2024 – The Uninvited Consultant: Do As They Say To Do But Not As They Say To Do… #WaitWhat?
[As posted on LinkedIn]
It’s not that I hate or loathe what broadcast news consultants do (per se), but it’s more what happens afterwards, when you take their ideas/suggestions from the meeting/webinar back into the newsroom/studio to apply to practice. I have had, on occasion, some very good advice and help with my delivery, behavior, writing/editing, etc. However, at my last station, we had – on average – at least three to four consultancy meetings per year. Again, some offered some salient pieces of help.
A few of them were less than stellar when it came to offering anything worthwhile. The station management’s (who hired the consultants in the first place) idea to nix what was just told you and move back into the Business As Usual / Don’t Upset The Algorithm state of mind was whiplash-quick and What The Hell Just Happened as confusing afterwards. Not all consultancies are created equal, it seems.
Two of them stick out in my mind particularly because of how quickly their method were rejected.
The first consultant team of note (I can’t remember their names and I didn’t keep their paper documentation around) was invited in around 2010 and dressed as stereotypical college professors complete with large smoking pipes, white turtleneck sweaters and tweed jackets with leather elbow patches, making “Hurm! Hurm!” acknowledgement noises whenever anyone asked a question after their initial lecture/demonstration. Their main suggestion was for the producers to shake the newscast up when it came to “stacking the show”. If you watch all the newscasts in your area, Station 1 would take daily stories in the first/”A” block of the show in A, B, C, D, E, F, order. Station 2: B, C, A, F, E, D. Station 3 A, C, B, D, F, E… and so on. Usually, stations will lead with the brightest and most active stories available to them; the O.J. Simpson Bronco Chase would lead rather than a contemptuously raucous city council meeting. A warehouse fire would lead the news rather than a press release from the mayor’s office about the local garbage situation. The much overused but still in use rule of “If It Bleeds It Leads” would be denied by many news directors if questioned, but it is what happens in the industry every night and in nearly every market.
The professors’ idea was to go completely different, upturn the usual order… taking the “thought of as least important” story and moving it to the top spot of the show. “Dare to be different! Your viewers will thank you! Forget the whole ‘If It Bleeds It Leads’ idea! Quit leading off with the fires, the murders, the police chases… start off with a human interest story, something that is usually reserved for the end of the show or the bottom of the “A” block.”
To their credit, the newscast producers tried it that night and the next morning for the Daybreak program. It didn’t take long after for the order to be given. The loud part was: “If It Bleeds It Leads” was the law of the land forevermore. ” The quieter part of the order was “Don’t Ever Try To Stack The Show That Way Again If You Value Your Job”. Much confusion in the newsroom after that situation: listen to these consultants but don’t do anything of what they were suggesting.
It wouldn’t be the last time.
The second consultant runaround around 2015 was of a more personal nature and held in the station’s upstairs conference room. Anchors and reporters are asked to spend a couple of hours with the consultants reviewing on-air persona, voice levels, enunciation, body posture, eye direction focus (look at the camera this way but not that way, and not for too long) et mindbending cetera. In this case, a video camera connected to a laptop facing a blank wall was your recording performance area so you could spend time learning from your failures. After several minutes of review of past video examples, you were expected to perform as if you were live on-air for an initial critique. I was judged to be “not verbal enough” and “not exciting enough for the viewers’ attention” for my weathercast. After several more video recording sessions, where I was asked to be louder, more expressively gesturing, more “three-dimensional” (move inwards towards the camera and back again as if “approaching” the audience”, and – above all else – smile more, even and especially during severe weather coverage.
(Them: “A happy weatherman is a more audience embraceable weatherman!”
Me: “During tornado warnings?”
Them: “ESPECIALLY during tornado warnings!”)
