Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

New findings from Nielsen's Television Audience Report show that in 2009 the average American home had 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher than in 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990 (2.0 sets). In addition, there continue to be more TVs per home than people - in 2009 the average U.S. home had only 2.5 people vs 2.86 television sets. This year about 54% of homes in the U.S. had more than 3 or more television sets, 28% had 2 television sets and only 18% had 1 television set. There are 114.5 million TV homes in the U.S. in 2009 38% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable. 88% have a DVD player, while VCR fell to 72%. 82% of homes have more than 1 television set. 11% of U.S. TV homes only have the capability to receive TV reception “over the air”. These homes have neither cable nor ADS. Download the complete Nielsen report: CLICK HERE Source: Nielsen & USA Today

Our sister publication, USA Today.com , has conducted a new web poll and found Jay Leno fans have yet to adapt to Conan's hosting of the "Tonight Show". Respondents say they are beginning to look elsewhere or not even watch after a strong start has fizzled for Conan as host of the "Tonight Show." Here's where viewers say they are going:

By Frank Macek Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as your blogger shares some of thoughts on television. Although Walter Cronkite worked for a network competitor, CBS, everyone seems to have an opinion of what an impact "Uncle Walter" had on the industry - the "Most Trusted Man in America." I found it fascinating to watch the network newscasts over the weekend and all the stories people had to share. Everyone who has been anyone in the news industry had nothing but praise on the one man many idolized. Even WKYC's Romona Robinson shared a story with viewers Friday Night at 11 PM after the news broke of his passing about what an impact Mr. Cronkite had on her. At one point, she received a letter from him after he saw her work and was highly complimentary. Uncle Walter touched many lives and will leave a huge void in our industry. Finally, some encouraging news from the financial world after Gannett reported higher profits during the ...

Veteran newsman Walter Cronkite has died at the age of 92 this evening at 7:42 p.m. after a long illness with his family by his side. It was reported in mid-June that the legendary CBS newsman was "gravely ill." Cronkite is best remembered for his signature sign-off, "And that's the way it is," that made its way into the homes across America every night when he was anchorman on the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. He grew up in Missouri and Texas before dropping out of college to take a job covering sports at a newspaper. He went on to work in radio and was eventually discovered by Edward R. Murrow, who brought him on at CBS. Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962, a job in which he became an American icon. The program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes on Sept. 2, 1963, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program. Most say that Cronkite's m...

My quick camera friend, Producer Jon, snuck behind me and caught a shot of me switching and directing the 6 pm newscast this evening. I seem so lonely in that control room!

MCLEAN, Virginia -- Gannett Co. posted a profit in the second quarter, beating analyst expectations and reversing a loss recorded in the year-ago period. The largest U.S. newspaper publisher recorded income of $70 million, or 30 cents per share. Excluding special items, the company posted adjusted earnings of 46 cents per share, topping the average Wall Street forecast of 36 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. In the second quarter of last year, Gannett recorded a loss of $10.03 per share because it booked a hefty write-down on its declining market value. Revenue in the latest quarter fell 18 percent to $1.41 billion, as ad revenue at the company's publishing division sank 32 percent. Analysts projected sales of $1.46 billion. Gannett, based in McLean, Va., publishes USA Today and more than 80 other daily newspapers. Gannett is the owner of WKYC-TV. Source: The Associated Press

Here is the new HD promo for our highly successful "Fugitive of the Week" program, every Monday night at 11 p.m. on Channel 3 News. EXTRA FEATURES: *To view past Fugitives and see who's been caught thanks to viewer tips: CLICK HERE *To watch our Livestream Fugitive of the Week channel: CLICK HERE

By Frank Macek More and more broadcasting executives are coming to the realization the economy is not turning the pivotal corner. Advertisers continue to spend less and want more for their money in this new environment that has evolved in this recession. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the advertisers are the ones driving the bus right now. And they are digging in their heels for cheaper rates. Many folks thought the stimulus plan would have helped to jump start the economy. After all, $787 billion is a good amount of money. But as of Sunday, Secretary of the Treasurer Timothy Geithner was pitching the notion on CNN and other media outlets we must be patient. The stimulus relief is coming soon. However, can the media afford to wait? Jobs are being lost at an alarming rate in all arms of the media. It doesn't take much perusing of the trades to find stations laying off people almost daily. Newspapers, magazines, radio and tv are all suffering from the sticker shock of how their ...

