Eat News

It doesn't really make sense for a company to own a standalone independent (who lags in revenue behind the top 4) unless it's part of duopoly.

Pretty sure KUSI is at or near the top of billing for San Diego TV stations. They have a ton more time for sale, and they get to keep all the local and national billing. They are usually booked solid. The KUSI financials are private and closely held.

Just because they don't re-invest in a new set or an "Uber5100" ride sharing breaking news tracker does not mean they are not making tons of money.

It gets better...

CH-6 has had the same problem for 3 years also....and they run the same info as KGTV...

When you call the station or email them they pretend the didn't know about the problem.

Now even better......

Seems KNSD has a similar problem just a different set of wrong "conditions and speeds"...

Empty stretches of highway at 6am all with speeds in the 30mph range. But when you look at the official state traffic site the speeds are 65-75mph. Even the stations traffic map contradicts the ticker at all 3 stations.

I bet if you looked in YOUR town you would find the traffic tickers as messed up as here.

I see. Thanks for the info. So in reality KFMB gets a nice return for minimum investment. Which would explain why they haven't done anything to force TTN or National to remedy the constant issues plaguing Chopper 8. I thought the chopper had a scanner. So with any breaking news or something pertinent coming in over the scanner, they have to defer to the assignment desk for info?

 

Channel 8 pretty much found a way to get the expensive chopper wars under control They get a promotional edge and that's about it. There is no longer any competition nor is there masssive spending. In the old days the helo was for getting that first video back from the rural areas. Sky 10 used to find lost kids in the Laguna Mtns, Newschopper 39 found kids lost in the desert. The pilots were Vietnam trained and were all kinda crazy. It was expensive, but you only flew for the good stuff, not the crap they fly on now.

 

Will FOX 5 get a chopper???

If they can get a ton of money or a sponsor to fund an AirENG operation it could happen.

Bring in an A-star, a hot chopper chick, and fly more hours than Chopper 8. Set the tone for some real chopper wars by out-flying KFMB to every stupid story. Do some serious promotion...land at schools, churches and go catch El Chapo. Put floats on the damm thing and go rescue whales. If you were 1000% serious about it, you could send the Chopper 8 and KFMB into a crazy auto-rotation.

 

 

 

 

Didn't KFMB's owners try several years ago to buy KUSI? Who would you see being a suitor for them? I'm still a bit surprised that Elizabeth Kimmel is still holding on to 8 with all these M&A's going on in the industry.

 

M&A's may be great for publicly held companies, but private held TV stations don't need to react to those things because they are not driven on the daily stock price of the company. Kimmel and Mc Kinnon are under no obligation to sell...nor in any rush from what we all know.

 

I don't know a thing about a KUSI / KFMB deal in the past since it was never on my radar.

I don't see KUSI selling anytime soon. San Diego likes it's local flavors...

KFMB and KUSI ARE Sooooo San Diego. FOX 5 has not earned "Local" status by any means yet.

 

Well, I guess KNSD won't have any more plugged toilets when they get their new building...

Things won't change because big egos have big union turds.

 

I'm surprised that Staab/NBC haven't forced more of a cooperation/synergy betweens at the O&O's, it sure would save them some travel expenses if they relied more on each other. To each their own, I suppose. Then again, i'm not sure that any other NBC O&O coming in town would want to use KNSD's crappy equipment. Feel bad for the folks at KNSD.

The best synergys just happen, you can't force them. KNSD will continue to kiss LA's ass just because some KNSD folks would like jobs at KNBC.

Wanna know who was the all-time worst NBC station in the entire network to deal with?????

KRON

I swear the network news division had a going away party for KRON at Los Arcos restaurant in Burbank....but they forgot to invite anyone from KRON.

Sorry...

I completely messed up the quotes so it's hard to tell what I wrote.

I will learn one of these days..

They really need new lower thirds for the V2 package but other than that it's probably in it for the long haul unfortunately... I wish the package had been complete when introduced in 2012 but they keep adding stuff they should have had in the first place to it...

Don't feel bad. The traffic ticker L3 at KGTV has been repeating the same wrong traffic conditions for over 3 years. Enjoy the fun!

Why doesn't Cox, Graham, or even Raycom buy KUSI? Also, KNSD seems to be NBCUniversal's red headed stepchild despite being close to KNBC (since San Diego is geographically LA's neighbor).

Because Dan McKinnon has not been offered enough money. He know who to call if he want's to sell.

KNSD could care less if KNBC payed attention to them. KNBC is one big pain in the ass. When the news crews from KNBC come to town they clog the toilets at the station. They always want video and free tickets to the zoo and Seaworld. If KNSD calls and ask for any favors they say "we are too busy right now Kim Kardashian just sat on her baby".