It was during this practice time, attempting time and again to please the consultant, becoming louder and louder, holding a rictus of a smile no matter what, that I started to recall Asian actor Garrett Wang’s experience from years’ past. The Star Trek: Voyager actor had landed a role in a movie set in 1920’s Chinatown as a Chinese gang enforcer. The director kept pestering him to be more “authentically you” and “ramp it up” on his performance. Wang tried everything and then, after he realized what was being asked of him, tested the director by putting on the entire stereotypical Can’t Pronounce Anything Properly “Ah, so!” Chinese acting performance. When the director cut the scene and proclaimed proudly that it was exactly what he was looking for, Wang quit the picture immediately.
By the time my ninety minutes were up, I had become as close to what the consultant was looking for in over-the-top nearly-gymnastic-exercise expressive motions, crowding the camera and moving away several times, as well as being as loud as a televangelist on espresso during a tent revival without a microphone/speaker system. Oh, and the smile. Can’t forget the smile.
Fortunately, I was scheduled to fill in for the vacationing chief weather anchor and evening meteorologists, so I did everything the consultant told me to do. Didn’t hear anything from the news director until we went to the break between our news and the national network newscast.
“What the hell was all that about?!”
I explained that I was doing exactly what the consultant told me to do. I was told that that would be impossible, I must have misunderstood.. and was I trying to deliberately be this way to earn a reprimand or the scorn of the audience acting like this?
I responded, truthfully, that: yes, I was trying to be deliberate, as this is what the consultant that he hired instructed me to do on-camera to be more successful with the audience.
I was not believed. Dismissed from his office with the promise that he would look into what I was telling him and that for the 6:00 PM newscast, I should “tone it down or else”.
A few days later, the instructions came down via email that while I should pay attention to what I was being taught during any and all consultant sessions from now on, it was not necessary to “engage in the majority of their instructions” while on camera for the sake of “not upsetting or confusing the viewing audience”. Numerous other anchors and reporters received similar instructions and were confused about the “why” of the situation until we compared notes.
Many of the same were also confused as to why we should have had to sit through all those sessions if we were just going to be told not to follow through. At what cost had been spent for our “benefit” and coaching if it wasn’t to be management’s liking? Had anyone in management previewed the advice from the consultants to see what was being offered? Did anyone in management “look under the hood” before driving off down the road? At what point were we to stop listening to what was being said because it wouldn’t be accepted post-meeting / on-air? If we were to disregard the consultant’s advice when returning to our on-air efforts, what was the point (and the cost?) of the visits in the first place?
2021 – The Infinitesimal Chasm Between CAN’T vs. WON’T [As posted on LinkedIn]
A long time ago, when I was working for my dad’s architect office in Topeka, Kansas, part of my job as kid-in-residence was to travel to the US Post Office off of Gage Boulevard on Fridays to purchase credit for the postage meter. One Friday, I was told by the postal worker behind the counter that “We don’t do that on Fridays”. Returned to the office, sans postage, which was needed to get invoices mailed, blueprints sent, et mindbending cetera, the reaction was not great to my arrival without what I was sent for. An inquiry to the USPS inspector’s line by the office manager found later that the employee “just didn’t want to do it” as he “didn’t feel like it” that particular day. Not that he couldn’t do it, he just wouldn’t. (Spoiler alert: the employee was disciplined and I did get the postage meter taken care of after a day or two.)
At one of my previous places of employment, I came up with an idea that would help increase the number of weather live shots done on the weekends while upping our out-and-about around-town signature that would be very worthwhile to the station profile and (hopefully) increase advertising revenue by showing what we could do in the various surrounding communities away from the main metropolitan area. (Hint: it’s not all about your main urban area and the number of television-watching-ratings meters therein.)
Just by using basic station technology with no increased cost to the company/station – tablets, webcams and smart phones, sometimes combined with live trucks, sometimes not, with available wifi – we would be able to go live from local communities as well as controlling the weather graphics computer remotely. This could have been done for local celebrations, events, or just to travel to places that were in our viewing area that we didn’t go to as much without a “breaking news” cause. In doing so, we could attract new viewers and translate a larger sense of community through our newscasts; we didn’t just care about the metro area, we cared about all the viewing area. There could have been a randomness to the project (Where Will We End Up THIS Week? Tune In And Find Out!) or it could have been scheduled in detail months in advance for where and when.
