THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601250200
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: OVER EASY
SOURCE: JO-ANN CLEGG
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Bear with me, please, while I add my two cents worth to the Dr. Duane controversy.
Like just about everybody else in town, I think a very nice, competent guy got a very raw deal.
Ironically, a couple of weeks ago I wrote - disparagingly - about rooftop weather reporters, wearing high-priced foul weather gear, standing in front of computer-generated graphics advising us of the obvious.
That it was snowing in and around Hampton Roads.
I then went on to suggest that the whole thing was ridiculous because my grandfather could do the same thing by sticking his head out the door.
That column appeared on Friday. On Tuesday two things happened that concerned me greatly.
The first was that the morning paper contained the news that Dr. Duane had been fired and the details of the tasteless manner in which his firing was accomplished.
The second was a well thought-out letter from a regular reader - written after my column appeared but before the firing episode - taking me to task for what she felt was a cheap shot at Dr. Duane's professionalism.
Her letter came as a shock to me and I called her to discuss it. Duane Harding was one of the few roof-dwelling weather persons in the area for whom I had respect. I explained to her that I most certainly did not mean to include him in my indictment of the weather-as-entertainment bunch.
I've always figured that Harding could predict precipitation with equal accuracy and grace by jabbing his index finger into the air or by clicking through the data available to him on his computer.
The man combines the common sense approach of my north woods grandfather with the high tech knowledge of my astrophysicist son.
That combination spells true intelligence in my book.
Duane Harding is a self-effacing guy who doesn't see any need to appear on camera blown-dry, lacquered-down and outfitted by Abercrombie and Fitch as though he were going on a polar expedition.
He is comfortable presenting a nice-intelligent-guy-next-door image in a business that prizes appearance over substance, glitz over intellect.
There are other TV weather people in the area whose reports I also respect or enjoy, but if there were only one to rely on, I would want it to be Dr. Duane.
Obviously, in view of what has happened since the firing, I'm not the only person who feels that way.
Never have I heard any topic so universally discussed nor so universally agreed upon.
At a meeting of media people that I attended last week, the talk turned to firings in the high pressure business of broadcasting. ``They say you haven't really made it in this business,'' a local TV personality commented, ``until you've been fired three times, but that doesn't make it any easier when it happens to you.''
``Wasn't it P.T. Barnum,'' a public relations person at the same meeting asked, ``who said that you can never go broke underestimating the taste of the public?''
``Probably, but then he also said that there's a sucker born every minute,'' another member of the group offered.
WTKR and its new owners have made a major mistake. They're taking the P.T. Barnum approach to giving the public what they think the viewers want.
They have also made a major mistake in underestimating the Hampton Roads audience. We are neither backwoods bumpkins nor brain-dead urban couch potatoes and we don't appreciate being treated as such.
Indeed, the station management, who invoke a ``new image'' as their reason for firing Harding, could learn from the experience of a department store chain that moved into the area a number of years ago.
They gave us stores with an excess of glitzy trimmings and a distinct lack of quality goods, then sat back and wondered why the customers didn't beat a path to their doors.
``I'm afraid the owners have underestimated the tastes of our customers,'' a longtime ladies' wear clerk said to me one day as she and I examined a rack of poorly styled, badly made overpriced sportswear.
After a few lean years the owners looked at the red ink, packed their flashy displays and low-end merchandise and left town.
So much for P.T. Barnum's theories.
There is a demand for class in Hampton Roads. When it comes to weather, Duane Harding meets that demand. Let's hope that one of our local stations realizes that before we lose him to another market.
In the meantime, there's not much left to do but sit back and watch WTKR suffer in the ratings game when sweeps month moves into high gear next week. by CNB