Maria Stephanos
[From article]
Maria was the last of her kind — an anchor known to everyone in the market, who in fact had a loyal following, a cult of sorts. She came up at the tail end of the “Dream Team” era,
[. . .]
Nowtechnology has taken the “mass” out of “mass media.” It’s not just TV. Newspapers, I regret to say, are shadows of their former selves.
[. . .]
That’s the good news. The bad news is with their audiences splintered, the media’s old formulas no longer work. The suits are afraid to take chances. They don’t want to run off even more of their dwindling audiences. They panic at the thought of doing anything that might make somebody reach for the remote control. They’re playing not to lose, with the usual result. They’re losing.
[. . .]
In 1982, when I had just started working for the old Channel 7, Rupert Murdoch was trying to buy this newspaper. It was a big story. One night all of us who were covering the sale for TV were brought up to Murdoch’s suite at the Long Wharf Marriott to meet him.
Murdoch’s guy introduced me to him by saying, “This was our top columnist, but he just quit to go into TV news.”
Rupert nodded and said to me, “You made the right decision.”
At that moment, yes, it was. But man, am I glad I got out of TV before it was too late.
Maria, I wish you the best and I hope you get to wherever you wish to go. But before you start interviewing, don’t forget that in local TV news, Clairol’s old advertising slogan applies now more than ever.
Blondes really do have more fun.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2015/09/carr_stephanos_exit_latest_nail_in_local_tv_news_coffin
Carr: Stephanos exit latest nail in local TV news’ coffin
Sunday, September 13, 2015
By: Howie Carr
Boston Herald
* * *
[From article]
Stephanos was tight-lipped on her stunning exit from Fox 25 yesterday but her husband, Dale Stephanos, alluded to bad blood between his popular anchor wife and station owner Cox Media Group when he wrote on his Facebook page:
“It’s so rare to find people with real integrity these days. Harder still to find people like that in the media. I’m so proud and happy for my wife today. This took a lot of guts.”
In a press release sent out by the station yesterday afternoon, Stephanos said she was stepping down to “pursue new professional endeavors” and “embark on a new adventure.” She did not specify her next move. Stephanos will anchor her final newscast tonight at 11 p.m. The station did not name her replacement.
Her departure marks the latest in an exodus from Channel 25, after Fox Television Studios traded the Hub station to Cox for two San Francisco stations last October.
Fox 25 GM Gregg Kelley was sent to the West Coast and San Francisco’s KTVU GM Tom Raponi came to Boston. Longtime personality Doug “VB” Goudie, another viewer favorite, parted ways with the station in November.
Morning anchor Sorboni Banerjee left this summer for Florida. Longtime investigative reporter and anchor Mike Beaudet is leaving at the end of the month to become a full-time professor at Northeastern University.[. . .]
Since taking the helm, Cox has hired a bevy of new reporters and invested in new equipment. But unlike the previous management, which had a practice of hiring local talent, many of the recent hires have come from out of state or other Cox-owned stations, sources said.
The new owners want shorter stories and more of them. They also want to boost the number of stories in communities with the highest number of meters that track TV ratings, sources said.
Yesterday, Raponi hastily arranged a staff meeting at the Dedham studios to announce Stephanos’ departure. Stephanos and her colleagues became emotional as she talked about the people she has worked with over the years.
“It will definitely be a loss. She’s the heart and soul of that station,” said an industry observer. “That news operation was built around her.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/media_marketing/2015/09/heslam_fox_s_maria_steph_anos_stuns_with_exit
Heslam: Fox’s Maria Stephanos stuns with exit
Friday, September 11, 2015
By: Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald
* * *
Doug "VB" Goudie
[From article]
Before I was hired by Fox 25 for the new morning news show they were launching in 2003, I asked the station general manager, Gregg Kelley, why he wanted to hire me, especially considering I’d never been on TV before.
Gregg looked at me, smiled and said, “That’s exactly why I want to hire you, VB.”
And as we got to talking about the new show — what it was going to be, how we were going to do it — Gregg said, “I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be, but I know what it’s not going to be. It’s not going to be like every other show. …”
Now part of his thinking was out of necessity: We were going to be new, so we needed to be different. But mostly it was philosophical. Something was missing in TV news, and we thought we could fill that void. We would do long-form live interviews. So long that Gov. Deval Patrick once asked during the interview, “How long is this interview, and did I agree to that?”
We would give our opinions on major stories. (Anchors giving opinions? Can’t get those from a teleprompter. …) And we would have daily viewer feedback. (It never ceases to amaze me what people will say in a tweet, but luckily they did, every day.)
We were different. It doesn’t mean we were better — sometimes our ratings proved that — and it doesn’t mean we were always right (perhaps I didn’t need to be live wearing a Speedo that time), but we were different.
And as I watched Maria Stephanos’ farewell last night on Fox 25, I couldn’t help but feel that as she was leaving that building, “different” was leaving the Boston TV news market, at least for now.
After all, Maria epitomized everything that Fox was — loud, smart, sassy, engaging … not afraid to mix it up, not afraid to laugh at herself and not afraid to give a hug. Or a “VB!!!!!” in that high pitch only Maria can hit when she is outraged!
Combine Maria’s exit with that of Fox 25 investigative reporter Mike Beaudet, and “different” is now taking a dirt nap.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/2015/09/doug_goudie_stephanos_exit_leaves_cookie_cutter_tv_news
Doug Goudie: Stephanos exit leaves cookie-cutter TV news
Saturday, September 12, 2015
By: Doug “vb” Goudie
Boston Herald
Maria was the last of her kind — an anchor known to everyone in the market, who in fact had a loyal following, a cult of sorts. She came up at the tail end of the “Dream Team” era,
[. . .]
