Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Notes From The Newsroom: 9/8/10

By Frank Macek

Time for another behind the scenes look at what's happening at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center.

We find it hard to believe fall is just around the corner, Browns preseason is already over and a disappointing Indians season is rapidly coming to a close.

But, we have plenty of exciting news to share with you this month regarding some changes, improvements and upgrades being made both on-air and behind the scenes at WKYC.

Before we get to that, congratulations to my WKYC colleagues Director Allen Wohl and Sports Producer Jeff Yakawiak for some great preseaon Browns coverage on Chanel 3. The station did local production on all four of the preseason games which took our staff and crew months to plan and coordinate. All that effort paid off with network quality games you have come to expect from Channel 3. Also, it was nice to have Jim Donovan and Bernie Kosar back in the broadcast booth again this year providing unique and colorful insight into the "new" Browns team for 2010.

Don't forget, our regular Browns season coverage kicks off this weekend with the following programming:
  • The Pregame Huddle: Sunday mornings at 11:30 a.m.
  • Browns Tonight: Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m.
  • The Point After wtih Jim Donovan, Sam Rutigliano, Tony Grossi, and Doug Dieken: Monday at 7 p.m.
You may have noticed a new face on Channel 3's local morning production, "Good Company Today." Joe Cronauer has joined the broadcast. Many of you know him from the successful "Brian and Joe Radio Show" that aired in the mornings on WMVX/106.5 before the pair was jettisoned in budget cuts. Joe's new role with the show will be to hit the streets and take us to the sites and sounds of Northeast Ohio. If it's fun, if it's entertaining, if we can learn something - Joe will be there! Joe steps into the limelight as Fred Griffith scales back his on-air work to 2-3 days a week. As WKYC Program Director Terry Moir tells the Director's Cut Blog, "At nearly 82, we figure Fred could give Regis Philbin a run for his money on the most hours any one individual has spent on TV!" Joe joins co-hosts Andrea Vecchio and Michael Cardamone on the program effective immediately. Also, construction is underway on a brand new set and graphics look that will debut next week on the program that airs weekday mornings from 10 to 11 a.m. on Channel 3.

A couple of sad notes to pass along. First, our best wishes to "Uncle Bill" Weisinger, a well known Cleveland radio engineer who is very ill. We had the honor of working with Bill at the old WRMR/AM 850 when he worked there as an engineer and have seen him a few times since around the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center during meetings of local engineering chapters. Ohio Media Watch first alerted us to the seriousness of Bill's condition and his work at stations WSTB/88.3 and one of favorite stations, WKHR/91.5 in Bainbridge that plays the Great American Standards. Our best wishes to Bill and his family.

And a former booth announcer from WKYC's historical past has died. Joe Howard worked here under NBC ownership as staff pianist and arranger for WTAM radio and WNBK-TV. The Plain Dealer also reported that Joe was musical director of WEWS-TV, leading a trio on "The One O'Clock Club." Joe was 82 years old.

And finally, September is a really BIG month for the staff of Channel 3. Even bigger than the transition to HD broadcasting, WKYC will launch a brand new newsroom system, editing platform and video playback system that is currently being installed. This new system will greatly improve out ability to bring you the best content both on-air and on-line and the new and exciting platforms that develop. This is a station wide project that is the first major newsroom upgrade since the station moved into our "new" building at 13th and Lakeside in January 2001. We'll have much more on the process once it is completed on the blog.

As always, please don't forget to become a friend of Channel 3 News and Channel 3 Weather. We have special on-line content just for our Facebook friends including your chance to be our "Facebook Friend of the Day," daily behind the scenes promos, sneak peeks at NBC shows, a daily programming guide of what's on Channel 3 and much more.