Media: Will HOINews close down for good on Thursday? (UPDATED 2x)
Wow.
This is an email I found in my inbox today. It’s JUST a rumor until I can get some confirmation:
Just a tip, there is a very real fear that WHOI will no longer do news after Thursday….from what I’ve been told, all there under contract were told their contracts would not be renewed and if they wished to break their contracts for another job, they would be allowed to do so. Within the last week, things have really gotten scary and everyone is expecting to be out of a job Thursday.
Developing …
UPDATE: Therre’s been chatter about this for months. The thinking is that “The economics are just not there” for three stations to be doing news: Is this shorthand for an arrangement similar to the one in which WMBD 31 does the news for Bloomington-based WYZZ? Strong possibility of an announcement this week?
WHOI is owned by Barrington Broadcasting. With studios located in Creve Coeur, the station is considered by some to the the least well funded in the Peoria area, and perhaps with the most turnover. I’ve visited, at one time or another, all three local television studios in the Peoria area. WHOI’s is by far the most modest of the three.
UPDATE 2: The rumors are all over the place. Seems like people who should be in a position to know are still awaiting final word. In the absence of real information coming forth, it may be a case of information being altered by the teller at the stories making the rounds. Some folks are being told that WEEK’s owners are buying WHOI. Others say this is not true, but that a “management contract” is being or has been negotiated in which WEEK would manage the station. Both scenarios end with there being NO news programming coming out of WHOI. One source says that some desks are being set up for a limited number of HOI News staffers.
While the final word on exactly what’s going to happen isn’t in yet, the loss of HOI as a news source is a common thread in almost every contact, so I consider this part of the rumor to be confirmed.
This is, of course, terrible news for those who will lose their jobs. And it’s bad news for Peoria-area news consumers. Even if you have never watched HOI, you benefit from having three sets of broadcast news “eyes” watching and reporting on local government and institutions.
Individual news organizations have their strengths, and their weaknesses. Still, any one of Peoria’s three news stations was perfectly capable to breaking original news and providing a unique perspective.
I alwasys considered HOI News to be the plucky underdog in the broabcast news mix in Peoria. It was fun to watch them go after the hard news.
Apparently, that’s all over now.
Yes, I know that ad sales are down. I know the economy is in the crapper. But I cannot help but feel that this station is being sacrificed because some executive somewhere didn’t want to have to give up on his plans to buy a second boat.
This is a sad development for Peoria.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
This is CBS out of Detroit – no local news.
http://wwjtv.com/tvschedule
If you’re lucky you will get 2 and a Half Men reruns.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
A, recent, rumor had it that WEEK-TV might acquire and operate WHOI-TV. The same as it did with Peoria’s (former UPN) Channel 59. But, I admit don’t know how accurate that rumor is!
January 12th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Raleigh (NC) has a 10pm newscast on the local Fox affiliate that’s a production of the local CBS station- been that way for years. I’m pretty sure Fox locally has no news staff- it’s all handled by CBS. It’s coming to Peoria- relax and enjoy it.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
What’s with the loss of news eyes? There is only one newspaper, only one news talk radio station. Why is it an issue that there might be less than three TV news “eyes”. This is happening in lots of places. When I watch the news here, they report pretty much the same stories, talking to the same bigwigs and so-called experts. What’s the problem here?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Its evil how this seems to have dragged on. Why do companies do this? so people quit & they dont have to pay unenployement. really jerk behavior. you are right when you say to many of the bigwigs wouls rather lose a good 10 worker than their 2nd boat.
