Former Congressman Takes a Bizarre TV Turn

TVSpy

Eric Massa, the former Congressman who recently resigned amid allegations of harassing a male aid, did a media blitz on Tuesday that left FNC's Glenn Beck apologizing to viewers and Arianna Huffington sympathizing with Beck while appearing on CNN.

Since Massa, a freshman Democratic representative from upstate New York, abruptly resigned last Wednesday, journalists have tried to uncover details about what led to Massa's stepping down. Even in the face of rumors that he groped male staffers, Massa insisted that his resignation was mostly policy-driven. In an effort to set the record straight, Massa appeared for a full-hour interview with Beck on Fox News as well as a lengthy interview with Larry King on CNN.

Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz described Massa's appearance on "Glenn Beck" as "the most bizarre hour of television in a long time." Beck may have even shared some of Kurtz's bewilderment as he concluded the interview by apologizing to his viewers. "I think I've wasted your time," Beck said looking into the camera lens. "I think this is the first time I have wasted an hour of your time. I apologize for that." (Video here).

On CNN's "Larry King Live," the host asked Massa point-blank, "Are you gay?" Massa refused to answer the question, explaining, "In year 2010, why don't you ask my wife? Ask my friends. Ask the 10,000 sailors that I served with in the navy." (Video here).

Finally, liberal columnist and Huffington Post founder, Arianna Huffington discussed Massa's TV appearances on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "I never thought anything would make me feel sympathetic towards Glenn Beck," Huffington told Cooper, "but having to interview Eric Massa for an entire hour made me really feel for him." (Video here).

In Tyler, Newspaper Reporters Become On-Air Fixtures

Broadcasting & Cable

KYTX Tyler, Texas, had an ace in the hole when two men were arrested in late February following a string of church fires around DMA No. 109. With the CBS affiliate involved in a news and marketing partnership with the Tyler Morning Telegraph daily newspaper, the station gained a big scoop when Telegraph reporter Kenneth Dean landed an interview with suspect Jason Bourque's mother.

Unlike typical newspaper-station partnerships, which feature occasional on-air appearances from paper personnel, nearly all of the Telegraph reporters go live on KYTX, adding much depth to breaking news. Dean shared that Bourque said her son's religious faith remained strong, and the family stood by him, before anchor Gillian Sheridan told viewers to read "much more" about the interview in the next day's Telegraph. More...

In Indianapolis, WTHR's GM Jim Tellus Dies Suddenly

WTHR

The president and general manager of Indianapolis' NBC affiliate died suddenly while on a business trip in Ohio, WTHR-TV announced Tuesday.

Jim Tellus, 47, was found dead in his Columbus hotel room Tuesday morning of an apparent heart attack, the station said.

Tellus was hired as news director at WTHR in 2006 and was promoted to vice president and general manager a year later. He was named president in 2009. More...

Stations Mull Options as SeaWorld Video Nears Release

Orlando Sentinel

Might local television stations use tape of a SeaWorld trainer's death?

The issue was a top story on local stations at noon today. The Orange County Sheriff's Office says video of trainer Dawn Brancheau's death could be public record under Florida law, WFTV-Channel 9 anchor Vanessa Echols reported at noon today.

But Brancheau's family could file an injunction to keep the video out of the press, WFTV added. WESH-Channel 2 quoted an attorney, Jon Mills, who could soon represent the family: "I have talked with them and am consulting with them about what their options are to try to avoid what they view as a serious trauma being released."

Would stations use the tape? Stations offered a range of opinions. More...

Virginia Executive Named to Run Denver's KDVR, KWGN

Denver Business Journal

Virginia television executive Peter Maroney has been picked to oversee Denver stations KDVR-Channel 31 and KWGN-Channel 2.

Maroney, current president and general manager at WTVR in Richmond, Va., was named Tuesday as Denver market president by Local TV LLC, the Fort Wright, Ky.-based company that owns Fox affiliate KDVR--branded as Fox 31--and operates CW affiliate KWGN--branded as the Deuce--under a contract with its owner, Chicago financier Sam Zell's Tribune Co.

"KWGN is a legendary station in Denver, and one of the original superstations," Maroney said in a statement. More...

Newsweek Editor in Talks for Weekly PBS Show

The New York Times

The Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of Newsweek, Jon Meacham, is negotiating to add a television job to his schedule. He is in final talks to be the co-host of a new PBS Friday night public affairs series called "Need to Know," said several executives with knowledge of the production who declined to be named because the contracts had not been signed.

The co-anchor for the program, which begins May 7 at 8:30 p.m., is expected to be Alison Stewart, formerly of NPR's short-lived "The Bryant Park Project" morning show and, before that, anchor of MSNBC's "The Most." More...

Local TV, Radio Ad Market Poised To Rebound

MediaPost

Expect local television and radio revenues to continue their contraction until next year and then inch up for the next three years. All this will occur as local digital revenues will steadily and sharply rise.

Media forecaster BIA/Kelsey says local advertising revenues for television and radio will reach $34.3 billion in 2014, up from $29.9 billion in 2009. That's a 2.8% compound annual growth rate. Digital revenues for local TV and radio are expected to soar nearly 18% over the same period.

