First of all, where is Eric Thomas, who had been anchoring weekend and even doing sports for the sportsless KIRO? Jason Sloss, who has a monotone delivery for every story with no urgency or change of inflection or tone, has been anchoring weekends the last couple of weeks with Haveson the realtor doing weather plus there was NO sports on Sunday at 4 or 5 for either hour, despite the third straight loss by the Mariners to Toronto. Must be a tariff thing. BTW, the voice over video throughout has no nat sound. Wallpaper.
And how about this goofy, phony franchise segment name: WESTERN WASHNGTON GETS REAL with Deborah Horne interviewing a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Great interview idea but a junked up with absolutely no meaning No surprise with this station, which wanders in the wilderness daily.
Hard to watch.
I don't know where Eric Thomas is, but at least KIRO has found someone to anchor the weekend news in the interim. I'm honestly amazed that they even have enough people to air weekend news at the moment. Their news team bio page has fewer faces on it than I've ever seen. There are numerous stations in smaller markets with larger talent rosters compared to KIRO. Its downright shocking!
ReplyDeleteAs for Western Washington Gets Real, its a nice interview concept, but the name needs some work.
ReplyDeleteHave you watched Matthew Smith anchoring on FOX 13 at 4 and 5 during the week? Now that’s what I’d call a monotone delivery. As for Eric Thomas, I caught him on the morning show last week - maybe he’s filling in. With Frankie no longer at the station, someone’s got to cover the weather until they bring in a permanent replacement. If there’s a local person who can handle the weather and also happens to be a realtor, that doesn’t really bother me, given the circumstances. I checked the guide and noticed that KIRO airs 4 hours of news on both Saturday and Sunday, no co-anchors, no sports segments. That’s a heavy load for one person to carry. As I mentioned in a previous comment, KIRO is clearly losing talent for a reason - people don’t walk away from a good situation. It’s obvious that something behind the scenes isn’t right. The station is so short-staffed that anyone still on-air deserves some grace; they’re under immense pressure and doing more than their fair share. The blame doesn’t fall on them - it falls squarely on ownership. My prediction: many are likely already looking for a way out. I bet every reporter or new hire from the past year will end up leaving. There’s only so much people can endure.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate to see the avaibility of local news be reduced, perhaps KIRO should cut back on weekend news until they can staff it better. Maybe suspend the 4 and 7 shows, and focus on the 5, 6 (Saturday), 6:30 (Sunday), and 11? At least they aren't trying to do weekend morning news with their current staffing levels. That would be an even bigger mess.
DeleteAgreed...it's all Apollo-Cox.
ReplyDeleteCan't watch Matthew Smith. Non-authoritative voice and poor delivery. Not a strong anchor in any measure.
DeleteI agree that Matthew Smith isn't a strong anchor, but I did like the reporting about the environment that he was doing early in his Fox 13 tenure. I think Lauren Donovan has been doing some of that lately since Matthew is seemingly now a full time anchor.
DeleteI noticed that KIRO aired sports on Saturday night - maybe, due to limited staffing, they’re only able to include sports in the late shows? Just a thought. I’d also add that, given the current staffing challenges and the heavy burden on those remaining, criticizing them feels unfair. As commented earlier, the blame falls on COX/Apollo - not with the people doing their best to keep things going. What they need is support and encouragement, not criticism. Just my opinion. But I agree—scaling back a few newscasts might help reduce the workload, but I doubt any changes will be made since the station likely earns revenue from those broadcasts.
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points. We could take it a little easier on KIRO while they are so short staffed, and, to be honest, we should. As for scaling back the newscasts, KIRO does probably need them for revenue. I wonder if there might be a way to reduce the workload without cutting back the quantity and quality of coverage too significantly.
DeleteI don't have much empathy for KIRO after they summarily dumped their hard-working, two-man sports department. Hard to justify no Mariners score and a highlight or two for two hours on Sunday when they are still in first place. Viewers have expectations and they should be minimally met, at least. Just because KIRO is treading water does not free them from criticism during a major rating period.
DeleteI agree that it is difficult to have empathy for KIRO after they axed their sports department, failed to cover the final day of the state legislative session, fired Jesse Jones, and other major missteps they've made in recent months. Viewers do have expectations, and they need to be met. They should be called out when they don't. That being said, we can still take things a little easier on KIRO by limiting our critique to when they fail to meet the bare minimum of what viewers should reasonably be able to expect from a station in a top 20 market like Seattle. What viewers should reasonably be able to expect at a bare minimum is open to interpretation, but I would define it as: 1. Providing fair and accurate coverage of the day's most important stories from across the region (not just what matters in Seattle itself, but what matters across all of Western Washington). 2. Staffing the station well enough to provide basic coverage of important stories across all of Western Washington. 3. Providing reasonably accurate and timely weather forecasts. 4. Providing at least the scores and some highlights when the major local sports teams play in a timely manner. 5. Covering breaking news quickly but accurately.
DeleteCan you confirm that Frankie Katafias is no longer at KIRO?
