The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 21

Tirr- If? The Sacramento Bee Saturday December 25 1982 B5 Shooters Cutters And Talent: The Packaging Of The Local TV News is outlined Channel 13 appeared to have the most haphazard of format meetings a quick rundown involving the news director the executive producer and the producer It was an almost casual affair Yet much of the groundwork most of the 11 Pete Wilson writes about half his Channel 40 show producer Gin much of the balance The staff at Channel 40 is so slim in the few hours before 10 pm airtime that it is nearly overwhelmed by Channel weather department (four different on-air hour's earlier created reality get only three or four genuine news stories a year from a he says Channel 3 chopper is $565000 of pretentious The other three stations rent a chopper when one of those three or four genuine stories in need of helicopter coverage breaks (Channel 13 has however more immediate access to a chopper than 10 or 40) But the look of TV news goes beyond choppers and the stagey emplacement of reporters in that assortment of positions There are graphics and supers computerized listings of numbers whirling images spun by spacey new control panels Image over content sizzle over steak Expectations at 5 and 11 HERE IS ONE more implicit in a newsroom Call it if you will mood Channel 13 is desperately trying to nibble away at 3 and so there seems to be more pressure hanging over the people in newsroom A1 Jaffe does not appear as loose as counterparts Pete Langlois at 3 Jim Morgan at 10 Don Ross at 40 Channel 13 has committed a great deal of money to compete 'more than 10 and 40 combined probably And unless that money produces increased rating and share points the expenditure is not considered productive At 10 Morgan is spending less and it appears running neck-and-neck with 13 for second place Second place is the only thing to compete for in this market such is the dominance of KCRA in local news ratings Jaffe and Morgan can on some days out-content and out-masquerade people But not outpoint them a fact that makes this a very unique TV news venue SUNDAY: A portrait of a winner by Lynn Johnston For Better or For Worse Continued From Page B4 a local television newsroom The viewer is interested in Stan or one of the Susans or Steve or Bette or Bob or Norman more involved with those dancing at the costume party than those who planned it Yet the planners are at least as vital to the newscast as the dancers The most charismatic of anchors would perish with a bad format with lousy coverage The assignment editor controls the coverage and often is the first staff member in the office each morning It is the assignment editor who dispatches shooters and talent and who must contend with the egos ot these people It is the assignment editor who takes the rap for a Not newscast or program or report Show The turnover in the assignment job is higher than that of any other slot in a TV news department (Two weeks ago two of the four stations here had openings on the assignment desk) The producer formats the show Just as a newspaper will often put different stories on the same subject on an inside page the TV news producer will try to except on TV the packaging sometimes finds major stories being tied to minor stories in one package ie Gallego and Corona back-to-back Both murder trials right? Yes But not on a given day necessarily worthy of what amounts to Page One (the opening segment of a news show) treatment seen school stories packaged health stories packaged business stories packaged There are times when the assignment editor with or without urging from the producer will look for stories to append to a major story even if the secondary stories are of minimal significance Packages simply seem logical to the masqueraders even though the viewer may have trouble remembering who was poisoned where and when by what (Anacin in San Jose? Tylenol in Oroville? April in Paris?) ONLY TWO of the four stations do the anchor people appear to participate in the formating the mid-day production meetings at which the show the story content appeared to have been laid in earlier meetings especially telephone conversations with Stockton-Modesto bureau KOVR has a serious logistical problem when it comes to news Because the station is licensed in Stockton it must maintain a visible active facility there The 5 pm news show in fact is the only program to emanate live from Sacramento studio This fragmentation is neither professional nor practical But a license is a license At Channel 40 anchor Pete Wilson has great latitude in calling the shots on the format of the 10 pm show He has a closer working relationship with his producer (Janice Gin) than any other Sacramento anchor A tentative rundown of the show is ready for Channel 10 anchors Bob Burton and Jennifer Smith when they arrive at the station at 2:30 They sit in on the formating meeting with the news director executive producer and producer The anchors listen mostly but at least they have more insight into the origin of the stories be reading at 5 than Channel 3 anchors Stan Atkinson and Susan Gregory who sail in about 4 and are handed the script The Channel 3 anchors write very little very very little of the 5 show and in the words of KCRA news director Pete Langlois little for the Channel 13 anchors Alan Frio and Susan Blake who like their Channel 10 counterparts arrive for work at 2:30 write 10 percent of the 5 and 30 to 40 percent of the says their news boss A1 Jaffe And at Channel 10 Burton and Smith say they write about 20 percent of the 5 and Check Your Knowledge Of Christmas Tradition QUIZ ANSWERS: Check the answers below and mentioned in the A SMALL NEWS department is controllable You can do only so much with so many people The disadvantage is your inability to cover a wide grouping of stories The advantage is that you rendered rantic with an excess of bodies equipment and egos fighting for the 28 to 35 minutes of air time given over to news in each hourlong show The producer must bear the brunt of this clawing for consideration A story killed for lack of air time is an ego bruised And when you have so many people making so many contributions the show is often developing even while on the air scripts rushed to the control room an ambience of urgency There appeared in one comparative visit at least to be more of this frantic feel at 3 than at any of the other stations At each though whatever the pace and tone the producer is drained by the time the show ends Channel 10 5 producer Dennis Wilden says 32 and feel like an old man like this every day This is a young If it were simply a matter of covering the news relaying information in a concise uncomplicated manner Wilden and his counterparts at the other three stations would be less frazzled But TV news goes beyond concision and simplicity Local and network news is no longer satisfied with merely telling you about things says Channel 10 executive producer Rick Kavoo-ras news has had to look like Channel Wilson calls Channel look its helicopter reports its reporters reporting on the set its reporters reporting from the new-sroom its reporters reporting live from the scenes of stories completed And Trivia VALUES TO $90 Bible was not one of the three Wise Men 9 a Maids a-milking 10 ballet 11 Mince 12 Gene Autry the singing cowboy 13 Italy has a female Santa Claus named Befana an old woman who carries presents in her apron 14 The Grinch in the Grinch Stole by Dr Seuss 15 Christmas" 16 There are no plums in plum pudding 17 When Scrooge hears someone singing Rest Ye Merry he threatens to hit the person 18 on 34th Street in New York City 19 a "Jingle was written for Thanksgiving by James Pierpont in 1857 20 Virginia in 1897 The famous reply: Virginia there is a Santa give yourself five points for each correct answer If you scored 50 you know a fair amount about Christmas 65 means you know a lot 75 means well up on Christmas and 85 or over makes you an expert 1 Warren Harding in the 1920s 2 Nat King Cole in the 1950s 3 Legend has it that the evergreen rosemary acquired its scent when Mary rested the Christ clothes on its branches 4 Chestnut 5 Lana name has nothing to do with Christmas unlike Noel Yul and Garland 6 a Superstition says that the yule log must be kindled with part of last log 7 Clement Moore of New York City wrote "A Visit From St for his children in 1822 8 Methuselah the oldest man OUR BIGGEST SALE EVENT OF THE YEAR! 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