PP & M in March, 2011

Levi looks to Sports Illustrated for all his information for his Fantasy baseball draft.

What have we talked about here on the blog in the month of March? How about a little recap.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament began this month and at times, it was pretty late in starting some of those game. I guess the NCAA is Not for Children After All.

Back on the 9th, we talked about several media members changing call letters or getting out of the business altogether. A couple of additions here, WHO Radio’s Jon Miller and Steve Deace both left the Mighty 1040. They launched a new, but short-lived, venture on SportsByLine radio.

This post also included movements at KWWL. Those have yet to happen, but word is a new morning anchor has been hired, just no official start date has been released.

Jeriann Ritter did come back to WHO-TV after her maternity leave was complete. Then Lynn Melling had her second child. Also congrats to my old weekend co-anchor Jaime Copley on the arrival of her daughter. She’s 6 and 10 anchor at KIMT in Mason City. I guess that pregnancy thing is making the rounds again.

Levi is back to climbing stairs and following his brother.

My little dude Levi had a wild month which included a surgery. He had a cyst removed. He’s fully recovered, except his eyebrow has yet to fully grow back.

And my work place remains a little tense as our lawmakers at a state and federal level continue to hammer out our funding future. The US House has already decided to zero out funding for Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The senate is still working on their version of the bill. We also are waiting to see what happens in Des Moines.

Please call your lawmaker how you feel about public broadcasting and its main funding source.

NCAA (Not for Children After All)

NCAA Logo. You see it everywhere and its colors.

The first full weekend of the NCAA tournament is finally complete here on Sunday night.

Oh wait, it’s not.

It is only the first half at 9p on a Sunday. I’m glad the NCAA is making sure these kids will be in class tomorrow. More on that in a minute.

This tournament is different from every one before the 2011 version.

Games started earlier in the week in the “First Four” games. And now they are extending them longer. And that’s with 4 networks airing the games.

For years, CBS was the home of the “Road to the Final Four.” Now you can say TruTV, TNT and TBS also are part of the route. It is all part of the NCAA tournament’s new 14-year, $10.8 billion TV deal.

You have a better chance of seeing all the games in this new TV deal. That is, if you have 4 TVs hooked up at once. That’s how New Year’s Day used to be with college football, all the games on one day. Now you’re lucky if the Rose Bowl is played on January 1st. That’s another post for another day…..

The basketball doesn’t even keep going all day on the flagship network. I think they were off the air tonight and onto 60 Minutes by 615 on Sunday. Thank goodness the new CSI:Miami aired tonight at a near regular time. To defend CBS, the local affiliates will get their news on at a near-normal 10p slot.

From the Sports Casualties blog, UNI players and their big heads. (2010 photo)

The tip-off’s are still staggered, but now on different channels. You can track the other games in the upper part of the screen with the network they are airing. You can switch to other games and not get stuck watching UNI.

Florida State played Notre Dame in one of the late games Sunday night in the United Center in Chicago. Notre Dame has a quick drive home to South Bend. Given the fact traffic will be light at 10p on a Sunday in Chicago, they can still be back to campus before 1a Monday. FSU has classes scheduled for Monday as do the Irish.

Kansas University is on spring break. As are the Fighting Illini of Illinois. Regardless, that seems a little silly by the NCAA to schedule games so late. But, the later an event starts, the higher the ratings. At least, that’s the traditional networking thinking. Especially in sports. Why do you think the World Series doesn’t start before 730 Central? Or the Super Bowl at 545p Central? How about the State of the Union isn’t before 8 Central or 6p in the West.

It is working. Ratings are up to their highest level in 20 years. That will probably mean this charade will continue.

And another thing…. why the blah uniform floors in all the venues? Traditionally, the NCAA uses this look in the Sweet 16 and the Final Four, but now it is standard in all games. I used to love seeing all the different floor designs in the host venues. As a kid growing up without cable I loved tourney time. It was my chance to finally see inside The Pit, Utah’s Jon M. Huntsman Center and even Dayton. Now, I really have to look where these games are being played. I wasn’t like my friend Brent who had ESPN and already knew what they looked like. I also said the same thing last year. Man, I need new material.

It sounds like I’m complaining a bit, but I’ve seen a lot of the tourney this year. I can flip games and still see the finishes. So, the NCAA wins. My wife is watching each game with interest to make sure her bracket is up to date.

Please now, tell me how your bracket is doing. I really do care. Plus, it is 10p, I guess I better get Noah to bed, I can tell him who won between ND and FSU in the morning.

Spring Awakenings (and media movements)

Ryan Burchett has increased the size of his kegerator.

The February book is well, in the books and already there’s change happening all over Iowa’s TV and radio newsrooms.

