I’d vote for KTVB 7–I can’t stop watching that trainwreck. Between Larry Gebert’s manner of pointing out that he is obviously so much smarter than any of the other staff and Rick Lantz’ sanctimonious attitude toward humanity in general, I can’t even make myself change the channel for waiting to see who’s going to be the most offensive next.

I do think they are dopes. Robbie Johnson and her camera man parked their Ch7 van on the sidewalk on Main St. Since the tunnel was closed, all cyclists and pedestrians were forced to cross main street. I, however, didn’t need to cross, I needed to use the sidewalk on the North side which was blocked by the van. The van also did a good job of blocking the view of traffic for those who did cross the street.

I wasn’t the only one either. In the few minutes I was there several other cyclists had to go off the sidewalk and into busy Main Street to avoid the van. However, the van was there for at least 2 hours, just to get that all important story about 10″ of water on a bike path.

Minor inconvenience, sure, but the last time I parked on a sidewalk I got a ticket.

The only issue I have is that the word “dope” has evolved like “Phat” and “the bomb”, and is now a status to aspire to. I wouldn’t know that, but for the teenagers who eat, sleep and do homework here. So, given the ages of most of the people who qualify for the “award”, perhaps they will think it’s a good thing!

Or the nominees could spin the “Dope Reporter Award” into something interesting: now, they’re award-winning journalists, technically.

Or the nominees could spin the “Dope Reporter Award” into something interesting: now, they’re award-winning journalists, technically.

7 will win, because 6 doesn’t have as many reporters. At least Robbie and the other Ch. 7 reporters have the good sense, more often than not, to dress appropriately for where they are. It’s all a little ridiculous, but so are most of the frequent posters on here.

You never praise anyone, except yourselves. It’s kind of sad to think about how much time you people spend watching television just to catch someone doing something you think is stupid, then go write your bitter blog entries. Those guys are doing a job. It may not be the job you think they should be doing, but it’s the job they’re told to do, and it’s for less money than you think. Like it or not, people moved here from other states, and aren’t hip to Idaho ways. They still pay taxes and make up a major segment of the local media market, and must – from time to time – be catered to in order to attract TV advertisers.

OK, I admit it. “We” still pay taxes and make up a major segment of the local media market (but I don’t live in a subdivision in the flood plain). Like it or not, some people actually “like” Larry Gebert and Rick Lantz. Believe it or not, weather is news to a lot of people. Like it or not, the flooding is kind of a big deal. It’s going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money (but the roads and the Greenbelt probably still won’t be fixed the way they should be). How much money remains to be seen, but I’m sure at least one local reporter will remember to ask. In the interest of disclosure, yes, I do work behind the scenes for one of these organizations you’re bashing — but I’m off the clock, the company doesn’t know I’m doing this, and this post isn’t meant as an apologia for the local media.

For non-library types, “apologia” is Latin for “formal defense or justification.” I like the way it sounds (I also like that you’ve introduced “non-library type” into the local lexicon, Dave). This is just one human being writing to another, saying how I feel about some other human beings I happen to work with every day. But what the hell, “dope reporters” are public figures, so I guess they’re fair game. I didn’t mean to get so worked up, but there’s your competing viewpoint.

EDITOR NOTE–Jaydog, love to hear from you, but you gotta know this is just for fun. We all love the TV reporters and think they are probably the best looking, if not the highest paid migrant workers in America.

I hope Shane Johnson is still in the running.

Thanks to Shane, I FINALLY understand what the flooding problem is! Last night he demonstrated on the 6 newscast – it was awesome.

He had a plastic Coleman cooler, tipped at an angle and partially filled with water. The drain plug was open, so water was spilling out. And a hose was “upstream,” running at the same volume as the drain, so the water level remained constant. Then he took a bucket full of water and poured it in the cooler. And, like Lucky Peak overflowing, the water spilled over the top. The light came on! Oh – NOW I understand!!! Bieter and Merrill better DO SOMETHING!

As for other posters who have nominated Mr. Larry Gebert… I BEG YOUR PARDON! Larry’s a Treasure Valley Treasure! He’s a weatherman! He’s an authentic TV personality, in the mold of, um… uh… well, I can’t think of anybody right off that Larry’s like, but you get the point. The multi-faceted Larry is at home in front of the weather screen, or in the kitchen cooking something up with Chef Lou, or prowling the sidelines at a Bronco football game.

EDITOR NOTE– Flood toys do not qualify for Dopoe Awards–unless they are totally over the top. We missed the cooler bit ourselves.

Larry Gebert? You cannot be serious!

The man makes up his weather. “Uh, the clouds are going to go around the mountains because they can’t make it over…”

WTF??

I can’t believe he’s still on the air. Just looking at his pornstache is enough to make me sick.

Larry Gebert? You cannot be serious!

