Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Channel 3 aired a very special program this last Saturday Night at 7 pm called "Lake Erie: Beyond the Surface" hosted by WKYC Chief Meteorologist Mark Nolan. If case you missed the show, you can watch it right now on-line. Just click on the segment number and enjoy: Segment #1 Segment #2 Segment #3 Segment #4 What makes this program special is that is will be the first non-news or sports programs we are doing in true HD - from the shooting to the editing and the broadcasting - all done in high definition from start to finish. This is part of our commitment to make our viewers more aware of High Definition broadcasting - and in particular - that we are getting close to the analog TV stations signing off on February 17, 2009. Media outlets, like ours, will be helping to further educate the public - and this is certainly one way we can do our part while bringing viewers some interesting and informative, original programming about one of our greatest natural resources, Lake Er...

The Emmy nominations were announced last night and WKYC earned 22 nominations for work done in 2006 - more than any other Cleveland station. The Emmy Awards ceremony will be held in September. Congratulations to all my WKYC colleagues. For the complete NATAS list, Click Here . 2006 WKYC Emmy Nomination List Oustanding Daily Newscast Markets 1-20 Channel 3 News at 11PM - Rita Andolsen, Romona Robinson, Dan Stadler, Frank Macek, Mike McCormick Outstanding Morning or Daytime Newscast Markets 1-20 Channel 3 News Today - David Grendzynski Spot News "Underpass Rescue" - Paul Thomas Live/Breaking News "Lake County Floods" - David Grendzynski Service News Story - Series "Hey, Carl Monday!" - Carl Monday "Workplace Danger" - Carl Monday News Report - Hard News "Predator Detective" - Jennifer Murphy News Report - Soft News "Gator Man" - David Grendzynski News Series - Hard News "Library Crime" - Carl Monday, Mike Leonard, Bill...

From: Bruce in Canton Q: Frank, enjoy your blog. Even though I don't work in tv, I've always found the business interesting... My actual question was this: When the sound is out of sync like it was today (Monday) on Good Company, is this an issue happening at the station, or is it the fault of our cable company (Massillon Cable)? Just always wondered when this happens whose fault it is. Thanks, and keep up the good work! A: Keeping audio and video in sync with HD is a bit challenging when are you still working in an analog AND digital world right now. I know in the past, we have had some issues with this - but not aware of any recently. Sometimes the cable companies will have their own sync issues in the chain from when they get the signal digitally from us and rebroadcast it on their analog systems. So, it's possible their calibration is off somewhat. But, I'll keep an eye out for this.

Rick Jackson, a former WKYC staffer, who is seen nightly now on WVIZ and WCPN Radio sent us a nice e-note regarding his appearance in the "Turn to 3 Promos" we have been featuring on the blog. Rick writes, "Wow - 22 years go by fast...thanks for the 'hairy' memories." If you haven't seen the promo with him and Tom Beres from circa 1985, CLICK HERE . Other WKYC promos are listed under our video highlights section with many more coming soon!

Game shows where contestants have to remember lyrics to songs seems to be the latest fad in prime time programming, at least starting in July on Fox and NBC. Seems like everyone wants to be star now...so the networks are giving folks the chance...at least temporarily to see how the audience responds. NBC's new show will be called the "The Singing Bee" which is scheduled to debut on July 10 at 9:30 pm. Update: Former NSYNC member and finalist on "Dancing with the Stars" Joey Fatone has just been named host of the show being produced by Gurin Company and Juma Entertainment. The show was originally scheduled to debut this Fall...but was moved up on the schedule to beat Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics" which debuts on July 11th. All I can say, is "Name That Tune" baby!

