As first hinted at last night by EMGR’s own Alan B. DuMont and reported this morning by Erieblogs, Ray Petelin and Raychel Vendett are really live at 7AM California time on KHIZ-TV. (Photo from KHIZ-TV Barstow)
The story appeared yesterday in the on-line edition of the Daily Press, a Victorville publication where the station is actually located in what locals call the high desert and the Inland Empire.
The story appeared yesterday in the on-line edition of the Daily Press, a Victorville publication where the station is actually located in what locals call the high desert and the Inland Empire.
The production is all local except for one important thing. The hosts are in Erie. So when Ray reports today that it will be sunny and a high of 63 degrees in the desert, the locals don’t know that he had to walk in sub-freezing temperatures, snow and ice to get to the WSEE studios in Erie to deliver that forecast. The story makes it sound like Rachel may have been formally of WSEE, which is not true.
For a half hour show at 7 AM that is repeated at 7 PM, the show has an impressive staff assigned to it. “Aside from Vendetti and Petelin, the “IE Live!” staff includes one field reporter, two camera operators, one video producer, one graphic artist and a promotions director.” (I bet WSEE would like to have some of that staff here or maybe they share that staff too.) Lots of satellite shuffling goes on between Barstow and Erie. Of course some of that staff could be counting some of the Erie side as well.
I have to admit that Ray and Raychel do a very impressive morning show on WSEE so I am sure they do just as capable job on their simulated second home in California. (I am sure, if they had their way, they would rather do the reverse)
KHIZ makes a big point in their promotion that that program is local in everyway: (but one)
For a half hour show at 7 AM that is repeated at 7 PM, the show has an impressive staff assigned to it. “Aside from Vendetti and Petelin, the “IE Live!” staff includes one field reporter, two camera operators, one video producer, one graphic artist and a promotions director.” (I bet WSEE would like to have some of that staff here or maybe they share that staff too.) Lots of satellite shuffling goes on between Barstow and Erie. Of course some of that staff could be counting some of the Erie side as well.
I have to admit that Ray and Raychel do a very impressive morning show on WSEE so I am sure they do just as capable job on their simulated second home in California. (I am sure, if they had their way, they would rather do the reverse)
KHIZ makes a big point in their promotion that that program is local in everyway: (but one)
Local LA News that’s first and foremost about the Inland Empire
Join yourhosts Rachel Vendetti and meteorologist Ray Petelin, live weekday mornings at 7AM. Later-risers can catch our rebroadcast at 7PM.
"IE Live!" is a 30-minute daily live newscast complete with the latest in local news and weather focusing on the Inland Empire, but also covering the greater Los Angeles region, featuring:
Local Weather Forecast
Local Traffic and Airport Info
Local and Regional News
Local and Regional Sports
Hollywood Updates
Inland Empire Trivia
Cooking advice from Chef William
Weekly Contests and Giveaways
KHIZ-TV is the only television station broadcasting a daily news show focused on the Inland Empire.
But it does bring up the question of why with 2.5 million population in their coverage area, including the greater Los Angeles area, why wouldn’t they just higher a part-time team from there?
In checking, KHIZ was purchased in August by Sunbelt Television. (Not to be confused with Sunbelt Communications who has 8 stations in the west itself.) The FCC records indicate that one of the major owners of KHIZ is none other than Kevin Lilly, the man who has his name on the license for WSEE and makes his home in New England.
KHIZ is a totally independent station with no network affiliation. Its programming, besides the above mentioned program, is mostly the Direct Shopping Channel, paid infomercials and a mix of animal programs about termites, scorpions and related varmints from syndicated animal shows. (I am sure Ray and Raychel are not considered varmints but I do wonder what the locals would think if they knew their very local news and weather came from Erie, Pennsylvania)
Interesting that this independent station already has its digital on the air and their website seems to indicate a possibility of HD although I could see no shows actually tagged that way.
If you would like to write to the local hosts of “IE Live” you can do so at ray@khiztv.com and raychel@khiztv.com.
"In October, KHIZ-TV launched “IE Live! on KHIZ,” the only original, daily newscast based in the High Desert. " ---The Daily Press"
61 comments:
Wonder if they are compensated extra for extra duty! Right!!!!!
