions. Imagine a husky, yet smooth voice imploring you to "Touch it...tap it...just TAP it..." Of course, he's talking paint (and his painting is awesome) but if you heard that out of context...that'd be a whole other type of picture he'd be painting.



WROC featured Katrina Irwin talking to Megan Backus about the Rochester Broadway Theater League choosing Midtown for the location of a new theater to be built!



Evan Dawson was playing a different tune on WHAM (RF13) with his report on the Rochester Jazz Festival.



Cue up some ZZ Top! Rebecca Leclair and Renee Martinez have legs and they know how to use them on WHEC's Noon news (RF10.)



Diva alert! I love Margaret Cho (and have seen her perform live in Toronto many times) so I was excited to see her pop up on the daytime version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (seen via WHEC on RF10.)



Crazy Commercial alert! I almost fell off my chair when I saw an ad that showed bongs for sale. (I was waiting for Mrs. Garrett from Facts of Life to run out screaming about stores that sell these to kids.) But these are marketed for flavoured tobacco, so it wasn't as radical as I initially thought. Still an odd and quirky ad to see in the early evening. LOVE the punny tag line "We'll hook you up!" I'm hookah'd on this ad! (Seen via Rochester's CW-WHAM on RF13-2.)





Robin De Wind breezed through and stole the show on WHEC's Sportscast this evening. (Seen via RF10.)



Syracuse's WSYR-2 (RF17-2) popped up with a repeat of their locally produced show Bridge Street. Chris Brandolino and Tanja Babich talk about the Summer Solstice before inviting out the Oswego Valley Fiddlers! Those folks don't play around (unless, of course, they get invited to perform somewhere)!




Rochester's WUHF (RF28) popped up for their 10pm newscast, featuring the handsome Matt Molloy! Molloy now hosts WROC's first 4pm newscast. (Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to see that one yet!)



WROC/WUHF's Chief Meteorlogist Scott Hetsko was also on deck for the Fox First At Ten weather report!



Rod Wood schools Central New Yorkers on how their educational institutions ranked on WSYR's 11pm newscast (Seen on RF17.)




Dave Longley is WSYR's Chief Meterologist, and this is as good a place as any to mention that I ordered their 2011 weather calendar and it is wonderful! Appropriately enough, it's only $9! Click here to order your own copy!



Steve Infanti is still my Chief Syracrush!



I was totally floored by the following ad on WSYR!



I'm impressed that WHAM specifically includes "sexual orientation" in its list of employment protections. I know that should be a given these days, but it still isn't present in many organizations.



Hot In Cleveland was sizzling with buzz on Entertainment Tonight (seen via Rochester's WHAM on RF13.) Gotta love a show that features Jane Leeves, Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Betty White!




The following picture of Taylor Lautner is both magical and inappropriate in so many ways. I mean, I'm not complaining that he's shirtless and sucking on a bottle of water with his crotch thrusting out. I just feel a tad skeezy for noticing all that right away when I see the pic! (seen via WHAM on RF13.)



June 17, 2010

Rochester's WROC (RF45) profiled a high school that was in danger of closing. I hope they made De Sales necessary to stay open for the public!



WROC also covered the funeral for Andrew Langston, one of Rochester's radio pioneers. Click here to read a great article from Scott Fybush's NorthEast Radio Watch covering Langston's remarkable achievements and history with WDKX.



Since I was a kid, I've known Channel 13 to be the setting of fierce co-channel battles between Kitchener's CKCO and Rochester's WHAM. When WHAM moved back to 13 after the US DTV transition, the battles continued. In the early part of the evening I saw CKCO's news with Trisha Owens.



However, later that same night, Rochester's WHAM took over with their digital signal! (On a sidenote, I wonder if WHAM will still be able to overtake CKCO when the longtime Kitchener station converts to digital.)



Rochester hasn't looked this fabulous since Pandora Boxx was representing the city on RuPaul's Drag Race! (Seen via WROC on RF45.) This woman is speaking for Rochester Kids First, but schools us all on how to be fierce!



