Cumulus to require furloughs
Youngstown: News from Radio & Records reports that Cumulus broadcasting will be requiring furloughs. In a cost saving move, the company is requiring all full and part time employees to take 5 consecutive days off without pay. The furlough will not count towards earned vacation time and must take place between May 1st and June 30th. Cumulus owns several Youngstown area stations including Y-103 (WYFM 102.9 - Classic Rock), K-105 (WQXK 105.1 - Country), Hot 101 (WHOT 101.1 - CHR), 96.7 The River (WLLF - AC), Real Rock 104 (WWIZ 103.9 - Alternative / New Rock), WSOM 600 - Standards, WPIC 790 - News Talk and WBBW 1240 - ESPN Sports.Winter Ratings
Pittsburgh:KDKA-AM (1020) has pushed its way back to the top of the 12+ Arbitron category - first time since 2005. The lead over WDVE-FM (102.5) is by nearly one point. Talker WPGB-FM (104.7), although down from the fall book, manages to hold down third place. Other stations seeing pretty decent increases are WKST-FM (96.1), WJAS-AM (1320) and WXDX-FM (105.9).
The new incarnation of B-94 (WBZW-FM 93.7) saw a bit of a drop in the action over the winter but equal to last spring.
Clear Channel cuts jobs in Youngstown
Youngstown: Our friends over at Ohio Media Watch has a long list of job cuts involving Clear Channel owned stations in the Buckeye state. Among those are some in Youngstown. They include Dan Gonder of Nostalgia WNIO 1390 (AM Drive) and Hot AC "Mix 98.9" (PM Drive). Others on the list include Sean Stevens who was Program Director at CHR "95.9 Kiss FM" (WAKZ) and a couple from WKBN 570 including News Director John Nagy and Lorraine Hall who also handled news duties for the News Talk outlet. The cuts at Clear Channel are nationwide including outlets in Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati. Surprisingly, no jobs were cut at any of the Pittsburgh area CC stations this time around according to Radio and Records. The job cuts amount to 2,500 since January including some at the corporate headquarters in San Antonio.KQV's Selby dies
Pittsburgh:
Longtime KQV (1410) program director Erik Selby died unexpectedly on Monday, reports news director Frank Gottlieb.
Arrangements are under the care of McDonald-Aeberli Funeral Home in Mars.
Additional details will be posted when they become available.
UPDATE: (12:17 a.m. 4/29/09) Erik Selby joined KQV in 1992 after DJ stints at WPLW and WEZE-FM. He worked along side his wife, Susan Barr Selby who is the advertising traffic manager. KQV News director Frank Gottlieb praised Selby, telling the Post-Gazette, "He did the work behind the scenes that makes what we do possible." Mr. Selby, as a fan of old-time radio, brought to KQV's nighttime schedule "When Radio Was," a syndicated series of classic radio dramas and mysteries appealing to the early radio fans.
More recently, Selby developed an interest in farming. In 2007, along with his wife, he started the Meadow Rock Farm and Gardens - an organic farm near Butler. He was also a member of the Herbal Thymes Club and two Agriculture groups. (Eric O'Brien, PBRTV Webmaster)
Fox 66 now digital only
Erie-Meadville: At noon today, Fox 66 WFXP has ceased its analog operations on channel 66 according to YourErie.com. With work now complete on sister station WJET DT 24 and their conversion to digital, Fox can now feed regional cable companies as well as Dish Network their digital signal on DT 22 which remaps to 66-1. In 1986, channel 66 signed on as WETG which was owned by Gannon University. The station had limited broadcast hours as well as a limited coverage area. Programming in those early days included "Bonanza" and "I Love Lucy" which featured commentary by Father Tom McSweeney. WETG would later pick up the Fox affiliation which would give the station more stability. Fox was unsure about giving WETG its affiliation but soon saw the numbers and found that there was an audience in Erie for Fox. The station certainly has grown and now has the most powerful signal in the Erie market. With WFXP's analog shutoff, this leaves only WICU TV 12 as the only full powered analog station in Erie until June 12th.Nostalgia follow-up
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix:Since the last installment of the Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix talked about the cameras that Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse designed for the Apollo program, it seems only appropriate to show some of the footage those cameras produced.