Satellite time is not cheap either.
So let me get this straight, WSEE must be spending a fortune on uplinking for this. The Lilly family is screwing Erie to no end regarding the LACK of Digital!
And now this! What a sham! The owners of WSEE are worthless pieces of ****!
Lets see:
Digital TV? NO!
Overpaid Weather reader? YES!
Crashing News Computer? YES!
Does Lilly Care! NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!
I agree with everyone. This is most deceitful of WSEE and the Lilly family.
Wonder if SoCal knows about the deceit?
Wonder if all the WSEE employees Lilly canned know about the expensive uplinking cost?
Wonder if the Lilly family has a moral compass?
Keep up the comments everyone. Remember, one person can make a difference!
"Always Take The Offensive...NEVER Dig In!"
- Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
Alan B. DuMont
There are a lot of assumptions being made here. Can any fact about costs, methods, or anything else be substantiated? I want to know (as any actual broadcaster/journalist would) about this before I form an opinion. What about you, Jack? Do you know?
I have no idea of the costs involved in producting the program. If the program was sent broadband to Barso, the quality would be second rate for a half hour program. The program, if it is to be believed, is really live so it would be by satellite.
Is WSEE using its Primetime 24 channel relay, I don't know.
To clear up the mystery, WSEE could post a response and I will print it without comment.
If the KHIZ were honest with its viewers the program should carry a proper disclaimer or credit notice that portions of the program come for the studios of WSEE in Erie. PA.
I am trying to get a copy of the program to and link it to EMGR readers.
So the idea is kill 'em first, ask questions later. These questions should be answered before your staff (Alan) goes to bat to ask readers to scream out loud. That would be a fair and balanced aproach, rather than slanted towards "deceit".
It seems deceit is being practiced at a new level in Barsto. What is wrong with saying the program is not totally local and comes from the studios of WSEE Erie, PA.
What harm could there be in being honest with your viewers?
I just published the facts as I knew them. point to one that is wrong?
It is easy to see the deceit here!
Look at the advertising "A LOCAL program!"
How is having a program made in Erie a local program for SoCal.
By the way, anonymous, I have no problem with Alan's comments.
Gotta love all the knee jerk reactions from you armchair broadcast engineers out there.
There's more axe grinding on this blog than at Miller Brothers or Franz's !
The Vyvx website has a Local Interconnection Directory which shows that WSEE has a 45 Mbps DS3 transmit loop. I suspect that the content for the viewers in the Caribbean, etc. satellite transmission leaves Erie this way and is sent to a nearby teleport (Pittsburgh ?) for the actual uplink.
It is possible that the SoCal show is being sent point-to-point all the way back to Barstow over fiber (end-to-end satellite makes sense if fiber is not available at both ends and/or there are multiple destinations receiving the same signal, which is not necessarily the case if the Erie studio segments are being integrated with other content on the West Coast).
Also, Parkervision or other similar systems could allow all of the various studio operations at 12th and Peach to be remotely controlled by the production folks on the West Coast. (I'm not at all sure this is what they are doing, but it does make sense financially).
Given the proper MPEG-2 coding, it is quite reasonable to send several contribution quality programs over the same 45 Mbps terrestrial DS3 link or over the same satellite transponder bandwidth.
The point being, the marginal cost associated with transmission of the Erie segments could be quite minimal or even negligible --- using existing facilities & bandwidth which are already "paid for".
In theory, the only additional cost could be electric power to run the studio lighting, HVAC, etc., maybe a bit of accounting depreciation/chargeback on the studio cameras (although once again, with new CCD technology, this is much cheaper than the wear-and-tear on the old tube type cameras and you could probably ignore it), and whatever additional compensation is paid to the onair talent.
That does make a lot of sense at that bandwith. I am not an engineer or a tech so I take your word for it.
Here's a bigger question? Who cares? How does this hurt Erie broadcasting? What does this have to do with Erie at all, other than the fact that some Erie people are on TV in California? You are all so wound up about finding a conspiracy at WSEE that you will go to any length to make your theories seem plausable. The ananymous with the engineering know-how certainly demonstrated that it is cheap and easy. If this is a way for a business to bring extra revenue, by all means we should be for it because it brings extra money to the city. That is something we should applaud? What do the other stations do? How does JET or ICU bring extra money to the area?
