Buying the IPhone 5S Live Blog

You might  want to sit down for this one. I'm sitting in line waiting to buy an Apple iPhone 5s. I will be live blogging the  nail biting excitement right here.  To read the live blog, start at the bottom and work your way up. 

Here we go: 

9:36am: I'm the proud Dad of a new iPhone 5S! Heading back to the FTVLive World HQ. updates will be made when I get back.  

9:09am: I'm 6 people away from adopting my new baby! I hope it's a girl. Ill name her siri!

8:47am: Photog from Action News just jumped the line! He's now getting an iPhone without waiting in line! I will never watch that station again.  

8:41am: I'm inside the store!  Woo hoo! 

 8:30am: WJXT reporter is done with her shot and got in her car and left. Photog is stuck breaking down everything.  Fucking Reporters! 

8:26am: WJXT reporter has lost her phone. While covering the iPhone event. Oh... The irony.  

8:22am: WJXT reporter is going to interview the guy in front of me. She told him  pretend I'm just going to walk up on you. What?! Staging the news are we? 

8:19am: As the sun has come up I can't see my screen. I'm blind!!! 

8:17am: Someone e-mailed me and asked how I'm doing updates? I'm on an iPad Mini posting updates while standing and walking half a mile an hour. Good thing I'm not chewing gum as well. 

8:13am One of the news photographers is bitching about  standing with the camera. Dude... Back in my day I was slinging a TK76 and a deck. Google it kids.  

8:11am: The Line is moving faster than I thought. I might get in the store before dinner.  

8:04am My aching back!  

8:00am:  The store is open! I might see the front door in a hour or two. 

7:55am: Reporter is strutting around with his IFB hanging out of his ear. Oooooo! 

7:48am: Guys are comparing the size of their phones. The girls are telling the guys that size doesn't matter. I think they are still talking about phones.  

7:44am: I was told that my black phone will be "space gray"...my bad

7:32am: Store opens in half an hour. I'm sure I'm like still 2 or 3 hours from getting in.  

7::22am: Some guy just tried to cut in line. You never seen nerds get this pissed since the Harry Potter movie premier.  

7:12am: Well..... not getting the gold  iPhone. Guy from the Apple store just came out and said they only have 20. Damn.... Going with the black one.  

7:08am  : Jacksonville's Action News live news truck just showed up. Fucking media!!!

7:05am The homeless  guy is talking to his imaginary friend. I wonder why he needs a phone?  

7:03am: The sun is up, just figured out stinky is a girl.  

6:56am: Mall security is here!!! We're all safe now. 

6:48am: Damn! Stinky is also a smoker!  

6:45am: You haven't lived until you see  the sun rise over the Dick's sporting goods store.  

6:40am: If I have to pee, I'm going to have to ask stinky to save my spot. I knew ice tea was a bad choice.  

6:36am: Some guy from a local radio station wanted to interview me inline. I said "no thanks". Fucking Media ! 

6:32am:  Want to see my office for the next few hours. Check my Twitter at www.twitter.com/ftvlive 

6:26am: I think the last time the guy next to me took a shower was during the Nixon administration. Hell the homeless guy smelled better.  

6:16am: A homeless  guy just asked why people are standing inline for apples. We explain to him it's for a phone. He ask "is everyone in line getting a free phone?" We say yep... He takes a spot at the end of the line.  

 5:59am: I am in line and standing behind about 100 people. Oh boy! 

 

I'm in Line for the new iPhone 5S

A quick programming note for all the awesome FTVLive visitors.

You're not seeing very much new material this morning, because I am standing in line at the Apple Store trying to get my hands on the new iPhone 5S. 

I woke up very early this morning to make the 45 minute trek to the Apple Store to wait in line.

Once I get to the store I will will live blog the event using my iPad. If you don't see a live blog above this post, then something didn't quite work out the way I planned. My iPad app will not let me post pictures to FTVLive remotely, but I will be doing that on the FTVLive Twitter Feed. 

Once I have my iPhone I will be making updates to FTVLive.  

Right now....TGIIFSF!!

Thank God it's IPhone 5S Friday!

Former ABC Correspondent Guilty of Vehicular Homicide

Former longtime ABC News correspondent Robert Zelnick was found guilty of negligent vehicular homicide and sentenced to three years of probation this week, according to the Plymouth District Attorney’s office.

Boston.com writes that on the afternoon of Oct. 7, 2011, Zelnick, 73, of Brookline, turned his sport utility vehicle at the intersection of Route 3 and Clark Road in Plymouth into the path of a motorcycle driven by Brendan M. Kennedy, 26, of Plymouth, who was unable to stop before crashing into the vehicle and died from his injuries, authorities have said.

