TallyVision

[poonther]

Drunk girl taken from a skit on Saturday Night Live is:

Amanda Anderson

But I can see where she seems frightened all the time too!

Lanetra Bennett is a "hick on six." She does stubble horribly on her words, but I must say over the last month she has gotten a little better. They stuck her over in Perry/Live Oak and Lafayette as punishment I presume.

[Florida]

I'm sorry... I get Lanita Williams and Lanetra Bennett mixed up... the names.

It is Lanita Williams of News Channel 27 who seems like the drunken woman. She used to stumble often, I'm not sure about now since I often don't watch her broadcasts.

Honestly, the only person that does something for me on that station is Nancy Dignone and she has crazy hair.

I used to LOVE Amy Basista, but she moved.

I do like the new consumer reports they do, however, I wish they would adjust the picture quality at which they broadcast for it seems to be a bit blury at times.

[poonther]

I found the following info. at the Florida News Center site. Here's bits and pieces of what they say. Hopefully this will signal some positive changes over at WTXL 27 in the coming months and many more changes towards the end of the year. Anything is better than a Sinclair owned/runned station. I believe the new consumer reporter Todd at WTXL is the first change/addition made by the new ownership and that seems to be a good move. Keep your fingers crossed that "bad hair 27" will get better.

12/18/05 - ...changes are in store for Tallahassee's WTXL. The station was sold to Southern Broadcasting earlier this year. Earlier this month, Richelle Ridgeway took over as News Director, replacing Steve Rollison. The station now has a new General Manager and is no longer sharing one with (Sinclair owned) WTWC. Although WTXL has been sold, it's former owner Sinclair will still have a hand in the station (at least until late 2006) controlling the budget and payroll. Southern Broadcasting now controls news content, programming and decisions regarding staff. Future changes include expanding coverage of Southern Georgia and more general in-depth news reporting.

[EbonyGardens]

NBC Channel 40 news was rather dry, that station needed to go. The reason why Democrat online puts Sports first is because apparently they feel that sports deserves preference over local news. I listen to mainly 96.1, 100.7 and 102.3 for the rap/hip-hop & r&b music, other than that I really don't listen to any of the other stations. We need to figure out a way to lure more affilates to Tallahassee. Once that is done then maybe I'll see some of my favorite programs from years past: Parent Hood, In The House, shows like that.

[Florida]

WCTV 6 - Past to Present

In response to TJ's inquiry...A little history/insight on WCTV & why their studios are out on Hwy 12...50 years ago when John H. Phipps & his family wanted to start a television station in this area he couldn't get a license from the FCC for Tallahassee but he could one for Thomasville, GA. Since his family owned thousands of acres of land up Meridian Road between Tallahassee & Thomasville & over to Old Bainbridge Road & out towards Concord & Coon Bottom (Ayavalla Plantation) it wasn't a big deal to put the station in Thomasville & still have enough signal strength to reach parts of Tallahassee. A few years later he won FCC approval to put a station in Tallahassee & he built the studios on North Monroe (Now the El Chico). Years later he gained approval for a stronger broadcast signal & permission to cover both Thomasville & Tallahassee with that same channel & a stronger signal so he built a new studio & tower between the 2 towns up near the State line on Hwy 12. Knowing he was in the middle of nowhere, he re-opened a news bureau facilty in Thomasville & built a smaller news bureau building in Tallahassee next to the original main studios on North Monroe. Over time, he gained approval for yet an even stronger broadcast signal, a taller tower & the rights to cover Valdosta, GA. This is when he moved the new & stronger main transmitter site to Climax, GA & built a 2,000 ft broadcast tower but he kept the studios & admin offices on Hwy 12 & used microwave links between the studio, news bureaus & the main transmitter. Now jump to 1996...the John H. Phipps has passed away & the Phipps family sold WCTV's license, along with a station license in Knoxville, TN & one in West Palm Beach, FL to Gray Television of Atlanta. The Phipps family retained ownership of all the real estate & Gray has been leasing the facilities from them since 1996. Looking to own rather than lease, Gray Television purchased the former property & tower of WTXL on Thomasville Road across from Chiles High & was planning to move their studios there but they ran into zoning/permitting issues with constructing a studio the size they had planned on. Junp to today...they have now purchased the old Florida News Channel facility (originally a movie theater complex) on Halstead Blvd off of Cap Circle NE & are in the process of renovating it into their new studios. With the advent of digital TV, they needed to be closer into town anyway for the digital signal to reach the majority of Tallahassee. Hopefully the new studios will bring better sound & picture quality & a more professional newscast. Not sure what the Phipps family will do with the building on Hwy 12 or the smaller news bureau buildings they still own in Tallahassee & Thomasville. By the way, after selling the TV stations to Gray, they diversified into banking (Premier Bank), Aircraft Operations & Sales (Flightline Group) & Real Estate Development thoughout Tallahasse & down along the coast at St. George Island Plantation as well as continuing to operate a hunting preserve & tree farming operation on what remains of Ayavalla Plantation.

