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Saturday, February 25, 1995     Page:

Give me that old time news-weather-sports coverage on TV
   
A couple of weeks ago I was channel scanning when I came across three local
news anchors, all on WVIA. At first I thought I tuned into Dante’s Level of
    Hell for Bad Journalists until I discovered it was just a local panel show
commenting on the state of local news coverageAs the panel did contorsions to
pat themselves on the back, I recalled the days of the 15-minute newscast —
before they added a 5 p.m. edition, before they added a lO p.m. edition, and
before they expanded the 11 p.m. newscast to 30 and then 35 minutes~.
   
What exactly do we get now that Tom Powell, Tom Bigler and Franklin D.
didn’t give us in 15 minutes?
   
Maybe it’s the outstanding investigative journalism, or perhaps its the
impressive man-in-the-street reports — you know, where they ask the lady with
two teeth and an even lower I.Q. what she thinks of the President’s Mexican
bailout plan.
   
Could it be the crack meteorologists with the prognosticating skills of
Punxatawney Phil — you know, the people who tell you to stay indoors because
its so cold, to stay off the roads because they’re so hazardous, usually
dispensing this wisdom from the median strip of Route 81?
   
It must be the sports jocks who take more than 20 minutes broadcast time on
Friday nights in the fall. No, I’d be happy to simply hear the scores.
   
How about the local coverage of national events — you know, where they
send Keith Martin to Haiti or Tom Tidey to the dark side of the moon? Nah,
they always bring them back.
   
Of course, The Times Leader is better able to justify sending Steve Corbett
to L.A. After all, the Valley has been clamoring for another story on the
Simpson trial.
   
Forgive an aging baby boomer but, I do wax nostalgic for the old days —
for Joe Scott, for Bill White, for Jerry Griffin, for Uncle Ted, for John Von
Bergen, for Nancy Berg and even Mr. Fortune.
   
Maybe the local stations feel the same way. The news, weather and sports
triumvirate no doubt pays homage to The Three Stooges. The major difference is
that Moe, Larry and Curly were able to make their point effectively in 15
minutes.
   
Carl Pretko
   
Kingston