May 31st, 2009 
joel It will be a day or two until we begin to realize how things are going to work with a merged WICU and WSEE news team.
Meanwhile, there is other Erie media news to talk about, including the Spring radio ratings period winding down, the major loss of state funding for WQLN, and how the Erie Times-News seems to be able to buck the trend of declining circulation, as they recently touted a bit of an increase in papers sold.
Use this open comment forum to weigh in, vent your frustration, and celebrate the good stuff. Meanwhile, send any private messages to joel@nataliemedia.com or via Twitter @pressandtower.
Embrace the chaos!
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Well it didn’t take long for the meltdown to occur. 12 News at 6pm didn’t end up starting until 6:06pm! The funny part was the monitor in front of the 12 News set actually was half shown with the CBS WSEE Eye logo.
Wow! Impressive. I especially liked seeing “Jeopardy” at 5:30pm. Amanda Post merely ended the 5pm news by saying “And that is 12 News at 5…we’ll be back at 6″ – or 6:06pm.
Congratulations to Channel 12 for flunking promotions 101! No better way to upset your viewers than throwing a program like Jeopardy into the 5:30pm time slot. No Promo, no heads-up, no nothing!
I would have expected a meltdown within a week…not on the first day.
I’m seriously thinking that Brian Lilly is just making this stuff up on the fly.
This is no way to run a Television Station…2 TV Stations!
I’m not going to wait and see what else happens. I have to switch to WJET for news. It was just too painful to watch the combined WICU/WSEE news operation. Same stories on both stations – just different stacking.
Grade: D Minus
Question for Mr. Lilly: Why? What is the point of having 2 news operations if they are going to have the same exact stories? What about some degree if individuality? Where is the pride?
That’s it…..I just can’t comment on WICU/WSEE anymore – just too painful to see what has happened to 2 proud news operations. Thanks Mr. Lilly, thanks a lot!
B.L. has no clue how to run a TV station. Daddy just gave it to him for a play toy. Pretty soon he’s going to break it (he’s well on his way) and daddy will have to get him a new plaything.
Word over on the Topix page blog is that Joey threw a temper tantrum last night over the condtions at 12. Someone also said he quit. Has anyone heard anything to this effect? Joey needs to realize that he is not irrreplaceable. In today’s economy there are a lot of hungry young talent out there that can do as good, if not better, job then him.
PR please don’t confuse a “temper tantrum” with a professional who cares about the quality of the on-air product. If things are as bad as they appear, I wouldn’t want my face or likeness associated with a lame attempt at TV.
It is easy to generalize talent as prima donnas but the fact is Joey is prepared for his segment each and every night, why can’t he demand the same among managers and tech support? Remember, it is very easy to push the wrong button over and over again when you are anonymous.
I had the same thing happen to me continously, night-after-night 20 years ago and it made me look like an idiot on air…until I mentioned the switcher’s name over the air. Didn’t the technical flaw disappear overnight? amazing huh?
RIP…it is obvious that B.L. doesn’t care about quality, just quantity. Get it on the air, no matter how it looks.
Life in stages in Erie, PA:
I comment at Press and Tower that the Erie Times-News has gone to Legacy for their Obits, with the added plus that I can navigate at the top of the screen to anywhere……from Obits!
This was a 3 century leap at the ETN/GoErie bastion of information.
Another comment follows that the above miracle can not be done usingh Firefox. They hoped the GoErie gal would include Firefox users to see who died.
SOMEONE at GoErie read this and asked a meeting be held. In it, they screamed royally that “WE do NOT provide customer service for Obits to Firefox. And since WHEN, have we provided customer service to anyone?
“MS. GoErie, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!”
The meeting ended.
So did navigation from Obits to any other part of the GoErie, which in reality is
StopErie.
You must again walk backwards out of the tunnel that you entered, proceed to homepage and try to view Opinions. (not the Editors, just the people)…. then leave to read the news somewhere.
I have noticed the people speak less and less at GoErie.
You click the first letter and ALL 2 to 5 other letters are tucked away, in a scroll on letter one.
I never should have told them they got something right for a change. It made them tinker with it and blow it up.
Joel, why do you not open a “Letters-To-The Editor” column here, for folks to write to ETN, and YOU post it here so we can actually read it?
It is either that, or convincing ETN to combine Obits and Opinions under an “O”…..so I can scoot in, read those two items, and wipe my feet on the doormat…… as I leave, so the world stays clean.
