Houston.BloggersPub

David Barron is reporting that the Houston Chronicle’s Ken Hoffman is being replaced on 1560 The Game. The replacement has a good resume in radio. Travis Rodgers was the former, longtime producer of The Jim Rome Show.

And in classic Hoffman form, his quote in the newspaper is as follows:

I joined (KGOW) with the intention of staying one year — just to sock away some money in my kid’s college fund. I wound up staying three years,” he said. “I resisted my urges to buy ice cream and salted peanuts, and now my kid will have enough money to mess up in a really good college. … So now I leave 1560 with, and I’m serious, love for those people. I can return to my true passion in life - scrapbooking.”

When I interviewed Hoffman in July 2007 for this blog about his new radio gig at KGOW, he told me this about how he used the extra radio money:

“So I’ve always had a little bit of a part-time job on the radio just so I could get money for soda and candy. You know, wax lips and candy cigarettes, stuff like that.”

I am now going to solicit advertisers and try to get a show somewhere else on the dial with Hoffman. Our show’s main topic - attractive female TV news anchors. If you would like to sponsor this, give me a ring.

Rodgers is moving to Houston and will start his new show from 1 to 3pm on Tuesday.

http://travisrodgersnow.com/

RELATED
Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle talks to Mike McGuff

> Mike McGuff Blog

KIAH 39 9pm producer Adam Silverstein is headed off west for a new TV job. He will now be an executive producer at KSTU Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Silverstein says he will miss all the talented folks he’s worked with at Channel 39 in Houston.

The Univeristy of Texas graduate previously worked as a producer at Fox 7 KTBC in Austin. Before that he interned with The Daily Show.

RELATED
- Gary Jaffe is new KIAH 39 Imaginator for NewsFix
- KIAH 39 dumps traditional newscasts
- 39 KIAH Ghost Hunters facing death

> Mike McGuff Blog

If you don’t have cable or satellite and like old TV, you now have another channel in Houston to watch the classics (or at least old shows.)

The Retro Television Network (RTV) is now on 34.2 in Houston.

RTV airs old TV shows like Adam 12, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Airwolf, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The A-Team, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Dragnet, Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Harry and the Hendersons, The Incredible Hulk, I Spy, The Jack Benny Show, Kate and Allie, Knight Rider, Kojak, Leave it to Beaver, Magnum P.I., Marcus Welby M.D., McHale’s Navy, The Rockford Files, Simon and Simon and the Voyagers. SEE FULL SHOW LISTING

Sounds like many shows I used to watch on 39 KHTV (now KIAH) or 20 KTXH as a kid.

Channel 34.2 in Houston is not even listed as an affiliate on the The Retro Television Network website but I went to my over the air antenna TV and sure enough it was there. The funny thing is there is nothing on the main channel 34 signal except for a screen that says KUVM (at least when I checked it which was prime time). There is also a 34.3 and 34.5 with the same KUVM screen.

The station that is now KUVM Channel 34 in Houston has been on the air in one form or another since 1981 according to Wikipedia. It is a low power station so it might not reach your area of the Houston metro.

RELATED
This TV plays old movies on KPRC 2.2

(Thanks to @gridlockjoe)

> Mike McGuff Blog

I already sort of covered this with a link in an earlier post, but here are promos for KHOU 11’s new 11 News I-Team (video below). The station says it will be the largest investigative unit in Texas.

The new group will include senior investigative reporters Jeremy Rogalski and Mark Greenblatt from the former 11 Defenders unit. The other contributors will be Len Cannon, Dave Fehling, Shern-Min Chow, Rucks Russell, Leigh Frillici and Jeff McShan. Others the station says are included include producers and photographers - two of which I am guessing will be producer David Raziq and photojournalist Keith Tomsh.

As I’ve been blogging in the last year, KHOU 11 has won a ton of awards for investigative journalism.

Here are the promos, hot off the Final Cut Pro machines, for the new 11 News I-Team.

> Mike McGuff Blog

If you want to look at NASA photos from more than half a century, then head over to Flickr. The space agency and picture site just teamed up.

“NASA’s long-standing partnership with Internet Archive and this new one with Yahoo!’s Flickr provides an opportunity for the public to participate in the process of discovery,” said Debbie Rivera, lead for the NASA Images project at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “In addition, the public can help the agency capture historical knowledge about missions and programs through this new resource and make it available for future generations.”

That’s right, the public can add tags or keywords to the images to identify objects and people. The hope is the public’s assistance will make the images easier to find online and add insight about NASA’s history.

The sets of photos are broken down into themes:
- The “Launch and Takeoff” set captures iconic spacecraft and aircraft taking flight.
- “Building NASA” spotlights ground-breaking events and the construction of some of NASA’s one-of-a-kind facilities.
- The “Center Namesakes” set features photos of the founders and figureheads of NASA’s 10 field centers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

While the NASA and Flickr partnership is new, the space agency already has a site called NASAimages.org which provides hundreds of thousands of images and thousands of hours of video, HD video and audio content available free to the public for download.

http://www.nasaimages.org/

> Mike McGuff Blog

Former KTRK 13 anchor Stephanie Guadian covering Afghanistan war
Former KTRK 13 anchor and current KFOX-TV Channel 14 morning anchor Stephanie Guadian is embedded with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
- Stephanie Guadian returns home to El Paso’s KFOX

KHOU 11 News I-Team takes investigative journalism to a new level
The award-winning 11 News I-Team will include senior investigative reporters Jeremy Rogalski and Mark Greenblatt. They’ll be joined by a team of veteran reporters, producers and photographers. Together they form the largest investigative unit in Texas.

