Wow...I only recognize two of the five meteorologists at KING nowadays. Rich Marriott and Jim Guy. Tegna needs to work better on hiring new people. You just don't move an inexperienced, mid-to-small market meteorologist into Seattle. But watching live meteorologists at KING is probably better than the stuff we get here in Yakima! All three chiefs and the morning meteorologists are Tri-Cities based. KIMA Action News is the only Yakima-based newscast and even they use Mike McCabe from KEPR...prerecorded to boot. No live meteorologist since Stu Seibel retired in 2007. Tim Adams and Monty Webb at KNDU are OK, but it's hard to predict Yakima/Ellensburg conditions when you're based 80 miles away. There's hills and mountains in between that really change weather conditions. What may be calm winds in Pasco might be 25, gusting to 40 in Yakima...and sometimes even worse in Ellensburg!
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KING hires new weeknight Meteorologist
- Thread starter JoseRM303
- Start date
Thanks for the history lesson!I'm trying to be positive about TEGNA, but it is hard to be positive about this company. And I thought KOMO was the station in REAL trouble with Sinclair taking over...oh how wrong I was!
Funny, I used to admire Gannett's local tv news operations. They were above the curve in technology, talent, and were mostly tight, sharp, uptempo newscasts. KUSA Denver was always good. So was WXIA Atlanta, KPNX Phoenix, and WUSA Washington DC.
Not sure what to make of the standard Tegna graphic package. Ths idea from several years ago actually was an evolution of the USA Today format/colors. In one sense it is brilliant, in another sense it is tiring to see this sameness at all Tegna stations. I'm sure they would look at it differently.
RE: The "day in the life" KING doc, you can find the 1981 new set first briefly at 15:31. Then, at about 39:07 many views off and on. Also note the crude attempt at colorful graphics by KING. An "A" for effort, but a "C" for overall result!
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Moving weather-people from smaller markets, especially inside the same group owner, is an age-old practice. Doesn't matter whether you're in sales or on-air talent, smaller market stations always have been farm teams for the larger market.
Of course! Seattle has been "lucky" over the years to have less turnover than many other large markets. So, I believe posters here are reacting to the magnitude of change that TEGNA has done over the past 3 years (and, yet, 3 years isn't a particularly SHORT period of time).
As you've pointed out earlier, news WILL look different in the internet/wired age. By the time the late news comes around, I've already seen/read the top stories -- so we probably need something different to keep viewers' attention.
A lot of factors you don't recognize. Fisher, as an example, had TV stations in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and larger market stations in Seattle and Portland. For that group, there isn't the option of hopscotching weather people from small, to less-small, to medium, to large markets. In this example: As News Director in Seattle, you have one weather person go out on early maternity leave and another is out on a three week vacation, so you dip into your in-group small market farm team to fill the gaps. It's not like there is an option to go out and hire a seasoned meteorologist for what amounts to a temporary situation. You also don't have room in the budget to just add weather staff.
That's probably why I saw Shannon O'Donnell prerecording weather a few weeks ago for KEPR's weekend newscasts. They are still missing a weekend WX forecaster but are using a prerecorded Mike McCabe (weeknight meteorologist) segment now. OTOH, KIMA's weather is completely prerecorded from Pasco.
If it makes you feel any better, about a year ago, TEGNA's Phoenix station used a pre-recorded weather segment by a meteorologist in Sacramento (who used to work in Phoenix) on a WEEKNIGHT.
But I've often wondered if it would have made sense for Fisher to hire one additional meteorologist just for fill-in duty in the smaller markets. KPNX in Phoenix used to cross-utilize the meteorologist at their Flagstaff stations in both market (back when Channel 2 in Flagstaff produced their own news).
Here in the DC area, the new trend is having a weather-duo in the mornings. Usually that means the long-standing traditional nerdy meteorologist partnered up with an eye-candy a.k.a 'weather-bunny'. So far the only group owned station here that hasn't done that consistently yet is the Sinclair station WJLA. They just hired away the backup WB from The NBC O&O started the duo juet before the last minor snowfall, and the TEGNA station, WUSA goes weather duo in the Fall and Winter months.
Not to veer too off-topic, but it is interesting how much time is spent covering the weather on local news compared to sports. I would also hypothesize that tag-teaming the weather forecasts does not mean it is necessarily more accurate. Predicting weather, despite all the computer models, Doppler radar, and satellites is still a tough business.
Meanwhile, I watched a Jordan Steele forecast online tonight. He's a high energy guy - reminds me of Sam Argier, which is good and bad. Good, because I like how having a high energy weather guy breaks up the newscast from the more staid anchors and reporters. However, it can be bad, because the personality has to work pretty hard to keep that act fresh. I thought that was a problem with Sam Argier - most nights he brought a lot of energy and was fun to watch, but some nights he didn't have it and the whole forecast felt off.
Also, first impressions ... his voice is very high for a male in broadcasting. Mark Wright and David Espinosa-Hall were anchors, and both have good to great deep broadcasting voices. And then Jordan said something and it was quite the contrast.
We'll see how Jordan does...
Also, first impressions ... his voice is very high for a male in broadcasting. Mark Wright and David Espinosa-Hall were anchors, and both have good to great deep broadcasting voices. And then Jordan said something and it was quite the contrast.
We'll see how Jordan does...
There's and old saying in the TV news biz that's still true today: Weather wins.
People who care about sports usually get their scores and info from on line sources, that's why so little time on a local newscast is dedicated to sports.
The weather team concept is about balancing the potential audience appeal of two different presentations: nerdy or established meteorologist, with attractive presenter. Since "weather wins", you want to be the station with both options, not just one.
Very high voices typically don't mesh with the deep "traditional" male voices. I wonder why someone didn't think of this. That's why Jim Guy's traditional voice worked so well with Mark and David.
I don't think KIRO-TV still has a Sports Director. Last I remember was Gaard Swanson years ago. Yes, you can look up sports scores so quickly nowadays. A little bit different for high school football/basketball, which here in Yakima/Tri-Cities has a fanbase. Sometimes you have to wait for those scores to be entered by the coaches or athletic director.
We have two female meteorologists, both mornings and both from Tri-Cities (KVEW's Kristen Walls and KEPR's Kelley Bayern). An interesting story about Kristen; she used to work at WHAS Louisville then moved to KVEW. On the other hand, an ex-KCPQ/KIRO Monty Webb moved to WHAS...and then he ended up at KNDU Tri-Cities! Unbelievable how two meteorologists from the same station moved to the same market but different station.
We have two female meteorologists, both mornings and both from Tri-Cities (KVEW's Kristen Walls and KEPR's Kelley Bayern). An interesting story about Kristen; she used to work at WHAS Louisville then moved to KVEW. On the other hand, an ex-KCPQ/KIRO Monty Webb moved to WHAS...and then he ended up at KNDU Tri-Cities! Unbelievable how two meteorologists from the same station moved to the same market but different station.
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