When I picked up my photography habit, I also subscribed to National Geographic. I love the pictures and thought I could get some inspiration from the pages of the familiar magazine, but sadly it was drowned out by a few recurring themes: secular humanism, the rampant destruction wreaked by the colonizing White Man, the worship of the planet, and tireless devotion to Global Warming. Whee. The first time my subscription came up for renewal, I let it lapse.

Now they’ve picked up another in an endless stream of cliches: the desolate prairie states. You can read this tripe by clicking here. It’s got the usual ingredients: we’re all but driven mad by the incessant wind; people here have always committed suicide because it’s so bleak; and we’re trying to change the name to Dakota to shake the state’s image.

While I have probably taken far more “fallen farm” photos than these jokers have, I’ve never done it to fit an agenda. I’m pretty sure they came out here simply to portray North Dakota the way they see it, and quite frankly I believe they’re wrong. Heck, they couldn’t even remember Minot in their list of cities…how much attention could they have paid to writing an objective piece?

I won’t even go into a lengthy rant about their attempted hit job on our state. No, I think Julie Neidlinger has done a far better job than anyone else could. I encourage you to read her take on the matter. In my opinion, she carries a lot more weight as a writer than any National Geographic hack ever could.

Two days in a row. I don’t have anything against KXMB except for their sensationalism. Yesterday I posted about their rushing to air with accident footage before details were known. Then today they show a 19 year old kid being pulled from an accident and receiving CPR, and this time the ended up dead.

How would you feel if that was your son? Your brother? Your boyfriend or husband? Pretty bad, I’m sure…especially if you found out by watching it on the 6 o’clock news.

I prefer KXMB’s newscasts…I don’t watch much local TV, but if I do it’s KX news. The reason is that I like their coverage of local issues compared to KFYR’s, who has to focus more regionally. But when I saw this story air tonight, they still didn’t have any details of the kid’s health! They even said so. Wouldn’t you want to find out if a guy is dead before you show video of someone pulling him from the snow and starting CPR on him? Apparently not at Reiten Television.

I don’t know what’s going on over there. I wish the sensationalism would simply stop. Hey, you KX folks: show a little restraint. Edit out the footage of the body, at least. Act with a little bit of professionalism, please. Heaven forbid you should rush to air footage of someone you care about some day. Is that what it would take for you to stop and think for a minute?

Upon visiting the KXMB website this evening (a website which syndicates my blog content, by the way) I was met with the top story: a dramatic accident on I-94 in north Bismarck. Complete with video and a slideshow, KX viewers are treated to a dose of sensationalism, KX style. Let me quote anchor Donnell Preskey:

“This is video we just got into our newsroom, and because the accident just happened, we don’t have very much information about it.”

How’s that for journalistic responsibility?

Shots included in this story are of a stretcher with someone’s foot protruding from under a blanket, and the front of the “mangled” (in the words of Ms. Preskey) SUV. While she goes on to say that “initial information” is that there are no life-threatening injuries. Way to wait for solid information, folks.

If I sound pretty ticked about this, it’s because this isn’t the first time I’ve witnessed this kind of irresponsibility by KXMB (or posted about it). My last post on the matter got me threats of a lawsuit from Darrell Dorgan last year, by the way. Regardless, I stand firm in my stance that this kind of reporting is unnecessary and unprofessional.

How would you like to catch a news story about one of your loved ones on TV like this? Since my original post I’ve been contacted by others with similar horror stories of seeing loved ones in media. It isn’t a trivial matter.

While turning on my TV just now I caught the tail end of a KFYR-TV story on this same accident. Apparently their cameras were there, too. But did they run to get it on the air before details were known? I see their website has a story on this (with a shot taken from a distance) with a timestamp of 4:35pm. That means KFYR probably had their story on their 5 o’clock news. The KFYR story has details including the speed of both vehicles, the extent of injuries, and the fact that the payloader involved was travelling legally. In other words, they WAITED.

By the way, I’m not railing on KXMB because I worked for KFYR-TV for all those years. When I watch local news, I watch KXMB. The nature of KFYR’s four-station setup means they have to focus on regional news and don’t go into much detail on local Bismarck-Mandan stories. I love Kevin and LT, tho. I will say that when I was at KFYR, we had written policy against sensationalism. Maybe I can find my old employee manual and send that page to KXMB for inspiration.

