Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek Time for another behind the scenes look at what's going on behind the scenes at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Our best wishes to Michael O'Mara who leaves Channel 3 News to become Vice President at Hennes Paynter Communications - a crisis management company. Mike started his news career on March 14th, 1977 and winds it up today, April 30th, 2010. We'll definitely miss Mike's journalistic experience and flair. May sweeps are underway. Sweeps started Thursday and run through Wednesday, May 26th. Channel 3 has a "Must See" May all planned for you. So be watching. The Director's Cut Blog has learned that Fox 8 will become a news competitor with a 7 p.m. newscast launching soon. We certainly welcome the competition. But remember Fox 8, Monica and Eric play hard and we'll be playing to win. Remember the 7 PM Anchor Olympics? Bring it on! The April sweeps period was another good one for Channel 3 News. We continue #1 at 5 a.m., 6...

Congratulations to a number of my colleagues here at Channel 3 who were nominated for 18 Emmy nominations on Thursday evening. Our sister network, SportsTime Ohio received six. The winners will be announced on June 19th at the 41st Annual Emmy Awards Gala at the Hilton Garden Inn. Newscast - Evening *Channel 3 News at 6 - Rita Andolsen, Romona Robinson *Imperial Murders - Julie Ocepek, Monica Robins, Eric Mansfield *Channel 3 News at 6 Weekend - Carrie Young Newscast - Morning/Daytime *Channel 3 News Today 5 AM - Eric Vrobelm, Mark Nolan, Brooke Whitney, Hollie Strano, Meghann Brutoczky, Maureen Kyle General Assignment Report (Within 24 hours) *Serial Killer Survivor - Michael O'Mara Breaking News *W. 89th Murders - Romona Robinson, Eric Mansfield, Tom Meyer, Danielle Fink, Mark Smilor Continuing Coverage *County Gone Wild - Tom Meyer, Sarah Montgomery *Project AED - Eric Mansfield, Monica Robins, Kim Wendel, Danielle Fink, Romona Robinson, Rita Andolsen *Imperia...

CLEVELAND -- At Channel 3 News, our policy on reporting the weather has always been to prepare you, not scare you. On Tuesday evening, we went on-air and on-line with a new weather system which uses the latest forecasting technology that no one else has. Best yet, it puts you in charge. We all made the transition from standard definition to HD, and now you have your latest weather forecasts, making what you see on Channel 3 crisper, clearer, and up-to-the-minute. How you access the weather on-line at wkyc.com has changed dramatically. Our interactive weather radars put you in control of your own forecast, with options designed to give you information you find most important. Head over to our weather page and check it out or click here . Click on the video to learn more about our new weather system from WSI.

Channel 3 Weather has launched a brand new high definition, interactive radar to keep you better connected to our local weather on wkyc.com You can click on the image to start using the new radar system that features temperatures, radar, wind speeds, water temperatures, storm tracking, earthquake reports and much more. It's everything you need to track the weather in one simple, easy to use feature only from WKYC and Channel 3 Weather. Click the image to start using right now!

WKYC has announced new positions for two very talented individuals in the advertising field. Our National Sales Manager is our very own Kim Jakubowski! Kim joined us as a local account executive after serving as Vice President of Market Development and National Sales Manager in Toledo. Prior to those roles, she served as a local account executive at WTOL and as a Sales Rep at Blair in Detroit. Kim's intelligence, energy, ability to adapt to change and tenacity make her perfect for the role as National Sales Manager! Joining us as Local Sales Manager, all the way from Raleigh, North Carolina, is Cory Jackson. Cory brings with him a wealth of experience and a stellar track record of success. Cory served as a sales manager at the NBC station in Raleigh and held regional and local sales positions in Tampa and West Palm. Cory is a native of Erie and is looking forward to getting back to the great North! Cory will join WKYC on May 3.

Congratulations to WKYC's Tom Meyer, The Investigator , who is one of two top finalists in the Ohio Associated Press Broadcaster's contest for Best Investigative Reporting and Best Continuing Coverage for 2009. Tom's honored works include: Best Investigative Reporting for "Pills without Penalties" - This was a 2-part investigation into the Ohio Pharmacy board and how it fails to discipline pharmacists, even if those mistakes prove to be deadly. Best Continuing Coverage for 28 stories on Cuyahoga County Corruption - Tom's coverage included 14 stories that were exclusive stories and the result of our own investigations. The 1st and 2nd place winners in each catgeory will be announced at an awards banquet to be held in June.

