Happy new year

One critic doesn't like my quick and bland posts. I don't care. I had hoped to do an unspectacular post as a Christmas gift, but there was no Eric Malmberg moment to inspire me. Sorry. 

Two quick thoughts that probably aren't worth more than a tweet. 

I saw a commercial on WCCO this evening. It was promoting the fact Heather Brown was the new morning co-host. I'm not sure why she's being punished, but having to share studio space with Jason DeRusha's ego can't be a treat. 

This announcement surprised me none. She was already chatting away during the 9 a.m. hour, one of far too many hours of host chatter that we don't need. Our world wasn't better off when Sally Jessy Raphael was wasting an hour of our day, but our lust for local chatter can't be that insatiable. And the last thing I want to do is listen to a dude with a receding hairline, who has to remind us he's a food expert, pontificate about local issues. 

Sidetracked by that goof. Can't help it, he's a clown. 

Heather was probably taking her share of morning co-anchor shifts already. I don't know, I kinda quit watching morning news talk when I quit working last spring. I have no idea if they hired anyone new to fill Kim Johnson's slot in the payroll ledger, but I doubt it. I assumed that the new co-host would be somebody on staff, and that likely meant no new hire when they kicked Kim to the curb. I'd be impressed if somebody could document that they haven't cut reporting/anchoring jobs since the pandemic. But c'mon, there's no chance their roster is as robust today. 

What I can't figure out is why the hell it took until January to officially announce one of the early morning staffers in the rotation was filling the seat. The fact that there's a commercial promoting it in mid-January is obnoxious. But TV news is despicable that way. 

I'd also love to know how eager Heather was to sign up for this gig. Did they offer it to her, or did they reassign her to the seat, with no meaningful choice in the matter. I know where I'd bet my last $5. 

Speaking of despicable, newspapers are not immune. I didn't scour the internet, but I do know what's left of the Pioneer Press had some sort of story, at least online, trumpeting that Ken Barlow is the chief meteorologist now that Dave "Dull" has retired after 43 years. (That's an old nickname for him for a crappy old broadcasting forum. It wasn't my idea. And honestly, Dave's boring, gimmick-free style is more desirable 100 times out of 100 than Ian Leonard on his best day.)

Barlow is the old hen at KSTP, so he gets the title, for whatever that's worth. Sounds like he'll remain a morning guy. So is he going to race to the station every time a severe storm blows through the metro? You assume so. Otherwise it would seem that chief meteorologist designation is ceremonial. 

And as part of the big announcement, we learned Wren Clair is going to inherit the prized nighttime newscasts, full time. She had been splitting prime time with Dave, evidently. The fact they are giving her full weeks at this point is not really a surprise, either, unless they were going to call up one of their third-stringers to take Dave's place, and that didn't seem likely. 

The change in job titles and assignments ain't news, but we treat TV people like they're special because we see them on TV, and we're suckers for reading such crap, myself included. Nonetheless, newspapers reporting on job changes at a local TV station: Despicable! But entertaining. 

See also: This.