MEDIA MAVEN - Publishing media news & opinion (often with a critical eye) in the Pacific Northwest, covering Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Tri-Cities/Yakima and even a litte beyond. At times, even some sports. Posts occasionally @tvmavenseattle.bsky.social. I'm a retired, longtime broadcast journalist and manager in multiple markets, ex-writing prof at UW and PLU in WA state, author of Season of the 76ers, Kent St. and American U alums, Pittsburgh native. Hit search/menu and follow!
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You're looking live at pics of back to back medical reports on KOMO with two, count 'em two 'medical reporters' followed by Steals and Deals, all of it fed from Sinclair. Add in weather taped Saturday night by Waldenberger, and then seeing lonesome Theron alone on the set, and you realize it's all being mailed in.
Yes, I know it's vacation time but it's a bad look made possible by filler content on any newscast. Even on Sunday morning.
Lonesome Theron! Funny.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that they didn't have Theron do the weather this weekend as well as the news since he normally does that (splitting the news duties with a co-anchor). Also, with Pride Day being today, you would think that more people than normal would be tuning in before heading to the festivities, so you'd think that KOMO would want to really make sure that they were on their A game this morning to potentially turn some of these special viewers into regular viewers.
ReplyDeleteIt's really pushing it to put together all the maps, temps, radar, etc. and anchor the hour news as well. At least the taped weather made it pretend there was another live talent. Plus, the 3 med and consumer fed bits had on camera components, as if fans would be foooled by back-packing the end of the newscast, beginning at 8:45. You are right about Pride. The show may have had a live field report on that earlier, I didn't start watching untl 8:30, but they would have gone back to that reporter to end the show for a final push on the parade and weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot of work to assemble weather segments, so it does make some degree of sense to just have Theron focus his full attention on the news when he has to anchor solo. At least the weather segments were presented by actual meteorologists, which is more than can be said for KIRO on many recent weekends. And this time of year does tend to be calmer in the weather department, so a forecast taped the night before isn't necessarily as out of date when it goes to air as it would be during the fall and winter storm season. I'll agree that its not the best look, but it could be worse.
DeleteFor me, it was more about the boatload of canned segments, even for a weekend show, but when you have two medical reporters, which is which? They could have split one off for the first half hour. Lazy producing. The second report could have been nicely teased for later in the show. I really like George Waldenberger on weather. Great presence and enthusiam and credibility. Movin' up list fast in the market and excellent morning talent. All of the morning weather folks are strong, George, Nick, Brian and RIch (not the youth but the rich knowledge and experience).
DeleteI agree that two different Sinclair medical reports in the same half hour was not the greatest from a production standpoint. They could have been split between half hours, or even aired on different days. Did they both need to air today? Probably not.
DeleteAs for George, I am liking what I'm seeing out of him. A good addition to KOMO's weather team.
BTW, KIRO, in its Pride partnership, has a special tonight on the parade starting at 11:30. I didn't see its streaming web coverage from 11-1 Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see KIRO stepping up to the plate for this major annual event.
DeleteIt begs the question- who does the best local AM news on weekends? Maybe I am in the minority, but I think there is a value to those time slots
DeleteEver since Lee Stoll left KOMO and TV news, the weekend AM anchor has been Hannah Knowles. I don't know if she also is on her honeymoon or got recently engaged, but having Zahn fly solo is something you would see in smaller (100+) market TV station rather than a Top 10 or 15 station like Seattle when the anchor acts as the producer and director as well. Then again, most TV stations around the country had this set-up back in the 1950s and 60s. It is kind of sad when you have a pre-taped weather segment be an insert on a LIVE newscast. It looks rather cheap, and it hurts the credibility of the station. George is a great addition to the weather team with a great rapport alongside the AM team, a "not too hot-not too cold" personality and I could see him in a Chief Met position, unlike Stella Sun, who still needs some seasoning. Theron has been there since 2000 and may not be the strongest of the bunch, but his strength is his versatility that he can anchor the news, present the weather and report out on the field. KING still holds the crown for the best station in town (IMO), followed by KOMO, FOX 13 and KIRO. Then again, not many people watch TV news as much as they did back in the golden age of the medium, so it doesn't surprise me if ratings are down across the board.
DeleteWhen Hannah Knowles and Theron are together at the desk on KOMO, I would give them the top spot. KING is default second with Fox 3rd because it doesn't air on the main channel, and there is too much fluff with Taylor and Abby. IMHO
ReplyDeleteI agree with this assessment.
DeleteKOMO's weekend morning news has long been a decent program, and Theron is a big reason why. He brings expierence and stability to a timeslot that is often a revolving door of talent. Plus, Theron has had a few good co-anchors over the years, including the likes of Lee Stoll, Marlee Ginter, and Kelly Koopmans. Hannah has been good as well, from what I've seen.
KING's weekend morning news was also good back in the days when Carolyn Douglas and Meg Coyle were anchoring, paired with Nick Allard, Lisa Van Cise, and Keisha Burns on weather (I even remember Don Carson of NWCN filling in once...that was good too), but it has slipped a bit since then.
In the 2010s, KIRO's weekend morning news was decent as well, especially once it expanded to Sundays, Linzi Sheldon took over the anchor chair, and a live field reporter was added. Of course, KIRO no longer produces weekend morning news, but it was good while it lasted.
Fox 13's weekend morning news started out strong with Alexandra Lewis and Brian Flores co-anchoring. It was a bit weaker even back then for not being on the main channel, but it was far from bad. Sadly, it has become the weakest of the local offerings as talent changed and Fox ownership of the station took hold.