Weighing In on Cookie Wars

We're around - and so we wanted to talk a little about something not even John Kiesewetter has.

During the month of October, WKRC-TV LOCAL 12/Cincinnati anchor Kit Andrews and meteorologist Tim Hedrick are waging a "Cookie War". Here's how Kit explains it, from the station's website:

I have a favorite recipe that the newsroom folks seem to like. Tim has his own. We want you to decide which is best.

Just go to Busken Bakery or Remke Markets during the month of October, and buy either a chocolate chunk pecan, or a Doppler Tim's peanut butter picaso, or one of each, to be really fair. Then buy more of the one you like, and the proceeds will provide tuition assistance for Catholic school kids on both sides of the river, including the children at Saint Boniface in Northside.

No, we've yet to get any of the cookies. Your Tri-State Media Watcher is partial to Peanut Butter however, and yet I like chocolate, too. (We're gonna try to get a few of the cookies in the next 2-3 days.)

This time of year, seeing a TV station get behind a cause such is this is great. No, we're not Catholic here at Tri-State Media Watch. And that means, we're behind stations supporting education in any way possible.

On a slightly related note, a station in Atlanta, a city hit by floods last month, went all out trying to help kids at one of the hardest hit schools there recently.

Clarkdale Elementary was inundated when Sweetwater Creek rose out of its banks September 21. WXIA-TV 11/Atlanta collected donations for the school in the week following the flood.

Enough to Run - Barely

Yes, we've been around. We just didn't have too much that NEEDED to be reported as breaking news. But we do have a FRESH item just reported by our friends and colleagues at OMW:

Arbitron PPM's Here Soon: Yep... the long talked about Portable People Meters are coming at last!

If you're wondering, the PPM is the newest ratings technology in terms of getting radio ratings. They're one reason that a lot of places don't have smooth jazz stations anymore...and one reason CBS Radio has been loading up on a LOT of sports radio and top 40 stations. And, they've been rumored in quite a few markets, INCLUDING Cleveland, in the territory of our friends at OMW, for a few weeks. (We didn't hear those rumors in the Tri-State.)

Well, they will soon be in Cincinnati, according to AllAccess as well as OMW this morning:

On DECEMBER 31st, 2009, ARBITRON plans to commercialize the PPM radio ratings service in PORTLAND, OREGON, SACRAMENTO, CINCINNATI, CLEVELAND, SALT LAKE CITY-OGDEN-PROVO, SAN ANTONIO, KANSAS CITY and LAS VEGAS with the release of the DECEMBER PPM survey report (NOVEMBER 12th - DECEMBER 9th).

What does this mean for Cincinnati? Well...right now, not much. Not until December 31, anyway.

After that, it means that the information gathered by the PPM's are "money" when it comes to ratings. And the diaries people have recorded radio ratings by for years? Well...those are consigned to history, or the scrap heap.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see how it impacts things in this area.

NFL Net Picking Up Ravens/Bengals Replay: We're sure most of our readers already know of the Bengals, which are quickly becoming known as the "Cardiac Cats" for the nailbiting finishes to...every single game this YEAR, and how they had yet another near-miss on Sunday.

If you want to relive it, we heard yesterday, courtesy of the Kiese Blog, that the NFL Network will replay last Sunday's game against the Ravens tonight at 8 PM in a 90 minute format called "NFL Replay". NFL Replay is basically the game, condensed into 90 minutes, with the halftime and other things that don't affect the outcome edited out, and sideline and on-field sound added in. Also, fans will get to see snippets of the post-game pressers.

We mused to a personal friend of ours, Mike Taylor, that we can't take too many more of these close games. We think it's taken 5 years off our lifespan, at LEAST. Heh.

By the way, STILL no deal between Time Warner Cable and NFL Network... which means those subscribers won't be able to see the replay of the game, unless a last-second deal is reached today, OR they get satellite. On Insight, it's channel 547 for SD, or 926 for HD...

Insight Adds New HD Channels: And we couldn't have come up with a better segue than that, because our next item is about the HD side of that cable provider's offerings.

The Kiese Blog reports that subscribers in Northern Kentucky are getting NINE HD channels following some new additions last night.

