COMMENTARY
YNN promotes two local staffers
It doesn’t seem like YNN, the 24-hour news channel on Time Warner cable, has made much of an impact here yet. That may take some time. But it’s already been good news for the careers of local products Katie Morse and Jason Torreano.
They received promotions when YNN switched from a solo anchor to a co-anchor format Monday.
Morse, who is from Amherst, had been a weekend anchor when the channel premiered three months ago. She now is anchoring middays Monday through Friday. Torreano, a Lockport native who had been a reporter, has taken Morse’s weekend anchor slot and will remain a reporter on his other working days.
Jim Aroune, the executive editor of YNN, said the switch to two anchors was made to “best manage the flow of news throughout the day” and reduce the hours the solo anchors previously had to work on busy days. There are now three anchor shifts instead of two on weekdays.
There still will be times when YNN’s newscast will have solo anchors. Kassata Edwards anchors solo from 5 to 9 a. m. She and Morse co-anchor from 9 a. m. to noon before Morse goes solo from noon to 4 p. m. Morse co-anchors with Jen Markham from 4 to 7 p. m., when Markham will go solo.
In addition, Aroune announced the hiring of Jon Dougherty as weekend anchor and Ryan Burgess as a reporter. Dougherty had worked at WTVH in Syracuse (which shut down its newsroom in March) and Burgess worked for Time Warner’s channel in Albany. Veteran newsman Terry Dunford also has joined the station as its executive producer.
• Anthony Bourdain isn’t the only national TV expert about to enjoy the culinary delights of Western New York. A month after Western New York is showcased on Bourdain’s Travel Channel series, scheduled for July 27, “No Reservations,” WGN-America, a superstation based in Chicago, will be airing a short feature called “Sky Dives” on Aug. 29 on Charlie the Butcher and Duffs that focuses on beef on weck and chicken wings, respectively. And naturally, there’s a Buffalo angle.
After I wrote a blog on it last week, I received an e-mail from Buffalo native Tom Langmyer, who produces “Sky Dives” with Lee Abrams, the chief innovation officer for Tribune Company. Langmyer, who was a former airborne traffic reporter at WGR and worked at several radio stations here, also is the vice president and general manager of WGN radio in Chicago.
He said he and Abrams pick food places “that have a little more unique vibe” for the series. They fly from Chicago’s Midway Airport on Saturday to cities and towns to sample local specialties.
“We’re both pilots and fly in Lee’s plane,” wrote Langmyer. “[The] people we interview and the food are the stars. I do the interviews . . . This allows viewers to see the places, hear different voices, local accents and get a more ‘real’ food experience without getting in the way. I do still photography as well and write the summaries/flight blog for the Web site. Lee does some narration.”
Langmyer added that WGNAmerica is about “Real America” in programming and imaging.
“And there’s not a place much more American, in my opinion, than Buffalo,” he said.
Langmyer said his brother-in- law, Clarence native Tim Burlingame, performs the music theme for “Sky Dives” with his wife, Kathrin Shor.
• Michele Fazekas, the Williamsville native who co-created “Reaper,” joined the staff of Fox’s “Dollhouse” with writing partner Tara Butters after the cancellation of her CW series. In an e-mail, Fazekas wrote that she and Butters signed a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox Studios and are consulting producers on “Dollhouse” while they develop new projects.
“Things are going great. We are humongous Joss Whedon fans so it’s very cool to be working with him,” she said.
Whedon, who is best-known as the creator of “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer,” is the creator of “Dollhouse,” which got a surprising reprieve from Fox despite its low ratings.
• The demographics for the May sweeps arrived and the news ratings story was pretty much the same as it was in household ratings. Except for a few time periods and a few categories, Channel 4 was No. 1, Channel 2 was No. 2 and Channel 7 was No. 3. Channel 2 notes it did finish No. 1 in a couple of female demographic categories from 5 to 6 p. m. and with women ages 18-34 and men 25-54 at 11 p. m. But when you have to get that exact, it means you don’t have much to be happy about.
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