Comments on: Poll: how relevant are media unions in the current environment

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:13:54 +0000

My guess is that the late, great Bill Knupp misrepresented the job to ex. wicu anchor Ron Winders giving him the idea he was to be more like a “newsreader” like he was on The Travel Channel. Then when the magic three flipped over his live taping audition the hiring decision was made. Winders came from New York City and was promised a go thru on the new set three weeks ahead, It never happened to his dismay and then on the new set live for the first time discovered that the teleprompter was far out of his eyesight leaving him to dig out of his papers and try to cue the teleprompter with his foot. He was told because of camera angles he couldn’t have the camera/prompter right in front of him. In reality that could have been done but Ron’s demise came when he then wore glasses from the second night for the first time in his life and became a “producer” of the news. That’s not the way he was told. And whatever he did Knupp told him he would have “plenty of help”. The plenty of help happened to be the youngest ones in the newsroom who despised him and asked him to quit. In a very nasty way he was fired and went back to New York City. And that’s the REAL story!

By: Dano

Dano — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:32:54 +0000

No more morning show on WSEE? Is this also the result of the merger with 12?

By: legend

legend — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:01:01 +0000

I don’t remember Mary, but Tony is one of the best broadcasters Erie has ever seen. We go back more years than either one of us would like to admit, but whether he was on the anchor or assignment desk, Tony always had his act together. Plus, he cared about the entire product, not just his part of it.

Shriver did the same thing.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:20:29 +0000

In my opinion one of the best on-air teams in Erie TV History was on WSEE several years ago: Tony Victor and Mary Amthor. They did “Newswatch 35: 11 at 11 News” and it was a great pairing. The show was well stacked with excellent production values.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:45:51 +0000

3 nights into his gig I caught Ron doing the 11pm news. It was one of those nights – 2 bad car accidents and a bad fire. What did Ron choose as his lead? The opening night of the Spartansburg Fair, I kid you not!

Folks, sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up!

Who gets the blame for Ron?

a) Ivan Tomcho (Program Director)
b) Clarence Paoella (General Manager)
c) Bill Knupp (News Director)
d) The Consultants who signed off on Ron

The correct answer (In my opinion) is “D” Those damn consultants again!

Although it should be noted that the staff and engineers did try and warn Bill, Ivan and Clarence that Winders “didn’t even know how to write a simple declarative sentance” so perhaps the “Big 3″ deserve part of the blame!?

By: R.I.P WSEE

R.I.P WSEE — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:08:22 +0000

I worked on-air with Ron. He came off a great gig as an anchor for a cable travel network. But Management at 12 never asked a crucial question in the interview…”Ron, have you ever “written” news copy before?”
Two days into his gig, the entire newsroom was scripting everything for the poor guy, everything from “Good evening, I’m Ron Winders” to “Goodnight, Johnny Carson is up next.” He’s now at Sam’s Club announcing weekly specials. There but the grace of God…Broadcasting is an ugly business that will chew you up and spit you out. You only used to hear about nasty stuff happening to stations in the big markets…well, how times have changed!

By: legend

legend — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:57:14 +0000

No problem. I remember Ron’s first show, couldn’t get his name out in his hello.