Pittsburgh TV/Radio Discussion Board
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LAST UPDATED: 6:05 a.m., Nov. 22
- Well, Oprah's leaving in 2011........ -- Bum, 16:16:51 11/20/09 Fri [1]
.......so I guess that means there's about a 95% chance we're going to get yet another hour of local news. Then WPXI, not wanting to be the last one standing [and remembering that they used to set the bar for unnecessary newscast expansion] will eventually join in as well.
Just a guess.
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- Marty's inside sources say.......... -- Outsider, 12:26:38 11/18/09 Wed [1]
Senior citizens won't get a COLA this year but the State Legislature will. Must have heard this promo a half dozen times during the morning drive show.
Too bad Marty's inside sources don't read the Post Gazette. Too bad Marty doesn't read it either.
No cost-of-living raise for state officials this year
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG -- Top Pennsylvania state officials won't be getting the automatic cost-of-living salary increases this year that they usually enjoy.
Those increases are tied to the U.S. Consumer Price Index for the Philadelphia metropolitan region, which measures inflation over a 12-month period.
Usually that index increases -- triggering the automatic raises --but federal officials said today that it declined this year.
Bob Caton, a spokesman for House Speaker Keith McCall, says it's the first time that no increases have been granted in the 14 years since the law took effect.
For legislators, that means their salaries will remain at $78,315. The state's judges, Gov. Ed Rendell and other top state officials also will not see cost-of-living increases this year.
Last year, the increase was nearly 3 percent.
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- More trouble for Don Cannon -- Mike, 21:45:28 11/18/09 Wed [1]
Arrested in California:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09323/1014680-455.stm
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- An opinion on Marty -- Opie Nyated, 12:08:26 11/19/09 Thu [1]
I can't disagree with most of it.
http://www.pbrtv.com/blog/entry_1013.php
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- Laurence Gaines -- FormerKD'R, 14:55:53 11/11/09 Wed [-1]
I just received sad news that Laurence Gaines, former producer and sidekick for Doug Hoerth and his most recent position was producer of Bev Smith died after a long health battle.
He will be greatly missed!
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- The Hons -- Carol, 14:24:24 11/18/09 Wed [1]
The last week of Honsbergers show has gotten a little strange. He seems to be in declining health both mentally and physically. I know he has had serious health issues in the past but he overcame them and resumed his show (although from home). He sounds like he is slurring his words and does not have the regular back and forth banter with his callers. His vocabulary and word recall has declined and everyday this week it has gotten worse. It may even seem as though he is over medicated.
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- R.I.P - PST on WMBS -- Perspective, 13:49:17 11/14/09 Sat [1]
Well, so much for "the best thing to hit Pittsburgh Sports in the past twenty years!"
PST on WMBS has been completely pulled from YouTube. You can't find a lick of it on there.
It's too bad. It really picked me up when I needed a good laugh. It goes to show not just anyone can "play TV" and expect to succeed. Say what you will about the local "talent"... they have at least enough talent to maintain an audience not tuning in to make fun of them.... Well, except Fedko.
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- Hey, Mike Romigh.....nice ethics -- Ron, 19:56:20 11/18/09 Wed [1]
Romigh stepped out of his usual bland persona to deliver a hard-hitting commentary at the start of PCNC Night Talk. His point? Beaver County voters voted experienced state legislators out of office, and now they're in danger of losing funding for Old Economy in Ambridge because of the inexperienced local reps they have in the Legislature.
He was emotional about it, to the point that his hands appeared to be shaking.
Why was he so worked up? Because the issue hits close to home. One of the "experienced" legislators who was voted of office was Mike Veon. Mike Romigh was a member of Veon's staff. So Romigh has a stake in it.
Hey, Mike, ever hear of the term "full disclosure?"
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- It's been two months for the "new" KDKA-TV morning news crew... -- KDKAviewer, 22:29:50 11/14/09 Sat [1]
So it's been about two months since KDKA-TV revealed its latest team of on-air people in the mornings, and I was curious what you all think so far.
I'll say that the news has matured quite a bit, which is great. That was a big issue of mine with the previous team (Abatta and Jones) — there was too much chit-chat, less news. Too immature.
Antkowiak and Dayton are pretty solid news readers and do seem to mesh well.
There never was any question that KDKA's other half of the morning news team has been solid all a long. Meteorologist Dennis Bowman and traffic with Jim Lokay — they weathered the storm of previous anchors. I'd go so far as to say Bowman and Lokay are the best in their respective positions for morning news in town.
Now if only KDKA would clean up its off-air team (and reporters) to strengthen the actual news coverage...they'd really be onto something good.
It's simple: better story coverage, better stories, more facts, less straight from the PG pages stuff.
