Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

NBC has picked up a sixth season of its hit summer series "America's Got Talent" from FremantleMedia and Simon Cowell's SYCO Television. Celebrity Judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel will return to the hit series along with host Nick Cannon. The announcement was made Tuesday by Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming and Production, NBC and Universal Media Studios. "'AGT' continues to be a ratings sensation and has hit it out of the ballpark creatively this season," said Telegdy. "We have a dream team of celebrity judges -- Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandel and Piers Morgan -- and coupled with our versatile host Nick Cannon, we're looking forward to an even bigger summer next year." This is the fifth consecutive year that "AGT" has ranked as the #1 summer series in total viewers. Season-to-date, the show has averaged a 3.4 rating, 10 share in adults 18-49 and 11.8 million viewers ove...

By Frank Macek This weekend marks the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Cleveland. As we mentioned in an earlier posting, WKYC will present a special one hour show this Friday Night, September 3rd, called "Cleveland Rocks" from 7 to 8 p.m. Your blogger remembers that day when I was just beginning at WKYC as a studio technician before becoming a director and was part of the crewing assigned to be on the remote broadcast. We broadcast all of our news broadcasts that day from a platform just across the street from the Rock Hall. The station rented one of those familiar large production trucks to cover the event. Your blogger was assigned to do audio for the noon show. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the behind the scenes pictures I found in the "Director's Cut Blog" archives from the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Hard to believe it has been 15 years already. My colleag...

It's back: The Predictors! The Big Game! The Best local high school sports coverage anywhere on Cleveland TV. It's the " HighSchoolSports.net Friday Night Fever" starting tomorrow night, August 27th at 11 pm. The Channel 3 Sports team lead by Jim Donovan, Dave Chudowsky and Lynn Olszowy are all set to cover the big games that matter. We'll kick off our coverage with "The Predictors" during Channel 3 News at 6 PM with Dave Chudowsky and the Sun Newspapers' Mike Holzheimer, Brian Larrick, John Blake and Cody Peek. Plus, Channel 3 News Anchor Romona Robinson will weigh in on her choices too. Then at 11:15 pm, we'll bring you the fastest wrap up in 8 minutes of more than a dozen games live from Studio B at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. And each week, you get to choose the "Big Game of the Week". Just log on to wkyc.com and vote. We'll feature the biggest vote getter in the show each week. Catch the Fever - the HighSch...

For the first time in the history of the Primetime Emmy® Awards, NBC.com and Emmys.com are partnering with Ustream.com to give viewers a live unique perspective of "The 62nd Primetime Emmy® Awards," hosted by Jimmy Fallon, airing live coast-to-coast on NBC this Sunday, August 29th, from 8 to 11 p.m. on WKYC Channel 3. Seven cameras positioned in various areas backstage at the Emmys® will "eavesdrop" and capture exciting moments and candid reactions from television's biggest stars. Viewers will be able to see nominees, presenters and performers prepare to take the stage on the most anticipated night in television. Another unprecedented Emmy® first is the live "thank you" camera, where Emmy ® Award winners will be able to express their emotions and continue their speeches once they walk off the stage. David Neal will produce the "Backstage Live @ the Emmys" show which will stream on Emmys.com , the official website for the Academy of Tel...

Channel 3 News and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame present a one-hour special on why Cleveland is the rock and roll capitol of the world. Hear from local artists like The O'Jays, The Raspberries, The James Gang The Outsiders, Pere Ubu, Devo, Michael Stanley, Kate Voegel and more. Plus legendary DJ's, famed club owners and other influential Ohioans who've helped put all of Northeast Ohio in the rock and roll spotlight.

McLEAN, Virginia – Gannett Co., Inc. (parent of WKYC-Tv) announced Wednesday HighSchoolSports.net is launching hyper-local, co-branded high school sports microsites across its network of more than 100 local media web sites, plus national high school sports pages on USATODAY.com. HighSchoolSports.net is a subsidiary of Gannett and part of the Gannett Digital Network. Leveraging the depth and breadth of Gannett’s sports content for consumers and advertisers, the HighSchoolSports.net microsites are expected to collectively reach approximately 9.4 million unique monthly visitors. Consumers continue to access Gannett’s trusted local high school sports coverage through local Gannett-owned media web sites, with each site’s microsite enhanced with HighSchoolSports.net content. " HighSchoolSports.net is a strong brand in the high-school athlete community. We are combining the news gathering assets of our newspapers and television stations with the technology and school relatio...

Hey Moms! It's back to school time and Channel 3 presents another "Moms Like Me" special on August 23rd at 5 p.m. hosted by evening news anchor Romona Robinson. We've got everything covered as your kids get ready for a new school year. From learning the core curriculum to resources for special needs kids starting kindergarten. Plus, we've got hot deals on hip clothes and information on how to pack a healthier lunch with Veggie U. Check our website Momslikeme.com anytime for printable checklists, coupons, and bargains. Then, watch our back to school special on August 23rd at 5 pm on Channel 3.

