WOWT Offers 'Two Sets of Numbers'

WOWT (Cox Channel 8) anchors Tracy Madden and John Knicely opened the newscast by making mention of "two sets of election results," vote totals offered by The Associated Press and results coming in from the office of the Nebraska Secretary. Respective totals were shown in full-screen graphics.

Reporter Gary Johnson, who was live at Tom Osborne's reception at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lincoln, then told viewers they would hear from Heineman at a reception in Lincoln just a few blocks away. But a producer back at the station relayed to Johnson that the governor had already wrapped up his remarks.

Madden and Knicely did get viewers to live coverage of Heineman's party, only to hear Heineman say, "We are so proud of all of you" just before he left the podium. Madden quickly quipped, "We heard a whole lot of clapping. They say timing is everything in politicals is well. I'm sure it was a good speech. Unfortunately, we missed it."

However, before wrapping up its initial election results segment, WOWT did offer a taped, edited version of Heineman's remarks, as well as a taped interview with David Nabity, the third Republican in the race for governor. The station also had a taped interview with the Democratic challenger for governor, Ben Nelson.

Reporter Brian Mastre covered the Pete Ricketts victory party, noting that of all the elections he had covered, Ricketts was the first candidate Mastre had seen mingling at his party immediately after the polls closed.

Jaime McCutcheon reported live from what remained of the David Kramer party. A handful of Kramer supporters clapped as McCutcheon wrapped up her report.

WOWT also reported on a controversy created by the "O! I voted today!" stickers handed out at polling places and how precinct workers in Elkhorn had written "E" over the "O."

Madden mispronounced Tom Osborne's name once, referring to the former Nebraska football coach as "Oz-BORN."

WOWT's non-Election Day coverage consisted of a taped "News Where You Live" segment, anchored by Mastre, as well as surveillance tape of a jewelry store robbery and shooting and robbery suspect and an early-morning Council Bluffs house fire.

The only glaring glitch of the night came during Chief Meteorologist Jim Flowers' main weathercast, when his microphone went dead. But Knicely stepped in (off-camera) to share his.

Omaha.com Coverage Standard Early On

The Omaha World-Herald newspaper's online resource, Omaha.com, was fairly straightforward in its coverage as local late evening newscasts reached their conclusion.

At 10:30 p.m., Omaha.com's front page, advertised as "Your Election Headquarters," featured a single sentence under the banner of "Breaking News":

Don Stenberg and David Kramer have conceded the GOP Senate primary, making Pete Ricketts the nominee who will face Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson in November.

The site provided links to results for Senate, House, Nebraska governor, State Legislature and state offices.

A link promising a photo gallery of Election Day images was not active.

KXVO: McFayden's Mom Weighs In

From the opening sky view camera shot of downtown Omaha, to anchor Brian McFayden saying, "It's a beautiful election night. Thank God for everything!," it was not hard to tell that Tuesday night's "KXVO 15 10:00 Newscast" was going to be rather unconventional.

McFayden's now-signature opening skit involved him tagging along as his mother went to the polls. Dressed in nearly matching red apparel, the two looked as if they were headed to a Nebraska football game.

Before leaving for her polling place, the two sipped beers, with McFayden asking his mom what she thought of the three candidates for the Republican nomination for Nebraska governor:

Dave Nabity: "He's good looking."
Tom Osborne: "He's for the rich."

Viewers did not get a chance to hear what she thought of the state's current governor, Dave Heineman. That is because McFayden referred to him as "Dave Heineken" and said Heineman was "for beer at Nebraska football games."

At one point, McFayden seemed to infer his mother was intoxicated, even asking her, "Mom, are you drunk?"

A live phone call with McFayden's mother was slated to immediately follow the taped bit. But a technical glich prevented him from asking her for whom she had voted.

The vast extent of KXVO's election results coverage was handled by sister station KPTM. News anchor Tracy Jacim delivered results showing 54 percent of all precincts reporting.

KPTM reporters Amanda Mueller and Scott Patterson reported live from Osborne's post-election party, with both noting that Osborne had just finished making his remarks. Referring to a laptop placed between them, the pair shared results while video played of some of the night's previous activities (including a shot of a TV tuned to Lincoln station and CBS affiliate, KOLN.

Patterson mispronounced Osborne's name as "Oz-BORN" on every occasion, while Mueller slipped once, but otherwise correctly referred to the former Nebraska football coach as "Oz-BURN."

Election Day Coverage Advisory

The Reader's "Media Notes" column will be monitoring election day coverage and posting a recap and review after tonight's 10 o'clock newscasts.

Omaha Press Club: May Newsletter

The May issue of the Omaha Press Club newsletter is now available on-line.

Click here to read it.