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- I guess I'm a hater* -- Tom (the original Tom), 09:37:40 11/11/09 Wed [1]
*By Marty's definition.
He said this morning that ANYONE who doesn't like the Fred Rogers statue, doesn't think it's beautiful, doesn't think it's a work of art, is a HATER!!
That makes me a hater, I don't care for it. I don't like the sculptor's style. Gotta agree with Jimmy Kimmel, he said it looks like a Mud Monster. BTW, I talked to a young woman at the local Giant Eagle and she said it scared the hell out of her four year old!
Same goes for the Richard Caliguri statue.
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- Marty Freakin' Griffin -- Devo, 06:29:42 11/11/09 Wed [1]
I was walking past my radio this morning and heard Marty say "One in five soldiers in the US army will try to take his life TODAY." Thinking he must have misspoken, I stopped to listen and he repeated it! "I'm going to keep saying this. One in five will attempt to take his life today." Unbelievable.
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- Truth in TV journalism -- Can't believe my eyes..or yours, 14:39:07 10/31/09 Sat [42]
A cameraman for KDKA arrived late Saturday for the 10 a.m. coin toss on the Rochester-Monaca Bridge for that night's football game. So what did he do? He had them stage a second coin toss.
Great job, KD. Glad to see those journalism ethics hard at work.
(And before anyone asks, I was on the bridge and saw this take place.)
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- It took the passing of Laurence Gaines........ -- Tom (the original Tom), 10:48:13 11/14/09 Sat [1]
to give us a glimpse of the old Lynn Cullen.
Go to:
http://video.pghcitypaper.com/110media.html
Click on Thursday, November 12.
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- KD Radio Bonnie "ah um" Diver -- my ears are bleeding, 13:16:17 11/11/09 Wed [1]
KD's traffic reporter is awful. As many times as she "ah um's" her way through her reports in the evenings is painful.
What's the deal?
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- Advertising on overnight radio -- Tom (the original Tom), 07:34:41 10/18/09 Sun [2]
Why are there no local ads on "Overnight America" on KDKA radio? Apparently local businesses pay WPGB to run ads during the "Coast to Coast" show.
The only 'ads' you hear on KD are promos for Larry, John, Marty, Fred, and Mike. And most of these are getting to be pretty stale.
Do these hosts pay to have their time slots plugged? The only reason I ask is, if the station is plugging these shows, then why don't they plug Chris Moore, Dimitri, and Rick Bergman?
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- Sports Talk Shows -- Bob Middleman, 08:53:03 10/25/09 Sun [19]
Who do you feel has the best sports talk show around? Do you see any young stars rising on the local sports scene or do you see the many tv sports shows killing radio sports talk. I personally like to listen to Joe Bendel's show. I am partial to Pitt and I get all the information I need from his show. Thank goodness I can get it over the internet. I have always been impressed with Rob King ( also on TV ) and Ken Laird, but have problems listening to the rest of the guys on there for any extended period of time.
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- Chris Moore -- red, 01:14:04 11/09/09 Mon [1]
Was listening to Chris Moore tonight and can't figure out why the powers that be at KDKA don't use him more often. He is by far the most entertaining talkshow host they have and the only one with a shot at building up a substantial audience. Why is he relegated to one slot a week on Sunday nights? Why does he never fill in for anyone else? Where are their brains? Their program director sure doesn't have his finger on the pulse of the community, as evidenced by other programming decisions.Nobody else but Chris is worth listening to.
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- Wife fooled by Pratte's sports report -- Tom (the original Tom), 04:59:31 11/13/09 Fri [1]
This Friday morning my wife heard Pratte give the Penguins/Devils score and say that they play Boston tonight. A friend of hers from Baltimore and her husband were coming in Saturday for the Boston game. I told her Rob was probably wrong, listen to his next report. She listened to two more and heard "tonight" again.
She called her friend in Baltimore. The tickets were checked and yes, it's not tonight, it is Saturday night. She told me, I told her that I knew it was Saturday night. She wanted to know why I didn't tell her Pratte was wrong. Because if in the past I told you he was wrong, you said I was nit picking. So I didn't want to nit pick. She now wonders why they continue to let him air these erroneous reports.
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- It's Halloween.... -- Roger, 15:03:57 10/29/09 Thu [24]
...and no Pittsburgh radio station has gone to Christmas music 24/7 yet. I'm surprised.
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- WTAE -- Jack (moderate), 11:25:06 11/11/09 Wed [1]
What's going on at Channel 4? There seems to be a lot of rumbling that the off-air talent is severely understaffed. With the flu season upon us it can't bode well for a healthy work climate. Management better get its act together!