KNSD don't need anything from KNBC. Way back when it was KCST-39 KNBC was still one giant pain in the ass to old channel 39. Borrowing a sat truck is like pulling teeth as is just about any assistance in resources.

Why do they need more [new] live trucks? It's not like they have a big staff of reporters anyway. When Corsini took over at GM, I thought that he would give them a chopper. Maybe down the line?? but they would really have Southern California covered if KSWB had its own bird...

 

Re. KNSD: Several weeks ago, I stumbled across one of the social media pages of a photog at 7, and he had posted a pic of the former newschopper 7/39. Reminiscing about the good ol' days, I suppose, but no indication that they would be getting their own chopper back.

 

Do you know anything about the helicopter sharing agreement? like for example, can a station get out of the agreement at any time or do they have to give an X-Amount of time notice, or are they bound by to stay for a certain amount of time (i.e. one year, two years, six months, etc.)?

TTN contracts with National for X many flight hours, pilot, reporter and maintenance.

Total Traffic Network (TTN) provides traffic reports and news video to KFMB in exchange for avails that TTN sells on their own for whatever they can get. The rest of that part of the contract is confidental.

KFMB then makes the video during the agreed upon flight hours available to the subscribers. It may be cash, trade, exchanges etc. The terms of those contracts are also confidential and can be based on different formulas.

You pretty much get video only...no sound. KFMB decides when to launch when it's breaking news. It fly's pretty much along the lines of the KFMB daytime newscast. Subscribers have very little input on deployment.

It's a crappy bird, and the stations really only get "barely acceptable" coverage due to the limitations of the platform and pilots with low hours in media craft and they only make about $15 per hour. There are 2 shifts and a little office/hanger at Gillespie field. There is a broadcast audio line for traffic reports when the bird is grounded.

Chopper 8 is missing one very important piece of news gathering equipment that every other real ENG copter usually has.....

No police/fire scanner.

jeez!

The KTLA bird has 2 of them!

I'm surprised that National Helicopter does not have a backup chopper of their own to use. I remember the days, (before every station decided to share a chopper) when Chopper 8 went down, KFMB was screwed and had no use of the helicopter.

 

I really enjoy the nice crisp and steady pictures from the backup chopper. Here's hoping they can keep it at some point.

Watching the station feed this week I could tell the pilot was having fun getting from point to point twice as fast. They also got to hover like real choppers do.

Ohhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh!

Can't be any worse than WJZ's outback which consists of a few mishmash end plants against the woods. Here's an image:

 

Looks like the elves got drunk.

I just googled the cubs.

Now that was painful and traumatic.

Apparently KARE's backyard was renovated and after a two months of construction it was revealed on 23 September. It's 1/3 of the size of their previous back yard and features a pond less waterfall, a natural gas grill and fireplace, new pavers that can absorb water to prevent run off and new furniture. The only thing I'd add would be a heated patio so they don't have to shovel the Minnesota snow.

 

http://www.kare11.com/story/life/home-garden/grow-with-kare/2014/07/22/new-kare-11-backyard-features/12994941/

It's a nice look and nice execution with the ad tie-in.

You should see some of the crappy "outdoor sets" in use in CA. A few redwood slats, astro turf and aluminum lawn chairs are the norm here.

WBBM is going to have a vacancy in their daytime lineup at 2pm starting next summer. Queen Latifah is not being renewed. Not really sure what they'll put there or anything yet.

Just leave it blank...

Call it "WBBM Time Out". Provide it as a public service to parents of naughty little boys and girls as punishment. Since you can't hit the kids anymore...

"Go watch time out you little brats!". Single moms will say...

Maybe it will make a dent in the Chicago gang problem.

It's safe to say 8 out of 10 people would have never noticed the graphic had it not been pointed out to them.

It's a bit confusing since Phil Konstantin lists Total Traffic Networks as his employer, yet the helicopter is listed on National Helicopter's website. Are they the same company?

Total Traffic is part of I Heart Media or former Clear Channel....or The Former Metro Networks (aka) Metro Traffic Control.

There are 2 different companies...Everyone that reports from Chopper 8 is a TTN employee. KFMB employees are not authorized to fly in Chopper 8.

You are correct that national owns the actual airship.

I wonder how much it's costing the stations to keep renting out that A-Star, while Chopper 8 is down for maintenance? Heck, KFMB upgraded some of its tower cams to HD, maybe they can get working with the chopper's owner to get it replaced. It's been down, how many times this year?

The A-Star is provided as a replacement at no extra charge when the problem is on the platform equipment. The cost comes out of the pocket of Welk or Angel Air or whoever is the provider for Clearchannel / IHM or whoever owns former Metro now.

I bet N925tv has the answer to that.

KFMB Chopper 8 in the borrowed A-Star till further notice while the camera in the Jetranger is "Fixed"....again.

I watched about 20 minutes of Tuesdays show and it was still a disaster. I don't know if they have a new crew in the control room as there were constant problems with mikes not being live at the right time (Anne saying out loud, "I can't hear you" into a live mike and then talking to Joe Little at his desk and having his mike go very hot and hers off) New guy Ariel showing a live shot from the flooding road behind Fashion Valley and having no idea where it was or that this is a typical event. (Ariel on set with suit but no tie look though every other male anchor/reporter had a tie on.)

It was like watching someone trying to feed steak to a baby.

They seem to be trying to create some synergy where there really is none at the time. Just wait till that week between Christmas and New Years when absolutely nothing is going on news wise. How will they fake the rush?

I thought the first show was a disaster. It was artificially "fast paced" and it showed. Just because you have a new set it does not mean you need to move every 6 seconds.

USE A STEADICAM!!!!

What are they gonna do on a slow news day??? Smoke some crack to get revved up??

They actually should have that hyper Virgina Cha anchor "The Now" and for gawds sake....

Get rid of the "Weather Pinata", she just does not do a thing for me...move her to the weekend am show and let me oggle over Kristine Keogh at least.

BTW I didn't realize how polish KARE 11 News product is. It doesn't seem too Gannett-ish/TEGNA-ish if that make sense.

I find it more Estonian or French. I'm sure G/T is aiming for more of a Dutch / Finland look...but Polish is grand too.

And i'm sure more changes are on the way. This station for the last 5 years or so has had A LOT of turn over.

 

 

 

Yeah, it's a big loss. I'm guessing that had they offered Dan the 4pm show, he probably would have stayed. Honestly, he deserved it. Cristin was a top notch investigative reporter. Plus, they were really well liked. They still have Alison Ash and Melissa Mecija on TEAM 10. Although, I have yet to see any openings to cover Cristin's spot. Maybe they'll have Ariel do that? Who knows. If KNSD was smart, they'd try and poach Alison away from 10 for their own I-Team.

 

 

The entire "investigate unit" is a complete joke. Christin Severence just did not move the needle.

She never broke any earth shattering stories since most were spoon fed from other Scripps outlets. Choice of wardrobe and delivery/ execution was marginal at best.

Remember the unit was gutted last year with the loss of JW and the EP of the unit.

Calling any of the 10 News "investigators" by that title is really another lie and dis-service to the viewers.

What formal "Investigator" training have any of the 3 had??? NONE!

Allison Ash gets a pass for real experience in the field...but Melissa and Christin have zero courthouse, legal, criminal or civil process experience....

 

Thus is why the 10-news I-team only sticks to lost puppys and crazy viewer emails for stories.

Came across this today...

[MEDIA=flickr]20375015113[/MEDIA]

 

I guess after months and months of testing the Nissan live truck, they finally decided on getting one.

It's the Brave Little Toaster!

It's KGTV 's first ever female New Director. she lopped off heads a few months back, now she is bringing in her own picks.

Based on this Facebook post from KBAK, it looks like Dave Gonzales is no longer just temporarily filling in and has officially joined the Eyewitness News team. Also, KBAK has poached another anchor from a rival station with former KGET 6pm anchor Rachelle Murcia joining the station to co-anchor with Dave on the evening newscasts. Last month, Erin Briscoe left the KERO morning show to join KBAK for the same duties.

Now just add NBG as the new GM and Doug Dougherty (sp) as the operations director...and you got the old band from San Diego(KCST) and LA(KCBS/KCAL) back together. They may actually do some serious damage to KGET and KERO. Can they get Doug from KGW?

 

I'd like to see DART try the "Transit TV" with original content plus content from NBC (with local news from KXAS and KXTX, and clips from NBC and Telemundo, among other NBCU properties). BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, not Bart Simpson) should try it out too (also with content from NBC, via KNTV and KSTS).

 

We won't know until Monday during the MTS rollout how the new system will operate, but they will want to avoid the "Jailhouse" TV problems when the English speakers and Non- English speakers duke it out in the isles over what telenovella to watch.

 

Renee Nelson will be the morning Live Center anchor:

 

Anne State could fit as an anchor for The Now, she knows the San Diego scene well and could articulately host the hour; if so, I wonder if they plan to pair her up.

 

 

FTVLive reports anchor Renee Nelson is heading to KGTV San Diego from KTVZ in Bend, Oregon. But she's not the only one heading from Oregon to SoCal: recent posts on her Twitter timeline suggest Anne State is also going to KGTV. She was most recently at KOIN in Portland, and previously worked in San Diego at KNSD from 2002 to 2008.

 

I hope there will be cupcakes.