I also caught a rerun of Star Trek: The Next Generation on CW-WHAM (RF13-2) with Denise Crosby getting a head start on the work she'd be doing later in the Red Shoe Diaries.



It was also fun to see a repeat of Seinfeld (in HD!) on Utica, NY's WKTV (RF29) with Elaine hopped up on medication!



Bucky makes a Dent in WKTV's advertising! I recently passed through Utica and saw this same ad for an autograph session with the Yankee's legend posted in Carmella's Cafe. (Full report on that road trip coming soon!)



Then there was a wonderful promo for WKTV's Wheel Deal contest that takes place during their airings of Wheel of Fortune!






I also saw the 4am repeat of WKTV's evening news with Adam Musyt, Bill Worden and Jason Powles. Whenever I catch WKTV, I Musyt forget to check out their newscasts! (I also love the old school WKTV mug that Bill Worden uses on air!)



Early Today followed WKTV's news at 4:30, and note the hilarious way the BP flower is placed, so it looks like Tony Hayward's wearing it.



Stay tuned to TV Garth for more Reception Reports and TV related fun!

Click here for the full Flickr set of pics covering my reception from June 15-22, 2010.

Pic of the Day: WJAC

Since I've been so horrible with regular updates, I'm going to try a more brief format where I highlight a "pic of the day". Today's pic is WJAC (RF34) from Johnstown, PA, approximately 242 miles away from me. I picked up this station for the first time Sept 19th, and then picked it up two more times this month! The pic featured is from Sept. 21st where I got to see a few minutes of their morning news. (I love station ID shots!)

TV Garth Presents: An Interview With Pandora Boxx!

Pandora Boxx (a.k.a. Michael Steck) hails from Rochester, NY and was one of the breakout stars from Season 2 of the Logo TV series RuPaul's Drag Race. The talented performer won a legion of fans (affectionately dubbed "Fandoras") via Drag Race, and is touring America with her sassy cocktail of glamorous humour. TV Garth was lucky enough to interview Pandora about Drag Race and her various creative endeavours, as well as her former "day job" at Rochester TV stations WROC and WUHF! So read on and dig a little deeper into Pandora's Boxx!


Garth Jensen: What started your interest in drag, and who were your biggest inspirations?

Pandora Boxx: I find inspiration in so many people! I love when you see a beautiful woman who is a complete goofball. People like Goldie Hawn and Cameron Diaz or Jenny McCarthy. There are also the comic greats like Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Madeline Kahn and Bea Arthur. I think Pandora is a big infused ball of great comedic ladies past and present.

GJ: You managed to be fun, flashy and entertaining on RuPaul's Drag Race without resorting to the pettiness that some of the other competitors have displayed this season. Was there any added pressure or anxiety for you to compete within that atmosphere?

PB: Yes there definitely was. I think you may be able to tell by the faces I make or some of the little comments I made who was really getting on my last nerve. In the end, I tried not to let some people's extremely negative behavior influence me. I wanted to be on RuPaul's Drag Race to get my drag out to a national audience and hopefully to make people laugh. It's all about karma, baby. The way some people chose to act on the show, I think, will eventually come back to bite them in their ass.

GJ: At TV Garth there's a lot of love for Rochester, NY televison stations! Can you tell me a bit about your former "day job" working at Rochester's WROC and WUHF?

PB: I was a video editor and photographer by day... I know, it sounds so butch! I don't work at the station anymore because I quit to do drag full time and travel. But I really enjoy editing and creating videos. I actually have my own internet show called "The GAY (means happy) SHOW!" that people can check out at youtube.com/gayshow. I love the creativity you can have when editing and watching something come to life!


Michael Steck, at his former job working on a WUHF promo.(Photo credit: rochesterhomepage.net)
GJ: I was quite impressed with the support you received earlier this year from WUHF when they showed a segment about you working for the station and your career as Pandora. How does that support feel, and what is the drag/gay scene in Rochester like overall?