Incidentally, if you have a spare three weeks to kill, NASA has put online tons of material related to the moon landings, including raw footage, transcripts and original reports.
You can read the original journals kept by flight controllers and astronauts, listen to hours of audio conversations, view high-quality photos and download the technical documents, including operating instructions! It was truly a monumental task to put all of this stuff online, and Mr. MMNF is very grateful to NASA for making it happen.
It almost makes Mr. MMNF happy to pay his taxes!
TV News Potpourri
Pittsburgh:- Rob Owen interviews WTAE-TV's new News Director who took over a few weeks ago. Alex Bongiorno has her hands full at 4. She needs to hire a fourth weather person (and PBRTV wonders why Michael Haynes couldn't just take the job since he's filled the void for almost a year now), a weekend news anchor (to replace Jake Ploeger) and a sports anchor (to replace Jon Burton). Bongiorno says she hires not only for the station but also the viewers to make sure the person fits the city. So far though, she likes what she sees at WTAE.
- Patrice King Brown (KDKA-TV) is still recovering from her torn ACL and has been off the air since the end of February. Brown is anxious to return to the airwaves and hopes to be back by the first week of May.
- Karen Welles and WPXI have parted ways. Welles isn't telling the PG anything other than she's open to all offers in and out of TV. WPXI News Director Corrie Harding says the departure was a mutual agreement.
3ABN offers digital programming to Erie
Erie-Meadville: Christian network 3ABN is now offering off air digital programming to the Erie area on its low powered digital translator. You can find the channel in some parts of Erie county on DT 32 with 4 channels including two video and two audio streams on 32-1 through 32-4. The station reaches as far as Waterford where my parents reside & I made the discovery while rescanning for Jet TV there. Meanwhile, no word on when TBN will go digital in Erie on DT 38 with their low powered translator.WJET DT now at full power
Erie-Meadville: Viewers missing WJET's analog signal should now be able to get a very solid digital signal from the ABC affiliate. Over the air viewers will need to rescan their digital TV sets or converter boxes in order to get the digital station on 24-1. The low powered channel Jet was using on 58-3 was shut off Thursday morning. For me, the station is very strong and has readings up to 92% which is comparable to sister station WFXP 66-1 (22). Feel free to share your reception reports for WJET DT here.Yancy featured
Pittsburgh: Former WTAE-TV reporter/anchor Shawn Yancey has been working at WTTG-TV in Washington since September 10, 2001. DCRTV's Patricia Barba caught up with Yancey and the interview is featured there today.Karen Lash dies
Pittsburgh:After a long battle with Cancer, Karen Yourd Lash has died in Melbourne, Florida at the age of 51. Lash got her start up in Indiana, PA with WDAD and WQMU. Later she would get into the ownership end with her husband Chris*. Together they owned and operated stations in Indiana, PA, Waynesboro, Tennessee and two in Florida. She is survived by Chris, three children, one stepson, her parents, a brother and a sister. A memorial service will be held at Graystone Presbyterian Church in Indiana, PA on May 9.
PBRTV expresses condolences to Karen's family. Chris Lash used to be the Central PA Correspondent for PBRTV.
Kate Harris checks in...
Pittsburgh:Pittsburgh's TV moon shot
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix: In photos of early U.S. television studios, the cameras seen are often those made by the Radio Corporation of America, or RCA.In fact, the ubiquitous RCA TK-11/TK-31 --- like this one, shown in use by WQED-TV in 1955 --- is arguably the most familiar TV camera of all time.
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Oh, there were competitors. Allen B. DuMont Laboratories (owner of Pittsburgh's WDTV) made high-quality cameras for a while, and General Electric gave RCA serious competition, too.
(By the 1970s, European and Japanese camera makers --- such as Philips and Ikegami --- were elbowing RCA and GE out of the TV camera business.)
But one name that doesn't often come up is Pittsburgh's Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Westinghouse in the 1960s was an important manufacturer of consumer electronics and household appliances (it exited those businesses before 1974), and operated some of the most successful radio and TV stations in the U.S. It also made broadcast transmitters.
