Oregon Media Insiders

Obama HQ is just a couple of blocks away from OMI HQ, and so we've been watching with amusement as the ENG trucks and news vans have been circling the block looking for parking. One guy in an unmarked ENG truck was having such troubles with parking that Cablenut and I sat down with our coffees and watched him for a bit out in front of Pallino. Anyway, the oldest Nutling volunteers at Obama HQ. If you see a very pretty, very young volunteer (possibly in an orange bucket hat), stop and say hi.

This is your Obama visit open thread. Keep other topics in other open threads. kthxbye.

In one of the other threads, someone noted that Heidi Tauber has been scrubbed from the KPOJ website, and indeed it looks like it. The morning show's been rebranded "Mornings with Carl Wolfson and Friends. Wha' happa'?

It had all the makings of a great story. Violence. Controversy. Man vs. Nature. There was even a Homeland Security angle.

Six sea lions shot as they sat in traps near Bonneville Dam. A cowardly act perpetrated by someone with a stake in the salmon-rich Columbia River. Coverage began in earnest immediately with the AP and several Oregon and Washington-based print and broadcast outlets covering the story. Coverage quickly spread to outlets up and down the west coast, into Canada, then on to other parts of the country and even to parts of Europe.

Howdy all you visiting Shop Talkers! Yes, we made Shop Talk this morning. It's not a first--they pop in here from time to time and post tidbits of ours in the newsletter--but we were in there today for our own sake, as a featured media blog. whee! Thanks to whoever submitted us.

Just sayin'.

This popped up in the comments and I've confirmed it.

Granted, I don't know much about engineering no TV stations, but does this seem weird to you? New Vision, the owner of KOIN and a bunch of other stations, has fired all its individual station Chief Engineers. That means that veteran KOIN CE Lee Wood is out of a job as of last Friday. From the memo from GM Chris Sehring:

The Chief Engineer’s former duties will be re-assigned to New Vision Television’s new Corporate Chief Engineer. The Corporate Chief Engineer, whose name will be announced shortly, will work closely with all New Vision TV stations but plans to operate out of our KOIN/ Portland location.

All of us at KOIN appreciate Lee’s many efforts on behalf of our station. We thank him for his hard work and wish him well in his future endeavors.

Wood was at KOIN for a long, long time--can someone chime in with just how long? And is this as boneheaded as it seems, or is it an outside-the-box new management initiative keeping pace with the ever-changing relational paradigms blah blah blah where's the cover of that TPS report?

Had a visitor the other day here at OMI Central:

Yes, that's Rebecca Webb. She came over for some tech support and pulled up on her adorable Vespa with a backpack of goodies for lunch (and Cablenut promptly took off around the block on the scooter). Those of you worried about this business, There Is Life After Radio (and TV, and Print).

Wassup?

So, as KATU is blowing out Grant McOmie, the home office was trying to plunder - er, enhance compensation for executives - until major stockholders blew a gasket.

From Portland Business Journal: