TallyVision

[poonther]

On another note...Julie Montenaro delivered her new baby today so she'll be out on maternity leave for awhile. Congratulations Julie!

The few times I catch the 6pm news, I too didn't realize Julie was preggers. Is this her first child? Ranicky didn't have anything to do w/this did he?

[Glenn]

The few times I catch the 6pm news, I too didn't realize Julie was preggers. Is this her first child? Ranicky didn't have anything to do w/this did he?

Ha! You're funny poonther! They hid her pregnancy quite well while she was on camera for sure.

This is her first child. Her husband is Zach Gibson & he stated on the news clip that it's a great feeling & he can't wait for #2...Julie didn't say anything....Ha!

[DXV1]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this or not but, if you see the promo that 27 is doing for that "greatest sale star search contest", it looks like the guy in the commercial is the guy that's the mascot (ABC Man). Oh and that contest they're doing ("Watch and Win"), is about as stupid as the promotion they did sometime back, "You'll love our news."

I do think that Dorsett and Nancy do have great chemistry on-air. I'm wondering though since Dorsett does the noon and 5, if this means that she's going to be let go soon. Remember, years ago, Rick Boone did the exact same thing and wound up leaving for Carolina.

[Beukeboom]

Ha! You're funny poonther! They hid her pregnancy quite well while she was on camera for sure.

This is her first child. Her husband is Zach Gibson & he stated on the news clip that it's a great feeling & he can't wait for #2...Julie didn't say anything....Ha!

Speaking of children, I got to meet the 6-month old daughter (2nd child) of Sarah Grady when I ran into her at Publix. We used to work together at channel 6. It was nice to see her again.

[Go Gators]

MikeMcCall

I like the new weather graphic you use at the end of the newscast that uses the Tallahassee skyline as opposed to the Thomasville courthouse. Is it still new, or has it been around a while? I actually stayed up late enough last night to watch the whole CTV newscast (normally watch Fox49 since its earlier) and noticed it and was impressed!

Has anyone else seen this?

[Ray Hawthorne]

Blaine Tolison and myself went out and shot video from the intersection of Ocala and Tennessee (right in the Albertson's and Stevie B's parking lot) a couple of weeks ago. I then did a freeze frame capture and got some help from our production director Cameron Miller with photoshopping out the skyline, adding an alpha channel, and then I just popped it into the graphics system.

We also shot some video from Apalachee Parkway toward the capital, but didn't like it for two reasons -- one of which should be obvious to you all, and the other reason is that the natural lighting was in front of me, which created a haze around the capital building that just didn't look good when I saw the raw video clips. A better shot would be to take the capital building on a clear day a few hours after sunrise, but before noon.

Thanks for the kind words....

RH

MikeMcCall

I like the new weather graphic you use at the end of the newscast that uses the Tallahassee skyline as opposed to the Thomasville courthouse. Is it still new, or has it been around a while? I actually stayed up late enough last night to watch the whole CTV newscast (normally watch Fox49 since its earlier) and noticed it and was impressed!

Has anyone else seen this?

[Go Gators]

Thanks for that explanation Ray!

Another question for you. Does Pinpoint have the HD feature now? It seems when you guys show the pinpoint loops as of late that the flow between frames has been much more smooth and detailed. Thanks in advance!

[user102929]

MikeMcCall

I like the new weather graphic you use at the end of the newscast that uses the Tallahassee skyline as opposed to the Thomasville courthouse. Is it still new, or has it been around a while? I actually stayed up late enough last night to watch the whole CTV newscast (normally watch Fox49 since its earlier) and noticed it and was impressed!

Has anyone else seen this?

I too have seen it multiple times on the 11 PM WCTV Wx segments. But when the construction of the downtown condo in the picture is finished, a new picture overlay will be needed to keep it recent looking, or the graphic just might not be used anymore. It looks great though anyway.

I think that WCTV should get a Tower Cam like WTXL has successfully gotten. The camera could be put on the top part of WCTV's radar tower (as long as it doesn't interfere with the radar dish's operation) and it could be pointed and zoomed in on the downtown skyline. It would also be generally facing West or Southwest since most of the storms and weather comes from that way.

