The Listening Post

February sweeps are here again—that time when local TV news teams try for special reports which might hook just a few more viewers to add to the ratings numbers.

KXAN-TV took advantage of its Sunday NBC SuperBowl/The Voice connection to hype its major investigation into alleged financial shenanigans at a local youth football league, set to air Monday, February 6. The series features Chief Investigator Chris Willis.

The competition started Thursday and Friday, February 2 and 3, with investigations into non-working private fire hydrants, citizens who sneak into the State Capitol while skipping the metal detectors on the main entrances, a puppy mill selling sick dogs, and kids not ready for kindergarten.

All four stories did provide a public service. No fluff.  But for promotional purposes to lure viewer eyeballs, the choice was fairly obvious. Cute kids and cute puppies are going to win on television every time over buildings and fire hydrants.

In a close decision, my wife and I chose the kids over the dogs. To us, the in-depth report by KXAN-TV’s Doug Shupe, based on a recent report by the United Way Capital Area “Success By 6” program, highlighted a  serious matter. The report showed that many Central Texas children are behind before they ever reach their first classroom. They are lacking in communication, problem solving and fine motor skills, according to the report.
United Way and Samsung will provide nearly 200 families with tablet computers and wireless internet access at home in an effort to help busy parents do better. They also plan parent/child reading sessions and parent training in early education at local libraries as a result of the study.

KVUE-TV is now calling its investigative team, “The Defenders.”  In a two part series, stretched longer than it needed to be, chief investigator Keli Rabon exposed an alleged Austin puppy mill which had sold a number of dogs which died soon after sale. The piece included undercover footage which added little. The facts were enough—the owner had already had his dogs taken away from him once in San Antonio where he was charged with animal cruelty. With tips on how to pick a dog seller and a promise from state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez to introduce new legislation to go after dog sellers, the story may bring some positive results.

In third place, we put the Capitol security story by Lisa Leigh Kelly, an “exclusive” on KEYE-TV. Kelly and her photographer had no trouble nailing numerous Capitol visitors who merely “piggy-backed” on someone with a security pass to dart into one of the side doors, thus skipping the metal detectors at the main entrances. Most disturbing was the fact that DPS Capitol police claimed to know all about the security “weak link,” yet did nothing about it. Hopefully, the exposure on KEYE will spur some action.

Finally, KXAN’s Thursday investigation into non-working fire hydrants on private property was informative. Investigative Reporter Erin Cargile presented good detail, but unfortunately, the facts indicated the problem was not that severe.  After testing 3,400 hydrants, only 82 still do not work. The rest will be tested, so the problem is being handled. The video was not exciting–seen one hydrant you’ve seen them all. Strange to me that KXAN didn’t choose to feature the excellent kids story on the first night of ratings and come back with the fire hydrants Friday.

What do you think?  Did you see any of these stories?  Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Please comment.

First in a series

Troy Kimmel

When Troy Kimmel started doing weather on television at KBTX-TV in Bryan/College Station in 1978, he had two maps on the wall with a glass cover and a magic marker.

“After each newscast, we would take a can of Comet and a spray bottle and scrub down the glass so that we could draw new maps for the next show,” Kimmel laughs.

Kimmel, 54, and the weather equipment have come a long way since he started his television career while still a student at Texas A&M.  Today, as KEYE-TV’s chief meteorologist, the weather graphics are all done automatically. He says his number one job remains the preparation of the forecasts.

“With the system doing the technical part, I have more time to do the analysis and the forecast,” Kimmel said. “My forecasts are very good, but still never perfect.”

He describes Central Texas weather as unique, with dry air coming up fromMexico, moist air from the Gulf and cold air from the north. As a result, he says it’s a little more challenging to follow all the changes and a little more difficult to forecast here.

Kimmel describes himself as a “conservative” forecaster, meaning he continues on with his previous forecasts until something changes in the weather patterns which forces him to adjust. He says predicting the weather seven days further out is difficult.

“I’m a laid back kind of forecaster who enjoys spending time with viewers and teaching them about the weather,” Kimmel said.

That fits with his other career. Since 1988, he has been Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and the Environment at theUniversityof Texas, where he teaches two classes. One lower division course, “Weather and Climate,” generally has 280 students while an upper division course, “Severe and Unusual Weather” is capped at 30 students to facilitate discussion. When a major weather event occurs, like the recentAustintornado, Kimmel throws out the syllabus and concentrates on the breaking news.

Weather is featured prominently at all fourAustinstations. At KEYE, Kimmel gets :45 for his first weather near the top of the news show and 3:30 for the main weather. Is it justified?

“Yes, weather is the draw for local news,” Kimmel said. “On the 10 p.m. news, we help people get prepared for their upcoming morning hours.”

