Akron-Canton News set on the move -- literally

First the show ended .. now the set that I called home for the last seven years is gone as well.

Here's a picture, courtesy Kyle Kutuchief, of the last show on May 30th along with the live audience that came to cheer me on. (What a night!) You can see how the set is positioned on our Akron turntable with the green screen in the background that was used to create the computerized background that viewers saw of me.

The set itself actually has some pretty good history. It's the weather set from the "old" Channel 3 News building on East 6th Street. To my knowledge, Amy Hasten, David Rogers, and Mark Nolan all used that set for the traditional 6/11 weather forecasts. When WKYC moved to its current Lakeside Avenue location in 2000 which included a brand new set, the old set was sent south for the Akron-Canton News broadcast that debuted in June 2001.


This was the news set today as producer Duilio Mariola and others from PBS 4549 take over the turntable in preparation for their own live productions in the Akron newsroom. They've moved the set off to the side of the turntable so they can remake a special set for NewsNight Akron, among other things.

Since Channel 3 is no longer producing a full newscast, we no longer need the actual set. I can do liveshots for WKYC (and I will in about 25 minutes as part of our 5 p.m. news special) from a standing position and the viewers will never know the set is gone.

Now the set is headed north again .. back to Channel 3 for storage.

I always liked sitting at the set and collecting my thoughts before a show. I'd often drum on the top of it to keep myself entertained during commercials. It just doesn't feel right sending it to mothballs, but I'm staying positive that better things are ahead.