Today's MGT Sports Magazine to hit newsstands

[gartv]

I don't think it has ever been mentioned that WMGT does not have a sports report in their newscasts. They never had a sports anchor and you rarely get even sports scores except an occasional on screen graphic during commercial breaks and that is limited to the top popular teams in the state (Braves, Falcons) but you get no highlights unless there is a major story.

Anyway, WMGT is now producing a free magazine publication called "The End Zone" and it will be dedicated to High School Football.

I find it strange that a TV station that has NO sports in their newscasts AT ALL is the ONLY station in Macon to produce a local Sports publication.

And they have announced that they will have a Friday Night Football show at 11:15 every Friday during the High School Football season.

This gives WMGT a slight jump on WMAZ which has had a longtime Friday night football show that airs at 11:35 for 30 minutes DELAYING David Letterman until 12:05.
WMAZ's program is rather intense. They want to be ESPN soooo bad.

WGXA had a simular show at 10:30 after their Fox24 News at 10. I may have seen it once.

[raven3]

When Seth Bauguess was there, during the high school football season he was sport anchor. I wonder now who going to do it, will be the anchors, reporters, or meteorologist. Are will they have a Intern to do. One suggest I have, is they host a contest. The contest will consist of local fans of sports to become a citizen sport anchor and the viewers can vote on the best one, and either the station hire them or they will volunteer there service.

Another suggest will be for them go to the local college or universities, for example Fort Valley State (which has Mass Communication Department) and form a partnership. Since Fort Valley State don't have local televsion channel (they use to but either it was cut due budget cut or something wrong with channel). The partnership will consist of MGT offering Fort Valley State Mass Communication Department a chance to produce segements that will air on the weekend. Fort Valley State will offer interns, camera equipment, and on some stories let MGT have the first chance to air the story.

[gartv]

raven3 said:

When Seth Bauguess was there, during the high school football season he was sport anchor. I wonder now who going to do it, will be the anchors, reporters, or meteorologist. Are will they have a Intern to do. One suggest I have, is they host a contest. The contest will consist of local fans of sports to become a citizen sport anchor and the viewers can vote on the best one, and either the station hire them or they will volunteer there service.

Another suggest will be for them go to the local college or universities, for example Fort Valley State (which has Mass Communication Department) and form a partnership. Since Fort Valley State don't have local televsion channel (they use to but either it was cut due budget cut or something wrong with channel). The partnership will consist of MGT offering Fort Valley State Mass Communication Department a chance to produce segements that will air on the weekend. Fort Valley State will offer interns, camera equipment, and on some stories let MGT have the first chance to air the story.

Seth Baughess was the host of the Friday Night High School Football shows. But the station itself has never had an official sports "segment" during its newscasts. I have read that many stations were cutting back on sports coverage so I never thought of WMGT not having a sports anchor as a big deal. I had hoped it would be included with some future expansion of the newscasts itself.

The suggestions with Ft. Valley State University are GREAT IDEAS!! All the way around. It would be a great alliance. And a step ahead of the competition.

I remember WMAZ having a connection with Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville iand WGXA with Middle Georgia College in Cochran way back when it was an ABC affilate. I don't know what the other stations are doing now.

[tvboy]

Television sports in Macon has as much life as Glenn Ford. In other words, it's dead.

[gartv]

tvboy said:

Television sports in Macon has as much life as Glenn Ford. In other words, it's dead.

I don't think that is a fair statement!

Sure there are many faults within the local media in Macon, but one thing this market does put a strong effort in is sports. Especially local sports. WMAZ and WGXA not only has sports anchors but dedicated sports programs. Both stations have had special programs every season covering high school and college sports. Small colleges like Georga College in Cochran, GCSU in Milledgeville, Mercer University, and Fort Valley all get great coverage in addition to UGA and Ga Tech.

WMAZ's longtime anchors Frank Malloy and Suzanne Lawler are very active in local sports including hosting local sports events. Suzanne Lawler & Hugh Zeitman travel to cover sports events around the country especially Braves, Falcons and UGA games. And Suzanne would be a Sports anchor of ESPN caliber if the "good ole boys" would accept a woman in that position. She kicks major butt when she fills in for the sports anchors during the week.

WPGA attempted a daily sports news show replacing a local news cast. It was a great attempt that failed more because the station really could not afford to even produce a newscast. Such is the case for small UHF stations in small markets. (DUH!)

All of the local Macon stations have Friday night sports programs dedicated to the High School football season. WMAZ has had their program for over a decade and WMGT is the first to publish a magazine for it.

