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Veteran WNBC sportscaster Len Berman will make April his last month at Channel 4. NY Post says he was eliminated "as the station continues to cut high-priced talent" while the Daily News offers WNBC's spin: Apparently news director Vickie Burns sent an e-mail saying Berman had an "interest in pursuing different opportunities within the local sports arena. To that end, we have mutually agreed that the time is right for Len to take advantage of those opportunities." (The News also points out that he's "the latest casualty in a depressed economy that has claimed the jobs of several market veterans, and specifically made sportscasters walking targets.") Berman, who joined WNBC in 1985, issued a statement, "I've had a great run here at WNBC and will miss the talented people I've worked with over the years both on and off the air. I'm looking forward to the various media projects I'll be involved with." Sad. Does this give legs to the rumor that Chuck Scarborough will get the axe?
The Spanning Stops: Len Berman Leaves WNBC
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not exactly NY news, but it's one more reason to hate hamas terrorists and the fascists in their mid
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He joined WNBC in 1985. Sad to see him go, but getting paid 1 million dollars!??
The news landscape is changing. People get their news mostly from the internet and with people working later or have long commutes hours they usually miss the news at 5 and 6.
Thanks, you're right—1986 was when the first Spanning the World came on the air.
That sucks! Len Berman's "Spanning the World" is always fun and amusing.
Hope he takes it with him.
What NBC doesn't realize is that established talent is the one reason why viewers watch NBC as opposed to the CW or even NY55. Watching someone read news copy on-camera is inherently boring. Why does anyone tune in anymore? Because we feel a bond with the newscaster. There's a loyalty there, a constant. We trust them. Network execs should realize that loyalty is hard to come by, and that Len and Chuck are still worth paying a little extra for.
You are right on DanJ. Berman was the last of the old school sportscasters in this town. Now it's just pretty faces reading the teleprompter, waiting for their next big break. One less reason to turn on the TV at 11pm.
Now there's even less of a reason to watch NBC. When they get rid of Sue and/or Chuck, there will be no reason to watch a local NBC program at all.
Two typos:
"Daily News [offers] offers"
"this give[s] legs to"
It does seem sad, this passing of an era of NBC's talent. If only there could have been a middle ground between the large salaries and a smarter digital strategy and stories that are compelling to an online audience. Did any of you gusy go to the digital blogger summit NBC had a while ago? I was there and they really do not appear to have listened to anything that was said in that room full of NY bloggers.
I just watched Jay DeDapper talking to Douglas Muzzio of CUNY TV, lamenting the decline of WNBC, where reporters used to be able to spend 3 mins on a piece to get into the subject (as much, I suppose, as one can in 3 mins):
http://www.cuny.tv/schedule/Action.Lasso?-Database=CUNYPROG&-Layout=webprogdetail2&-Response=detail2.lasso&-Operator='eq'&ProgramID=PR1010659&-Search
If the quality of WNBC's NY Nonstop is what we can expect for the future, so much the worse for us.
So the internet is not just killing the newspapers. Hard days ahead for the media.
Tivo and DVRs are also culprits in this case. The people who still watch TV no longer watch commercials.
Yet another reason not to watch. Local news is all about personalities and this yet another part of the spiral down of WNBC.
If they dropped all the high priced "talent" and spent money for reporters to get the news, this would be a good move. But, like most TV stations and this includes the national broadcasters, they cut the news staff down years ago to focus on the high priced "talent".
Len Berman... man, been watching his sports reports since I was a teen. He's always been a great reporter and journalist, complete with an understanding of the players and games played and when appropriate he's expressed the larger context they have in our society. I hope he does a sports wrapup on his website or joins espn or something. changing times...he'll be missed otherwise
These networks need to get rid of the lame ass weather people. They are always wrong, are complete tools and bore the shit out of the audience. When there is a snowstorm why do they need to send 12 people all over to show you how much snow is on the ground? Traffic people need to go as well... Anyone stuck in traffic will not benefit from some stiff telling you are experiencing traffic. NY1 is no frills and gets the job done. These other newscasts are 90% fluff and melodrama.
Please let Chuck Scarborough be next !
It's sad to see our generation's Warner Wolf get the boot, but it's a reality of the times. Also, like a couple people have mentioned, $1m is a bit much for any sports anchor (it's a lot of most play-by-play analysts as well, which he is not). Hopefully, Bruce Beck will the nod as the permanent anchor.
That said, come somebody tell me why Jay DeDapper and Carol Ann Riddel were canned? They can't be making that much (or more than Darlene Rodriquez or any other of the morning people that lack charisma and personality). Looks like I'll be watching more of NY1 on the weekends...
no worries, we still have scott clark.
They better not fire Sue Simmons!