Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 40

Great Falls Tribune Sunday, December 29, 19B5 Network, From 1-E comfortable with a stranger." Phillips doesn't see himself as arrogant. He admitted that probably half of the MTN viewers regawl him as brash or arrogant, and some like him because of it. "But I think they're mistaken adjectives," he said. "I really do. Tough? Yeah.

Aggressive? I'm aggressive. At the same time I'm on the air as tough, I'm relaxed, I'm confident. I don't think I've ever felt meanness in my heart." Some say Phillips suffers by comparison with Coghlan, whom viewers grew to depend on over the years. Coghlan, too, had his detractors, including U.S. Rep.

Ron Marlenee, who refused to be interviewed by him at times. (Coghlan was approached by Democrats about challenging Marlenee, a Republican.) For his part, Coghlan is relucant to criticize Phillips or the new MTN but fiercely defends what he and his news team did. "We weren't ever trying to showboat the news," Coghlan said. "We really took our lead from CBS." Although MTN now may be technologically superior, "I bristle a little at the feeling they are editorially superior," he said. MTN also drew criticism for its coverage of the trials of "mountain men" Dan and Don Nichols this year.

Phillips was sent to Virginia City to cover the story with reporter Pat Kearney. "Technical problems marred the production," wrote Billings Gazette media critic Vic Bracht. "The anchorman himself supplied little enlightenment. Phillips sometimes fits the stereotype of the overbearing local news anchorman, pompous and verbose. How many times do we need to hear Phillips use 'indeed' on the air?" Some MTN employees rate the trial coverage as a debacle.

While acknowledging some technical problems in the Virginia City coverage, MTN officials defended their work. Davis said it helped MTN's ratings in both May and July. Sending Phillips to Virginia City was a costly big-city technique that "didn't contribute anything to the story," UM's Durso said. Concerned about its Billings ratings, MTN reportedly paid $19,000 to hire Frank Magid Associates, a respected Iowa consultant, to do an audience research survey during the fall. Some MTN employees gripe that the money could have been better spent on equipment than to document the obvious that people disliked J.J.

Davis and found Phillips to be arrogant. MTN would not make public a copy of the survey, but Jim Davis said the research confirmed what company executives had thought. Besides removing J.J. Davis, no other major changes are planned, he said. whether the new MTN hasn't lost touch with its Montana audience.

"Montana viewers want a person to talk to them and be their friend, not to talk down to them," said one TV journalist. "Montana viewers are simple people. They just want the news. They don't care how it's presented." Perceptions of arrogance, whether true or not, have hurt MTN, some people believe. "A big part of MTN's problem is the public perception and the feeling that the people on the show, particularly Dean, are smart-alecky and flippant and maybe too much so," said Charles Hood, dean of the University of Montana School of Journalism.

Hood said he isn't necesssarily saying Phillips is arrogant but that's the "common wisdom" around Missoula. Joe Durso, who heads UM's Radio and Television Department, agreed, but added he couldn't compare the new and old MTN because he moved Ex-MTN anchor Ed Coghlan Great Falls to the state in 1984. "Since I've come to Montana and talked to people about television and talked to professionals, the words that come out most often about the MTN product are 'pompous' and Durso said, adding that he can see how people could reach those conclusions. MTN executives acknowledge that some viewers see Phillips as arrogant but deny that it's true. Lilly, who hired Phillips, defended him.

Phillips isn't arrogant, although "he has given off those vibes to some people," the owner said. Phillips tended to treat every story too seriously, according to Lilly. Consultants advised Phillips "to loosen up and show some emotion, don't treat every story so seriously," Lilly said. Research shows that some viewers who initially were critical of Phillips now believe he's "mellowing" and feel more comfortable with him, Lilly said. That's to be expected, he said, because "it takes a while to get MTN owner George Lilly someone in there with a shaky scalpel." Phillips said he wants to be regarded as a "consummate professional," a "smooth, very skilled" journalist.

The MTN newscaster said he is anything but aloof or arrogant. "The reason I work 17 hours like yesterday is not because I'm aloof or arrogant or anything else," he said. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't care. I do it because I do care. Over time, people are seeing that, hey, I am involved.

And the reason I have a certain toughness on the air is the opposite of being aloof. It's being involved." Any audience research of him in the past, he said, has shown that viewers respect him for doing it his way, "this hard, this direct, this rrc cjL Dave Rye of Billings Kulr "The primary anchor people lived in the community and were seen as the local news staff," Lilly said. "All of a sudden, those people are gone, their replacements are in Billings and the people anchoring in Great Falls are strangers." MTN. anchorman Dean Phillips said the company expected the Great Falls ratings drop after the move because "MTN was a big, big presence there that dominated for many years, a corporation on top of the hill that people could point to." MTN officials believe the move and personnel changes cost KRTV the lead in Great Falls but are optimistic about the future. "Those changes cost us and put us in second place," Lilly said.