"Broadcasters must evolve to participate in more areas of the media ecosystem," stated Rick Ducey, BIA/Kelsey's chief strategy officer and program director, digital strategies for broadcasting. More...

Halderman Pleads Guilty in Letterman Case

Associated Press

A television producer admitted Tuesday to trying to shake down David Letterman in a case that bared the late-night icon's affairs with staffers, avoiding a long prison sentence by pleading guilty in exchange for six months in jail and community service.

Robert "Joe" Halderman, 52, entered the plea in a Manhattan court to attempted grand larceny after being accused of demanding $2 million to keep quiet about the late-night comic's workplace love life.

Halderman, a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery," had mined information from reading his then-girlfriend's diary entries about her relationship with Letterman, her boss, authorities said. More...

Despite Losing Show, NYC's WNET to Open New Studio

Crain's New York

Worldfocus, the WNET-produced international news program, is shutting down. But Channel Thirteen's long delayed new studio at Lincoln Center is getting set to open, and it may wind up hosting a new nightly current affairs program focused on local news.

"Worldfocus has been an important laboratory for us during these past two years," said Neal Shapiro, chief executive of WNET.org, the station's parent company, in an internal memo on Friday. "Given the economic environment we now face, it is not prudent to continue the broadcast at this time."

The nightly news program will go off the air April 2. More...

Tribune CEO Bans 119 Words from Reporters' Vocabulary

Robert Feder

Sure, you'd think the chief executive officer of a company struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and desperate to salvage an $8 billion buyout-gone-bad would have better things to do than pester his underlings with crazy proclamations. But in the case of Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels, you'd be wrong.

The man at the top of the troubled media empire took time out of his real job this week to issue a list of words and phrases--119 of them, to be exact--that must never, ever be uttered by anchors or reporters on WGN-AM (720), the news/talk radio station located five floors below his office in Tribune Tower. More...

Kansas City Television Pioneer Dies

KSHB

Bob Wormington died Saturday, from complications of a stroke he suffered the weekend before. He was 83. You might not know his name, but many watch his legacy every day. Wormington started the television station which is today known as KSHB-TV Channel 41.

In 1970, television was still transitioning from black and white to color. The Kansas City market had four stations: Channels 4, 5, 9 and 50. Bob Wormington was General Manager of WDAF-TV, Channel 4. He felt Kansas City needed more television stations, so with the backing of the group known as Business Men's Assurance, on August 10, 1970, KBMA-TV signed on the air, with Wormington at the helm as General Manager. More...

The Dangers of Building Brands on Oversimplistic Research

Turn on early morning television these days and you will find a zillion lawyer ads. Almost all follow the hackneyed lawyer ad script just like this ad, "Trust us. We will fight for your rights." But this morning I saw one that impressed me. Take a look at this ad. Sure, the production values stink but the message is custom-designed to resonate with the customer. "When you sue the hospital, it isn't just a grab for cash. You're saving children."

By focusing on the idea of "litigation as public good," he brings a sense of nobility and trust. Potential clients looking for an attorney will probably have a lot of trust issues. He sends the message "you can trust me" without ever using those words. He proves trust by deed, not by endlessly repeating the phrase "trust me."

Like most advertisers, lawyers have done their research, and they know the hot-button words and phrases that resonate with their customers: Trust us. Insurance companies will victimize you. Don't be a chump. But everylawyer has the same research, and most of them foolishly choose the parrot approach to brand implementation. They simply spit back the exact same words that show up in everyone's research. Everyone looks the same. This ubiquity creates a brand message that sells the category, not the individual business. The takeaway becomes, "you should get a lawyer," not, "you should choose me over all the other lawyers."

The same is true for a lot of television marketing. For the most part, we all have the same quantitative research studies. "What are you looking for in a weathercast?" "Accuracy, trust, reliability, technology, power." Just like the lawyer ads, selling these price-of-entry attributes brands you as just another nameless face in the herd. Just take a look at this example and you'll see a branding uniformity that is poisoning TV marketing.

I do a lot of research work with cable companies and Fortune 1000 types. Most of them have a finely honed one-two punch of quantitative research followed by qualitative research. Quantitative research can do a fine job finding out how customers feel about your product, but it usually does a lousy job of finding out how your brand fits into their life and their own personal identity. The truth is that most people don't really know how they feel about the weather. Sure, they will spit the buzz words back at you when you ask them naively simple questions like "is severe weather coverage important to you?" What do you think they're going to say? Our feelings about weather are all jumbled up inside of us, mixed in with feelings of family responsibility, annoyance, safety, fashion, fun and worry.

There is a saying in the research business that if you want to find out how someone really feels about something, one of the worst things you can do is ask them. Television has a love affair with quantitative research. It is what we know. We have done it for years and we are very comfortable with it. Quantitative research is important, but it has limited ability to help you navigate the tenuous world of feelings that surround brands. When there isn't much difference between your product and your competitor's product, that is when qualitative research becomes a necessity.

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Graeme Newell is a broadcast and web marketing specialist who serves as the president and founder of 602 communications. You can reach Graeme at gnewell@602commu nications.com.

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