Gannett Co., Inc. (parent company of WKYC-TV) reported today that earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of 2010 were $0.49 compared to $0.34 for the first quarter of 2009. Results for both quarters included special items as noted below. Excluding these items, earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of 2010 were $0.50, double the comparable figure of $0.25 for the first quarter of 2009. Results for the first quarter of 2010 include a $2.2 million tax charge related to recent health care reform legislation and the resultant loss of tax deductibility for retiree health care costs covered by Medicare retiree drug subsidies ($0.01 per share). Results for the first quarter of 2009 include a $39.8 million pre-tax settlement gain related to one of the company’s union pension plans ($24.7 million after-tax or $0.11 per share) and $6.6 million in pre-tax workforce restructuring costs ($4.3 million after-tax or $0.02 per share). Details of these special items and their eff...

Paul Beavers The Director's Cut Blog has learned from former WKYC Production Manager Rich O'Dell that former WKYC News Director Paul Beavers has died. Paul worked at Channel 3 beginning around 1987 through March 1992 when he left to beome News Director at KUSI in San Diego. Paul ended his journey on earth at his Reno home [on April 10th] with his loving wife and children, and a wonderful hospice nurse at his side after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was born in Hastings, NE. He spent his youth in Edgar, NE graduating from Edgar High. He earned his journalism degree from UNO and started his television news career with KMTV in Omaha before joining NBC in Los Angeles. His broadcast journalism career took him around the country before he retired to Reno. Paul's passion was golf (he could claim two holes-in-one) and he loved, fishing, Amateur (Ham) radio, bridge and traveling. Paul was loved by all who had the honor of knowing him. He had a b...

You probably watch Saturday Night Live every week on Channel 3, but never really thought about what goes on behind the scenes during commercial breaks when the crews break down sets and set up new ones for upcoming skits. The Director's Cut Blog shares with you some never before seen studio footage of a taping from a show that aired on March 13, 2010.

The Director's Cut Blog has learned that NBC's "Dateline" is in town shooting the final pieces for a special "Dateline" episode that will tentatively air next Friday, April 23rd on NBC and WKYC. Dr. Essa is the man convicted recently of killing his wife and has become a nationwide story of interest for the bizarre tale. You can see "Dateline" on WKYC-TV at 10 p.m. on Friday nights right before Channel 3 News at 11.

The time is coming for a change in the weather...something that keeps you connected like you've never seen before. When you do see it, the forecast will be crystal clear. The countdown has begun. Will you be watching when the time comes? Stay tuned our weather friends!

It's Emmy Nomination Time! The entries are in and the judges have their nominees for NATAS Lower Great Lakes' 2010 Emmy Awards! Come enjoy an evening of fun as we announce those in the running for the golden trophies. Nomination parties will be held April 29th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the following locations: Cleveland Hilton Garden Inn-Harvey's Bar 1100 Carnegie Ave. Toledo Fat Fish Blue 6140 Levis Commons Blvd. Perrysburg Indianapolis The Rathskeller 401 N. Michigan St. Admission is $5 for NATAS-LGL members and non-members. At each nominating announcement party, NATAS-LGL has donated one (1) ticket to the Emmy Awards Dinner on Saturday, June 19th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland. Winner need be present. Ticket has no cash value, but is transferrable. One winner per nomination location!! For more information, visit the Lower Great Lakes Chapter website

Update: The Director's Cut has learned that Eubanks replacement with be "Idol" music Director Rickey Minor. --- Jazz guitarist Kevin Eubanks has announced that his final gig as "The Tonight Show" bandleader will be May 28. Eubanks, 52, has been with Jay Leno for 18 years, since Leno took over the show in 1992. Eubanks became musical director when Branford Marsalis left in 1995. Eubanks told Leno during Monday's (April 12) taping of the show that he was ready for a career change of pace, but he didn't announce specific plans. NBC has not named a replacement. "After 18 years of playing America into commercials, I'm gonna go somewhere where I can finish a song," Eubanks told Leno. He added that he had no specific plans. Eubanks was with Leno for the short-lived The Jay Leno Show in prime-time, then came back to The Tonight Show when Leno reclaimed the show from Conan O'Brien in March.

