THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409280062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
WTKR ANCHORMAN Glenn Corey is so happy with his new home - the orange-as-a-Halloween-pumpkin eyesore let loose on viewers earlier this month - that he is inviting people to drop in and take a closer look at the set.
Corey to the viewers: ``We'd love to give you a tour.'' Call 446-1000.
I know at least 131 people who don't want a closer look.
They are the 131 who called me on Infoline (640-5555, press 2486) to say they hate the changes on Channel 3's newscasts throughout the broadcast day. Nineteen callers said hooray for the changes.
It was an unscientific survey of 150 callers.
The WTKR management tossed overboard the Eyewitness News concept and the set that went with it. In its place is a faster-paced newscast with an ever-present clock (and temperature readings on the early-morning news show) plus a gloomy wood desk for the anchors and a background in earth tones.
Orange is in.
Comment from caller Ben Zorn: ``I've watched local newscasts in a variety of markets and never have seen anything as ugly as WTKR's new set. It appears that assorted flavors of sherbet have melted and spilled all over set. I wonder if the person who designed the new look is colorblind.''
Comment from caller Nina Beem: ``I hate it.''
Beem says she's been watching Channel 3's newscasts for a dozen years or so. The changes are forcing her to look elsewhere, she said. ``The clock drives me nuts.''
Irene Haga is also thinking of switching.
She's been tuned in to the CBS affiliate's local newscasts ever since the station signed on more than 40 years ago.
From caller Jim Pur-lee: ``The new format is for the birds. It's very unsatisfactory. The colors make the picture look grainy.''
From caller Mary Schulte: ``The yellow, gold and orange colors in the background of the new set make the faces of the people on camera look yucky - as if they had a rough night. ''
Other callers also suggested that Channel 3's newscasts resemble a scene from ``Night of the Living Dead.''
But, hey, somebody out there likes the changes.
From Brandon Foster-Gray, who is 11: ``Duane Harding's new WeatherVision is totally cool. Where do they get such a thing?''
From David Fish: ``I like the new look. The new weather computer does great things. Can it do more? I'm happy to see Ann Keffer on camera more now. She was too good to be wasting away on the noon newscast.''
WTKR news director Barbara L. Hamm pulled Keffer off the noon newscast and sent her to the Peninsula to report at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
Keffer has her critics, too.
A woman in Suffolk doesn't like her hair or makeup. The caller says Keffer is 1960s chic in the 1990s. Get real, the caller says.
Several of the 100 calls I monitored on Infoline knocked Hamm's new warm and cuddly ``I am'' campaign, which is designed to make you think that the anchors and reporters are really swell folks.
Isn't it the silliest thing you have ever seen?
Keffer: ``I AM happy shopping.''
Jane Gardner: ``I AM fussy.''
Keep that up, and I AM going to barf.
Some Infoline callers referred to it as ``irritating.''
Summing up my little poll on the new colors, new look, new style of delivery now seen on WTKR newscasts, I give you Tony Pugh of Chesapeake:
``I can't stand it. My family can't stand it. It's really pathetic.''
I have one more bit of polling business to report on.
The Fox Box - that new graphic with the time and score that is posted on the screen at all times during National Football League games televised by Fox - was favored by 85 percent of the callers in an Infoline poll.
Bet they'd hate it if it was Channel 3 pumpkin-orange. by CNB