MediaMaven

World News Tonight from ABC went to black and color bars on KOMO lasting for several minutes on Tuesday night.   Came back after a few minutes to a major pixelated screen, then went to black again.  No word on what happened.   Possible master control mishap??  Feed issue?   Xfinity issue?   Maybe only on my set?  Other technical difficulties?  Anyone else see this??? 

OK, I can't upload the promo pushing Patrick Hussion at KOMO, the anchor who once worked at the  One America Network back in 2016.   But I have transcribed it.   Compare these time worn cliches written by the promotion department to what Hussion said while anchoring for OAN and covering the White House in 2016.   Nice try, creative services and news boss, but did this guy actually change his stripes after 10 years?   I doubt it.  Here's the copy voiced by him over multiple cliched shots around town:  "KOMO morning news is important because I believe everyone and every community deserves to have someone looking out for them, someone who's going to be asking questions, helping to understand more and I feel like everyone that live in a community should have an advocate like that and I feel that journalists are that for them.  To me, journalism is about balance and accuracy, having somebody you can rely on to speak up for you and a...

Dan Rasmussen, who became a morning EP at KING and went in to be an Assistant ND at KABC in LA, has been named News Director at KGO, the ABC O&O in San Fran.  Good guy, success story. 

The former News Director of powerhouse KTVB in Boise, who went on to be a GM for Tegna Phoenix, has been named regional GM for the Pacific Northwest stations owned by the company.   Kate Morris will supervise GMs at KING, Seattle, KGW in Portland, KREM in Spokane, and KTVB.  The regional ND there was fired not too long ago, so not sure how long this job will hold if Nexstar eventually gets Tegna after all the litigation.  My forecast:  Mostly Cloudy, save for a rainy day.  

Seeing a big solo promotional push for Patrick Hussion at KOMO with him talking about truth and accountability.  Hmmm.  A Sinclair anchor being pushed before the mid-terms?   We still have no idea about whether this guy believes in the news media, for which he works, or hates it, as he said during his CPAC speech when he worked at the One American non-network cable network.   Believe in his credibility if you dare.   He has a tainted news rep, IMO.    BTW the way, his co-anchor in the mornings is not getting the same push, is she?   Trying to get him over with viewers?   Aren't they a team??     Seems odd??  

Noticed that KOMO reporter Jackie Kent did fill-in anchoring on the weekend evening news.   Good, solid reporter IMO.  Nice break!  

Gregg Bell, sports talk host at KJR, reported that  Sunday was his last day as Seahawks beat writer for the Tacoma News Tribune because of the McClatchy company layoffs.   Recently he's also been a frequent guest on KING's afternoon sports show. 

I don't usually catch Seattle News Tonight on Fox 13 at 5 so I guess I was surprised to see this minor  set, complete with vases and other items (probablyleague from Michael's Crafts) placed on some shelves with the others left open.  Didn't Studio 13 Live use this backdrop and also even the nightly sports show?   And if I'm not mistaken, Rose and Kim had comfy, cozy white chairs at some point sans this backdrop. I wonder if this is happening because of the station's November plan to move everything to a new building downtown.    Anyway, it looks awful and the anchors have a height disparity which I hadn't seen before, rivaling the morning team on KOMO.    

Looks like Fox 13 Seattle has abandoned it's highly promoted LIVE DESK running during afternoon in favor of newly-titled Good Day at noon and newly-Seattle News Today at 1, both still designed to forage and present news as it happen, but without the clutter that defined it and made it a shaky technical production.  AJ Janavel anchoring at 12 Weds and Matt Smith at 1.   The shows are missing the overkill multi-frame video boxes and weather on the right, with changing fonts/crawls below.  Not sure if this is permanent or temporary but here's how it looked today vs how it looked when debuted last year.    Thanks to an ever loyal tipster, BTW.

