The Director's Chair

We're Here.....

ScottR — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:36:00 GMT

It finally happened. Digital TV has arrived...well, it's been here for awhile, but today is the "official" start date of digital tv and the end of analog television.

Truth to tell, there hasn't been much change here in the newsroom. Obviously, that's different for our engineering department...they were busy putting analog tv to rest and making sure our new digital signal was good.

The big thing to note is that the phones in the newsroom are NOT ringing off the hook. I take it to mean people took heed to all the information that today was the day that the analog signal would be cut off and only the digital signal would remain.

As time goes by, people will notice an improvement in picture quality and more programming options within the channel 9 venue of 9.1 and 9.2.

So, welcome to the new world of digital tv....and enjoy!

Trull Busted

ScottR — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:34:00 GMT

Wow--I can't believe what I saw last night. Our own Armando Trull had his own segment on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien...well, I don't know if I would call it "his" segment...but he was featured on a skit, called, "Trull Busters."

Check it out:

http://www.thetonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/episodes/?vid=1121745#vid=1121745

The feature is 11:45 into the clip. It'll be available on this website for about two weeks and probably an eternity on "YouTube."

A Change In The Weather

ScottR — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Many of the daily headlines concerning tv news stations across the country are the retirement/reassignments of long time anchors.

In my home town of Jacksonville, it was just announced that the Post Newsweek station's meteorologist will be stepping down from the day to day weather forecasting position to be meteorologist emeritus and the station's severe weather expert.

While it's not quite the end of an era for Jacksonville weather viewers, it is a major change.

I grew up watching George Winterling's weather forecasts as a child and remember vividly when he came to talk about weather at our elementary school. During the talk, George revealed his secrets on how he presented the weather...and these were the days before chromakey! To this day, I still remember how excited everyone was that George was at our school.

As I grew older, I still watched George, but also watched his competition, Ray Boylan and Tom Skilling.
While I was directing in Jacksonville, I got to work with the likes of Tim Deegan, Sam Champion, Mel Turner and Chris Castleman...all great meteorologists, but I never worked with George at WJXT.

The one regret I have about my TV career in Florida is that I never directed a weather forecast for George Winterling. The man was a legend among Jacksonville television viewers and it started early in his career when he was the only meteorologist to predict that Hurricane Dora would strike the city of Jacksonville after avoiding a hurricane for close to 64 years before that.

This was back in 1964. That forecast took confidence, especially back then when the forecasting tools just weren't what they are today. For that and his other contributions George will always be remembered, just like all the other long time anchors who are taking reassignments or retiring.

In addition to his confidence and on air composure, television viewers could easily see George's love for the weather each and every time he was on the air. He always spoke of the weather with a passion. His other on air passion was gardening and he would routinely host gardening segments long before it was vogue to do environmental stories. There were also times that he would reference the other two loves of his life, that being his family and Florida State University.

Some could say George was born to forecast the weather. It was in his name and even in his kids' names. From my junior high school days, I knew he had one daughter, Windy, and if I remember correctly, his other children had weather themed names too.

I never personally met the man, but after so many years for watching him, I came to trust him, along with the many residents of Florida's first coast.

Courtesy of Jacksonville.com, here is the announcement of George's new position.

Faith In The Legal System

ScottR — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:02:00 GMT

Yes, I still have faith in our legal system! Following up on a recent blog, I had wrote that NBC wanted Ex-Governor, Rod Blagojevich on their reality series, "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here."

It was all contingent on a judge's approval for "Blago" to appear on the show since it was to be taped in Costa Rica of all places.

TV Week has reported that a state judge has nixed impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attempt to appear on summer reality show.

That's good to hear. In my opinion, a disgraced ex-governor should not have even be considered for a slot on a prime time reality show. I just don't consider him a celebrity...

Washington's Digital Expansion

ScottR — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:43:00 GMT

It was only a matter of time, and that time is now.

Washington DC television viewers will have the honor of being the first city in this country to receive digital tv for their mobile phone, in car entertainment systems and laptops. When you combine that with the fact that people can watch all their favorite shows on the internet, the in home tv could be headed down the same path as the land land telephone...well, ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Honestly, I can't see people giving up their big screen tv's for this, but it sure does give people viewing flexibility.

Think about it...you're waiting for a doctor's appointment or your car's in the shop...while in the waiting room, just flip open your cell phone or lap top and tune in to WUSA! It's a nice diversion from boredom, that's for sure.

What's even nicer or will be nicer is when they figure out out to measure ratings for this!

It won't be long before other major cities are providing this service to! For passengers in a car, it'll be nice to catch up on your tv while driving to NYC!

Look more for this technology on this very website and WUSA TV soon!