"We're not at a severe competitive disadvantage, not one we don't think we can make up." KRTV, led by bureau chief Erin Condit and anchorwoman Susan Chi-sholm, now has a "very good" news team in place, Lilly said. Condit replaced Peggy Beltrone, who was fired by MTN in April over what she said was criticism of her news judgment and blame for the ratings drop. Beltrone said she was ratings, not everyone thinks it offers the better newscasts. Billings Gazette media critic Vic Bracht said MTN's KTVQ, despite its problems, "presents the freshest television in Billings" with its live interviews. Bracht criticized Straight 8's anchormen for their "stale chitchat" during their newscast.

Rye said one reason Straight 8 is ahead is because viewers are familiar with him. Ratings invariably fall when a familiar anchorman leaves, he said. But the chief reason KTVQ trails Straight 8 in Billings, Rye said, is that "they don't know the territory, to quote from 'The Music "I've got mostly Montanans on my staff," Rye said. "We've all got a better feeling about what the community wants to know about, what it's interested in. By contrast, MTN's newscasts have more of an outside influence because most of its key people are from out of state.

New MTN owner George Lilly hired them to provide a different direction because what was criticized for overemphasizing hard news and not providing enough coverage of "fluff" news as the new MTN management demanded. Friden has declined comment about the firing. In an interview before the latest rating period, Friden said he hopes KRTV's news ratings decline is over. "I certainly think we're doing a lot of the right things," he said. "I think we've got a strong local team right now." KFBB, meanwhile, also has lost some key staff but seems to have weathered it better.

Chris Forhan quit in April as KFBB's news director and anchorman of the early newscast to go to graduate school. In August, Catherine Butler, KFBB's late newscast anchorwoman, left to take a job with a Boise, Idaho, TV station. The 42-year-old Pompa returned to KFBB as news director and anchorman after working as an anchorman in Boise for eight-plus years. He anchors the 5:30 newscast, which overtook KRTV's show in the ratings during the summer and recently widened its lead. Pompa said KFBB fared well in being done before wasn't working, Phillips said.

Phillips said Straight 8 does its own show very well. But he said Straight 8's "hometown" and more "laid back" approach "doesn't elevate the seriousness of news." "Our show is a much more forceful, hard-hitting show than theirs," Phillips said, likening MTN's approach to what East and West Coast stations offer. Rye said Straight 8 has been identified as the local station in Billings. Until 1984, the MTN news originated in Great Falls and then switched to Billings and the other stations where the local news was inserted. Although KTVQ had a reporting staff in Billings, Straight 8 was seen as the local station.

Straight 8 has played that perception to the hilt. Its active community involvement further reinforces the station's strong ties to Billings. The station is heavily involved in promoting charitable causes and itself. It irks Phillips that Straight 8 is seen as the local news station. He Dick Pompa anchors MTN's the ratings when he was at the Great Falls station in the 1970s, but then KRTV gained under Coghlan's leadership.

He's unsure what will happen to KFBB in the ratings but said, "I'd like to see it continue to head onward and upward." "I think in general people like us at this point," Pompa said. "But we can't just rest on it. We've got to make improvements and changes." Among the improvements Pompa wants is to enhance the appearance of KFBB's newscasts to make them "more eye-appealing." Unlike the MTN network, KFBB doesn't have a full-time reporter stationed in Helena to cover government and politics but sometimes sends a reporter there to cover a major story. Although lacking MTN's statewide network, KFBB has arrangements with KULR in Billings and the Eagle Communications Network to exchange stories. Last summer, for example, KFBB carried reports from KULR's stories on the so-called mountain men trials.

KFBB's top priority, however, is local news, Pompa said, and it tries termed it a "real mistaken perception" that Straight 8 runs more Billings stories than KTVQ. The MTN anchorman conceded Straight 8 does an "incredible" job of promoting itself, but added: "If the show were only as good as the promotion." Phillips said KTVQ must work harder to develop and promote its own image in Billings and to regularly point out to the audience when it runs more local stories than Straight 8. MTN also must do a better job of promoting, Phillips said. "We've got a file of 50 things that have never been approached in the state, but we've got to showcase them more, give them names, promote them in advance." Phillips said. "P.T.

Barnum had the totally right idea for television. I consider myself a solid journalist, but I also realize in the television news business, you have to sell. It's no good if nobody's in your tent. And P.T. Barnum, you know, he could put on a bad act, but he always had people in much as Lieutenant Castillo on 'Miami he said.