why doesnt the journal star report any of this? is steve tarter asleep? this is the biggest thing he has had to report for a long time, but we just get little speculation & bad jokes.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
would not wouls…rather lose 10 good workers…
January 13th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Kuudo,
I’ll tell you why losing ONE tv station is a bad thing. “Different” reporters cover “different” stories because they have “different” interests. Simple. Sure- political news, house fires, shootings get coverage from everyone. But think about the stories that we go after on our own. If a reporter has business contacts, he may uncover a story about Caterpillar wanting to outsource jobs that would otherwise go unnoticed. Then when he reports it, Caterpillar suddenly decides to change policy to save face and jobs are saved. Or a reporter who has police sources may break a story about people at the Peoria County Jail being released before time is up. Oops. Now a criminal is unnnecessarily out in the public. Get it? If that one outlet goes out of business, gone are a couple more reporters who could’ve done some landmark work. It only takes one story to make positive change or hold someone accountable.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
They quit caring about serving the public good long ago…its about the money. Very short sighted & dumb.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
If you “they” you mean corporate owners, I agree. The people who live in and work in the communities they cover do tend to give a rat’s ass, even if it is sometimes more about their career than anything else.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Steve’s comment is one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen all day. Me and my colleagues are still chuckling about it! Ask a reporter in this market how much money she makes in a year. Then, just for kicks, ask the photographer the same question. Be prepared to pick your jaw up from the ground and apologize for making that dumb comment about what motivates us. We work our a**** off and get paid nothing in return. If we wanted money, we would’ve picked another career.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
By “they” I meant the owners & bosses of the local market. I have great respect for the job you do. The photographers seem to really work hard also. They shoot & edit right?
January 13th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
There are very few local TV reporters who actually do decent work anyway. The problem is that once a reporter proves themselves they become an anchor and are taking off the street. None of the local stations really do any digging for their stories, and that is not necessarily their fault. Most of it lies in the medium of TV news and the time and effort it takes to research, edit, and play a segment. One of the other problems is that none of these young wet behind the ears reporters are local. Their inexperience combined with their ignorance makes for 2nd rate journalism.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the #1 station in the market is also the one whose reporter pool is more fully stocked with people who originate from Central Illinois. It’s hard to build consistency when your staff consists of 20somethings who come from halfway across the country, stay for two years, and then move on to Memphis or Milwaukee or wherever.
Edgar’s “Market 117″ blog has been a good source of insight on this phenomenon.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:52 am
So, Reporter…let me get this straight. It’s OK for there to be one newspaper (going broke) in the market, but we must have three different TV stations to adequately cover news? Are you aware that about half the markets in the U.S. have stations co-owned or operated? Do you know that there is no local news on major network stations in a bunch of places including big markets like Detroit, Atlanta and St. Louis? Why would Central Illlinois, which breaks a real story about once every two months, be any exception? The makret is changing, for radio, TV, and newspaper. I do not buy the premise that different reporters provide a different perspective. I have not seen evidence of this here. I see the same experts interviewed, saying the same thing on all stations. Adapt or die, as they say.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Typical news stories: There was an accident, a cat got stuck up a tree, granny got a new pacemaker, sports, sports, more sports, someone we don’t know nor care about got arrested, someone we don’t know nor care about is in court for committing a crime, etc. The mindless trivia that passes for “news” is not even worth watching. Let’s be honest, people are going online to find their news, only those people too old or too poor to use a home computer watch the TV news……
Anyone that has spent any significant time in Europe can tell the difference between serious journalism and the American 4tth grade level “personal interest” fluff stories. American media companies just don’t get it……
January 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Super J. Not true. Most of WEEK’s actual reporters don’t come from around here and they spend less time in Central Illinois than reporters at the other two stations. They have just as much turn over in reporters if not more than WMBD or WHOI. Their ANCHORS tend to be from Central Illinois and stay here for a long time which is why they are #1….despite getting their weather from Ft. Wayne of all places….
11Bravo – not true. There are several reporters doing real digging for their stories that never make it to anchor. Sure, they may fill in from time to time, but I know a lot of great reporters who never anchor. They just don’t like it. Remember Lourdes Duarte? Never anchored. She’s on WGN now…as a reporter. She went to Indy and Detroit between then and now…never as an anchor.
Kuudo – there are a couple major cities without news on one of the Big Three Networks. But those markets still have three to five independednt newsrooms on other networks such as CW, Fox, and My Network TV or just as an independent . That’s something we don’t have in Central Illinois. Yes, My Network TV and Fox both have news, but they are done by WEEK and WMBD respectively. This is not common in major markets. St. Louis and Detroit both have at least three if not four newsrooms. There are no examples, that I’m aware of, anywhere in the country where a CBS/ABC/NBC does news on ABC/CBS/NBC. There a lot a lot of problems..especially when it comes to feed video. There is no way ABC would allow one of it’s reporters on an NBC station and vice versa etc. They could use CNN video or Newsource which both ABC and CBS contribute to, but newssource is affiliate video.
