George Michael: It doesn't only happen in print

[Elliotte Friedman]

Very newspaper-ish. Despite high ratings, George Michael is shut down.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/24/AR2008122402342.html?hpid=moreheadlines

 

[forever_town]

You bring us viewers, but show me the money!

You are theweakestlink. Goodbye! </Queen of Mean>

 

[mustangj17]

You gotta have faith.

 

[JayFarrar]

I always thought Washington was Redskins Town and you didn't mess with the 'Skins or anything associated with it.
For a local station to end one of its most popular features seems like a move that just means fewer viewers and hastens the slow death of local broadcasting — an industry more in trouble than local newspapers.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Jay,

I'm not sure local broadcasting is in trouble -- but I believe local sports sure is.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I could see a handful of decent-sized markets have a station give up on local news. One station here, a CBS affiliate, routinely gets its clock cleaned by all the other news shows in every slot except noon (and Drew Carey's doing his damndest to erode even that advantage). At 5 and 6 it loses to Judge Judy and some other god-forsaken judge show. I could see them one day wondering why they're throwing good money in after bad and shuttering the newsroom, which would suck from a news perspective but probably make sense from a money one.

 

[Guybehindtheguy]

Back in the '80s George would always run professional wrestling highlilghts at the end of his segment during the 6 o'clock news on Tuesdays. It used to **** off lead anchor Jim Vance, though the two had the kind of rapport on screen you don't see enough of these days.

I was always a Glen Brenner fan in DC growing up, but you had to love Michael's enthusiam, even if I started to cringe in the late-90s when I'd see him pressing the big button on the Sports Machine, as if he never figured out that SportsCenter had made TSM obsolete.

 

[Clerk Typist]

There's no local news on the CBC o-and-O in Detroit, nor on the ABC affiliate in St. Louis. And there hasn't been for years.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

WRC is an NBC owned and operated. Because of financial problems at the mothership, it's been cutting staff for over a year now. It was the king of TV stations here in DC and now it isn't, and won't be. The people viewers have gotten familiar with over time keep leaving and GE is paying for it.

 

[steveu]

This sucks. In my travels when I've been able to see DC news, WRC has kicked ass thanks to Vance and Gentzler. Like they said, what have you done for me lately?

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Wow, George Michael is 69. I remember when he was a DJ on WABC.

 

[Football_Bat]

I remember seeing the Sports Machine on an out-of-town trip a few years ago (I think it was in NOLA) and seeing the Sports Machine was still being syndicated on Sunday nights to some markets. Everything was the same as it was in the 1980s, right down to the bumper music and onscreen graphics. Kinda freaky, really.

 

[93Devil]

The long-time NBC sports anchor in Richmond was let go to stay on the newspaper-like theme.

 

[I Digress]

Damn, I remember when he was in Wham.

 

[93Devil]

Damn, I remember when he was in Wham.

There's always money in the banana stand.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I remember seeing the Sports Machine on an out-of-town trip a few years ago (I think it was in NOLA) and seeing the Sports Machine was still being syndicated on Sunday nights to some markets. Everything was the same as it was in the 1980s, right down to the bumper music and onscreen graphics. Kinda freaky, really.

When I last saw it, he had updated with a young female assistant.

 

[BYH]

Last Christmas, I filed a sports report
But the very next day, you sent me away

 

[heyabbott]

Back in the '80s George would always run professional wrestling highlilghts at the end of his segment during the 6 o'clock news on Tuesdays. It used to **** off lead anchor Jim Vance, though the two had the kind of rapport on screen you don't see enough of these days.

I was always a Glen Brenner fan in DC growing up, but you had to love Michael's enthusiam, even if I started to cringe in the late-90s when I'd see him pressing the big button on the Sports Machine, as if he never figured out that SportsCenter had made TSM obsolete.

With Vance, you just never knew if he was actually pissed or the cocaine was wearing off.

George Michael, at least in the 80's, was despised by his crew, a vulgar and nasty man who spat venom.

Glenn Brenner was a god, I miss him very much.

 

[Cosmo]

Damn, I remember when he was in Wham.

There's always money in the banana stand.

I SAID THERE'S ALWAYS MONEY IN THE BANANA STAND!!!

NO TOUCHING!!

NO TOUCHING!!

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

George always had the Freedom to do different things, like be a Father Figure to so many of us night owls on the Sports Machine. He was never Careless, a Whisper among the louder generation of sportscasters. On that national show, he never showed any bias, and invited his viewers to also Listen Without Prejudice.

My Faith in the journalism industry is once again shaken. Do they NOT Know It's Christmas?