Matt Lauer just teased that Katie Couric is coming back to the Today Show on Wednesday to make a "major announcement." How's that for a tease?
The bloggers are quickly lighting up the web with speculation as to why KC would come across town from CBS to do something for NBC again. Is she returning to Today, or is this some personal announcement that seems better placed on Today than on her adopted network at CBS?
I'll poke around the NBC sources to see what I can find .. but I'm reminded that Bryant Gumble made an appearance on Today years ago even though he'd moved on to the CBS Morning Show by that point. It was all part of a Today anniversary piece and they were getting all the former hosts to take part.
I'm wondering if Katie's appearance tomorrow will be part of the same thing ... some kind of Today Show retrospective ... either that, or something concerning her on-going push for colon cancer screening.
Don't for a second think that the vague mention of Katie's return wasn't done for the buzz it would create ... it was very intentional.
And while I was skeptical that anyone would be able to take KC's Today spot and flourish, Meredith Vieira is as good as it gets ...
The Class of 08 can pound their chests against the Class of 07 for one thing .. fewer will miss graduation for failing to pass the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).
Of the current seniors, 89 still haven't passed all portions of the OGT and therefor can't walk across the stage. That compares to 127 last year, some of whom were in tears as they threw themselves on the mercy of the Board of Education, which was powerless to change the policy.
This year's seniors learned a lot from watching last year's class. Still, 89 out of 1,500+ seniors is too many .. but at least the test scores are moving in the right direction.
I know there's an argument to be made about how some kids are great students but lousy test takers and vice-versa. I know that a great many parents fell the district is spending too much time "teaching to the test," but right now, it's what we've got.
One of the kids who failed to graduate last year stayed in touch with me over the summer. She'd only missed the test by one point on the science portion, and had to watch her twin sister walk the stage while she stayed in the audience. And after taking some make-up classes and retaking the OGT, she finally passed it to get her diploma. It was a fun follow-up story to put on the evening news. If she did it, shouldn't other OGT-F's be able to do it?
Still, I wonder how many of last year's OGT failures just said "the heck with it" and moved on without a diploma to face the world.
Yeah, I still feel bad for the seniors who completed every academic class of the last 13 years but won't get to walk across the stage with their classmates. It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that you don't want to miss. Hopefully the Class of 09 will accept the challenge to beat the 89 left behind this year.
I'd love to get some feedback from Akron teachers .. on what they think helped more of this year's class get over the challenge of "the test."
Among the many crazy things I can recall of the last seven years:
The fire department coming to the station during the 6:30 p.m. newscast because people were stuck in our building's elevator. Four of Akron's finest came through the door with axes in hand as I was pitching to weather. Betsy Kling and I chatted live on the air as I did play-by-play of the big rescue inside our own building.
Numerous times that our studio camera went crazy during the broadcast. Since it's remote-controlled by a man with a joystick in Cleveland, there's always the possibility it'll go nuts. There have been times that the camera suddenly shot at the ceiling and other times when it zoomed out or in real fast like an action movie. One time I shrunk while in front of a graphic of a butterfly, and it looked like I was being eaten by the bug.
The day a man dressed as a pirate came to the front door seeking employment. Our Executive Producer, Chris Hyser, told him that the only job we had open right now was for a meteorologist. Captain Hook immediately said "I can do that!" When Chris asked the man if he had experience, he responded "I've been predicting the weather for years .. just not professionally."
The day a woman walked into our newsroom through an open door and accused us all of being "wolves in sheep's clothing" because we were conspiring to cover up a major meat infection story on the East Coast. Needless to say, we quickly escorted her back to the street.
A woman who brought her son to the front door claiming that the boy was possessed by the devil and that she needed to get Satan out of the boy's body. We quietly called police; they were quite familiar with this woman and her mental issues.
Seeing a big black car come up on the curb on Main Street during a 6:30 broadcast. The vehicle then came to a stop right outside our windows, and I began wondering if the driver inside was planning to kill me live on the air. As the electric window came down, I realized it was Mayor Plusquellic inside teasing me that I had the easiest job in Akron.
Getting a late-night call from a stranger who told me, "it hurts. It really hurts and I can't make it stop." I nearly hung up on the woman thinking it was a crank call, when she finally told me who she was. Turns out it was one of our reporters and she was having an appendicitis attack in the basement of our building. We didn't even know she was down there and thought she'd left the building to go to dinner. Had she not had her phone with her or had I hung up, she might have died.
Having a man come in off the street and begin to use our newsroom computers to check his e-mail. When questioned about who he was and what he was doing, the man said, "what? isn't this the library?"
Well .. the week I dreaded has arrived. This is the final week of the Akron-Canton News, which is being discontinued due to a number of economic reasons. Basically, not enough ads were sold to keep the product on the air, so the last show will be the 10 p.m. broadcast on Friday May 30th.