I think the real central question is honesty in Barstow with its viewers and investing the capital to produce a better product for Erie viewers. I think it is great for Erie to produce shows for other areas. Hope they do it for KHON in Hawaii too. Just be honest with the viewers where it is coming from.
From the recent comments about technical glitches... WSEE joins the long list of Lilly stations with a P.T. Barnum attitude.
"Local" indicates LOCAL. Why is that confusing? If KHIZ is touting Raychel (and they don't even spell her name right) and Ray as "local" then they're lying.
I submitted this nonsense to FARK. Maybe those commenters will have something to add, if the link is greenlit.
I think the hacks at WJET and a few at "sister station" WICU are
jealous. Lowly WSEE, the basement dweller in the ratings, is actually technically far superior that many would like to believe.
Hats off to the staff for pulling this off technically. (I do agree with Jack that it is very misleading for Barstow viewers)
And for the record, so what if Joey Stevens is a hit in the Caribean. He's the Jerry Lewis of weather, devalued locally and a genious in France (St. Lucia in this case). Vive' Le Joey!
I'm even bothered that the media outlet that printed the story online probably just took a news release and reposted it without any kind of critical journalism. Makes you wonder about the credibility of news stories you read in papers these days.
Speaking of papers, it would be nice to see Erie Times pick up this story and do some research. I don't think it's that big of a deal but I would like to know the details.
I think it's a great experience for Ray and Raychel to be in two markets at once... great for the resume that they broadcast in a market near LA.
The discussion about honesty is interesting and I think some good points have been brought up. I’ll bring up a couple of others
Local- Content is relevant to the market.
Local Weather- the Weather is Local to Barstow
Local Traffic- The information is about Barstow area
Local and Regional News- Again, about Barstow
As long as they don’t claim they are reporting from the area, I don’t feel like they are lying… but their marketing may be a bit deceptive. But what marketing isn’t? Media are gatekeepers, why would they market themselves as not being in Erie when the important thing to their region is they have more coverage for their geographic area that had been previously ignored.
So while the reporters may not report physically from the area, it's content is local to the area and that is what is important. If there were no staff supporting the project such as camera persons, a producer in their area ,etc then we would have more to get riled up about.
I think we want to get fired up about something, and it seems almost SNEAKY but not quite, so we're overanalyzing the information, trying to find another sword to stab the Lilly’s with.
The article mentioned that Raychel got her start at WSEE in Erie. It doesn’t say she doesn’t work there anymore but you can pretty much take any quote and distort the context if you want to.
I’m not advocating corporate TV becoming what corporate radio is, but it happens. Go to Fort Myers. Florida and you hear the same announcer that does JET’s voiceovers. Go to any other market and they probably have the same mall ad/jingle that Millcreek Mall does.
Just trying to bring a different prospective and sanity check to the board.
PS
I'd like to see more people use their names and not hide behind the Anonymous identity. I understand why some do it, trust me. But I'd like to see more credibility behind the posts. As journalist, don't we love a little credibility?
Thank You Eden! Finally, someone who shares the widely held idea that WSEE is lying!
Local is Local, period! Local is not Erie, PA pretending to be the "Inland Empire!"
By the way, what the hell is the "Inland Empire" anyway? Sounds like Nazi Germany during World War II!
Back to my original thought: How can a local newscast that ORIGINATES out of Erie, Pennsylvania be a "Local" show in Los Angeles California?
Local is Local. Period!
"Bring It On!"
- President George W. Bush
(Can't wait to see the s**tstorm this quote causes!)
"Lowly WSEE is actually technically far superior than WICU or WJET????"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!??
Is this the same WSEE that has its Ingest System crach with such regularity that it wipes out entire sportscasts?
Is this the same WSEE that has studio cameras that constantly look washed out?
Is this the same WSEE that is the only station in the Erie DMA to NOT broadcast a Digital Signal?
Is this the same WSEE that has a low-pitched audio humm during its newscasts?
My apologies to you. I did not realize WSEE was the STATE-OF-THE-ART in Erie Television!