--- Glenn

Thanks Glenn. That was very nice of you and VERY informative. Everything you wrote was consistent with what I've heard of the modern era. I had no idea the FCC wouldn't allow a Tallahassee channel 50 years ago.

I sure can't wait for the Conversion of the Old FNC building to be complete. That should be a nice studio when they finish, don't you think?

[poonther]

Wow very informative read there Glenn. I had heard most of what you wrote, but never all together like that. "Hicks on Six" have owned the FNC bldg. for sometime now. The few times I've driven past there lately, I've seen no work going on. I would have hoped they would have gotten it ready for the all important Feb. sweeps month. There's another one in May, if not then I bet it will not happen until next year in Nov. sweeps.

Have any of you seen anything happening there? It is a hard location to "spy" on as you drive past it since it's down in the hole.

They did promote w/in their ranks to fill their vacancy at the anchor desk for their new 5:30pm and 11pm news.

Jennifer Ryan

[Florida]

Who's vacancy is she filling?! I hope not Julie M. She was my favorite!

And what's a sweep?

[poonther]

No no TJ Julie M. is the 6pm anchor. J. Ryan replaces Sharon Tazwell who use to also do the Fox news, but left for a job in Raleigh, NC. I'm fine w/Julie M. but I know if she saw me again she would not like me. When I first moved to Tally, Julie M. had this awful hairdo that flipped up and stood straight up in the front. I loathed it. A few months later she cut it different and flatten that beaming spike of high hair. Then one day at Springtime Tally I saw her walking towards me. I said "hi Julie" and she immediately smiled and then I said to her "wow you look much better since you got your haircut." Well she looked like I shot her w/a dart in the heart and moved on quickly. I am sorry I had to say that to her, but I know that deep down in her heart she knew that old hairdo was awful.

Sweeps months...Nov. Feb. and May are when TV shows are monitored closely for their ratings. In TV it's really the only months that count and that's when you'll find your fav. TV shows pull out all the stops...special guests, interesting plot twists etc. to get you to watch. Local news is also monitored during some of those times. You can notice it on local TV news b/c that's when they'll run one of their sweepstakes or such where you gotta watch the news and then call in to win. That's why they are doing that then, to get you to watch during sweeps.

[Florida]

No no TJ Julie M. is the 6pm anchor. J. Ryan replaces Sharon Tazwell who use to also do the Fox news, but left for a job in Raleigh, NC. I'm fine w/Julie M. but I know if she saw me again she would not like me. When I first moved to Tally, Julie M. had this awful hairdo that flipped up and stood straight up in the front. I loathed it. A few months later she cut it different and flatten that beaming spike of high hair. Then one day at Springtime Tally I saw her walking towards me. I said "hi Julie" and she immediately smiled and then I said to her "wow you look much better since you got your haircut." Well she looked like I shot her w/a dart in the heart and moved on quickly. I am sorry I had to say that to her, but I know that deep down in her heart she knew that old hairdo was awful.

Sweeps months...Nov. Feb. and May are when TV shows are monitored closely for their ratings. In TV it's really the only months that count and that's when you'll find your fav. TV shows pull out all the stops...special guests, interesting plot twists etc. to get you to watch. Local news is also monitored during some of those times. You can notice it on local TV news b/c that's when they'll run one of their sweepstakes or such where you gotta watch the news and then call in to win. That's why they are doing that then, to get you to watch during sweeps.

Poonther, you're terrible! LOL. I'm at work and I just burst out in laughter. Im sure everyone wants to know what I'm here laughing about. I think you hurt her feelings Poonther. You should apologize. Send her a comb or something! While you were at it you needed to find Nancy D. and do the same.

I just learned something about the sweeps. I didn't know that before now.

[poonther]

I really didn't mean to be rude, I just spoke out loud what I was thinking is all. As for "DingDong" as I like to call her, she's not about glamour baby, she's all about weather as a science and the facts. That's why I like her so much. She does have bad hair, although it looks a little better these days.

[afh]

Anyone remember Tran Bue(?) on NBC from back in the day? When I was at State as a undergrad and grad student from 96-00 Tran was on the air. It was fun watching her b/c it was pure amatuer hour. She would stumble and bumble along. She did get better after her first year but not by much.

I was in the ER at Tallahassee Hospital one night and I saw her there. She had a bad cold I believe and b/c she wasn't able to go on the air NBC did not do any news in the time period that she occupied. Too funny!

