Tag Archives: Steve Hyvonen

WKMG’s summit and other news to note

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Here’s the latest Orlando TV News …

WKMG’s much-discussed mandatory “newsroom summit” is now history … but what happened? According to some folks who were there, it wasn’t nearly as draconian as anticipated. “It was a lot of uproar over nothing,” a Local 6  staffer told the Orlando Sentinel. “It was really fun, helpful. Everyone walked out feeling better about their jobs. It was a positive thing. People left with an appreciation for what others do.” Basically, as I predicted, it was more of a corporate team-building exercise. The staff met to discuss ways to improve improve TV news, and workers switched duties to experience how others do their jobs. Did you attend and have a different view? Then email me by clicking the “Contact Us” link at the top of the page. …

Speaking of the summit, remember last week when MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann named WKMG news director Steve Hyvonen one of his “Worst Persons in the World”? Turns out there may be more of a backstory there. According to TVNewser.com, Hyvonen used to work as a news manager at MSNBC dayside in the early 2000s, but not with Olbermann. As Olbermann ended his segment by telling Local 6 staffers to write down Hyvonen’s name as a newsroom “battery drainer,” he added cryptically, “That was for the staff here.” Click here to watch the segment again. …

Switching over to Fox 35:  Saturday’s Fox 35 News at 10 started about an hour late — due to Fox’s 4 p.m. baseball game going into the 20th inning! Yes, the game lasted nearly 7 hours, with the New York Mets finally beating the host St. Louis Cardinals 2-1. Imagine if the game had started in prime time? Also, I noticed that in place of usual weekend anchors Keith Landry and Talitha Vickers, WOFL had Tom Johnson and Tracy Jacim anchoring on Saturday and Sunday. Is that something new, or were they just filling in? …

Finally, former WOFL reporter Erin Logan has been fired from her anchor-reporter job at WNDU-NBC 16 in South Bend, Ind. She was dismissed after being arrested following a domestic dispute involving a former NFL player. Click here to read more from the South Bend Tribune. She was at Fox 35 in 2005-06.

WKMG’s Steve Hyvonen makes MSNBC’s worst list

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If you watch MSNBC, no doubt you’re familiar with Keith Obermann’s “Countdown” show. And one of its big features is the “Worst Person in the World” segment. Olbermann put WKMG-Channel 6 news director Steve Hyvonen on his list of “Worst Person in the World” for Local 6′s upcoming newsroom summit. Ouch. Olbermann’s advice to Local 6 workers, who have been told to write down the names of three “battery drainers” in the newsroom: “Write out three names: Steve Hyvonen, Steve Hyvonen and Steve Hyvonen.”

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WKMG’s ‘Newsroom Summit’ causing a stir

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By now you have likely heard about the upcoming WKMG Newsroom Summit — the station’s mandatory all-day meeting on Saturday, April 17, to discuss “what makes bad TV news,” and who are the “battery chargers” and “battery drainers” at Local 6.

One person who emailed me about the meeting had this to say about the plan: “In a stunning move to further demoralize a ratings challenged and overworked staff, the news director at WKMG has decided that rather than evaluate employees himself, he’s asking newsroom employees to do it for him! That’s right, he’s ordering everyone in the newsroom to submit a list of the three employees they hate the most, and put their selections in a ballot box in his office. The newsroom secretary will check off the names of employees to make sure they comply with the order. Also, in what WKMG staffers are calling a newsroom “concentration camp” (the station is locking employees in a studio), employees will be expected to openly criticize the company’s product in front of station management. Pitting co-workers against each other with a popularity poll!”

But it’s not just folks at WKMG who are taking notice of this unusual newsroom retreat. The “memo” sent by news director Steve Hyvonen has gained national attention on some Web sites. Among them:

Maybe I’ve been drinking too much corporate Kool-Aid recently, but  here are a few thoughts. Does the memo sound ominous? Sure, it could be taken that way. Is it meant to be ominous? I doubt it.

Face it, WKMG ratings have fallen dramatically. It’s Web traffic is dropping too. The station needs to do something, right? This daylong meeting to talk about the future of TV news and the culture of Local 6 might be a step in the right direction. All journalists (me included) are notoriously skeptical about anything involving team building or culture-changing. Most journalists are creatures of habit — they don’t like change. But change is what WKMG needs. Local 6 is already close to dead last — what does it have to lose by trying something different?

Sure, there’s a chance the “newsroom summit” could be nothing but B.S., but it could also be the thing that changes Local 6 from als0-ran into a contender again. Stay tuned. I’m sure we’ll hear about what happens.

Disney monorail crash video obtained by WKMG

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WKMG-Local 6 scored a significant scoop when it obtained — and gained an exclusive license — for video showing the immediate aftermath of Disney World’s deadly monorail train crash. The compelling video from early Sunday morning was shot just after one monorail train plowed into another at the resort, killing a 21-year-old park employee.

But obtaining the video may have been the easy part for WKMG. Keeping others from using it was the tougher task. Versions of the video popped up on YouTube, Wikipedia and competitors’ stations and Web sites. That prompted WKMG ND Steve Hyvonen to send the following email to O-Town media outlets, including WFTV, WESH, WOFL, Central Florida News 13, WDBO radio and the Orlando Sentinel:

“WKMG has the exclusive rights to the video and still pictures taken at the scene of the Disney monorail accident.  We have already seen some of these images on the air and on the websites of our competitors.  I’m sure you will respect this exclusivity as we do when you have exclusive material.  WKMG’s attorneys are investigating improper usage of our material and will be in contact should any violations occur. “

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Cabrera leaves WESH, Garofalo and Longo come to town

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It’s been a good, long while since I’ve blogged about anything. Buy my resolution for 2009 is to write more — so I’m getting an early start. Here’s some of the stuff that’s been going on recently in O-Town’s TV Land …

Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has left WESH. Cabrera’s agent, Rob Jordan, told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, “He signed a confidentiality agreement and is not commenting. It was all very amicable.” According to Boedeker, WESH space reporter Dan Billow — who has a meteorology degree — may be helping out with the weather now that Channel 2 is down to just four mets. Cabrera had been with WESH since May 2006, but what’s next for him? Well, he is doing voiceover work. He has a Web site where you can hear some of his samples.

Is Bob Frier getting pushed out at WKMG? We hope not, but it sure looks suspicious over at Local 6. The station has brought in Mike Garofalo from KOAT in Albuquerque to anchor the 4 and 6 p.m. newscasts with Jacqueline London. Frier will now co-anchor the 5 and 11 p.m. shows with London, and Garofalo will report for the 11 p.m. show. There is an O-Town connection with Garofalo. Back in New Mexico, working with Garofalo at KOAT was former WOFL-Fox 35 anchor Shelly Ribando.

Do you realize that as we head into 2009, the only news director who started 2008 with an O-Town station and is finishing the year is WFTV’s Bob Jordan? Bob Longo at WESH is the newest ND in town, coming from WTAE in Pittsburgh to replace Barb Maushard, who took a corporate job with Hearst-Argyle. WOFL-Fox 35 brought in Gavin Maliska in November to replace Bob Clinkingbeard, and in February WKMG hired Steve Hyvonen from WEWS in Cleveland in replace Susan Forbes.

 

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