Steve – there is NO money in local news. Would you take a job with six years experience and a college degree that paid $10.10/hr and required you to work nights, weekend nights, and holidays? I’m not joking. I was really offered that just a few months ago. Not in Peoria but in a market a few sizes bigger. No one in Peoria outside of about five or six people who have been there 20 years are making what you think. Most are living in one bedroom apartments trying to pay bills and pay off student loans. A lot even have part time jobs just to have a little spending money.
Burgeouis Pig – that is a sterotypical view of local news that doesn’t hold true. A few years ago, you probably did see a number of car accidents. Trust me, I covered more than my share and bitched everytime I got sent to one. News Directors and assignment editors have finally realized every car crash does not have news value. Filling several hours a day of news is hard. It doesn’t do the stations any good if you only watch one newscast, so there are fluffier stories thrown in there designed to get your attention. They not only want, but NEED you to watch at 5, 6, and 10, so they do what they can to make each show different. There’s only so much you can do with one new reporter at night and a staff of maybe 3, but most likely 2 reporters during the day that does 5-6 stories. There’s no money for more help and we’re talking about young kids straight out school with no experience. They just don’t know how to do things yet and by the time they do, the lure of more money and better equipment is too strong. I worked in the market for 6 years and I got pissed off every two years. Just when I’d get comfortable with the reporters skills, they’d move on and we’d start over with a new person. It was frustrating.
I’d like to know where you go online to get LOCAL news. You don’t get it from CNN. You don’t get it from Yahoo. News outlets realized you can get national news anywhere, so they don’t concentrate as much on that. Their goal is to make you watch to get LOCAL news…and yes, that includes local sports. You may not have a kid in high school, but there are thousands of households in the viewing area that do and they do care…and they do watch. The biggest complaint I hear about local news is they don’t do enough news on world issues…that’s why there’s a network newscast at 5:30….plus, for you who people who think you can ONLY get news online, there’s an abundance of sources and you can read the European papers since you think they do so much better.
I know most of you could care less because you don’t watch WHOI, but WHOI broke more stories than you could imagine. You probably saw them for the first time on WEEK two weeks after WHOI did it. It’s sad. There are a lot of great people there that went over looked for all the wrong reasons. I have a lot of friends still there and it makes me sad to hear these rumors. I hope everything works out for all of them. This business is tough right now. Every station in every city in the country has laid off workers in the last few weeks. Some of them have laid off anchors who have been there for 30+ years just to dump their salary. I’ve been without a full time job for 10 months and even finding freelance work is tough. I loved my years at WHOI and look back on them fondly. At no point did I ever wish that I worked for the competition. We had a great group of people, great bosses, and great leaders. WHOI had the best photography staff in town and that was because of Chief Photographer Scott Weas and two news directors who realized photography was just as important to the project. At one point, we had the same photog staff for over 2 years! 2 years without losing a person. That’s insane in this industry. You never heard us say, “We don’t have to do it well because we’re number 1.” Yes, that is an actual quote from a couple people across town. If you’re happy with that attitude, you have nothing to worry about if the tip Bill got is right. Otherwise, I would be worried about losing more reporters….
January 14th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Ryan –If someone said that at WEEK, tell me who so I can get an explanation from them…
Mac
“We don’t have to do it well because we’re number 1.” Yes, that is an actual quote from a couple people across town
January 14th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Josh Simon. Jennie Li…who is no longer with you, but said it many, many times in the times I was there.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
…Josh Simon…{shaking head}
I had a heck of a problem with him when, during a local sporting event I was working, he kept trying to film an injured player. I mean, he was practically trying to straddle the guy on the gurney.
I *SO* wanted to smack that guy.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Ryan,
I understand Mac asked, but I think it might have been better to keep names in private. In their defense, I have trouble believing that the statement you quote was stated in the context it’s being portrayed. I’ve worked at two strong number one stations, WEEK being one of them. It’s not like people go to work thinking I can do a half ass job because we’re number one. People at WEEK take pride in their work, just as the people at WHOI do. But the perspective is different. Work at a number three and there’s a chip on your shoulder. Why? Because you might break stories all the time. You might have a piece that is brilliantly shot. But the truth is fewer people see it. It gets less recognition. In many cases, your people get less respect/credit. It’s not personal.