[user102929]

Blaine Tolison and myself went out and shot video from the intersection of Ocala and Tennessee (right in the Albertson's and Stevie B's parking lot) a couple of weeks ago. I then did a freeze frame capture and got some help from our production director Cameron Miller with photoshopping out the skyline, adding an alpha channel, and then I just popped it into the graphics system.

We also shot some video from Apalachee Parkway toward the capital, but didn't like it for two reasons -- one of which should be obvious to you all, and the other reason is that the natural lighting was in front of me, which created a haze around the capital building that just didn't look good when I saw the raw video clips. A better shot would be to take the capital building on a clear day a few hours after sunrise, but before noon.

Thanks for the kind words....

RH

Ray, I guess you and Blaine took the footage and faced the camera down Call St. (Right where it comes out at the CVS). And faced the Capitol.

Just a suggestion, you and Blaine could try taking a picture for the wx graphics from the top of the tall building at the intersection of East Carolina St. and North Gadsden St.

All the downtown buildings line up in one good view from there. Infact, I think the skyline picture in the conference room at the station was taken from the top of that building.

[Ray Hawthorne]

To answer the first question: the loops are smoother because the way you define the loop in Weather Central (our new graphics system) is different than WSI (our older graphics system). For example, in WSI - you set the speed purely in frames per second. You may have a 6-hour satellite and radar animation but you have to play through that at either 30, 15, 10, 6, or 3 frames per second. With Weather Central, you can set your animation to complete 4 seconds, 5 seconds, 4.5 seconds, or any number in between. Thus, the temporal resolution of the loop is greater because of smaller, user-defined time intervals.

Also, we can very easily switch our weather graphics from SD to HD when the time comes. Weather will have a simple transition; news might be a little more complicated - but I'm not learned enough on the requirements on the news end. When we create the graphics now, we use a 4x3 safe title area to make sure everyone can see what it is we're trying to show...but it's tricky because the map display I'm looking at assumes it's an HD graphic. (Does that make any sense?) I have looked at our graphics on an HD monitor a few months ago - and it is REALLY impressive.

The skyline graphics have very specific requirements. For example, we must have enough "sky" (it should take up probably around 50-60% of the photo from the top - though obviously some of the taller buildings will eat into that, which is fine). The skyline surroundings MUST MUST MUST go up about 1/3 from the bottom (like trees, smaller buildings, etc). We definitely do need to take pictures again a few months down the road once construction finishes up. I will not be here then, but I did want to get a Tallahassee skyline shot before I left (in addition to Valdosta). Hopefully, Thomasville sky and Doak Campbell (for football games) will not be far behind... but there are lighting considerations and it's easier to photoshop things when you shoot on a perfectly clear day or perfectly cloudy day. As we all know, we get mixed sun and clouds in the summer here a lot.

Overall, though, the process of doing some of these cool things in the new system is far less painful than it was with WSI. Perhaps I'm biased now because I'll be working for Weather Central, but I thought the same thing before I got the job. It's a real treat to use and the workflow is so incredibly streamlined that I can focus more of my time on the science when the weather is active.

Hope these explanations help.

Ray, I guess you and Blaine took the footage and faced the camera down Call St. (Right where it comes out at the CVS). And faced the Capitol.

Just a suggestion, you and Blaine could try taking a picture for the wx graphics from the top of the tall building at the intersection of East Carolina St. and North Gadsden St.

All the downtown buildings line up in one good view from there. Infact, I think the skyline picture in the conference room at the station was taken from the top of that building.

[Ray Hawthorne]

Thought I'd add this tidbit also...

Mentioned in my blog last weekend that global signals for development for tropical development near the Gulf of

Tehuantepec (on the Pacific side) or the western Caribbean (Atlantic side) were pretty strong. Alma developed two

days ago and rolled into Costa Rica. Now, a separate system is trying to spin up near the coast of Belize in

the Caribbean. The low to mid-level ridge along the Gulf coast ought to steer that thing into Belize and/or the

Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico...so development looks unlikely. It might have a small chance to do something if it can

sneak into the extreme southern Bay of Campeche later in the weekend, but either way it's staying away from us.

