Oregon Media Insiders

If I were at KOIN, I would definitely hire new anchors for the 5pm and 11pm broadcasts. I would try to lure KGW’s Stephanie Strickland to serve as co-anchor – not sure who’d I’d hire as the male counterpart, probably someone outside Portland. If I had to choose someone currently working in Portland, I’d hire KGW’s Russ Lewis. He does an excellent job at KGW in the early morning and at noon. I’d keep Bruce Sussman at weather but bring in a new face at sports: KGW’s Adam Bjaranson.

For Good Morning Northwest and the noon broadcast, I’d go with something completely new. Mike Donahue is an institution in Portland, but he seems out of place in the morning. The noon broadcast, not so bad. But even there he seems out of his element. I’m not a huge fan of Jenny Hansson. Tim Joyce would be my choice for weather, and too I find him to be a really competent field reporter.

Ken Boddie and Alexis Del Sid are good on the weekends. I’d move Christine Ferreira to weather and keep Tim Becker as sports anchor. The one thing I would do is expand the 6pm broadcast to a full hour of local news. 30 minutes of news in the early evening seems paltry for a station in a market the size of Portland.

I would also dump the current KOIN graphics package. It’s third rate. No, I’m being too kind. It looks cheap – a bad job of cut and paste. I’d definitely find something new. And that set, it's plain awful. It looks like something you see on a college television station news broadcast.

Lastly, I’d create a new on-air promotional campaign for KOIN News 6 and its reporting team. Sadly, everything I’ve seen on KOIN is really bad – very elementary. The promotional pieces laid out during February sweeps were just plain bad. Compared to 2, 8 and 12, KOIN looks very small market.

I must confess, I don’t work in television, but I find it terribly fascinating. From what I’ve learned on this site and reading about the business of television news, I realize that it’s a team effort. What one sees on the air is only a fraction of the work that goes into creating a quality product.

KOIN has a strong history in Portland. As I mentioned in a previous post, I can recall the days of Newsroom 6 – a newsgathering powerhouse -- Mike Donahue, Shirley Hancock, Dr. John Walls, Phil Volker, Mark Hendricks, Eric Schmidt, Rebecca Webb, Rick Metzger, Sandy James, Mark Sanchez. Sadly though, the KOIN of today is dealing with a multitude of problems; ownership problems, leadership problems, money problems, programming/personnel problems. Dogging KOIN too hard seems almost like sport. But things really do need to change at KOIN if it hopes to regain its former glory.

Well, I guess I'm terribly old school...but why do we HAVE to have TWO anchors for every broadcast?? It's ridiculous. I thought it was stupid when it began, just to make things PC and I think it's stupid now. And a waste of money. Stations could save money by cutting one anchor per newscast.

Donahue and Ferreira were fine at noon. Then, in comes Hansen. Why? Not necessary unless it's filling a quota.

I would/will hate to see Donahue go. He's my last connection to when Portland was a far better place to live.

I tried to hire Stephanie when she was still in Boise. Kerry O wouldn't let me. Didn't think she had it.

...since many of you think KOIN is such a disaster, why keep posting comments about the station? Seriously, it's kinda weird that so many of you want to post your thoughts when it's already deen established that you think the station is a shadow of it's former self?

And unless any of you has the cash to buy KOIN yourself, it really doesn't matter what you'd do with the station if you owned it.

Bottom line? Go worry about something else.

For all of you who are waiting for Walter Cronkite to come back... News flash... He's gone.

On the same token, KOIN has made some bad choices in the past. You favorite KOIN team is not coming back either. Sorry. So stop reminiscing and whining. We can't do anything about it now.

It's degrading to the people who work here, sweat their asses off, and get no credit for it on this board. Everyone works hard. It's demeaning to have someone critizing your job performance when we're all trying to stop this place from spiraling into the pits of hell.

Jeff Gianola and Kelly Day aren't going anywhere soon. They're way too established. I don't think it's their delivery that is sending viewers away, rather its package content, promos, and graphics. "Bringing News Home" is good if you're trying to attract viewers between the ages of 60-80.