Zelnick was found guilty in Plymouth District Court on Tuesday of the misdemeanor vehicular homicide charge and was found responsible for the civil infraction of failing to yield, assistant district attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said.

In addition to the probation sentence, a judge also ordered Zelnick not to drive and to write an apology letter to Kennedy’s family, according to Zelnick’s lawyer, Raffi Yessayan.

Zelnick, a regular at the Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, knew Kennedy, who worked at the Easy Bay Grille, a restaurant at the golf club, Yessayan said.

When the accident occurred, Zelnick was just leaving the restaurant, which he visited after playing a round of golf at the course. Kennedy was on his way to work at the restaurant.

“The whole thing was just tragic,” Yessayan said. “For Mr. Zelnick and his family, it’s really destroyed them, but it’s nothing in comparison to what happened to the Kennedy family. The Zelnick family’s hearts go out to the Kennedy family. They hope that someday they will be able to go on.”

Yessayan said that Zelnick, who is in declining health and who had his license revoked immediately after being charged, has not driven since the incident and will not drive again.

The attorney said that Zelnick was not speeding or under the influence of any substances at the time of the accident, but was found to be negligent because, “given his health condition at the time, he should not have been operating a vehicle.”

Yessayan declined to comment on Zelnick’s condition.

In a prior interview with the Globe, Zelnick acknowledged he has Parkinson’s disease, but said it “absolutely in no way’’ impairs his driving ability.

TV News Pet Peeves

The Milwaukee Journal's TV Critic Duane Dudek has a number of pet peeves when his watching the newscasts.

Dudek writes that an increasingly common one arose this week in coverage of the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., when local and national reporters repeatedly called the gunman "the shooter." I get it: He shot, therefore he is a shooter. But doesn't a word that can be used to describe a throw of the dice in Las Vegas or a basketball player in this context make a tragic crime scene sound like a video-game scenario? If he is the shooter, are the victims just targets?

I'm just getting started. Here are some other ear-of-the-beholder, news-I-can't-use peeves, suitable for petting.

Pump Patrol: Let me see if I understand this correctly — I should waste gas driving across town to save a few pennies when I buy more gas?

Traffic reports: Thanks, but if I'm watching, I'm already home.

Handoffs: Scripted back-and-forth transitions in which one studio anchor reads one sentence and another studio anchor reads the next sentence, and so on. This dramatic device gives the impression of a performance being given.

Using a newscast I'm watching to tease a story in an upcoming newscast I won't be watching. If there's time to promote it, there's time to report it.

"Breaking news" ad nauseam: If everything is breaking news, nothing is.

Body language: Anchors tripping the news fantastic with a fluttering of fingers, bobbing of heads, shrugging of shoulders and raised eyebrows. This newscast is brought to you by Busby Berkeley.

Music in news stories: Filmmakers use music to manipulate your emotions. Music serves a similar purpose in feature news stories and doesn't belong there. Too, music in stories, kinetic promos, bumpers and introductions: Just make anchors in the studio sound flat and dull, and other news less urgent by comparison.

Self-promotion when reporting: "(Station's call letters) was there when..."

Saying "reached out" instead of called, asked or tried to contact.

Using the word "cop," whose definition reads: See police officer. There is never a grammarian around when you need one.

Casual use of the word "history": Aaron Rodgers did not make history last week when he threw for 480 yards. The Civil War is history.

It could have been worse

We told you about BBC anchor Simon McCoy was introducing a story about privately run drunk tanks while holding what appeared to be a heavy ream of photocopier paper (picture above). 

The network said that the anchor meant to grab his iPad, but ended up with the package of paper instead.  

Thanks to the Photoshop talents of people, we see it could have been so much worse:

CBS to Pull Plug on 60 Minutes

CBS is going to pull the plug on 60 minutes...ok it's only for this week, but it's still a rare happening. 

The network announced this morning it is going to pre-empt 60 Minutes this Sunday for NFL football and the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards.

CBS figures that dumping the news magazine will give the network its best chance for starting the Emmy broadcast on time.

The late NFL games now have a 4:25PM start time and CBS felt there is no way they could fit 60 Minutes between the football and the Emmys.  

The Emmy's might come out of this as the big winner. It's more than likely the NFL will give the awards show a huge lead in number.

Which of course it will lose very quickly.  

He Lost his TelepromtAAAARRR

WGN;s Morning News Talk like a Pirate Day had problems when the telepromtAAARRR went down and the Pirate had to improvise. 

Here's the video: 

Meet the Depressed

NBC's Meet the Press continues its slide in the ratings. 

The once top rated Sunday morning talk show came in 3rd in last week's ratings.

