THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 14, 1996 TAG: 9610120067
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 85 lines
THERE IS A new general manager at local ABC affiliate WVEC; a new boss in the newsroom; and, starting today at 5 p.m., a new look to Channel 13.
What's new at the station's studios in downtown Norfolk? Almost everything such as:
A new set from which the local news will be delivered.
New toys in the weather department, including ``SkyMax 13'' radar.
New look to the station's on-air graphics. Out goes the clunky, boxy ``13'' and in comes a sexier, curvier ``13.''
New openings and closings for the local newscasts starting this afternoon at 5. New music, too.
A new co-anchor on the 6 p.m. newscast - to be named soon.
And do I detect a new hairstyle for reporter-anchor Sandra Parker?
A new 'do, indeed. Italian cut, she says.
``It's time for a change,'' said Rick Keilty who was brought back to WVEC by the Belo Corp., the Texas-based media giant that owns the station, to be general manager. He was WVEC's general sales manager before moving to Belo's station in Houston eight years ago.
As Keilty spoke last week, he stood in the studio that had been the rather claustrophobic setting for WVEC's newscasts. The hammering and sawing was about finished. Today, it's the wide open spaces, now that three walls have been removed.
The set built by Mike Wilson and Tymm Smith is glittery, deep and wide with pillars washed in light, suggesting an exhibit you would see at a world's fair.
``Contemporary and sophisticated,'' said Smith of the set's design. He could have added another adjective - busy. The new set has a giant ``13'' in the middle with the ABC logo and a globe of the world off to the right. All that's missing is a Peter Jennings poster.
The anchor desk, built on two risers, has a sweep to it not unlike the new ``3'' in Channel 13 logos. That's by design.
What will not change at WVEC, said Keilty and the recently appointed news director, Keith Connors, is how the station will do its news. It got to be No. 1 at 6 p.m. in a conservative community by covering everything that needs to be covered without the splash-and-dash, if-it-bleeds-it-leads approach of its competitors. Far less yellow crime scene tape shows up on WVEC.
Who will replace Cynthia Lima as Terry Zahn's co-anchor at 6 p.m., and sit in the midst of all that space-age glitz created by Wilson and Smith? That has not been decided, said Connors. (Speaking of new 'dos, Zahn has given the front of his hair a nice little lift lately).
``We hope to decide soon,'' Connors said about picking Lima's successor. She's gone west with her admiral husband.
Logical choice: Tall, cool Regina Mobley, who has been in Lima's chair of late.
Connors is impressed with the talent he found in the WVEC newsroom after relocating from the ABC affiliate in Rochester, N.Y. There are regional Emmys on the shelves.
``They are highly motivated journalists,'' he said of Zahn and Co. All you have to do is wind them up, point them in the direction of breaking news and get out of the way.
He's younger than his predecessor, David Cassidy, a man with a big laugh who's gone off to work for Belo in Washington, D.C. I observed Connors under deadline pressure calmly making decisions on what to cover and when. No hesitating. He's bookish, cordial and a serious baseball fan.
The cosmetic changes have been in the works for about six months, or before Connors was hired. It didn't take long to decide how WVEC's on-air image should change - from Jim Kincaid folksy to Mobley chic. It was the nuances that took time, said Keilty.
Does the ``3'' in the ``13'' look like a ``13'' for the 21st century?
They probably agonized about that for weeks at WVEC.
Keilty is making sure the make-over goes right. He brought in consultants from Audience Research Development in Dallas and other experts from Houston to get the lighting and camera angles right.
The cost of all this? More than $10,000 but less than $50,000, say the WVEC brass, who wanted a look that jumps out at the viewer. In this highly competitive TV market, where two or three rating points often separate No. 1 from No. 3 in the local news race, they strive for every advantage.
Don't be surprised if old folksy Kincaid, retired but still doing commentary for WVEC, looks like a young buck in the new lighting scheme.
Belo has the money to do these makeovers.
The company recently became the country's 11th largest TV group, expanding from seven to 16 stations when it bought the Providence Journal Co. for $1.5 billion. Belo's stations now stretch from Virginia to Hawaii. MEMO: (What do you think of the new WVEC set? Let me know by calling
Infoline 640-5555 and pressing 2486). by CNB