Alzamora Checks In

I am now in Amarillo, Texas. I was transferred down here at the beginning of July to take over as the Sports Reporter and Assignment Editor for KEYU-TV, the new local Univision Affiliate here in Amarillo.

http://www.univision-amarillo.com

This is a brand spankin' new station that Equity Broadcasting (the company that owns INN) decided to open. So I am still working for the same people and under the same system, (the newscast still comes out of Iowa, with the local news team here in Amarillo).

Now while the politics about the move itself were pretty messed up in my opinion, I have been trusted with a pretty heavy responsibility. As the Assignment Editor, I am the head of the local news department. I am in charge of all the reporters and photogs and with everything that my job entails, the position is more like a News Director but without the News Director Salary.

The biggest problem I have with this is that I often have to sacrifice my sports coverage because of these other responsibilities. And many times I find myself working seven days a week even though we only do a newscast Monday thru Friday.

I am however in the process of exploring my options, but I barely have time for that. So if anyone knows of any sports openings, give me a shout.

My bio (click on Nuestro Equipo) and one of my stories is on our website. The link is to the website is the one above. here's the direct link to my story.

http://www.univision-amarillo.com/video/1130021.html

It is the championship game of the local soccer league. It is in Spanish but check it out anyway. Just click on the little camera to see the video.

Take care,

Mike Alzamora

The KC Star On KCTV-5

by AARON BARNHART

In the first five minutes of this story, you'll learn the shocking details behind the TV station that toppled market leader KMBC!

If that teaser sounds familiar, then you've probably been watching KCTV, Channel 5, lately. Join the crowd. For the first time in more than a decade, KCTV is sitting pretty atop the 10 p.m. Nielsen ratings at the end of a November sweeps month.

Though final results won't be in until this morning, Channel 5 was comfortably ahead of Channel 9, holding a two-share-point advantage through Tuesday. (One share point is equivalent to 1 percentage of homes watching TV.) And KMBC, which remained No. 1 at 5 and 6 p.m., will probably lose its lead in morning news to WDAF, Channel 4.

Buoyed by strong prime-time programming from CBS and its high-energy news, KCTV has achieved a remarkable comeback that few would have predicted three years ago when the station's new boss, Kirk Black, rode into town.

“When I walked in the door in August 2001, we had lost 45 percent of our news audience in the past five years,” Black said Tuesday. “We had problems. And I said that we were going to work a plan like no one has worked it.”

Thanks to an amped-up promotion budget from parent company Meredith Corp. and a newsroom run by his hand-picked lieutenant Regent Ducas, KCTV is surging. Its ratings are up 25 percent year-to-year while KMBC is way down, despite a modest revival of ABC's prime-time schedule.

KCTV's 10 p.m. newscast — an in-your-face nightly spree of crime, accidents, sexual perversity and wild video — looks nothing like the newscast it used to be. Almost none of the anchors or reporters on the air in 2001 is around now; they've been replaced by younger and seemingly hungrier talent (notable exceptions include anchor Dave Helling and dayside veteran Liana Joyce).

Longtime viewers were not shy about expressing their disgust and outrage as Channel 5 transformed itself. On Gateway City Radio, an Internet bulletin board popular with local broadcasters, one anti-KCTV partisan this week described Channel 5 as “Jerry Springer TV,” while many others used descriptions that are unfit to print.

The complaints seem to peak during the three-times-yearly sweeps periods, when KCTV heavily promotes its most eye-grabbing news pieces.

In February, Channel 5 aired a four-night investigative series based on a sting it had conducted of men it said tried to solicit sex illegally on the Internet. Critics howled, but ratings went through the roof on those nights. And while KMBC won the overall ratings that month, the tide was starting to turn.

By October, “KCTV5 News at 10” was beating KMBC's late news regularly.

“This is not a flash in the pan,” Black said. “We started to close the gap (with KMBC) every month. We saw the gap shrinking, and in July we realized, hey, we might win this thing.”

KCTV's win may be interpreted as a case of a rising tide lifting all boats. The rising tide is CBS, which trounced the other networks in November on the strength of its hit crime dramas: the “CSI” shows and “Without a Trace.” It was the most-watched network among 18-to-49-year-olds, the first time CBS has finished No. 1 among that prized viewer group since 1980.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, CBS chief Leslie Moonves called it a “milestone” and a “watershed moment” that had put its affiliates in their best competitive position in 10 years.