Omaha.com Sends Osborne E-Mail To Members

Subscribers to Omaha.com's e-mail service, "The Point," received a message Friday from "ThePOINT & youandtom@osborneforgovernor.org."

The e-mail (shown at right) is an HTML advertisement for Tom Osborne's bid for Nebraska governor. It was one of two e-mails sent to Omaha.com "guests" who have requested to receive updates about the World-Herald's site, or information from its advertisers.

The second e-mail was an HTML message of support from "ThePOINT & Terry Fairfield, Chair" for Amendment One, which would give Nebraska state senators a pay raise.

Amendment One and Tom Osborne have both received endorsements from the World-Herald.

Both messages contained the statement, "We welcome and encourage you to forward this e-mail to your family and friends."

World-Herald Blogs Berkshire Meeting

Under the heading "Berkshire Breaking News," the Omaha World-Herald blogged Saturday's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

Reporter Jonathan Wegner used a timeline format to chronicle events taking place at Qwest Center Omaha.

You can read his accounts by clicking here.

Last Name Coincidence An Uncomfortable Situation

KMTV "Action 3 News" reporter Michelle Bandur found herself to be part of a bizarre coincidence when she rolled up to the scene of a double shooting Thursday night.

Bandur and photojournalist Rich Watson immediately began interviewing witnesses, asking if they knew the occupants of the home at 336 Beverly Drive, in the District 66 neighborhood.

"A young girl told me it was the 'Bandurs,'" Bandur said. "I told her, 'that’s my last name!'"

Moments later, Watson noticed the personalized plate "bandur2" on a car parked in the driveway. Bandur said she did not immediately know of any relatives living there, but since she grew up in the vicinity, she phoned her mother, who also said she wasn't aware of any relatives living in the neighborhood.

This morning, after the identities of the two victims were made public, Bandur said she phoned her father and brother to further check into any relation between Laura Bandur, who lived at the home, and Eric Bandur of Phoenix, Ariz. Both died after being shot.

"My brother, Kurt, graduated from Westside High School with Eric Bandur," Bandur said. "They were always joking around about being related, but (they) were not. And the more I think about it, I’ve run into other people who have asked about that Bandur family and whether or not we are related."

Bandur said the incident jogged her memory of a book written by Miami Herald reporter Edna Buchanan. "The Corpse had a Familiar Face" is a collection of Buchanan's experiences of being witness to the results of more than 5,000 violent crimes. Sometimes she knew the victim, sometimes the victim was a stranger.

"I keep waiting for the day when I will be covering a tragic story and I will know the person - whether it’s family, grade school friend, best friend, etc.," Bandur said. "I hope none of my colleagues will ever see that."

Omaha World-Herald Spots Ashford Free Pub

[Updated at 3:45 p.m. to correct last name of Sarpy County Sheriff.]

Sarpy County Sheriff Jeff Davis isn't the only one taking advantage of media coverage of noteworthy events as next Tuesday's primary election draws nearer.

Nebraska Legislative District 20 candidate Brad Ashford has also been active in making news. Ashford, who is running against Carol Casey, has been prominently featured in two Omaha World-Herald stories unrelated to the election.

In an April 29th story by reporter Erin Grace, Ashford was among those on hand at the debut of a new home (one of seven) that will welcome new Omaha Housing Authority-qualifying families. Ashford is the current director of the OHA.

On Wednesday, Grace featured Ashford in a story on a policy change OHA is considering that would put working people on even footing with the elderly and disabled - two groups that already receive preferential treatment in housing choices. According to the story, OHA is seeking public comment and could vote on the policy at its next board meeting, May 25 - more than two weeks after the primary.

It was not mentioned in either article that Ashford is running for the District 20 legislative spot.

Casey, a self-employed management consultant and the mother of nine children, has not been mentioned in a World-Herald story since a profile on all Nebraska legislative state senator candidates was published April 13.

Shooting Victims Not Related To KMTV Reporter

The victims of a shooting Thursday night near Methodist Hospital are not related to KMTV reporter Michelle Bandur, according to a station spokesperson.

Laura Bandur, 39, of Omaha and Eric Bandur, 46, of Phoenix, Ariz, were shot by an unknown gunman in a home at 336 Beverly Drive.

Michelle Bandur is an Omaha native who attended Christ The King elementary and graduated from Arbor Heights and Westside High Schools. All three schools are in the same vicinity of the home where the fatal shootings occurred.

"She (Michelle) actually checked and it wasn’t any family members," said the KMTV employee, who requested anonymity.

McMaster Enjoying Job as "Consider This..." Host

Andrea McMaster didn't stay away from television news very long after leaving WOWT earlier this spring.

