Haley Has a Sense of Humor? Awesome!

Love the Local News Queen.

Check out this new blog by an anonymous TV reporter!

She's smart and sassy and I love her writing.  Sadly, I don't think she'll remain anonymous for long.  When I first started blogging, I considered keeping my name off my opinions.  I decided the effort it would take to hide my identity would be impossible to maintain.

From the Wayback Machine--March 31, 2003

Here's a look at what was on my mind seven years ago (from the first blog):

How can it possibly be the end of March already?
I've had it with "March Madness" since my two brackets are now worthless pieces of paper. I only had Marquette in the Final Four on one slip and not in the championship game. There's always next year.
I guess I hope Syracuse wins and then it will be interesting to see if Carmelo Anthony stays in school or heads to the NBA draft.
Speaking of NBA, the Grizzlies play the Lakers (at LA) in about a half hour. I will watch some and maybe all of the game, even though those west coast games wear me out. Last night's heart killer against the Clippers just did me in. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
On to the war. I thought I was outraged by Michael Moore's comments at the Oscars. Then Peter Arnett topped him and all previous.
Our viewer email was frighteningly angry. Some of those people seriously think Arnett and Joe Birch share an office except when we dispatch Arnett to Baghdad. Yikes!
I caught up on some reading tonight--I read Digital TV and enjoyed Scott Jones' advice about agents. Mr. Jones, as you know, is the founder of the newly upgraded FTV.  I agreed with almost everything in the column EXCEPT the part about market size. He believes you don't need an agent until you're in the top 60 markets. I say half that is fine. Top 30.
Of course, my postion on agents may be clouded by the fact that I'm in the top 43rd market. However, I do know that NDs at this level don't have as much wiggle room in the salary line of budgets with which to negotiate.
I also read a Sports Illustrated article on Bill Clinton and golf...and how much he cheats. It's in last week's issue, the one with the aforementioned March Madness on the cover. Unfortunately, it's not a linked story so you'll have to borrow or buy the issue to read it. Even if you don't like golf, I think you'll enjoy the perspective. The former president doesn't do "mulligans," he does "Billigans."
It's news time, I gotta go watch the 10p and then see how Lorenzen handles Shack. Or not.


posted by pp @ Monday, March 31, 2003

Happy Snowy Saturday--First Day of Spring!

On this, the First Day of Spring, a bunch of NBC Action News 5 (thank Mark, for pointing out my mistake)  staffers got up early to welcome the day by starting our morning news an hour early so that we could report on the (hopefully) last winter storm of the season.

I didn't get pics of everybody--Brandon Billinger, Beth Vaughn, Keith King and Chris Morrison were out in the snow and slush; overnight Assignment Editor Stephanie Liebergarden had gone home to sleep before I started snapping photos.

Here's George Waldenberger and Eric Schultz on the street near the station.

Videotape editing and web publishing are inside jobs.

Obviously, it's a bit chilly in the control room.

Gary and Najahe with the crack studio crew.

And last but not least, Charlie Ray, keeping it all together in the newsroom.

Happy St. Pats!

I'm not Irish...but I offer this for your holiday listening.

Excellent Movie!

It's only taken me seven years to watch this film about Stephen Glass and his made-up stories written for "The New Republic."  If you haven't seen it, grab it on DVD...and make sure you see Steve Kroft's interview with the real liar on "60 Minutes."

Me. On a Diet.

I read this today about Rex Ryan getting the lap-band surgery.  And this about Weight Watchers.  And this about how I can blame genetics for my "bigness."

See?  I can hardly write the word obese.  It's an ugly word, especially when spit out like a nasty taste by the little cartoon trainer on my Wii Fit machine.

(sigh)

I've been overweight for most of my adult life.  The only time not was during the post-divorce days in the mid-80s.  Since then it's been one diet after another.  I'd lose a little and then, eventually, gain back more.  Classic yo-yo.

I'm now under a doctor's care and following the diet she recommends.  Aside from a daily sublingual dose of HCG it's mostly protein -- steak and/or chicken and veggies.  No starch, no sugar.  No wine.  And no whining.

I started the plan when I was in South Dakota last weekend and I'm doing this for the people you see in the picture.  Mostly, it's for the one right in the middle.  Me.

/p

When I Read the Headline, I did a Doubletake

A television station in Georgia triggered a panic when it broadcast a mock half-hour report about a Russian invasion of the country.

And then I realized I was thinking of the wrong Georgia.
 
Just goes to show that for some of us, the Cold War is not such a distant memory!

Snow on the Prairie Farm

Check this out.  We are in South Dakota to see the family.  Saturday afternoon it snowed for about an hour.  Huge fluffy flakes.  I tried to capture the magic with my camera.  These were taken with a fast shutter (1/2000) and a flash. 

The images are almost devoid of color except when the flash hit something other than snowflakes.

This old schoolhouse (with a Case tractor in front) is a copycat of the one I attended for the first four years of elementary school in the mid-60s.  I learned to read via Dick, Jane and Sally in a schoolhouse like this.  One teacher, eight grades.

My dad uses it as a shop and he restored a 1951 Ford pickup in there.

These three evergreen trees are just west of the house.  The one that leans is that way because of a tornado that hit it in the summer of 1998.

The road to town is just beyond those trees

This is Millie.  She will be glad when winter is over.

Post-Olympics Hangover? Nope!

An interesting seven days.

We survived our first week off the Olympics teat and I'll be happy if our performance is indicative of the future.  We remained competitive in the early evening and late newscasts (number one last night at 10pm!).  We have work to do in the morning but I know once the team is complete on both sides of the camera, we will be on our way.

Friday was Craig Allison's last day.  I can truthfully say he is one of the most thoughtful General Managers I've ever worked with and I will miss him greatly.  I'm excited, though, for the future because our new boss is definitely engaged in the battle at hand.

KCTV is advertising for a "sportscaster."  What an old-fashioned term!  Remember when the former sports director for KCTV was on the cover of "The Communicator" in a story about how sportscasts didn't drive viewers etc etc?

From where I sit, the other stations in Kansas City have ceded sports to us.  We were the only broadcast outlet to send a crew to Surprise, AZ for Royals spring training.  That shocked me, given the performance of Zach Greinke and Billy Butler.

It's ok if they try to catch up.

From My Google Reader

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This Week in Review: Surveying the online news scene, web-first mags, and Facebook patents its feed

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