The new additions are (channel positions are in parentheses, taken from the updated online lineup on page 2 of this PDF):

Big Ten Network (920)
ESPN News (927)
Bravo (991)
CNBC (905)
Fox Business (903)
Speed (969)
ABC Family (982)
WGN (940)
Lifetime (985)

This is a good move - but, it doesn't go as far as they'd like with restoring their goodwill with those people left somewhat in the dark when they took the WCPO-DT2 Weather Tracker off basic cable, along with the Univision Network earlier this year...

And looking at that lineup...something isn't making sense here.

Specifically: We went back to that lineup and looked CLOSELY at the little marks at the end of some of the channel listings.

And we noted that BOTH WLWT and WCPO's weather channels are noted as being "Provided with Basic Service, additional equipment may be required".

Last time we were able to check, we were pretty sure that THOSE two channels, ESPECIALLY WLWT-DT2, were NOT on basic cable in any position near or after channel 69. Maybe we need to go back and look, but, we're pretty sure on the living room TV here at TSMW's World HQ in Eastern or Northern Boone County, you WON'T find WCPO-DT2, much less WLWT-DT2...update will come sometime before we need to leave this afternoon...

UPDATE 11:30 AM: Well, THIS is odd to us.

We just looked at channels 71-75. And indeed, WCPO-DT2 IS on basic, but ONLY if you have the converter box.

But the odd thing isn't that it's on channel 71.

In fact, if you move UP to channel 75...IT'S THERE, TOO.

Are they about to move WLWT-DT2 to that slot? Maybe. Maybe not.

It's something to check on with the good folks at WLWT...BUT, we know for a FACT that what's trimulcasting on channels 71, 75, and 432, IS WCPO WeatherTracker...

WKRC Radar Back?

We're watching a livestream on Local 12 WKRC-TV/Cincinnati's website right now. And we think, but aren't sure, they got Precision Doppler 12 radar back up and running.

We know we have at least one reader out there at 1906 Highland. Maybe they can help us out... did Local12 get the radar back after technical issues had it shut down for ten months? Or are they still using the NWS 88D radar at Wilmington?

UPDATE: One of our readers says it isn't. However... from what we saw when they had the live stream up last night, it was.

DEVELOPING: FCC Issues NPRM for WCPO

This word came late yesterday afternoon while we were at Bengals Nation...

The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on WCPO-TV's request to move to digital RF 22 from its current RF 10. (WARNING: LARGE PDF ahead!)

The NPRM would grant WCPO a power level of 850 kilowatts, as opposed to the 1000 kW requested. From the sound of it, it would still be on-par with WLWT's current 1,000 kW signal.

Interested parties have 15 days to send comments to the FCC. Even so, the process isn't over yet.

WCPO would still have to file for a construction permit, and then only once that was granted could they abandon RF 10...

Returning With WLWT Thoughts

Our apologies for the absence in the early half of the week. Unfortunately, illness tends to be an issue right now... but we're back with a couple thoughts, mostly about WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati...

Jack's Back - How'd He Do?: We've caught some of Jack Atherton's first newscasts for what is currently the most powerful station in Cincinnati.

Our first comment is that it seems Atherton made an effort to lose some weight during a few months off from TV. He looked slimmer and trimmer. Some comments we heard haven't really been too kind about his appearance. But he looked okay to us, not sick or dead.

Second, it's clear that his folksy style is slightly different from the "Straight to the Point" idea. Not much - but slightly. Jack seemed more conversational in his tone. He did show he could talk sports or just about anything. (We hear that there was a quip by Sheree about Atherton being a cross-dresser - but we're sure that he isn't. He didn't comment on the broadcast.)

We caught, barely, his introduction on Monday. He said when asked about his 9 month hiatus (his contract with WXIX-TV 19/Newport stated he couldn't work for anyone else in town for 9 months), "My heart goes out to people out there who are out of work. It’s no fun. It really wasn’t." That was a great heartfelt moment.

Then he said, “This is a great business, and I just hope we get to bring you good news every night.” There wasn't very much good news on his first night. It reminds us of his standard tag line at Fox 19 which he ended every broadcast with: "We hope your news is good."

Overall, we give Atherton's debut a solid B. Good job by WLWT on the roll-out.

Live Blogging with Travis: Recall that earlier this year, WLWT live blogged the murder trial of Ryan Widmer, accused (and ultimately convicted at the time) of killing his wife Sarah. (For the record: Widmer is getting a retrial, but it's unknown when. EDIT: And as we're typing this, we get that date - March 15, 2010.)

Now, a popular web staffer is back and blogging again.

