Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Here's our daily update of what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Tonight's WKYC Evening Programming Schedule: 6:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 6 PM 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams 7:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 7 PM 7:30 PM: Entertainment Tonight 8:00 PM: Deal or No Deal 9:00 PM: Crusoe 10:00 PM: Lipstick Jungle 11:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 11 PM 11:35 PM: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno It's Our Anniversary As we've mentioned earlier this week, today is WKYC's 60th Anniversary of signing on the air on Halloween Night, 1948. We have several features here on the "Director's Cut" blog - or you can check out our look back on wkyc.com: CLICK HERE Friday Night Fever at 11 PM We'll have complete highlights from several of the big games on week #1 of the Playoffs for Division 2, 4 and 6 tonight... - Kent Roosevelt @ Mayfield - Madison @ Shaw - Tallmadge @ Padua - Avon Lake @ Highland Complete hightlights and scores...and more on hi...

Since have a feeling our "Where Are They Now?" feature is going to be greatly expanding in the coming months, we figured we get in touch with one our personal favorites, who left WKYC right before your Director's Cut blogger started at WKYC - Meteorologist Larry Cosgrove. We both share one great love - THE WEATHER. Larry is now living in Houston and we speak regularly on our Facebook accounts. So, I asked him to tell us a little about what he has been up to since leaving WKYC. THE PAST: From November 1991 into January 1994, I worked (at various times) as either the weekend or morning/noon meteorologist at WKYC. Among my favorite times at Channel 3: the severe weather coverage of the summer of 1992 (I actually did a live, phone-in report from a pizza restaurant in West Amherst dealing with a tornado that ultimately hit Hopkins Airport) and the Blizzard of March 1993 (a marathon which secured a 17/33 rating/share for WKYC). I still remember my days in Cleveland fondly, and ...

Here's our daily update of what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Tonight's WKYC Evening Programming Schedule: 6:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 6 PM 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams 7:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 7 PM 7:30 PM: Entertainment Tonight 8:00 PM: My Name Is Earl 8:30 PM: Kathy & Kim 9:00 PM: The Office 9:30 PM: 30 Rock 10:00 PM: ER 11:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 11 PM 11:35 PM: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno "30 Rock" Returns Tonight Tina Fey returns tonight on NBC with a fresh new season of "30 Rock" beginning at 9:30 PM. Election Specials on WKYC WKYC will have extensive live coverage of Decision 2008 on Monday and Tuesday. Monday: 5 PM - 6 PM: Channel 3 Election & News Special 6 PM: Channel 3 News 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News 7:30 PM: Channel 3 News Tuesday: 5 PM - 6 PM: Channel 3 Election & News Special 6 PM: Channel 3 News 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News 7:00 PM: NBC Special Coverage WKYC .com will also provide mobil...

Here's our daily update of what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Tonight's WKYC Evening Programming Schedule: 6:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 6 PM 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams 7:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 7 PM 7:30 PM: Entertainment Tonight 8:00 PM: Barack Obama Political Message 8;30 PM: Deal or No Deal 10:00 PM: Lipstick Jungle 11:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 11 PM 11:35 PM: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno The Moon Won't Be the Only Thing Rising Over Parma Soon WKYC has begun construction on our brand new television tower that will soon rise next to our existing tower in Parma. The new tower will become home to both WKYC and WVIZ television. According to our Director of Technology Mike Szabo, the foundation has been laid and the tower should start going up soon, weather permitting - of course. WKYC Celebrates 60 years on the air All this week, we are sharing with you some of the memorable moments in WKYC-TV's colorful past. Both on the Direct...

We are pleased to offer you a new way to keep in touch with the latest news happening at WKYC with a brand new service called "Mobile on the Go". You can sign up with your mobile phone number to get our updates the second they are posted and right to you mobile phone. It's just another way we can get you the news faster and where and when you want it. To start using this feature, click on the widget on the right hand side of the blog.

Our "Get Well Wishes" go out to fellow blogger and WKYC Akron Newsroom Bureau Chief Eric Mansfield who was a passenger in a car accident last week in downtown Akron. Eric reports on his blog, " Have I Got News For You ," that he remains sore and is taking a while to recoup at home. Our best wishes to Eric. You can reach out to Eric through his blog or by email: emansfield@wkyc.com

A friend of the Director's Cut Blog, Brian Heath, helped us put together a nice collection of video from YouTube that shows the various "looks" of Channel 3 News over the years. It's a great trip down Memory Lane.

