Odds and ends on a Monday

My first day as a bureau reporter again. Feels almost like the last seven years have been a dream. A few notes to pass along.

My story today focuses on an Akron family fighting the parole for their father's killer and his accomplice. The 1975 murder took place in a pawn shop right next door to where our WKYC downtown Akron offices now reside at the corner of Main and Market Streets. I never knew there had been a homicide right next to where I work every day. I've already written this story on wkyc.com, and you can see the story in its entirety on Channel 3 News at 7.

Akron is sending quite an entourage to Florida. Deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth tells me that some 60+ folks are making the trip as part of the city's presentation to the "All-America City" judges. Our fine town has won the honor twice previously, and with so much on the line with jobs and such these days, grabbing the AAC moniker a third time would be a great marketing and image tool. The city has a press release up if you'd like to learn more about the big competition.

Friday night's final Akron-Canton News broadcast was quite special. It was great to have a live studio audience for the first time. I had about 30 folks in for the final taping .. which included post-show refreshments at Rockne's, the spot where we celebrated the first ACN back in June 2001. Keith Kennedy from WKDD was the first to arrive ... and even helped me set up the chairs for the crowd. He's such a genuine guy. (By the way, his "man crush" survey involving Matt Patrick is hilarious!) It was great to have political bloggers Kyle Kutuchief and Ben Keeler in the audience too. K2 blogged about it and plugged in some great photos. I could go on and on .. but for those who were here Friday night, thanks for making me feel so special.

Hopefully, those who watched me sign off Friday night understood the point I was making by having the director turn off the chroma key so that viewers could see the actual green screen behind me on the set. The newsroom is computer-generated, which many viewers had already deciphered, but I wanted folks to see it anyway.

I was trying to make a point that while a great deal of time and effort is put into the presentation of TV News -- especially with all the technology and green screen "stuff" -- that it's really about the people in the stories -- and not the story-tellers -- that matters. And while it's nice to have people say how much they'll miss me, what we'll all miss is the place where we can find stories about our friends and neighbors and the issues that truly matter to us.