WTSP gave morning anchor Keith Jones a nice sendoff yesterday packed with video form his colleagues before shipping him this way. Jones’ next TV appearance will be right next to Pam Gigante on WTVJ NBC 6
WTSP gave morning anchor Keith Jones a nice sendoff yesterday packed with video form his colleagues before shipping him this way. Jones’ next TV appearance will be right next to Pam Gigante on WTVJ NBC 6
I hope someone in Miami gives this guy a new hair cut. Brillo pad, anyone? JUST saying…
I agree. His hair needs some work…
That is definitely hair that belongs in Tampa, not Miami.
Nice send-off for him — better than the one the Today show threw for Ann Curry, that’s for sure!
I agree about the hair. I’m guessing he’ll be arriving at WTVJ in time for the London 2012 Olympics. Him joining Pam Giganti and Ryan Phillips on NBC 6 News Today. WTSP will likely be finding a new co-anchor for their morning news.
He is awful. Stereotypical Ron Burgundy-like news anchor.
This is a perfect example of why local TV is dying. Why do we think anyone gives a crap about our self-serving 5 minute send-off’s? The only people who care, is us! We are so egotistical, that we think viewers care this guy got a job somewhere else. People are tuning in to watch the damn news, not hear a silly, drawn out send off. A simple goodbye and thank you would have been appropriate. When are news directors going to learn? Really, a cake and balloons on set…and the time it took all those reporters, anchors, photogs, editors, and producers away from covering real news to put that video together!? Reporters have to fight producers for an extra 30-seconds to use for their packages on huge investigative pieces, but no problem wasting 5 minutes on this self-centered nonsense….
I agree to some extent, but you also have to understand that TV personalities become part of our lives. Why not commemorate these moments in a low-key, respectful, not over-the-top way? As much as that five minutes could be filled with hard-hitting news, most news shows (particularly morning) save the last few minutes of the broadcast for something light and uplifting anyway. Your point is well taken, but the problem is much bigger than just these send-offs.
You are right. Local news producers, for the most part, have no creativity and don’t think outside the box. If you think about it, the good producers can’t be good, because crappy managers want to run the show and they are not talented at all. When I worked at NBC, we had one or two good producers, but every time they set up a decent newscast, a manger would run in 5 minutes before an change the entire rundown. Then, the news director would order changes and the assignment desk manager would demand more changes. The whole newscast would fall a part. I remember the former managing editor at NBC, Liz Roldan, who was screwing the executive producer of the weather department, Mike Jenkins. She would read the Miami herald and say, these are the stories we are covering. Then, our assistant news director would run in and saw, Channel 7 is on this story, so we need to cover it. That is still how news is done at NBC6. Everyone knows it and there’s nothing that will change because you have sloppy, uncreative managers directing producers when they shouldn’t be in charge at all.
I’m guessing that may have been the case with former WTVJ news directors Yvette Miley and Lane Michaelsen, and former GM Ardyth Diercks. We’re probably seeing similar situations at other stations across the nation. It could and might also have a lot to do with TV station parent companies as well.
As for WTVJ getting back into competative stands with WPLG, WSVN, and WFOR, and finding its way back to greatness… that’s a process that typically takes years.
You can’t find you way back to greatness when you hire the least experienced and cheapest labor in the country. You have to build an audience with creative and smart people who are there for a long time
WTVJ used to be good… back when they were still owned by their original parent company Wometco Enterprises, and with their star anchor Ralph Renick. Wometco sold WTVJ to KKR, after its founder Mitchell Wolfson passed away. Ralph left WTVJ, and had an unsuccessful gubenatorial bid in 1986… then he was over at WCIX (now WFOR), and passed away in 1991. WPLG had Ann Bishop as their star
anchor until 1995, and she passed away 2 years after that. WPLG appears to be doing very good for themselves. Renick and Bishop were old school, and they didn’t sugar-coat the news. Back then, we didn’t have dysfunctional management and focus groups dictating the direction of the newscasts.
I remember NBC tried to sell ownership of WTVJ and WVIT back in 2008… Post-Newsweek (WPLG’s owner) was looking to acquire WTVJ… the sales of both WTVJ and WVIT proved unsuccessful. We don’t know if NBC is still considering whether or not to sell ownership of WTVJ and WVIT. Many seemed to be in favor of Belo or Cox acquiring WTVJ.
In regards to any ownership changes that is not going to happen in the near future. I would say the first thing to happen might be for the actual completion of purchase for KNSD and KXAS as LIN still owns a good 24% of these stations even though NBC runs most of the operations at these two stations at the moment, this would probably be the only major move that I can see happening.