Did anyone else happen to catch Conan’s first night as host of “The Tonight Show?”
I thought he was very nervous during his opening monologue. Moving around way too much and trying too hard to try and be funny.
It is early but IMO his act won’t fly at 11:35pm.
Thank goodness there is Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel.
BIG mistake for NBC to take away a successful show from Jay Leno – but what the hell do I know…the bean counters are running the show these days
One night of Leno might be OK…but 5 nights, no way. His show will crash within 6 months…if it lasts that long.
You’re right, Danny…that’s kinda whack! If Legacy can’t handle the menu script, then they need to can the menu, so people in Firefox *add* and IE don’t look stupid clicking on things like “Sports” and nothing happens.
However, nothin’ but love to my fellow web designers at GoErie. I know how much a pain something like this can be!!!
Joel,
It worked before.
Instead of backarrow out of Obits, I scrolled up and went on to Opinions directly from Obits.
I even commented a kudo here to the new girl at GoErie tinkering with the abysmal mess they left her to clean up
(GoErie is the Humptiest Dumpty created. All the kings horses, and the new girl, need an attorney to sue the wall)
What baffles me is why it DID work, and now it is kaput. All I can surmise is they tried to add Firefox, and burned the whole gizmo to pieces.
This is a local production known as CyberInk.
But the Ink is always invisible.
Newswatch at Noon still a train wreck. Ray’s weather looked taped. The radar was from 8am! No different cam shots. AWFUL! I thought Stephanie Shelkun was doing Noon, not Bremner. I know they got to work on it, but maybe they should throw it away and start over!
Looking forward to watching ACTION NEWS 24 at 5pm. They know how to put on an error-free, professional looking newscast.
The WICU/WSEE merger is the best thing to ever happen at WJET-TV.
Error free? WJET?
At noon today, the crawl was reporting a severe T-storm warning. That nice and informative, but the warning had expired almost 12 hours earlier.
None are perfect thats for sure. It’s not the old days when information was actually checked before aired.
K104: I meant to say NOT as error prone at WICU/WSEE. I’m sure that – given time – all the bugs will go away…or will they?
Speaking of WJET, they have a job opening for a reporter (www.yourerie.com/content/employment).
35′s on-air product is a mess from a technical standpoint.
I’d be pretty upset too if I were a seasoned broadcaster or a broadcaster with 5 years experience.
Imagine yourself in the anchor chair when nothing happens when it should.
I still can’t figure out why 35′s folks are forced to pre-tape at 4:20, when 12 can go live at 5? How unfair is that?
Doesn’t seem like 12 is embracing it’s new tenants too nicely.
I thought I heard a promo tonight on WQLN Radio featuring Scott Bremner being interviewed for either “All Things Erie” or “We Question and Learn” to be run this weekend. However when I checked out the station’s website, here is what is being promoted for WQ&L this coming weekend:
ROSEANNE CHEESEMAN, CEO and PUBLISHER OF THE ERIE TIMES NEWS…
IS THE PRINT MEDIA GOING TO SUFFER A FATE SIMILAR TO ANALOG TELEVISION?
THIS IS TOM PYSZ AND ON THE NEXT “WE QUESTION AND LEARN” PROGRAM MY GUEST WILL BE ROSEANNE CHEESEMAN, CEO and PUBLISHER OF THE ERIE TIMES NEWS, WITH AN INTRIGUING LOOK AT PUBLISHING IN THE 21st CENTURY.
So, whether it be Roseanne or Scott, it looks to be an interesting program. Here’s the link to the WQLN page:
http://www.wqln.org/radio/wequestion/
Here is the latest that was posted on the Topix blog about the ICU/SEE mess:
“After the April 18th ETN article in which an Anonymous source was quoted as saying WSEE would do News at 7pm and Channel 12 would get “Wheel” and “Jeopardy” Brian Lilly lost it.
Brian Lilly decided to change plans at the last minute. There is not going to be a 7pm newscast on WSEE-TV. ‘Wheel’ and ‘Jeopardy’ are not going to move to WICU-TV.
Brian Lilly is very happy with the way things are going with this merger. WSEE Morning News will continue to be taped at 4:20am and re-aired at 6am. Ray Petelin will continue to tape his NOON weather report AT 8 O’Clock in the morning!- They better hope to hell that there isn’t a weather catastrophe before the Noon news!
The 6pm news on WSEE will continue to be taped. Channel 12 news at 6 will be re-aired at 10pm on The CW. WSEE Nightbeat will be taped at 10pm for re-airing at 11pm.”
