Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

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KNBC has announced that it will be airing the new Dr Phil show at 4pm in September 2002. A copy of their news released has been forwarded to OTR. It says in part "Dr. Phil is an extraordinary talent. Judging by the ratings he
currently receives for his weekly appearances on "Oprah," it is very
evident that his humor and honesty are extremely well received by viewers. The show will be a wonderful addition to our line-up," said Paula Madison,
President and General Manager, KNBC. "

Apparently Madison's thinking is that folks will jump from Oprah at 3pm on KABC to Dr Phil McGraw on KNBC at 4pm. She may be right. But it is worth noting that the news release says nothing about killing an hour of news! And if Madison is wrong, then KNBC could be in a world of hurt. It is a gamble I would think, but obviously one that Madison feels comfortable making. Given the repetition of local news from hour to hour, I have some sympathy with her thinking. Unless someone else decides to jump in....that will mean KABC will have the only 4pm news in LA. Will the rest of LA sit back and let KABC own the 4pm hour for news? If Fox is looking to do something different with KCOP news---assuming there will still be some sort of news on KCOP ---that might be the place to do it. I would be very interested in hearing what you think about KNBC's decision-including those of you who work at KNBC. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com.

We've had emails complaining about recent cutbacks, but it looks like those layoffs weren't enough to save the station. Adelphia Southern California Vice-President Bill Rosendahl announced today that they are pulling the plug on OCN on September 7th. The decision was announced to the news staff at a morning meeting. A news release from OCN said "Adelphia has been concerned about the financial performance of OCN for many months. Despite investments to make this service viable, the financial picture has not improved. Adelphia said it could no longer subsidize the losses that the service is sustaining."

On the phone Bill Rosendahl told me "It’s a sad day for all of us. I've been proud of OCN, its impact on local news and.... empowering people." He says they were trying to do a quality product. The decision leaves 67 fulltimers and 30 parttimers out of work. Rosendahl says the fulltimers will be paid through September, and after that their severance packages will kick in. He said the minimum amount of severance will be one month of pay. For others it may be several months worth. He said some parttimers will also get severance.

OCN was started in 1988 by the Orange County Register. They eventually sold it to Century Cable. Adelphia took over 22 months ago when they bought Century. I had an emailer tell me recently that he believed OCN was looking for a cable partner to help keep it afloat. Rosendahl says that is not true.

He says the red ink was flowing in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars each month. It was available on all Orange County cable TV systems. On September 7th he says, "the continued bleeding will stop."

Today was the last day for KCOP General Manager David Woodcock. Considering that News Corp has just taken over, it's not exactly a big surprise. A KCOPer tells OTR that Woodcock thanked the newsroom for doing a such a good job, and that he is proud of their accomplishments. He didn't announce any plans. I'm told a Fox exec will be there tomorrow to talk to the staff.

This is probably a good time to mention that a couple of months ago, a source at KCOP told me that Fox would be disbanding the KCOP news department in June. Of course that didn't happen, since the sale of the station was only okayed last week by the FCC. I've not had any further information about that, so I don't know what will happen next. Certainly tomorrow would be a good time for Fox to lay their cards on the table. I'd appreciate it if you KCOP folk could send me an email and let me know the latest after Tuesday's meeting.

How do you justify promoting a new movie--a theatrical release--on the cover of TV Guide? I always thought the cover was related to things on television. After all, it's not called Movie Guide, is it? At first, I figured it was just an attempt to cash in on the hype of the latest Hollywood film. But soon it all began to fall into place. Planet Of The Apes is a 20th Century Fox movie. Nearly 40 percent of Gemstar-TV Guide is owned by News Corp. Yes it is all part of the Murdoch empire. It just seems like an abuse of the marketing power of TV Guide, which is the most popular weekly magazine in America.

Then this morning, The Fox News Channel was interviewing Charlton Heston about his appearance in the Planet Of The Apes. I guess for Fox that would be a two-fer. They get to promote one of their movies, and accomplish that while talking to the president of the NRA. What could be better? Just when you thought AOL Time Warner or someone else was running the media world! No, it's News Corp. No, it's Viacom. No, it's Disney. No, it's AOL Time Warner. She's my sister (whack!), she's my daughter( whack!), my sister (whack!), my daughter! WHACK!

KTLA entertainment reporter Mindy Burbano has a role in the new movie "The Princess Diaries." I don't recall her part, but I'm sure she's not playing a reporter. I understand the rule for all other KTLA reporters is that if they get a part in a movie, they must portray a reporter. I emailed news director Jeff Wald to double check about the rule, but he did not respond.

Maybe this is just a subtle way of admitting what is obvious to viewers. Burbano is more of an actress in waiting, than a journalist. Maybe neither KTLA management or viewers care. That would be very unfortunate. In her letter here last week, Mindy warned me about her appearance in the movie. And last night, KTLA did a story with actors commenting on how good Burbano was in the movie! This is not Sam Rubin clowning during the KTLA Morning News when he played a reporter in America's Sweethearts. This is a mainstream prime time LA TV newscast, where they devoted a story to promote the acting career of one of their "reporters." I think it's just BAD TV journalism. I'll bet some people at KTLA agree with me.