Editor's Note: In case you missed the original airing of "To the Moon: Ohio's Journey" in April, WKYC will rebroadcast the show on Saturday, July 18th from 7 until 8 p.m. ------- As the high definition leader in locally produced programming in Northeast Ohio, WKYC is proud to showcase our region's efforts in space exploration. We have always looked to the sky. And for a brief moment, mankind walked on a heavenly body other than earth. Ohio was at the heart of it all. Pioneering the technology and sending our bravest into space. WKYC Channel 3, in partnership with NASA Glenn Research Center, presents a high definition hour long special. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, we honor the Ohio men and women who dreamed of a journey beyond all others. We celebrate the local companies that created products and solutions for America's space program. And we take a look back…and a look forward... at what the next missions mean to our region. "...

By Frank Macek Just sitting here in the WKYC newsroom getting ready for a 7 p.m. telecast and wondering what to write about. This summer has been so boring in terms of big news coming from the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. It's almost a major let down after the transition to all digital television on June 12th and our new tower construction. The business offices of SportsTime Ohio moved into the building in June, so we are all one big, happy family. If only the Indians could turn things around. Prior to the move, only the productions were done here with the business office off site. June 26th we finally turned off our analog transmitter for the final time. WKYC was a "night light" station for the local market which aired non-stop programming in English and Spanish for those viewers who still had not made the conversion. The July sweeps period started last Thursday, July 2nd, and runs through Wednesday, July 29th. The drama of the Michael Jackson story is finally beginnin...

NEW YORK -- Just under 31 million people in the United States watched the Michael Jackson memorial on television. Nielsen Media Research says that's a smaller audience than for Princess Diana's funeral or President Barack Obama's inauguration -- but it's still impressive in today's TV world. Millions more watched video streams on their computers. The Jackson memorial on Tuesday afternoon was carried live on some 19 different networks, including all the big broadcasters and cable news stations. By comparison, President Obama's inauguration in January had an audience of nearly 38 million. Nielsen says 33.2 million people in the U.S. watched Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. Source: The Associated Press trif6csyu7

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Mark Barger Millions of American families are taking road trips this summer, but not quite like this one, the Great American Road Trip. It's NBC's latest entry into the summer programming sweepstakes. "We don't know what we're in store for. We really don't," said Alecia Montgomery of Montclair, California. Her family is one of seven from across America that will make a cross country journey in this reality series. They'll go from Chicago to California in separate recreational vehicles. "It's not a race," said the show's host, Reno Collier, "No one's racing in the RVs to go flying down the highway. It's nothing like that." But there is competition. Head to head challenges for the families at stops along the way. Each week, one team will be eliminated. "We're a new blended family," said Hyerli Katzenberg, of Westport, Connecticut, "This ...

Special to the Director's Cut by Mike Wendland Axiom TV wants to be the Google of movie download sites. And it's off to a good start, claiming to have the largest database of family friendly movies anywhere, movies you can watch online or order on DVD. The films and various TV shows are all reviewed and screened for sex and violence so that if Axiom offers it, it is suitable for the whole family. Axiom claims nothing on the site will make you cringe or cover your eyes, and that parents can feel comfortable watching the movies on axiom with their kids. What kind of movies? Family friendly doesn't just mean cartoons and children's shows. While some of the movies may challenge you, and some may not be suitable for small children, all are deemed to deliver a good message or clean entertainment. You can set parental controls to fine tune exactly what you want to filter out. Prices start at $2.99 for online rental. Something else: you can even set up c...

WKYC will air the NBC News Special: Michael Jackson Memorial on Tuesday, July 7th from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. The service will also be carried live on our website: wkyc.com Also, Dateline NBC will wrap up the day's services with a one hour special Tuesday evening from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Jackson's memorial is planned for Tuesday morning at the Staples Center sports arena in Los Angeles. Organizers made tickets available free of charge for 11,000 seats in Staples and 6,500 in the adjacent Nokia Theatre. Jackson died June 25. He was 50.

