Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

It looks like Alabama’s oldest newspaper will be changing its name and mixing a few other things up in the coming weeks. On April 2, insiders tell us, the Mobile Register will drop Mobile from its name and become the Press-Register.

Old timers who’ve been calling it that since the days when the afternoon Press was still printing will finally have the name right again. The move will ostensibly make the name more inclusive to Baldwin County, and perhaps readers in Jackson County, Miss., where The Mississippi Press is the paper of record.

The new Press-Register will also be dropping its Points North, Points South and Suburban sections and replacing them with a twice-a-week offering called Neighbors, which will be distributed only in Mobile County. As if that weren’t enough, the Press-Register will reportedly be dropping the stock listings it typically runs in the Metro section.

Staffers will also receive new e-mail addresses and it can be presumed some signage changes on the Register’s new building will be in order.

Magically delicious story

WPMI’s Web site has been ringing up hits-o-plenty for the past week as reporter Brian Johnson’s St. Patrick’s Day leprechaun story has people all over the country in stitches.

It seems that at night, a tree in the Crichton area of town has a shadow in its branches that some people think looks like a leprechaun. Hundred of people were gathering to view the leprechaun shadow, and Johnson did a piece on it. The story is so funny, it’s taken on a life of its own.

Links to the video are being carried on youtube.com and other sites, and the station has reportedly gotten more than 70,000 hits on the story. WPMI is even offering a T-shirt carrying the hokey amateur rendering that was part of the story.

Looks like the leprechaun story may end up being a pot of gold for the station.

WKRG’s weekend changes

It looks like WKRG’s entire weekend newscast will be getting a makeover as anchors Jennifer Mayerle and Andrew Findley are both leaving the CBS affiliate. And new weekend meteorologist Jené Young has already started her gig.

Findley said his contract was not renewed and his last day anchoring on the weekends was April 23.

“News Director Dan Cates told me, ‘We’ve decided to take weekends in a new direction at the end of your contract.’ That was the only reason given for why I was not offered a new contract,” Findley said.

He said he is not yet sure where he will go next.

Mayerle has not announced her plans, but has opted not to renew her contract with the station.

Young went to the University of South Alabama, but she came to WKRG after working at a station in Texas.

Colleran cutting out

In another departure, WPMI sports reporter/anchor Brian Colleran has taken a position with a station in Cleveland, Ohio. He will be working as a sports reporter and anchor for WKYC-TV, an NBC affiliate.

“WKYC is the number one rated station in Cleveland and recently they signed a 10-year deal with the Cleveland Indians to broadcast their games and produce their pre and post game shows. Expanding their coverage meant expanding their staff, and I was lucky enough to interview with them and land a dream job,” Colleran said. “I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity if I hadn’t worked in a sports town like Mobile. For four-an-a-half years, I got to work with the best local TV sports staff in Mobile.”

Colleran’s last day on the air was March 19.

Another award

WPMI’s Bruce Mildwurf is making a habit of collecting a journalism award or two every year. This time, he’s being given the Douglas L. Cannon Broadcast Journalism Award for Excellence in Medical Reporting for the story “Driving with Alzheimer’s” which aired in February of last year.

The award is given by the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, and Mildwurf will receive it at a banquet in May.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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