If Ray and Raychel can do a local broadcast for SoCal from Erie then I have a request of WSEE.
Can WSEE turn over news duties for Erie to KDKA-TV Pittsburgh? I would love it if Stacy Smith and Patrice King Brown did a news program for Erie!!!
Remember: you haven't seen news until you've seen Pittsburgh news on KDKA-TV 2!
Bobbo
Who knows...you could get what you wish.
Maybe the news team in SoCal can do a Sunday 11 pm newscast at for WSEE since they can't afford to do one.
I wrote an email to Erik Derr who had the byline on the article. He said he did realize they were doing it from Erie. He asked what I thought - deceitful but a good business move. Think he might be doing a follow up. I also sent the article link to a reporter at the Erie paper.
This reminds me of Voice Tracking on various radio stations across the country. The DJ pretending to be local to a certain area while actually doing the program from NYC or something. The illusion of Smoke & Mirrors once again.
The point is if the program does not contain a reference that a portion of the program is from WSEE Erie it is not being truthful. When NBC does a story on a Unuiversal movie they make sure to say that it is a NBC company.
When CBS does a review of a book published by Simon and Schuster they disclaimer that S&S are sister company.
When I wrote a post on this blog about WPSE I disclaimed that I was a member of the advisory board of the station.
All correct and in the proper broadcast manner. Since we can't see the show, we don't know what WSEE actually does in disclosure. But they should disclose. There is no question about that.
I understand and agree with your point, Jack, that if something is purported to be local and isn’t, it should be fully disclosed. Unfortunately, that ethic has been discarded by most of the broadcast industry in the past 10 years. Radio voice tracks come from all over the country, and satellite jocks record “magic calls” to sound like they are local. What about the Washington stringer who does a report with 25 different local tags or the Channel 7 special reports that are aired on all of the ABC O&O’s? This “local means local” deal has been fuzzy for years.
I think that the more creative work we can do here locally, especially if it’s top-notch professional programming and commercial production, the better for our people in the field. It helps create more jobs, something Erie desperately needs.
I guess I wonder how I would feel if I the current main anchor of KDKA in Pittsburgh where on a news set deliverying local Erie news and weather? Acting like he was in the know about what goes on in Erie. Somehow it just doesn't right true and a little different than inserts of call letters between songs. We are talking credibility.
I think it is great that they get a chance to do the show. Matter of fact, I wish Brian would send them permanently to KHON in Hawaii and do the Erie morning show from there. I bet they would too.
I'm glad that WSEE is doing a LOCAL newscast for a station almost 2400 miles away. I think it is a fantastic idea!
I'm glad Joey Stevens is wildly popular in the Caribbean!
I think it is great that a TV station like WSEE could lay off dozens of people yet have the balls to do a newscast for California from Pennsylvania and call it LOCAL!
Jack, Alan and your staff: Keep it up! We need to know what the hell is going on at WSEE. Continue to enlighten us.
I love the anonymous back and forth bitching between the TV stations in town. Looks like people really do hate WSEE.
By the way, another screw up tonight on the 6pm WSEE news. The third block of commercials were completely wiped out!
WSEE: YOUR STATE OF THE ART STATION
If WSEE is your SoCal station then I have a question. Does this mean we could possibly see Kelly Curran do the surfing forecast while wearing a Brazilian Swimsuit?
That's a pleasant thought! OLE!
KHIZ is the station that is purporting this to be "local". WSEE does not. WSEE is merely offering content to another station much like a syndicator. Is it WJET's responsibility to tell the viewers that Judge Judy is not from Erie, or ICU's to inform viewers that Entertainment Tonight is not produced in their studios? I bet the receptionists at both stations have taken calls from viewers wanting to talk to hosts from both of those shows. WSEE is utilizing their personnel creatively and creating new streams of revenue. Nothing wrong with that.
You make a good point. but Judge Judy doesn't say anything about Erie while R & R do talk locally about the Inland Empire. (Was that from the 2nd Starwars movie?)
As for Entertainment Tonigh...they do say from Hollywood in every broadcast but I know what you mean.
I think that WSEE should do feeds for all the Lilly stations and that just could happen.