There's some indication from the global models that the subtropical ridge will shift eastward next weekend, and allow for

some tropical moisture to head this way. Guess we'll find out if there's anything more to that in the coming days.

________________________________________________________________________________

__________________

SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

800 PM EDT FRI MAY 30 2008

AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE...ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMNANTS OF FORMEREASTERN PACIFIC TROPICAL STORM ALMA...IS CENTERED OVER THE GULF OFHONDURAS ABOUT 50 MILES EAST OF THE COAST OF BELIZE. DEVELOPMENTOF THIS SYSTEM APPEARS UNLIKELY DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO AS ITMOVES SLOWLY WESTWARD OR WEST-NORTHWESTWARD OVER THE SOUTHERNYUCATAN PENINSULA. NEVERTHELESS...LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINS AND FLOODSARE POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS OVER PORTIONS OFHONDURAS...EL SALVADOR...GUATELAMALA...BELIZE...AND SOUTHEASTERNMEXICO. FUTURE TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED ONTHIS SYSTEM AS NECESSARY. FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOURAREA...PLEASE CONSULT STATEMENTS FROM YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

$$

[Go Gators]

Thought I'd add this tidbit also...

Mentioned in my blog last weekend that global signals for development for tropical development near the Gulf of

Tehuantepec (on the Pacific side) or the western Caribbean (Atlantic side) were pretty strong. Alma developed two

days ago and rolled into Costa Rica. Now, a separate system is trying to spin up near the coast of Belize in

the Caribbean. The low to mid-level ridge along the Gulf coast ought to steer that thing into Belize and/or the

Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico...so development looks unlikely. It might have a small chance to do something if it can

sneak into the extreme southern Bay of Campeche later in the weekend, but either way it's staying away from us.

There's some indication from the global models that the subtropical ridge will shift eastward next weekend, and allow for

some tropical moisture to head this way. Guess we'll find out if there's anything more to that in the coming days.

________________________________________________________________________________

__________________

SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

800 PM EDT FRI MAY 30 2008

AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE...ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMNANTS OF FORMEREASTERN PACIFIC TROPICAL STORM ALMA...IS CENTERED OVER THE GULF OFHONDURAS ABOUT 50 MILES EAST OF THE COAST OF BELIZE. DEVELOPMENTOF THIS SYSTEM APPEARS UNLIKELY DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO AS ITMOVES SLOWLY WESTWARD OR WEST-NORTHWESTWARD OVER THE SOUTHERNYUCATAN PENINSULA. NEVERTHELESS...LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINS AND FLOODSARE POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS OVER PORTIONS OFHONDURAS...EL SALVADOR...GUATELAMALA...BELIZE...AND SOUTHEASTERNMEXICO. FUTURE TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED ONTHIS SYSTEM AS NECESSARY. FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOURAREA...PLEASE CONSULT STATEMENTS FROM YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

$$

Me and my yard would give anything for a nice tropical depression or tropical moisture to come through Tallahassee. These little "teaser" rains are nice, but it doesnt do much for the overall health of my yard. However, we are going down to SW Florida for our big fishing trip next week, so I can wait another couple of weeks

Thanks for the info Ray, keep it coming!

[user102929]

To answer the first question: the loops are smoother because the way you define the loop in Weather Central (our new graphics system) is different than WSI (our older graphics system). For example, in WSI - you set the speed purely in frames per second. You may have a 6-hour satellite and radar animation but you have to play through that at either 30, 15, 10, 6, or 3 frames per second. With Weather Central, you can set your animation to complete 4 seconds, 5 seconds, 4.5 seconds, or any number in between. Thus, the temporal resolution of the loop is greater because of smaller, user-defined time intervals.

Also, we can very easily switch our weather graphics from SD to HD when the time comes. Weather will have a simple transition; news might be a little more complicated - but I'm not learned enough on the requirements on the news end. When we create the graphics now, we use a 4x3 safe title area to make sure everyone can see what it is we're trying to show...but it's tricky because the map display I'm looking at assumes it's an HD graphic. (Does that make any sense?) I have looked at our graphics on an HD monitor a few months ago - and it is REALLY impressive.

