Columbia Daily Tribune from Columbia, Missouri • 47

I 1 I I I I i I I at 1 wwwwwy KJTymkb iiiiiiiiiiiiiii'Sgi? 'Hi A fif 4 1 J'ldlizX' I QsgT 1 VJMRiSL yw' iZ cast for tonight tomorrow and the follow ing day in three easy to read adjoining boxes KOMU and KMIZ present weather sta tistics backed by an outdoor shot KOMU is partial to flowers KMIZ's distinction is its forecasts for Sedalia Moberly and Lake of the Ozarks KOMU of course in cludes a weather drawing by an area youngster and the "Pet Corner" Die hard Kansas City Royal and St Louis Cardinal fans must enjoy KOMU and KMIZ at 6 pm they show game highlights from the night before KRCG doesn't "What's the point of showing it the next day?" Diedriech says All three stations do however give afternoon scores and line ups for that night KOMU's sports anchor Dan Lucy was away on Aug 20 and 21 providing reports from the Big 8 Skywriters Tour KMIZ and KRCG stayed home covering instead the upcoming Missouri Tiger season And KRCG reported on a former Jefferson City Helias baseball standout now playing for Southwest Missouri State University "The best way to end a newscast is on an up notelaughing" says Sipes Diedriech agrees: "Our last piece is a human interest type of block It's inappro priate to put hard news (there) We go into the last piece on a upbeat type of thing Unusual Something of general interest 'Let's just sit back and enjoy this piece'" KMIZ closes its broadcasts with "Wid bin's Way" a showcase for Ron Widbin "the best feature man in this market" ac cording to Sipes His topics Aug 20 and 21 were on the Show Me Christian Youth Home in LaMont Mo and sorority rush at the University of Missouri Columbia Newscene 13 ended with a network piece on prism sculpture in Tulsa Okla and the Missouri State air's best chef contest Newscenter 8 closed with a chari ty basketball game to benefit Opportuni ties Unlimited on Aug 21 But on Aug 20 a news spot on Harriet Woods followed their human interest tale of Sedalia's twin barbers With the mission of trying to squeeze the world in 30 minutes things can go wrong as was the case with the Woods item "We were running long" at the begin ning and omitted the story explains Bale When they came up short at the end they reinstated it Computerized graphics tie ins Tiger updates and some light hearted looks at Missouri life add up to a 30 minute news broad cast But its the anchor that puts the sta tion's best face forward The anchors all have smooth deliveries In fact KRCG liked KMIZ co anchor Gilder so well they hired her The Jeffer son City station will soon switch to a two anchor format KMIZ will return to a sole anchor Laurent's face captures the tempera ment of the stories she reads on KOMU KMIZ's Stephenson is smooth and straight forward KRCG's no nonsense Preston showed even veteran anchors have bad days On Aug 20 he faltered in the open ing segment Bright lighting and plants make KOMU the most visually appealing And the background Mid Missouri scenes do not distract KRCG recently unveiled a new red and blue set accented with opaque glass and plants It's pleasant during anchor closeups Otherwise the set looks like "General Hospital" circa 1960 KMIZ should start over The station switched from a grey to a dark blue set Maybe a plant would help In the final analysis ratings are what count According to the most recent Arbi trons in July KOMU leads the pack for the 6 pm newscast KOMU led in the metro area (Boone and Cole counties) with a 41 share of the audience KRCG followed with a 25 share and KMIZ with a 12 share At this time last year KOMU led with a 48 share KRCG with 37 and KMIZ with 3 If there were awards for most improvement KMIZ would take the prize To anyone's recol lection it's the first time its news has gone into double digits KMIZ assignments editor Mike Sipes right rushes off the set after delivering a script change to news director Gale Clevenger during a commercial break Clevenger was filling in for Channel 17 anchor Brad Stephenson Story by Nate Brown Photo by Buddy Mangine Thursday September 4 1986.