How does that saying go? The best laid plans of mice and men? However it finishes might describe the dilemma local TV station KSBY found itself in when it tried to broadcast Tuesday night's debate between gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman.
The debate was scheduled for 6 pm. Yet "technical difficulties" meant that KSBY couldn't get a broadcast signal from Sacramento to resend to its viewers. After a quick toss to weather to fill the time a chagrined Richard Gearhart sheepishly explained to viewers that they couldn't get a signal. Somewhat embarrassing in light of the fact that KSBY had touted itself as carrying the debate "exclusively." (KEYT and KCOY had opted to stay with their regular newscasts for the 6 to 7pm slot.)
KSBY then went to a feed of NBC Nightly News to fill the time. Of course Nightly News had already been seen from 5:30 to 6 on KSBY. Finally, at 6:13 pm KSBY had found a work-around for the problem. They put on a live stream of the debate from the Internet. Two minutes later at 6:15 pm they seemed to have a true broadcast signal.
By the way, Gearhart is moving back to mornings where he will rejoin Corrina Corral as co-anchor of the station's "Daybreak" newscast. His place is being taken at 6 pm by John Reger who will be reunited with Jeanette Trompeter, whom he worked with in Minneapolis.
Sound like there was a bigger crowd at BevMo then there was at the West Beach Music Festival this past weekend. It was also a lot harder to find a parking spot at BevMo. It also sounds like BevMo will be around a lot longer than the West Beach Festival.
Ever wonder how much journalists in this town make? Well, at the Daily Nexus, UCSB's independent, student-run newspaper, staff writers, earn $15 an article. Opinion columnists are paid $12 per article and features are worth $20 a pop. Photographers are paid $9 per published photo. The only members of the staff who receive an hourly wage are the copy editors who earn $8 an hour, while editors and assistant editors receive monthly stipends based on their specific titles. This is all according to an article that appeared in Tuesday's edition of the Nexus putting out the call that the paper is seeking new staff.
12 bucks a pop to write the Wednesday Hump? Must be nice work if you can get it.
Matt Bloise, a "correspondent" for the Santa Barbara News-Press reportedly will no longer be writing for the paper. No word on whether he'll be travelling to Denmark and the Netherlands to learn the difference between Danish and Dutch.
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
