While We Were Enjoying the Weather

Odds and ends that came to our attention this weekend…Just 79 Days to Go: Friday night’s “Six Online,” WOWT’s weekly feature allowing idiots to spout off (not to be confused with KMTV's nightly slot featuring a salaried idiot) concluded with a replay of and viewer reaction to Pat Persaud’s “retirement” announcement. Not surprisingly, the two comments making it to air gushed about how much they

Baffling

Wednesday night's big announcement regarding a "familiar face" returning to Channel Sux was even less worthy of airtime than one of their inane live chats. For those of you who can't stand the suspense, the upshot of the whole thing appears to be that creepy, cougary-looking former anchor Pat Persaud now has a webpage.Anchor Tracy Madden and puffy fill-in-for-J-Pa Brian Mastre seemed

Not Over 'Til the Short Lady Sings

What was billed all weekend as a Monday night event—"Pat Persaud: A Look Back"—has mutated into a series. WOWT's website features a crawl saying, "Tomorrow she says goodbye...Join Channel 6 as we look back on Pat's career...'Pat Persaud: A Look Back', Tonight at 10 only on Channel 6 News."As one of our readers commented on another post, Pat's 19 years at Channel 6 warrants maybe thirty seconds of

You Deserve a Break Today

With the Memorial Day closing of the OMA News headquarters and an out-of-town trip consuming Thursday and Friday of next week, our humble little blog will be on hiatus until June 6th. (Party Bonus: We won't have to watch Omarosa's one-woman show!) Having posted something nearly every weekday since mid-February, we figured both you and we needed the rest. Keep the cards and emails comin'—we'll

Friday Night Frights

Gee whillikers. There was no safe haven on Friday at 10 p.m. if you wanted to watch local news. Of course at 3, everything was fine until they decided to soil the screen with the sound and image of Mr. Travis Justice, but the station's regular viewers have likely become numb to this nightly assault on the senses.On Channel 7, Todd Andrews, looking way too much like Phil Hartman's "Unfrozen

Mal-Tard Word of the Day

AW-skers: motion picture awards

bertha sekunda Metro TV News Presenter

presenter cantikpresenter NewsBroadcasting

Bundle up Your Broadband
There are many things to be taken into consideration when choosing a broadband provider, but one of the most common is the extra features you can get with it. Getting broadband on its own is no longer necessary; instead you can receive your phone, TV and mobile phone from the same company.

The Broadband Bundle started in 2007 with Virgin and their "4 for £40" TV, internet, home phone and mobile phone package. Other companies have followed suit and with one company you can even get your gas and electricity along with your home phone and broadband.

But can a broadband bundle save you a bundle? There's no doubt that having all your bills coming from the one provider makes life a lot easier, but can you actually save money by doing so? The best way to find out is to simply assess the options. Say the package you're interested in offers free evening and weekend phone calls and 139 TV channels. This is all well and good if you work office hours and are a telly addict. But if you work nights and hate daytime TV, you're not really going to benefit from this package, in which case a simple cheap broadband package would be more cost-effective for you.

Omaha's Daily Paper Adopts "Breaking News" Fetish

From Thursday afternoon:This may be the most idiotic use of the "Breaking News" crutch we've seen yet. The great thing is that it's from a self-aggrandizing outfit that barely recognizes the existence of the medium it's now imitating.

Dolt

--July 4th highlights from WOWT included soporific reporter Gary Smollen pointing directly at Rosenblatt Stadium's left field wall and saying, "over here in right field."--In a rare instance of self-correction, Channel Sux has edited its blood drive promo, this time spelling replenish properly. Dictionally-challenged anchorette Malorie Maddox, however, still pronounces it "replinish." You can't

Horror

KETV took its turn on the stupidmobile during Sunday night's post-Oscar broadcast.


"What's on your makeup brush?" was the tease leading up to the piece, reported by the station's consumer reporter, Kristi Andersen.


It was hard for us to figure out why anyone thought this was a news story, until well into the report, which featured appearances by a dermatologist who advertises on the station

Pinch Us

If what an alert reader tells us is true, then this is shaping up as one of the most eventful weeks in Omaha TV history (okay, maybe we're exaggerating, but not by much).According to our tipster, KETV morning anchor Elictia Hammond is leaving the station at the end of June to "spend more time with her family."Once dubbed by this blog the Omarosa of Omaha television, Hammond's obnoxiousness has

Not That We're Complaining

At the risk of jinxing a good thing, we'll mention that Pat Persaud has been absent from the anchor desk since March 17th, and that John Knicely's last appearance was on the 18th. We can understand that Knicely might be on vacation, but Pat? Her "retirement" is just 57 days away. How much rest can she need with that on the horizon?But we're not griping. Every day that we're spared one of her "

Separated at Birth: It's Not Just Gomer Anymore

We couldn't help but notice new New York Jets coach Eric Mangini's resemblance to WOWT loud talker Jim Siedlecki.

Schrader Assumes Assessor Post

Omaha broadcasting legend and former longtime KETV anchor Carol Schrader is reported by the local paper to have taken a $50,000-a-year job as a deputy to Douglas County Assessor Roger Morrissey. Schrader, who was widely believed to have been forced out at KETV in 1997 to make room for current anchor Julie Cornell, served as KFAB radio's news director for a year before leaving to do freelance work

Monday Morning Notes

• Based on our comment boards, there's no shortage of speculation about where Kent Pavelka is headed, now that he's no longer hosting the morning show on radio station KFAB. One of the most intriguing suggests that the former Husker play-by-play man might be headed for KMTV. If Channel 3's management decides to pull the plug on the disaster that is sinus sufferer Travis Justice, Pavelka would be

Ejacucast Shoots It in Wrong Direction Again

On Tuesday's 10 p.m. newcast, WOWT Ejacuweather Guesser-in-Chief Jim Flowers made it sound as if an overnight snow and/or rain "event" was inevitable, and that we'd all be driving through significant rain or a thin film of slushy snow on our way to work this morning. Based on Jim's "Precision Forecast," a bettor might have wagered the ranch on it.Now think about your drive to work this morning.

Breaking Down Barriers

At the risk of another pummeling in the comments section, we have to admit that we just can't get Pat Persaud's self-aggrandizing resignation letter out of our heads. In particular, we are taken with her being so "proud to have tackled subjects that were once taboo on tv." Yes, we had forgotten what a trailblazer she was. Some highlights:2005: Pat singlehandedly discovers the dangers behind

Blunders to the Power of a Hard Three Inches

An alert reader notes the ongoing technical glitches at WOWT:I am watching the replay of 6 at Six, and in the middle of Gary Johnson's report on airport security, he stops mid- sentence, the camera pans out, then zooms back in, then he starts over again. This is the second time in as many weeks that I have seen this. Last Tuesday after the "Great Snow Storm of 2005", we saw the second take of

The Real Power of Television

In addition to being an excellent remembrance of ABC Sports legend Chris Schenkel, this post in one of our favorite blogs gives voice to a feeling that many of us of a certain age are having as the greats of TV past fade into the mists of time. (It's the same feeling we got during last night's Emmy broadcast, first with David Letterman's tribute to Johnny Carson, then with the appearance of Tom