What happens if Raychael or Ray is on vacation? How do you explain Scott Bremner to SoCal? Kelly Curran would be easy to explain since she has that L.A. Hottie Figure!
"The only original, daily newscast based in the High Desert."??
A serious question: Do Raychael and Ray even know where the Evil Empire, err Inland Empire is?
This has pending disaster written all over it. Do viewers in SoCal even realize their live, LOCAL newscast originates in Northwest Pennsylvania?
If you have trouble with your Cadillac you don't take it to a Yugo mechanic! Why should people in California have to get their LOCAL news from a pair of dunces in Pennsylvania?
"I'm Not Going To Pay A Lot For This Muffler!"
In the article there is a picture of Ray and Raychel...and a ghost town. Perfect. That means Ray and Raychel will have has many California viewers as they do in Erie. How funny is that...serving a high desert ghost town ! (LOL)
That ghost town is one of the tourist spots in Barstow. When I saw it I thought it was the studios of KHIZ-TV since their production is done in Erie.
Jack Said: " When NBC does a story on a Unuiversal movie they make sure to say that it is a NBC company.
When CBS does a review of a book published by Simon and Schuster they disclaimer that S&S are sister company."
What does this have to do with anything. If they were reporting on another Lilly owned subsidiary, then your statement would have relevence. They were not trying to show a balanced view on a topic where that disclousure would let the viewer know that there may be some biase. They produce a daily newscast for somewhere in California. What bias is there (actually that show is probably the least biased in the California since the topics in no way effect the the people putting on the show).
If... and I say if R&R do the program and allow the viewers to assume they are in the High Desert or Inland Empire, then that is similar to an ethics violation of basic broadcasting concepts.
Since this is SJL/Lilly... this is in character.
In Cuba etc, the call letters on the broadcast say WSEE Erie. That is one reason why the FCC required call letters and city origination annoucements in the first place. To be honest with the audience.
anonymous:
"from a pair of dunces in Pennsylvania"
&
annie oakley:
"as many California viewers as they do in Erie."
what did Raychel or Ray ever do to you????
just because you have never heard of the inland empire...a place where over a million people reside...(where I'm sure they would love to hear you call it a Nazi Germany camp)....doesn't mean you can slam a new idea in the works. they are getting their local news - do you think they care where it's based out of. they are not getting erie news...so why don't you just call all one million of them and ask..then you can have your bitch fest.
A simple way to correct the false impression would be to say "from KHIZ east coast studios in Erie, PA. " Don't even have to say WSEE.
I don't know why the station would want to hide the fact that they are in or using Erie. What is wrong with Erie that viewers in the Empire would find wrong?
Does WFXP's open say anything about being "from the studios of WJET"? Do the cut-ins that run on WQLN during pledge-drive concerts say that they aren't from WQLN? Do the voice-overs that run on local radio stations during their weekend countdown shows with the actual local call letters read by the national host say anything about the show not being produced locally? While WSEE and KHIZ don't specifically say where the program originates, they also don't say that the program originates in SoCal. If Alan B(rian) duMont wants to split hairs, let's split them evenly.
Because the station breaks on KHIZ say Barsto, the assumption is that any local program carrying local information comes from that city.
I don't see the big deal in disclosure. Why cover it up?
I see nothing wrong with the idea, but in these cirsumstances it seems more like cheap syndication. Oprah started out local, but became so popular she went mainstream.... this is not the case here. I think Rachel and Ray do a fine job, but they are not a brand (hence no call letters!) People who do voiceovers have made a name for themselves, so people seek them out and it's lucrative. I have nothing against a station trying to add more revenue, but have something to show for it, like adding back some staff and boost the Erie newscast first(why do i doubt this will happen)... and above all be honest!
Nobody, including myelf, have hit the real central point. So let me do it now.
This is a news broadcast. It doesn’t make a difference where it is really done. But, since it is a newscast, the central question comes down to credibility. News is all about credibility and being as honest as you can with your audience. If you can’t be honest with your audience in whom you are or where you are, then why should they believe you on the stories you deliver?
Without seamless credibility with your audience, the newscaster themselves becomes questionable and debatable.
It is the central issue and R & R and the executives in power should be asking themselves that question if they want to continue growing in this industry.