I’m a big believer that you do the best job you can for your audience and you can’t really worry about the ratings because even though that’s how you’re measured, it is in the great majority of instances beyond your control. But despite that, I think people at number three’s might push themselves harder. In the end, their viewers do benefit even if the ratings don’t reflect. As a fan of TV news, I sample. I get who is good. Which shows have good flow. Which photogs go the extra mile. But most people watch the news… get ready… just for the news and don’t care about the competition. They don’t flip. If they did, they’d lose the context of what they’re watching. Sorry. Tangent.
I’ve heard people make the statement that WEEK could put color bars up and still get a higher rating. You know what? In a diary market, people forget stuff. It’s possible. The statement doesn’t mean if 25 only runs color bars every day, they’ll continue to succeed. But I’d be willing to bet that if it happened for one show, it wouldn’t register with Nielsen.
I posted this in 2005 about my time at WMBD. Kind of goes along with the sentiment.
http://market117.blogspot.com/2005/01/by-numbers.html
Number ones, especially dominant number ones, get more credit and blame than they deserve. That is at the heart of the statement.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
He asked and I stand by my statement. I could even give you a couple exact date and locations
January 14th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Lots of people say lots of things in different contexts… especially people who work in newsrooms. People who don’t take ratings personally, from all three stations, will discuss it… even joke about it. Maybe I’m wrong to think that’s okay, but I don’t think I’m alone.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Ryan, I talked with Josh…who doesn’t remember saying that. I would think, however, given the nature of the way reporters and photogs gripe about things in general, it might have been more than a complaint than a brag, ie, “they (management) doesn’t care what we do/ won’t give us equipment/can’t fix the live truck because they don’t have to since we’re number one”.
Incidently, we recently got an email from a former reporter now working in the number one market in the country. I’m paraphrasing, but his complaint was something like: “They got us this new crappy editing equipment, and every day I come in and I don’t worry about doing a good job as much as I do about just getting it on the air….”
Anyway, Ryan is right on a number of counts about pay and reporting. Were you a photog at 19, Ryan? I made more money per week as a high school student than I did in my first broadcast job after college…and my second job…and my third.
I’m sure a lot of folks believe things were better back in the day. Different, yes. Better, no. The first two stations I worked for no longer exist. The third no longer does news. When I worked at 19, we had only one photographer who knew how to use a sound camera (film). Which was OK, because we only had one camera. And there was one news car…and the radio-side got to use it most of the time for promotions. We tried to shame the station into buying another vehicle by having the news crew drive around in a rusty old Buick which was rattle-can spray painted gold..including the bumpers. It didn’t work.
None of this may be relevent to what’s happening in the business right now, except that broadcasting has always been a business of change and flux. Mac
January 14th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Anon: I would never tell a citizen journalist to discount the evidence of their eyes and ears. But I will tell you that Josh Simon doesn’t recall your version of events. And please bear in mind that filming the news, even when it is not warm and fuzzy, is his job. Lets cut Josh some slack.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Mac makes a great point.
Think about how many times and how many drastic changes WMBD and WHOI have made in their news sets and graphics packages in the past twelve years. WEEK has made changes, but much more subtle/slight. Why? Because no one (if you go by ratings) is saying they need something different. I used to think they could give Barnett or Lee the old maps with magnets and people would still watch.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
This post was never supposed to be about Josh Simon. I wouldn’t expect him to admit to anything. Hell, I wouldn’t.
Mac and Edgar, you both make good points and I agree with both of you. I would say things were better six years ago when I started, but for the people who had been in the business already, they would say things were better when they started…it’s all about perspective. I’m not willing to say things were better then….I’m just saying they’re different. When I was learning to shoot, I was lugging around a 3/4 deck. When I got my first job, we used Beta and edited tape to tape. Now, six years later, most smaller newsrooms are going tapeless. What’s really sad is when we got a new kid right out of college and they looked dumbfounded at the tape to tape editors. Yes, college students have better equipment than what most television stations do and they’re taught to edit on Avids.
Small markets are funny. If money wasn’t an issue, I still don’t think WEEK would be beat. Fancy sets, fancy graphcis, stingers, prepros…whatever you want to throw in there don’t account for much of anything if you don’t have people that are trusted.