NBC News' No.1 Sunday public affairs show, "Meet the Press with David Gregory," will broadcast in high definition as it unveils its new set on Sunday, May 2. "It's an exciting time to be debuting a new 'Meet the Press' set as we head into another important political year," said Gregory. "The new look reflects the ways in which the program is evolving while staying true to the core mission and traditions of the show.'" "This new set offers a fresh look and added versatility that will enhance our interviews and better engage our viewers," said executive producer Betsy Fischer. "It's a thoughtful combination of contemporary design elements in a stately setting - keeping with the longstanding history of the program." "Meet the Press" is seen on WKYC-TV Sunday mornings from 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. ET following Channel 3 News Today Weekend. --- Source: NBC

Editor's Note: Both NBC and FOX affiliates are breathing a big sigh of relief over this one. --- NEW YORK -- Conan O'Brien is headed to TBS to host a late-night talk show expected to debut in November. The network said Monday that the program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern, shifting TBS' "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, to midnight. Monday's surprise announcement comes the same day O'Brien starts a two-month, 30-city live tour in Eugene, Ore., amid persistent reports that he was likely to claim Fox as his new late-night home. O'Brien left NBC in January after hosting "The Tonight Show" for just eight months. His predecessor in that slot, Jay Leno, then reclaimed the hour. As part of his parting deal, O'Brien is barred from appearing on TV until September. -- Source: The Associated Press

Congratulations to WKYC Director of Programming and Sales Marketing, Terry Moir, who was honored on Wednesday by the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters (CAB) at a luncheon held at Windows On the River. This was the group's 20th year of presenting its annual "Excellence in Broadcasting" awards. Terry does it all here at Channel 3 and is also heard weekday mornings with Trapper Jack and Jim McIntrye as morning co-host of the WDOK Soft Rock 102.1 morning show. She joins our Vice President and General Manager Brooke Spectorsky who won the honor a few years ago. Others honored today include Jimmy Malone from WMJI and Denise Dufala from WOIO. Congratulations to our broadcasting friends.

Are you "in" the Tribe? Catch all the Home Day Opener action live from Progressive Field on your over the air "Home of the Tribe" - WKYC. Click on the video to catch the fever!

By Frank Macek So sorry for the lack of updates the past week or so, Your blogger took a little time off for vacation and to spend with the family during some trying times. On the fortunate side, the weather could not have been better. Welcome to Spring - or is it Summer alrealdy?!?! Now, here's a catch up look at some of what has been going on here at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. March sweeps have concluded and WKYC continues to have good momentum following an outstanding February sweeps period. In the all important Adults 25-54 category, WKYC was number #1 at 5 AM, 6 AM (tied with WJW), 6 PM, 7 PM (tied with "2 1/2 men") and 11 PM. The "new" 'Tonight Show with Jay Leno' was also #1 in the demos at 11:35 p.m., beating David Letterman on CBS. WKYC, The Plain Dealer and Ideastream (WVIZ-TV and WCPN-FM) kick off a year long campaign this week called "Fighting Fat" as we bring obesity epidemic into focus and find ways to solve it. Se...

Editor's Note: The following is a press release issued on Friday about new technological changes coming to all of our Gannett television stations, including at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center . --- McLEAN, VA - Gannett Broadcasting today announced it will integrate The AP's ENPS broadcast production system and BitCentral into Information Center operations at each of its television stations across the USA. ENPS will become the news operating system for all Gannett stations while BitCentral will provide content management and distribution through its Oasis and Precis play-out and asset management system. A unique process was used to determine vendor selection. A Gannett innovation team consisting of employees from various stations, representing content, production, and technology, began by crafting a shared vision of the workflows needed for the Gannett Information Centers of the future. Those needs were then compared with proposals submitted from a diverse group of...

The Indians home opener is set for Monday, April 12th at Progressive Field again the Texas Rangers. Don't miss your chance to take in the action in person. Tell us why you should be there by e-mailing us your stories and Indians spirit pictures to: openingday@wkyc.com If we pick you, slider will deliver a pair of tickets to your home the week of April 5th. Deadline to enter is next Wednesday, March 31st at 11:59:59 p.m...and we'll choose five lucky winners to join us at the game. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter  for other swell prizes, too.

It's no secret that if you are a wanted fugitive trying to evade capture, the last thing you want to see is your face on a wanted poster. The U.S. Marshals Service has made its name on the belief that no guilty man shall go free, and in the Northern District of Ohio that is exactly the goal of the Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force. U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott currently partners with WKYC Channel 3 News, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Clear Channel Media to seek wanted criminals in its Fugitive of the Week program. To date, almost 88% of those profiled have been caught. His new idea is to bring mug shots of the most wanted criminals in your area directly to your cell phone. Now, that surveillance becomes even more wide-spread with the advent of weekly Fugitive Alert information on local cell phones with WKYC Channel 3 in Cleveland. "This is just one more way that we can educate the community and potentially save lives," U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott states. "Our ...