Yet unlike arch-rival GE, Westinghouse wasn't a major player in the TV camera business.
Nevertheless, Westinghouse TV cameras did take some of the most-widely watched images of all time.
How? Because Westinghouse built many of the TV cameras that the astronauts used during America's manned missions to the moon, including Apollo 9, which marked its 40th anniversary last month, and Apollo 10, which got underway 40 years ago next month. (more)
WSEE to move in WICU complex June 1st
Erie-Meadville: Definitely a busy week covering Erie TV. According to Saturday's Erie Times-News, Brian Lilly GM of WICU and WSEE has stated that the WSEE's on and off air staff will move up to the WICU studios on State street and begin sharing resources on June 1st. It's up in the air if both stations will continue to air newscasts simultaneously in the morning as well as 6 and 11pm due to lack of room in the WICU building. Both may stagger newscasts and could bring back a 7pm newscast on either WSEE or WICU which had one years ago. Among the shared resources will be reporters covering stories for both stations which means one less reporter will be needed at the same news event. If the newscasts are staggered, you could see anchors sharing newscasts on both stations. Another scenerio is the possibility of a second 10pm newscast in the Erie market, which could air on "WBEP" which is the Lilly owned CW affiliate on WSEE's digital sub channel on 35-2 as well as cable outlets. WBEP currently reairs newscasts from both WICU and WSEE at various times. With the digital channels becoming the norm, WBEP could be a possible outlet for a live 10pm newscast to challenge "Fox 66 News at Ten." News out of the Meadville Tribune this week also reports the plans for WICU's digital signal once the station signs on June 12th on DT 12. The station plans on carrying WICU on 12-1, WBEP on 12-2 and WSEE on 12-3.WQLN testing multi channels
Erie-Meadville: WQLN TV 54 (DT 50) is now testing its second and third digital channels with various programming. Currently on 54-2, you can watch "Q-Life" until May 1st when the second channel officially becomes "Create" and replaces Q-Life both on air and on Time Warner cable. Meanwhile, 54-3 is carrying various PBS programs but will eventually become more news focused.Jones shuts off WJET's analog signal
Erie-Meadville: It was 43 years ago when WJET Radio owner Myron Jones would flip the switch and put WJET TV 24 on the air. The same man who first put WJET on the air in 1966 would be the same man to shut off the station on April 17th, 2009. Myron did just that at 11:35pm with mixed emotions. Of course that is understandable after all of the heart & soul he used in order to add a 3rd TV station to the Erie market. Over the time both he and the late John Kanzius ran Jet TV, the station would become the number one station in the market and become very involved in the Erie community. Kudos to Nexstar Broadcasting for this very classy move.Shelley Duffy to WZPT
Pittsburgh:CBS Radio in Pittsburgh announced today that air personality Shelley Duffy will be heading to the STAR 100.7 (WZPT-FM New Kensington) morning show effective April 20. From 1996 - 2004, Duffy was a fixture on the former "John-Dave-Bubba-Shelley" morning show on the previous incarnation of "B-94" (then WBZZ-FM; now WBZW). Since 2004 she has been KDKA-AM's (1020) Lifestyle and Entertainment Editor - a role she will maintain after beginning this new venture.
Duffy is joining JR Randall and the new program will be aptly entitled the "JR and Shelley Show".
WZPT, WBZW, KDKA, along with WDSY are all under the CBS Radio umbrella.
Pens, X ink new agreement
Pittsburgh: Just in time for tonight's playoff brawl between the Penguins and the Broad Street Bullies comes news that the team and Clear Channel have inked a new six-year deal.
The agreement keeps Pens' games on "The X" WXDX-FM (105.9) through the 2014-15 season.
The modern rocker, which is also the home of Mark Madden's afternoon weekday talk show, has served as the Pens' flagship for three seasons.
Legendary announcer Mike Lange and the old two-niner, Phil Bourque, continue in the broadcast booth.
From jail cell to air chair
West Virginia, Misc. Ohio: Former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney is now holding down a weekday afternoon talk-slot on Moundsville's WVLY (1370). His first show aired Monday.