I worked for a while at KPTV and people of all ages always told me how much they loved the FIRST-LIVE-LOCAL slogan, it works for all demographics.

I'd say they should hire one or two more anchors for the early evening newscasts, similar to what KGW does with Barry/Donlon/Porter.

I think a younger male presence with Day for the early evenings is a great idea. Day has a fantastic delivery that works for all ages. Gianola is solid but I think some moving around can only help KOIN.

I believe that KOIN could benefit from a SMART, well thought-out re-launch. And I believe that the Portland market could gain by an infusion of, gasp, creativity -- a word that seems to be banned from newsrooms in this town these days. Let KOIN be the station to try.

Specifically:

* Completely re-brand and re-launch the station. And I mean COMPLETELY. Sadly, as much history as there is with the KOIN name, it's time to let history be history. The KOIN name is tarnished. It's time for it to be retired. I'm not suggesting that the call letters be changed, but I do think it's time to stop using them promotionally. An idea for the new station: "CBS 6 Portland", with newscasts branded as "CBS 6 News".

* With the KOIN branding retirement, many among the current staff should be replaced. There should be fresh faces & new talent brought in (from OUTSIDE the market) to anchor the newscasts. The anchors don't need to be local; they just need to be personable, attractive and talented. No superstars with super-high paychecks; just a strong ensemble of new, credible and competent people who get paid relatively well.

* Change the afternoon line-up to take better advantage of Dr. Phil's high ratings:
3:00-4:00pm -- ELLEN (currently Dr. Phil)
4:00-4:30pm -- EXTRA (currently Ellen)
4:30-5:00pm -- LOCAL NEWS (currently Ellen)
5:00-6:00pm -- DR. PHIL (currently Local News)
6:00-6:30pm -- LOCAL NEWS (no change)
6:30-7:00pm -- CBS EVENING NEWS (no change)
7:00-7:30pm -- LOCAL NEWS (currently ET)
7:30-8:00pm -- ET (currently Extra)

With this new line-up, the new station's newscasts would be at 4:30pm and 6:00pm (with Dr. Phil sandwiched between), and a third newscast would air at 7:00pm after the CBS Evening News. There's no net gain or loss in evening news time -- it's just shuffled around. The 4:30pm newscast wouldn't be highly watched, but the 6:00pm and 7:00pm shows would do very well given their strong lead-ins. And there would be a substantial number of viewers who would watch Oprah at 4pm on KGW and then Dr. Phil at 5pm on KOIN -- and their switching would hurt KGW's 5pm newscast ratings.

pdxtvwatcher: wow, that is pretty radical. But I like it. Across the country you are certainly seeing more and more stations identify with their network rather than their call letters. The only downside is if the network stumbles, you've got their name. KIRO-TV up in Seattle should do the same, and they need a total re-image as well.

Jeff Gianola is a gold mine! Put that guy on 24/7. You'll see ratings shoot way up. He's so great, and smart too, with wit.

Gianola needs to go. He's tired!

Both KATU and KGW are owned by large corporations with outlets in multiple cities in the region (i.e. Seattle, Boise, Spokane, all the smaller markets).

KPTV...well is KPTV.

Why doesn't KOIN try to be more Portland centric? It obiviously doesn't have the affiliated stations like Fisher and Belo does, so put all the reporters here in Portland and the immediate area. Maybe put a bureau on the North Coast to cover its translator base out west, and maybe something to cover the Salem/Albany/Corvallis area.

Someone mentioned that the other stations/anchors are successful because the are more "conversational" and less "professional". So focus on neighborhood news, what's going on in your neighborhood and not just another crime blotter cast.

I am an total outsider i only read this when i see changes in local tv. But this morning i sit in a hotel room in SF i get a call one of my co-workers gets shot in Portland doing his job protecting our Ports. Portland police has SERT out and cops everywhere. North Portland is in lockdown mode choppers flying with infrared cameras the whole bit. So when i go to get something off the web from any news station guess what ! as of 7am Tuesday the 11th of March only KGW, KPTV and the Fishwrapper (oregonian) have anything on there web sites. Not much mind you but something KATU and KOIN don't shame shame on them.

