On October 25 2010 WPEC will join the very early morning news fad by expanding their morning newscast to 4:30 am. WPTV was the first station locally to push back up the start of their morning newscast by 30 minutes, then Palm Beach ABC affiliate WPBF followed. In Miami, WPLG launched a 4:30am newscast recently as well. Strangely again missing from the party is WSVN which put a re-run of ‘7News at 11pm’ on at 4:30am.
Television stations across the country are tripping over themselves announcing they too are on with news at 4:30 am which is probably why New York’s CW affiliate WPIX upped the ante last month by pushing their newscast to 4am instead! If it works for them you know what that means, early morning news at 3am.
The Boston Globe recently panned the early morning news calling it nothing more than “[…] junk, pillaged from the previous evening’s late broadcasts, or recycled from video syndication services”. According to them the four Boston stations are splitting about 51,000 viewers.
Having seen a good chunk of ratings numbers a year or so ago it would safe for me to assume that South Florida doesn’t have that many viewers up at 4:30am in South Florida who’re watching anything on TV. Especially considering how at 5am most all stations had ratings that started with a zero. 1 ratings point for South Florida is 15,805 households.
“WPTV was the first station locally to push back the start of their morning newscast by 30 minutes…”
I think you meant WPTV was the first station to push UP the start.
Every market is different. One thing to note is that many CBS stations (O&O’s and affiliates) don’t air 4:30 am newscasts. Since WPIX started a 4am newscast, I’m sure KTLA will follow soon.
KRIV, the Fox O&O in Houston has had a 4am newscast a lot longer than WPIX.
I wasn’t sure where to post this since there are no recent postings about WTVJ, but I will put it here and hopefully, you can relocate it to a more appropriate place. This is a reaction to what I have seen happen to WTVJ, what used to be Channel 4 and one of the best news stations in the State over the past 25 years.
In a few years, WTVJ will not exist. NBC or Comcast or Post newsweek, whoever takes control will get rid of the newsroom and realize that WTVJ adds nothing positive to the journalism pool. They will rebroadcast their news, or NBC will just become a venue for all their primetime shows and cable shows on a local channel.
If you think about it, NBC6 can’t even effectively cover the Miami news. They have no helicopter, they have very few live trucks, they are stuck way out in the Everglades..(Miramar) and they have one of the weakest production staffs and assignment desks in South Florida. As a fellow journalist and news director of a top rated station in this market told me one day, “NBC6 is a travesty.”
I have used examples and air checks from Channel 6 to show my journalism students how not to report the news. I think the downfall all started when new NBC management moved in and ruined it for everyone. I remember hearing about this woman named Yvette Miley. She was an example of a problem in television journalism today. She is black, a woman and a lesbian, so NBC jumped at the chance to put her in a management position. But they never looked at her real qualifications. jennifer Valoppi, a former news anchor at NBC6 said publically at an NBC party that Yvette Miley was a failure at producing an effective and decent newscast. This problem also exists on air. A few years ago, NBC put a guy named Demarco Morgan on the anchor desk. He was a black version of Ron Burgundy. He was awful, generic and even faked a cry when Obama was elected. But, NBC management said to their staff that Miami needs one black and one hispanic anchor on TV and Yvette Miley was even heard saying that there were no rooms for whites on Miami television.
So what did they do with Miley? They moved her to MSNBC in New York and created some special position for her. They paid him much less than the white anchors and when he complained that he was too good for Miami. I have only heard this from an NBC source – Miley helped move him to New York to be a terrible anchor on NBC’s flagship station. I think they have since removed him from the desk.
Now they have Kermit the Frog anchoring the news. You would think thsi guy Kevin Corke would have a better delivery and more experience, since he worked for MSNBC years ago. But, no. He is a generic news anchor with no zest. Nothing about him makes you want to watch. He thanks all the reporters after their stories as if we need to be grateful that they even covered the story. His banter is generic and his salary is nothing to talk about, according to agents that I know. If he knew that white anchors before him were making 350 to 700 thousand per year, he may sue NBC for discrimination.
Then you have Jackie Nespral as the main anchor at the station. NBC6 sets her up to fail. It is obvious that they want their anchors to walk around and adlib, but Jackie can’t do that. They tried to put her out “live” at some Cuban festival once and she bombed, because she had no script and she is not a live reporter. her banter always sound slike she really cares when we all know she doesn’t. This si something management shoudln’t do if you’re good. You put your anchors in situations where they shine, but NBC producers eeem to like making her crash and burn.