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- Why the new "Off Q" set? -- Cashdowne D. Rathole, 04:48:18 11/07/09 Sat [3]
So, WQED wastes money on a fancy new set for a show no one watches, that show being "Off Q." Do they think for a second this new, overblown, faux-classy set will attract more viewers?
Do they believe it will give more credibility to four of the most crashing local liberal and conservative bores every to pollute the airwaves? Fat chance!
All this talk about cutbacks, even some layoffs, and they pull nonsensical crap like this. Whose idea was this? George M, or his successor, "Ack-Ack" Acklin? Clearly like most public broadcasting operations, egos and hubris beat common sense and austerity every time. What a joke!
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- The Bye Week Blahs -- Jack, 11:33:42 11/06/09 Fri [4]
Monday night can't come fast enough. All the sports shows have been talking about for 2 weeks is Ryan Clark's spleen. And they just say the same things over and over again. What a boring, unimaginative lot!
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- Geography 101 - Taught by Professor M. Griffin -- Rand McNally, 08:28:32 11/06/09 Fri [6]
"Fort Hood is 350 square miles. It's the SIZE of a state!"
Quick, what's the smallest of the 50 states? That's correct, Rhode Island.
Rhode Island comprises 1,545 square miles. However, if you exclude the area of Narragansett Bay, the land mass of Rhode Island is 1,045 square miles.
So use either measurement, Fort Hood does not come close to being, "The size of a state!"
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- End of an era? -- Weather Bug, 03:33:21 10/30/09 Fri [11]
Channel 4 did their annual winter weather forecast and Joe DeNardo wasn't part of it. Every year since he retired they've made a big deal of having Joe come back to offer the winter forecast. This year's forecast was done by Stephen Cropper, Demetrius Ivory and Erin Kienzle.
Maybe they've finally cut that last connection to DeNardo, many years after his official retirement.
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- Eddie Edwards: Health Issues, Withdraws WPYT Bid -- Fred, 08:09:24 11/03/09 Tue [7]
http://kdka.com/local/eddie.edwards.withdraws.2.1288338.html
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- Romigh Rocks! -- Luke R., 06:29:55 11/02/09 Mon [3]
I got my first long exposure to Mike Romigh (sp.) last night. Shocking. He was filling in on KDKA Sunday night for Chris Moore. How does someone with such a poor command of English and such weak thought processing get a talk show gig? Worse, Romigh interviewed the three mayoral candidates. (I think Moore was deliberately pulled for the night because he would have actually asked substantive questions, especially of the incumbent, but that's another story.) Romigh practically kisssed the Mayor's ass, then bent over backwards trying to undermine Acklin, going on and on after the Acklin interview about how the incumbent was going to win and how it wasn't up to the media to ask the Mayor about the emails that Acklin has exposed regarding Verbanec. Funny too that of the few callers in over an hour of programming, Romigh chose to air a caller from Butler who said she couldn't vote, but if she could, she'd go for Ravenstahl. That was followed by Romigh saying he doesn't live in the city either, but he's supporting R. Shameful and again, shocking, both because of Romigh's incompetence as well as his, and apparently KDKA's, willingness to campaign on Ravenstahl's behalf.
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- Honz On a Rant -- Guest, 14:11:23 10/30/09 Fri [9]
Today I heard Honz carrying on about problems with the turnpike commission.
Lord knows there's enough problems with Penndot, the Turnpike Commission, and the rest of the state government but he spent quite a bit of time on the fact that the turnpike won't accept pennies for tolls.
He had caller after caller complaining about it with Fred's complete support.
Why bother with such a trivial matter (A business is only required to accept coins to the next denomination of coin, i.e. 4 pennies, 1 nickle, etc.) when there are so many important matters such as the upcoming election to talk about?
It's time for Honz to call it a day.
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- standing anchors -- joe, 09:52:22 11/04/09 Wed [1]
Although it now is a regular part of the newscast, what is the reasoning behind the news anchors standing in front of a monitor to do a story. Many of them look so un-comfortable doing it. Who looks the most at ease and who looks like they can wait to get the segment over with so that they can return to the saftey of being behind the news desk.
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- Jon Delano--away from the polls -- Wondering, 22:27:14 11/03/09 Tue [3]
Can somebody from KD TV please explain why Jon Delano was doing the story he was doing on Election Day? If he is the political editor, why isn't he reporting on politics?
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- WPYT 660 to Eddie Edwards -- Fred, 07:59:41 10/07/09 Wed [8]
I'm surprised no one on this board has yet talked about Alex Langer's sale of WPYT 600 to Eddie Edwards.
http://kdka.com/local/New.urban.Radio.2.1229414.html
KDKA-TV reports that the new 660 will be primarily news/talk, catering to the African-American audience, with some music; and, religious programming on Sundays. An FM station? Someday. . . but, that would likely be classic R&B, and not the hip-hop that WAMO-FM used to offer.
