The Suncoast Chapter’s efforts to build membership in other markets continued the weekend of January 16th with a trip to Baton Rouge! WFOR photographer Manny Alvarez, WINK-TV Anchor/Investigative Reporter Chris Cifatte, Emmy winning producer Reizel Larrea-Alvarez, and WSVN Anchor Craig Stevens hosted “Emmys on the Road” at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Nearly 20 broadcast professionals from throughout Louisiana attended, enjoyed lunch, and had an opportunity to learn more about NATAS, the Emmy process, and what it might take to win a coveted statue. They came from WAFB-TV, WBRZ-TV and Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Baton Rouge, KPLC-TV in Lake Charles and KLFY-TV in Lafayette. The panel also had a chance to view and offer critiques of work brought in by the group.

The attendees broke into three groups. Craig and Chris offered tips to the reporters while Manny critiqued the lighting and cinematography of the photojournalists. Reizel Larrea-Alvarez, discussed news & social media with the producers and offered tips on how to submit Emmy entries.

Once again, the Emmy roadshow was a success! “I certainly enjoyed the workshop, and so did everyone from our station,” said Charlie Winham, PBS Managing Editor and Co-Host of Louisiana: The State We’re In produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting who added, “It was an outstanding session. If you are not a member yet, give it serious
consideration. It is a wonderful organization.”

“I had a totally awesome learning experience. I’m definitely refocused now,” offered Robert Burns, a reporter at KLFY-TV in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Since 2004, Emmys on the Road has also visited Fort Myers, Mobile, Panama City, Pensacola, and Tallahassee. If you’d like information, or you’d like to take part, email Craig Stevens at cstevens@wsvn.com.

Young people who are studying in colleges and universities are the future of our business. The Suncoast Chapter for the past 30 years has raised money to create a Suncoat Scholarship Fund for deserving South Florida students. Our principle source for these funds has been television stations, but, due to the economy, the Chapter needs to solicit funds from all interested sources. Could you help? A donation would be deeply appreciated. If you want to use a credit card, call in your donation to our Chapter Administrator, Karla MacDonald at 954-322-3171, or send her a check made out to NATAS Suncoast Chapter. Write on the check that it is for the Suncoast Scholarship Fund. Mail your check to the following address:

Karla MacDonald
P. O. Box 840738
Pembroke Pines, FL 33084

WWL-Channel 4 announced Tuesday (January 12) that former Times-Picayune reporter Michael Perlstein has been hired as managing editor of the station’s investigative unit.

Attorney and former TV reporter Marcy Planer-Murray, who contributed to WWL’s award-winning investigation of the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership program, will assist Perlstein as researcher for the unit, which will draw on the station’s full reporting, photography and production staff, said Chris Slaughter, news director.

“I think this is a little different move from the way it’s been done,” Slaughter said. “We think this is going to concentrate our resources and result in a better-quality product.”

Perlstein, who worked at the Times-Picayune for more than 20 years before departing in 2006 to become a visiting associate professor of mass communications at Loyola University, will also write stories for www.WWLTV.com and “quite likely” appear on camera, Slaughter added.

WWL also announced Tuesday that Katie Moore will be the station’s solo weekend anchor. A New Orleans native, Moore joined the station as a reporter in 2006.

New WVUE-Channel 8 hire Dawn Brown will team with Chris Franklin for a new weather-heavy 5 a.m. weekday show launching February 1, news director Mikel Schaefer announced Wednesday.

Let go as weekend weathercaster from WWL-Channel 4 last year, Brown will further team and/or alternate with Franklin to make weather contributions to WVUE’s later morning newscast.

The new WVUE weather hour will also incorporate news headlines and traffic reports, and will be framed by new high-definition weather graphics, Schaefer added. The new show isn’t yet titled, and the station is soliciting viewer suggestions on its website, www.fox8live.com.

“This is our first expansion of 2010, one of a number we have in the works at Fox 8,” said Schaefer.

Bill Brooks, a former Palm Beach councilman and retired Channel 5 general manager who obsessed over the Boston Red Sox and loved tending his garden, died Saturday, January 16, 2010 on the island of Curacao, while vacationing with his family.

Born in Boston, MA in 1933, he was the son of a fireman, and graduated from Cathedral High School. He entered the priesthood and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree From Oblate College in Washington, D.C., he later achieved a Master’s Degree in Psychology from his beloved Boston College. He was also the recipient of a fellowship to Harvard University by the National Foundation for the Humanities in 1977.