I grew up in the Chicago market and that’s the only news I ever saw. The first time I saw small market news was the Saturday before I started my first job. I was shocked to say the least. The whole time I worked there, I almost felt sorry for the people that depended on those reporters for news. Just as you got familiar and comfortable with someone, they were gone, but there was nothing for them in Peoria. I would have spent my whole career in Peoria if I could have gotten some decent money. I liked Peoria. I liked working in Peoria. But I hated where I lived. I hated that I had to budget. That’s not why I went to school.
WEEK has been able to hold on to at least a core of people which is not easy to do. Did I always think they did the best newscast? Honestly, no. I thought they had some talented people and did some good really good things, but I could never watch consistantly. My opinion is that they put too much emphasis on the national stories. Edgar brought up a point earlier about the number 2 and 3 stations having a chip on their shoulder. Of course, at times, I felt like that. Especially on stories where all the news outlets in town were covering the same the story. I was always proud of my work. I knew that every story I shot, that I did the best that I could…but I also knew, that it was going to reach the smallest audience and that was frustrating.
Back to the original point of this post, I don’t know what’s going to happen in Peoria. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t care. For some reason though, it makes me both sad and angry. Competition is good for the news business. I disagree with the comments made earlier that all the stations do the same angle on a story. That may be the case on a few of the big news stories, but for the most part, no they don’t. You can learn something by watching all three, reading the paper, and listening to both WCBU and WMBDRadio. If you have preconcieved notion of local news, I would encourage you to take a closer, critical look at the newscasts. Try watching all three shows one night instead of just the 6 or just the 10. You’re going to see that you’re missing quite a bit.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:34 am
You know who still has a “news department” almost everywhere? Small, small market local radio.
I’ve got TWO newscasters (and several play-by-play sports broadcasters) in Canton for two stations, one during the week and one on the weekend. We’ve got a couple of guys in Monmouth/Galesburg for three stations, and we’ve got newsman in our Muscatine operation (2 stations), DeKalb (1 station, and they did an AWESOME job breaking and covering the NIU shooting last spring), Clinton (two stations), Quincy/Rushville (3 stations), and Whitewater, Wisconsin (1 station). Galesburg Broadcasting has a very good and well staffed news department, there are newsmen in the stand-alone station in Aledo, too. Princeton, Macomb, Morrison, Dixon, LaSalle/Peru, Ottawa…are among those who all have news and sports departments.
Among the local “medium” radio markets, only WMBD in Peoria and WJBC in Bloomington have dedicated news reporters among the commercial stations, and there are over 30 stations in the two markets. When I was at the former AAA Entertainment, we used the WHOI staff to do our news for us, by way of remote equipment from their studios, and as far as I know they didn’t get a dime for all the extra work. The other TV stations have radio agreements as well. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, btw, I’m just pointing out that we in the so-called “micro” radio markets still do news, sports and weather. Sadly, a lot of the stations in markets the size of Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington, the Quads, Rockford, etc. are simply jukeboxes 24/7, programmed by consultants to be as safe and careful with their song selections as possible. Again, not claiming there’s a right or wrong there, just pointing out differences.
You want complete coverage of a new factory going up in Canton, instead of a few graphs or a 30-second package? You go to our station or the website.
The local TV stations and the newspapers all do a great job of getting the news to the people, and in their case they have a wide area to cover. We can focus on our home counties. They go hand in hand. It is terribly frustrating and sad to see ANY of our counterparts lose their jobs, I hope it doesn’t happen to the WHOI staff, but if it does, they’re all good people and they’ll find work.
BTW, after five+ months, and with the expert help of local engineers Wayne R Miller and Jeremy Ruck, WCDD, 107.9 FM, is finally back on full strength and booming into Peoria, Pekin, and East Peoria tonight. Our tower was felled by a tornado in July. A couple of very brave young men braved single digit temps and whipping winds to climb 275-feet this afternoon to finalize the job, with Wayne and Jeremy coordinating from the ground.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Kudos to Wayne R Miller and Jeremy Ruck. B.J., can you provide me with links to the WCDD Website?
January 15th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
http://www.cd1079.com (I inherited an ugly website, we’re working on a redesign, but we do offer 24/7 streaming)
AM is http://www.wbysradio.com
January 15th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
“They quit caring about serving the public good long ago…its about the money. Very short sighted & dumb.”
Ryan J. Once again the above quote refers to the owners & managers of the stations. Not the reporters…