"What the heck. I consider myself a nice guy. I am." Upon the advice of a consultant, MTN is trying to soften Phillips' image by assigning him to regularly do "soft features" to show his compassion and feelings. A few weeks ago, for example, Phillips, with emotion in his voice, reported sympathetically about a home for terminally ill children. MTN also encourages Phillips to speak to groups around Montana.

"Go to Butte and talk to some people who've heard Dean speak on a one-to-one basis or a one-to-a-group basis, and he doesn't come across as arrogant," said MTN news director Jim Davis. Although some have speculated competitor in Great Falls. From 1-E to carry more local news than its competitor. KFBB advertises its local coverage, saying its viewers want a local newscast, which is a dig at the KRTV news, much of which originates in Billings. KRTV's Condit said it's a false perception in Great Falls that KRTV is not a local newscast.

KRTV runs as much or more local news than KFBB, she said, and "that's quantifiable." Although MTN produces "the slickest, most professional newscast" in the state, Condit said the statewide network is becoming "passe." She would rather see KRTV and each of the other three MTN local stations produce its own half-hour local newscasts with its own news, weather and sports anchors instead of sharing a network anchor team in Billings and inserting local news and weather. Individual stations could still trade stories by microwave transmission, she said. But as for KRTV now, "I see the ratings not improving a great deal in the near future under the current concept and with the network based in Billings," Condit said. From 1-E the tent. I think we have a good act, and we've got to get people in the tent." High local ratings for MTN were just as elusive for ex-owner Joe Sample, who lives Billings.

MTN, he said, "caught on awfully well in other areas, but we were never that successful here." Phillips believes Straight 8's 10 p.m. newcast is vulnerable. Arbitron ratings show KTVQ has whittled Straight 8's lead to 10 points in the latest rating period, compared with a 17-point spread a year ago. KTVQ is only six points behind in the latest Neilsen ratings, compared with a 19-point difference a year ago. Lilly said he's encouraged that KTVQ's viewing audience could have eroded but didn't when his new anchor team took over after "an absolutely major overhaul." He sees KTVQ gaining slowly, "foot by foot" over two or three years because "news is something that you have to work long and hard at to change viewing habits." i From 1-E that Phillips may be on his way out at MTN if ratings don't improve, the anchorman plans to stay.

His two-year contract expires in August when MTN has the right to extend it or match any other offer he gets. Phillips reportedly is paid $42,000 a year, plus bonuses for ratings increases, which, sources said, probably makes Phillips the state's top paid journalist, by far, except for media executives. Phillips refused to discuss his salary. As far as MTN owner George Lilly is concerned, Phillips' future here is "absolutely" secure. If MTN had felt it necessary to change anchormen, it already would have done so, he said.

"Aside from being a superb anchor, he's the best journalist in the state," said Lilly, who hired Phillips. Billings Phillips North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Phillips, a graduate of George Mason University in his home state of Virginia, worked for KFBB-TV in Great Falls in 1978. Phillips makes no apologies for his broadcasting style, which, by most accounts, provokes strong feelings among Montanans. "I've always said that people don't have to like me as a broadcaster, and the audience is somewhat fractured wherever I've been," he 'said.

"It's kind of a love, hate thing with me." Audiences have watched him in the past, regardless of whether they love him or hate him, Phillips said. "Dean Phillips is very confident," -Phillips said. "I equate it to being a surgeon. If you need quadruple bypass surgery, you better have a surgeon who's confident. I don't 'want Jr happy-go-lucky guy" and said he never will be.

"As a matter of fact, as a journalist, sometimes I admit I get mad," he said. "I get mad when I see injustice. I get real mad. I'm a human being." It's impossible for any journalist to completely remove himself from any story he's covering, Phillips said. Phillips said no one is more critical of himself than he is.

"I don't always do a good job," he said. "I've walked away from live interviews and said, 'Boy, I was too hard on that person. That was not Ted Koppel's done the same thing." While he wants to be respected by viewers more than anything, the MTN anchorman said also wants to be liked. "I'd like people to see me not so Former MTN anchorman Ed Coghlan described Phillips' style as that of the "old-line anchorman" or "kind of sermon on the mountish." But each anchorman has his own style, Coghlan said. Dave Rye, anchorman for the rival, top-rated KULR in B'llings, said Phillips has "a world of ability and is a very smart guy" but "somehow he's just not coming across right on the tube." Part of the problem.

Rye said, may be that Phillips is "terribly grave, terribly serious." "But I think there's a difference between taking your subject matter seriously and yourself seriously," Rye said. "And I guess there is a perception that he crosses the line into taking himself seriously. I'm not saying that perception is accurate. I'm just saying it's there." Phillips admitted he's not "a.