The discussion of "seamless credibility" leads one to ask for the same thing from this board. Jack - how about it? Be seamlessly credible and give us the names of your editorial board, so we can "believe you on the stories that you deliver". C'mon Jack, what's good for the goose?
You remember it took Bernstein and Deepthoat himself 35 years to come out. The Washington Post kept the secret well based on confidential sources.
In 35 years, I promise you I will disclose. But it will be a haunting.
The real bottom line is that most of the information was developed from sources not even in Erie.
So then according to your way of thinking WSEE or KHIZ doesn't need to disclose this fact to their viewers until 2041?
Big difference...they are a publically licensed entity with a wider audience than this blog.
Diclosing a source of information and disclosing who you are...totally different.
I disclosed where I am located and who I am. There is no doubt about that. If I choose to keep my sources confidential it is for their protection (as it should be) and I also disclose that.
KHIZ discloses nothing. It is one big Halloween party to them. "I am not what you think I am suckers!"
Not good Broadcasters but you can't expect anything more.
I don't think KHIZ or WSEE intentionally are conducting a conspiracy of silence. I think it’s just stupidity practiced as it was an art forum
First:
Delaying DTV & hiding their full potential
Second:
Caribbean weather forecasts
Third:
California news show
And now what will we learn next about WSEE? Why don't they just concentrate on their hometown and major market Erie just as hard as they do in the caribbean and california?
Last Anonymous Poster:
Those were some outstanding comments. Those of us here at EMGR were wondering the same thing.
Happy Holidays!
Alan B. DuMont
The reason WSEE tries so hard in California and the Caribbean is those people don't yet realize how cheap WSEE is.
Those of us here in Erie get the s**t end of the stick!
I suspect WSEE "tries harder" on the Caribbean & California audiences because they can make more money from those activities, proportionately, than they can directing those resources towards the moribund local Erie broadcast market.
Nothing wrong with that; I wouldn't expect anything less if I was an owner or financial principal of the corporation. In fact, if they didn't maximize their ROI and other financial measures in his manner, I'd be disappointed and upset.
Same as any business which has matured past the "hobbyist" phase, of course.
It's interesting that Jen Boresz, who according to this blog hated WSEE so much that she left, was at the WSEE Christmas party on Friday.
Nice try! WSEE cancelled their Christmas party this year due to lack of money!
So how was the WSEE Christmas party at the Metroplex? Spirits high? It's nice the staff can get together all in one building and get reacquainted. Jen Boresz came back...wow? How about Kim Thomas or Lisa Rzompa?
Assuming that what "anonymous" states about Ms. Boresz'a attendance at the WSEE Xmas party is true, what is so interesting about that occurrence ?
It's not uncommon to change employers (for whatever reason, could be basic career 'advancement', could be dislike of the boss, who knows??) while remaining close social friends with some of your former coworkers. Happens all the time. I think it's a good thing....better than burning your bridges especially in a business like broadcasting or media. It's a small world, after all (tm). Sometimes too small.
Now if you reported on everyone's choice of dance partners at the party, well that **would** be interesting.
Last about Jen B. I never said she hated WSEE or her co-workers at WSEE..just that she didn't want to be a VJ.
That is a big difference.
Uh, Jack, I posted under the KHIZ topic where you're still wrong about why Jen B. left town, and others are wrong about why she stopped back to visit.
Why you are blasting me for moving it up?
Must be part of the
"stupidity of the art forum."
So again tell me how this post is about VJ?
Jen herself never corrected the information and I invited her to do so. Was she really in Erie and Toledo at the same time? That is what one commenter wanted to know.
This is the last time I will allow you to post off topic. I will continue to move it.
I found your news on WSEE's anchors doing double-duty at KHIZ/Los Angeles very interesting. More interesting is the nature of KHIZ in Los Angeles....Does Kevin Lilly own it, or does Multicultural Broadcasting??? (They own Asian-language stations)....
On his Multicultural's website:
http://www.mrbi.net/tvgroup.htm
They claim they own KHIZ!!!! One is lead to believe that the station is a foreign-language station. Now I'm really scratching my head....
I wonder if WSEE is going to kick in for some Berlitz lessons!!!!
Keep up the good work!
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