We’ll start in the east in the Quad Cities. KWQC Chief Meteorologist Ryan Burchett is now a civilian. He’s giving up TeeVee (that’s the way QC Times columnist Bill Wundrum writes it) to head to the hills of LeClaire and make booze with his brother. The pair have opened the Mississippi River Distilling Company. It is possible thanks to new Iowa laws and is called a microdistillery which will make River Baron Vodka and River Rose Gin at first.

Ryan and I go back to Mason City and KIMT. He moved to KGAN then a huge leap to Lafayette, LA and KLFY TV. David Paul (another Mason City alum) left WQAD to go to Channel 10 and  became chief when Ryan moved back to Iowa.

Erik Maitland, back to the QC.

A familiar face to TV6 fans is returning. Erik Maitland is leaving his post in Minneapolis at Fox9 to come back to be the new chief. He’ll be battling his old office-mate Terry Swails as TS is now at WQAD. Maitland, also worked in the River City, just a couple of years before me and after WHO’s Ed Wilson.

Back to the ABC affiliate in Moline, (Alan) Baker‘s Boys and Girls debuted a new set this week. The HD ready set is sharp and matches what TV6 did a few months back in ripping out the familiar and replacing it with the HD shine.

I’ve looked through some old VHS tapes this week and found some old WQAD newscasts with Mark Martin at the helm in the mornings. He was paired with Julie Sisk who is still with the station, now paired with Jim Mertens. Jimmy said the new HD set will replace the gray in his hair. Now that’s TV magic.

Miranda Khan (www.MirandaKahn.com)

I’ve also reconnected with former main female anchor Miranda Khan. She’s out of TV news and into corporate TV. You may see her in a commercial or infomercial soon. She’s living/working in south Florida.

She was WQAD’s main female anchor during the 2000s and was paired with Matt Hammill.

KWWL is making changes as well.

The NBC affiliate is sending Bob Waters back to weekend nights to replace Brady Smith. Channel 7 management is looking to bring in a new face for the mornings with Sunny Layne. Waters replaced Chris Carter.

Shawn Terrell in his WHO-TV days.

 

 

Shawn Terrell used to work at KCRG and soon he’ll be talking past tense with WHO-TV in Des Moines. The Channel 13 sports reporter/anchor is not signing a new contract and is headed in a new direction. He’s looking for a new gig that doesn’t necessarily mean spending every Saturday night at work.

Fun connection with me and Shawn, he grew up in the northwest Iowa town of Peterson. He played basketball under Jesup HS alum Kendall Rachuy at Sioux Central. I went to senior prom with his sister Dena. Congrats to her on completing a half-marathon recently.

Katelyn Ford Smith.

During the noon Wednesday on WHO-TV, a familiar face to Iowa and Illinois TV viewers appeared. Katelyn Smith was doing a story out of Pennsylvania and did a stand up to intro the piece. Smith, is married to former WOI-TV reporter Joel Smith. The two met while at Channel 5. Back then, Smith, went by Ford. She was moved from WHBF to WOI a few years back. Also at WGAL in Lancaster, PA is former KGAN anchor Brian Roche.

Tuesday marked the last day for Matt Perrault on the radio in Des Moines. At least for now. The New Englander is heading back home to be the new co-host of The Hometeam on WGAM in New Hampshire and will get to do some fill-in work on WEEI, the power sports station in Boston. He was partnered with Ken Miller on KXNO afternoons following Murph and Andy. No word on a replacement yet of if Rob Howe of Hawkeye Insider will return in making appearances on 1460.

That makes two big fills now needed at Clear Channel in Des Moines. Joel McRea and Van Hardin are also looking for an afternoon host on WHO-AM to replace Steve Deace.

Greg Berry of KIMT.

Perrault spent some time in Alabama which is where Greg Berry will soon be heading. The current KIMT news director is headed south at the end of March to begin as assistant news director at CBS42 in Birmingham.

Greg started as weekend sports guy (we overlapped by 5 days at KIMT back in 2000), switched to morning news anchor and eventually to news boss.

And to think it all started on Blue Blazer Sports. It is a shame they didn’t have YouTube back in the 90s and those tapes are lost forever…. what a shame. (right guys, those tapes are lost, right?)

Brent Balbinot, formerly of KXIC.

And this just came out today, AM800 KXIC in Iowa City has let sports director Brent Balbinot go. He was the host of Good Call. He’s also the voice of Iowa Women’s basketball and Iowa baseball. Those positions are through Learfield and at last check, he was keeping those positions.

So, the next time you ask, whatever happened to… we’ve got you covered on who got fired, why did they leave and where did they go.