Ney, a Republican from Bellaire, Ohio, who served 17 months in federal prison on corruption charges, can be heard from 1 to 3 p.m.
The Politico website notes that Ney joins other ex-cons on the air, like Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy, "who went on to conservative talk radio superstardom."
Ney resigned from his seat in Ohio's 18th Congressional District in November 2006 and pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government in relation to a bribery scandal. He was released last August.
He may be best remembered as the congressman who insisted that French fries be renamed "freedom fries" after the French government refused to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
According to WTRF-TV, Ney jokingly called his year-and-a-half stint as his residency in "The Bush Administration's Federal Housing Program in Morgantown."
WBXQ flips to country
Johnstown-Altoona-State College: After 12 years of classic rock, "Q94" WBXQ-FM (94.3) has flipped to country music as "True Country 94.3." The change was to take place at 10 a.m. today.
Owner Dave Barger told co-owned WRTA (1240) that morning host Adam Erikson will remain with the company and move to a sister station, "Mix" WBRX-FM (94.7), which once simulcast Q94 but switched to adult contemporary in 2007.
On his final show before the switch, Erikson, who had spent 17 years on WBXQ, noted that Q94 was joining the likes of "Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, John Lennon ... you get the idea."
Erikson was the only live, local personality on the station; the rest of the music on the station (licensed to Patton Borough, north of Johnstown and Altoona) came from Dial Global's Classic Rock service.
No job cuts are expected as a result of the format switch, WRTA reported.
You can't make this stuff up
National News, Nonsense: The producers of "Girls Gone Wild" now claim that sales have shown a "huge spike" after Comcast accidentally interrupted a Philadelphia-area broadcast of Good Friday Mass with a commercial for their series of soft-core porn videos.In a press release, former convict and "Girls Gone Wild" CEO Joe Francis is quoted as saying the company "may have tapped into a whole new market. It seems that many of the same people interested in the pope's message are also interested in ours."
Francis, currently under indictment for tax fraud in Nevada, says he was "happy to have shared an audience with the pope."
With the myriad of trouble that Francis currently faces (he's also being sued by the Wynn's casinos chain), he might want to be nicer to the pontiff, because he may be asking for divine intervention (or at least absolution) soon.
"Huge spike." Heh heh heh.
(PBRTV propeller-head beanie tip to "Frank the Freak.")
Former KDKA news director dies
Pittsburgh:Former KDKA Radio News director Matt Quinn and his wife, Cathy, died while trying to flee their Montague, Texas home as the north Texas wildfires burned. Quinn, a native of Youngstown, was 80. His 1960s stint at KDKA was brief and led to writing, reporting and directing stints in television in Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas.
Source: PG
The funny hurts
National News, Nonsense: Don't tell Scott Hanley, but Harry Krinkle of New York City-area independent radio station WFMU-FM (91.1) this week offered up 10 things he hates about NPR, including recipe segments, "ordinary person commentaries," politically correct pronunciation, "those irksome solo bassoon bumpers between segments on All Things Considered," and worst of all, "puzzlemaster Will Shortz.""Shortz's Sunday segments on 'Weekend Edition' are the single worst thing on the radio today," Krinkle kvetches. "If Republicans ever stumble onto these sonic abominations, they'll finally be able to overcome the powerful Big Bird Lobby and cut funding to CPB like they've been dreaming about."
Mmm, I love fresh bile in the morning!
(Speaking of bitter, a certain PBRTV correspondent was caught bloviating in Pittsburgh City Paper last week about LPFM. Pretty soon he'll be walking around Market Square with a sandwich board, complaining that Bill Coyne is stealing his mail.)
Voice of the Phillies dead at 73
Misc. Pennsylvania: Harry Kalas, the award winning longtime voice of the Philadelphia Phillies has passed away at the age of 73. He was preparing to broadcast today's game against the Washington Nationals when he collapsed. Harry was with the Phillies organization since 1971 and has one of those voices that many broadcasters wished they had. In addition to the Phillies broadcasts, he had also announced NFL games for Westwood One. His voice led to work on various projects including NFL Films, Chunky Soup commercials and the Animal Planet's "Puppy Bowl" among other things. To hear his voice last year when the Phillies were in the World Series over 50,000 watt WPHT 1210 was something really special. Little did I know that it would be the last time I would hear such a great set of pipes calling a baseball game that meant so much for "The City of Brotherly Love."Tax time fun break
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix:Mr. Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix had to file his taxes this weekend, and didn't have time for his usual vast (or is that half-vast?) research.