Look, folks…we’re in DMA number 158…that’s pretty much the hind end of television. There’s no need to rush to sensationalism just to say “we’re first!” Show a little responsibility. Dashing from accident scene to air doesn’t do your stations or your viewers any favors. Think of the victims’ families…please?

I am a casual football fan, but I have to admit I kept an eye on the controversy surrounding Saturday night’s game. Those who don’t have the NFL Network were peeved that such a historic game would not be available to them for free, and the matter finally aroused the interest of Congress.

I don’t know the motivations behind the whole matter, but a deal was struck to simulcast the NFL Network game on CBS and NBC. Presumably it was to keep Congress off the back of the NFL. I was under the impression that the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 allowed Congress some oversight authority in exchange for granting the NFL anti-trust exemption. So the NFL made a deal with the devil, in the parlance of our times. I was eager to see how it all panned out.

What I saw, in addition to a good football game, was something of a win-win for the NFL Network. They turned it into a three hour commercial for their network. Game interstitials promoted NFL-N exclusives such as draft coverage, game recaps, NFL Films presentations, and the like. And NBC & CBS were forced to carry it! Imagine if the NFL had tried to buy three hours of commercial time…something they got for free Saturday night.

I have NFL Network on my satellite dish, so I’m no stranger to it. Frankly, I think Bryant Gumbel is one of the worst announcers to ever call the game. But I do like a lot of their exclusives, and they were granted access to two national broadcast networks last night in order to promote those exclusives to millions of potential subscribers. I bet there are NFL Network executives laughing themselves silly now that it’s done.

I couldn’t help but wonder what NBC and CBS execs must have thought while watching plug after plug for the NFL Network airing on their networks. I had to chuckle, because I think the NFL Network has every right to do so and were “sticking it to the Man” in a way. I hope they sent NBC and CBS a belated Merry Christmas card, because they got a heck of a freebie: 3 hours of promotional time on TWO broadcast networks during the game of the year, a game which set a historical record for the league. At the same time they got Congress off their backs (for now) and came out looking like the good guys. Good for them.

As you may have heard, read, or watched on FOX Sports Net, the NDSU men’s basketball team rocked the house yesterday afternoon, defeating the Colorado State Rams. I’m told it was a good game, but I wouldn’t know…I was too busy working it, as a tape/replay operator for the network telecast. I busted out my 10mm lens and took some fish-eye pics.

Here’s the little truck we used for the event. Cute, isn’t it? It’s amazing how much stuff can be packed into the back of a truck like this. It’s still bigger than the truck that the local stations use for their state coverage. Not that size matters.

This is the front of the truck, where the director and technical director sit with the producer and graphics guy (his arm is on the right). It’s where communications with the network control center is maintained as well. You can’t read the pieces of tape below the monitors in this small pic, but my name is under the bottom row of one of the racks where the monitors for my decks sit.

This was my office for the day, in the middle of the truck. The EVS operator sat to the left, with his equipment in the left rack, and the tape decks were in the other three. I ran the two controllers you see on the left; I could have done it all with the middle one, but since we were running network commercials airing nationwide, I didn’t want to goof up and hit the wrong button. I ran replays off the tape decks using the middle controller, and ran commercial breaks off the right one.

Around the corner from me was this control area, where a guy controls all the cameras. He would ride iris and color correction controls for all cameras on the fly, so the operators simply had to worry about framing their shots. The only things the camera ops need to handle are zoom and focus, because this technician handles all the rest.

The door pointing out the back of the truck leads to this room, where all audio is handled. My buddy Jamie appears in this pic, although I didn’t ask if I could show his face…so I didn’t. He’s on the two-way radio with audio technicians around the basketball floor, as they are placing wired and wireless microphones to capture game noise. They also take care of setting up the headsets for the talent calling the game.