It's been a slow death since the announcement was made 5+ weeks ago. The stress level has been high in our newsroom as we each deal with the loss in different ways.
The broadcast we launched on June 13, 2001 as "PAX 23 News" has taken a lot of turns in its seven-year run. We began with seven newsroom staffers doing one broadcast each day and then eventually grew to 11 staffers doing two shows each weeknight just before the Iraq war began in early 2003.
When problems at PAX arrived in early 2005, the show moved to Time Warner Cable and a new series of struggles began -- specifically informing viewers in each community where they could find us on the dial. Regular viewers who weren't TWC customers gave us an earful, but moving to cable was our only option so what could we do?
Through attrition and relocating some staff to the Cleveland office, we slowly shrunk from 11 staffers back to seven while still doing two shows each night. As of this writing, we are down to six staffers .. some of whom, unfortunately, will be let go after Friday.
Throughout this week, I'll try to share some of the behind-the-scenes stories of the highs and lows of the last seven years.
It's so hard to know that our community is losing its traditional evening news broadcast -- and in some ways its TV identity -- for a second time.
Losing a program that so many of us loved with all our hearts is just hard to describe. This whole week is just going to be really, really hard.
I'm saying up front that this is not an April Fool's Joke Part II ... and I in no way knew any of this on that glorious day when I duped a number of folks in town with a blog post that a new, downtown aquarium was on the way for Akron. (At least one media organization called the University of Akron just to make sure I was really kidding.)
Turns out ... thanks to the keen eye of a friend of mine .. there were not only discussions of a downtown aquarium, but a firm in Boston, MA had drawings made (see above) and still has the idea on its website as a future project.
The site claims:
"The Akron Aquarium will be located in the center of downtown Akron, Ohio. Chermayeff, Sollogub & Poole have designed the aquarium to be a landmark and cornerstone of the major urban revitalization mixed use master plan. The plan is focused around a central urban waterway which ultimately links with Lake Erie. The waterway will be lined with shops, restaurants, offices, hotels and a renovation of Akron’s historic performing arts theater. The Aquarium will include a major world class ocean tank, multiple focus tanks, interpretive exhibits, aquarium shop and visitor services. The aquarium design is planned for future phasing and expansion. Opening planned for 2008."
I checked with city hall and have been told that the idea was killed two years ago ... but I'm still trying to get details on whatever the plan was at that time and just who planned to ride Shamu.
But right now .. all I have to say is .. what were the odds????
It's an awful story .. no matter what family it affects. A couple's teen son accidentally runs over and kills his 5-year-old sister in the family driveway. That's what happened to Contemporary Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, at the family home in Tennessee.
SCC is far and away my favorite performer ... his songs of faith and hope helped me tremendously during my tour of duty overseas .. and have always been the right inspiration for me at the right time. If you click on the cassette tape to the right, you'll hear some of his songs that I linked to my blog last week.
The Chapmans have three children of their own and adopted three more from China. Maria, the youngest of the adopted children, was the one killed.
As a couple, Steven and Marybeth have been national advocates for adoption and they also have a foundation that provides financial support to couples looking to adopt. It was a big part of his concert in Akron last fall.
News reports indicate the family was playing outside when the accident happened, and at least two of the Chapmans' other children witnessed it. No charges are expected as police believe it was an unforeseeable accident.
I can't imagine the agony the family must be feeling at the loss, but I equally can't find the words to describe what SCC's teen son must be feeling as well. Their entire family has been changed forever.
I've covered similar stories for the evening news, and I'm quick to realize that the pain the family endures in the initial few days of the tragedy is only the beginning. Long after the TV cameras move on to other stories, this family will still be grieving. Now it's happened to a family we all know.
SCC's two teen sons played with him during his concert last fall at the Akron Baptist Temple. Both are phenomenal musicians, like their father. Hopefully, the boys can lean on that close relationship with their father for support.
On his most recent CD, SCC shares a powerful message about fathers and daughters in his song "Cinderella" which laments a daddy's joys and pains in watching his little girl grow to womanhood. Knowing how much SCC loves his daughters, I can't imagine how he'll ever play that song again and not be in tears. My own son has made "Cinderella" one of his favorite songs and has already said that if he has a daughter someday, he'll play it at her wedding. If you're a fan of Christian music then you've probably heard it on the radio by now.
One of SCC's most emotional songs, "When Love Takes You In," was written about the adoption experience. It's very powerful and indicative of the passionate lyrics and message true of SCC's music in general. I know that the little girl in the video is one of the daughters he adopted, but I don't know if it's Maria.
I invite you to watch the video below and let the song sink in ... and when it's over say a prayer for this Christian family that they find peace and healing in the coming days.
Matt Lauer just teased that Katie Couric is coming back to the Today Show on Wednesday to make a "major announcement." How's that for a tease?