Instead, here's a vintage clip from 45 years ago, of Woody Allen on "The Jack Paar Show."
(Tip of the PBRTV propeller-head beanie to Mark Evanier, who gives some of the background on this clip at his wonderful website, News From Me.)
Read all about it! "Newsman Dave" returns to the airwaves soon
Erie-Meadville: A few months after he was let go by Classy 100, "Newsman Dave" Benson will make a one day only return to the airwaves on WYNE 1530. This Saturday afternoon April 18th from noon-5pm, Dave's fans and friends can tune into WYNE 1530 or online 'round the world at http://wyne.mercyhurst.edu/. Not only will Newsman Dave return to the airwaves, but he will also be reunited with former "Breakfast Club" co-host "Captain Dan" after several years. Could this lead to more than a one day appearance? We surely hope so.Jet DTV conversion plans update
Erie-Meadville: This will be the last week you will be able to receive WJET TV 24 using a regular TV if you rely on rabbit ears or an outdoor antenna for reception. The station will shut down its analog signal this Friday (April 17th) at 11:35pm following "Action News 24." Work will then begin on the station's conversion to full powered digital as the station will move to DT 24. A DTV special that aired over the weekend on both WJET and sister station WFXP explained what will happen after Friday. I was incorrect when I previously mentioned that WJET would not be available on Dish Network but it looks like it will be available after all since Jet plans on keeping their current low powered digital station on during much of their transition work, which will take up to 4 days. Some cable companies in outlying areas like Warren, Pa. that had relied on Jet's analog signal for its customers will lose Jet temporarily along with those who use an antenna and cannot get Jet's current low powered digital signal off air. Meanwhile WFXP will temporarily shut down its analog signal on April 22nd after "Fox 66 News at Ten" ends at 10:35pm. Fox will have to shut down its digital since they share the same tower as WJET. Fox will feed its analog to cable companies and Dish Network since the analog is on a separate tower behind the WQLN studios.Talk about passion plays!
Misc. Pennsylvania: Philadelphia-area Catholics got a nasty surprise early yesterday morning while watching Good Friday Mass live from the Vatican.Comcast accidentally switched the feed to a racy 30-second spot for the "Girls Gone Wild" series of videos, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
A Comcast spokesman blamed the regularly scheduled Emergency Alert System test for screwing things up. He helpfully told the newspaper that "no actual pornography" was shown.
Sources say it was the most disturbing sight they've gotten from Comcast since their last monthly bill. (Rimshot.)
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
Good morning, NPR!
Pittsburgh: We hear that Pittsburgh native and former Pitt student Adrian Cronauer will be Scott Simon's guest tomorrow on NPR's "Weekend Edition: Saturday."
The 1987 Barry Levinson film "Good Morning Vietnam" was very loosely based on Cronauer's stint as the host of the "Dawn Buster" program on the Armed Forces Vietnam Network during the war. (PBRTV told Cronauer's story back in 2007.)
Rather than being the out-of-control rabble-rouser depicted by Robin Williams in the movie, Cronauer went onto a long, productive career as an attorney for the U.S. Defense Department, from which he recently retired.
No word on what time Cronauer will appear, but "Weekend Edition" airs from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturdays on Pittsburgh's WDUQ-FM (90.5) and the West Virginia Public Radio network.
