KHON Morning News Plagued with Mistakes

For some time, I’ve been noticing a decline in technical quality in the KHON2 Morning News. Granted I usually watch the day’s first airing that starts at 5am so maybe the staff isn’t quite prepared and the kinks get worked out for the “recasts” at 6 and 7.

This week alone has been a mess with I think problems every day so far. An occasional glitch here and there is fine, but problems every day? That’s pretty shoddy and shameful I think. I’ve seen problems like messed up videos, wrong videos shown, audio problems (couldn’t hear Tannya this morning), camera angles being fixed while on air, confusion of who should be speaking, and the camera showing the broadcaster who isn’t speaking. Uggly!

Then there’s the new weather reporting system that Trini Kaopuiki uses. Yes, looks nicer and has more space for text so I don’t see those strange abbreviations anymore. But Trini continues to have issues with this system. First off, there’s been a few times where the camera isn’t aligned correctly so there’s like an elevator effect where Trini (or the background screen) moves up and down. And that pulsing temperature where Trini points to is a waste of time since it doesn’t work consistently. And who really cares if the text of the temperature pulses to red? Trini’s already doing the full hand pointing to the temperature so I know where she’s talking about. Good enough. The extended weather forecast looks nicer too, but I wonder about the effectiveness of the now dynamic weather icons. For scattered showers, the little cloud icon has some animated rain coming down, but how do I gauge this compared to heavier showers? Is there more rain animation coming from the cloud and can viewers notice that? Today, I think I saw the icon alternate from a cloud to a dark cloud. Eh, kinda irritating with the alternating/blinking icon and most times, I glance at the screen for a quick look while I’m eating breakfast. What if during that quick peek, I see only the cloudy icon. I’d be bummed when the rain started.

The Pacific Business News ran an article about the potential impact of staff cuts at KHON in 2006, and I’m thinking there is a definite impact. Why else could things be so shoddy?

Fortunately for KHON2, they have Kirk Matthews and Tannya Joaquin anchoring the morning show. Kirk is adept at handling any situation and balances Tannya’s fun side. Trini and Manolo are good in the mix (though Trini’s me first attitude gets irritating at times). And KHON’s trump card has to be the How Hawaii Works segment with PBN’s Howard Dicus. That guy is informative, oh so funny, and I like his drawings and Lego props.

And overall, the KHON bunch ain’t bad to look at early in the morning. The other stations’ morning shows – not so lucky. Sorry, Ben G and Angela K. And I think it’s great that Danielle Tucker has lost a lot of weight but can’t her lighting or something be fixed so she doesn’t look so ghostly and scary during traffic updates? With her now gaunt face, fair complexion, and red hair, she’s a startling sight early in the morning.

Let’s get your act together KHON2!

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