I moved to Tally from J'ville and the lack of polish in the Tally news stations surprised me. However I must say, I don't know which metro area has the worst news: Tally or Phoenix. Now that I've lived in the Phoenix metro area for a year and have gotten to see the news here, I must say that it's only a hair better than I remember the news stations in Tally.

Out of all of the cities that I've lived in, Miami and Jacksonville has by the far the best news. Just too many stories about murders and the like from those two cities for my taste. The good thing about the Phoenix news is that I see less stories about murders and mahem than when Jax or MIA.

[Florida]

Anyone remember Tran Bue(?) on NBC from back in the day? When I was at State as a undergrad and grad student from 96-00 Tran was on the air. It was fun watching her b/c it was pure amatuer hour. She would stumble and bumble along. She did get better after her first year but not by much.

Oh yes, I remember her! LOL! I wonder what ever happened to ol Tran.

I like that word "polish". I think thats exactly what these news channels need... a little polishing. Meanwhile, I think no one stumbles more than the weekend crew of News Channel 27.

[Glenn]

Wow very informative read there Glenn. I had heard most of what you wrote, but never all together like that. "Hicks on Six" have owned the FNC bldg. for sometime now. The few times I've driven past there lately, I've seen no work going on. I would have hoped they would have gotten it ready for the all important Feb. sweeps month. There's another one in May, if not then I bet it will not happen until next year in Nov. sweeps.

Have any of you seen anything happening there? It is a hard location to "spy" on as you drive past it since it's down in the hole.

I drove by there this earlier this afternoon to check on things. A construction worker on site told me he worked for the general contractor, Sperry & Associates, & they were waiting on some permits to be re-issued/approved before work could resume. He did say they were under contract to remodel the entire building for WCTV's news studios & admin offices. He was there with another guy just cleaning out some old debris & didn't know when the serious renovation work would reconvene. I'll have to check out Growth Management's website to see what it shows as far as the permitting status goes.

[Florida]

I drove by there this earlier this afternoon to check on things. A construction worker on site told me he worked for the general contractor, Sperry & Associates, & they were waiting on some permits to be re-issued/approved before work could resume. He did say they were under contract to remodel the entire building for WCTV's news studios & admin offices. He was there with another guy just cleaning out some old debris & didn't know when the serious renovation work would reconvene. I'll have to check out Growth Management's website to see what it shows as far as the permitting status goes.

This is awesome work Glenn. I'm glad you had a chance you speak to someone. Thanks for doing what you do. We should all become investigators! Everybody take a project and keep all of the rest of us informed on its latest progress.

[Glenn]

The Albany station used to show here years ago... it was somewhere in the around channel 28 and for some reason they pulled the plug on it. This was when we had our own NBC affiliate doing the news. It seemed to me back then, our own news was far more decent than it is today.

Ironically....the station in Albany, GA (WALB Channel 10) used to be owned by Gray but was sold to Liberty Media (headquartered in Columbia, SC) in 1996 after Gray bought the Tallahassee station (WCTV, channel 6) from the Phipps family. At the time, there was a rule in place that wouldn't allow any company to own more than 1 station in the same or overlapping markets. Tallahassee & Albany are considered overlapping media markets...at least by the FCC anyway. That rule no longer exists but at the time Gray bought WCTV they knew they would have to divest themselves of the Albany station. Interestingly, Gray also owns the Albany Herald, the local newspaper up there. Gray was founded in Albany, GA & their first media properties were WALB & the Albany Herald. The call sign of the station they own in Panama City (WJHG channel 7) is actually the initials of the company founder...James H. Gray...who has since passed away but had a vacation home in Panama City. Anyway....Gray is no longer controlled by any of the original family & has since moved their headquarters to Atlanta & have become a major media company. They own 35 TV stations around the Country (largest single licensee/operator of CBS stations in the nation after CBS/Viacom directly), 5 newspapers, 3 radio stations, a satellite uplink company, a small cable operation in Gwinett County, Ga & GrayLink Wireless, based here in Tallahassee, which is primarily a regional paging service provider & a retail agent/reseller for various cell phone companies. Anyway....if Gray is so big & strong & has the resources they obviously do at their disposal you would think we could at least get a truly professional news staff & high quality news broadcast here in Tallahassee!