We've put together a photogallery of several pictures from the past on WKYC.com Take a stroll down memory lane with us. To view the photogallery: CLICK HERE

It was on Halloween night that WNBK-Channel 4 signed on the air. 60 years later, WKYC is preparing to sign off on analog Channel 3 as we get set to welcome a new era in broadcasting - all digital TV. On February 17, 2009, WKYC will assume our new digital channel, Channel 17 - though we will still be known at "Channel 3" for many years to come. (We are currently broadcasting on Digital Channel 2). So, the "Director's Cut Blog" begins our look back at 60 great years of memories including a brief look at some of the historic moments in our station's history. 1948: WNBK-TV, an NBC owned and operated station begins broadcasting and goes on the air October 31, 1948. From 6 p.m. until 11 p.m., viewers tune in to WNBK. Soon after, the station moved its sign-on time up to 1 p.m. WNBK was Channel 4 then, and Tom Haley, who appeared on "Today in Cleveland", worked for WTAM Radio, the NBC radio arm of WNBK. 1954: WNBK-TV erects the most powerful television ant...

Here's our daily update of what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Tonight's WKYC Evening Programming Schedule: 6:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 6 PM 6:30 PM: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams 7:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 7 PM 7:30 PM: Entertainment Tonight 8:00 PM: Biggest Loser: Families 10:00 PM: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 11:00 PM: Channel 3 News at 11 PM 11:35 PM: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Happy Annivesary Golden Opportunities The last major sweeps period of the analog era of television begins this Thursday, October 30th. For the next four weeks expect to see all those "special" reports that make sweeps so fun. Here is a preview of the first one we'll be airing on WKYC. Channel 3 News' Tom Meyer, "The Investigator,"reveals a new high that's popular with teens, one that's legal, but very dangerous. Here's the promo for Tom's story which airs Thursday October 30th at 11pm on Channel 3 News. No February...

By Frank Macek Welcome to the future of television graphics - the AXIS system from Chyron. As you have noticed if you are regular WKYC viewer, we made a significant operational switch October 15th that changes the way we bring viewers the graphics seen on our television broadcasts. This is similar to the change that other station groups, like Fox, have made recently where all their owned and operated stations use the same basic package of graphic elements - further enhancing brand identity. Unfortunately there is a human cost involved in this change - the days of large, local graphic departments are over for Gannett's 23 television stations thanks to this new web based technology. Almost overnight, our world has transformed to one where anyone in our newsroom can build graphics. And anyone can work anywhere at anytime with the new system - at your newsroom desk, at home or a laptop on a liveshot. How times have changed. In the old days, a producer would order a graphic from our loc...

Several interesting pieces of information have crossed the Director's Cut Blog's desk over the weekend. NBC Reshuffles Wednesday lineup NBC will revamp its primetime Wednesday schedule to focus entirely on crime dramas. Starting November 5, Knight Rider remains at 8p while Life gets a chance to rejuvenate by moving into the 9p time period and Law & Order will re-launch in the 10p slot. Lipstick Jungle will then switch to Friday nights. Additionally, NBC pushed back the debut of Momma's Boys to December 16 following the season finale of The Biggest Loser; the next week Momma's Boys will air on Monday nights at 9p in the Heroes time slot once it concludes its season. Momma's Boys was originally slated to debut on November 12. NBC & WKYC Election Night Coverage NBC and MSNBC will both broadcast from its Rockefeller Plaza headquarters on election night. In addition, NBC announced plans to add new features such as superimposing a huge U.S. map on the Rockefeller ...

We want your vote beyond the political election. We want to know what you think of Channel 3 News' new graphics and music package that we launched last week. This is a package being instituted at all our Gannett Television stations and doesn't necessary reflect our likes or dislikes. Make your voice heard - What do you think of our new on-air look for Channel 3 News? | BuzzDash polls

By Frank Macek The Director's Cut is hearing loud rumors that this may not be the final curtain for "ER," the medical drama that was supposed to wrap up its 14th and final season this year. With NBC still struggling to find footing with many of its newest shows this year, NBC is said to be considered keeping the show in production. "ER" has been doing very well again in its Thursday Night 10 PM timeslot against "Life on Mars" from ABC and "Eleventh Hour" for CBS. We'll probably get some sort of announcement by the end of the month as negotiations are continuing between NBC and Warner Brothers, the show's production arm.

