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WKYC News & Notes: 4/28/17

By Frank Macek

 It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center.

It's been far too long since I have written an updated column, as time has been in short supply with several projects happening here at WKYC.

You may have noticed a change in "Channel News at 7" as we launched the show as "Donovan Live" on Monday, April 24th. The show will be much lighter than our traditional newscasts and be more personality based focused on the news and social media of the day and hosted by Cleveland TV legend Jim Donovan. Follow the new show on Twitter @3donovanlive and send us your feedback or ideas for the broadcast!

Behind the scenes, we have been busy in the studio replacing our main studio cameras with new Ross pedestals and Sony cameras. This was done in preparation to allow our Director's to control all of our cameras through our Sony ELC News Production Automation system. Since the new robotic cameras don't move around the studio like our old cameras, we had to redesign our main news desk to better shoot our on-air anchor team. Yes, the new desk is actually the old desk with a few modifications made to eliminate the hard angled sports desk area.

We now have 9 cameras in the main news studio with a new camera in the newsroom and one new camera in Studio B for "Live on Lakeside." However, that show will continue to use manual cameras due to the complexity of shooting guests and entertainment & cooking segments.

Welcome to the Cleveland Consulting Company to the Channel 3 building, headed up President LaRese Purnell. LaRese is the former CFO of The Word church and he will be working with a diverse group of small businesses to help them grow and prosper. His team includes Joyce McAlpine, Meltrice Sharp, Greg Ensley and James Oliver.

Congratulations to Jusin Gutschmidt from our digital sales team for being selected to attend TEGNA President's Club event this year. Justin was instrumental in leading the team to think bigger, prospect more, close and retain digital business. Our unprecedented success in 2016 was a direct result of Justin’s dedication and determination to win! Justin joins the elite group of former President Club WKYC winners of Katie Muniak and Eric Mohre

Congratulations to the following people who have joined the Channel 3 team:
  • Casimir Grabowski: Donovan Live Producer
  • Sean Forester: Photojournalist/Visual Storyteller
  • Megan Gallagher: Multi-platform producer/assignment editor
  • Dorsena Drakeford: Multi-skilled Journalist
  • Tom Reed: Part Time Editor 
  • Mickey Haba: Account Executive
  • Raquel "Rocky" Sain: Digital Support Specialist
  • Clark Quick: Digital Support Specialist
Before we go, we'd also like to recognize these employees who have recently retired or plan on retiring from the station:
  • Arlene Kemejek: Operations Technician
  • Dana Golston: Operations Technician
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Don't forget to follow Frank Macek for Breaking News 24/7 on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc 
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