INSITE: Brother Larry Jones out
Isiah Carey AKA The Insite reports Larry Jones is out at the Yolanda Adams show

VIDEO: 1979 WFAA8 weekend weathercaster Steve Newman
The manually activated “5 Day Outlook” is the star player.
- WFAA 8 Promo “You Can Count on us” 1979
- VIDEO: KTRK 13 weather in 1979 with Ed Brandon

Library gets grant to save KUHT films
The UH library system holds more than 500 reels of film that were produced between the 1950’s and 1970’s by KUHT.

Top 10 Web Revenue Mistakes of TV and Radio
From Director of Interactive/web manager types not qualified to implement a realistic revenue strategy to expensive research and consultants not bringing results.

Houston’s Jim Parsons wins Emmy for Big Bang Theory
Houston’s own Jim Parsons took home the prize for his portrayal of eccentric genius Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory at the 62nd Emmy Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night.

TV station voice calls NBC anchor sad excuse for a journalist
As thousands of El Pasoans set their televisions to KTSM-TV Channel 9 to either watch the Miss Universe pageant or wait for the 10 p.m. newscast, they were treated to one of those live TV slip ups that come only once in a lifetime.

S.A. viewers fuming over Regis, Kelly loss
San Antonio viewers are incensed over losing “Live with Regis and Kelly” on WOAI in September.

TV Station News Salaries Up Slightly
Local TV news salaries showed modest gains in 2009.

Mobile ads in Dallas will generate $1.8B in revenue by 2015
By 2015, mobile devices will generate $1.8 billion in mobile ad revenue from local and national businesses in Dallas, according to Borrell Associates.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- KPRC 2 reporter Lisa Baldwin says goodbye
- Fox 26 KRIV’s Sibila Vargas not talking about KCBS job rumor
- KRIV 26, KIAH 39 and KPRC 2 start sharing video
- 39 KIAH Ghost Hunters facing death

> Mike McGuff Blog

KHOU 11 reporter Alex Sanz and his wife have new job duties. No this has nothing to do with live shots or TV packages.

Both are now the proud parents of twin boys! The special delivery came Friday.

Congrats to both.

Sanz joined KHOU 11 in 2007.

(Thanks Chris)

> Mike McGuff Blog

KHOU 11 is taking the Houston Texans vs Dallas Cowboys game seriously according to an email the station sent me:

One of the biggest rivalries in the great state of Texas will come to a head Saturday – Houston vs. Dallas – as the Texans take on the Cowboys in a highly anticipated preseason matchup. The action starts at 6 p.m. on KHOU-TV Channel 11, Houston’s CBS affiliate, with the “Lone Star Shootout” pregame special, followed by the game at 7 p.m. televised nationally on CBS stations.

Channel 11 will be LIVE from “Tailgate Central” at Reliant Stadium with anchors Greg Hurst, Lucy Noland and Butch Alsandor. Tune in for a taste of how Texan fans get their game face on with Len Cannon, Gene Norman, Deborah Duncan, Katherine Whaley and David Paul. Plus, Matt Musil will be on the sideline with the teams all the way through kickoff.

The one-hour special breaks down the key matchups of the rivalry. Hear from quarterbacks, receivers, coaches and owners. Even the mayors of the two cities weigh in on why their team will win the biggest game of the preseason. It all starts at 6 p.m. on Channel 11.

> Mike McGuff Blog

The Insite reports that KPRC 2 reporter Lisa Baldwin put her resignation into the bosses at Channel 2 KPRC this week. I hear she wants to spend more time with her family.

Nothing wrong with that. I did the same thing.

Clearly family is important to Baldwin. She mentioned in her KPRC web bio:

Despite working hard to get where she is, Lisa has achieved her own personal feat by becoming a first-time mother. Her son was born five weeks after she arrived in Houston. A daughter arrived a few years later. She met her husband, who is a TV news reporter, in a newsroom and says that he is her best friend.

Baldwin’s husband is KIAH 39 reporter Steve Simon.

> Mike McGuff Blog

Thanks for all the emails concerning the Sibila Vargas rumor featured on NewsBlues yesterday. In case you didn’t see it, NewsBlues is reporting the current Fox 26 KRIV anchor is rumored to be heading to Los Angeles for a weekend anchoring gig at KCBS.

I reached out to Vargas about the KCBS LA rumor and she has no comment right now.

Out of all the rumors floating around the Houston media scene, I could buy into this one. After all, Vargas came to Houston TV from a high profile entertainment reporting job at CNN.

Stay tuned.

RELATED
- VIDEO: Fox 26 KRIV’s Sibila Vargas opens “The Wendy Williams Show”
- Fox 26 KRIV anchors also in movies/TV shows
- Sibila Vargas lands at Fox 26 KRIV from CNN
- New Fox 26 KRIV anchor is a CNN entertainment reporter
- Fox 26 KRIV anchors playing a game of switch-a-roo on air

> Mike McGuff Blog