The skyline graphics have very specific requirements. For example, we must have enough "sky" (it should take up probably around 50-60% of the photo from the top - though obviously some of the taller buildings will eat into that, which is fine). The skyline surroundings MUST MUST MUST go up about 1/3 from the bottom (like trees, smaller buildings, etc). We definitely do need to take pictures again a few months down the road once construction finishes up. I will not be here then, but I did want to get a Tallahassee skyline shot before I left (in addition to Valdosta). Hopefully, Thomasville sky and Doak Campbell (for football games) will not be far behind... but there are lighting considerations and it's easier to photoshop things when you shoot on a perfectly clear day or perfectly cloudy day. As we all know, we get mixed sun and clouds in the summer here a lot.

Overall, though, the process of doing some of these cool things in the new system is far less painful than it was with WSI. Perhaps I'm biased now because I'll be working for Weather Central, but I thought the same thing before I got the job. It's a real treat to use and the workflow is so incredibly streamlined that I can focus more of my time on the science when the weather is active.

Hope these explanations help.

About the 4:3 Safe Title area on a 16:9 graphics display. I see what you mean. If you place text or other info outside of the standard 4:3 border (on the outer left and right sides of a widscreen picture) then that info outside of that safe area will only be visible to those viewers watching on a widescreen TV/picture. And those people with a standard 4:3 picture won't see that info at all since their view isn't as panoramic as a widescreen picture. Like whats below ...

If everybody (the viewers) had a widescreen picture and widescreen TV, then the safe title area restriction just wouldn't be needed .

Right after WTXL ABC 27 wen't HD. They typed some of their graphics (lower thirds, OTS's, etc.) out of the safe title area, and thats why the words ran off the side of the screen on 4:3 TV's. However, they did a wonderful job of fixing it after they realized that everybody doesn't have widescreen TV's like they have at their station .

[poonther]

I'm sad to report that our good buddy Ray Hawthorne has moved on to Wisconsin.

He has been replaced by Sheena Samanipour.

I caught her on Sunday night and she did a good job for a rookie. Her surname is what Indian or Iranian in origin?

Also WCTV's third string sports guy Dave Robin is gone. For sports, I'm definitely much more of a Rob Shaw type of viewer than an Elton Gumble guy. You?

[poonther]

I was checking out the Wiki Site for WCTV and came across the following:

Sharon Tazewell I don't remember her looking this good when she worked here???

WALA Can you identify two ex WCTV employees? BTW: WALA stands for "We Are Loyal Alabamians" according to Wiki. I find that odd for a station that serves three states and as many folks in their market live out of AL as do in it.

One of GG's favorites

Jackie Johnson When was she here at WCTV? I remember her on WSVN in South FL, but not at WCTV. Wow impressive move for her from the Tally market to the Miami market to the 2nd biggest market in the US.

I use to like this guy until......... he stated he was "excited to trade the Seminoles for the Buckeyes." Mike McCall I think you need to talk to him about that one.

She's over in Jax

Also Wiki is reporting that 4th string wx guy Michael Koolick is now down at WFOR in Miami. Even though it's the "dog" station of South FL, it gives Michael a chance to work w/the Weather God of South FL, Bryan Norcross.

[Go Gators]

MM was good, but she wasnt one of my favorites

This one was:

http://www.winknews.com/about/newsteam/rep...rs/6665007.html

While we were down in SW Florida the past week, I was able to watch her on WINK.

[Beukeboom]

I was checking out the Wiki Site for WCTV and came across the following:

Sharon Tazewell I don't remember her looking this good when she worked here???

WALA Can you identify two ex WCTV employees? BTW: WALA stands for "We Are Loyal Alabamians" according to Wiki. I find that odd for a station that serves three states and as many folks in their market live out of AL as do in it.

One of GG's favorites

Jackie Johnson When was she here at WCTV? I remember her on WSVN in South FL, but not at WCTV. Wow impressive move for her from the Tally market to the Miami market to the 2nd biggest market in the US.

I use to like this guy until......... he stated he was "excited to trade the Seminoles for the Buckeyes." Mike McCall I think you need to talk to him about that one.