Sounds like BL is really winging it on day-to-day. Not a well thought out plan.
Someone correct me here, but I used to work at a Fox affiliate in a major market. When we were forced to pre-record the 10 O’clock news because of the World Series, we included a lower third banner that read “pre-recorded”.
Don’t viewers in Erie deserve the same honesty and professional courtesy of at least a CG saying that this news product was pre-recorded? Anything less is an FCC violation of public trust!
I agree with you, R.I.P. WSEE that viewers in Erie AT LEAST deserve a banner saying pre-recorded. In Philly if a portion of a newscast is taped they put up a Chyron at the end of the newscast that says “Portions Pre-Recorded”
Couldn’t they at least do that with WSEE? As for honesty and professional courtesy? Remember, this is Brian Lilly we’re talking about. The same Brian Lilly who said in the April 18th Erie Newspaper article “there will be NO changes in on-air personnel.”
I guess something catastrophic must have happened after the newspaper interview was published?
PR,
Mornings Live started recording around 3:50 AM Wednesday morning. I’m assuming in order to get back the 5:00 AM half-hour on WICU.
WICU is rolling a scroll in the PM saying that Jeopardy is now available at 5:30 on WICU. If it stays on WSEE at 7:30, would that make it “Double Jeopardy”?!
Tip to the non-technical viewers in P&T land: if you want to know if the local news you are watching is live or not, just watch the weather segment’s radar loop. If the loop stops at the current time you are watching, the segment is live. If the loop stops at 3:50 AM like it did this morning on Mornings Live (at the top of the news) then that is the exact time the segment was recorded.
Last interesting note for now: on CBS’s Early Show 30 sec. weather cutaway, Master control went to the WICU feed where they were recording the 5-minute local news drop-in. Meanwhile, WSEE got a live drop-in at 7:25, at least for today.
So let me get this straight…I can watch Jeopardy on my own at 5:30 on WICU…then later on at 7:30 I can watch the same Jepoardy on WSEE with family and friends and impress them with my knowledge (or great memory)??
I once won a bet with a radio co-worker on the final of the US-Soviet Olympic hockey finals and even predicted when the winning US goal would occur.
I saw the game results clear the AP wire machine earlier in the day. (I gave him back his money)
This may sound stupid, but if WSEE Nightbeat is being taped already at 10pm, why not show it live at 10pm on the CW? Rebroadcast it at 11 on WSEE, its already a taped deal anyway. CBS claims to be “most watched” so the people that miss the live 10pm can catch 11.
I don’t understand why Ray’s weather at noon has to be taped (and 4 hours old at that!!). If WSEE has live news at noon, why not live weather too?
other max: most likely ray can’t stay for the noon because of the 3:50 taping time for mornings live. the forecaster has to get in well before taping to draw up forecasts, graphics etc. so he’d be looking at a 10 hour workday every day.
brian: your comment shows you’re already more qualified to run the duopoly than brian lilly is.
It’s pretty Ballsy to assume the audience wouldn’t or couldn’t notice a videotaped newscast. What is the point of a consolidation/merger if most of WSEE’s newscasts are going to be taped?
It is a shame none of the local stations subscribe to the Nielsen service anymore. I would love to see what becomes of the audience of WICU & WSEE.
Joel, I really got a good chuckle out of your “Double Jeopardy” remark. Well done!
Wouldn’t it have just been easier if Brian Lilly got rid of everyone from WSEE and simulcast WICU 12 News on WSEE live to air?
WSEE pretty much has no identity anymore. WSEE used to put on a very good product. I would even dare to say very competitive with the other local newscasts. Unfortunately these days WSEE is pretty much flying blind, deaf, neutered and dumb – sorry for the poor analogy.
I haven’t watched a WICU/WSEE newscast since the premier Monday. It was like watching a Motor Vehicle Accident or Train Derailment in super-slow motion. I wanted to turn away but I just couldn’t. After what seemed like an eternity I realized it was just too painful to continue and I switched to another Channel – never to return.
Judging from the comments since Monday it is easy to assume there is a seat-of-their-pants mentality that has taken hold at 3514. Gone are the days of PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE some more before a format change.
There wasn’t even an effort to present a different newscast on the 2 newscasts. Same script, same stories, same EVERYTHING! What’s the point, then? I realize Channel 12 is the Senior Partner in this mess, to the victor go the spoils and all that garbage! But why rub WSEE’s nose in it? Why treat them like an Army beaten into unconditional surrender. At some point the professionals are going to say “F**K It! I’m Outta Here!” and go on to greener, less-stressful pastures elsewhere.
