Since an Erie station is experiencing financial problems, I want to help them with selling one of their assets, their building. It has been listed since last October for a reported figure of about $625,000. http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/ProfileSE.aspx?LID=14392054&linkcode=1070&sourcecode=1lww2t006a00001)
The listing states that they are relocating. Can everyone fit at 35th and State? I don't think there's enough room except for maybe a station manager, general sales manager and his wife. (What…no room for a movie star, professor or Gilligan?)
If truth be known, the facility at 13th and Peach is perfect for an enterprising station operation. The studio is big enough to handle 4 or 5 different sets. Many years ago I used to produce a cooking program for the Dairy Institute of the Erie Area at Christmas time. I was the one responsible for the overhead mirror on the kitchen set. What terrific shots we got and thousands of requests for recipes from the area and Canada. Those were the days and it was simulcast on all 3 stations.
The previous owners had even added a state-of-the-art production and editing suite for Paul Gibbons who was one of the more talented shooters and editors in town. No other station had the room for full operations as WSEE. For me, it was like my second home after my office on West 6th.
It is too bad that it has been scaled down to a skeleton of its former self. With its current limited operations and reduced staff, I guess it would be too big for what has become a closeted operation.
I am also concerned that the move to save money may also mean that news cameramen may be a thing of the past as well. The newest thing to spring up in the last 5 to 8 years has been what's called, VJ's., video journalists. (OK…who thought it meant "Victory Over Japan?") Essentially, what VJ is, instead of sending a producer, reporter and cameraman to the scene of a news event, you just send one. The reporter, equipped with a super portable ENG camera, shoots/interviews and edits the story themselves. You just saved two salaries. Those who have done it tell me that the burnout factor is very high. I can believe that. When you have burnout, the byproduct is a reporter with little motivation to tell nothing but the bare essentials of the story. "Got to pack-up and get to the next one," they tell me.
From the earlier comments posted here, it seems to be no secret that the news department at 13th and Peach is already under a strain with cutbacks in every corner. You can tell the difference in the news quality of the same story by comparing WJET/WFXP and WICU with WSEE. The reporters at the former have more quality time to explore the meaning of the event and share it with the viewers.
My hope is that WSEE doesn't take the VJ route. Then again… perhaps it already has!
When will the next shoe drop? Stay tuned.
"Congress passed a law on February 1, 2006, setting a final deadline for the DTV transition of February 17, 2009. Most television stations will continue broadcasting both analog and digital programming until February 17, 2009, when all analog broadcasting will stop.” FCC ww.dtv.gov
Just 18 Days To Go Before WSEE DT Channel 16 Construction Permit Expires.
3 comments:
If anyone is interested in the building, I'm a Realtor with Prudential Advantage Realty in Erie. I'd be more than happy to help any buyer.
Here's the detailed listing info.
Dennis...thanks for the detailed listing.
yodakuke...
You are right about those situations but many times they were the exceptions. I have been interviewed by most of them and all alwasys had a shooter. But your comment about the "coiffed and cluelss reporter" just comes from being thrown into a situation without paying their dues under an experienced reporter. Unless they have natural talent, what you see is what you get.
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