Kimmel says he and his competitors on the other stations know each other well and talk on a regular basis.  He adds that in some markets, weather talent contracts forbid interaction with the competition, something he would hate.

He says he decided on weather as a career back in elementary school. He was born inKilgore,Texas, moved with his family toMississippi, then returned toTexasand graduated fromSan MarcosHigh School.

After beginning his TV career while still in college, he left College Stationfor KVUE-TV inAustin in 1984, one year after earning his Texas A&M geography degree. For almost 10 years, he worked with current KEYE co-anchors Judy Maggio and Ron Oliveira at KVUE.

“Judy and Ron are like family,” Kimmel said. “I have the utmost respect for them and I love ’em.”

Kimmel believes in a diversified career. In 1993, he left KVUE to start a new position as chief meteorologist with the Lower Colorado River Authority. He reentered Austin TV with KTBC-TV  in 1994 when it was still the CBS affiliate before switching to its current Fox ownership. With KEYE now the CBS affiliate, Kimmel jokes that he may be the only person to have worked at both Austin CBS stations.

Kimmel also began working at KVET radio in 1997, which he continued until 2010. During that time, he did two tours of relief work for KEYE from 1998-1999 and from 2000-2003, before rejoining the station fulltime in 2009.

Kimmel is qualified as a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the American Meteorological Society. In addition, he holds his Radio and Television Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society and his Television Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association.

He says he prefers working in a smaller market.

“Times have changed,” Kimmel said. “Not so many people are trying to climb over each other to get to a bigger market.”

Is Troy Kimmel a “ham” who seeks the limelight?

“Whether you like it or not, you’re in the limelight,” Kimmel said. “If I’m a ham, I hope someone hits me upside the head so that I’m not so full of myself.”

Kimmel is a big believer in community involvement. He enjoys visiting schools to talk to kids and is a member of the Austin Police Department’s Civil Defense Battalion and the Community Emergency Response Team.

Ashley Goudeau

If you want to work at Austin’s KVUE-TV news, a good bet would be first to get a job at KCEN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Waco. With the hiring of reporter Ashley Goudeau, KVUE News Director Frank Volpicella has turned to his “farm club” for the fourth time in recent years.

Goudeau, who starts today, joins fellow KCEN alums, anchor/reporter Jade Mingus, digital reporter Rebekah Hood and photographer Erin Coker, all of whom made the U-haul trek south on I-35 in recent years.

Like reporter Jessica Holloway, who began work at KVUE on January 10, Goudeau, 27, is a native of the Houston area. She’s a 2006 cum laude graduate of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and first worked on the assignment desk at KIAH-TV, the CW station in Houston. Goudeau moved to KCEN in 2007 to begin her on-air career as a general assignment reporter.

“This is an exciting opportunity,” Goudeau told me. “Frank Volpicella has built a very successful newsroom, and I’m looking forward to whatever I will be doing here.”

Goudeau  fills a vacancy created when reporter Noelle Newton left for Fox 7 News in November. KVUE appears to be fully staffed now, no small feat in this era of revolving doors for local TV reporters.

Has anybody noticed that anchor Brian Sanders and weather guy David Mazza are doing an excellent job on the weekend morning news on KXAN-TV? Sanders’ fulltime job is as a sports reporter and Mazza is a freelancer. News Director Michael Fabac does not have either job listed as available on the station’s website. Is he going to make the Sanders-Mazza pairing permanent?  He didn’t respond to my question about this.

Has anybody noticed that Fabac has also not hired anyone to replace co-anchor Chris Willis nor weatherman Shawn Rutherford on the weekday mornings? A November 23 news release announced Willis as the new lead investigator for KXAN and quoted Fabac that he would be recruiting a replacement. Rutherford was let go on January 6. Not a serious problem for now with Willis continuing on the show, the veteran Sally Hernandez co-anchoring and Natalie Stoll reporting weather. They do a fine job, professional but very friendly at the same time. The problem is that KXAN is down to just two fulltime weather staffers—Stoll and long time evening weather star, Jim Spencer. Fabac is advertising for a new morning weather person on his website to replace Rutherford. He did respond to this question, says he’s making progress, and asks that we stay tuned.

Has anybody noticed that KEYE-TV news is barely scraping by in the interim period since new owner Sinclair Broadcasting took over in early January? News Director Suzanne Black is down to just four fulltime reporters who do not also have anchor duties, and two of them do have other responsibilities. Hunter Ellis’ main job is as reporter for the 4 P.M. “We Are Austin” show and Angel Covarrubias is the weekend reporter, making him available for just three weekday evenings. KEYE has no street reporter working mornings.  That is untenable.