By contrast, the ABC network has been dragging down its affiliates for years with its poor programming choices. That has begun to turn around under new leadership, and ABC's new hit “Desperate Housewives” has given KMBC a big lift on Sunday nights. Another hit ABC show, “Lost,” airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays, but by 10 p.m. much of the audience watching that program has tuned away.

Research supplied by KMBC shows that its ratings leap 30 percent to 40 percent at 10 p.m. — enough to make it competitive but not enough to stop KCTV's juggernaut.

Black, however, can hardly be accused of riding the coattails of CBS, any more than KMBC can be said to be coasting at 5 and 6 p.m. on its huge lead-in from “Dr. Phil” and “Oprah.” Nielsen data shows that KCTV has become one of the top-performing CBS stations across the country. And KCTV's ratings are way up at other times of the day, especially 4 and 5 p.m., when CBS programs are nowhere to be seen.

Some research suggests viewers start to tune away from Channel 5 after those vaunted “first five minutes,” a conclusion Black disputes. But one thing is undeniable: Kansas City viewers are some of the most voracious consumers of local news in the country, having made KCTV and KMBC top-rated in their respective network groups.

At WDAF, ratings for its morning news are up double digits as well, giving Fox 4 a slight edge over KMBC through Tuesday. Double-digit growth buoyed KSHB, Channel 41, at both 5 and 6 p.m. Its 5 o'clock newscast, following on the heels of Ken Jennings' daily smackdowns on “Jeopardy!” was up an eye-popping 30 percent year-to-year.

Success has allowed KCTV's Black to pull off a career feat that many once thought impossible: He survived the entire tumultuous reign of his boss, former Meredith Broadcast Group president (and onetime Channel 9 sales manager) Kevin O'Brien, who fired all the other general managers in the 13-station chain during his three years running the group.

O'Brien, who didn't hire Black, was terminated last month for violating the company's equal-opportunity employment policy. Newsroom insiders say a cheer went up when his firing was announced.

Black said he always had a terrific working relationship with O'Brien, and Ducas said that O'Brien, who could monitor every Meredith station from satellite feeds at his office in Las Vegas, “left us alone because he thought we were doing a great job.” And to those who fondly remember the olden days, Ducas points out that Channel 5 had a long history of aggressive reporting before he and Black came along. Its best-known reporter was investigative bulldog Stan Cramer, who thrived off targets putting a hand up to the camera and slamming the door in his face.

CBS affiliate taking over WB station

By AARON BARNHART The Kansas City Star

Two more television stations in Kansas City merged operations Friday, as the owner of CBS affiliate KCTV bought a controlling stake in WB affiliate KSMO-TV.

But the deal — initially valued at $26.8 million, with a potential $6.7 million kicker later — probably will face legal challenges.

Kirk Black, the general manager of KCTV, made the announcement at KSMO's offices in Kansas City, Kan., Friday afternoon. Black said Des Moines-based Meredith Corp. was assuming control of Channel 62 immediately and KSMO's facilities would be moved to KCTV's Fairway offices within four months. He said the employees of both stations would remain on payroll, except for KSMO's general manager, Mark Martin, who is leaving.

“We're taking over KSMO,” said Black, who called the acquisition “exciting” and said it would make Meredith “the biggest player in town.”

Under the arrangement, KCTV will be able to sell all available commercial time on both stations and boost profits by combining operations, such as sales and engineering, which the stations now perform separately.

KCTV will also be able to determine up to 15 percent of KSMO's programming, or about five hours per weekday. Black said this could include adding KCTV's local news, Metro Sports or repeat broadcasts of syndicated fare such as “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to KSMO's schedule.

The deal comes at a time when media ownership rules are in greater flux than at any time in history. The company is betting, in effect, that the federal courts, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission will resolve a variety of disputes affecting broadcasters in such a way that KCTV will be allowed to buy KSMO outright.

Currently, federal law on “duopolies” — the ownership of two stations in a single market — does not permit an outright KCTV-KSMO merger. Instead, Meredith is paying $26.8 million to enter into a “joint sales agreement” with KSMO's owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group of Hunt Valley, Md., with an option to buy the license for $6.7 million should the law change.

The joint sales agreement could be invalidated under a proposed rule change filed in August by the FCC.

Currently, both stations in a joint sales agreement are considered independent. If the rule change goes through, the owner of the larger station would be considered in control of the smaller one. That would put Meredith in violation of the commission's “voices” rule, which stipulates that stations cannot merge if that would reduce the number of independent voices in a market to fewer than eight.

