Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Is anyone else a little giddy…
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December 16, 2008 at 6:06 am #589027
RainyDay1235Member….that all the news stations are spending nearly all their weather forecasts focusing on West Seattle? We’re famous! :)
I swear, I got to work okay withmy 4WD – but now I’m afraid I might run into all the newscasters slipping and sliding on the streets around here!
December 16, 2008 at 7:30 am #650282
mellaw6565MemberMaybe the news coverage means we’ll actually get some services the next time – nah, what am I thinking?
December 16, 2008 at 7:57 am #650283
miwsParticipantI’ve noticed that too! Been kinda fun to try to figure out the exact location before mention it. (If they indeed do mention it)
Of course, some are real obvious, the the water towers or Admiral Viewpoint!
From what TR has mentioned, the other news organizations monitor WSB. Makes me wonder if all the coverage is from a competitive standpoint.
Mike
December 16, 2008 at 8:12 am #650284
WSBKeymasterThere are two factors at play here, and again, I’m speaking from having been a TV news manager for 20-plus years (show producer, then executive producer, then assistant news director).
#1 – We really do have the worst conditions in town. So there’s really not any place else to be in Seattle. As I wrote on the HP, I was downtown tonight and was shocked at how there’s really no ice, no snow down there … this is a lot like the early 2007 icefest, we got whacked worst. If Queen Anne had gotten much ice, they’d all be over there – much more convenient to where the stations are (Seattle Center x 2, and the other two a tiny bit further north).
#2 – The fact that we together (you guys and us) are providing minute-to-minute, detailed coverage here means they don’t even have to try hard to figure out where to go. In the pre-neighborhood-news-site days, you would just send a crew out and tell them to FIND an icy street. With a site like ours, piece of cake, all they have to do is read the post/comment thread (and our logs show, they all do, even when there isn’t a big story like this – it’s nothing personal, before the digital days, we all sat around in TV newsrooms and read the paper, TV news departments don’t staff enough people to do lots of original news gathering).
Bonus factor – since WS is a large part of the city and convenient to downtown, there of course are TV people who live over here, and so they also have firsthand knowledge of the troublespots (photographers and producers as well as reporters and anchors). I am always continually surprised as I continue to make more contacts on behalf of WSB, at how many government-agency PR people and actual government officials live over here, beyond the obvious ones you’ve already heard of, like the mayor.
December 16, 2008 at 3:04 pm #650285
JenVMemberthere was a Parka Boy sighting in West Seattle last night!
December 16, 2008 at 3:40 pm #650286
JoBParticipantso.. is our mayor bending over backwards not to appear to favor West Seattle?
the latest viaduct plans sure don’t look good for us.
December 16, 2008 at 4:19 pm #650287
GenHillOneParticipantJoB get that impression too!
December 16, 2008 at 4:43 pm #650288
JoBParticipantDecember 16, 2008 at 5:35 pm #650289
ZenguyParticipantJim Foreman? He has not aged well!
December 16, 2008 at 5:38 pm #650290
JenVMemberJim Foreman…aka Parka Boy…aka Danger Jim – field reporter extraordinaire for King5. Known for his propensity for reporting from the coldest, wettest, most dangerous, etc conditions and locations, usually sporting a large parka with a faux-fur hood and being extra-super dramatic about everything, blowing weather conditions WAY out of proportion.
December 16, 2008 at 5:58 pm #650291
JoBParticipantthanks… i am not up on the local celebs yet..
it would probably help if i watched the local news ;~>
December 16, 2008 at 6:07 pm #650292
SueParticipantReminds me of Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel – they used to send him to the worst spots in the country where anyone in their right mind would’ve evacuated. I used to joke that if you ever were out and about and saw Jim Cantore in your neighborhood, you should start running out of town!
December 16, 2008 at 6:50 pm #650293
ZenguyParticipantJen I have some good Jim Foreman stories for you at the next meet up. ;-)
December 16, 2008 at 6:54 pm #650294
RSMemberJoB, who needs the local TV news when you’ve got WSB? :)
December 16, 2008 at 7:23 pm #650295
WSBKeymasterJim was really big, fame-wise, when we moved to Seattle so I could take an 11 pm producer job at KOMO in 1991. Our nemesis, really, because he was primarily on the KING late news, as a breaking-news specialist — although it was so exciting a year or two after that when “my” newscast was #1 in the ratings for a while — anyway, the most memorable story I ever saw him cover: The Chelan wildfires, which I believe were in 1994. He was literally at one point standing in a circle of flames (crews were setting backfires). Our coverage at KOMO, while well-intentioned, was soft and fuzzy – we had a reporter at the local radio station where people were sharing stories of woe – KING sent every bit of live equipment they could muster, and then some (since the same company has stations in Portland and Spokane, they pulled from there), and did an INCREDIBLE job covering what was ACTUALLY HAPPENING with the fires. They started to pull away from the pack then, and we never recovered. In years since, the ratings wars have see-sawed, but the bottom line is that far fewer people watch TV news now anyway. Back then, to win the 11 pm news, you would have to have an audience of 10 percent of all TV homes in the region, and the second place station would have 8 percent, and the third place might have 6 percent. Nowadays (at least as of my departure from TV a year ago), you can win the late-night news race with five percent. (This is percentage of homes with TV, not percentage of people watching – you will all fall asleep if I explain the two levels of tv ratings.)
December 16, 2008 at 7:27 pm #650296
RainyDay1235MemberToo funny! My husband and I have a running joke that they are secretly trying to kill off Jim Foreman, lol!
December 16, 2008 at 8:09 pm #650297
charlabobParticipantWRT hizzoner — his street is an ice rink; definitely trying not to show favoritism (or he has a place in “the city.”)
:-)
December 16, 2008 at 9:07 pm #650298
WSBKeymasterThanks for the report, c-bob, I haven’t been up that way yet.
December 16, 2008 at 9:11 pm #650299
mellaw6565MemberI’m sure Hizzoner has other people to drive him to work and get groceries for him, etc… Like it’s a real hardship for him!
December 17, 2008 at 2:34 am #650300
rykriteMemberI had to look it up, but I found out that Hizzoner makes $148,000 as the mayor. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002630896_councilpay18m.html)
.
While this is a good salary – I would take it in a heartbeat! – I somehow doubt this provides chauffeurs and maids. Just sayin’.
December 17, 2008 at 3:24 am #650301
miwsParticipantRainyDay, you’re post put this picture in my mind: “Oh no! They Killed Parka Boy again! You b*****ds!” :-)
Mike
December 17, 2008 at 3:33 am #650302
ellenaterMemberI want there to be a newscaster rival movie…like Best in Show. I also thing “The Parka Boys” is an excellent band name. Thanks for the inspiration. Now I will go write a poem.
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