By Frank Macek We all hope the economy has turned the proverbial corner and local advertising dollars will continue to flow through the doors into the 2nd half of 2010 and into next year. Watching mobile television on your portable device Recent 2nd quarter results have been very encouraging for many of the major broadcast groups including Gannett, Disney and Fisher who have recently reported significant gains over 2009. The trend will continue upward as we head into midterm elections with plenty of political advertising flowing to local media sources including WKYC which finds itself in the heart of battleground states during any election. But the concern for local stations is always: "What happens after November 3rd?" Local television has become too reliant on these cycles of big events to ride the highs and lows of advertising income. For NBC stations, like WKYC, the worries are especially deep when there are no Olympics, no elections ...

Mary Hart on 2/8/2001 NEW YORK -- Longtime "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart is leaving the show after her upcoming 30th season. Hart said Thursday that it's time for a change, but she'll be leaving with mixed sentiments. It's not clear when her last day will be, but a television season traditionally ends in May. The former English teacher from Sioux Falls, S.D., joined "Entertainment Tonight" in 1982, working most prominently with John Tesh. She's kept the job as the entertainment news industry grew around her. "ET" is the original entertainment newsmagazine and still leads in the ratings. No replacement has been named. One potential candidate is Lara Spencer, who anchors "ET's" sister broadcast, "The Insider." "Entertainment Tonight" airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on WKYC-DT. --- Source: The Associated Press

WKYC's Current Station Logo The Director's Cut Blog often gets emails from readers wanting to know more about the history of WKYC from its sign on as WNBK/Channel 4 in 1948 to our current location on Digital Channel 17. We have put together a cool little download as an Adobe .pdf file called the "History of WKYC-TV from 1948 to 2010" It's a timeline of some of the important dates in the station's history that we hope to add upon in the upcoming months and years as we do some more research to fill in the gaps between dates. It was interesting to see how much has happened since your blogger started at WKYC in June 1994 and how the station is very different (and safer) than it was over at E. 6th Street in our old home. We'd like to thank Tim Lone's  Cleveland Classic Media Blog  and Cleveland Seniors for a couple of the photos included. To download a copy to save and print, just click on the photo below:

You don't see many of the people who work behind the scenes here at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center, but there are certainly some who deserve to be recognized for their hard work and never ending contributions. One of those is our WKYC Sports Producer Jeff "Yak" Yakawiak who keeps abreast of everything the Cavs, Indians, Browns and all the other sports teams do in town. Come along as we surprise him in the newsroom Thursday afternoon with some ice cream cake as well celebrate "Yak's" birthday.

As part of transition to multiple platforms, WKYC has several staff members who are doing a little bloggin' of their own. Here is another new blog to check out as you surf around the media universe. Tom Beres on Politics - WKYC Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres provides unique insight into the important issues and decisions to be made during the 2010 midterm elections around northeast Ohio. For a complete list of blogs from the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center: CLICK HERE Join us on WKYC on Facebook as well: www.facebook.com/WKYC.Channel3

The Director's Cut Blog has gotten a "behind the scenes" peek of a new show we are working on that will air soon.. It's called "Flash Mob." Click on the video to find out who's putting it together and why it may soon be sweeping the country.

By Frank Macek Time for another behind the scenes look at what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Three years ago today (August 2, 2007), a freak summer storm left Channel 3 an island in downtown Cleveland as heavy rains flooded not only the parking garage, but several roadways around the station. 4.45 inches of rain fell in one hour. It was quite a day to see former General Sales Manager Tom Humpage with his suit pant legs rolled up and mopping water out of the garage along with many others. To see pictures and read the original story: CLICK HERE Congratulations to our WKYC blogging colleauge Eric Mansfield for his strong showing in the Akron Life And Leisure Magazine's "Best Blog" contest. Eric's blog  "Have I Got News For You." earned him runner up status. Eric jokingly says he got beat out by one called "Rubber City Bullsheet." With a blog name like that, the blog just had to win. Browns Preseason Football is just ar...

NEW YORK -- Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, has died at age 99. His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, said Monday that Miller died Saturday in Lenox Hill Hospital after a short illness. Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett. "Sing Along With Mitch" started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller's stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous. As a producer and arranger, Miller had misses along with his hits, famously striking out on projects with Frank Sinatra and a young Aretha Franklin. The TV show ranked in the top 20 for the 1961-62 season, and soon children everywhere were parodying Miller's stiff-armed conducting. An all-male chorus sang old standards, join...