The man makes up his weather. “Uh, the clouds are going to go around the mountains because they can’t make it over…”

WTF??

I can’t believe he’s still on the air. Just looking at his pornstache is enough to make me sick.

EDITOR NOTE–We have to warn you, this comment has graphic content.

BUT…Ken, the best part of the story was when the newscaster read the story and said “Owners claim this is Idaho’s only legal ‘cattery'”…while showing a taped photo of the business sign that said “Idaho’s only legal CATHOUSE”. Unfortunately there’s likely to be more today, because they only retrieved “half the cats” yesterday and went back for the others. I’m with you…I think I’ll pass. Looking at abcesses and parasitic cat eyes, was just what I needed to choke down my bowl of spaghetti.

jaydog – a rather embarrassing post my friend. Makes you sound like you belong right where you are.
It’s not sad that we come to this page to vent our frustration with the silliness of the programs that are labeled “newscasts” and the increasing silliness of the people who appear on these programs. It’s sad that these programs are all we have to chose from. Thats what is sad. And these aren’t bitter remarks…they’re funny. See, we unfortunately can’t change the newsrooms so we either have to laugh or cry and we chose to laugh.
You’ve got the part right about a lot of people moving here from out of state…and wouldn’t it be nice if when they turned on their tv’s for the first time to watch the “local” news in their new hometown, they saw a real newscast instead of creatures like Larry and the other clowns who bought a little mail-order certificate from AMS so they could call themselves “meteorologists” or kids who can neither write nor read very well, making a joke out of themselves, and therefore, our city! You imply that the youngsters populating our newsrooms are simply “catering” to their audience.
Well that, my friend, is what “we” find offensive…that the people running our local media outlets think we’re that stupid.
Since you’re on the inside, you should be working to make some changes, not trying to convince us that the people wasting all those precious broadcast minutes every evening are hard-working people trying to do a service for the community!!
If you’ve ever watched one of these programs, and you’re legally sane, you’d know that the “local news” on all four of the local stations is often the funniest thing on tv.
I don’t recall much real news being covered on local tv since the channel 2 boys jumped on the crooks at city hall and forced some people to stop lying to the citizens and get rid of some of the trash in city hall.
I really don’t care how many cats are in somebodys house in Twin Falls!!

First, I need to tell you thanks for doing this – the different, and often witty, “slant” on the news. I keep the Guardian in my bookmarks list for a reason — and it’s not to come and say “boo hoo, stop making fun of Robbie, Rick, Larry, etc.!” Apparently that’s the impression I created when I decided to write something on the internet without taking an after-work nap first.

Without getting into a discussion that’s above my pay grade, I’ll say that I definitely understand some of your frustrations about the area’s local TV news – and I’m not the only one. As for being an insider “working to make changes,” I can tell you it’s harder than it sounds when managers/consultants expect you to keep your mouth shut and just live with their decisions when they don’t agree with the proposal, or decide to go a different direction because the work being proposed can’t be completed that particular day.

I guess the deal with me is this: some days I go home wondering if we managed to show anything people appreciated, or just ticked some people off and made the rest laugh at those who are – ahem – “unintentionally funny.”

Jaydog – you’re not in any danger of getting into a discussion thats above your pay grade my friend…if anything…discussion of local tv news is “below” the pay grades of most people in here. It really is just a cool place to blow off a little steam and experiencing the joy of discovering that a lot of people share your views…and we can all laugh about it.

I don’t envy you being on the inside of that business because the folks in charge very obviously don’t care about the audience’s perception of their news teams and the product they put on the air each night. If they did, they wouldn’t be forcing salaries in a downward spiral and hiring people who look and sound like they dropped out of high school before learning to read and write well. GM’s like Jeff Anderson at 2, Doug Armstrong at 7, the radio guy at 6 who obviously knows nothing abut TV and whoever is at 12… are all about making profits, not offering quality programming.

The easiest way to hike profits is hire the cheapest people you can find and get them to do the work of two or three people for a minimal amount of money. You can bet your life that Armstrong would replace Dee and Carolyn with much cheaper hires if he thought he could get away with it.

It’s a fact that most people out here in the real world laugh at the local news…you probably won’t ever hear that from people who are talking to you face-to-face and know you’re in the business…but in places like BoiseGuardian you will hear it…and if you could somehow eavesdrop on office “water-cooler” talk without anyone knowing you were in the tv news business…you’d hear people discussing the worst looking, worst dressed, most irritating voice, goofiest hairdo, worst makeup, dumbest remarks, etc. etc…. and you would very rarely hear discussions about the high quality of tv news shows.

But hey, a lot of us work for companies, government agencies or whatever, that are laughable in their practices, so take comfort in the fact that nobody is alone in this cruel ‘ol world and the best thing for all of us to do is have a few laughs…at each other and at ourselves.