February 21st, 2010 
joel Ask any blogger that gets even marginal readership; you are bound to get called some names or just deal with some weird stuff. Come to think of it, weirdness is attracted to all media like metal shavings to that bald guy’s head in that old 5 & 10 game we used to have when we were kids.
One pirate radio listserv dude called P&T “FCC-loving” and “bootlicking.” That’s too funny! FCC obeying, yes. Loving? Not even a slight attraction.
Like most bloggers, I use a program to block comment spam (I’ve received over 12,000 spam comments since the beginning). Sometimes the creativity used to try to get past the spam filter is quite cute. Favorite of the week: “Gday thanks regarding your page. I truly adore your web page. Its really informative.” I know I might be adorable, but adoring the P&T…really?
Leave your adorable comments in the space below (no spam please) or through e-mail or tweet @pressandtower.
By the way, if you think you been following me for several months now, make sure you still are following @pressandtower for media tweets. I run two Twitter feeds now, changing my old account to @JoelNatalie for all around professional and personal tweets, and creating a new @pressandtower just for the media stuff. Sorry about any confusion.
Embrace the chaos!
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Looks like the latest eye candy at 35 would rather not be anchoring the news here. So much for credibility:
McDonnell said he hopes this opportunity will jump-start a career in modeling and acting.
“At the party (Thursday) night, the primary purpose was promoting the magazine, but they also invited agents, talent scouts and management groups. So I got to meet a lot of people in that business and made a lot of great connections,” said McDonnell.”
http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x695684227
http://www.wickedlocal.com/upton/news/x1633043647
Well, Amelia Segal won’t be doing the weather here anymore. She’s going to WIVB in Buffalo. From her Facebook page:
Amelia Segal WJET/FOX66 Hey everyone! I wanted to thank you so much for supporting me here in Erie! I have truly had a wonderful time here, many memorable experiences and memories. Tomorrow will be my last night on air in Erie. I will be going to WIVB in Buffalo as the evening weekend meteorologist. I will start a WIVB Buffalo page and would love to keep in touch! Again, thanks for all of your support and interest in the weather!
35 minutes ago · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (18)Hide Feedback (18)
The revolving door at Erie TV stations continues…
Amelia makes it offical. Going to Buffalo. Check her Facebook page.
Amelia Segal WJET/FOX66 Hey everyone! I wanted to thank you so much for supporting me here in Erie! I have truly had a wonderful time here, many memorable experiences and memories. Tomorrow will be my last night on air in Erie. I will be going to WIVB in Buffalo as the evening weekend meteorologist. I will start a WIVB Buffalo page and would love to keep in touch! Again, thanks for all of your support and interest in the weather!
I may be in the minority, but I never thought Amelia was all that great on camera. Attractive…yes…knowledgeable…definitely…but she lacks on-air polish. Perhaps someone at WIVB will work with her to smooth out the rough edges.
Well, Amelia is only 24 or 25 years old! Of course she’s still going to be a little raw. And no doubt she’ll continue to get better in the bigger markets, which have more resources. But she’s very smart. Graduated from Penn St. in 3.5 years. Much more qualified than, say, Cheryl Scott, who I thought was terrible and who had no meteorology degree. And she still managed to score a great gig in Knoxville, a top 50 market.
So is it my imagination, or did WICU bail out on their HD feed of the Olympic closing ceremony tonight? Was it them, or was it my DISH w/local channels that broke down and subbed the SD feed instead.
Very disappointing! The show needed to be seen in HD to capture it’s beauty.
Well, well….HD is back on for the last 10 minutes of the coverage.
My guess is that someone forgot to hit the HD switch after the last local break ran. Any other ideas?
I had full HD throughout and although being a Dish subscriber I use the antenna feed for the local channels to get rid of the compression so WICU was feeding HD till the end. The problem must have been elsewhere.
I wonder who will be doing the weekend weather on JET now.
I am thoroughly disgusted with all three channels and their local new program. Watching WKBN (27) from Youngstown is more informative.
Sorry about the rant.
I can understand your fustration with local news in Erie. I have seen Youngstown, Ohio newscasts. More of a larger market feel and look. I believe Youngtown is a top 100 market, or thereabouts. Altoona-Johnstown-State College is another decent market in television.