McMaster began work as the new host of UNO television's "Consider This..." less than a week after leaving her reporter and and weekend anchor job at WOWT on March 26. Now in its ninth season, "Consider This..." was previously hosted by Carol Schrader. The former KETV anchor left the program when she was named Chief Deputy County Assessor for Douglas County.

"I really enjoy working on the program. It has a small, but very educated audience," McMaster said this week while working at her other job, a part-time position in the public affairs office of the Nebraska Medical Center.

“Consider This…” is a half-hour show that airs on Cox Channel 12 on Fridays at 11 p.m. and Sundays at 11:30 p.m. and on Cox Channel 16 on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8 a.m.

On this week's program, McMaster will be addressing the topic of gas prices.

Click here to watch last week's episode.

KFAB No Longer Streaming Syndicated Shows

Omaha radio station KFAB (1110 AM) is no longer offering live streaming audio of nationally-syndicated programs such as "Glenn Beck," "Rush Limbaugh" and "Coast to Coast."

According to a message on the station's website, kfab.com, KFAB does not currently own the rights to stream those programs. The message refers listeners to each program's national site, without making mention that streaming audio on those sites is not free.

Timing of Arrest, Unprecendent Access Raise Questions

Yesterday's re-arrest of a former elementary teacher and her husband in connection with methamphetamine trafficking raised several questions not addressed in local coverage of the story.

Lynn Weibel and her husband, Michael, were originally arrested in June of 2005. Tuesday, Sarpy County Sheriff's deputies arrested the couple again - while providing unprecedented access to local news media. Several outlets had pictures or video of the couple exiting their home, an indication that they were notified in advance of the arrest.

Other agencies, like KPTM, had video of the Weibels in the booking area of the Sarpy County Jail - an area rarely afforded access to by photojournalists.

The timing of the arrests came one week to the day before the May 9th primary election - one that pits current Sarpy County Sheriff Jeff Davis against Jerry Brown, a sergeant who has worked in the Sheriff's Office for 21 years. The results of next Tuesday's primary will decide who serves as sheriff for the next four years.

Davis told media outlets Tuesday that police made controlled buys from Michael Weibel three times between November 2005 and March 2006. Yet, the Weibels were not arrested until yesterday morning, when the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office narcotics unit, with assistance from the Bellevue Police Department, showed up at the couple's Bellevue home.

Nebraska Press Women Announce Awards

The organization of Nebraska Press Women celebrated its 60th anniversary this past weekend in Lincoln while presenting its Communications Contest awards.

Kearney Daily Hub Staff Writer Lori Potter placed first in the contest’s sweepstakes competition, which involves total individual points accumulated in the contest. She had eight first-place awards, five seconds, two thirds and two honorable mentions.

Hub Staff Writer Kim Schmidt placed first for a news story in a daily newspaper, second in continuing coverage, third in special articles-government/politics and honorable mention for special articles-education.

Katherine Thomas, a University of Nebraska at Kearney student who also is the arts and entertainment writer for the Hub, received honorable mention for feature writing in a magazine or supplement, a contest category for college students.

The first-place winners in the professional and college categories of the NPW contest advance to the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. National awards will be presented Sept. 9 at the NFPW convention in Denver.
All entries in the college categories of the contest were from UNK students.

In The Spotlight: Brian McFayden

Editor’s note: This story contains opinions of the author.

Brian McFayden was in the middle of writing a story for the "KXVO 15 10:00 Newscast" when the phone rang at news director Allen Beckner’s desk.

McFayden answered it somewhat hesitantly with a "Hello?"

One reason for the trepidation, perhaps, was that he had turned Beckner’s office into his own personal workspace for his first week on the job. (Beckner was off at a national convention.) McFayden – who says he knew no one at KPTM or KXVO before starting at the station a week ago – probably felt a little more at ease in the surroundings of a quiet office away from the hustle-bustle, police-scanner chatter of the KPTM newsroom one floor below.

And there in lies one of the primary problems some viewers have complained about in McFayden’s first week on the job: that the KXVO 15 10:00 Newscast is not exactly a "NEWScast."

McFayden is the first to agree.

"We take more of a positive slant on the news and we offer more entertainment," McFayden said. "So I think we should rename it, but that’s up to (management). Maybe we could run a contest to rename the whole show."

The new name would be appropriate, considering the major overhaul the newscast (hereafter referred to as "the show") has undergone since its launch in December on a makeshift set opposite sister station KPTM’s newsroom.

For 30 minutes, McFayden stands in front of a swirling virtual set backdrop (ala "Talk Soup"), delivering mostly entertainment- and celebrity-focused stories with an ad lib-style that at times resembles a stand-up comedian. The "serious" news of the day is delivered by one of KPTM’s anchors in a brief segment from the KPTM news set.