The idea was shut down immediately for the usual – and unexplained – reasons: Too expensive. Won’t work. We don’t do live shots on the weekend. Who would cover for you? Also, the ever-popular “Nope!” And, last – but by all means – certainly not least on the excuses hit parade: No One Else Is Doing It So Why Should We!?
Now, enter COVID-19. Amazingly, newscast live shots are easily done from a reporter’s home, an anchor doing a newscast remotely from their living room, sports reporters explaining the latest scores from their home patio, newscast producers running the cast from their home office desk, all are suddenly not only possible, but necesary. Suddenly, the Nope! factor is gone. What changed? What was different to the people in charge of then vs. now? Makes you think about the definitions of Can’t vs. Won’t.
My idea to get out into the community has been largely successful in other medium/large markets, some in the southeast United States, and some farther away. The weather anchors / meteorologists in those markets that try a remote live-shot from a not-so-large-numbers-of-markets seem to be able to make it work, and it makes an impact on the community. Maybe not in ratings numbers, but in community goodwill and word-of-mouth free promotion.
Am I grousing that my idea wasn’t even tried, and/or that I am sour-grape-ing a complaint to the world at large that I wasn’t listened to? Perhaps, else what’s an internet forum for? But to be able to – hopefully – catch the eye of a news director out there who can somehow edge beyond the No One Else Is Doing It lazy to the Nth degree excuse of non-risk and try something new, perhaps the news organization will be that much more promoted and watched in the future. There doesn’t have to be a huge all-company-wide effort of promotion and sales and creative services involved. Sometimes, the best ideas are the smallest. Yes, there is risk involved, but the payoffs can be rewarding should a toe be bravely stuck over the line. Even labeling it as a That’s So Crazy It Can’t Work… Can It? Idea. The risk is up to you. The reward for trying something new might be small, but at least it will have gotten the idea of trying something new now might beget trying another something new later.
But only if you have the courage to try. Immediately shutting down an idea that later comes back to be your salvation in difficult times is shallow and see-through. Not to mention lazy and somewhat craven.
Whether it’s “can’t” or whether it’s “won’t”, whatever you decide as a person in management, don’t think your employees aren’t noticing where the difference lies.
2017: DARE TO BE DIFFERENT: USE A MAGIC 8-BALL FOR WEATHER FORECASTING
I consider it a great running gag to have either a Magic 8-Ball or a crystal ball behind me when I do a weather or astronomy podcast. The idea being (in my not so humble opinion) that it is hilarious to see a degreed meteorologist with supposed fortune-telling instruments in view. Mostly to see if anyone recognizes it for what it is. (“Ah! So THAT’S how he makes his forecast!” I also tried to include a few mugs of tea with the leaves on the saucer as a tasseomancy reference, but all I got was people who asked why I had dirty dishes on the set.)
I tried having one or two of the items behind me during my later years on-air, only to have public viewer complaints forwarded to me from the management that I was engaging in devil worship and as an anti-Christian was going to Hell for using the public airwaves as recruitment tools for the devil. Being in the southern United States, the managers were usually known to favor the viewers in anything complaint-worthy, as they were very fearful of losing even one viewer.
So much for having a bit of fun from time to time. Did I try this type of personal whimsy often? Only because I learned from the best about how and when to try.
Working a dovetailed schedule of a meteorologist on the weekend shifts and production department member on the weekdays from my time at KTKA-TV 49 in Topeka, Kansas, I gratefully picked up a great deal of knowledge and experience from many people. One of the best was newscast director Dennis Denger. I wish I would have kept a few snapshots of his work as proof and inspiration of trying something new or inventing a new angle for a project of line of thinking. During the set-up for the morning newscast, after I was done getting the studio cameras set and the audio board ready to go, Mr. Dennis would create a weather forecast graphic that included the forecast text from our chief meteorologist included over a video capture from the station towercam which would be posted on-screen while the verbal forecast audio from ABC’s Good Morning America played over it. A typical morning’s choice of a background picture would usually include the grassy embankment as Interstate 70 curves through downtown Topeka, a capture of a gorgeous Kansas sunrise through the buildings to the east of the station, or a close-up of the Kansas Capitol building in the same sunrise glow, or a look across the Kansas River which flowed just north of the station building.
