Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

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At least that is the way one KCBS insider describes the atmosphere, now that David Woodcock was named as the new GM yesterday. I suppose the reality is setting in that a new General Manger often means a new news director, which often means more changes. Apparently there is particular concern that Woodcock who was GM at KCOP up until last week, will bring over KCOP news director Larry Perret, who used to be news director at KCBS, until John Severino came along and replaced Perret with Roger Bell. I'm told some folks are saying they'll quit if Perret comes back. Depending on who they are of course, I would think that could be a good thing.

I have to believe KCBS will be better off no matter who the news director is, simply because John Severino is going. This is the man who brought in Mike Boguslawski, and put Woman 2 Woman on the air. He seemed to have a problem realizing what big mistakes he made. Without Severino, certainly Boguslawski's days at channel 2 have got to be numbered. Hopefully that silly "station of the people" slogan will also be history soon. One thing that SHOULD change, but probably never will, is the excessive promotion of Survivor and Big Brother during newscasts. I know how unsettling it is when a new boss comes in. But based on what I see, and what I hear, this is a station that needs a good shake up.

It wasn't the kind of huge numbers we often see, but chase coverage from Monday night clearly helped increase the audience for KTLA AND KTTV. KCOP didn't join the chase until about 10:45, and it didn't seem to help them. Oddly, KCAL which normally revels in chases as much as anyone, didn't cover it all, and their ratings certainly reflect that. As I recall, KTLA started their coverage somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30. I'm not sure what time KTTV jumped in.

	KTLA	KTTV	KCOP	KCAL
10:00-10:15	4.1	4.4	3.3	2.6
10:15-10:30	3.9	3.8	2.8	2.3
10:30-10:45	5.2	5.7	2.5	2.3
10:45-11:00	5.3	5.3	2.0	1.4sports

It's always interesting to watch anchors and chopper reporters fill the time. Talking about spike strips, wondering what the guy is wanted for, commenting on his driving. The commentary can be one long cliche. But on Monday night, Hal Fishman and chopper photog/reporter Alex Calder gave us a new chapter, as they discussed what kind of car it was. Calder thought it was an MR2....Fishman didn't think so because it was hardtop. Calder said from his angle is looked like an MR 2, and went into some detail about the rear of the car and the headlights. Never mind how this thing ends, I have to know what kind of car it is! Later, Fishman acknowledged that MR2s are hardtops, and so YES, it was an MR2! But the reality is, the debate over the kind of car wasn't so bad, since it gave us something new to think about, besides which police agency is now leading the charge. And I should say Calder did an excellent job overall, and apparently correctly speculated that a spike strip earlier didn't work because the car was going too slow. It was refreshing to see the CHP come in and do the pit maneuver to end the chase. I hope the LAPD was watching.

Naked News, the website which features naked newscasters, was holding auditions in LA last week. A fluff story related to sex....how could shallow LA news resist that? What I want to know is, was there any station which managed to cover the story without non-creative writing, like 'we'll have the bare facts?' Ugh. The funniest line in all the coverage I saw came in a story on KCOP. It came from a woman representing Naked News, as she explained what they do. She said how "being naked means you're coming from a place of truth." What a load of crap that is. I just wonder how she kept a straight face when she said it.

More than two years after an LA Police officer shot and killed an old woman who threatened him with a screw driver, the LA DA's office had decided not to file any charges against the officer. For those of you who followed the story, I'd like to do a mini-poll on this. By the way--for LA readers--since when is La Brea Avenue part of the Fairfax District? That's the general locator that KABC-TV used to describe the place of the shooting. What did they do? Look at a map...see Fairfax Avenue about a mile away and say 'hey close enough!' Having grown up 5 blocks from LaBrea, I can't remember ever hearing the Fairfax District extending so far east. Hey, folks at KABC, why couldn't you just call it "La Brea Avenue?" At least you would've been accurate.

You know, I couldn't make this one up. After Ben Affleck went into rehab last week, KCOP interviewed a fan who said that Affleck would be all right. And the name of this woman?.....Heroine Blue Sky.

On CNN Headline News yesterday, anchor Miles O'Brian practically apologized before reporting on some heat related deaths. He said something like 'I know it's August, and it's hot just like every summer. We weren't going to do any heat stories, but....."

It was refreshing to hear someone acknowledge on the air how silly these annual 'it sure is hot' stories are. While doing a routine heat story yesterday on KCAL, I was glad to at least hear reporter LeAnne Suter mention that this is August, hottest month of the year. It sounded like she was trying to also acknowledge that hot days in August are not exactly unusual.

I'm afraid local TV has really become sloppy when showing old video, and not properly labeling it as "file." After Prince Charles was hurt last week, KCAL showed file video of him walking with one of his kids, but I never saw anything to indicate it was old video. KTLA on the other hand, did properly label the same video as "newsfile." How tough is it to do that one right?

I'm asking whether you feel Andrea Thompson is qualified to anchor for CNN. I'm also asking whether you would voluntarily pay a small annual fee to keep OTR going. Please head to the poll section on the menu and let me know how you feel.

On KCOP last week, Gina Silva did a story about how a braid hair style has spread beyond the black community and gone main stream. As part of the story, she interviewed a Beverly Hills hair stylist. Yet, we never saw one woman in Beverly Hills wearing this style. Not in a beauty salon, and not on the street. The best video they had to make the point was a teenage girl who was trying on some fake braids. I am not here to say what style is popular and what isn't. I wouldn't know. But I do know that if you're doing a story and trying to make that point, you need some visual evidence to show that you know what you're talking about. Otherwise, it comes off like that silly story Lauren Sanchez did not too long ago, suggesting that women going braless was some sort of major new trend.

If you watch the KABC Sunday Morning news, you see a sports report from Rob Fukuzaki recorded the night before...not that they would ever tell you that it was recorded Saturday Night. Anyway, recently Fukuzaki slipped and said "today" when he should have said "yesterday." He caught himself, and quickly made the correction. I know that re-doing sports for the next morning has got to be a pain in the butt on a Saturday Night. But, I would suggest if you slip up and forget what day you're broadcasting for, you should start over and do it again. With a mistake like that, however brief, it tends to remove any illusion that we're watching a live report.

In honor of Bill Mazeroski being inducted into the Hall Of Fame, I figured I'd throw out a little trivia question...just for fun. When the Pirates won the Series in 1960, who was his team mate who was MVP and batting champ that year. And that player's winning the batting title was one of the most dramatic I can remember. Can you tell me why? You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com.

KTLA's Mindy Burbano said that 'ironically', Ben Affleck had just played a recovering alcoholic in a movie. NO. That would be a coincidence. I'm telling you, before any reporter is hired in LA, they should be required to know the meaning of ironic. Of course if that were a pre-requisite, we'd have some pretty empty newsrooms.

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.