Current Event – Regis Philbin retires after 28 years as talk show co-host.

Television legend Regis Philbin announces his retirement, Tuesday, January 18^th after 28 years with, “Live”.   Sources say he made his decision based on a proposed pay cut.  His co-host Kelly Rippa covered for Regis on several medical leaves and many other absences from the show with no decline in ratings.  His $15+ million a year salary is more than double of Rippa’s, so Regis was insulted by the offer presented him under his new contract, significantly lower, from his long time manager, Jim Griffin . He fired Mr. Griffin and decided he would announce his retirement.  Kelly found out only fifteen minutes before airtime, which upset her, claiming Regis made his decision with no respect for her.

Initially, the show began in 1983 on ABC as, ”Live With Regis and Kathy Lee” and later changed to “Live With Regis and Kelly”.  Regis will remain on the show through late summer.  ABC executives say they are already pursuing his replacement, but are unsure if they will replace him with another male host, claiming there would never be anyone to replace Regis.  It is possible the replacement will be a woman closer in age to Kelly and the change will be considered a “new direction” for the show instead of a replacement.

Plans after retirement for the 79 year-old Regis have not been made public.  The viewers will certainly miss him after being entertained by his humor for so long.  Unlike many celebrities that retire and disappear from the public eye, you will be seeing Regis make many guest appearances and possibly begin a new venture after his retirement from “Live”.  It is with anticipation; we wait for further developments from this unexpected announcement.

TV vs. Radio

WSOC 11:00 News, January 19^th

News items were precise and to the point.  They used descriptions and emphasis that drew your attention and covered basic points.  Transitions between stories were smooth.

Actions Words:  More details,  robbed, punched,  Today, Doctor did the Unthinkable, Frigid artic air, Major blow,

Passive Voice:  On a few stories, especially when they broadcast the NC powerball.  No enthusiasm.

Follow up at the end of most stories?  Weather did follow-up, but most stories didn’t, they just seemed to just move right into the next story.

What differences in writing styles between tv and radio? Radio seemed more serious.

Did the writing engage you in the newscast? Why or why not?  No, the lead-in story was the MLK make up day again.  Tired of hearing about it.  The next story was the Charlotte Meck. Budget issues.  Tired of hearing about it. The usual shooting in Charlotte and again-the subway robbery.   After these two long drawn out stories, the weather twice, and then the boring sports, there was very little time left for other news stories, especially after all the commercials. There were too many commercials. Thank goodness for DVR.  I don’t like the way the sports talent broadcast the sports. She always has choppy sentences with too many pauses.  They don’t flow smooth and it gets frustrating waiting on her to complete a sentence.

WBT – Internet, January 19, 2011

Used more descriptive language.  Slower speech with more clarity.   Use of music used more. Non-stop talking, not many pauses to prevent dead air time.

Action Words: Music creates emphasis.  Dramatic station call letters.

Passive Voice:  Stock Updates

Differences in tv and radio? Writing for radio has to be more creative to draw a picture for you with words whereas tv complements their broadcast with video clips.

Were you engaged in radio?  Engaged? I don’t know. The stories were new items and not the repeated news stories you hear on tv over and over day after day.  So, I guess the answer is yes, I tended to be more interested in their broadcast. Also commercials were very limited and radio personality seemed more interesting and serious. Tv personalities tend to try to make jokes too much.

Biography about Me

Hi, my full name is Brenda Elaine Abernathy Rushing, hence the name BEARushing.  I choose not to us the double "r" for ease of typing.  And with that being said, I have a tendency to collect anything with bears on it.  My husband and I have three children and just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with a trip to the Outerbanks of North Carolina.  My hobby is photography and I realized last year that it has developed into an addiction because I have a desire to constantly snap pictures.  Broadcasting has helped with this addiction and now my interest has moved to video and video editing.

After this semester, I should only have one semester left, and I can graduate.  This is a great accomplishment for me as I do not comprehend things quite as well as in my younger years.  I have taken Audio I, Video I, TV Performance and am now enrolled in Broadcast Writing, Sales, Video II, and Programming.  The only Broadcast course I have left are Broadcast Law and Ethics, Public Speaking, Math, and Professional Research and Reporting, along with my internship.

The area I dedicate most of my time to is my family.  My sixteen year old daughter, Stephanie, and I just returned from a trip to the Bahamas.  We drove to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spent time in Daytona and South Beach, Miami.  Then we boarded a cruise ship for a couple days in the Bahamas.  She and I love to travel.  This past summer, just before school started, we embarked on a road trip south.  We had no plan or reservations any where, just wanted to go towards the coast.  Our trip took us to Fernandino Beach, Florida, which is the first beach crossing the Florida state line.  We took a sunset cruise to Cumberland Island which is only accessible by boat and has wild horses, pigs, turkeys, and many other animals.  There only one place to stay on the island, which is a very expensive hotel, otherwise, you have to backpack and camp out.  There is a port in St. Marys, Georgia that has a ferry to take you to the island.  Any time we go to Florida, we end up at some point on Daytona beach.  After our adventures here, we headed to Daytona and drove on the beach, found a nice spot to park and grabbed our chairs out sit on the beach all day.  We love the beach and the Caribbean and have a vision to move there one day.  I will do video and photography and Stephanie wants to be a scuba diving instructor.

I love to write.  My grammar has never been that great but my spelling is good.  I have always had a desire in the back of my mind to write children's books or instructional books. Hopefully, this class will help me enhance my writing abilities.