ReplyDeleteYes that seems to be the case, I posted something a couple of weeks ago and have not seen her and her bio on the station web site is gone. KIRO has two great mets on the roster in Allard and Morgan Palmer, so their weekend weather is WEAKend.
DeleteKIRO's weekend weather may be weaker right now with Scott Haveson in the role, but at least they are trying to make sure that information is still provided to viewers. Credit where credit is due.
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DeleteUnderstood, not a Haveson fan from when he was difficult to deal with when I was ND at NWCN, so I probably have an aversion. I think he once worked for KIRO. He's doing fine and at least they are not using reporters like Brandon Thompson. I wonder if they have considered Stephen Kilbreath, now that Claire A is back on Fox 13 maybe he is avail. BTW, I very much appreciate the conversation with you. Thanks much.
DeleteThe decision to release Chris Francis and dismantle the sports department was absurd. I liked Chris and thought he did solid work. Layoffs are never easy, but that call was made by COX/Apollo - not by the producers or on-air talent. My sympathy doesn't lie with the corporation; it lies with those left behind to shoulder the added burden. The weekend producer and anchor had no role in that decision. They’re simply doing their jobs under increasingly difficult conditions. Harsh criticism only serves to demoralize people who are already working hard to keep things together. I noticed on Frankie’s Instagram page she mentioned she’s taking this time to de-dress and focus on her well-being. That suggests to me that working at KIRO was likely very stressful - I imagine the whole team is experiencing similar pressure. Maybe it’s poor work/life balance, micromanagement or something else. Maybe Gwen left for similar reasons. We don’t know. The mention for support and understanding refers to the producers and talent - they’re the ones holding the place up right now, and they don’t deserve to be targeted for choices that were completely out of their hands. It’s not their fault their friend & colleague, Chris Francis was let go. Given the circumstances, they’ve earned some grace with me.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are in a fishbowl people can see you. You put a product out there, it gets judged. I am not giving any grace to a bad station that has left its remaining people with an untenable situation. For example, a good producer in a break can put up a score graphic, winning and losing pitcher, strikeouts vs. hits. It's very easy or use a lower third ticker, whatever. Sloss was still reporting the Rite AId/Bartell's issue days after it surfaced and there was nothing new Sunday. My comments are not even close to being harsh nor am I targeting anyone. I watch the newscasts, make observations and report them as shortcomings for viewers and ask why there are no adjustments by management. Viewers don't care about the conditions or offer compassion.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good and valid point that viewers don't care what is going on behind the scenes or offer compassion for shortcomings. They expect a timely, accurate, and high quality product every time they tune in, and that is what they should get to the absolute best of KIRO's ability. It doesn't sound like KIRO is living up to that reasonable expectation, with Sloss' reporting on the Rite Aid/Bartell's issue this weekend being the latest example. That is worth being critical of as that type of reporting is not living up to what viewers should be able to reasonably expect. Its fine to rehash some key points about the story to refresh the viewers' memory about what is going on, but if they are going to report further about the story, there should be new and substantive information to go along with it. For instance, I would like to see someone report on what the loss of the Rite Aid will mean in areas that are already starved for both pharmacies and shopping options. Aberdeen and Hoquiam come to mind as an example of such an area, as the Rite Aid stores out there previously took on the pharmacy files for two smaller independent pharmacies that closed in recent years, and neither Walgreens or CVS has a presence out there. There is surely going to be an impact losing the Rite Aid pharmacies out there. Plus, the area is home to a lot of Medicare and Medicaid patients, which could make things all the more interesting (but not necessarily in a good way). That would be new and substantive information for KIRO to report on to advance this story.
DeleteEric Thomas anchored KIRO’s noon newscast today. Maybe that is a promotion.
ReplyDeleteEric is likely just filling in, but it could make sense to move him to the Noon full time in order to allow Linzi Sheldon, who often anchors that broadcast in addition to mornings, more time to contribute to the investigative franchise that KIRO launched in the wake of Jesse Jones' firing. Sheldon has long been one of KIRO's stronger reporters, so more investigative pieces from her would be great. Deedee Sun also anchors at Noon on a regular basis in addition to mornings. If Eric anchors the Noon, maybe she can do what Chris Egert often did back in the Egert/Julie Francavilla days and go report in the field for the Noon show after anchoring the morning news. As for Eric, one he is done anchoring the Noon, he could potentially go report in the field for the 4, 5, and 6pm shows. This way, KIRO can potentially get more out of their limited on air roster without overworking anyone and make their newscasts the best they can be for their viewers.
DeleteWell, you found him. Again, it seems strange during a major rating period, but on the other hand, nobody cares about noon newscasts. May musical chairs.
ReplyDeleteNoon and midday newscast ratings were reported to have increased in some parts of the country (don't know about Seattle) during the early days of COVID. I suspect they've come back down sice then, but if they are still above pre-COVID levels, they might matter more than we think.
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ReplyDeleteThe noon on KIRO is a function of The Price is Right mightly lead-in which has sustained CBS affills for decades. They just want to hold what they have. Plus a great soap opera lead-out. CBS affils always likely to be number 1 at noon. New Day is KING's weak lead-in and KOMO goes at 11. It's an easy win for 7 with no concerns.
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