Create is coming May 1st
Erie-Meadville: For the past few months, WQLN TV 54 has offered a cable only channel called "Q-Life" which carried various how-to programming as well as some news and kids programs. Most of the operations for Q-Life are being handled by PPTN (Pennsylvania Public Television Network) down in Hershey, Pa. Unfortunately, PPTN will cease to exist for any public TV station across the state on May 1st due to drastic cuts in Governor Ed Rendell's budget. Q-Life will no longer exist on May 1st but will be replaced by "Create" which is a service provided to public TV stations across the country. Create carries various how-to programs 24 hours a day and will basically run itself once the network makes its debut in the Erie market. Create will not only be available on area cable systems, but will also be available off air on WQLN's digital sub channel on 54-2. Those with digital TV sets or converter boxes will have to rescan for the new channel once May 1st comes around. Those who have Dish network will still need a converter box in order to watch Create since Dish currently does not carry any sub channels of any digital TV station.Dish to offer HD locals in May
Erie-Meadville: According to news over on the AVS Forum, Erie's local HD stations will be offered soon by Dish Network. The satellite company plans on launching the HD stations on May 13th. This move could help Dish compete with regional cable companies that already offer HD locals. Of course, you'll only see WJET, WSEE, WQLN and WFXP in HD since WICU will not have its own full powered digital signal on the air until June 12th. Even then, HD programming may not be offered by the NBC affiliate right away.PERSON PROFILE: Jim Lokay
Person Profile:
Name: James Samuel Lokay
Do you have an "air name"? Sally Wiggin
Age: 28
Birthplace/Current Location (or perhaps we could call it "Lokaytion"...): East McKeesport, PA
What stations have you worked at? Metro Networks (news and traffic for the original B94, Star 100.7, Y108, 1360 WPTT, 1410 KQV) News 10 Now in Syracuse, NY.
Have you had any other jobs outside of the broadcasting industry? Oh, where to start? Bowling alley concourse worker, KFC cook, Trak Auto cashier, Circuit City salesman, Great American Federal teller, Pittsburgh Pirates sales associate.
Who are your mentors/inspirations? Mike Clark has been an incredible friend. I met him while in college, and we got back into regular touch when I was working in radio. Through the years, he critiqued my tapes and gave me job advice. Above all, though, he is a genuinely good man. Michelle Wright has also been a great help. And while I won't tell him to his face, despite our constant sniping, Jon Burnett is one of my closest friends at KDKA. I love the guy like a brother, even though he's old enough to be my father.
Tell us about your family. I'm a single guy, but my entire family is still in the Mon Valley. My parents currently own and manage Lokay Lanes in Monroeville (the bowling tradition continues!), My sister, Andrea, is the assistant manager of a pharmacy in Washington County.
Favorite Movie? I love "Anchorman," but the favorite is probably "Waiting for Guffman."
What's one item we might find in your refrigerator on a regular basis? Salsa, and usually the giant Costco jugs that I never finish.
Who would you like to see interviewed for Person Profile? Jon Burnett, Paul Rasmussen, Carol Finelli
WRCT & WYEP Celebrate Milestones
Pittsburgh:In 1974, the on-campus signal of Carnegie Technical Institute's WRCT moved from AM 900 to 88.3 FM whose power carried the signal off campus. While WRCT really turns 60 this year, the station is celebrating 35 years of FM presence. It has been 15 years since the power was increased and the station can be heard up to 15 miles from Oakland. 'RCT is home to an eclectic free-form format, some amazing in-house public affairs programming as well as "Democracy Now" and "Free Speech Radio News" from the Pacifica Network. WRCT became the flagship radio station of The Saturday Light Brigade in 2003 and has been home to a little oldies program called "Radio 9" - which features some classic WRCT jingles created by radio-loving students in the 1960s - since 2001. (And as if that weren't bad enough, this editor was a volunteer news anchor for the station and frequently on Radio 9 between 2003 and 2007.)
WRCT will celebrate on Saturday with station DJs spinning the music at Shadow Lounge and AVA - both in East Liberty.
Meanwhile, it was April 1974 when WYEP-FM (91.3) signed on from a South Oakland basement. The station will feature several special events throughout the remainder of this month.
Source: PG
Hall keeps cool; Gastmeyer blogs
Pittsburgh:The Post-Gazette's Rob Owen gives kudos to WTAE-TV (4) reporter Janelle Hall. She was on duty last Saturday during the live coverage of the Stanton Heights conflict in which three City of Pittsburgh policeman were fatally shot. "No one is perfect in a high-stress situation such as this," writes Owen, "but WTAE weekend morning anchor Janelle Hall made the best impression. She handled the live ongoing coverage with a calm, steady tone and managed to avoid repeating herself too often..."
