Local TV Coverage of SMU v UTEP

[MrMustang1965]

Derek Castillo (KXAS, Ch. 5) shows the SMU highlights following stories about the Mavericks and the Stars. SMU goes ahead of story about OU and OSU game. (And this is the FT. WORTH STATION!)

Joe Trahan (WFAA, Ch. shows Mavs and then a 'reader' about Texas, then Kansas and Iowa State then OU v OSU then North Texas (reader) and then SMU v UTEP! WTF?????? Figures...Belo Corp. crap!!!!!!

[friarwolf]

Belo is not going to give us the time of day. That whole inbred bunch over there suck......

[ThadFilms]

Belo Corp. crap!!!!!!

Don't you mean Bevo Corp.?

[DiamondM75]

Chan. 8 wonders why they have low ratings.

The worst local sports coverage and of course, terrible weather forecast.

I never, never, never watch Ch 8.

[planoponyfan]

or for that matter.. TCU or UNT.. You would think Texas and A&M are based in Dallas-Fort Worth with the way they are covered here.

I think we all need to pound home our displeasure with the coverage to the local TV stations and both newspapers. It might not change things, but you never know. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It's time to be the squeaky wheel.

[crazy horse]

Channel 33 WBs 9:00 news (which is only 30 minutes on Saturday) had a very nice segment with game highlights and brief interview with PB & Lee.

[MrMustang1965]

Channel 33 WBs 9:00 news (which is only 30 minutes on Saturday) had a very nice segment with game highlights and brief interview with PB & Lee.

Cool. Sorry I missed that. Any interesting comments by PB or Lee?

[SMU Football Blog]

Belo is not going to give us the time of day. That whole inbred bunch over there suck......

Except that damn near full front page article with big [deleted] picture on the front page of the sports section.

[RGV Pony]

The Fox4 Saturday sports guy said, "hey, I always say give coaches til their third year, and this was Phil Bennett's third year...so good job." I guess he's not counting the o-fer year?

[mr. pony]

Let WFAA Channel 8 hear it:

Joe Trahan - [email protected].
Dale Hansen - [email protected].

Don't give the DMN too much credit for today's sports section with SMU on page 1. We got it by default (no UT, A&M, TCU, Baylor, Tech games).

Lots of Pony fans have been giving the DMN grief, too, I think, for their SMU coverage. I know I have for over 10 years. It makes a difference.

Still, it was good to see it today.

GO MUSTANGS!

[MrMustang1965]

My email to Joe Trahan:

Joe:

Re: your 10 p.m. sportscast on Saturday, Nov. 26

How do you justify not putting SMU - Dallas' only Div. 1-A school - at the top of your college football coverage especially after their upset of UTEP at Ford Stadium?

After coverage of the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars, you go to a 'reader' about the University of Texas which played on Friday! Then you show video of Kansas and Iowa State - two schools that aren't even in Texas! Then you have video of the Oklahoma Univ. and Oklahoma State - again two schools that aren't even in Texas! And then another 'reader' about North Texas! And FINALLY you show the SMU upset victory over UTEP...??? And a victory which keeps UTEP out of the C-USA championship game, too!

SMU is in Dallas. WFAA is, too. The Mustangs should have lead your college football coverage, not a school which didn't even play today!

Please give SMU better consideration in the future! - RH

Joe's explanation:

RH,

First and foremost, thanks for watching. I'll be sure to pass on your best to Pat.

You bring up great points in your e-mail, all of which I considered when my producer and I made our rundown decisions. There's one thing you left out though in your analysis, and I totally understand how "Mr. Mustang 1965" could do it. While your beloved Mustangs managed to pull off a huge upset, it meant that they would finish the year with........ a losing season. Yes, the first 5 win season in 8 years shows great progress, and I'm happy for a Phil Bennett, who I consider to be a quality man as well as coach. But the bottom line is, its still a losing season.

Now, weigh that against a team Texas team, that I consider to be every bit as local as SMU. NO, we're not in Austin, however, there are scores of Texas fans here in the metroplex, and I hate to break it to you, but there are MORE Texas fans here than there are fans of your Ponies. By leading with information about Texas, I made the decision to serve those local fans before SMU fans. You may not like it, but those fans are in the running for a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

So the decision came down to....should I service fans in the running for a national title first or those rooting for a team putting the wraps on a losing season. If the Mustangs would have still been in the running for a league title, or if it would have been their 6th win, and made them bowl elgible, I probably would have lead with them. But I couldn't get past the fact that the win made them just 5-and-6 on the season.

And as an aside, once I decided to go Texas/Big 12 news before SMU, that forced me to put Oklahoma in front of SMU to keep the big 12 flow, and in my decision-making process, it helped me that the Sooners QB is a local kid who threw for 3 TD's.

I hope you understand how I went about stacking my show. You've been in the business before, so I'm sure you've got some knowlege of how it works. I take a lot of time doing it, and I pride myself on the fact that I don't just cover what's going on, I also try to convey what it means. And in my book, finding out which team Texas would have to beat to play for a national championship trumped an SMU upset to finish off a losing campaign.

I'm here first and foremost to service you the viewer, so I'd love to have your feedback, given the information I've passed on. Let me know what you think.

Best wishes,
jT

[RGV Pony]

Maybe you should've asked Joe if he or any of the other WFAA types had decided whose job it was going to be to dig up some dirt on this Texas team. Oh, wait...that would only happen if it was SMU contending for..as he put it in his email A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

[mr. pony]

Thanks for writing WFAA, Mr. Mustang.

I too wrote and got a similar reply. I encourage everyone to do the same. Write WFAA and the DMN every single time SMU is slighted. (And that's fairly often.)

Last basketball season, when No. 12 Wake Forest was coming to Moody, it didn't even get a gameday mention on Hansen's 6 pm sportscast just before tipoff.

After I wrote, his smart-assed response was 'you knew they were coming, why did I need to say it?'

[mustang_of_smu]

Derek Castillo (KXAS, Ch. 5) shows the SMU highlights following stories about the Mavericks and the Stars. SMU goes ahead of story about OU and OSU game. (And this is the FT. WORTH STATION!)

Joe Trahan (WFAA, Ch. shows Mavs and then a 'reader' about Texas, then Kansas and Iowa State then OU v OSU then North Texas (reader) and then SMU v UTEP! WTF?????? Figures...Belo Corp. crap!!!!!!

Before you get too mad at Belo why don't you see who gave us the most time. I believe 8 gave us the best coverage of all the stations.

[Dutch]

did anyone notice that we were #1 on one of Sportcenter's Top 10 "play of the day", "week" or whatever. Great coverage and the first time since the TCU game we've received NATIONAL coverage following a game.

WINNING will change our media coverage. bottom line.

I'm very happy with the way this season ended, and intend to show my approval by adding to my season ticket purchase for next season. I encourage everyone else to do the same. buy one or two more and take a friend to the games. give them to a coworker, neighbor w/ kids, someone from church.