PB: It was actually a bit of a process to get the story to run, but when it did it was the second highest viewed web video (preceded by a weather warning) and the station received so many e-mails supporting the story. So many people were glad that they were running a positive LGBT story on the news for a change. Everyone was running stories on Snooki coming to town but a hometown drag queen being on a hit TV show wasn't even on their radar. It was so great to finally have it run and have such a big payoff. It became not about me, it really became about representing our LGBT community. I'm very proud of it.

GJ: In addition to your fabulous performances, you're also a writer! What drives your creative process and what literary Boxx would you put yourself in?

PB: I love to write! When I was a shy kid, it was my only escape. I could write everything I was feeling. Now I write for fun! I recently wrote a play called "The Lipstick Massacre" which was produced in Rochester and had four sold out shows during its initial run. It came back to Rochester for 13 additional performances from May 27 to June 12 at the Geva Theatre Center. It was so exciting to see my play come to life and also star in the production. My next goal is to bring the play to NYC. It looks like NYC may actually happen, but we are still in the initial phases. Keep your fingers crossed everyone!

GJ: Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race recently aired in Canada on Out TV. (That season is currently being rerun on the network as well as streamed through their site.) Do you have anything you'd like to say to your Canadian audience?

PB: I love, love, love Canada! Rochester is about two to three hours away from Toronto and I visit there quite frequently. I truly love Toronto. It's a beautiful city.

GJ: I, along with many others, were very disappointed when you faced an early elimination on RuPaul's Drag Race. How did the outpouring of affection for you and fan support feel in the aftermath of that?

PB: It felt amazing. It truly did. I was just hoping people would care that I got kicked off and boy did they. Logo got quite a few hate e-mails! I am truly blown away by that outpouring of affection and I feel truly blessed to have so many people support me. Thank you everyone for making me feel great about getting kicked off! Ha!

Pandora dazzles the crowd at a performance in Salt Lake City, Utah(Photo credit: thatguygil.com)
GJ: After the elimination, you've been touring around America to many different cities. How has that been, and what's the craziest experience you've had while being on the road? As well, how can we get you to make a Canadian appearance?

PB: I have been a whirlwind tour across the States! I've been to so many places that I've never been before. I feel so lucky and thankful. I've visited so many amazing places and met even more amazing people. The traveling part can be a bit hectic, like when you have five hour delays. Yuck! But getting to meet all of the fans of the show and to see just how much people love it, is amazing! There are always touches of crazy wherever I go, but one of the oddest things said to me was by this guy in Baltimore who said, "I loved you on that Tyler Perry Show!" I'm wondering who the hell he thought I was... Madea? I hope not!

I would love, love, love to come to Canada! I love it so much there. All you have to do is find a venue who'll pay my fee and I'm there! I'm an easy whore. Ha!

GJ: You are currently appearing on the new Logo series RuPaul's Drag U. Can you tell me a bit about that show and what it has been like to appear on it?

PB: RuPaul's Drag U is a fabulous show where we transform biological women into drag queens. It's women who feel like they've lost their Inner Divas for some reason and through the art of drag we make them feel fabulous about themselves again, or in some cases for the first time ever. It was truly powerful. I am happy people are loving the show. Everyone wants to feel fabulous and that's what's at the heart of this show.

We shot the show while Drag Race was on the air so when I got eliminated I was doing Drag U. I was doing all these interviews about my elimination and they would ask if I was upset and I couldn't say, "Hell no! I'm on another show, bitch!"

I definitely felt more relaxed being on Drag U because I wasn't competing. Once I found out I couldn't be eliminated I said, sign me up!

A big thank you to Pandora Boxx for talking with TV Garth and a big thank you to Michael Barrett from Logo for helping set it up!

Check out Pandora online at http://www.PandoraBoxx.com, as well as her Twitter and You Tube! (And don't forget to check out Pandora's Gay Show, also on You Tube!)

(Photo credits: pandoraboxx.com / rochesterhomepage.net / logotv.com / thatguygil.com )