Has anybody noticed that Black is trying hard to fill the openings? She’s advertising for seven positions on the KEYE website, including two reporters, a photographer, a producer and an entire new morning crew, including anchor, weathercaster and traffic reporter. The traffic person would be new. Word on the street is morning weather anchor Kelly Slifka’s contract was not renewed. Of course, the station has been looking for a new morning anchor since Erica Gonzalez left for WRC-TV, Washington, D.C., back in October. Longtime broadcaster Fred Cantu has been filling in each weekday before going off to his real job as a sales associate at Home Depot. Despite repeated requests, we have not heard from Black about the progress of her recruiting.

Has anybody noticed that the new CBS Morning News is off to a strong start?  Charlie Rose, Erika Hill and Gayle King are proving to be both solid anchors and agreeable morning companions. And the concept of covering the news without the fluff stories and interminable health, beauty and show biz features sets them apart from their competition, The Today Show on NBC and Good Morning America on ABC. Who would have guessed—a real morning news show on one of the three big networks? What a concept! Let’s hope it finally brings higher ratings to the network of  Cronkite and Murrow.

Austin TV news has reporters of all shapes and sizes and skill sets. KXAN-TV’s Jim Swift is more than a reporter. He’s a story teller. And he’s been doing it for 34 years.

Swift, 63, says the late CBS News correspondent Charles Kuralt “paved the road on which I would embark.” For those of you old enough to remember Kuralt, who died in 1997, the storytelling similarities are striking.

Swift is listed on the KXAN website as a reporter/photographer. When he began at KTVV (now KXAN) in 1977, the station had no photographers. Swift and another reporter/photographer would go out together, first shooting a story with Swift running camera and the other reporting, then on to another location where they switched roles.

“When I moved to TV from KOKE radio, they taught me how to shoot film,” Swift said. “When they did finally hire photographers, I insisted on continuing to shoot the “B” roll pictures, while the photographer shot the interviews and stand-ups. I didn’t want to have to look at someone else’s video. The camera is an extension of myself. The viewer gets to see what I see.”

Fairly early in his career, Swift starting moving more toward the feature stories for which he is now famous. He says with Austin being such a small town, breaking news was not always available. Swift asked for a car and a camera and simply started driving around until he found something or someone interesting, who he then quizzed about what they were doing.

“This was a lot more fun than covering wrecks and county commissioners,” Swift said. “People seemed to respond to it, so after a few years, news management suggested I do only these kinds of stories.  Except for one year when management changed and I went back to hard news, I’ve always done features, which we now call ‘in-depth.’”

The station used to end the 10 p.m. news with Swift’s features. KXAN’s news consultants wanted him to give the segment a name. He rejected their suggestion, “The Swift Kick,” pointing out the obvious conflict that would occur when he did a serious or sad feature story. Instead, he suggested, “On the Porch,” in a tribute to Kuralt’s “On the Road.”

“In those early days, everyone used to go out on the porch, talk to neighbors and tell stories, so it fit,” Swift said.

Later, management dropped the label and moved Swift to a daily mixed beat with an emphasis on South Austin, where the majority of his stories were still features.

“Our present general manager and news director, Eric Lassberg and Michael Fabac, are much more amenable to my arguments,” Swift said. “Now, my features can run on any show.”

Swift used to turn out five feature stories a week. Fabac asks for just three, but also has Swift repackaging his stories for Sunday news shows and for the station’s website.

“I objected at first, but then I realized it’s more exposure for my work,” Swift said.

The Georgetown native and Southwestern University graduate says his story ideas come from many sources, but most from viewers and others outside the station. Swift claims he has become more “topical” in his story selection, tying into the news and trends of the day.

“I’m much more attuned to the assignment desk and they to me,” Swift said.

Around the station, you are likely to hear Swift called “Jake,” rather than his given name. And, he’s just as likely to call you Jake. He says it all goes back many years to an Austin TV type who used to say, “Let me get as much out of life as I can while simultaneously contributing as little as possible.” Over the years, Swift says, it became a term for anyone who was loafing, then morphed into a term of endearment, rather than a slur.

You might expect a 34-year veteran to long for the good old days, but that is not the case with Swift. He says local TV news is “incalculably better now” than it was when he started.

“We were pretty green and nobody came with training,” Swift said. “We were professional, but not as thorough as we are today.”

Swift points to the arrival of the Internet and the presence of the station on the Web as important advancements.  Now, he says, he writes a longer web story, takes still pictures in the field for the web, and engages on Twitter and Facebook, all in the same eight hours he used to use for TV stories.

“I resisted furiously, but now I realize it’s fantastic,” Swift said. “There is so much more material to use after I cut my two-and-a-half minute TV story, so I put the extra footage on the Web with no time limit. It’s challenging, it’s more intense and there’s no time for lollygagging, but it’s fun.”

Swift lives with his third wife, artist Katy Nail, in the Cuernavaca neighborhood southwest of Austin. They’ve been married for six years and live in what Swift calls an “incredible house—four green concrete structures that resemble upside down bowls.”