Former WPXI-TV (11) reporter Andy Gastmeyer made good on his retirement promise to begin blogging. Thinking about the runtime of most TV news stories, he entitled his blog "Beyond a Minute-Fifteen". Visit Andy's blog - www.andy-gastmeyer.blogspot.com.
Cool 101.7 goes online
Erie-Meadville:Fans of locally owned and operated Cool 101.7 in Meadville can now take the station with them anywhere in the world. You can now listen to Cool 101.7 online at http://www.cool1017online.com/. In fact, the station is the only one in Crawford county to stream its programming online. You can of course check out station information on the site as well as see the faces behind the mic.
A nice, warm glow
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix:
April 6, 1979 was a good night to stay inside and watch TV.
Not that the programming was all that great. In fact, it was going to get worse --- the following night, NBC was bringing back "Supertrain," after disastrous ratings for its first few episodes forced a complete retooling.
One of the great network flops of all time, "Supertrain" (billed as "The Love Boat" on rails) lasted five more episodes before chugging into the great scrapyard in the sky.
No, people in Pennsylvania were staying indoors because an ill wind was blowing no good over the Three Mile Island nuclear plant (speaking of flops), six miles from Harrisburg.
. . .
It's worth noting that no injuries or illnesses have ever been directly linked to the March 28, 1979 partial meltdown inside TMI's Reactor No. 2, but 30 years ago, we didn't know that.
Indeed, Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh --- in office less than three months --- had advised all children and pregnant women within a five-mile radius of TMI to evacuate. He wouldn't lift the order for a few more days.
The accident, and the sluggish response of TMI's operators to the crisis, had turned Thornburgh into a self-professed nuclear skeptic: "I want to know if it's safe," he said.
So, what was the state of broadcasting in Pittsburgh 30 years ago this week? (more)
Musings: Potpourri
Musings From Eric:If you have realized my pattern, you've probably realized that today should be the day for "Person Profile", but your editor was a little slow on the uptake this week. (Believe it or not, I work on other websites too!) Therefore I will muse instead.
WQED-TV (13)
No foolin', WQED-TV turned off its analog signal this week - April 1 to be exact. That's 55 years to the day after it was turned on for the first time. Not a bad plan if you could get it. Supposedly the plan was to shut off the analog signal and "flash cut" the digital signal from 38 back to 13. Then WQEX would move from 26 to 38. According to some O-T-A viewers that has not happened yet. That makes one wonder if some work has to be done before the move can take place. Stay tuned.
Ashley DiParlo
We somehow missed this one (but with the magic of the Internet, who misses anything now?) Ashley DiParlo has left Channel 4. She is getting married and her husband-to-be took a new job out of the area. DiParlo blogged words of thanks to viewers who watched her "stumble and really grow as a reporter." Her "Plugged-In" segment has become a daily feature on the morning news at WTAE.
Keith Jones
We reported Jones' departure from KDKA-TV (2) a week or so ago. Rob Owen was brave enough to ask why. Jones' answer makes sense. His move to WSTP in Tampa is for job stability as he worked without a contract for 7 or 8 months. The negotiations for a new contract were continuously put on hold which made Jones a little nervous - especially given recent layoffs at CBS stations (and KDKA) in the last couple of years. Working without a contract could make one an easy target. When he told management about the new job offer, they didn't counteroffer.
This leaves KDKA putting weekend anchor Stephanie Watson to work filling in for Jones further strapping the already thin-stretched anchors. At the same time, perhaps the station can save some money until the revenue nosedive reascends
It leads me to ask, will stations cut down their newscasts?