The show hosted by David Gregory finished behind CBS's 'Face the Nation' and ABC's 'This Week' in total viewers.

MTP did post a second place finish in the demos, finishing ahead of ABC.  

The NBC show was once the blowtorch when hosted by Tim Russert. Since Gregory took over the show continues to lose viewers. 

She was Boned out of Jail?!

If you're going to get out of jail. this might be the best way to do it. 

Is that a Cold Front or is it a.....

O-Town Anchor is On Da Bus

WFTV (Orlando) anchor Vanessa Echols can be seen on TV and on a big pink bus.

Echols a breast-cancer survivor is plastered on the side of a  bus to promote mammograms.

Her face decorates Florida Hospital's Mobile Health Coach, which encourages the fight against breast cancer with new urgency and ease.

"The mobile unit is just about as convenient as you can hope for," Echols said. "It will be at businesses, churches, community centers. So for all the women who say they're too busy to schedule an appointment for a mammogram, now there's one less excuse."

Using a News Anchor's pic for a local hospital maybe seen by some as a conflict of interest. And there is no doubt that if it doesn't cross the line, it most certainly touches it. 

But, it is also hard to argue if it helps save lives. 

Will let the purist debate this one.  

H/T Orlando Sentinel  

Dog Gone It

Here's proof that WXMI's (Grand Rapids) morning show is going to the dogs. 

Well You Knew this was coming...

How many local stations morning shows did something similar to this Today?

Crystal Egger to Resurface at KNBC

FTVLive FIRST told you that Weather Channel Hottie Crystal Egger was leaving and headed to the Left Coast.

Now, we know where she is going to resurface. 

The popular Egger has been hired by NBC O&O KNBC (NBC also owns the Weather Channel). 

The station announced that Egger will join KNBC next month as a meteorologist for its morning newscast, “Today in L.A.,” which airs Monday -Friday, 4:30 a.m.-7 a.m.  

“Our goal is to keep our viewers prepared for any kind of weather,” said Todd Mokhtari, NBC4 Vice President of News. “Crystal’s skills and in-depth knowledge will be a great addition to our team, and will deliver to our viewers the weather information they need to start their days.”

Egger was born and raised in Southern California.  She replaces Elita Loresca who will be demoted to weekend edition of “Today in L.A.”

Chicago Blowtorch Could be Flaming Out

When it came to news ratings in Chicago, it was WLS and then everyone else. 

But the Chicago blowtorch might be starting to flame out. 

Robert feder reports that the ABC O&O's dominance of Chicago viewership from dawn to high noon may be slipping away.

“ABC 7 News This Morning” has fallen out of first place from 5 to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday in overall audience and, more significantly, among adults between 25 and 54. In addition, the move earlier this month of “Windy City Live” to 11 a.m. in order to make room for “Live with Kelly and Michael” at 9 a.m. has cost the station viewership in both time periods.

Though still the market’s revenue leader, ABC 7 no longer commands the top spot it once took for granted in all local time periods. The daytime juggernaut fueled for a quarter-century by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is a memory.

Nor is the formerly bulletproof station immune from the harsh realities of the industry, as it once was. Last month six ABC 7 staffers were laid off as part of companywide cutbacks ordered by Disney/ABC Television Group. (Among them was managing editor Andy Porte, a legendary figure in the newsroom, who began his career 52 years ago at Chicago’s City News Bureau. “This business we’ve chosen doesn’t really seem to have room for dinosaurs or anachronisms like me,” Porte told his colleagues.)

More on the story from Robert Feder  

Barfing Britney

Pop singer Britney Spears wasn't talking when Good Morning America's Sam Champion was trying to ask her a question.

But it turns out that Britney wasn't blowing off Champion....she was blowing chow. 

Word is the pop princess got airsick during a sunrise helicopter flight Tuesday to a desert location for her appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The Las Vegas Review Journal says that might explain why her helicopter hovered for 15 to 20 minutes over the dry lake bed before landing for a live interview with ABC’s Sam Champion.

As the helicopter hovered, the pop princess, who earlier confirmed her two-year “Britney: Piece of Me” residency at Planet Hollywood, was surprised by a flip-card salute by 1,330 greeters, most of them young women dressed as schoolgirls. It was a nod to Spears’ schoolgirl look in the video of her hit song, “Baby One More Time.”

At one point during the flip-card reveal, while Spears was still in the air, Champion tried to engage her but got no response. She might have been a little busy.

Spears, who wore sunglasses during her interview with Champion, called the flip-card stunt “such a sweet thing to do.” Organizers said the 1,330 card flippers created two images of Spears 10 stories long and seven stories across.

Earlier on “GMA,” Spears unveiled her new single, “Work Bitch.”