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KFMB Slow Death Thread


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"Chopper 8" was the lead in story on the top of the 5 on KFMB. They had a live reporter out there, who said the Chopper had a "rough landing on the runway" and then had a small fire which was quickly extinguished. I didn't see any fire damage from any of the photos, so who knows. After the report was done, Carlo made sure to read the disclaimer saying that although all of their logos are on it, it's a third party Chopper shared by all TV stations. He continued by saying the pilot and passenger on board are not KFMB employees, but they're friends and their thoughts go out to them. Pretty much everything that was stated in the online story was copy and pasted into the telepromter. 

 

 

Screen_Shot_2019-08-27_at_5_17.36_PM.png

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18 minutes ago, n925tv said:

"Chopper 8" was the lead in story on the top of the 5 on KFMB. They had a live reporter out there, who said the Chopper had a "rough landing on the runway" and then had a small fire which was quickly extinguished. I didn't see any fire damage from any of the photos, so who knows. After the report was done, Carlo made sure to read the disclaimer saying that although all of their logos are on it, it's a third party Chopper shared by all TV stations. He continued by saying the pilot and passenger on board are not KFMB employees, but they're friends and their thoughts go out to them. Pretty much everything that was stated in the online story was copy and pasted into the telepromter. 

 

 

 

 

I bet that copy had to be approved by the Tenga lawyers before it aired.

 

"Not me...Not us"....

"We just relay the video, we don't fly the thing..."

 

 

 

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30 minutes ago, A3N said:

Chopper 8 was not owned nor operated by KFMB; It's operated by Welk Aviation. The chopper is part of a sharing agreement between Total Traffic and the local news stations, it would be up to them as to what they do next.

 

I don't think we're at that point where you can really replace a news chopper with a drone or set of drones, just yet. Yes, the overhead expenses for Drones are substantially lower than a regular news chopper, but you have to factor all the logistics in trying to get that drone airborne. Also, they have to coordinate with first responders so as not to hinder their ability to do their jobs.

 

+1 to this information here. To expand a bit further, KFMB has an agreement (which was renewed about a year ago) with Total Traffic. Since they pay the most out of the other stations, it's their branding on the side and they dictate where/when the chopper flies. Any video that's captured must be shared by the other stations who are party to the agreement. I heard TEGNA was considering ending the contract when they were doing a comprehensive review of the station's assets, but ultimately renewed the agreement with some modifications, such as eliminating Jennifer Markham's speaking role (she's still on board operating the camera). 

 

I'd imagine a temporary replacement will be brought in within a few days.

 

Drones are certainly the future. I imagine one day the assignment desk will be able to launch and fly drones directly to scenes. However, until they're able to stay in the air long enough to cover long distances, liability is completely figured out, they're cost effective (to do the job of a chopper not the typical consumer model) and the FAA gives better guidance, choppers will remain for the near-term.

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Why does this thread even exist? I created another "slow death" thread that was going to have to do with WTOL, WUPW and KWES, but it got closed.

 

San Diego is not as large of a market as New York, LA, Chicago, or Philly.

 

Is there something special with this station that other TEGNA stations don't have, or what? TEGNA is ruining the station the way they ruined the other stations.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found this while watching some street films shot in San Diego during the 1970's. In the videos we see old billboards and bus ads for various TV and radio stations.

 

This grab is from the 5200 block of University Ave around 1975. It's the Ch-8 bus ad , there is also an ad for the KFMB-8 morning show "Sun Up, With Mel Knoepp"" which ran after Captain Kangaroo.

 

 

For the bus people...it's a 200 series (numbering) San Diego Transit Corporation GMC...the one with no air conditioning. I think it was route 9.

 

 

KFMBbusad.JPG

Kfmbbusadcu.JPG

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On 8/29/2019 at 4:49 PM, Conrad said:

Why does this thread even exist? I created another "slow death" thread that was going to have to do with WTOL, WUPW and KWES, but it got closed.