USA Today publisher & local TV station group owner, Gannett Co. (parent of WKYC) is leading a $10 million investment in mobile search, publishing and advertising firm 4info . The company uses SMS/text messaging technology to create interactive applications, news alerts, weather updates and stock quotes. Check out their website at: 4info

Various companies have announced their target goals for HD Channels by the end of 2007. These include: DirectTV - 100 HD Channels Cox Communications - 50 HD Channels Cablevision - 500 HD Channels (including 15 HD from sister company Voom) AT&T Homezone - 30 National HD Channels (Plus local channels)

Studies show that sports tv enthusiasts have been far and away the largest group of early adapters of HD television. According to a study called "Inside the Mind of the HD Sports Fan," the following events are the top 10 sports program people want to watch in HDTV. 1. Super Bowl 2. College football bowl games 3. World Series 4. NBA Finals 5. NCAA College Basketball Tournament 6. Daytona 500 7. Olympics 8. The Masters 9. NHL Stanley Cup 10. World Cup Courtesy: Consumer Electronic Association

Whether we like it or not, the Jessie Davis story has become THE local story of the year. Since I've been at WKYC, I have never seen a story covered quite like this in the past 13 years - other than on September 11th, 2001. We've basically moved our main anchor team and a team of reporters to Stark County to cover every angle of this story including Tim White, Romona Robinson, Dave Summers, Maureen Kyle, Paul Thomas, Mike O'Mara & Kristin Anderson - along with a whole crew of engineers, technicians and on site producers. Back at the station, we have a whole team here handling the planning of our coverage & our regular on-air operations. Today, we have been doing local updates every 30 minutes as crews searched a mound of freshly disturbed ground. It's the biggest development so far. Even though, we've been doing coverage since this story broke, we didn't quite expect today's developments. So, we had to do some quick planning & dispatch crews ...

Last time, I discussed how the commercials you see on the air are physically made in the production phase. (If you missed part I, CLICK HERE ). The second half of this series examines how the finished product gets put into our system and gets on the air. & into your homes. In our tape room, we have an engineer whose job is to take the ready made commercials and get them into the playback commercial server. Commercials come to the station through a variety of means...by a physical tape, off a satellite, or downloaded over dedicated advertising networks. From there, the commercials are "ingested" or downloaded into our playback system - it's a huge video server that not only handles commercials, but also records many of the syndicated programming you see on Channel 3 like "Entertainment Tonight," "Dr. Phil," & "Rachel Ray" since these shows are not done live and are delivered to the station usually off the satellite earlier in the day, ...

Congratulations to Channel 3 Health Anchor Monica Robins - the first recipient of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure "Power of a Partner" Community Service Award. Monica was honored with the award at a ceremony last week. Click Here for Video > The award is given to a corporation or individual for their unwavering and committed support to the Komen cause. Monica has been leading our fight against breast cancer at Channel 3 since we started our participation with the organization which is celebrating its 25th year anniversary. It's an honor well deserved for Monica! For more information on this year's Komen "Race for the Cure" that will take place on Saturday, September 15, 2007 at Mall B & C Downtown, you can call (216) 791-cure (2873) or visit http://race.komenneohio.org

We get asked on occasion, "Where in the world is Marshall McPeek?" - the easy answer is "not all that far away." During the days of the Donna Terrell, Don Hammond & Mark Nolan morning show on WKYC, Marshall was the roving reporter who headed out every morning in search of interesting events, people & places to bring viewers as they started their days. And our viewers loved his witty sense of humor and boyish appearance. But Marshall's real passion is meteorology. After Marshall left Channel 3, he went to Channel 5 to polish up his weather skills, then landed at NBC 4/WCMH-TV in Columbus in January 2002 where he has been since working as the weekend morning meteorologist, co-anchor & reporter. Marshall loves the weather so much, he has developed his own weather websites at: marshallmcpeek.com & mcweather.com Prior to working in Cleveland, Marshall also worked as an anchor/reporter for WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio, and WSIL-TV in Harrisburg, Ill. Marsh...

Want to get the latest on what's happening at NBC...both behinds the scenes and on the screens? NBC Studio Pass is a great resource I use for all NBC programming including information about shows, the latest news and sports offerings, previews, highlights & more. You can browse through full episodes, 2 minute replays and web exclusive video. Plus, it's the place where you can watch free episodes of various, current NBC shows like Friday Night Lights, Studio 60, Passions, Heroes & Medium. To sign up for free access, go to NBC Studio Pass .

Our blog gets a lot of questions about HDTV - and that's certainly one of the big subjects we like to touch upon. So we'll offer some basic suggestions to keep in mind as you look to super size your viewing pleasure, while hopefully taking advantage of sale prices and close out discounts to help you shuck our old analog TV for a shiny new HD one. 1) Always read any ad's fine print. Often times, stores will offer limited time frames for sale items, or a limited number of models you might want. 2) Make sure you ask about price guarantees. If you find your TV selling for less someplace else within 30 days, will the store refund the difference? 3) If you accept a no-payment, no interest offer, always be sure to pay for the set completely before the term expires. If not, you'll get charged interest dating back to the date you bought the TV. This catches consumers all the time. And usually the interest rates are very high. 4) Pay with a credit card. Some card companies wil...

Worldwide sales of Internet Protocol Television ( IPTV ) set top boxes will soar to 7.9 million units in 2007, a growth of 111% since last year, according to a new study by Strategy Analytics. IPTV is television via the internet as opposed to over the air broadcasting, satellite or cable service. The Asia-Pacific region will account for the bulk of the growth, amounting to 45% of the installed base, followed by Europe with 33% and the U.S. with 13%. Worldwide DVR installations are expected to almost double from a penetration of 15% in 2006 to 29% by the end of 2007. Courtesy: Strategy Analytics

We have learned, thanks to a tip off from our partners at Ohio Media Watch and various friends at Channel 8...that WJW is being sold by Fox's parent company News Corp. This will create an interesting situation...will the station remain a Fox affiliate? will an existing market owner pick up the station as a duopoly? will the new company spend less money on the high tech gadgets? and why is Fox spending money revamping their news set currently under construction? This will be an interesting story to follow. However, it does seem like Rupert Murdoch is looking to free up some money to buy the Wall Street Journal's Dow Jones assets, leading to his startup of the Fox Business Channel sometime this year to compete with Bloomberg and CNBC. NEW INFORMATION: It is also interesting to note that after looking through the list of 35 O&O's, the only ones whose on air look were NOT converted to the new "FOX" look are the stations being sold. So it appears that this has be...

This "Get to Know Team 3 Feature" is with WKYC reporter Carole Sullivan who just returned to the station after leaving the morning show and moving to Michigan with her husband. Carole sat down with us to share some thoughts about her return: Q: What have you been up to since you left Channel 3? Carole: Packing and Unpacking. Last May, I moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan to be with my husband who was coaching at Western Michigan University. Then, when the "coaching rotation" time came (the off season time when coaches leave and take other jobs), we learned we had a chance to return to Cleveland. So we moved back this past March. But October was our most welcomed change. Baby Patrick Sullivan arrived, looking as Irish as his name. He's a little love and it's fun to experience why parents gush about their own kids. What a trip! Q: Was it a tough decision to come back to Cleveland after moving to Michigan? Carole: The only tough part was saying goodbye to new friend...

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has introduced two digital converter boxes that will be used to convert analog to digital signals once we get to the February 2009 cut-off date. South Korea's manufacturer LG and Thompson (under the RCA brand) are the first two companies to introduce the converter prototypes. Consumers will be able to apply for two $40 coupons each from the government to help pay for the cost of the boxes, expected to go on sale this January in the United States. Estimated costs currently range from between $50 and $70 per converter . For more information on the transition to Digital TV, visit one of the following links: www.dtv.gov www.dtvanswers.com www.nab.org

In the early days of both radio and TV, commercials were always done live - and integrated into the show itself. TV execs have been toying with various ways to defeat DVR and Tivo zapping (the techie word for fast forwarding through breaks) since advertisers feel they aren't reaching their audiences and started moving ad dollars to other mediums, like the Internet . During the days of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson , Ed McMahon did live commercials on a regular basis, with the last airing in 1995. Well Tuesday Night 6/12, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is bringing back that tradition with a live commercial to be done by booth announcer John Melendez for the satellite navigation system Garmin International. According to the Wall Street Journal, the spot will be played out right before the second regular commercial break during the show. NBC is experimenting with the concept and, if successful, will likely be used in the future.