Other notes we should post? Send them to me IPTVPaul@gmail.com

Levi says doc, “you should see the other guy.”

Levi pre-surgery on Wednesday.

It has been a long day in the Yeager household.

Levi had surgery today.

We’ll get to the procedure a bit.

You can see the before picture here of our smiling 17-month-old toddler. Look at his left eyebrow.

There’s a little bump above the brow that is getting bigger and needed attention. Thanks to my sister Julie for noticing it around Thanksgiving. Her oldest, Paige, had the same thing done. We hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Even kids can't make the hospital gowns look pleasant. Levi before surgery on Thursday, March 3, 2011.

Following a doctor consult and referral, we were told Levi had a familial external angular dermoid cyst and he was going to need surgery to remove the cyst before it led to future problems.

The cyst was only going to get bigger if nothing was done. The exact cause is unknown, but the imperfection in the skin is left behind and more layers build on top and eventually become visible.

At first, you didn’t really notice the cyst, but the closer you looked and the farther down the road we got, the  more you could notice the bump on his brow.

Levi is ready to depart.... with mom's purse.

We had Levi to the hospital at 630a (early for Paul, not so much for Amy) to prep for surgery. This meant a few alterations on our routine, but the biggest was the ‘no eating before surgery’ thing. Levi likes to eat. This really wasn’t much of a problem during prep.

Levi was content on trying on his gown. It was not even flattering to a cute little kid.

He was ready to leave, grabbing mom’s purse and making a run for the door a few minutes in to the pre-surgery time. It was a long 75 minutes to keeping him occupied and not thinking about food.

We were doing good until the last few minutes before surgery. We passed him to a nurse as he was in full cry. When Noah got his tonsils out at age 3, he walked down the hall and waved. Not so much with Levi.

Post-surgery feeding.

At right, this was the little boy we got 55 minutes later.

He had a closed left eye, some stitches and glue.

As my old professor and mentor Grant Price said while speaking before a convocation with a blackened eye he earned while running, “you should see the other guy.”

That’s what Levi looked like, he’d been in a fight with the pavement.

Levi was starving and drank a sippy of milk in 45 seconds. Then he started going to town on a sippy of apple juice when the crankies hit. Levi was a bear for 20 minutes until he gave in and went back to sleep. Amy got to hold him for an hour while he slept. She hadn’t done that in some time. Toddlers don’t like being held when sleeping. Or maybe it is just my toddlers don’t like being held.

Cut me.

Following his nap in the recovery room, Levi started to smile. He was very docile when we left and sat quietly in his car seat on the way home.

When we got back to the house, he was happy, but still couldn’t open that left eye. He would paw at it, but we tried to distract him with food, beverage and grandma and grandpa.

He did great all afternoon, even taking a nearly 3-hour nap. We just hope that continues overnight and for a few more days while he heals and the swelling goes down. That should happen Friday. His stitches are supposed to dissolve naturally and the glue will fade away as well. We just can’t get it wet for a bit.

I'm the sick one, the DVD player is mine.

We need to keep Levi from daycare one more day before the weekend. We just have to make sure he and his brother don’t get too rough and wrestle to rip those stitches out of his eyebrow.

That’s what DVDs are for, to distract, heal and bond with a brother.

Thanks to all for the comments and prayers for Levi.

He’s a tough little booger.

Just like his mommy.

How PBS is viewed in the US

Inside the IPTV production truck.

This was story has made the rounds this morning on Twitter and Facebook, including my place of employment of Iowa Public Television.

Yes, it was a poll commissioned by PBS and it does have good results for those of us affiliated with PBS in a round-about way. Why else would you release something if it wasn’t good news about you? (here’s a earlier post on the subject)

I see republicans aren’t totally on-board with PBS support, but it is than 50% approval.

That’s fine if you are for or against public television. I’m just trying to inform you on how the public broadcasting world operates.

You can tell your senator (that’s where the bill is at the point of this writing) on what you think. If you think we should be zeroed out and treated like other media outlets, fine. If you believe public TV needs support, say so.

I urge you to make contact on your thoughts on this issue.

Here’s a site to visit to get the contact information for your United States Senator.

The site is 170millionamericans.net

We’ll have another discussion about IPTV’s value soon.

While you wait, here’s a couple of facts about IPTV:

9 out of 10 Iowans watch or use our services at least once every month
More than 260,000 kids watch IPTV’s daytime programming every week
More than 1.5 million people watch IPTV each week

Here is the full release from PBS about PBS.