 

San Diego is not as large of a market as New York, LA, Chicago, or Philly.

 

Is there something special with this station that other TEGNA stations don't have, or what? TEGNA is ruining the station the way they ruined the other stations.

 

I'm surprised @Weeters or one of the moderators didn't close this thread. Like @Weeters said on one of the threads (I don't remember which one), you never know what Tegna gonna do to the stations they acquire. Whether we like Tegna or not, we have to get used to its style of news. That's it.

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2 hours ago, tw-804 said:

 

I'm surprised @Weeters or one of the moderators didn't close this thread. Like @Weeters said on one of the threads (I don't remember which one), you never know what Tegna gonna do to the stations they acquire. Whether we like Tegna or not, we have to get used to its style of news. That's it.

You don't have to get used to TEGNA's style of news when there are better options. For example, in the Phoenix area why would you watch KPNX when KTVK, KNXV, and KSAZ have a better product these days?

 

Frankly, in San Diego I would rather take the chance watching KNSD than KFMB or KGTV (Scripps' style of news these days is similar to, but not as bad as, TEGNA's). KNSD has been weak historically, but I expect them to benefit from the downfalls of KFMB and KGTV and stronger NBC ratings than a decade ago. KFMB (and WUSA, WWL, in the case of Scripps WTVF, etc.)'s current situation isn't helped by weaker CBS ratings than a decade ago.

 

How are KSWB and KUSI these days? They were weak stations; is that still the case?

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Chopper-8 is back...

 

Joe Eger and her pilot were training on the back-up airship this morning (9-13-19) , however I still don't know what they are going to be flying in. Welk's N12YJ (green weenie) has been doing back-up duty for KTLA the last few days.

 The fact that they were "training" leads me to think it's a different ship then they have normally used for the back-up in the past.

 

I'm gonna assume they plan to launch tonight for the evening shows. By then we should be able to pin a tail number in the "new" Chopper-8.

 

Update 4:45pm

Tested all afternoon, transmitter still missing some ENG site waypoints. problems with IFB reception. possible no flight this evening. Still no tail number ID'ed yet. Nothing on flightradar24.com

 

We will see what happens...

 

 

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1 hour ago, FiveNews said:

@Eat News Do you know what is going on with KTLAs Sky5? (N925TV). I knew Mark Kono sounded a little different while giving his report the other morning.

 

I just know N925TV was not available and they were in N12YJ as of yesterday (9-12-19). Since N925TV has not been in any reported crashes one may assume it's down for maintenance.

 

image.png.5c520aa98d0166b1a84927fcec8444a2.png

 

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On 9/7/2019 at 11:18 AM, abric said:

Don't be surprised if they bring that news title back to revamp their morning show as "Sun Up San Diego on News 8".

 

Don't be surprised if it uses the same graphics as WUSA's "Get Up DC!"

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"Chopper-8" was up during the 11am show.

Nothing shows on flightradar24 so still no clue on what they are flying.

 

But I have a sinking feeling it's an R-44, and they are too embarrassed to squawk on flightradar24.com

 

UPDATE:

 

It's N661TV...

It's an R-44 from Sky helicopters of Garland ,Texas

 

Don't know if Welk bought it, or is just borrowing it from the Dallas area Sky Helicopters.

 

I call it...

Chopper 4+4=8

I'm told it's all white in color with no markings.

 

image.thumb.png.a134e80ba61d542e3bdfafbb14b81564.png

 

image.png.569bdffc877419731e3505454a564b23.png

 

 

 

 

 

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Per the twitter post on September 18th,

This Robinson helicopter could just be temporary. Just don't know how long!

 

Deb Henke aka ChopperDeb
Just temporary

https://twitter.com/ChopperDeb/status/1174159287335079936

 

 

One photo show the inside of this Robinson R44 helicopter.

Another photo of the rear of the outside of the helicopter doing the sunset.

https://twitter.com/ChopperDeb/status/1174159287335079936

https://twitter.com/ChopperDeb/status/1174129730208927744

 

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