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The 69 News/WFMZ Thread


Mrknowitall526

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Technically, the station has many problems. There 10pm weekend news was a train wreck the other week. I actually felt sorry for the anchor continuously apologizing. There is plenty of news to cover in the area, just read The Morning Call or Lehigh Valley Live. But, WFMZ seems content with feature stories. It's much easier to watch WPVI for the big stories. Their morning news is written well. WFMZ is going through the motions.

 

They do have some good on-air talent. But, as the previous poster mentioned, they usually get picked up my larger markets. As far as their talent goes:

 

Eve Tannery - The best. Good at hard news and features. The runaway leader of the team.

Jaciel Cordoba - Dry, robotic style. Will Lewis has much more personality. But, Jaciel always looks good.

Matt Broderick - The best in their weather department.

Melanie Falcon - She is very boring an anchor. Nothing special, but the team has some fire.

Jim Vaughn - Lightweight at best. He is the 2015 Anchorman.

Wendy Davis - Works well with Rob. Loved her on political coverage.

Rob Vaughn - For the size station/market, he's a professional. He's the leader at night. They should pair him with Eve.

Ed Hanna - The weather guy you either love or hate.

Troy Hein - Excellent sports story teller. Very good. Makes sports action come alive. This guy is a star.

Bo Koltnow - Not a good weekend anchor. Good reporter.

Karin Mallett - Much better on the evening news.

Chandy Lowry - Very professional.

Jamie Stover - Their best reporter. Look for her at WPVI someday. She is good.

Jaccii Farris - They should let her anchor.

Will Lewis - He could anchor in the morning.

Rosa Duarte - Nothing memorable. I saw her fill in as an anchor once, it was college TV at it's best.

Perla Lopez - Nothing to get excited about.

Roberto Vinces - Great sports reporter. He does bring the show alive. Entertaining.

Hillary Lane - She has developed nicely. Solid reporting skills. She is going to move to a bigger market.

Keleigh Gibbs - She looks like she is putting together a Vimeo demo every night. Flashy/visual... not WFMZ. Just moving on.

Amanda VanAllen - Amazing. They have a winner.

Ryan Hughes - Solid reporter

 

It's just not PVI.

 

So if you were the ND or GM and had the job to put the news teams together, who would you choose for what? Btw, what about Kathy Craine? you missed her on that list.

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Btw, what about Kathy Craine? you missed her on that list.

I find her presence on the news laughable - my family and I often say that we don't understand why she is allowed to still be on the newscast, aside from the fact that she's been with the station since its inception (and before then, in its radio days!). The things she says, and her choice of outfits, are just beyond words.

 

I suppose these issues you brought up (many of which were dead-on IMO) are because of a lack of competition - there are literally no other option for super-local LV news aside from the cable news channels (Service Electric and RCN - I'm not even sure if either of them still have a news product? Blue Ridge TV 13 does - and it's actually really good in terms of being hyper-local - but it is mostly in the Poconos and reaches only the northern fringes of Berks/Lehigh/Northampton counties at best).

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Just saw Dan Skeldon do the weather on the 10pm show. A quick Google and it looks like he was on NBC40 in Atlantic City before it shut down last year. He was really good! Wonder who he is replacing??

Dan has filled in on the weekends before. I think he is just freelancing - he has a regular gig at The Press of Atlantic City.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Did anyone else find the Rob Vaughn / Melanie Falcon pairing earlier in the week really awkward? If you are going to have a broadcast geared at a younger, more laid-back feel you can't have the elder statesman fill-in, especially for his own son. I know it's the holidays but it just seemed rough. Imagine Jim Gardner on WPVI's 6 at 4 show with Alicia Vittarelli - awkward. I would love to see Chandi Lowry fill-in for Wendy Davis though - Chandi and Rob could be good together.

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Did anyone else find the Rob Vaughn / Melanie Falcon pairing earlier in the week really awkward? If you are going to have a broadcast geared at a younger, more laid-back feel you can't have the elder statesman fill-in, especially for his own son. I know it's the holidays but it just seemed rough. Imagine Jim Gardner on WPVI's 6 at 4 show with Alicia Vittarelli - awkward. I would love to see Chandi Lowry fill-in for Wendy Davis though - Chandi and Rob could be good together.