He came to Florida as an Oblate priest, at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach. Bill was a teacher and counselor at Cardinal Newman and served as a mentor for many young men and women who work and live in the West Palm Beach community to this day.

After leaving the priesthood, Bill married Martha Finnigan in 1972, and began working for Crisis Line, a non-profit organization that provides counseling and suicide prevention. Through his work at Crisis Line, Bill was asked to participate and eventually host an on-going public service talk show on the local NBC affiliate WPTV. In 1975, Bill was hired as the Public Service Director and thus began, Bill’s 23 year career as a broadcaster in South Florida. He was appointed Assistant General Manager in 1979, and subsequently General Manager in 1981, and a Vice President of Scripps Howard Broadcasting in 1986.

For an unprecedented 17 years, Bill distinguished himself as a broadcaster and community leader in his stewardship of the station. In 1984 he established the station’s Food for Families campaign, a six-week food drive to help the homeless and hungry in the community. Twenty five years later the drive continues to help more than 200 agencies in a five county area, feeding thousands in need.

Bill’s tenure as General Manager was distinguished by a period of incredible growth, both in the broadcast industry, and in Palm Beach County. Bill’s philosophy of a strong commitment to public service underscored the success of WPTV, in the West Palm Beach- Ft. Pierce television market. Bill believed the station saw its finest hours when it used the power of the airwaves to help those in need.

After retiring from broadcasting in 1998, Bill began a third career in politics. He ran for and was elected to the Town Council of Palm Beach. He served three successive terms on the council, eventually becoming the Council President.

All three careers; priesthood, broadcasting and local politics, punctuate a remarkable life dedicated to the service of others. No one brought more kindness and humanity to difficult decisions than Bill Brooks. He will be remembered in South Florida and throughout the state, as a man of great intelligence, great humor, great spirit, great faith and a limitless capacity to care for his fellow human beings.

Bill is survived by Martha, his wife of 37 years

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presented the 61st Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards on January 7th to a sold-out crowd of industry executives and innovators at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino as part of the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Launched in 1948, The Technology and Engineering Awards honor development and innovation in broadcast technology and recognize companies, organizations and individuals for breakthroughs in technology that have a significant effect on television engineering.

Harold Crump, Vice President, Hubbard Broadcasting and member of the NATAS Executive Committee, went on to introduce consummate entertainer Jerry Lewis, recipient of the National Academy’s Trustee Award, “An actor, writer, director, innovator and one of the world’s great humanitarians, it brings me great honor and joy to present this to Jerry Lewis, a man of the people,” he said.

A world-class humanitarian, since first committing himself to MDA’s cause in 1951, Jerry has single-handedly turned “muscular dystrophy” into a household term. As National Chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association for nearly six decades, he leads the fight against more than 40 diseases with fierce determination in behalf of the more than 1 million Americans affected by these disorders.

A list of honorees for the 61st Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards is available on the National Television Academy’s website at www.emmyonline.tv/tech.

Add local TV to the list of those whose death rumors have been greatly exaggerated.

The past year has not been a kind one for local TV stations: They were expected to end 2009 with lower-than-expected revenues of $15.6 billion, off 22.4% from 2008, had continued to lose influence among their affiliated networks and were subjected to apocalyptic headlines such as “Local TV Stations Face a Fuzzy Future” (that one came from The Wall Street Journal).

But there is a glimmer of hope for this beleaguered media channel. NBC’s decision to move Jay Leno back to his late-night spot could be seen as a huge victory for the network’s local TV affiliates, who detested the programming strategy as Mr. Leno’s tanking ratings delivered smaller audiences to their evening news broadcasts. Some stations’ local news broadcasts were off 30%—and according to research firm Harmelin Media, three more months of the Jay Leno Show at 10 p.m. would have cost NBC’s 210 local affiliates a collective $22 million. But the affiliates revolted and, in a move that doesn’t come along often these days, the network listened to them and reacted.

Meanwhile, Evan Tracey from TNS Media Intelligence estimates another bright spot is on the horizon in the form of the midterm elections. Ticked off voters, competitive congressional races and crucial gubernatorial contests in states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York could help inject more than $2.6 billion dollars of political ad spending into the market, the majority of it going to local TV. “The high stakes of these midterms and the various special interests with skin in the game will likely create plenty of money to spend on ads,” Mr. Tracey wrote last week in Ad Age.