There are 10 TV stations in Kansas City controlled by eight entities. E.W. Scripps Co. owns both KSHB-TV and KMCI-TV, while Hearst-Argyle owns KMBC-TV and operates KCWE-TV.

Further complicating matters, an appellate court in Washington in 2003 remanded several rules to the FCC, including the “voices” rule. If the commission is unable to justify the continuing need for the rules, they will be nullified and the KSMO deal would stand.

Another possibility is that the commission will allow the merger under a grandfather clause, as it has done when making rule changes in the past.

To Sinclair, challenging media ownership rules is nothing new. Shortly after the 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed by Congress, Sinclair struck deals that virtually doubled the number of stations under its control. The law on such deals was vague, and Sinclair was allowed to keep the agreements in place. It currently owns or operates 62 TV stations, more than any other company.

“This is the kind of skirting-the-law tactic that has helped make Sinclair the poster child for big, bad media,” said Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, which advocates tougher media ownership rules. “Clearly Sinclair here is taking a wager that their pals at the FCC will give them a high five to sell the station.”

Chester and other industry observers predicted Friday that with Sinclair involved, the deal would face higher-than-usual scrutiny from political opponents and media watchdog groups.
Sinclair recently endured a storm of protest over its plans to broadcast a documentary, “Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal,” that attacked presidential candidate John Kerry. It wound up showing a more traditional news program that featured both “Stolen Honor” and a pro-Kerry film.

With KCTV's newsroom as its disposal, KSMO is unlikely to become an affiliate in Sinclair's “News Central” operation, which produces a hybrid national-local newscast for more than 30 of its stations. Critics say “News Central” waters down local news, replacing it with large doses of right-wing commentary beamed in from its Maryland headquarters. Sinclair has argued that it is bringing local news to TV stations that traditionally did not offer news.

Sinclair officials did not return phone calls on Friday.

According to full-day Nielsen ratings averages, KCTV is the second-most-watched station in Kansas City. KSMO ranks fifth.

With the transaction, Meredith now owns or operates 14 TV stations in addition to its publishing assets. It has owned KCTV since 1953.

The company's shares closed Friday at $52.38, down 1 cent.

To reach Aaron Barnhart, call (816) 234-4790 or visit TVBarn.com.

RE: Another Election Disaster

ouch, dick. you didn't mention misuse of punctuation. or the use of sentence fragments. or the blatant refusal to use captial letters, especially for proper nouns.

sherwood

Mr. Tony is Back

Washington Post columnist , ESPN TV host , and all around media god Tony Kornheiser is coming back to radio. He used to be on ESPN Radio, but left earlier this year. Now he's back on local radio in Washington D.C., and you can listen to the station online. Now you know where Doug and I will be if we have free time between 9 A.M. and 1 P.M. Eastern time. Just check by the computer speakers.

Bieke

RE: Another Election Disaster

"...should've WENT to MU?" Perhaps he's right. Maybe they teach grammar better than we do! (If you think just because you've graduated I won't still critique your writing, think again!)

If Mizzou is still teaching backtiming by hand they're further behind the times than I thought. They probably still teach students how to edit film.

BTW, Michelle, if you want a good story about election disasters, talk to Gene Hartley about 1976 at KOMU.

Dick

Sabotage?

My co-anchor and I think it was sabotage.. That sucks Michelle.

Andrea

Another Election Disaster

oh yea, well how about this. our news program craps out at 8:30 a.m. DCM was DEAD. picture this--we have no prompter, no scripts, no way to backtime (except by hand, of course--dammit kevin pope was right, i should've went to mu! joke, he was basically belittling me with my ku education when i went for an interview because mu taught him to backtime by hand. some of you may remember this story) oh yea and no wires. we got it up before the 10 and all the cutins, but the day was a little hairy.

michelle

Election Night(mare)

Welcome to election day in Wichita Falls, TX. 26 hours after the polls closed.. we still have absolutely no election results. No winners.. no losers. Instead we are waiting for officials from the Secretary of State's office to come and oversee a possible manual count of 40,000 ballots.
They believe it's a problem with the computer program that was installed to tabulate the results. In any case... a very long night last night.. followed by six hours of standing outside the county clerk's office.. doing interviews as the local republican and democratic party people spewed hate at each other. I love politics.

Andrea

Go Vote!!!

It's Election Day. I know it's all hand on deck, but you should pass along any funny stories about what happened today when people get a chance.

Bieke