By now, I don't have to tell you that KCBS has no shame when it comes to promoting its prime time programming in its newscasts. But I never to want to get so used to low standards of TV journalism that they're no longer worth pointing out because they're so commonplace.

On an 11pm newscast last week, they led with the fact that one of the contestants on Big Brother had once been involved in a minor crime in Hollywood. Of course they didn't call it minor. As Harold Greene asked, was he "mastermind of a famous Hollywood crime?" Don't you like that? "mastermind"..."famous".....sounds like a big deal, doesn't it? Turns out this guy snuck his way onto a movie set, and took some unauthorized photos of actors with a hidden camera on the "Batman and Robin" set. That was a "famous Hollywood crime?" And when Juan Fernandez finished his story, he let us know that CBS knew about this when they picked him to be on the show. So exactly what is the story? And even if you think it is a story, is it a lead?

The Smoking Gun website broke the story. I wouldn't be surprised that if you could trace where they got it, it would lead you back to CBS. You don't think they really mind this publicity, do you? Needless to say, good old O&O KCBS is always there to help.

A letter to the LA Times from a former member of the Standells ("Dirty Water") made a very good point, which we in the news media should all consider. He wondered why groups like 'N Sync are called a boy "band." After all, don't you have to play instruments to be a band? Just last week, I also mistakenly used the popular term "boy band." One thing the letter didn't deal with was why this inaccurate term is used. Of course the answer is so easy, and so stupid. Alliteration. I hate to be a nattering naybob of negativism, but we as a society in general, and media members in particular, tend to gravitate toward alliteration and rhyme, whether they make sense or not. What about "no way, Jose?" 'geeze Louise?" Pretty stupid if you think about it. But when you start sacrificing accuracy for something which seems to more easily flow from the tongue, that is far worse. So...no more of this "boy band" stuff. Are we agreed? The motion is carried.

Since I requested advertising a couple of weeks ago, Jake Downey is the first to put a little faith in OTR, and more importantly, in the OTR audience. I hope that any of you who may be in need of his type of service will give him a call. It would be a nice way of supporting this web site. I've also had some other inquiries about buying some ad space, so I'm hoping JDnewsie is the first of many more to come.

Along those lines, with so many TV folk reading this, it's occurred to me that this could be good place for people looking for jobs and those who're hiring. My idea would be to keep the price pretty cheap for a job ad, and go for volume. Say 15 dollars a month? If you're interested, send me an email at BRUIN74@aol.com.

I keep hearing and reading about stem cell research, but I rarely see an explanation of what a stem cell is. In fact the only one I recall hearing came from a Dilva Henry report on KCAL. I went to the NIH web site, and naturally found that it is complicated. But for something which is taking up so much space and airtime, shouldn't there be more time explaining what we're really talking about? Anyway, since this is a big deal now, it seems like a logical poll question for the OTR audience. So please head to the poll section on the menu.

I was listening to Rick Williams doing a traffic report last week during Mr KABC's show. When it came time to mention the city of San Juan Capistrano, he accidentally said "San Juan Crapistrano." It was clear that Mr K was listening to the report, as he interrupted Williams to ask him what he just said. It was bad enough that a stray "r" found it's way in the worst possible place, but leave it to our friend Mr K to draw attention to it. Hey, I can't blame him. This one was pink elephant in the room that would've been hard to ignore. Reminds me of a time at KMPC, back in the olden days, when I heard Art Kevin say "New York shitty." At least the city Art offended was three thousand miles away. Live broadcasting...these things happen.

You may've heard the story by now, about a contest a number of Hooters restaurants were having in Florida. The waitress who sold the most beer for one month in this particular region would win a Toyota. When it came time to be given her prize, the winning waitress was given a toy yoda, as in a toy in the form of the Star Wars character Yoda. The waitress has quit, and is suing Hooters, demanding they give her a real Toyota. I hope she wins, and I'd like to see some punitive damages too. What a stupid joke to play on your workers! And yes, imagine the humiliation when you think you're about to be presented with a new car, and sudden you get a toy. HA HA? Not funny.

Besides working for KABC, KCOP and KCAL, maybe Neki should add the police department to her list of employers. Why not just say "many" times or "several" times?

They are always welcome. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your comments are for publication.

As this web site evolves, it seemed like a good idea to offer my services for speaking engagements at colleges, service clubs or anyone else interested in the OTR gospel. Of course one of the great advantage to speaking in person is that you get far few typos. If you check the OTR On the Road page on the menu (Netscape users CAN now access it too), you can see learn more. You can also read what some well known OTR readers have to say about this web site. If you are interested, you can email to OTROnTheRoad@aol.com.

Ron's disclaimer: Like all reporters I have opinions. I do the best I can to make sure that nothing I say here has any effect on my objectivity in covering stories.

OTR's main page IS PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY. Letters are added Tuesday - Friday.