There were some odd pairings. On Christmas Eve, Bolt filled in at 4 alongside Melanie. Then he soloed from 5pm on. I don't understand why they need TWO anchors at 4, but one is enough for 5&10.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Found this news interesting... WFMZ is buying KJWP (the relatively new Me-TV affiliate in Wilmington, DE). KJWP is our source for Me-TV in the Lehigh Valley as well as Grit, Escape and Justice. I wonder how the two operations will operate / co-exist. Will they share resources? Will the mighty 69 News team coverage area expand into Delaware? Will we see KJWP's married news duo of "the" Larry Mendte and Dawn Stensland-Mendte up on South Mountain in the 69 News room...ohh, the possibilities??? How about a commentary pairing of Dick Dean and Larry Mendte - whose head explodes first. WOW!! things could be getting good!!!

 

 

In Philly, PMCM TV is selling its Philly VHF station, KJWP to Maranatha Broadcasting (owners of Allentown station WFMZ). Since it appears that these two parties could be participating in the auctions later this spring, the purchase price was not disclosed because of "sensitive bidding information".

 

 

It looks like they're could be some more moving parts among the smaller broadcasters, as the auction nears......

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Found this news interesting... WFMZ is buying KJWP (the relatively new Me-TV affiliate in Wilmington, DE). KJWP is our source for Me-TV in the Lehigh Valley as well as Grit, Escape and Justice. I wonder how the two operations will operate / co-exist. Will they share resources? Will the mighty 69 News team coverage area expand into Delaware? Will we see KJWP's married news duo of "the" Larry Mendte and Dawn Stensland-Mendte up on South Mountain in the 69 News room...ohh, the possibilities??? How about a commentary pairing of Dick Dean and Larry Mendte - whose head explodes first. WOW!! things could be getting good!!!

Wow, that is so random. I really hope they don't create a Delaware newscast. I'd like to see them cover the LV proper more in depth rather than go down to DE.

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Looks like KJWP utilizes a partnership with The News-Journal newspaper/ Delaware Online for their news breaks - no full broadcasts as far as I can tell. Other than Larry Mendte's two half hour, weekly shows ("The Delaware Way" and "Another Thing".) I know some here have been critical of my opinions of WFMZ commentary - but Dick Dean and Larry Mendte together sounds better than anything Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Ron Angle, Tony Ianelli or Daylon Leach could possible deliver around our valley. Just the thought of Larry Mendte (after all that happened at KYW) working for faith-based Maranatha Broadcasting is amazing. Mr. Mendte meet the Family Minded Zone. BOOM!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Nice set. Nothing special. Odd they just use it at noon. Why the cheesy graphics?

The PPL Center studio is located in Downtown Allentown and operated remotely from the main control room at WFMZ's broadcast facilities on top of South Mountain. Literally, the only people in the PPL studio are the on-air talent. As for the "cheesy graphics" they are not seen unless you are on Center Square looking in the windows - only the lower half of the screens appear on air. Additionally, they not only use the studio for the noon broadcast daily but it is used during tie-in's to special events at the PPL Center (our new 10,000 seat arena). Hope that fills in some details.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
From FTVLive.com -

 

Allentown Reporter Headed to DC

June 20, 2016/ Scott Jones

?format=300w

WFMZ Reporter Ryan Hughes is headed to DC.

 

Hughes, who has been at the Allentown station since 2011, is going to WJLA. He came to WFMZ from Salisbury, Maryland and WMDT.

 

No word yet on his start date at the Sinclair station.

Just lost another good one!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone know what happened to Bryan Salmond, WFMZ's new Sports Director? He seems to be MIA. His bio is gone from the website as well. I may have just missed his departure if it was over the holiday weekend...or maybe he is just hanging out with Rick Edwards.

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Anyone know what happened to Bryan Salmond, WFMZ's new Sports Director? He seems to be MIA. His bio is gone from the website as well. I may have just missed his departure if it was over the holiday weekend...or maybe he is just hanging out with Rick Edwards.

I haven't heard anything. His twitter account doesn't mention anything. I did notice he wasn't on the LV Iron Pigs broadcast on Saturday. Maybe he's just on vacation.

 

Not related to Bryan or sports, but I did notice two new reporters this week---Jim Vasil and Alexandra Hogan.

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Anyone know what happened to Bryan Salmond, WFMZ's new Sports Director? He seems to be MIA. His bio is gone from the website as well. I may have just missed his departure if it was over the holiday weekend...or maybe he is just hanging out with Rick Edwards.

 

Was his bio ever up there? I tried looking once and I couldn't find it. The way their talent comes and goes, it's probably hard to keep that updated!

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I haven't heard anything. His twitter account doesn't mention anything. I did notice he wasn't on the LV Iron Pigs broadcast on Saturday. Maybe he's just on vacation.

 

Not related to Bryan or sports, but I did notice two new reporters this week---Jim Vasil and Alexandra Hogan.

Jim & Alexandra seem like good additions so far. Which probably means they won't be here long.

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