National Survey Finds 69 Percent of Voters Oppose Congressional Elimination of Government Funding for Public Broadcasting

Americans across the Political Spectrum See PBS and Public Television Stations as Highly Trusted and an Excellent Taxpayer Value

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7:30 AM ET, MARCH 1, 2011 — A national survey undertaken by the bipartisan polling firms of Hart Research and American Viewpoint indicates overwhelming public opposition (69% to 27%) to proposals to eliminate government funding of public broadcasting, with voters across the political spectrum opposed to such a cut, including 83% of Democrats, 69% of Independents, and 56% of Republicans. More than two-thirds (68%) of voters say that Congressional budget cutters should “find other places in the budget to save money.”

PBS commissioned this research to measure the organization’s performance and value as judged by its most important stakeholder – the American public. On behalf of PBS, the bipartisan polling team of Hart Research Associates (D) and American Viewpoint (R) conducted a nationwide telephone survey among a representative cross-section of 804 registered voters. Interviewing was conducted February 11-13, 2011, and the survey has an overall margin of error of ±3.5%.

Highlights of the survey results include:

– Cutting the federal budget deficit is a strong priority of the American public, but so is public broadcasting – fully eight in ten voters say reducing the deficit should be an “absolute top priority” (42%) or a “high priority” (40%) for the country – but these voters also say that eliminating funding for public broadcasting is the wrong way to go about it.

– Even among the 42% of voters who say that reducing the deficit should be the nation’s top priority, 60% oppose eliminating funding for public broadcasting.

– Support for PBS (73% “excellent” or “good” value) ranks second only to “the country’s military defense” (81% “excellent” or “good” value), when voters were asked to rank “the value for your tax dollars” of specific government-funded programs.

– Nearly 8 in 10 voters (79%) believe that PBS should receive “the same amount of government funding” (49%), or “more government funding” (30%) than it currently receives. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Democrats favor the “same amount” or “more government funding” of PBS, as do 75% of Independents, and 67% of Republicans when told that “PBS/public television stations receive about 15% of their funding from the federal government,” and that this “comes out to about one dollar per American each year.”

– More than six voters in ten (61%) who believe deficit reduction is an important goal also support funding for public broadcasting. Sixty-one percent (61%) agreed with the statement, “Reducing the nation’s budget deficit is an important goal, but public broadcasting provides a valuable public service at a very low cost to taxpayers.” Only 31% of voters agreed with the argument that “Public broadcasting may be important, but with the nation facing a huge budget deficit, we need to make difficult decisions and reduce government spending everywhere we can, including funding for PBS and NPR. There are many better ways to reduce government spending than by eliminating funding for this important priority.”

– Six out of ten voters (61%) believe the consequences of defunding PBS would be a “massive loss” (24%) or “significant loss for the country,” (37%) when told that eliminating public funding of the 15% of their budgets that PBS and PBS stations receive from the Federal government “could force PBS to eliminate some programming and jeopardize some PBS public television stations.”

– Seventy-two percent of voters said they would be concerned “a great deal” (56%) or “a fair amount” (16%) if PBS had to “significantly cut back on the educational shows that help children prepare for success in school.” Sixty-seven percent (67%) indicated “a great deal” (53%) of concern or “a fair amount” (14%) of concern if such cuts were to lead to the closing of “your local PBS station.”

– Concern about the possible consequences of cuts on PBS’ ability to provide educational programming for children was seen across the political spectrum, with 88% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 56% of Republicans expressing such concern.

– PBS is America’s most trusted institution. In fact, American voters have twice the level of trust in PBS (44% “trust a great deal”) over the nearest tested institution, Courts of Law (with 22% “trust a great deal”).

“In an era in which reducing the budget deficit is a high priority, the public is not willing to ‘cut for cutting’s sake’,” said Peter D. Hart of Hart Research. ”Voters strongly oppose cuts for public broadcasting because they view it as an excellent taxpayer value and because they recognize what would be lost without PBS’ support for children’s educational advancement, as well as high quality science, history, and cultural programming. Support for PBS and public broadcasting is widespread and overwhelming, and cutting PBS’ relatively small amount of government funding is a losing political argument for proponents of such cuts.”

“The funding of PBS is not an ideological battle,” said Linda DiVall of American Viewpoint. “A majority of conservatives (53%) oppose eliminating government funding for public broadcasting. This is due in part to the value voters derive from its programming, with a majority of Republicans saying they and their family ‘value a great deal’ the educational, non-violent and family-oriented programs that PBS offers. It’s notable just how strong the support for public broadcasting is among Independents whose support often decides elections.”

Results of the Hart Research – American Viewpoint survey are available on PBS.org.

An analysis of the data by Hart Research – American Viewpoint can also be found on PBS.org.

# # #

PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans — from every walk of life — the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches 117 million people through television and 20 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBSPressroom on Twitter.