Reporter Calvert Collins, the original anchor of the KXVO 15 10:00 News, is the only KPTM on-air staffer reporting exclusively for KXVO. Her "Heartland Underground" reports typically explore a local issue of interest to the show’s targeted demographic of 18- to-34-year-olds.

Friday night’s lead story exemplified the new direction the show has taken in just the first week with McFayden at the helm. In a tribute to Arbor Day, the former MTV Veejay was seen hugging and kissing a tree in Memorial Park in a taped segment set to the strains of Alphaville’s "Forever Young."

Two nights earlier, a story on celebrity couples included pictures of Omaha KETV anchor Julie Cornell and her husband, chief meteorologist Bill Randby. McFayden said the comedic reference to the competition was "not a slam."

"I did that because my parents watch Channel 7’s news," he said. "My mom and my stepdad love Bill Randby. I wanted to do it all in fun."

From MTV to Omaha

McFayden is certainly not the first TV personality to make the jump from Omaha to network work and then return to the Midlands. In 1993, former KETV anchor Michael Scott landed a gig on "Entertainment Tonight" then returned to Omaha two years later to anchor for competitor KMTV. And Omaha World-Herald and WOWT entertainment critic Peter Citron left Omaha for three years in 1981 to take an on-air job at KRON in San Francisco.

For McFayden, the path to success started with waiting tables in Omaha to working in Minneapolis radio as "Altar Boy," a comedic sidekick on "The Cane Show." Not long after that, he landed a gig on New York City radio station K-Rock that led to his job on MTV’s "Total Request Live" and eventual host of network shows like "Cupid," "Superstar USA" and "Beauty and the Geek."

So why go from a life of dating supermodels and actresses like Nicky Hilton to hosting a show on the lowest-rated TV station in Omaha?

McFayden said his agent in Los Angeles suggested he find work in Omaha since he was returning to Nebraska so often.

"I come back here all the time," he said. "I’m here four to five months out of the year. It was the opportunity to work at home while being able to go Los Angeles. It’s definitely not LA money, but it’s a dream come true for me."

Not everything has been sunshine and rainbows for McFayden since his meteoric rise to stardom.

In the early 2000s, he fathered a child with Escada model Heather Knese, then broke up with her four months later. Knese obtained a restraining order against him and referred to him as a "Deadbeat Dad" until a DNA test confirmed McFayden was indeed the child’s father and the pair reached a settlement. Now five years old, McFayden’s son, Dane, lives in Ohio.

McFayden says he is currently dating a woman from Omaha who just happens to be a fellow Ralston High grad (though four-and-a-half years younger).

Behind the Scenes

The banter between McFayden and Pearsall or sports director JJ Davis can be, at times, uncomfortable to watch. In one exchange between McFayden and Pearsall last week, McFayden picked up a piece of paper in the weather lab, waved it in front of the camera and remarked how the information on it made no sense to him. Pearsall shot him one of those "what are you going to say next?" looks.

Technical problems plagued the show in its first week. The virtual background sometimes melded into McFayden’s clothing, video often had the same shots edited to loop over and over and McFayden’s casual attire and disheveled look resembled someone who had just strolled off the dance floor at a wedding reception.

Behind the scenes can be just as chaotic.

When the teleprompter went out Thursday night. McFayden was momentarily caught off guard but adlibbed his way to a commercial break. Once the studio was "clear" though, McFayden launched into a mini-tirade, repeatedly asking, "What happened?"

The silence from the studio crew was deafening.

"This isn't public access folks — what the hell happened?" McFayden yelled.

One night later, McFayden can laugh at the incident.

"I’m so used to these big network TV stations, (technical problems) are the last thing you worry about," he said. "It’s something I have to get used to. It’s one thing I have to learn — that we all have to learn.

"I do look forward to coming to work every day – coming in at noon and getting off at 10:30," he said. "This is the most fun I’ve had in my entire career."

Extended Absences Planned

He insists he brings no prima donna attitude to a station that’s highest-rated programs are the WB’s "Gilmore Girls" and "7th Heaven." Proof can be found in what he was doing Friday afternoon: conducting interviews with students outside a high school during a virtual downpour. (For reasons unknown, the story did not air.)

His contract reportedly runs through the end of the year and provides him with the opportunity to return to Los Angeles for weeks at a time to work on network projects he said will soon be announced.

While he is away, McFayden said he plans to write an online diary to keep viewers in Omaha informed about what he is doing. On weekends, KPTM reporter Jo Giles fills in for him, carrying through with the show’s unconventional style (Sunday night, she sported an umbrella for her lead story.)

"This is definitely something no one has done," McFayden said. "We’re trying to have fun with the news but we’re serious about doing something different. I would say watch the show and see for yourself."