January 4th, 2009 
joel It’s a brand new year here at The Press and Tower. As the countdown to the digital television transition gets very low, and the effects of the recent employment reductions become apparent, you’ll want to make your voice heard. Whether it is cheers or jeers, we want to hear from you on this open forum.
Remember, you can always connect privately with me through my e-mail, joel@nataliemedia.com.
Embrace the chaos!
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It’s Tuesday morning. A gunman has fired randomly in a west side neighborhood, at police, then set fire to a group of homes. Firefighters were forced to wait until the area was secure before fighting the fire. Were people trapped inside? I don’t know because…the TV stations are not staying with this thing from beginning to end as they should!!!! All of the affiliates have “live” capability, so why haven’t they brought in their anchor teams, graphics folks and reporters to provide complete coverage? because this is Erie void of information for viewers. I have this image of some accountant (not that I have anything against accountants) sitting in the newsroom keeping track of expenses involved with covering breaking news.
On the radio side, Jim LeCorchick is doing an infomercial because the one medium for immediacy also is run by out of town owners with no regard to public safety or our right to know. AAAARRRRGH! Am I the only person frustrated by this? If so, I will go away and never post again!
I AGREE. WELL SAID.
Well, in cases such as these, you have to make do with what you have. Let’s face it. With the declining number of local human bodies in the Erie media scene, resources are being stretched way too thin. However, I am certain that Jim, Barry, and Alan are doing their best to keep the public informed from their downtown Erie post.
On the positive side, I am very impressed with WICU’s continuing coverage of this major news event. Kudos to Mr. Mark Soliday and the WICU staff for a job well done.
I was listening to Aimee the Outlaw this morning. She mentioned the situation in almost all (if not all) of her breaks. Big D and Bubba didn’t say one word. Bring back live and local.
If Aimee T. Outlaw mentioned the incident, it was only because Allan Carpenter spoon-fed the latest information to her. And that goes for the entire group of stations under the “Carnivour” umbrella. One man news…which is a far cry from “live” radio coverage or at the very least news update throughout the morning.
I don’t care where she got the info from, she had it. That’s more than I can say for satelite radio.
RawRowRaggy,
I am just as frustrated as you are. You are correct in your assertion that Erie TV is run by accountants in the newsrooms. In this day and age of “live” capabilities it is almost unforgiveable to not cover this event “wall-to-wall!”
Who cares if the Today Show, Good Morning America or the Early Show is pre-empted??? Larger markets do it all the time. But hey, this is Erie and I’m used to not much value from the local media!
Also, I’ve noticed over the past month that WICU is letting its Analog signal die a slow…painful…miserable death. I realize Digital happens on February 17th, but the number of times WICU has been unwatchable (and I’m on the highest hill in Southeast Erie County by the Corry Airport) is a shame.
It is going to be interesting to see what type Digital quality TV Erie is going to get after the cutoff date. I’ve pretty much given up on Channel 12 due to the poor Analog signal. I know, I know…Digital will be better – If there is a show on NBC that I want to watch I’ll just watch it after the fact on NBC.com. (At least I can get a kick ass excellent picture on my HD computer monitor!)
Thanks WICU for ruining TV for me!
See RawRow…you aren’t the only one frustrated!
Thanks Tim… for a minute there I thought I was going to have to hang up my laptop.
This just appeared in Broadcasting and Cable — dwindling voices on the international news stage:
ABC to Rely on BBC for Iraq Coverage
Network will not have full-time correspondent in Iraq but will continue to operate bureau there.
By Marisa Guthrie — Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2009 1:25:00 PM
Effective Feb. 1, ABC News will rely on the BBC for reporting, correspondents and support staff for breaking news in Iraq. David Westin, president of ABC News, made the announcement in an e-mail to the staff on Wednesday morning.
ABC News will not have full-time correspondent in Iraq but will continue to operate a bureau there. Also, Martha Raddatz will continue to do her recurring “Where Things Stand” series of embedded reports with U.S. forces. Raddatz is currently traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan and will report from those countries in the coming weeks.
The move represents an expansion of ABC News’ previous collaborations with the Britsh Broadcasting Company, which maintains a sizable bureau in Baghdad. The network worked recently with the BBC on coverage of the U.S. election and the Congo.
More: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA6627149.html
If they haven’t already, fans of Erie Broadcasting History (or just radio/TV broadcasting in general) should take a look at
http://www.davidgleason.com/Radio_Archives.htm
where there is an amazing in-depth collection of fully scanned-in “Broadcasting” yearbooks [anyone remember those ?] from the 1940s through the 1980s …. as well as Radio Index (Radex) magazines from 1920s through 1940s …. and many other similar documents.
For example, I picked the 1953 Broadcasting yearbook at random and looked up Erie PA. Erie had listed 1 TV station (WICU), 2 FM stations (WERC FM 99.9 and WLEU FM 97.9), and 4 AM stations (WERC, WIKK, WJET, and WLEU).
Some familiar names mentioned among them in the 1953 directory — Art Ingram (commercial mgr, WERC), Jim Dewart (news director, WERC), Frank Martin (farm director, WIKK), Myron Jones (pres & GM, WJET), Lou Tullio (sports director, WJET). And lots of unfamiliar ones as well. Has anyone ever heard of chief engineers Ken Hestor (WERC), Gene Liggett (WIKK), and Harvey Shellito (WJET) ?
WERC was listed as an NBC affiliate, WIKK was an ABC affiliate, and WLEU was Mutual. WERC & WLEU were also listed as affiliates of something called the Quaker Radio Network. Aside —- wasn’t WLEU a CBS affiliate, or did that happen sometime after 1953 ?
Good stuff
Mr. David Gleason really has put together a treasure trove of information there. Clearly it is a labor of love for him.
Wow! Thanks for the link to the Broadcasting Yearbooks! Hadn’t seen one of those in YEARS!
Beyond 1979, how much longer did they publish? I’m not recalling the answer at the moment…