Nowtechnology has taken the “mass” out of “mass media.” It’s not just TV. Newspapers, I regret to say, are shadows of their former selves.
[. . .]
That’s the good news. The bad news is with their audiences splintered, the media’s old formulas no longer work. The suits are afraid to take chances. They don’t want to run off even more of their dwindling audiences. They panic at the thought of doing anything that might make somebody reach for the remote control. They’re playing not to lose, with the usual result. They’re losing.
[. . .]
In 1982, when I had just started working for the old Channel 7, Rupert Murdoch was trying to buy this newspaper. It was a big story. One night all of us who were covering the sale for TV were brought up to Murdoch’s suite at the Long Wharf Marriott to meet him.
Murdoch’s guy introduced me to him by saying, “This was our top columnist, but he just quit to go into TV news.”
Rupert nodded and said to me, “You made the right decision.”
At that moment, yes, it was. But man, am I glad I got out of TV before it was too late.
Maria, I wish you the best and I hope you get to wherever you wish to go. But before you start interviewing, don’t forget that in local TV news, Clairol’s old advertising slogan applies now more than ever.
Blondes really do have more fun.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2015/09/carr_stephanos_exit_latest_nail_in_local_tv_news_coffin
Carr: Stephanos exit latest nail in local TV news’ coffin
Sunday, September 13, 2015
By: Howie Carr
Boston Herald
* * *
[From article]
Stephanos was tight-lipped on her stunning exit from Fox 25 yesterday but her husband, Dale Stephanos, alluded to bad blood between his popular anchor wife and station owner Cox Media Group when he wrote on his Facebook page:
“It’s so rare to find people with real integrity these days. Harder still to find people like that in the media. I’m so proud and happy for my wife today. This took a lot of guts.”
In a press release sent out by the station yesterday afternoon, Stephanos said she was stepping down to “pursue new professional endeavors” and “embark on a new adventure.” She did not specify her next move. Stephanos will anchor her final newscast tonight at 11 p.m. The station did not name her replacement.
Her departure marks the latest in an exodus from Channel 25, after Fox Television Studios traded the Hub station to Cox for two San Francisco stations last October.
Fox 25 GM Gregg Kelley was sent to the West Coast and San Francisco’s KTVU GM Tom Raponi came to Boston. Longtime personality Doug “VB” Goudie, another viewer favorite, parted ways with the station in November.
Morning anchor Sorboni Banerjee left this summer for Florida. Longtime investigative reporter and anchor Mike Beaudet is leaving at the end of the month to become a full-time professor at Northeastern University.[. . .]
Since taking the helm, Cox has hired a bevy of new reporters and invested in new equipment. But unlike the previous management, which had a practice of hiring local talent, many of the recent hires have come from out of state or other Cox-owned stations, sources said.
The new owners want shorter stories and more of them. They also want to boost the number of stories in communities with the highest number of meters that track TV ratings, sources said.
Yesterday, Raponi hastily arranged a staff meeting at the Dedham studios to announce Stephanos’ departure. Stephanos and her colleagues became emotional as she talked about the people she has worked with over the years.
“It will definitely be a loss. She’s the heart and soul of that station,” said an industry observer. “That news operation was built around her.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/media_marketing/2015/09/heslam_fox_s_maria_steph_anos_stuns_with_exit
Heslam: Fox’s Maria Stephanos stuns with exit
Friday, September 11, 2015
By: Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald
* * *
Doug "VB" Goudie
[From article]
Before I was hired by Fox 25 for the new morning news show they were launching in 2003, I asked the station general manager, Gregg Kelley, why he wanted to hire me, especially considering I’d never been on TV before.
Gregg looked at me, smiled and said, “That’s exactly why I want to hire you, VB.”
And as we got to talking about the new show — what it was going to be, how we were going to do it — Gregg said, “I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be, but I know what it’s not going to be. It’s not going to be like every other show. …”
Now part of his thinking was out of necessity: We were going to be new, so we needed to be different. But mostly it was philosophical. Something was missing in TV news, and we thought we could fill that void. We would do long-form live interviews. So long that Gov. Deval Patrick once asked during the interview, “How long is this interview, and did I agree to that?”
We would give our opinions on major stories. (Anchors giving opinions? Can’t get those from a teleprompter. …) And we would have daily viewer feedback. (It never ceases to amaze me what people will say in a tweet, but luckily they did, every day.)
We were different. It doesn’t mean we were better — sometimes our ratings proved that — and it doesn’t mean we were always right (perhaps I didn’t need to be live wearing a Speedo that time), but we were different.
And as I watched Maria Stephanos’ farewell last night on Fox 25, I couldn’t help but feel that as she was leaving that building, “different” was leaving the Boston TV news market, at least for now.
After all, Maria epitomized everything that Fox was — loud, smart, sassy, engaging … not afraid to mix it up, not afraid to laugh at herself and not afraid to give a hug. Or a “VB!!!!!” in that high pitch only Maria can hit when she is outraged!
Combine Maria’s exit with that of Fox 25 investigative reporter Mike Beaudet, and “different” is now taking a dirt nap.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/2015/09/doug_goudie_stephanos_exit_leaves_cookie_cutter_tv_news
Doug Goudie: Stephanos exit leaves cookie-cutter TV news
Saturday, September 12, 2015
By: Doug “vb” Goudie
Boston Herald
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