Local TV stations are arguably better equipped to survive the media transformation than their newspaper counterparts and have an opportunity to reinvest this windfall of good fortune into their future. They should concentrate on broadening their distribution to the places people will be watching in the future—according to Frank Magid Associates, more than half of U.S. mobile phone subscribers want to tune into live, local news broadcasts on their small screen—and they should think of themselves as community hubs and useful digital experiences, taking advantage of the unique asset only they offer: a mass of engaged viewers seeking great, local video content.

CRAIG GOLD to weekend morning meteorologist at WPEC in West Palm Beach, FL. He was previously a meteorologist at KTKA in Topeka, KS.

THALIA HAYDEN moves up 42 markets to multi-media journalist at WPTV West Palm Beach from reporter at WHEC in Rochester, NY.

IRIKA SARGENT, General Assignment Reporter, joins NBC Affiliate WPMI in Mobile Alabama. Irika previously reported for NBC Affiliate KOMU in Columbia Missouri. Irika who is a graduate of the University of Missouri also holds a Law Degree from the Cornell Law School.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Suncoast Chapter

Officers

Dave Game, President, Executive Producer for Digital Media/CBS Stations South Florida
Chip Richards, 1st Vice President, Production Manager, WLRN-TV, PBS, Miami
Craig Stevens, 2nd Vice President, News Anchor, WSVN-TV, Miami
Victor Montilla, Vice President Puerto Rico, President, More Than Media, San Juan
Karla MacDonald, Acting Secretary, Suncoast Chapter Administrator
Betsy Behrens, Treasurer and Trustee, television producer
Bob Behrens, Executive Director, television producer

Board of Governors

Manny Alvarez, Photojournalist, WFOR/CBS4, Miami
Fabio Apelbaum, Graphic Designer, Sherjan Broadcasting, Miami
Teri Arvesu, Executive Producer, Noticias23 Univision
Jeff Barnes, Owner, COO, Big Eyed Fish Media
Giovani Benitez, Investigative Producer, WFOR/CBS4
Holly Brobst, 11pm News Producer, WSVN-TV/7
Jeff Burnside, Special Projects Reporter, NBC6/WTVJ
Abel Castillo, News Photojournalist, WFOR/CBS4
Kathleen Corso, Special Projects Producer, WPLG-TV Local 10
Wendie Feinberg, Managing Editor, Nightly Business Report,
PBS/WPBT-TV/2
Steve Greenberg, Independent Producer/Reporter
Jack Kelly, VP for Production, WPBT, Miami
Reizel Larrea-Alvarez, Producer, I-Zoom
Kevin Layne, Producer & Cinematographer, Forti/Layne Entertainment, Miami
Richard S. Maher, Technical Manager, David Brinkley Studios,
Barry University, Miami Shores
Angela Gonzalez Ramos, Programming & Public Affairs Director, Univision 23
Dan Roujansky, President, Spotlight Media Group, Inc., Miami
Laurie Stein, Producer, I-Zoom
Rodney Ward, Executive Editor of Nightly Business Report and
Senior Vice President of NBR Enterprises

Committee Chairs

Art & Design
Stacey Panson, Graphic Artist, Ft. Lauderdale
Emmy Awards
Spears Mallis, Mallis Enterprises, Inc., Miami
John Mays, Production Supervisor, WFOR/CBS4
Emmys On The Road
Craig Stevens, News Anchor, WSVN-TV, Miami
Membership Development
Tammy Darling, Director, WSVN-TV, Miami
Newsletter
Bob Behrens, Executive Director, Suncoast Chapter
Scholarship
Angela Gonzalez Ramos, Programming & Public Affairs Director, WLTV/Univision23
Web Site
Dave Game, Executive Producer for Digital Media/CBS Stations South Florida

Karla MacDonald, Suncoast Chapter Administrator
Tel. 954-322-3171
e-mail emmysuncst@aol.com

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TUBE TALK is written and published by newsletter editor, Bob Behrens who also is Executive Director of the Suncoast Chapter with design and layout produced by Stacey Panson who also is Chairman of the Art & Design Committee for the Suncoast Chapter. Submissions related to television in the Suncoast region of Florida, Mobile, Alabama, Louisiana and Puerto Rico are welcome. Send to emmysuncst@aol.com.