Posts Tagged ‘YourErie.com’

9/11: media remembrances moving

All this week, media channels in Erie and around the globe have been filled with stories and special programming marking the 10 years since the devastating events of September 11, 2001 in New York City, Washington, DC and Shanksville, PA.

MSNBC: Men secure a flag over a World Trade Center beam prior to transportation to Erie, Pa., for construction of a memorial to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

For me it is very easy to jump back a decade to that profound sense of horror, pain, and loss; not only in the immediate wake of the attack, but of the accumulated loss over ten years of wars, decimated economy, and internal national strife.

Those of us who were media producers on 9/11/01 instantly recall our efforts of getting the news out to the community, the hours on end radio and television news broadcasts, the extra edition of the Times-News, back-office staff filling roles where needed so that the organizations would meet the challenges of that horrible day.

Perhaps the most rewarding culmination of those extra efforts was United We Stand, the historical combined remote of all the Erie radio and television stations, well covered by the newspaper to raise funds for the American Red Cross and the victims of the attacks on September 20, 2001 at the Millcreek Mall. That sense of unity of purpose was unfortunately soon lost, and so our sense of loss in remembering is multiplied.

There has been some excellent reporting this week, with specials still planned on Sunday. Don’t miss this local content:

Poll: your online news video usage

In our poll last week about the media navel-gazing over their Hurricane Irene coverage, the majority of readers of P&T participating in our poll thought that the level of coverage was appropriate. Of course, that whole conversation died down when people saw the video of the real inland flooding damage in places like Middlebury, VT and Patterson, NJ.

Here’s a quote I recently read on my Facebook news feed:

I can’t believe that in the 21st Century I can’t watch the news (I) choose.

Well, actually, you can; kinda. Both WJET/WFXP and WICU/WSEE offer online video versions of certain stories. WICU/WSEE will also produce an online news headlines cast a couple times a day. GoErie will offer Web Extra video packages with big newspaper stories. Right now, no one locally is live streaming their news casts, nor offers an online archive of their casts.

How do you use local news video online (you can choose up to three answers)?

What is your online news video usage?

View Results

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The new JET 24 Action News

After furious months of design, demolition, construction which included weeks of producing hours of news products literally out of a hallway, the new set and graphics for WJET/WFXP debuted on Thursday.

This is not just a tweak, but a complete overhaul of the multiple newscasts morning, noon and night at the Erie ABC and FOX affiliates. The new music package that accompanies this change is only the second time the music has changed since the launch of Action News over thirty years ago. The graphics for both news and weather are instantly noticeable and a huge improvement for the market. And with the help of a lighting designer that has worked at the network level, the set and its inhabitants are extremely well lit with new Brightline fixtures.

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Action News 24 begins rollout of new look today

For the past month, the news products from WJET/WFXP have been produced from temporary studios as the main news set received a total reconstruction.

However the renovations are not limited to physical props. The station logos and graphics for news and weather are also changing for this second decade of the 21st century. Station management said that the new logos and weather graphics will rollout today, with the set and news package coming sometime next week.

We plan to give you a behind the scenes look at the new digs when they are ready.

New WICU/WSEE website huge improvement

erietvnews.com

Screen grab of erietvnews.com - June 15, 2011

The new website for Lilly’s Broadcasting’s news products at WICU and WSEE is a huge improvement over what they had to date.

The design is clean, media-rich, and should be profitable. What’s interesting is that the on-air promos continue to push the individual domains for the TV stations, wsee.tv and wicu12.com, which then forward to erietvnews.com. I think that’s a good idea, since they have over a decade and a half of branding invested in those domains and rolling out a whole new brand is unnecessary and expensive. And it shows that in spite of much discussion in these parts, Lilly-Erie seems to be committed to keeping the individual news brands separate.

Features of the site are headlines up front, news articles with full-size video complete with ability to link and even embed video onto your own site, as well as share on Facebook or Twitter. There’s also satellite weather and only one ad “above the fold” so that your not wading through so many pop-ups to get to the top news. I like the bio page, with nice new pictures of the news staff and some witty personal stories, as well as the comprehensive directory of the entire company, complete with phone extensions and email links…I appreciate the willingness to be available to the viewers.

They’ve also included a mobile version of the site, which now joins YourErie.com in having separate mobile strategy for a mainstream Erie news outlet. We’ve yet to see any kind of mobile app to come out of GoErie.com/Erie Times-News.

There is still some cleanup to do at erietvnews.com, some design issues including random white space and lines that fall off, along with broken links. However, we are grateful for the investment made in this technology that really enhances viewer’s lives.

Poll: would you use more Erie news with a mobile app?

When we asked last month about your favorite cable news channel, over one-third of P&T respondents said that it was Fox News Channel, followed by CNN and MSNBC.

It seems these days that there is an app for just about everything, and now that includes local Erie news. Nexstar has added the YourErie.com 2Go app for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. Meanwhile Lilly Broadcasting has contracted with a new web provider that will most definitely give them a mobile presence, and GoErie.com doesn’t look too shabby on my Android browser.

It does make me wonder if the mainstream news operations really embraced mobile, would their eyeballs on their content and advertising jump up considerably? Would that include you?

Would you read or watch more local Erie news if available on a mobile app on your smartphone or tablet/iPad?

  • Yes, definately. (34%, 11 Votes)
  • No, not at all. (25%, 8 Votes)
  • I don't have a smartphone, tablet or even iPod Touch! (25%, 8 Votes)
  • Maybe, it depends. (16%, 5 Votes)

Total Voters: 32

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Erie media remembers Albion tornado 25 years later

It just might be the singular defining event in modern Erie media history.

May 31, 1985: the Albion tornado.

Today local media people are remembering the devastating scene, and the soaring spirit of a community.

First, my story: I was working the evening air shift at WDOE/Dunkirk, NY when the weather radio and AP wire went berserk with tornado warnings for the region. We were giving regular updates, although our listening area in Northern Chautauqua County was not affected as much as the rest of the region. I called into WJET radio where I had worked part-time to get a report on the destruction in Albion as well as the Union City/Corry area.

This morning the Erie Times-News did an anniversary report, and Val Myers weighed in on the memories of that day. 106.3 WCTL had a special Memorial Day edition of its morning show remembering the tornadoes.  WJET/WFXP shows archive video of the worst weather event in Erie history and talked to survivors and NOAA weather forecasters, and WSEE’s Scott Bremner remembers the day.

Earlier this year, Tony Victor who was a reporter at WJET-TV remembered on P&T becoming a journalist/first-responder:

Bob Neely and I drove up on Cranesville only to see it raining down attic insulation from when the tornado actually hit. Many of the news crews were pressed into EMS duties, holding IVs for rescue crews while photogs rolled.

When I say that the Albion tornado was a defining event, I mean that the media response to our public service mandate definitely changed after that day. Soon after WSEE purchased an expensive radar tower, the first in Erie. The master Emergency Broadcast Plan was totally revised in the subsequent years. And no one would take another tornado warning for granted.

If you wish to read an excellent synopsis of all of the events of that day 25 years ago, go to pahighways.com for Jeff Kitsko’s account.

I’d like to hear your remembrances of the Albion tornado.