She's over in Jax

Also Wiki is reporting that 4th string wx guy Michael Koolick is now down at WFOR in Miami. Even though it's the "dog" station of South FL, it gives Michael a chance to work w/the Weather God of South FL, Bryan Norcross.

Sharon looked very nice when she was at WCTV. I think at her present location they use pro makeup artists and definitely a better photographer. Back when she was at WCTV, they used video-capture to get the images for the website.

Re: WALA -- Matt put in a good word for me when I applied for a newscast director's position at WALA but I didn't get considered for an interview. They have him doing a lot more reporting than WCTV did. At least the times I've seen him while visiting relatives in Biloxi (local cable carries WALA and WKRG but not WPMI). I didn't realize April was there as well.

I forget which year Jackie was at WCTV (she was there when I worked there) but she wasn't there long before Miami beckoned her away. And she wasn't in Miami too long before L.A. called. It wouldn't surprise me to see her on network sometime.

I emailed Ilyssa recently. She did the series on my gastric bypass surgery while I was at WCTV. They did one package about me pre-surgery, one package of the surgery itself and the plan was to do periodic followups as I lost weight. Unfortunately I was let go before we could do the followups. Incidentally, i have officially lost 200 pounds.

[poonther]

Thanks for the "insider" reviews on those folks B'boom. I forget you know most of them on a personal level.

I really enjoyed weather w/Matt Barrentine. I wished he'd come back to town especially since it is his hometown.

WOW 200lbs you've lost? Congratulations!!!! That's like losing me plus a 3rd grader. Yeah it's too bad they never did that final follow-up installment on your weight loss. It's truly is amazing.

[Beukeboom]

Thanks for the "insider" reviews on those folks B'boom. I forget you know most of them on a personal level.

I can honestly and sincerely say that all those WCTV'ers listed in that post, every one of them was pleasurable to work with.

WOW 200lbs you've lost? Congratulations!!!! That's like losing me plus a 3rd grader. Yeah it's too bad they never did that final follow-up installment on your weight loss. It's truly is amazing.

Thank you for the kind words. I am lighter now than when my wife and I started dating in college back in 1984. I'm shooting to lost at least 13 more pounds which would put me below my weight during my senior year in High School.

[gatoremt]

I miss Melissa. I really like the new weather girl on the weekends at WCTV her name is Sheena;).

[poonther]

He has been replaced by Sheena Samanipour.

I caught her on Sunday night and she did a good job for a rookie. Her surname is what Indian or Iranian in origin?

As I stated before, I like Sheena too emt.

[rsgunner]

I see that 3 more reporters are gone from WCTV.

The turnover rate seems to be very high. Is this normal for this type of industry?

rsgunner

[user102929]

I see that 3 more reporters are gone from WCTV.

The turnover rate seems to be very high. Is this normal for this type of industry?

rsgunner

Those leaving reporters probably got a job at another TV station in a bigger TV Market or DMA (where there is a bigger tv watching population)

Which 3 reporters have hit the road and left WCTV.

[user102929]

As I stated before, I like Sheena too emt.

I work with Sheena on the weekends while interning, she is a very nice girl and she is serious about her job, I was told that she was a weather dept. intern under Ray until he left. And i think she does really great at her job too.

I do however feel sorry for her and the rest of the weather team because they sometimes have to put up with alot of crap from obnoxious viewers over the phone after unexpected weather cut-ins have to be done.

[Beukeboom]

I do however feel sorry for her and the rest of the weather team because they sometimes have to put up with alot of crap from obnoxious viewers over the phone after unexpected weather cut-ins have to be done.

Tell me about it. When I was at channel six, I worked at master control during my early days there (BTW, if you're still interning or working there, tell Lewis, Art, Tristan & Watson that Carl said "Hi") and got all sorts of phone calls whenever we had to break in to programming for whatever reason. The worst was during the soaps and especially Oprah. The funniest however was when CBS broke in during Oprah for something serious (I forget what) and a lady called me at MC and complained vehemently. She demanded that I tell Dan Rather to get off the air so she could resume Oprah. I politely told her that I really couldn't do anything about it and offered to transfer her to M. Smith's extension but she was too angry and hung up on me.