Local Media Buzz & More!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Jeff Derderian, GoLocalProv Media Critic

With all the talk about snow and more snow – let’s take a whirl around the radio dial and TV remote to catch up on comings and goings and what’s making news in Rhody media.

We’ll leave out the story about the local news honcho who is hooking up with a news babe from a competing station. And we won’t say anything about the high profile TV type raising eyebrows about meeting someone in the station parking lot in between shows.

Here’s what we can tell you.

Channel 12

- New 5pm, 6p, and 11pm anchor Susan Roberts has started her new gig as the replacement for Karen Adams. Her first day was last Thursday – the day the mob was all over the news. Word is she got it right and pronounced alleged former mob boss Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio correctly!
- Former Channel 6 reporter – Julie Ruditzky who was at WLNE for 4-years is now freelancing at Channel 12
- The station has made its decision on a new weekday morning anchor to replace Elizabeth Hopkins (who went to Fox 25 Boston) and we know who it is but WPRI is keeping it quiet for now – the official announcement is expected very soon
- Station received high ratings for its 8.5 hours of non-stop snow coverage

Channel 10

- Where is Jim Taricani? The veteran Investigative Reporter has had little air time as of late. The station should have made more use of his history, knowledge and contacts when all this mob stuff hit this month
- Kudos to Chief Meteorologist Mark Searles for bringing some of the most accurate forecasts to viewers for both back to back storms. Like GOLOCALPROV ace meteorologist John Ghiorse, Searles studies the models, makes sense of the forecast and goes light on the hype
- Maybe you saw the anchors and crew of the 7pm news out and about celebrating when they all headed out to dinner recently – word has it Channel 10’s 7pm news is one of the highest rated 7pm shows in the country
- Media General – who now owns Channel 10 – just announced 4th quarter earnings were by nearly 29% thanks to political ads in October and November

Channel 6

- Still no official word on when the station will be sold. Station brass says there are 6-bidders who are all interested in the station. From those bids, will come what is called a “stalking-horse bid” which will be used as the bid to beat. Gotta wonder why it is taking so long. The station said it hoped to have a buyer by December and it’s almost February now
- The station kicked off a new campaign called “Operation: Warm Home” which helps local families trying to heat their homes with WLNE viewers looking to help. VP & General Manager Steve Doerr says it’s been a great success. Given the temperatures lately you can see why

Lite Rock 105

- Midday personality Tonya Cruise – facing felony insurance fraud charges is out. She has pleaded not guilty. Long time Lite Rock morning man Gary DeGraide is now behind the mic. No one is saying if this is permanent

WHJJ-AM

Program Director Bill George – who has a long track record in radio – can now focus all his energies on WHJJ. George is no longer Program Director of WXKS-AM in Boston

That’s all for now – remember, you can always drop an anonymous dime at n [email protected]

Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]