Any updates or inside scoops on KATU's anchor search ?

"Day has a fantastic delivery that works for all ages." Are you kidding me? Talk about an air-head. Her on-air banter with others is juvenile and she seems uncomfortable when she not reading from a teleprompter. Don't forget that this is her second time around at KOIN after working as a reporter at KPTV.

I think KOIN is so well established as a name in the area it wouldn't be a good idea. That said, how many CBS affiliates struggle as much as the Portland outfit? You can't really complain about leadins to the 11 p.m. news.
KOIN does need a consistent philosphy. The entire product looks slapped together (as it has been through the ownership/news leadership changes). Back in the day (10 years ago?) I thought the station appeared to be authoritative with the most identifiable headquarters (KOIN Tower), the OMSI weather station, and a sports guy who you could tell had been around town a few years (Ed Whelan). Not to mention Shirley Hancock and Mike Donahue. Didn't they also have the Blazers before they moved over to KGW?
How management could just flush all of that down the toilet and think importing second-tier talent from the other stations would make up for it astounds me.

KOIN rolled out a vastly improved website this evening. It looks very good – very easy to navigate. Hopefully, it’s speaks of what’s to come.

Lynn Heider is a serious news director and no doubt wants to compete but that does not mean the corporate 'overlords' will free the funds to make it happen. Koin has three primary problems:

1. Declining image: Increasingly, Koin is seen as non-competitive. They don't have the same staffing levels as their competitors and viewers have noticed. Their ratings have been sliding for two years and arresting that decline will take more than a new image campaign, look or set. Koin is going to have to win some big news stories - in a big way; that happens with resources and right now, Koin doesn't have them.

2. Strengthened Competitors: While Koin has gotten weaker, their competitors have gotten stronger. KGW and Fox have used the Koin implosion to their advantage and grown at its expense. Even Katu's newsroom, under the relatively green Don Pratt, has gotten on the path to stability. Katu may be 'the' station to watch in the market.

3. Experience: Koin has the greenest, youngest and most inexperienced newsroom in the market. Outside of the anchors, the producing/desk/reporting staff is fairly young and that's a competitive disadvantage. Koin has some good photographers [those who didn't vacate during the last regime] but the anchors aren't in the newsroom until 3pm and that's too late to have much impact on news coverage. The photogs have been through the grind and their morale is low. So the strengths Koin does have are not being properly harnessed.

If I were a betting man, I still wouldn't put my money on the Koin.

KOIN has a third of the staff of KGW-- half of KATU, and still KOIN has managed great exclusives 2 nights in a row. Kim Spady-- thanks to a dedicated night team, KOIN was the only station to have Spady as she left jail, and the only station with the exclusive interview.
-- Then today, after the Radio Station Crash, KOIN was the only station to figure out A) where the suspect was and B) the only ones to interview him *BEFORE* police even arrived. Not to mention, the exclusive video of him being taken into custody. What did 8 lead with at 5? Metal Theft? Yeah, thought so.

That speaks to a growing trend: November, KOIN was a close second at 11. The 6 is growing, often number 2, and lately, the 5 has been #2 as well. Ratings are on the way up-- numbers don't lie.

Call them green, call them inexperienced, call them what you want. But don't tell the boss that they're a competitive station running on half the resources. Because that just makes you look bad.

Read this from GM Chris Sehring...

I am sorry to announce that Lee Wood will be leaving KOIN today after many years of service.

Lee’s departure is due to the fact that KOIN’s Chief Engineer position is being eliminated. This change reflects the need for stations such as KOIN to effectively realign and adjust to the challenges we face in light of a frantically-changing media landscape.

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To: All KOIN Staff:

From: Christopher Sehring

RE: Chief Engineer Position

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.