Update: In case you missed the interview live at 7, you can watch it below. ----- NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will join us live on Channel 3 News at 7 PM following his national broadcast from Green Memorial High School in Summit County where he is following John McCain and Sarah Palin. During Nightly News, Brian will share an interview he did with both earlier today. Be sure to join us at 7 PM for Brian's thoughts on the election, now less than 2 weeks away - and how important Ohio is once again. Brian Williams on Channel 3 News at 7 PM Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director, joined us live in the studio

Today is another one of those days you hate to see come in the television industry, as we say goodbye to two long time friends at WKYC - Graphic Artists Joe Wood and Lance Deevers. Both have been instrumental in developing the graphics you have seen on the air for many years on WKYC. The following pictures were taken by Jim Kegelmyer from their going away banners. Joe Wood is an extremely creative and brillant designer who could turn anything into art. Joe would always design the coolest going away cards for retirees and employees who left the station. Plus, he spent a lot of time in Federal Court sketching the artist renderings you saw on both local and NBC video feeds. Lance Deevers was responsible for much of the set building you see in our studios, including our Browns and Indians sets. His ideas were also put into many graphics you see on Channel 3 News. You can view Lance's work on his website: blindsquirldesign.com Good luck to both guys. We'll miss you! Photo Courtesy...

We're pleased to announce Shout!, our HighSchoolSports.net Facebook application, has launched. Shout! is where teens can sound off about their season. Each school has its own "wall" where teens can post comments. They can view rival teams' walls, too, and join those conversations. Learn more about the application, and add it to your facebook profile, here: http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=21469587851

It's that time of the year again when the Fall TV Season is about to kick into high gear. And once again, the Director's Cut Blog will give you a sneak peak at what you'll be seeing this fall. From Power, Muse and Moonlighting Films comes an ambitious adaptation of Daniel Defoe's masterpiece, "Crusoe," a new primetime series for a 21st Century audience. Following the novel and its treasured tale of adventure, this high-action, fast-paced, thirteen-part series will combine for the first time the pace and energy of network television while remaining faithful to the author’s original classic story. The drama explores the perils and challenges facing the world's most famous castaway as Crusoe (Philip Winchester, "Flyboys," "Thunderbirds") and his native friend Friday (Tongayi Chirisa) struggle to survive on a desert island with little more than their wits. Overcoming marauding militias, hungry cannibals, wild cats, starvation and apocalypti...

Beginning with "Channel 3 News" at Noon today, WKYC has a new on-air graphics and music package. This new look is part of Gannett's companywide, G3, initiative look that will appear on all of the company's broadcast properties. Here are a few pictures of the new look from the Noon launch:

As you know, we like to have a little fun here at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center and our flip cams we use to shoot "web extras" like our daily news promos. So, my fellow director Matt Babb decided to go behind the scenes of Mike O'Mara who went behind the scenes of me shooting our nightly promo with Producer Dan Stadler. Slap stick comedy you'll never see again - for good reason.

By Frank Macek A few weeks ago, I was invited to be part of a group of professionals from WKYC who participated in a day long Poynter Media Ethics Workshop at Kent State University on Thursday, September 18th. This year's session combined compelling speakers and controversial topics called "Whose Rules?" This fourth annual conference focused on bloggers and the media and whether there should be rules for those who are becoming citizen journalists on the internet. In attendance included local media, bloggers, students and ethic experts from around the nation and beyond. A brief overview of the day's sessions included a main discussion dealing with the pace of journalism and media online with topics including "Has the blogosphere ruined journalism?" and "Examining the relationship between blogging and journalism." The second focused around whether there should be rules for bloggers, leading to the the keynote address by speaker Jay Rosen - a respecte...

NBC's Thursday stalwarts, "My Name is Earl," "The Office" and "ER" joined forces with the new comedy "Kath & Kim" and the first of three Thursday "Saturday Night Live" election specials to propel the network to its highest Thursday rating in 18-49 since last March, excluding sports, according to "fast affiliate-based" "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research. NBC finished within one rating point of the nightly lead in adults 18-49 and won this highly competitive Thursday in adults and men 18-34, pending updates. "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday" began its three-week Thursday run with a 47 percent gain over NBC's time-period averages last season in adults 18-49. "It's already been a historic season for 'Saturday Night Live,' with its earliest premiere ever and its biggest audiences in 14 years," commented Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC ...