WKYC was named Outstanding News Operation in the Major Market Television category by the Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters for 2006. Winners of the group's annual contest were announced this afternoon at an awards luncheon at the Hilton Columbus. Channel 3 also received a number of other awards including: Best Continuing Coverage (First Place) - WKYC-TV, Cleveland, "Summer Flood of '06" Best Enterprise Reporting (2nd Place) - Bill Safos, WKYC-TV, Cleveland, "Pig Farm Abuse" Best Reporter (2nd Place) - Carl Monday, WKYC-TV, Cleveland (1st place went to New Channel 3 investigative reporter, Tom Meyer) Also, our congratulations to some of our radio partners including WTAM in Cleveland and WAKR in Akron for their awards in the various radio categories. Check out a list of all of this year's winners: Click Here

I'm working on a little retrospective feature and am looking for pictures of anything WKYC, KYW, or WNBK... pictures of personalities, equipment, station events, etc. - past or present. If you are willing to share your photos, please email them to me with the understanding that they may be used for our blog site. If you could also include a brief description of what they are, I would much appreciate it. Those who contribute will get a nice little mention on the blog. Thank you! Email them to me at: fmacek@wkyc.com

A new study by Jupiter Research shows that early adoption rates of mobile TV and online video are pretty stagnant. Most people are still comfortable with regular TV as a source for their video viewing. Among the findings include: *92.4% still prefer the boob tube *6.4% watch video on their PCs *0.3% watch it on their cellphones *1.6% get video off their PDA, media players or game devices These numbers should change as cellular services, mobile device makers and TV networks continue to push the product. Read the original article that I wrote recently about mobile TV: CLICK HERE Courtesy: Jupiter Research

As flatpanel TV prices continue to plummet, TV makers are searching for new strategies to build value into the low-margin category. After dangling OLED (organic light-emitting diode) in front of journalists during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and its 2007 line show in February, Sony announced plans to bring an 11 inch model out this fall in what could be a transition to a more profitable flatpanel technology. OLED promises higher contrast and better color saturation over LCD in a thinner form factor that doesn't require a backlight, although it's too early to tell whether the company can achieve the necessary manufacturing efficiencies to compete with other flatpanel technologies. At the other end of the spectrum, Hitachi and Panasonic parent company Matsushita announced plans in May to supply each other with 85 inch and 103 inch plasma displays. Under the terms of the deal, Panasonic will provide Hitachi 103 inch plasma panels this year, and Hitachi will supply Panas...

After 45 years of nearly continuous service, WKYC says farewell today to longtime photographer and studio cameraman Mike D'Amato. Mike started in the business in 1960 and has a lifetime of memories from his time as cameraman on the Mike Douglas Show. Mike has put together THE largest collection of props & memorabilia from Douglas' days here at Ch 3 before the show moved to Philly. In fact, one whole room of Mike's house is dedicated to those days. Lately, Mike has been working with Del Donahoo on his travels, running robotic cameras for our newscasts, shooting news video in the field and running studio cameras for Good Company . Mike is probably better known in the community than many Cleveland on-air personalities. He has been a tireless advocate for the station since day one. Mike has decided it's time to re-rack focus onto a diferent part of life - his retirement. Enjoy it Mike. We'll miss you!

From: Dick in Dover-New Philadelphia Q: Frank, I'm a periodic visitor to your blog and enjoy it very much. I'm glad Carol Sullivan is back. She's got spunk. Anyways, I grew up in Lakewood and hung around with a couple of the Haley girls and other pals on Woodford Ave. We always had to be quiet so as not to wake up "Mr. Haley," who had to get up very early, drive downtown and unlock Channel 3. I've lost touch with the family, so perhaps you could answer my question: How is Tom Haley? A: I asked an old friend of ours, Del Donahoo, to help us on this one...and here's what I found out from him: As far as I know Tom is doing OK...he lives in the Lakewood apartment that has been his home "forever". I don't see him often but we do visit by phone. He does some church work, hikes in Metro Park and spends time with his daughters. And, of course, he is still a golfer. That's about all I know. I'm sure he would be pleased to know that people stil...

This is an item that I came across this afternoon. It's something you can do if you are looking for a way to help entertain our troops in Iraq. Operation DVD is collecting new and used DVDs to distribute overseas to U.S. Military troops. The year old program has already collected more than 250,000 DVDs. However, their goal is to reach 1 million so that 200 titles can be in rotation at each base. If you are interested in contributing either DVDs or in other ways, you can find more information on the Operation DVD website: www.operationdvd.us