The other major problem with NBC is they can barely get a newscast on the air. Every day there are major flubs, from Trina Robinson talking about a producer kicking her ass when her mic was left on to anchors with no mic and stories that don’t roll. I know this is due to some new system in place, but NBC has had it for three years and they still can’t get it right. Don’t do a show where it needs to eb all about banter and ad-libbing and put anchors up there that can’t banter or adlib.
I know NBC6 has a good production crew but this was another rash decision by management and it has hurt the station. NBC6 also brags that they are in HD, like other stations these days. But, NBC6 is not truly HD. Their monitors are all SD monitors, they set is not made for HD. Why would you shoot your studio with HD cameras and use that HD camera to film a reporter sitting in an SD monitor? HD will only make an SD monitor or sloopy set look more sloppy. Then there are there field cameras. They are no HD, so why would you put standard definition video on an HD newscast?
I would love to hear what other people think on this blog? How about the 11am Today in SF Show? The three woman who anchor it, Trina, Roxy and Shiri, can’t adlib, yet the show is designed around a non-TelePrompter look. I know Trina can do it but she is surrounded by girls who just got out of college. Nothing is done to help these small market college kids get better. NBC6 is not a garden where inexperienced journalists grow. It is a cesspool where those journalists will die off slong with the station.
The bottom line is NBC6 can’t compete. They have made some terrible decisions by getting rid of anyone wo gave that station identity. Pam Giganti is one the only people who I can watch anchor the news, but her newscast is so bad and so full of confusing graphics and cliches that I can’t watch it. You would think someone at the top would stop this and say, “Lets make ti better and help make who we have work better.” That isn’t being done.
Think of what NBC6 was years ago and what made them good. Tony Segreto – knew this town and people liked him. Bob Mayer – been here for 40 years and did effective consumer stories and gave the morning news the credibility and brains it needed. Kelly Craig – one the the funniest and quick witted anchors around. Lonnie Quinn – one of the best morning personalities who people liked to look at a laugh at or with. Joel Connable – one of the best live reporters and ad libbers I have ever seen on the anchor desk. Michael Williams – one of the most experienced political journalists and solid storytellers in South Florida. Nick Bogert – one of the top political reporters in Florida. Paul Deanno, a smooth, qualified weatherman who actually made weather interesting. I know there are many more, but who is left that is great or fun or unique to watch? Pam Giganti, Hank Tester, Ari Odzer, Amara Sohn, Adam Kuperstein and…and…and….I think that’s it.
One side note. Why would you promote John Morales, one of the top Spanish weathermen to the top position at an English station? No one who watches NBC knows him.
And, don’t get me started on this Daily Connection show. That is a recycled piece of crap where NBC6 is just trying to make something out of nothing because New York dumped it in their laps. Here’s a piece of advice – don’t put a black news anchor in a dark corner to anchor a show. You can’t see him. Watch if you haven’t seen it. And, if you haven’t seen the ratings, they are getting hash marks at that time as well as the lowest ratingss in the market. You know your bad when you are an English station but you rank lower than the Spanish stations. My rant is done. I know many of you are saying “Thank God” right now. But a discussion about what is wrong with NBC and a protest that it must be better may be interesting for readers of this blog. Thank you.
Very well put. Your rant was harsh, but it needed to be said. I think I was one of your students (if you are who I think you are) and you are right on the money. As someone who works for one of WTVJ’s competitors and has to watch their product, I’ve seen them slide for years. Everything from the production to the editorial decision-making is just BRUTAL. But – what is the solution???
I hope Admin or Alex makes this a separate post so we can discuss.
Miramar by I75 is The Everglades? Really……….(minutes away from the fastest growing part of Broward County)I guess Geography was not one of your better subjects ……….John Morales is working at both stations doing the weather (doing diff nights at both stations)in order to save money, the same reason why Pam is the long anchor in the morning. Bob Mayer planned on his forced retirement about 2 years before he announced it, knowing WTVJ would not renew his higher paid contract. I personally think NBC is trying to sell WTVJ and by having a lower payroll and making their profit margin looking better to a buyer.
Mitch,
John isn’t doing weather on 51 at all, he’s just on 6.
Alain your 100% wrong…….They have said several times that John is doing weather on Telemundo. Shouldn’t make a statement like that if you dont know what your talking about. Thats why John misses so many 11pm newscasts.
Is anyone really watching that early? Really?
I’ve always been a fan of the 7 PM newscast. People get home at 6:00-6:30, they get started on dinner, and change, having a newscast at 7 would be perfect! Not at 4:30 AM while everyones eyes are crusted shut by the previous nights phlegm.
Morning news in the 60s started at 7am……They keep going 30 mins earlier about every 5 years. Lets see….. in about 25 years the morning news will start at 2am………Jimmy Fallon might be saying “stay tuned for your morning news next”.