This post is my portfolio of content and running notes from my trip between March 1st to March 5th, 2023 as I write this with today’s high just one degree of 90.
All posts by The Chyron Kiddo
Where Have I Been…part three
I have not been doing much newsgathering of late. I’ve attempted to take a break on social media… since it seems like there really isn’t a reason to be on there if I’m only being seen and not heard. Still am a bit jaded year into wanting to get be a freelancer IRL but I’ve given up those chances. It’s not that easy to get the foot into the door. Because the doors of late are wide shut.
No-competes, is this the reason why people are disappearing from local media?
The New York Times had a story a week ago today, detailing the sins of local media. Ironically I found this story a week ago today as well via a Google search of “do meteorologists get laid off like journalists do?” Sadly our meteorologists in the Boston market are in awe of mini-me climate of Charleston, N.C. in the Northeast. Shut the fuck up please!
Continue reading No-competes, is this the reason why people are disappearing from local media?
#NewsMusicMonday: New Hampshire News Close (615 Music)
After being fired from BCOP-TV for the umpteenth time, I took a 5 day weekend to Portsmouth NH starting on the 1st through the 5th. I rolled about 2 hours of video, nearly 20 of generic b-roll. Perfect enough to run an ideal close for a New Hampshire news station that is a corporate clusterff.
Continue reading #NewsMusicMonday: New Hampshire News Close (615 Music)
Advice for ALL Journalists Pushed into the Autism Beat
The following is quoted DM sent by me to a local reporter in the Boston area in late 2021. As of 2023, the unidentified reporter no longer works in the industry, as that individual has a school aged child diagnosed with said condition. The quoted paragraph may be modified to eliminate shorthand words seen in DMs.
“I think the best way when reporting on the subject is to always come off in a hopeful tone because ‘diagnosis were [used to] bring hope’ and for whatever reason in recent years a diagnosis makes people (or the families) hopeless.
2nd you can’t please every group. A lot of the ‘self advocates’ [or #ActuallyAutistic types] are on the higher end and they can’t be pleased. You’ll always have haters on social media sadly to say. For me I understand both sides, but I cannot think it’s even morally or ethically proper to assume anyone who can’t speak is not intelligent by any means. I have been exposed to many ‘lower functioning’ autistics and I can tell you there is brain processing going in there. I think it’s important to shine that light (the journalistic sense not the Autism Speaks sense) on the individuals and ensure they get a fair voice, especially by the journalists. No matter what functionality, they should have the same right for a comment like the ‘typicals do.”
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My Work: Eat The Press Rewind 2022
Some people are inspired by editing works of Ken Burns… to much of my chagrin as much as I have made fun of him (good story teller, lousy filming), I didn’t realize where Walpole, NH is not that far away from home base at MNG.
Honoring Lisa Colagrossi’s Passing – 8 Years Ago Today
“Oh my god… something is wrong!”
The last words uttered by a decorated local broadcast journalist en route to the Manhattan base after a live shot on March 19th, 2015 for WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News This Morning. Her truck driver/photog got out in the middle of traffic, stopped an oncoming FDNY ambulance in moving traffic, banging the door, forcing them to take her over with another patient saying she would die. Well honestly she was basically brain dead regardless, the family pulled the life support plug on the 20th and passed away officially 8 years ago today.
According to New York Post’s Page Six her living mother told the management who attended her funeral in her then residence of Stamford, Conn. that “you made my daughter work herself to death”. Following the Page Six expose, both parties of the family and WABC-TV denied the exchange, and each party covered up one another, but let’s be honest, the management was shady and we who know the industry could trust this Page Six story.
Continue reading Honoring Lisa Colagrossi’s Passing – 8 Years Ago Today
MNG Newsradio Marching Ahead (March 12, 2023)
The annual all nighter happened for the third straight year, but without BCOP. I did the MNG Newsradio format, which is very loose, with very little stories and traffic and weather virtually within the 10 minute cycle. The 12th was also my birthday but outside the time check… actually with EDT, my time of birth would be 12:10 EDT because I was born less than an hour before Friday the 13th! This time I would read traffic and weather reports. You heard the time check from 1:59 EST to 3:00 am EDT. It’s midday drive in the dark!
The audio was crap, because the audio workflow is currently being redone to have some form of preamp (of which is the reason why my audio has been lousy.) An external USB or Firewire XLR audio interface can do this without the expense of really ampfliers .
The Local news stories came from a couple Minibrick state TV stations, one was Channel 13 in Copenhagen and Channel 2 in Miniland so to build up a news operation.
Since I was in creative services on the TV side, I had some of the same cuts used on the radio side, but for station ID and other jingles I had a copy for the KNX News Package found on the Interwebz for the longest time, I cut some of the samples up for the top, :03 and bottom of the hour. Ironically the Axxcess Broadcasting’s sounder packages composed for at least of the 3 ol CBS owned radio stations in 1989, KNX used it the longest, and the same cuts for more than 15 to 18 years. KNX went through some rebrand in the late 00s and the remaining Axcess cuts were I think retired at that point.
IRL, another radio station had used the package, KRLD in Dallas in the 90s, whether CBS owned that station at the time is unclear at the time of this writing.
TBH as an East Coast brat, I preferred the KNX sound over the More Than Just the Headlines on WCBS
The @MinifigNewsguy Featured on #RiseAndShineOn7! (FINALLY!)
My ultimate gratification is seeing my work and have some credit, and be more heard than seen, but sometimes, it’s going to be seen over heard. Like photo of a sunrise in Prescott Park in Portsmouth a couple Sundays ago.
Rise and Shine, New England! Thanks to Minifig Newsguy on Facebook for sharing this shot from Portsmouth, NH. If you'd like to see your photo featured, just post it with the hashtag #riseandshineon7 pic.twitter.com/cczw8DXx7O
— 7News Boston WHDH (@7News) March 19, 2023
If you follow WHDH-TV’s Instagram, it’s mostly clips of stories but mostly the Rise and Shine photos of sunrises of towns all around the Greater Boston and surrounding states as well. I wished the station would wish their followers sunset photos too. I tried to have Julianna Mazza, the weekend anchor, weekday reporter this, because she and a lovely night photo of Boston last fall.
I love this feature from an imperfect “News Station” because the pictures they are so wonderful, the hazy sunrise I felt wasn’t enough for me, but someone 7 liked it. Other stations may do this but it’s got a corporate clusterf-ck feel to it.
I had just finished turning my Nikon RAW images to consumable JPEGs and exported Web-friendly formats last week. I originally posted it my Instagram on Thursday, and tagged WHDH’s Insta that also got bounced to Facebook and Twitter. Whoever at the station saw it was apparently on Facebook first, and then shared it on Sunday.
The way I knew, was I saw a notification on my Facebook the station tagged my Meta page, then saw it on Instagram, then on Twitter. It got a lot of attention. I tried to get seen in my November sunrise from the location. On Thursday, I tagged the station, that probably got more attention that way. Also, the pictures are seasonal in nature, so it’s not like the pictures are right after snow storms (like the one pictured.
It made be great start to the week!
#NewsMusicMonday Meets AFOL?
I took a trip to New Hampshire’s Seacoast last week, regardless if I was going to be Nixed from Six. It happened, and the plans to stay at a Downtown Portsmouth hotel occurred within 24 hours of booking to arriving.