Smooth As Sandpaper

[pzarquon]

Perhaps as a companion piece to the infamous Joe Moore "I'm fed up with this crap!" outburst (video here), I bemusedly present several painful, awkward, yet irresistably entertaining minutes from KHON's 6 p.m. newscast last night:

Smooth as Sandpaper



Things went off the rails from the opening moments, and subsequent control room fumbles made a mess of the entire broadcast. Dropped sound, missing video clips, wrong graphics... and a return from commercials that wasn't. Jai Cunningham and John Veneri were gobsmacked at just how badly things were going. By the sports segment, it was a lost cause.

"I'll tell you what, folks," Veneri said at one point. "This really sucks."

So much was missing from the newscast, Cunningham and Veneri found themselves babbling about Michelle Wie to fill over 90 seconds of space at the bitter end.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

I saw that last night and felt really bad for John, although I did teehee a bit at his "this really sucks" bit.

I was tempted to text him with my sympathy, but I decided against it for fear that I'd only be making things worse.

Do you know how things went at 10:00?

[lavagal]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

I often wonder as the summer months roll around if we're watching newscasts where there are interns at the helm. I saw John at Costco the other day with a toddler. It's my opinion that once you have kids, your patience grows immeasurably. So I'm surprised he lost his cool. I wish they wouldn't. It is far better to watch a newscast where the anchors can catch the flying cream pies without missing a beat. That would be far better to watch, could possibly generate admiration and perhaps even station loyalty!

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Conan O'Brien would slough it off by saying: "Sorry, folks, tonight's show is broken."

[pzarquon]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Oh, I have no doubt the greenest of the green were running the show. Weekend newscast, early June when school gets out? They probaby had only one intern at the IGNITE controls and a temp from ALTRES on the floor!

Still, you'd figure Jai and John would've been able to roll with it a little better. They've gotta be pros, even if the crew isn't.

I'm sure they're having a good chuckle now... I am!

P.S. Video is now on YouTube as well.

[lavagal]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Well, after having seen the youtube capture, I'd have to say it's as though the studio was POSSESSED!

[tvnewsguy]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Wow! What a train wreck! Hawaii's #1 news? haha, not for long if this keeps up!

[Random]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

I often wonder as the summer months roll around if we're watching newscasts where there are interns at the helm. I saw John at Costco the other day with a toddler. It's my opinion that once you have kids, your patience grows immeasurably. So I'm surprised he lost his cool.

KHON's interns are toddlers?!?!!!

Is this Montecito's saying that automation is so simple that even a baby could run it?

Oy.

[tvnewshound]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

WOW! what a disaster.
having worked in TV news for many years, i have faced situations that were similar, though not quite as bad.
in my case, the "train wrecks" were also on the weekend.
station management just does not seem to care about the weekend broadcasts. we would have interns, part timers and the least experienced people working on the weekends. i too have had some classic meltdowns on the air but always tried to have fun with it. i thought jon's "this really suck's" comment crossed the line. it is no secret that Montecito is a terrible owner and operator of KHON but they are still paying the salary of jon and jai and they need to put on a happy face on the air....they can scream and yell and throw things once the red light goes off, but they are obligated to show professionalism while on the air in spite of the situation.

[LikaNui]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

i thought jon's "this really suck's" comment crossed the line. it is no secret that Montecito is a terrible owner and operator of KHON but they are still paying the salary of jon and jai and they need to put on a happy face on the air....they can scream and yell and throw things once the red light goes off, but they are obligated to show professionalism while on the air in spite of the situation.

I agree, though I'm surprised you didn't also include Joe Moore's "I'm fed up with this crap!" comment too. Extremely unprofessional of him to do that.

[cezanne]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Goodness! WTH?!

Poor guys. I thought they handled better than Joe did/would though.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

I saw John at Costco the other day with a toddler. It's my opinion that once you have kids, your patience grows immeasurably. So I'm surprised he lost his cool...

O/T, but I know that John's kids are past the toddler phase and attend school.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[lavagal]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

I guess the girl looked really little to me compared to my 6 and 7 year old little girls.

[pzarquon]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Poor guys. I thought they handled better than Joe did/would though.

Definitely. The first thing my wife said was, "Man, Joe would've thrown something." I then started imagining a scene wherein Joe would storm off, Justin Cruz would flounder trying to fill air time, and the rest of the broadcast would be a rainbow test pattern.

The weaknesses of KHON's Ignite system really come to the forefront when things go off the rails. A miscue is bad enough, but Ignite doesn't allow for easy resets the way a more manual system would. Once you've hit that button, you're past the point of no return, and the poor souls on camera just have to grin and bear it.

[tvguy]

Re: Smooth As Sandpaper

Can't blame JV for his little outburst....when you are in front of thousands with what I'd call a feeling of having your pants down......and even worse unable to pull it up, that's what happens.