Understand that High School and college sports are more popular than professional sports in small town areas. And local television (including low power TV stations) bend over backwards to give attention and promotion to local sports.

Sorry for the rant, but one thing is for sure. If nothing else, Television sports in Macon is far from dead.

Now trying to keep a local pro team here is another story
(R.I.P Macon Knights arena football.......major sponsor? WMGT)

[tvboy]

Sorry, I'll disagree.

First let me address the WPGA attempt at their 30-minute nightly show. It was done only because the sports anchor at the time was the only person not bitching to management about their mismanagement. That's why they kept her on and created a sports show. That anchor, Sarah Walsh, was absolutely horrible. She had a horrible reputation in Macon for her pathetic work ethic. Her stories were copied off the AP wire and her other stories were poorly written. That show could have had so much potential in the hands of people who actually knew what they were doing, but instead it was a joke. I think if you asked any seasoned sports anchor what they would have thought of that program, they would have shared my opinion.

WGXA has not had a strong sports presence in years. The kid doing the sports now is average, at best. He's not a strong anchor in any way. Their other recent anchors have been very weak. Just because you do a 30-minute high school football show every Friday does not mean it's a strong situation. The worst stations in Georgia do those type shows, as evidenced by Fox 24 doing their program.

And Channel 13, a strong department? Please. Give me a break. The former News Director there, now the GM, would drop sports if not for Malloy still being there. And while he is the "Executive Producer," he does little to help that staff. Dave Solano, who just recently left, was pathetic. He was very weak. Zeitlan is a bit better, but no more than a weekend anchor in any market. And your comments about Lawler are comical. ESPN? Holy crap. She would only do female tennis stories if she could. Her stories are as sappy as you can get.

I mean they don't even have a Sports Director at Channel 13, and when Solano was still there, they had him doing the 6 and 11 two days a week, Lawler on Wednesday, and then Zeitlan for the final two weekdays. They won't even place the sports anchor at the main anchor desk.

And when is the last time a sports anchor has actually broken a sports story at one of the stations? Not in many years.

So I strongly disagree with you. I see no strong commitment by any station in Macon to sports content.

[gartv]

I probably should not have said "strong effort". But compared to a decade ago....yeah, this is the strongest we have had.

Yes, the stations are poorly managed, every one of them. They have been for years. As for WPGA, it is a locally owned station managed by someone who never owned a TV station before and is doing so on a shoestring budget. This is also why we get inexperienced FRESH OUT OF COLLEGE "kids" anchoring these programs. Macon is basically a training ground for larger markets (hence the high turnover).

Thanks for reminding me of the girl on WPGA, Sarah Walsh. She was forgetable. But do you honestly think that in this part of the world that anyone (the guys) would accept having a woman in her position? If they did, then I say again that Suzanne Lawler would be the sports director at WMAZ (or anywhere) instead of a weekend morning anchor that she has been the entire time she has been here...going on 12 years!

BTW: I have met Suzanne Lawler personally over a decade ago, she knows me by name, we have done volunteer work together and we attended the same church many years ago. We also have mutual friends and I can personally say that she knows her stuff. And there may be other reasons why she gets the stories she reports on. I won't go into that as it is her business. Again, refer to the "management" of the station and the "good ole boy" network. She probably would leave if it were easier for someone her age (late 30's) to get another job in television.

When I moved here in 1994 we had basically ONE news source. That was WMAZ and it was definitely run by old tradition. WGXA's offering (as an ABC back then) was cheaper than an elementary school home video production. They would probably still not "exist" if it were not sold and became a FOX affilate. They did grow some and then slipped back but are not dead yet. I probably should not have said "strong effort" but we do have more than we did a decade ago. And today happens to be the second anniversary of WMGT. Nothing to brag about, but the potential is there in slow steps.

Does a sports anchor in Macon have to break a big story in order to have any credability? They send reporters all over the state and beyond to cover big sports news events. What exactly do they have to do? Its not like we have major (big league) pro teams playing here. Hell, they cover the local minor league stuff that comes and goes. And usually goes because of lack of support and complaints from the locals expecting big city style from small town efforts. (I really don't want to open up that bag for debate)

For the type of area we live in, what we have is better than nothing. We do need improvement, but let's face it, Macon will never be like the big markets.

We are not in total disagreement. However I do give Macon a B- for the effort. I keep reading where stations in cities large and small are cutting sports coverage.

[raven3]

I guess now that Ryan Chambers is a Fill-In Meteorologist/Sport Reporter. In my opinion he did a okay job.