Discuss.
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- Dr. Winer leaves KDKA -- Not an Insider, 11:45:50 10/03/09 Sat [22]
In between telling people NOT to have their kids vaccinated, Dr. Winer was saying today is his last day on KD. I got the impression that KD wanted him out because he kept saying to call KDKA and tell them that you want him back on the air.
I was wondering if management got complaints about his obsession with not having children vaccinated. Especially since Dr. Dixon has been a guest many times in relation to schools requiring children have their shots. And now sending them home. Or was Winer's treatment or lack of getting complaints.
For instance, don't have the tumor removed. It's only a symptom, it's not the disease. Doesn't matter if you have one as large as a basketball, let it be and take Seven Flowers instead.
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- KD's new weatherman... -- Anyone know anything about him?, 20:46:42 10/29/09 Thu [4]
There is thus guy who popped up on there tonight, his name is Jeff something, I think his last name begins with a V. Apparently, he's going to fill in for Jon Burnett, who's had to work a lot lately. Any info on the new guy would be appreciated.
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- I heard Eric Hagman! -- Meoq, 06:25:35 10/30/09 Fri [1]
He did the sports on KDKA's afternoon news yesterday. Is he just filling in for someone or is this a permanent gig? It was great to hear his dulcet tones again. Welcome back Eric!
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- A more nuanced view of local ratings -- Trendex, 01:04:35 10/30/09 Fri [2]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09303/1009371-67.stm
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- Kennifer -- Peaches&Herb, 13:18:40 10/23/09 Fri [10]
Anyone catch the reunion of Ken & Jen @ 5pm. They picked up right where they left off...lots of chemistry. If I were Sorensen, I'd be worried!
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- best country station in area -- kinkade, 09:21:11 10/18/09 Sun [23]
froggy ( annoying), y108... or do you listen to a station outside of pittsburgh? looking forward to what people have to say.
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- Verszyla is a Twit(ter) -- Marko, 19:39:20 10/18/09 Sun [32]
Who saw Rob Owen's article on Friday about Jeff Verszyla?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09289/1005841-67.stm
Personally, I think he could have broached the topic of global warming diplomatically rather than went right for the swipe at Al Gore. Better to keep your opinions to yourself, though.
The last person I'd expect to be an expert on the topic is a smug TV weatherman from Pittsburgh.
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- Wendy Bell's Hair. -- Net Guy, 11:08:15 10/21/09 Wed [13]
Anyone else like it?
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- Questions -- answers (curious), 16:39:09 10/11/09 Sun [70]
I'm curious.
1. Why is Pittsburgh radio so boring?(Both music and talk)
2. Why are there so few women in radio? (Both music and talk)
3. Are so many advertisers supporting these boring formats and hosts? If not, why do they continue?
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- WBGN TV Pittsburgh Sports Talk Show -- Pgh Tom Kat, 06:58:45 10/17/09 Sat [46]
Seems as if no one can keep a good man down in Randy Tantlinger. Last year he was leasing air time on 660am and was creating sports talk programming that was better than anything on ESPN or FOX. Now that 660am is owned by Edwards, Tantlinger has adapted, overcome and has started a nightly sports talk TV show on WBGN to fill the void left by the cancelling of Sports Beat on FSN.
I have watched the show for a couple weeks now, the set needs some work but Tantlinger and his crew of young and talented sportscasters may be the best thing to hit Pittsburgh Sports in the past twenty years!
This is excatly what Pittsburgh needs; young and talented up and commers that are choosing to stay and live in Pitsburgh and use their creative abilities!
And in the long run anything is better than Mark Madden!
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- On the Cleveland Browns sidelines -- Tom (the original Tom), 11:44:18 10/18/09 Sun [3]
Geez, being defensive coordinator for the Browns sure put a lot of gray hair on Mark Madden.
Madden and the coordinator Ryan look like "Separated at Birth."
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- For the Record -- 27, 08:22:35 10/18/09 Sun [4]
I was listening to a sportscast this morning on the radio- and the sportscaster (not Rob Pratte) reported that the Yankees won in 14 innings, not 13 as they actually did.
While I think we should all strive for accuracy, I just wanted to know if we should rake this guy over the coals like some want to do with Rob Pratte and call him names, question his ability, and such.
Or, maybe we could just realize it was human error and move on.
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- KDKA Demographic -- O'Really, 07:26:56 10/17/09 Sat [5]
It was sort of funny when KDKA tv was interviewing a local resident that achieved the age of 110 that she commented that she spends each day listening to KDKA and just "loves" Marty and Fred. A typical KD listener who never changes the dial setting.
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