H.H. Gregg's Jon Gensel stopped by the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center today for an appearance on our morning show "Good Company Today" to talk with host Michael Cardamone about the transition of analog T.V to digital. He also explains the effects this change will have on the average television viewer who get their programming over the air starting on February 17, 2009.

The 2nd presidential debate is in the books between Barack Obama and John McCain. Just released Nielsen ratings show that this second debate was better watched than their first. However, the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin had more attention. I wonder why? ---- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The second presidential debate drew more viewers than the first but still proved less of a draw than the Joe Biden-Sarah Palin matchup. A total of 63.2 million viewers watched Tuesday's debate in Nashville, Tenn., between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday. The figure represents the collective audience for 11 networks. The Obama-McCain debate on Sept. 26 was watched by 52.4 million viewers, while more than 70 million saw Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin's sole meeting on Oct. 2. It's the second most-watched political debate ever, behind the 80.6 million people who watched the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate. Nielsen tallied viewership fo...

We knew this one was coming with NBC's recent purchase of "The Weather Channel." Today, it was confirmed. NBC Weather Plus is shutting down. Four years ago, NBC formed a partnership with local affilate stations to launch the first digital 24/7 tv channel called "Weather Plus." On cable and on digital subchannels of NBC stations, you can the channel that was developed with its unique "L" bar that provided local weather in a way that was different than "The Weather Channel." As the local partner for Cleveland, WKYC is given so many minutes per hour to do local cut-ins that our weather team of Betsy Kling, Hollie Strano, Bruce Kalinowski and A.J. Colby bring you 24/7. Plus, it was a place where you could always find our local Xband and Nexrad radars in real time. Our sources say that NBC News President Steve Capus told the "Weather Plus" staff Tuesday morning that the network would shut down before the end of the year. What will this m...

Tuesday at 9 PM, you can watch the 2nd Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain on wkyc.com Plus, we'll have a live interactive chat with Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres who will share some thoughts about the debate and the issues discussed. Join us live on wkyc.com beginning at 9 PM, ET for a web chat live from the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center

It's that time of the year again when the Fall TV Season kicks into high gear. And once again, the Director's Cut Blog will give you a sneak peak at what you'll be seeing this fall. The American adaptation of the Australian hit comedy series, "Kath & Kim" stars Molly Shannon (NBC's "Saturday Night Live") and Selma Blair ("Hellboy 2") as the hilarious and iconoclastic mother-daughter duo. "Kath & Kim" focuses on Kath (Shannon), a cheerful, foxy, forty-something, and her self-absorbed daughter, Kim (Blair), who have the love/hate, push/pull dysfunctional relationship that only a mother and daughter could share. Kath has finally found love in the form of a sandwich shop owner named Phil Knight, played by John Michael Higgins ("Best in Show"). Kim is a self-absorbed princess newly separated from her husband of six weeks, Craig (Mikey Day, MTV’s "Short Circuitz"). Kim decides to move back home...

Updated: 9:45 PM WKYC and the Cleveland Foodbank had a tremendously successful one day event on Thursday thanks to the caring generosity of Greater Clevelanders in our special food drive. Viewers all day stopped by the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center to donate food and money to help feed the needy during this particularly difficult time. Final tallies show over 10,000 pounds of food, $2,500 dollars in contributions and an unlimited amount of caring. All of these donations will provide for more than 17,000 meals to our friends and neighbors. You can still donate by sending checks made out to "The Cleveland Foodbank": The Cleveland Foodbank 15500 South Waterloo Road Cleveland, Ohio 44110 Thank you to everyone involved in today's special food drive. THURSDAY'S FOOD DRIVE PHOTOGALLERY: Gallery #1 - CLICK HERE Gallery #2 - CLICK HERE Gallery #3 - CLICK HERE

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee has called for its board to support a strike authorization vote. The committee adopted a motion Wednesday calling for the vote, saying it "is necessary to overcome the employers' intransigence." Contract talks dealing with prime-time TV shows and movies have been at a standstill since the last contract expired June 30. Actors have been working under the terms of the old deal since then. A strike authorization vote would need the approval of 75 percent of the guild's some 120,000 members.