The Johnstown market got a real image overhaul after Cox Broadcasting purchased WJAC. Now, they have the same look as Pittsburgh’s 11, WPXI, another Cox holding.
For the longest time, WKBN was the market leader in Y’town. But after LMA’s and other deregulation nonsense, I think the NBC affiliate, WFMJ is the market leader. (it’s been years since I followed the market closely, so I am probably mistaken)
It would not take much to refine the quality of Erie TV news, just a little consistency and a few dollars, something Lilly and Nexstar are reluctant to do.
example, none of the stations is effectively promoting their on line news other than pimping the product at the end of the first news block, “If you want more details log onto…”
What they should be doing is going “live” to the newsroom or a set piece with a reporter who checks station blogs for viewer comments.
Or how about polling viewers on line with the results later in the broadcast. Or, taking an idea that we did at WSEE a few years back asking for viewer comments on our top story and then we’d play back the comments over video to kick the show. The same could be done on line.
I wonder why none of the Erie stations during the heavy snow storms asked viewers for video via the internet and then shared their snow stories on air a’ la “YouTube” just another way to provide a hipper product, incorporate the world wide web “and” perhaps create a younger demo! (now there’s a novel idea)
I found myself cancelling my subscription to the Erie Times News on Monday. I could not believe the vicious column John Dudley wrote about Bob Sanders on Sunday! Mr Dudley sounded more like a child throwing a temper tantrum than an educated Sports Reporter. Why would Mr Dudley care how much the computers cost Mr Sanders? Why would Mr Dudley launch such a mean-spirited attack? And I am sure Mike Ruzzi from WICU-12 enjoyed his name being thrown around for good measure? For the record Dudley said that Ruzzi complained about putting together a DVD quickly for Mr Sanders and then wouldn’t grant Ruzzi an interview. Are you kidding me!? This is what Erie has for Sports reporting professionals?
Bob Sanders is a local man who made good in the big-bad-world outside of little insulated Erie, PA. He was a star at Prep and then Iowa and finally the Colts. Dudley needs to realize the universe does not revolve around him and his reporting.
This is just another example of why Erie media sucks the big one!
Sly:
I heard that! I felt the same way. The column was nothing more than a hatchet job from a reporter who didn’t get the answers they were looking for. When you have accomplished as much as Bob Sanders has then you get to call the shots. If that means deciding what you will and will not answer from journalists then so be it. I think the problem is that reporters in this market think “they” are the story. There is a difference between politicians and celebrities, sports or otherwise. Politicians work for and answer to voters. The fact that Sanders did something great for his community should be more than enough. I can think of a handful of celebs who grew up in Erie, left and never gave a thing back. Sanders is one of a kind.
Yes I get the option of watching the news from Erie, Youngstown or Pittsburgh. Bob Black of WFMJ Youngstown does an excellent job as does Dave Sess of WKBN. They are right up there with KDKA’s Stacy Smith & Patrice King Brown.
My sentiments to the previous comments in regards to the recent Bob Sanders article in the Erie-Times News. The editorial was not newsworthy at all. It was a waste of space in my opinion. Bob Sanders was completely thrown under the bus.
You hate to see someone giving back to Erie treated that way in the Erie fish wrapper. Let’s see someone in Pittsburgh do that to one of the Steeler players & see how well that goes over. Something like a lead ballon.
According to ETN web site, they are going to publish a bunch of letters to the editor blasting Dudley. Stay tuned.
Dudley (((((((YAWN))))))
And speaking of Dudley I wonder if he pissed off Prep Coach Mike Mischler and the powerful Prep Alumni? I wonder if that had anything to do with the ETN deciding to publish all the negative letters tomorrow?
PR is right, stay tuned! I wonder if Dudley could lose his job over this?
Totally agree with Tom Lavery, although I watch Erie, Ytown, and Cleveland news, Ytown looks very professional. They are not in HD yet but I’m sure that will happen soon. Cleveland newscasts like with David Wittman and Denise Dufala on 19 Action News make what we have here very sad to say the least. Let’s do something with our newscasts, Nexstar and Brian Lilly!