KIAH television (CW39) launching a morning show

[editor]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2011/05/tribune-tv-station-in-houston-gets-early-morning-eye-opener.html

Described as a provocative and unpredictable information and entertainment show, "Eye Opener" will combine local news, traffic and weather reports from Houston-based Mia Gradney with other content originating from Tribune Co.'s Chicago headquarters, Tribune Tower.

The primary anchors will be former "WGN Morning News" writer Sean Dowling, voice artist Adam "ALC" Lee Campbell and Kirby O'Connell, who's described in an "Eye Opener" promotional video (above) as "a high school graduate" and "uber-journalist" and shown wielding a knife. (Kirby, in fact, is an Indiana University graduate trained in improvisational acting, according to her bio.)

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/23055055?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/23055055">EYE OPENER LAUNCH PROMO</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/tribunecentral">Creative Group | Central U.S.</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

[Firebird65]

Described as a provocative and unpredictable information and entertainment show

In other words, it's another celebrity-driven gossip show along the lines of TMZ. Just like their Newsmax program. Wonderful. Just what the world needs.

[ricco67]

Well, surely they would focus on more local stories.

Sometimes chron.com, Houston Press, and the various Houston news sources have a tendency to let some local events slip between the cracks. This would be great way to spread the word on some of the lesser known or covered stuff.

[Pumapayam]

I watched a small bit of their "NEWSFIX" last night.

No anchors, and cheap looking "app" layout.

I guess they needed a morning show to make up for the loss of the evening news.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

that 'news fix' format is a corporate directive from the CW network... Houston is the test market for it. (a camera guy told me that as he was filming a friend adding some ink to my leg while they did a tattoo story)

Anyway, I asked the camera guy if they got rid of that crappy news fix format. He asked me if I had seen the show, to which I replied, "Yes, that's why I asked if y'all got rid of that crappy format yet." That's when he hold me about the corporate directive.

[editor]

that 'news fix' format is a corporate directive from the CW network... Houston is the test market for it. (a camera guy told me that as he was filming a friend adding some ink to my leg while they did a tattoo story)

KIAH isn't a CW-owned station, it does not take directives from CW. CW is owned by CBS and Warner Brothers (Thus "CW"), and doesn't own any television stations.

The corporate directive came from Tribune Broadcasting. Yes, Houston is a test market for the project. It was thought up by a guy who was fired from Tribune, but the project had already advanced far enough that it couldn't be cancelled.

Some see it as a means for Tribune to cancel news on 39 altogether. If, by some remote possibility, Newsfix works, then it's a corporate success. If it fails, then it's an excuse to replace the news with more profitable syndicated programming. Tribune is bankrupt. So bankrupt that it actually sold the Cubs, it's main source of programming for its two flagship stations. At this point, it will do anything for money.

[Pumapayam]

I hope it fails. There was nothing wrong with the old format.

It does not feel like it belongs. It needs to feel like local news, and without talking heads, it does not work.