There has been plenty of discussion on this site about the sports situation in Seattle TV, in particular the lack of a sports department at KIRO 7 and the seemingly stretched one-man operation at KOMO.   Well, KOMO is listing a job opening for a sports MMJ to help with coverage of all of the teams.  With all that's going on now and what's ahead in Seattle sports, it seems about time.   Here's the posting: https://edyy.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_2002/jobs?location=Seattle%2C+King%2C++WA%2C++United+States&locationId=300000001961183&locationLevel=city&mode=location&radius=25&radiusUnit=MI

According to Axios, Sinclair is taking to Substack to launch a new news service using material from all of its stations.   It owns KOMO, KATU  and KVAL in the PNW: Sinclair, one of the nation's largest local broadcast groups, is launching a subscription-focused, national news brand on Substack called The National Press, executives told Axios. Why it matters: It's a huge bet for the family-controlled local news giant as it looks to build trust and loyalty among users beyond the TV screen.

Seattle sports KIRO 710 parlayed the Mariners last chance September playoff hopes with the new Seahawks season to cut into KUOW's first place lead in last month's Seattle sweeps.   The station got a little help, too!.   KIRO-AM jumped .3 share points to a 7.3 while the usual leader dropped .5 to a 8.9.    KJEB-FM took third as the top music station.  KIRO-FM was up some for its best book in a few months while KNWN stayed flat amid some program changes. Check out the numbers: https://ratings.radio-online.com/content/arb039

FYI. https://x.com/sas68499839/status/2107259060185911603 

Looking for a scary Halloween read about reporters turned into vampires?   You know those bloodsucking reporters!  It's the first anniversary of my first fiction novel, Blood Stained Papers; a new twist on a genre that is hot yet again.  At: Waynelynchbooks.Com and Amazon.

 Newly-minted PortlandTrailblazers pxp man out same day.  Team announcement after a KGW uncovered bad tweets from a decade ago.   https://www.kgw.com/article/sports/nba/blazers/trail-blazers-fire-new-broadcaster-after-misogynistic-racist-comments-surface/283-8c6b0cd9-3db0-4aba-89ec-545f5cdc0b86 Obviously, the WNBA team he previously did pxp for, the Phoenix Mercury, didn't vett him very well either.  At 29 now, he was in his teens when these comments were made, per the story.   Good reporting and an embarrassing league scandal involving a new owner. 

Hearing that freelancer Jillian Raftery, who most recently worked for KIRO Radio, has joined Fox 13 as the new morning executive producer, dealing with the happy, go lucky, Good Day Seattle crew.   She was formerly a special projects producer at KIRO7 and did a stint with the Seattle City Club management. Also hearing of a 'dust-up' between a top news manager and producer during a morning editorial meeting there which sent a producer out of the room in awful tears.   Apparently it was about a lunch hour she was granted, something that a former insider confirms 'was and is' a rarity at the station for news personnel.   Certainly there is room for a sandwich at The Live Desk, right?

The Trail Blazers name Braiden Bell as new television play-by-play announcer. The 29-year-old's last gigs were calling games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns.  He fills the spot vacated by Kevin Calabro after Calabro said the team surprised him with a low-ball contract offer.  He took his voice to the Timberwolves. Bell's comments: Rip City - Wow, it’s going to be an awesome ride! It’s hard to describe the honor I’m feeling. I can’t wait to settle into this community & fanbase. My goal is to make you proud every game and honor the incredible history & tradition of Blazers play-by-play. Talk to you soon!

Per a social media post, KING 5 weather anchor Leah Pezzetti enters into that high pressure area this weekend.  We wish her warm winds.  

On Oct. 5, KVI talk host Ari Hoffman moves to morning drive 6-9.   The station finished 24th with a 1 share last book, so this will change everything, I guess.   Lotus just moved syndicated radio to KNWN from 10-2 so the graph is in decline both sides.

During a sit-down post-season interview with the Seattle Times, owner John Stanton revealed that Mariners TV had 120,000 subscribers this year.  As far as I am aware this is the first time that number has been public.   And the question is, will it decline after this season's disappointment.   Not sure how to quantify streaming data.   BTW, Seattle is market 13 with 2.1 million TV households but those signups could be coming from hither and yon.  Also have seen nothing from KING on viewership and probably won't.