[Florida]

Ironically....the station in Albany, GA (WALB Channel 10) used to be owned by Gray but was sold to Liberty Media (headquartered in Columbia, SC) in 1996 after Gray bought the Tallahassee station (WCTV, channel 6) from the Phipps family. At the time, there was a rule in place that wouldn't allow any company to own more than 1 station in the same or overlapping markets. Tallahassee & Albany are considered overlapping media markets...at least by the FCC anyway. That rule no longer exists but at the time Gray bought WCTV they knew they would have to divest themselves of the Albany station. Interestingly, Gray also owns the Albany Herald, the local newspaper up there. Gray was founded in Albany, GA & their first media properties were WALB & the Albany Herald. The call sign of the station they own in Panama City (WJHG channel 7) is actually the initials of the company founder...James H. Gray...who has since passed away but had a vacation home in Panama City. Anyway....Gray is no longer controlled by any of the original family & has since moved their headquarters to Atlanta & have become a major media company. They own 35 TV stations around the Country (largest single licensee/operator of CBS stations in the nation after CBS/Viacom directly), 5 newspapers, 3 radio stations, a satellite uplink company, a small cable operation in Gwinett County, Ga & GrayLink Wireless, based here in Tallahassee, which is primarily a regional paging service provider & a retail agent/reseller for various cell phone companies. Anyway....if Gray is so big & strong & has the resources they obviously do at their disposal you would think we could at least get a truly professional news staff & high quality news broadcast here in Tallahassee!

WOW Glenn, do you know someone associated with Gray because your knowledge on this issue is impressive. I learn quite a bit reading your paragraphs and I agree with you. If they've got the money, they need to show us (Tallahassee) some love and fix things up.

I notice WCTV6, eyewitness news likes to say they are an award winning station...

... who's giving out the awards? I mean, is it a participation award or...?

[poonther]

I notice WCTV6, eyewitness news likes to say they are an award winning station...

... who's giving out the awards? I mean, is it a participation award or...?

Too funny TJ, too funny!

Great lesson there Glenn. My parental units live in the P.C. TV market and I often wondered why they used the WJHG call letters.

[Glenn]

Thanks guys...it's the least I can do after all that I've learned from your most informative posts on many other topics. I do happen to have a couple of business contacts within Gray & also used to own a few shares of their stock. As far as the awards they claim to win at WCTV....I'm not really sure about that....maybe they're really just sympathy awards from their peers...Ha!

[Florida]

Thanks guys...it's the least I can do after all that I've learned from your most informative posts on many other topics. I do happen to have a couple of business contacts within Gray & also used to own a few shares of their stock. As far as the awards they claim to win at WCTV....I'm not really sure about that....maybe they're really just sympathy awards from their peers...Ha!

You'd hope they are sympathy awards. I don't see anything WCTV6 does that I'd consider any better than anyone else's news. If they are ranking Tallahassee news channels, maybe... but surely these awards don't come from a national or statewide panel. Its so embarassing that I even had to say that. As a former stock holder, is there anything you can do, Glenn, to turn things around?

[Monticello-1827]

Just a quick question, if Albany, GA and Tallahassee, GA are considered the same market by the FCC why don't we get the NBC station out of Albany? I know they have it up in Thomasville, GA. Is that a decision made by the cable/sat operators? Not that I'd be terribly interested in Albany, GA news but it would be another player in the market.

I also have to say the new girl on ABC-27 is an improvement over Amy Basista... my wife and I used to call her "Club Girl" because it always looked like she was done up to hit Bullwinkle's once the 11 p.m. new case was over.

With regards to the Democrat, aside from the local c FSU sports coverage they provide the rest of the paper is horrific although somewhat improved since Knight Ridder sold the paper. As insane as this sounds, when I subscribed to a paper we'd get the Florida Times Union out of Jacksonville. One interesting thing was they constantly had pieces regarding new developments, which at least entertained me.

Overall, for a small market I guess Tallahassee's media are alright... I was just spoiled growing up in the Boston market.

[Florida]

Breaking News!

Ok... so my girlfriend and I went on an Adventure yesteray. We wanted to see what all the talk was over County Road 12... it was a fun drive... kinda like being on a roller coaster! However, while driving down the road we encountered WCTV6 studios! IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE!!! Not being able to resist an opportunity to capture my first sighting of this building I broke out my SONY and snapped a shot. Well... the building itself was ok... but the signage made me shake my head. See for yourself!

Building

Signage

The signage is the breaking news... I give it 3 more weeks in that position.

How could you work out that far? Poor people!

[Relient J]

I recall at least once if not twice when I was a little kid I got to tour the WCTV facility. It was really neat seeing all of the TV peronalities that I had seen on TV in real life! We even got to all line up and be taped for showing on TV. I think they aired the little clip of us early on a Saturday morning. I may have gotten to do that twice, I can't recall clearly. Good times!

[poonther]

Please tell me there was more signage for WCTV than that sad sign you posted a pix of TJ. That sign looks like it was a victim of some of our recent brushes w/hurricanes.

That pix is an excellent example of bad bad signage. Looks like it was made by some kids at the local H.S. during shop class. You can't be a "news leader" in my book if folks can't even find you.

[Go Gators]

I know its been talked about, but isnt WCTV relocating to the Capital Circle somewhere?

[Florida]

I know its been talked about, but isnt WCTV relocating to the Capital Circle somewhere?

Calling Glenn!! Glenn is the WCTV expert!