If there was enough time, Dennis would include something extra, using the special effects available on the director’s control board to fade in someone’s face to be just barely discernible if you looked hard enough. My particular favorite was when he would hide David Letterman’s face in the Kansas Capitol building or Kansas City Chiefs then-head coach Marty Schottenheimer’s face in the clouds over the Kansas River. Several noteworthy dignitaries of the day had their turn while Dennis was in the director’s chair on the daybreak shift. (A particularly indignant crusading preacher from a small Topeka church was one of the favorites, usually woven into the Montgomery Ward’s parking lot.)
In the days before widespread e-mail, we would get phone calls to the newsroom from people kindly asking if they had seen someone’s face in this building or that cloud, or if they were just imagining things. Occasionally, we would get an actual letter that would be passed along through channels to the production department, quizzically inquiring about what the writer may or may not have seen.
Whether or not word of these minor shenanigans ever made it to management’s level, I was never made aware. I would like to think that, had anyone up the chain of command noticed, we would have had a laugh about it as Just One Of Those Things That Happen In Broadcast Television circles. I have found that, in my not-so-limited broadcasting experience, there are a lot more upper level managers out there who have – and would rather have – many more Think Smarter Not Harder Boss Training symposiums under their belt rather than a decent sized sense of humor. Anything that goes against the grain of making money and not disturbing the money-making pattern/formula, or – perish the thought – would reduce the viewing audience by one person who would find an on-air pun, a humorous mistake or a hidden face in the clouds offensive or silly, has been more and more an event worthy of sanction, remonstration or worse. Suggesting a new segment, a new story, a new line of investigation can all be equally challenging, especially when the answer happens to be “no” a good deal of the time.
To my own history, to someone who has gone through the news business learning how and when (or if) to try something a bit whimsical, the level of daring that Mr. Dennis took upon himself to try. At my other stations, I would occasionally fade in a face or two, mostly to see if anyone was paying attention. It became a running gag of sorts between me and people at the stations who knew what was going on. (David Letterman in the rising moon for the nighttime forecast was my signature.)
At one of my last stations, during a particularly long summer season when the forecast in the area didn’t change from day to day over a several week period, I devised an animation with a pair of scissors that would “cut” the forecast wording out from one frame and “paste” it into another, closing out the weather segment with the proud statement that – at OUR station, being environmentally conscious – we always recycle everything, including the weather for our viewers’ benefit!
For some odd reason, management didn’t find that funny at all. Tough room. (Conversely and thankfully, the newsroom crew thought it was hilarious.)
For the up and comers in today’s journalism classes who will be in the Newsrooms Of The Future, broadcast or digital, I would recommend having the backbone to try new things, challenge the status quo, make your mark in trying to be unique in your viewer’s/listener’s eyes and ears. This is sorely needed in a Don’t Rock The Boat You Might Lose Us A Customer! Stranglehold attitude in today’s media markets.
Don’t believe me? If you have access to one market’s newscasts, try watching each newscast flipping back and forth between them one evening. You will probably find that they follow almost the exact same formula, and quite probably the exact rundown of stories. What makes them different?
Maybe something a bit edgy, something that your competition isn’t doing? (Remember to stay within the bounds of reason: most news directors will not respond well to a suggestion of doing the weather forecast in interpretive dance.) Maybe adding a cartoon character or political figure to the fluffy clouds in a weather forecast graphic isn’t the best way to go until you have a good idea on how your Powers That Be might respond, but being the person to suggest a new idea, and to fight for that idea when it might be rejected at first, is one of the best struggles you can engage in. Bringing your idea to fruition (or at the very least, attempting to do so) is one way you can distinguish yourself in your new, or in any, career. Dare to be different, to be the one who walks off the path a bit, breaking trail for those who will follow you.
Just don’t use a crystal ball as your guide. The roaming charges are terrible.
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Meteorologist Austen Onek 