Oregon Media Insiders

Word this morning that KTVZ ND Jeff Barker is out for "family reasons." Bendies Bend people, what's the scoop?

Update: Corrected spelling of Jeff's name. Sorry about that, that's what I get for posting in a hurry. I got a note from a colleague of Barker's saying for once it really is family-related. I wasn't looking for personal problems, FWIW; it's just that when someone leaves for "family reasons" 9/10ths of the time it ain't family and I was wondering what might really have been up. Here's your tenth, I guess. I hope everything goes okay for the Barkers, whatever the trouble is.

Also noted: Bendies bad. Stricken from the OMI vocab.

I hear KTVZ started their news in HD last week, but from what I understand, it's really still only 16x9 SD. Any other knowledge from anyone?

http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp?s=7088677

I posted a draft of this as a comment back on the KEZI thread -- a few people saw it and liked it, so I'm reposting it as its own entry in the hopes that Lynn will front-page this and we can start a dialog about the VJ change, control room automation, and whatever else is coming down the pipe that gets your panties in a bundle.

I'll just say it: The VJ concept in and of itself is not a bad idea.

The current model for TV news (reporter, photographer, live truck engineer) dates back to a time when you needed specialized skills to perform all those duties.

Technology has finally caught up with our industry -- anyone with a $1,200 HD camcorder can shoot video that looks better than a $15,000 Sony manufactured 10 years ago.

Given the plummeting price of equipment, why in the world would a TV station only want cameras in the hands of 1/4 of the newsroom staff?? That's crazy! Shouldn't a newsroom that's in the business of gathering pictures have cameras in the hands of as many people as possible?

Live trucks still require some degree of engineering skill, but even that's changing -- first with omnidirectional and auto-directional digital microwave equipment, and not too far around the corner, WiMax will have enough bandwidth to stream live broadcast-quality video from a laptop computer, making the truck totally irrelevant in metro areas.

If you were to truly train a newsroom as VJs, and give them the time to turn great stories, I'm convinced a newsroom could produce a better product, with more news, more cameras, and more people.

So what are you going to do about it? Click through for my suggestions.

In TV Spy this morning we learn that former KTVZ anchor Emily Apel is joining KION, the CBS affiliate in Salinas, CA as the 11pm anchor. That's all I got. :)

[Edited to fix headline. I have NO idea where I got the Oklahoma City reference, I must be high this morning.--L]

I hear tonight from an Anonymous Insider that the sale of Meredith-owned KFXO in Bend to competitor KTVZ is on hold. The rumor is that Bend Broadband/Cable has petitioned the FCC to block the sale:

Some thought that the KFXO news department was going to shut down and Z21 would do their newscast at 10pm. So does anyone out there know what's going on? How can a cable company block a sale of a TV station?

Cablenut says anyone--cable company or otherwise--can object if they claim it creates an anti-competitive atmosphere, but neither of us are coming up with a plausible reason why a cable company would do that. That doesn't mean the rumor isn't true, just that apparently there are limits to our deviousness. Imagine.

So, anyone got the skinny? Utterly Boring, are you out there?

On Wednesday, August 16th, Meredith Broadcasting announced the sale of KFXO (FOX 39 in Bend) to the News-Press Gazette Company -- the company that owns KTVZ (NBC 21) in Bend. So, Bend is getting a TV station duopoly and a new ABC station (KOHD) all in the next two months.

This sale means that all ties between KFXO and KPTV/KPDX in Portland will be severed. It's also likely that KFXO's four-month old News operation will be dismantled, as the larger and more-established KTVZ News operation will probably produce a 10pm newscast on KFXO from the KTVZ studios. Will KTVZ hire some/all of KFXO's people? Too early to say.

Also noteworthy is that Bend's new ABC-affiliate, KOHD, is scheduled to begin airing on September 19th. The current General Manager of KFXO is rumored to be headed over to KOHD to be the General Manager there, and a News Director has been hired as well. I don't know if KOHD will be ready to launch newscasts on that day or not. Either way, Chambers Communications (KOHD's owners) will likely get several resumes from soon-to-be ex-KFXO staffers...

Speaking of Bend, be careful where you say I'm Having a Sparkling Day in Central Oregon:

Dear anonymous Lawyer,

I took down a cartoon a couple weeks ago that your client says resembles Bob Shaw, before you sent your request to cafepress. Honestly, the design wasn't doing anything for my sales, I didn't sell a single shirt or mug. Rarely did anyone clicked on the image. I, doing this to develop a stronger feel in my own career as a marketer in product development, decided to move the comedy subject matter to something that might actually sell products for my online t-shirt venture. ...