Is this what Brian Lilly really wants? Wouldn’t it be easier to make sure things go super-smooth? Make things their best for a potential buyer? Surely he can’t think news of this mess won’t leak out? Not with the “Information Superhighway” and all that Jazz!
This does such an injustice. Such a terrible injustice.
Oh well. This is painful, very painful to witness and read about.
My name is Timothy Reed. My Uncle is Michael Csop. I was honored that he hired me to work at WICU-TV, although brief as it was I was proud to be an employee of Great Lakes Communications, Incorporated from the Summer of 1992 until early in 1994.
Well, I guess I just outed myself? You know what? It no longer matters – just like what is happening at 3514 these days. I don’t have the authority to speak for my Uncle but let me just say that he is very hurt and upset about what is transpiring there.
Good Night…and Good Luck
Tim:
I am VERY interested still in any DVD available for sale from your Uncle’s archives for Ch. 12. I love watching material from archives.
Instead of calling Stormtrack LIVE 4D Radar, better start calling Stormtrack (insert 1 hour old or 4 hour old) 4D Radar.
Thanks John! I’ll be having dinner and drinks with him this weekend – I will see if I can get some DVD’s produced from his excellent TV-12 40th Anniversary special.
Tim, great post earlier. It truly is a shame when money-grubbers can ruin in a very short time what it took others quite awhile to build. In my opinion, that’s what this is all about — MONEY ! Well maybe Mr. Lilly won’t be making as much as he expected, at least, not if things continue to go as it appears they have started.
Thanks Max, but the real issue is quality and there is so little. Maybe in a few weeks it will be better, if not it really could be disaster. Erie and NW Pa are not dumb people who can’t tell a radar is 4 hours old. I mean this is crazy to put on a weathercast that old. Ray’s weather is so plain its embarrassing. I don’t know its a shame.
Tim:
I worked with your uncle at WICU back in the late-80s and early 90s. He was a guru of engineering with an appreciation for good television and back then, the entire market, including WSEE was doing some great stuff. Those were the years of Carol Pella and Jim Stewart’s expose’ on Erie parking tickets and the mayor’s office. It one the station an AP award for investigative journalism. Good luck squeezing a piece of similar caliber journalism out of any of the stations these days.
A little break from the WSEE discussions…..
Just read that Radio and Records will cease publication as of this Friday after over 35 years. It’s not a surprise…what with the emergence of websites like AllAccess and Radio-Info, along with the multitude of news being exchanged on various boards…it made most of the editorial content you used to get only from R&R redundant. And that’s a shame…R&R used to be the one place you could count on to get the WHOLE story of the business…before technology multiplied our options for information and interaction in a way no one could have imagined back in 1973.
And now both print and on-line versions of Radio and Records will be history as of Friday.
OK…back to the WSEE discussions….
RIP..
No one in Erie journalism has the balls to do investigative reporting today. They are all too scared of being shut out by the locals. The latest 911 fiasco should provide more than ample fodder for a whole series about incompetance in county government, but everyone is taking Weindorf’s lip servce and accepting it as gospel.
As for Mike Csop, you would have a very hard time finding anyone who knew TV like Mike. He, and the late John Kanzius engineers from the old school. They knew where everything went and what it did. If something went wrong, they knew how to fix it. Today with all the computerized stuff you can’t fix it. You pull it out, put in a replacement, and send it out for repairs. Mike hired me and he was a great guy to work for. Those were the days of REAL TV news.
It’s a shame that BL didn’t learn the business from someone like him. Instead he learned it from a property flipper.
PR — if you replace “balls” with “time” and “resources,” I would agree.
Earlier this year, I ordered a copy of the Radio & Records Commemorative edition. Lots of great pictures and chart info through the decades.
It’s unfortunate that both 12 & 35 are now basically shells of what they were. I think Red Green could put together a better newscast from the Possum Lake lodge. Between signal issues for WSEE and this thrown together attempt to have two newscasts with basically the same material on both, it is a slap in the face to great TV pioneers like Csop, Kanzius and Jones.
Headline June 3, 2009:
“Tell us what improvements to GoErie.com you’d like to see”
1) If you don’t tell us, we can say we tried, AND we are off the hook for having no clue what we do.