We had a good show. Naturally I caught a wild cold a couple of days before the game, as is customary for me. I cranked the heat in my hotel room and dried out my nose something fierce, then woke up at 4am to chug some Theraflu. That was all it took. I got to work with a great crew of guys and gals. I also got some swag, of course, but didn’t photograph it. I’m grateful every time my phone rings with a job like this, because it’s fun to get paid for what I enjoy doing most. I can’t wait until the next one!

This month’s Dakota Beacon looks promising, starting with the cover! Just kidding…the photo chosen by the publisher for this month’s issue comes from my “Occident by Accident” post from late September. But it really does look like there are a lot of interesting articles featured this month.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Beacon, you can find a FREE trial issue at many gas stations, the Donut Hole, Denny’s, and various dispenser boxes around town. You owe it to yourself to take one and give it a good read. I’m always eager to see the offerings of various North Dakota authors as well as some nationally syndicated columnists.

Of course, I must suggest that you subscribe if you like it. Sure, there are trial issues available every month, but putting out a magazine isn’t free. I suggest sending publisher Steve Cates the meager subscription fee to help him keep the Beacon running. I do!

Remember the funniest guy ever heard on Bismarck-Mandan radio?  His name is Bruce Elscott, and the guy is just plain hilarious.  Too bad he’s no longer in town.  I remember when we both worked for Meyer Broadcasting, although we never really bumped into each other much.  I also remember seeing Bruce at the state capitol grounds a couple of times at night, back when that was a popular hangout.  Nowadays I believe you’ll get in trouble for loitering at the capitol after dark, and Bruce has moved on before the dismantling of the Meyer empire and Y-93 took a permanent nose dive.

I was digging through old sound files on my computer when I found this one, which was a parody Bruce did while goofing around.  I’m not sure if it actually made it on Y-93 or not…but here it is:

If you don’t see play and volume controls, roll over the bottom of the picture with your mouse and they should appear.

I keep in touch with Bruce on Facebook from time to time to let him know that Bismarck remembers him (and the glory days of Y-93).

Okay, now I’m craving one of their famous pepperoni bread-bakes, as happens every time I think of Bread Poets Baking Company. Jon Lee, the owner of the company, is featured in the current issue of City Magazine and is to be commended for his steadfast testimony to his Christian faith in the article.

For some time now I’ve posted a link to Jon’s Evangelical Musings blog on this site. We have some good mini-discussions on there from time to time. Look under the Links heading on the right-hand column of this page, unless you’re reading this article on one of the sites that syndicates my blog. In that case, come directly to my site for the link.

I’m not trying to exalt anybody, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Jon wouldn’t want that. I just want to say, “I stand with you!” and thank him for his boldness.

The last paragraph is scanned into the image at the head of this entry, but you can find the entire article in the free magazine, which is available all over town in local businesses as well as dispensers. Pick one up today! If you can’t do that, click here to download a PDF version.

I very tearfully remembered today that it’s been five years since the loss of Mike Holwegner, one of the best friends I ever had in the television business. Mike died of a heart attack on October 8th, 2002 on his way to work his typical 4:30am shift. Mike had been at KFYR-TV 29 years, almost 30. I worked with him for over ten of those, and couldn’t think of anyone in the business who could ever make me laugh like he did.

I have truckloads of fond memories of Mike, as does everyone who got to work with him. For many years it was Mike, Al Gustin, and myself taking care of business at KFYR-TV through the early morning until the rest of the gang started to work their way in during the “normal” hours. Perhaps it was that 4:30am shift that gave Mike his unique sense of humor. I would substitute for him as director for the Country Morning and Noon Report shows, and I couldn’t imagine working at 4:30 every morning! But then again, I was working overnights. That made us quite a pair.

Mike was like a dad to me as well as a friend. I could confide in him through some pretty crazy times, and I still miss him very dearly. Most of the true veterans of television in the Bismarck-Mandan area have since moved on, and many of them have stories of Mike Holwegner that still bring smiles to their faces.

Brenda Scholten and I put together a little good-bye to Mike that we aired during Country Morning in 2002, and I saved a copy. I’ll put a Flash Video version of the video below. Although it’s been five years, I miss him so badly and wish I could hear his jokes or funny made-up songs. Here’s a tribute to Mike Holwegner.