Verizon FiOS
The PBRTV World Headquarters is fortunate enough to be in a neighborhood where Verizon installed FiOS. We think it is safe to call it "The Official Online/TV/Phone provider of PBRTV.com", but I'm sure such a commercial will never be made. The City of Pittsburgh residents are still waiting for FiOS to be approved in the city limits. Supposedly the deal would have been made so that things could begin in the first quarter of 2009. However, Verizon focused on negotiations for a Philadelphia franchise for which an agreement was reached. Local representatives for the City of Pittsburgh are meeting with Verizon this month and hope to be able to get the franchise rolling this summer. Still though, it might be a few years before certain parts of the city will be able to connect to FiOS.
Lack of interest cancels WICU DVD sale
Erie-Meadville: The family of Mike Csop has decided to cancel the sale of the WICU 40th anniversary DVD. Despite efforts from yours truly, there simply is no interest in this well done program.Legislature pushes for another DTV transition delay
National News: Just when you thought that the transition to digital TV would finally take place by June 12th, you might want to sit down. According to sources in Washington, both leaders in the U.S. House and Senate are looking at ways to delay the DTV transition AGAIN until December 25th. Yes folks, December 25th is Christmas believe it or not. The legislation could also force all TV stations who have already converted to digital to convert back to analog until December 25 because as one house member said "TV station owners are just like kids, they just couldn't wait until Christmas to make the switch. So that's their problem to switch back, not ours." I mean come on, enough is enough as far as I'm concerned. Do we really need to extend the DTV transition ANY LONGER?!? Thanks to PBRTV reader Josh Kiddenya for this breaking news update.Local researcher has DTV fix
Pittsburgh, National News: Viewers frustrated by blank screens, pixelization and other digital TV picture problems will soon get relief, thanks to a group of local researchers.
Dubbed Hedores, the new technology softens the sharp, "jagged" pixels of digital video and also gives viewers hands-on control over picture hue, contrast, brightness and other features.
Ray Catódico, a professor of electrical engineering at WCCC who led the Hedores research team, told the News-Dispatch commercial production of Hedores converters is expected with a year. Finished converters will retail for less than $100, he said.
"It's easy to install, and it makes TV viewing much more interactive," Catódico told the newspaper.
Hedores is compatible with all TVs --- including brand-new plasma sets --- and can convert broadcast, cable or satellite signals, he said.
Catódico said he got the idea for Hedores after reading reviews in stereo magazines about the resurgence of vacuum-tube based amplifiers. Some audiophiles claim that the older technology imparts a "warmth" to music that's otherwise missing in digital audio equipment.
Hedores uses two inexpensive Chinese-made tubes to introduce random variations into incoming video signals, blurring overly-sharp digital pictures.
When no signal is detected, instead of displaying an error message, Hedores loads one of several different screensavers, including an Indian-head test pattern or a "Please Stand By" slide.
In addition, a simple set of rotary controls that can be adjusted with any non-conductive screwdriver allows viewers to cause the picture to roll, turn red or green, or add static or "ghosts."
According to the newspaper, Catódico is currently researching ways to replace universal remote controls with manual dials located directly on the front of TV sets.
The latest trends put KDKA back on top
Pittsburgh:For the first time in a few years, KDKA-AM (1020) has reached the top of the Arbritrends. The news/talk station has bumped up nearly a point and a half above it's winter book. WDVE-FM (102.5) moves to second place down a significant fraction from the winter. WDSY-FM (107.9) is in 5th place and has lost some ground to WSHH-FM (99.7) and WPGB-FM (104.7) which are in 3rd and 4th places respectively.
The remainder of the trends...and they're just trends...are here.
WJET TV to shut off April 17th
Erie-Meadville:We have an updated story regarding WJET TV 24. The station will be permanently shutting off its analog signal on Friday April 17th at 11:35pm following their newscast. Once the station is shut off, work will begin to convert the station from analog 24 to DT 24 which will take up to four days. The work will require a tower crew to remove WJET's current 3 ton analog antenna and replace it with a new 4 ton digital antenna high atop the Jet tower. The work will take both WJET TV 24 (and its low powered digital signal on DT 58) as well as WFXP's (Fox 66) digital signal on DT 22 off the air since both are on Jet's tower. From what I understand, WFXP will leave its analog signal on for over the air viewers as well as cable and Dish Network customers. Jet will be able to feed Time Warner Cable with fiber lines but will be unavailable to Dish Network and other cable companies.