Millions of dollars in state benefits go unused each year, from health care to heating and cool, and food assistance. Channel 3 is teaming up to get you the help you need. Our Ohio Benefit Bank phone lines will be open Wednesday, March 24th, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Specific phone numbers to call will be posted on wkyc.com during the day Wednesday on Channel 3 News. To learn more about the program, click on the following video.

Some internet Gremlins kept a lot of folks from seeing our website, wkyc.com over the weekend. However, those issues are mostly fixed now. But if you are still having problems, please send us an e-mail with a detailed description and include the name of your internet service provider (ISP). Send it to our engineering techies at channel3@wkyc.com  and we'll do everything we can to help you with a fix.

WKYC Vice President/General Manager Brooke Spectorsky has announced Leslie Pastel as the new General Sales Manager of WKYC-HD. In a note the station staff on Monday, Brooke highlights "Leslie has been with the station for over 5 years starting off as a talented Account Executive and then promoted to National Sales Manager two years ago where she has done a superb job." Leslie has been handling many of the duties of General Sales Manager since the departure of  former GSM Tom Humpage who left the station last year to become General Manager at a Maine television station. Congratulations to Leslie. We look forward to her leadership during an improving, but still difficult economic time for local television stations.

NBC has picked up hit daytime drama "Days of our Lives" for its 45th season, keeping the long-running show on the network through the 2010-11 television season, it was announced Monday by Marc Graboff, Chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. "'Days of our Lives' continues to be a favorite of the daytime audience and we are thrilled to keep it going through its 45th season," said Graboff. "'Days' has shown year-to-year increases in key female demographics and remains both relevant and fresh creatively." Bruce Evans, Senior Vice President, Drama Programming, NBC Entertainment, added, "The producers, cast and crew have worked tirelessly to make 'Days' the ratings success it is today. Today's renewal is a true testament to all of their hard work. We could not be more delighted for them and for the multiple generations of fiercely loyal 'Days of our Lives' fans." The acclaimed daytime drama wi...

Special to the Director's Cut By Kim Wendel CLEVELAND -- If you're a Time Warner Cable of Northeast Ohio customer, about 480,000 of you probably saw nothing on Channels 2-20 Wednesday night. The TWC trouble center spokesman said the problem affected customers in Cuyahoga, Medina, Lake, Lorain and Ashtabula counties from about 7:30 p.m. until about 11:40 p.m. He said the problem had to do with the signals going through the cable boxes attached to some televisions. As of Thursday afternoon, TWC in Northeast Ohio said the problem has been corrected. The only outage right now are for an unknown number of customers in the Mansfield area. Anyone still having problems can call for help at (877) 772-2253 .

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump isn't firing "The Celebrity Apprentice," but he's bringing back the regular edition of the show with 14 ordinary candidates plagued by the sour job market. NBC and Trump said Wednesday they want to put America back to work. His revived ordinary-folks "Apprentice" will recruit competitors who have lost their jobs, are stuck with jobs they don't like, or have finished college with no offers in sight. Trump says the winner will land a position with him, while the rest will get advice on how to find their dream jobs elsewhere. "The Apprentice" first aired in 2004 and is expected to return in its refreshed edition this fall on NBC. The current season of "The Celebrity Apprentice" had its premiere Sunday and is expected back for another run in spring 2011.

Please enjoy another cool Channel 3 promo featuring Hollie and Betsy reminding us spring is right around the corner. Funny, shortly after we started airing these spots, it warmed up. Are these ladies good forecasters or what!

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Michael O'Mara FAIRLAWN -- Ready or not, 3D television has arrived. The hhgregg store is now selling the 55-inch Samsung 3D HD plasma television. Shopping for a new high definition television just got much more complicated. That's because the world of 3D has just arrived in the home electronics department. In Fairlawn, the sales staff at the hhgregg store is ready to explain the many features on the new 55 inch Samsung 3D plasma television. The new set will go from 2D to 3d at the push of a button on the remote control. Special 3D glasses from Samsung will be required to view the video. Electronics specialist Laura Miller said, "If you're into movies, action sports, things that you really want to see to their fullest content that will leap off the screen, then you will love 3D television." Electronics manufacturers have noticed the huge box office success of 3D movies like Avatar, Up, and Alice in Wonderland. ...

A special treat for WKYC Wednesday evening following the 7 p.m. broadcast - the Tamale truck pull up! Good food for all if you ever see the Tamale truck in your neck of the woods. Thanks guys! Betsy Kling gives us a quick look.