Friday, December 31, 2010

Raise your glasses to a phenomenal 2011


Happy New Year to you and yours and may all your dreams resemble heaven in 2011!

What a year! One year ago if you would have forecast 1/2 the things that were to happen in 2010, I'm pretty sure I would have scoffed.

Don't worry. I won't rehash the year that was....but it was simply amazing. Just to name a few: The Chilean Miners miraculous rescue...Tiger Woods/Brett Favre/Ben Roethlisberger....LeBron relocating to South Beach....Social Media mania....Snow Days.....December blizzard....the famous flight attendant who used the emergency slide...chilling Olympics....Jimmy DiMora in handcuffs....BP Oil Spill.....Haiti earthquake....TSA screening procedure....Iraq operations coming to an end.... the year of Betty White....saying goodbye to Cleveland Indians' legend Bob Feller.....and the passing of Dr. Robert White, brain surgeon genius......I really could go on!

It makes me wonder what kind of amazement will come to fruition in 2011? I can't even imagine yet I'm on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Well, we have come to the close of 2010.

It would not be complete without a visit from our top Public Relations Guru, Mike Rogers, sharing one of his famous cheesecakes from Executive Caterers at Landerhaven. And yes, this New Year's Eve they are celebrating and treating Cleveland to yet another fantastic New Year's Eve bash!


I raise my glass to you all! May you and yours be blessed with good health, much happiness, dreams beyond your grasp coming true, and in the constant company of those you love most.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

News Desk Nuggets


As we wrap up 2010, a few more things to put into the books before we kick 2011 into high gear.




The wkyc holiday party rocked! I personally had not been to one in a number of years due to my Mother's health as well as my work schedule.


A big thank you to all of our managers who made such a wonderful night come to fruition at Johnny's Downtown. The atmosphere, the friendships rekindled, the beautiful music with Mike Petrone tickling the ivory all night long topped off with a delicious dinner and decadent desserts!



Usually come the 3rd and 4th week of December, vacations kick into full swing and there are more people off than actually inside the building. Though the news must go on, and I'm sure the producers are pulling their hair out craving more news, sometimes it's a nice reprieve to be able to dress down all week, and when there is a lull, actually get to that 'extra pile of work' that feels ignored for much of the year.


Unfortunately, there are more homemade treats on the newsroom table than usual as the diet definitely flies out the window!




And last, but certainly not least, starting January 3, 2011, Channel 3 News Today will begin at 4:30 a.m. That extra half hour will hopefully prepare our viewers even better for their day ahead with the local weather, traffic, and news of the day (locally as well as nationally). Our goal is to definitely keep the customer 'connected' and informed.


You can spend an extra half hour with all your favorite people including: Mark Nolan, Hollie Strano, Maureen Kyle, Darrielle Snipes, WTAM's Pat Butler, and well as Matt Granite.



Tuesday, December 14, 2010

"working" vacation


I had an absolutely delightful vacation and never left my fair city of Cleveland.


In fact, I rarely left my home and still had a wondrous time.


I had time off which I initially requested in October for when 'my' Cleveland Indians hit the playoffs or World Series. Well, we all know that scenario never materialized this season so I still had vacation to use up.


I told my supervisor to feel free to schedule me whenever it was convenient for his schedule, when no one else had time off, to make his life easier.


And I could not have gotten a better week to rejuvenate.


But, it was not all fun and games. It was more of a 'working vacation' where I bothered the station almost every day with story ideas and various news items.


Once an assignment editor (whether on vacation or not), always an assignment editor!


We had what turned out to be the snow storm of the century where downtown Cleveland was in gridlock for hours.


I never would have been able to get into work had I been on the schedule. I could not vacate my driveway, spent the bulk of the night shoveling my neighborhood just to make a path to Church for the holy day Mass and a funeral service. But that did not stop me from emailing in a number of sidebar 'snow coverage' ideas as well as uploading pictures to the wkyc facebook page.


I kept my social media skills sharp by constantly updating facebook with breaking news stories coming out of wkyc as well as Twitter.


I'm on a committee at work which was having a meeting during my time off. I made sure I emailed in all of my ideas, and there were many!


Besides the weather, we had a few other stories shaking including a groundbreaking Igbo Mass at my church --1st of it's kind ever in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese....and then my bank closed down after many, many years in operation.
At one point, my news director messaged me in all of our correspondence that I was working too hard for being on vacation!


It was my pleasure, my honor, and I would not have changed a thing looking back on my week!


The news surely never stops and no matter where an assignment editor may be, their nose for news continues sniffing out the news!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Holiday Lights

(South Eucid, Ohio)


It's that time of year friends!

A long-standing tradition here at Channel 3 has been sharing the sights, sounds, and holiday lights of Northeast Ohio with our viewers each night at 11pm.

The tradition continues.

With escalating technology and the social media frenzy, it's even easier to share your holiday lights with wkyc.

If you and your family have donned the holiday lights on your home or put up some type of seasonal scene, we'd love to see it!