The "Travis" we refer to is Travis Gettys of WLWT.com. Gettys became popular following his exhaustive coverage of the Widmer trial. Now, he's blogging from the trial of Mark Blankenburg, a Hamilton doctor accused of sexual abuse crimes. You'll find the blogs on WLWT.com.

Again: We're not a crime blog. We're a media blog. This just happens to fall in our domain of media.

Letterman Thoughts: Finally, we diverge from the world of local media for a minute, and head for the national media.

Specifically, we're talking about David Letterman's revelations last week that he had sex with staffers on his show, and was blackmailed by a CBS producer, Robert Halderman, who is currently free on bond while awaiting trial on charges of extortion. You'd have to have been under a rock to not hear about it by now. Letterman's show is seen nightly on WKRC-TV 12/Cincinnati and WHIO-TV 7/Dayton (11:35 PM Monday-Friday nights).

Our thoughts: That's enough, Dave. Seriously.

You're not really helping your case here. Apologizing for it is one thing and perfectly acceptable (actually, it was a good gesture). Joking about it ON A NIGHTLY BASIS is a whole other matter.

It won't help your case in court. We're pretty sure that a jury wouldn't know whether you were joking, or serious.

Granted: You won't be on trial for anything. But you could be called to testify. If we were you, we'd stop joking and treat this seriously. Don't talk about it except under the advice of your private counsel. Wait til after Halderman goes through trial. Then, and ONLY THEN, should you even try to joke about it.

We won't disagree about one thing: You have your work cut out for you...

Jack Is Back - Tonight on WLWT-TV 5

Yes, folks, we took that title straight from WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati's advertising campaign.

WLWT has been trumpeting the return of former WXIX-TV 19/Newport anchor Jack Atherton for the last week plus. And this evening (or it will be by the time most of you read this), Atherton makes the return on the station with the most powerful signal in town.

Atherton will co-anchor News 5 at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 with Sheree Paolello, until Sandra Ali returns from maternity leave. (What's in the water at WLWT, what with all the pregnancies between Ali and Paolello the last few years?? We're just joking, Channel 5, don't take it personally!)

Anyway, the station's advertising it pretty hard right now. We just saw two separate ads for the big debut of Atherton since we began typing this item!

Will it be enough to pull WLWT out of the cellar ratings-wise? We think it might be enough to put them in second place - but not in November. It might be February before we see that.

Atherton began working behind a desk at WLWT on Thursday, when his no-compete clause with WXIX expired.

However, even before it expired, we saw a few PSA's with Atherton featured for some non-profit or another. We don't remember at the moment what they were for - maybe our readers can fill us in. And that makes us wonder if WXIX made an exception for those PSA's. Hmmm...

DEVELOPING STORY: George Grande Retires, Opting Out of FSN Contract

This broke early this afternoon - but Your Tri-State Media Watcher has been out of commission all day today due to illness.

George Grande, play-by-play man for the Cincinnati Reds on television for the last 17 years, announced today that he is retiring, in the process opting out of the last year of his contract with Fox Sports Ohio.

Grande announced it now to give the Reds and FSO time to find his replacement, says the Enquirer. Grande said he hopes that FSO stays in-house, naming Dan Hoard (who himself has WXIX-TV 19/Newport to his credit) or Jim Kelch (currently the radio voice for the Louisville River Bats) as possible replacements.

Grande says he wants to spend more time with his family, who live in Connecticut.

He has history in television sports and broadcasting in general spanning back over 45 years.

Going back about 36 years, his first TV experience was on local ABC affiliate WTNH-TV 8/New Haven, CT. He then moved to New York City, where he has WCBS-TV 2/NYC to his credit for a short stint as weekend sports anchor.

After New York, Grande was on the very first edition of ESPN's Sportscenter and remained with the network until 1988.

Thirteen years after that, he would begin broadcasts for the Cincinnati Reds for FSO, after brief stints with the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.

Before all of that, Grande had stations in Los Angeles, Rhode Island and Connecticut on his resume on the radio side of broadcasting.

Grande has been the MC for the annual Baseball Hall of Fame Ceremony in Cooperstown, NY since 1980, and will continue with those responsibilities most likely even after this year.

By the way, Hal McCoy also retires later this month from the Dayton Daily News, after 37 years with that publication covering the Reds.

We here at TSMW wish Grande and McCoy both nothing but the best and happy retirements...