“It’s great, a large lot on top of a hill among live oaks, a gorgeous garden, full of food all the time, chickens,” Swift said.

Swift has two children from his first marriage, Marine Corps Major Nathan Swift, now serving in Afghanistan after four tours in Iraq and daughter Shayla, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska.

Swift’s current plan is to retire when his present contract expires at the end of September 2013 when he will be 65.

“The economy has things up in the air, and the powers that be said I don’t have to retire at 65,” Swift said. “We’ll just have to see.”

After 34 years of watching Swift’s unique story-telling abilities, Austin news viewers will be the poorer when he finally decides to fade from the TV scene.

KVUE-TV’s newest reporter is a native Texan happy to be back home.  Jessica Holloway, 27, is covering the police and courts beat.

Holloway comes to Austin from  KOCO-TV,  Oklahoma City, where she was a busy general assignment reporter covering mainly breaking news, including crime, earthquakes and weather emergencies, plus some investigative work.

Holloway was previously a reporter and morning anchor at KFBM, Beaumont,  before returning to street reporting, her first love, in 2010 in Oklahoma City.

She is a native of Houston and a 2006 graduate of Texas A&M, where she majored in communications.

“I am so happy to be back in Texas where I can be close to my family in Houston,” Holloway said. “I’ve wanted to work in Austin for a long time, but I wouldn’t have come here except to work at KVUE, one of the best stations in Texas.”

Austin media blogger Jim McNabb reports that KXAN-TV morning weatherman Shawn Rutherford has parted company with the station. The move was announced in a newsroom meeting on January 6, according to McNabb, a former KXAN news employee. Rutherford was a 13 year veteran of the station.

As McNabb notes, two of the four members of KXAN’s highly rated morning show are now gone with the earlier departure of traffic reporter Debra Wynn. Co-anchor Chris Willis was scheduled to move to chief investigative reporter, but News Director Michael Fabac has apparently failed to turn up a replacement during his recruitment efforts. Co-Anchor Sally Hernandez returned from maternity leave several weeks ago to hold down the anchor desk with Willis.

McNabb also reports that City Hall reporter Reagan Hackleman has decided to leave the station.

I’ve never been a big fan of news crawls, that never ending ribbon of short headlines about other stories, “crawling” across the bottom of your TV screen while the main newscast goes on above it. To me, it’s distracting and makes it difficult to concentrate on what the anchor is reporting.

KEYE-TV made the crawl even less important Tuesday on its 10 p.m. newscast when it ran stories that were several days old. While Ron Oliveira and Judy Maggio were reporting the results of the Iowa Caucuses on the main screen, for example, the crawl was talking about the various candidates’ weekend appearances. Anyone who has been  casually following the news of the past week could easily spot stories that ran over the New Year’s weekend, including New Year’s itself.

I don’t know what type of system KEYE uses to produce and project the crawl and my request for comment went unreturned. Why this serious mistake happened is less important than why no one in the newsroom or the control room caught the gaffe and killed the crawl immediately. I’m guessing the crawl has become “background noise” even for the station news employees and they simply ignore it.

This is not acceptable.  Someone needs to monitor the crawl at all times.  My bigger suggestion…get rid of  the crawl for good. At best, it’s distracting. At worst, it’s useless.

What do you think? I welcome your comments.

Frank Volpicella

Kudos to KVUE-TV News Director Frank Volpicella and FOX 7 News Director Pam Vaught for sending crews to Iowa for coverage of the Tuesday Republican Caucuses. With Texas Governor Rick Perry in the race, it seemed like a wise decision.

Frankly, I was surprised that the other Austin stations did not follow suit. With the two stations’  extensive pre-caucus promotion, their competitors certainly had ample notice.

Pam Vaught

“It was well worth our time, absolutely,” Volpicella told me. “This is an important moment in history.  It’s important that we cover these issues.”

Noting that Rudy Koski covers the Texas legislature and state government issues and has covered Governor Rick Perry extensively, Vaught  felt it was important to be in Iowa to see how Perry and Congressman Ron Paul fared.

“Austin viewers love politics and the Republican campaign has been particularly fascinating for everyone to watch,” Vaught said. “We felt it was important to be there when the first votes were cast.”

While all the Austin stations have reporters who tend toward covering many of the political stories, KVUE is the only one with a fulltime political reporter in Mark Wiggins. He was hired specifically for the job after being the “go-to reporter,” for politics at KXXV-TV, Waco, according to Volpicella.

Correction: January 6, 2012

(An earlier version of this story said that KVUE-TV was the only Austin station to send a reporter to Iowa.  In fact, KTBC-TV also reported from Iowa.  I regret the error.)

My best wishes for a wonderful holiday to all who read this blog. I enjoy watching Austin TV news and writing about it. You honor me with your kind words in response and with your presence.