Groundhog Day

On the way home from work Wednesday, I realized, after ciphering the number in my head and confirming it by counting on my fingers, tomorrow will be the 16th time.

Sixteen times as a news director embarking on a February sweeps period.

It's kind of exciting.  It's the shortest month of the year but sweeps months are always longer than other months, somehow.  It starts with a bang for all NBC stations.  We have the Superbowl!  (Go Giants)  And there are plenty of other big events to draw folks to the  TV set.

CBS has the Grammys.  FOX has American Idol.  ABC has the Academy Awards.

Sweeps Eve?  It does feel like Groundhog Day.  And of course, tomorrow is.

For me professionally, this has been an incredible year of working on the way I communicate.  How do I get out of the death-spiral rut of negativity?  How do I transform myself into a more positive leader?  How do I provide feedback that feels like coaching, not criticism?

I still fail.  Regularly.

In the movie, the Bill Murray character (Phil Connors) is stuck in an endless loop.  I think we all get that way.

If you find yourself in a rut, keep working at it!  And for guidance, check this out:

So how does Phil Connors change in the movie? Ironically, Phil breaks free and changes his life by slowing down. By doing the equivalent of going from fast-forward to pause, he can start to see an accurate image of himself.

It's not easy.  I especially struggle with the slow down part.  There always seems to be so much to do and so little time to do it.

On this, the eve of Groundhog Day, I pledge to let go of my set ways.

And slow down so I can be a better leader.

Tip of the hat to the Pitch!

It's sweeps month. We give you a different reason to yell at your TV during the local news:

The days of KCTV Channel 5 busting dudes who have set out to bang underage kids? They’re likely over.…

[ Read more ]

Finish strong!

One day left of the May book and my first year at KSHB is drawing to a close.  I am so incredibly proud of the effort put forth by the team!  Today, for instance, we needed some help from the engineers and they didn't even blink.  The entire news department has endured even more changes as we unveiled a new web design today.  And we did it all sans the five open positions, soon to be filled, in news managers, assignment desk, producer and MMJ.

Every day of the sweep, our folks worked hard to find stories not to be seen anywhere else.  It's a marathon and a sprint and it is hard to maintain the pressure. 

I'm so pleased to report that in almost every newscast, we are up, year to year.

We can't/won't let up.  On to July!

The Wayback Machine--November, 2004

Every once in awhile, I'm going to reach deep into the archives of my old blog and pull out a post from before.  This particular piece was written just before the November sweeps period ended in 2004.  There might be slight edits to protect the innocent...

"Sweeps Burnout."

A full week has passed since I last blogged.

And I am  t i r e d o u t.
Not so much that I can't function, mind you. I'm just feeling the "sweeps burnout." For instance, I watched an WREG "dramatization" super tonight that was so small (extreme lower right) that it got buried in the video. Usually I would laugh at the...attempt. Tonight I just smiled.

But you know what? This is how I always feel at the conclusion of Nielsen hell.
When will we/they ever learn? We should be in "ratings" all the time. Every day, every hour, every minute. Why should we save our best behavior for three or four months of the year. I was always a "what, in the book????!" manager when it came to requests for time off in February, May or November. July, I could handle. But I've been conditioned by sales and marketing and Nielsen to avoid allowing people to take time off during those three sacred months. And I'm really starting to wonder how wise that is. Why can't I expect people to jump high in January, April or October? And if they do, and if they need some time off in a "sweeps month"...why shouldn't I let them have it?
I'm just saying, is all.
Changing topics...let's all relax!  In the interest of amusement and relaxation, here's a joke recently sent to me:


INTERVIEW SKILLS, PLEASE. A reporter is dispatched to interview the chairwoman of the quilting society. A gentile lady, she greets him at her door with a warning: "My pit bulldog looks vicious but he's quite well behaved. But you mustn't say anything to the parrot!"


Agreeing to her terms, the reporter enters the grand dame's living room and commences the interview. And as she promised, the dog looks vicious but is calm, lying on the carpet and watching the reporter, his tongue lolling out between sharklike teeth.


But the parrot is a horror, screeching profanity and bloodcurdling curses at the top of his lungs with a voice that could curdle ice cubes. The reporter tries to persevere, but finally the bird gets to him and he mutters, "Oh, shut up, you!"


Whereupon the parrot, a wry grin on his beak, says, "Sic 'im, Spike!"
...
Another topic.Action News 5 has had a good run with the Mid-South Emmys. We've won enough over the past five years to make any GM or ND proud. Last night, the 2003 nominations came out and we didn't get many. I will admit to some initial disappointment but here are the facts: WMC is number one is this market. Has been for...years. We are UP in both rating and share in the key newscasts. We are VERYCLOSE to winning all news time periods, sign on to sign off. We don't do it with a sat truck or more crews on the street or fancy graphics or a fancy slogan. We do it in the trenches. We do it with journalism. We do it with our people. We do it with Mike Puccinelli, Carrie McClure, Ron Childers, Joe Birch, Donna Davis, Kym Clark, Dave Brown, Bill Lunn and Jarvis Greer on the front lines every day. Every single one of those people listed has at least three years in the market. Six of them have more than ten years. Four have more than fifteen years. Three have 25 years or more. That's what makes us what we are.
OK, so Carrie's on maternity leave but she'll be back. And until then, Renee Malone is doing a fine job of filling in.
My challenge to the other NDs....I'll put Janice Broach, Joyce Peterson, Anna Marie Hartman, Darrell Phillips or George Brown on our lead story any day. And we're ably backed up by other solid reporters and photographers, producers, editors and production folks who give 110-percent because they care about the product...
I'm thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to you...


/pp