2) If you do tell us, we ignore it as usual
“GoErie.com is preparing for a long overdue site overhaul.”
1) All comments on all blogs are about to be erased for the tenth time. Copy and paste your favorites and move them to a secure portal if you want an archive. GoErie will again throw out all comments. Many articles too.
I think this is how Bryan Oberle got misplaced a while back.
2) How can this be long overdue?
Just this week I was perusing “Made in Mexico”, a gripping analysis that Steris has moved to Monterrey, Mexico…..made the choice years before, but got reported in GoErie TWO YEARS ago and remains a prominent story.
Word on the Street has it that other manufacturers have left Erie. Story coming in the next few years.
“Our goal is to create a comprehensive, useful and relevant portal to both the local and regional community.”
1) Gee, what was the goal before?
2) Bill gates successfully put out of business all Encyclopedia Britannica salesmen from stopping at your door with a new book each month. And Loblaws stopped carrying encyclopedias since there was no more Loblaws.
An updated annual to keep your outdated book collection came at a new fee, with history of the year gone by included.
Gates put ALL of the books on a CD, and your whole encyclopedia dropped from $300 to $500 a year, down to $10 as Encarta (mostly free now). They insist on being up to the minute too….NOT up to the recent years.
“We also are looking for people to participate in a focus group to discuss the redesign in greater depth. You will have a chance at the end of the survey to let us know if you are interested in serving on that group.”
Focus Group:
1) Free help.
2) No expertise.
3) We throw it all out when you go home.
4) Adds a lot of delay to the process so you forget this article of slim hope today.
1+2+3+4= 0 for GoErie again.
But wait, there’s more. Ginzu knives will be awarded to the first person from Finland to enter our contest.
We’re just getting started in the Internet after decades of practice, so be in our focus group, give us free advice, don’t support our competitor on the second shift, StopErie.
To begin, take a free survey, telling us what our job is.
We have no clue as we are busy learning how to Tweet farts at various volume on our new GoErie Twitter Twit Tweeter.
One idea that has merit we intend on using.
Send in your current links to where you get your news.
We will make a Homepage like the Drudge Report, with all those links published in one place, and tell this community …..where to go.
I can’t make this up. ETN folks actually wrote this, and it was a “MOST READ” story:
Imagine that!
“How Can We Improve” is among MOST READ stories of the day!
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090603/NEWS02/906039995/0/LIFESTYLES
I hope they run a story of temps reaching 60 degrees soon. A reprint from last year will do.
If you were having an event that you wanted media coverage (especially television) and had to pick between Monday and Tuesday.. which is generally the slower news day? If you could pick any day of the week, which one?
John:
I would pick Tuesday and here’s why. Monday mornings in newsrooms are chaotic for assignment editors as they muddle through all the stuff left for the weekend crew and try to determine what was covered, what was not and what can be salvaged for Monday.
By scheduling on Tuesday, you can be assured that the regular assignment editor is on top of the scheduling of a news crew. Don’t forget to include with your news release some video opportunities such as a source interview with an official and some accompanying B-roll to help extend your coverage past a typical :15 V/O.
Time to vent here: I tried to watch WICU and WSEE last evening only to find the exact same lead, (Titusville Swinger’s Club) word-for-freaking-word by John Rapolla on both stations. This is not even a matter of fiscal prudence, it is down right laziness. You mean to tell me that we can’t get a fresh re-write for two different news shows? Somebody Hep me …Peaz!
I doubt you’ll see that happen. There is probably not enough time in the evening to put two packages together and get them editted for the taping of 35 show and then 12′s live shows. The combined news of 12/35 will continue to suffer and the quality will go right in the toilet.
Any predictions on who say enough of this crap and walk out the door next?
PR, they may not be able to reedit the package but they certainly can do a rewrite on the lead-in. That’s what’s so shocking right now that hopefully will change as soon as the technical bugs are removed and the writers get into a rhythm. The anchors are reading the exact same scripts, sometimes simultaneously. You might say, “well, the viewer is only watching one station at a time.” But, what happens when the stack is different between the two stations, and one goes to commercial and the viewer flips and see the same story, with the same lead-in, and wrap as what they just saw minutes ago?!?!
Thank goodness for Joey & Ray, and Rob & Julie, who right now are the ones giving each station a distinctive personality of its own.
You’re right about the lead. That’s nothing more than changing the copy…and that’s all written on computer now anyway. Sounds like Rapolla is just taking the easy…or lazy…way.