You can send them to us in a number of different ways so that we can then share them with everyone!
(picture taken at Shaker Square)


Feel free to:
  • Upload your own photos to wkyc.com or the wkyc facebook page

  • Upload your own video to wkyc.com or the wkyc facebook page

  • email pictures or video to wkyc.com or newsdesk@wkyc.com

  • send information, such as an address of a cool house to newsdesk@wkyc.com

And of course, please hop onto wkyc.com, the wkyc facebook page, and watch Channel 3 News at 11pm each night to see the beautiful holiday lighting scenes sent in by viewers.


I will be taking in the sights and sounds of Northeast Ohio for the next week so Swing By and Spray will be taking a short break.

Please have a safe week. I hope the holiday spirit engulfs you more this season than ever before! Stay warm. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Le-boring


What a let down. I feel like someone quickly let the air out of my sails and I am drifting in the middle of Lake Erie, paddle-less.
The hype so much more exciting than the main event, on so many levels.

Yes, this WAS the biggest NBA game this season. And the heavy hitting announcers, media, celebrities, et all, were out in force.

Our news & our sports departments have been anticipating this day for months. When they announced the NBA schedule, the first thing I as an assignment editor did was enter the information into our futures file.

As the time got closer, we all submitted story ideas as to how we should and could cover this history-making game, on the news end. The best sports department in town had their plan and implemented it flawlessly. Really, how can you go wrong with Jim Donovan and the gang!

There were countless angles which began taking shape at the beginning of the week leading to tip-off time.

We were live inside Q Arena with our portable gear, and our LIVE U as well as live outside the Q.

It was a circus, as they say. But we all knew this was coming.

Interesting information came out in the days preceding such as how LeBron felt, how he claims he had the utmost respect for the fans (yet he could never quite get the word 'Cleveland' out of his mouth. He kept saying that city, that city, those fans).

Announcers coddling the King asking how he would handle coming back to C-Town? Would the fans bother him if they still felt slighted? Would he be able to control his emotions?

Come on. LeBron has no emotions. He up and left in the worst possible way. These are not my words folks. All the big guys including "the" Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley have said he totally mishandled the situation.

Even if he did have a heart, as a sports professional, LeBron should be able to put feelings and emotions aside once he steps on the court for 48 minutes.

He showed the world that he came to play, taunt, psych those players who gave their allegiance to him for 7 years (and apparently still can not tear themselves away from him). He even dissed his former fellow players at the very end of the game, which had the TNT announcers saying he may have dug the whole even deeper. Just as he did not care about the fans when he made his 'Decision,' they certainly did not bother him Thursday evening.

Yes, I raise my caps to the Cleveland fans, and so did everyone else in the media world. Cleveland fans showed the enthusiam they have for their sports' teams. They kept themselves in line. It's the players on the court who made fools of themselves by playing hard for the first 5 to 10 minutes and then imploding, ultimately giving Cleveland yet another small black eye. We did not have mass rioting in the streets, or really hardly any problems. Kudos Cleveland! Bravo Cleveland Cavalier fans!

I applaud the local celebs who showed up in force to cheer on their fellow team: Bernie Kosar, Shaun Rogers, Travis Hafner, Josh Cribbs, Drew Carey....I hope the Cavs see the support they do still have sans LeBron and rev it up a few notches.

wkyc rocked with coverage from beginning to end. The best sports director in the world live at Q Arena with pregame sound, a wonderful package leading up to game time, and then postgame sound from both the Cavs and the Heat. Well, LeBron was the Heat sound. He did not let Bosh speak and allowed Wade one comment and then he got his posse and left the podium.


The fanfare leading up to the 'big event' was euphoric, exciting, as Jim Donovan put it, like the 7th game of the NBA Finals and the series was tied 3-3. If you were watching TNT just before the game, the TNT announcers stole Jimmy's line!


Then the air quickly exited the Macy's Day balloon and the game was bor-ing, frustrating, exasperating. The most exciting parts were the different chants each quarter, spotting the celebs in the stands, hearing Charles Barkley go off at halftime, and toward the end of the game the beer wet t-shirt contests causing a few scuffles in the stands.


I can see why James would be rattled at times. The scrutiny ridiculous from other media doing a whole story on whether or not he'd toss the talc up into the air to what the fans would chant.


At the end of the day, it's a game. No one dies, like other news stories we cover on a regular basis. You have a winner and a loser. Unfortunately, we all hoped the outcome would have been a bit different. But it's one game with a whole season ahead of us. And yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Miami Heat 3 more times, including coming back to Cleveland in March. Realistically, at the end of our season series, Cleveland could be up 3-1.


All in all, the Cleveland fans came through yet again showing their team, the city, and the world what they are made of... Yes, Cleveland, Ohio has the best fans anywhere, bar none, hands down!


The players were the let down.


This experience, as many others in the past, will only make the best location in the nation stronger, better, and primed for one day in the near future when either the Browns, the Cavs, or 'my' Indians bring it all home!


Thank you Cleveland fans for showing your class yet again.