Our flip cams caught up with Ed Freska who was doing courtroom sketches today for Tom Beres & Tom Meyer's coverage of the first two defendants in the FBI/IRS federal corruption probe into Cuyahoga County government officials -- J. Kevin Kelley and Kevin F. Payne -- they pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court. Since cameras weren't allowed in the courtroom, we have to rely on sketch artists to paint a picture of the expressions, moods and emotions of those involved as the proceeds happen. Ed Freska got his BFA in Industrial Design Cleveland Institute of Art in 1969. He worked for two years as an auto designer at Ford when the Cleveland Plain Dealer offered him a position as picture editor. Ed was also syndicated with the Los Angles Times OpEd group. He eventually established Freska Graphics and worked as the editorial cartoonist for the Sun News group in Cleveland. See how those images go from rough sketch to being watercolored into the images you see on the air.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. plans to cut 1,400 jobs in the next few weeks, about 3 percent of the work force, as it faces a prolonged slump in advertising revenue. Bob Dickey, head of the company's newspaper division, informed staff of the layoffs in a letter Wednesday. He told employees that "there have been some promising signs of a recovery, but the reality is the improvements are not broad-based and the economy continues to be fragile." The majority of layoffs will come by July 9, he said. The move follows a 10 percent cut at Gannett last year, which left the company with about 41,500 employees. Gannett publishes USA Today, the largest newspaper by circulation in the U.S., along with dozens of other newspapers. Gannett also owns WKYC-TV/Cleveland. Source: The Associated Press

Ann Curry is the news anchor of NBC News' "Today," America's number one morning news program, and the anchor of "Dateline NBC," the network's award-winning newsmagazine. Curry joined the "Today" show in March of 1997, and in May 2005, she was named co-anchor of "Dateline NBC." Curry also regularly substitute anchors for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Curry has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting frequently traveling to remote areas of the world for under-reported stories. During the span of one year, from March 2006 to March 2007, she traveled three times to Sudan to report on the violence and ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur and Chad. While there, she provided in-depth reports focusing on the victims who have been caught in the deadly conflict of that region, and she also conducted exclusive interviews with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idrsiss Deby. In spring 200...

by Frank Macek In the 15 years I have been working at WKYC, Thursday had to be the one day where more breaking stories happened at once than I had ever seen. On September 11th, 2001, for example, we all focused on one big event. But, what happened on Thursday can quickly become a news staff's worst nightmare. Earlier in the day, we had the confirmation the Cavs acquired Shaquille O'Neal and a new day was beginning in Cleveland. This was a huge story in itself. Besides Lebron, Shaq is the biggest player to come to the Cavs in recent years. Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora unloaded both barrels on his Republican critics, denying any wrongdoing and getting a lot off his chest. We heard the bad news Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer. Severe weather was breaking out across northeast Ohio. The first round of storms brought several thunderstorms warnings. The second round looked even more threatening as it headed across the lake and began to intensify just in time fo...

NBC has released the premiere dates for our new and returning series on Channel 3 this fall. 9/13: Football Night in America at 7 pm; NBC Sunday Night Football at 8:15 pm 9/14: The Jay Leno Show at 10 pm 9/15: The Biggest Loser at 8 pm 9/17: Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday at 8 pm; Parks and Recreation at 8:30 pm; The Office at 9 pm; Community at 9:30 pm (Community moves to Thursdays at 8 pm on October 8) 9/21: Heroes at 8 pm 9/23: Parenthood at 8 pm; Law & Order: SVU at 9 pm 9/25: Law & Order at 8 pm; Southland at 9 pm 9/26: Dateline NBC at 8 pm; Saturday Night Live at 11:30 pm 9/28: Trauma at 9 pm 10/15: 30 Rock at 9:30 pm

Here are two of our brand new Channel 3 News promos and our connection to the people of our community.

The Nielsen Company reported Wednesday that 2.1 million American households, or 1.8% of the U.S., still could not receive digital television signals through the week ending June 21st. This is an improvement of 400,000 homes since the week of the June 12th digital television transition. In the Cleveland/Akron/Canton market the number fell to 38,276 households from nearly 55,000 prior to June 12th. Still, this number represents 2.51% of all local viewers who are not receiving digital tv signals "over the air." One factor playing into these numbers may be these households can still get limited signals from low power tv stations that were not forced to switch to digital. Across the nation, Nielsen estimates 59% of the completely "unready" homes receive at least one low power station or a foreign station from Mexico or Canada that also remain analog. And in many markets, an average of 3.6 low power stations remain available to viewers who may be content with that limited...

LOS ANGELES - Ed McMahon, the loyal "Tonight Show" sidekick who bolstered boss Johnny Carson with guffaws and a resounding "Heeeee-ere's Johnny!" for 30 years, has died at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 86. Publicist Howard Bragman says McMahon died early Tuesday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his family. Bragman didn't give a cause of death, saying only that McMahon had a "multitude of health problems the last few months." Source: The Associated Press

Special to the Director's Cut By Glenn Farley A few miles from Washington's Interstate 90 there is a pristine waterfall feeding a crystal clear stream. At the base of that waterfall sits two old analog TVs and a computer monitor. Somebody picked this spot to throw them away. Friends of the Trail, a non-profit organization based out of North Bend, specializes in cleaning up debris and garbage left in the forest. Wade Holden runs the organization. He says they're finding lots of TVs dumped, and even shot up in places where people do target practice. "I'm sure there's lots of people doing the right thing. There's always going to be that small percentage of people who don't," said Holden. The Washington state Department of Ecology says 15 million pounds of TVs, monitors and other hazardous electronics were legitimately recycled so far this year, and still, people bring TVs out to the woods to dump them or shoot at them. F...

Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of former WKYC graphic artist, Brian Chalmers, who passed away suddenly over the weekend. Brian spent a decade as part our WKYC family and was responsible for many of the daily news graphics you saw on Channel 3 News. As many of you know, Brian was also well known for his next generation work on the WMMS Buzzard logo that was originally brought to life by David Helton. NEW INFORMATION (6/24/09): The memorial service for Brian has been moved to the North Royalton Christian Church, 5100 Royalton Rd. (Rt.82) in North Royalton this Saturday, June 27, with visitation from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by the service at 1 p.m. The church is just west of State Rd. (Rt.94) on the north side of Royalton Rd. You can leave your thoughts on Brian's facebook page: CLICK HERE John Gorman has a nice tribute to Brian at the following link: CLICK HERE

Congratulations are in order to several of my WKYC colleagues, once again. WKYC-TV won four awards including a first place award for Television Spot News at the 2009 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards at the Press Club of Cleveland. The event was held Friday evening at the Marriott Downtown Cleveland at Key Center. Here is a list of WKYC winners: 1. Television Spot News - First Place Paul Thomas, Mike Greene, Danielle Fink "Officer Owens Shot" 2. Television Spot News - Second Place Danielle Fink, Randy White, Brian Johnson "Fuel Tank Rescue" 3. Television General News - Second Place Dave Summers "At the End of the Day" 4. Television Human Interest - Second Place Monica Robins, Sarah Montgomery, Shane Snider "Sleep Deprivation"

It's finally over - the DTV transition. As many of you know, the entire engineering team of WKYC worked their butts off to make this happen on time and to give you a much improved "over the air" signal after years of us being stuck on digital channel 2. One of those actively involved in the construction of our new tower and transmitter, Dave Kushman, built a brand new webpage where you can see the behind the scenes. Our sincere thanks to Dave and everyone else involved in making WKYC the best television station in Cleveland. To visit Dave's page: CLICK HERE

CLEVELAND -- You see him every morning live on the Plaza in New York City. He is the NBC Today Show meteorologist. Al Roker took the show on the road Friday and returned home to Cleveland. Roker was live at the West Side Market and even took some time to talk with our own Mark Nolan and Hollie Strano. You might remember the days when Al was a meteorologist for WKYC.

Channel 3 is unveiling a new series of reports we are calling "Hero Central," where we spotlight people taking the initiative to help others in these trying times. Our first spotlight focuses attention on what you can do this weekend to help fight a growing problem in our communities: hunger. Nearly one in every four Ohio children is listed as "food insecure," which means they don't know where their next meal is coming from. Channel 3, in partnership with the Cleveland FoodBank, the Cleveland Indians and Giant Eagle, are helping to address the problem this weekend. Kids who bring a non-perishable food item to this Sunday's Indians game will get a free ticket to that night's game or tickets to any other game that falls on a "Kids Fun Day." Adults who bring non-perishable items to Monday's or Tuesday's game will be given the same offer. Giant Eagle will then match the amount of food donated and donate the entire amoun...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Mike O'Mara The dawn of digital television is getting a big reception today. But the big question is whether some TV owners will be getting any reception at all. History was made a few seconds after 10 a.m. this morning on WKYC TV3 as Michael Cardemone said, "Good morning! welcome to 'Good Company' today." Regular television programming in analog was suddenly over for WKYC. The digital age for television had truly begun. Thousands of old unconverted television sets went to a silent black screen across Northeast Ohio. For viewers who had not updated their old analog televisions with a digital converter box and a good antenna, life became challenging. The switchboard at WKYC lit up. Receptionist Katrina Thompson and a phone bank of engineers were ready for the outpouring of calls. "Hi. I am not getting any signals on my TV. What happened?", said one of the 300 callers. On Fulton Road, at the DTV Walk-In Help Center...

Your Director's Cut blogger, Frank Macek, will be a special guest Friday morning on the Wave Morning Show with Tom Murphy sometime between 8 and 8:30 a.m. We'll be talking about the important transition to all digital television that will occur later in the morning at 10 a.m. Tune in... 107.3, The Wave.