Washington Ethics March 31, 2009

Okay.  The title is ripe for oxymoron jokes.  I will pause now so you can make your own. 
All done?  Okie-doke.  It’s Washington the Man, not the city, to which this bit of Interweb wackiness refers.  Monday, on FirstNews, our question of the day was about the death and dearth of courtesy in this technological age.  [...]

From Whoosh To… March 30, 2009

Lately, regular viewers of Channel 9’s newscasts have noticed a new noise.  It’s sort of a “whooshing” sound between stories and segments. If DarthVader had bronchitis, you’d get this sound. The idea is to alert viewers that something new is on the way.  It also is supposed to convey a sense of urgency.  Of course, nowadays, everything [...]

Bracket Attack It March 26, 2009

Yes, this is just another story about March Madness and basketball and making the right picks.  I wanted to call it Bracket Racket and was so proud of that phrase until I realized that there is a news organization that already uses those words.  I went through a list:  Bracket Sack It.  Bracket Hack It.  [...]

All About Betty-Cam March 23, 2009

Betty Jean Zych passed away last Thursday, March 19, 2009.  Sure, that was her name, Betty Jean Zych, but FirstNews viewers knew her as Betty-Cam…a part of our morning family.  She was one of a kind!
The first weekend after I’d moved to Kansas City, I noticed that one of the other TV stations in town liked to [...]

The Best March 18, 2009

More than 20 years ago, I was sitting in the old KMBC newsroom, fondly called Formica Heights by the world-class journalists of Channel 9, filling out the paperwork for my new job as co-host of a still-young program called FirstNews.  A gentleman approached, held out his hand and said “Welcome to Channel 9.  I’m Len [...]