Writing for two, different newscasts is nothing new and has been going on way before duopolies and LMAs.
Hell, I remember doing fresh rewrites (and it was mandatory) for various shows, noon, 5PM, 6 and eleven.
Typically, if I was “live” at noon and had to prepare a VO/SOT for 5 and front something “live” at six. Or usually if on second shift, front something “live” at six with a studio lead-in package at eleven. It is called “work” for a reason. (NOTE) this was not in Erie but a much larger market. Even so, what could possibly be so difficult for Rapolla to front a VO/SOT for one station and a set piece lead-in package for the other? I think most of us could produce for these two stations with half our brain tied behind our backs (thank you Rush Limbaugh)
Okay, it has been a week since the last newscast was produced at WSEE Studios on 12th & Peach. Why hasn’t http://www.WSEE.tv been updated yet? A quick check 5 minutes ago still shows the same video and tag for the last newscast from 1220 Peach – 1 week ago!
Someone mentioned lazyness? I think this is a good example of that theory!
I think the whole issue surrounding the WICU/WSEE merger and lack of different scripts can be summed up in one word: LEADERSHIP! Who is running the newsroom? Scott Bremner? Julie Eisenman? or is Brian Lilly spending more time in the newsroom than down in the other end of the building?
Let me give an example: Generic Outcues. Instead of saying “John Last Reporting” why not fit the outcue for the station? “John Last 12 News” or “For WSEE Newswatch I’m John Last” how difficult is that to do? Not that difficult. I agree with RIP WSEE, it is called “work” for a reason.
I can almost guarantee with 100% Certainty that if the News Director was still Phil Hayes, or even an Eric Johnson type there wouldn’t be any issues with scripts being identical or generic outcues or Chyron graphics taking up nearly 1/2 the screen or a lack of Over-The-Shoulder graphics on WSEE.
I am not begrudging Julie Eisenman. I am sure she is doing a fine job as News Director for the combination. However, drastic times call for drastic measures and LEADERSHIP – not merely towing the company line and pacifying the G.M. so you can keep your job. I don’t watch either 12 or 35 anymore but I hear enough to realize that the following chiches apply: “The Inmates Are Running The Assylum” along with “A Rudderless Ship.”
I have offered up plenty of criticism. Allow me to present (In MY Opinion) a way in which I feel Brian Lilly can begin to Navigate himself out of this mess:
12 News can be live from 5pm to 6pm. Yes, I am advocating WICU abandon the 6pm newscast. The newsroom at 3514 would then have plenty of time to prepare for:
WSEE Newswatch LIVE (NOT taped!) from 7pm to 7:30pm (This would allow for a unique scipt, stacking and MATCHING BRAND outcues – if they can’t do this in 60 minutes they have no business being in TV)
The Newswatch Nightbeat would be renamed WSEE 10 O’CLOCK NIGHTBEAT and would be LIVE on The CW from 10pm to 10:30pm. There would be NO re-air of this newscast at 11pm on WSEE. Sorry, that is how I see that.
For programming at 6pm on WICU? “Wheel of Fortune” naturally! 7pm on WICU? “Two and a Half Men” followed by “Jeopardy” at 7:30pm.
For programming on WSEE at 6pm? “Entertainment Tonight” followed by Katie Couric at 6:30pm. A LIVE newscast at 7pm and then “Inside Edition” at 7:30pm.
Now, the BIG Problem: Morning’s Live. This is a tough one and an issue that has a lot of people in an uproar. There is no easy fix to this so I suggest the following:
12 News Today would be LIVE from 5am to 6am. Channel 12 would then go to Early Today from 6am to 7am on NBC.
WSEE Morning’s Live would unfortunately only be a half-hour show from 6:30am to 7am. This is the only way I could make this work – the decison to merge everything was half-assed and not thought out…so drastic measures need to be taken for “Morning’s” thus only 30 minutes.
I would also have Ray Petelin work a split-shift. I know that is not popular but WSEE is really playing with fire by having the Noon Weather taped before 8am! If Erie got his by a bad storm or a major snowstorm any credibility WSEE has will be gone forever – never to return. So, have Ray work from 4am to 8am and then come back and work from 10am to 2pm or whatever!?
Sorry for the long post but Brian Lilly really shot himself in the foot with this move. When KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV merged and moved in together in Los Angeles their merger was planned out for 3 years in advance!
Okay. I’m done. Let me know what you think of my “suggestions.” Thanks!