Baby Blogs Abound... And One Guy's Still Around

One new TV news mom and a TV news mother-to-be are blogging about their baby experiences.

WOWT (Cox Channel 8) evening co-anchor Tracy Madden debuted her blog ("While I'm Away") on Monday, while KETV (Cox Channel 9) morning co-anchor Elictia Hammond has been writing about her bed rest ("Elictia's Baby Watch") since June 12.

In her second entry, Madden relates how the name of her new (and first) daughter provoked a "strong response" from a close relative:

My husband called a very close relative to share the news and here's how the conversation went.

Relative: "So what did you name her?"

Sean (my husband): "Drew"

Relative: After a VERY long pause "Well you don't hear that one very often, do you?"

Hammond Shows Off 'Tummy Expansion'

Left to right: At four months, five months and six months.

Hammond is a regular guest on her own newcast, regular phoning in to give updates (which are available for download on the blog). She is due to deliver a twin boy and girl sometime in September. It will be the first children for Hammond and her husband, Jim.

Sigmond Lives On
While trolling for the latest update on Hammond's blog, it was discovered that KETV's normally up-to-the-minute website (powered by Internet Broadcasting and locally produced by Managing Editor Shiloh Woolman) still features the bio for consumer-reporter-turned-investment-representative Mike Sigmond.

After giving his bosses four months' notice, Sigmond's last day at the station was at the end of the May ratings period.

'Blowtorch of the Midwest' Flames Out On Fourth

Omaha radio station KFAB (1110 AM), which affectionately refers to itself as the "blowtorch of the Midwest," turned over its 50,000-watt signal to unscreened callers Wednesday morning during the first hour of the "Scott Voorhees Show."

As Lee Greenwood's patriotic anthem "God Bless The USA" played continuously, listeners' calls to the station were aired unscreened for nearly 60 minutes.

Among them:

Hello, this is Steve Brown. Listen to me in this time slot beginning tomorrow.

To all the troops, this Bud's for you (sound of can opening).

This is Donna Baker and if you had not fired me, this would have never happened.

Uh, I was calling in about the refrigerator.

This is John Ewing. Please take time to walk through your neighborhood and make sure all your neighbors have paid their license plate taxes.

I hope nothing has happened to the station. I don't understand what is going on. I hope the people at KFAB are OK.

Is this the request line? I'd like to hear "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. I haven't heard that song in a long time.

I'd like to recommend that people re-read the Declaration of Independence.

Can I get a pepperoni light on the sauce? And if you can spell out U-S-A with the pepperoni, that would be great.

Just before 10 a.m., Voorhees offered an explanation for the first hour, which he acknowledged was not well planned.

"I didn't expect to do this for an entire hour," he said. "I thought maybe we'd do it for 20 minutes."

He also made a point to mention who else played a part in the stunt, as if to spread the blame.

"I'm here, Lucy Chapman is here, Bronco is here, are so are some of the people from the other stations who work here," he said. "We've been in different modes of laughing, pounding our fists on the desk and rolling on the floor. Some (of your calls) were very tender. God bless you for realizing what this last hour of radio was supposed to be. Touching, funny and patriotic."

'All Access' News Item Includes Nearly Five-Year-Old Story

Monday, the radio industry news and music information website All Access.com included an eye-catching headline among its items making news.

Listed below headlines such as "Report: Is Imus Coming Back To WFAN?," and "Vote On Westwood Content Deal With CBS Delayed," was this one, "Charlie Petzold Dead At 62"

The name rang a bell with at least one Omaha-area radio executive, who e-mailed Media Watch. What the executive did not know - and apparently neither did All Access - was that Petzold died nearly five years ago.

Here is what All Access published Monday:

Charlie Petzold Dead At 62

CHARLIE PETZOLD, who was also known as "CHARLIE BURD," died of a brain aneurysm. He was 62. PETZOLD was hospitalized NOVEMBER 11 after he fell ill from a migraine headache. This happened shortly before he was due to go on air for his nightly segment of Evening Classics on KVNO/UNO, NE.

Most of PETZOLD's career was spent in the WASHINGTON area. He spent 36 years as a radio and television announcer. He was also a television news anchor and hosted a children's show.

And here is an excerpt from a story in the Nov. 22, 2002 edition of The Gateway newspaper by then-University of Nebraska at Omaha student Josie Loza (who now writes for the Omaha World-Herald):

KVNO takes a moment of silence for radio personality

Charlie Petzold's booming voice was silenced last week. The 62-year-old radio personality, who was also known as "Charlie Burd," died of a brain aneurysm.

Petzold was hospitalized Nov. 11 after he fell ill from a migraine headache.
This happened shortly before he was due to go on air for his nightly segment of Evening Classics on UNO-based classical radio station KVNO-FM.

Evening Classics is on air from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Two of Petzold's colleagues filled in for him Nov. 11 while he was transported to a local hospital, where he died earlier this week.

Mike Hagstrom, programming manager for the station, said Petzold would be missed.

Media Watch contacted All Access President/Publisher Joel Denver, who said in an e-mail that he had no idea how the nearly five-year-old story had resurfaced.

KMTV Has Shuttle Landing Covered

KMTV (Cox Channel 5) delivered Sunday afternoon on its promise to cover "breaking news" by being the only station to broadcast the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis, riding piggyback on a modified 747, at Offutt Air Force Base.

Action 3 News anchors Carol Wang and Carlo Cecchetto told viewers the media was only given two hours' notice that the 747 would land at Offutt Air Force Base. However, a thread on eomahaforums.com provided more than 36 hours' notice, as well as a phone number to call for the latest information.

eomahaforums.com also has an extensive gallery of photos shot in and around Offutt Air Force Base.

John Clark, RIP

WOWT (Cox Channel 8) News Director John Clark died Saturday night following a lengthy battle with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

In what would be his final e-mail to me in late December, Clark wrote, "My wife of 37 years (Joyce) has been my 'rock.' There is not a better caretaker in the world. WOWT - in particular my boss Frank Jonas - couldn't have been better to me during all this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate their support."

On Dec. 31, 1990, Clark succeeded Steve Murphy, who had worked as the station's news director for 20 years and at WOWT since 1949. From 1972 to 1978, Clark worked as a reporter for KMTV (Cox Channel 5) and WOWT. Read more about him on WOWT's website by clicking here.