A Local's Perspective: TV News Affiliates

Please excuse my lengthy absence on this blog. I've been trying for weeks to figure out what exactly it is I could write about when it comes to local issues, but either I couldn't get to the computer on time or I just could not figure out what to type about. Fortunately, I found something.

See, like virtually any city in the United States, we have multiple local affiliates that provide at least one daily news broadcast. Some of them are worthwhile, but many of them are just so much wasted time and resources. Our fair city is by no means any exception.

If I were to relate to someone just about to move to San Antonio, or even just to stay for an extended period of time, any information about our local news affiliates, this is what I would say:

WOAI (NBC) (Channel 4) -- Used to be, as KMOL, a fine and reputable news organization, but ever since Clear Channel bought it back and changed the call letters to the original WOAI, the station has gone preciptiously downhill in quality and fairness in terms of reporting and news coverage. Its news personalities, with the exception of Tanji Patton and Jacqueline Ortiz, are unctuous, stereotypical of the smarmy local news personae that are quite frequently the object/target of comedians' scorn. Biased in favor of the ethnically homogeneous South Side/Alamo Heights areas, and virulenty against the heterogeneousness of the Northwest/near-NW sides, as well as the West side, whose children often end up working themselves up to living in the middle class enclaves around the Medical Center. One could posit that as part of an argument that WOAI is subtly bigoted and in favor of Caucasians and Latinos living separately from each other.

KENS (CBS) (Channel 5) -- Note for those of you who, like me, are still enacting a personal boycott against Viacom: Even though this is a CBS affiliate, KENS's own productions are fine to watch as they are owned by the Belo Corporation. KENS does tend to skew to an older audience and has a large viewership to this day because of those elderly viewers' loyalty toward the station, but it is trying to work on its historically uneven and unprofessional news presentations. Some of its newer reporters even manage to seem professional! The directing and production of the news stories, OTOH, still needs a great deal of work to be up to par with what a large-city TV news station should be airing, something I fear will not happen for quite some time to come. Still, if you like that sort of thing, far be it from me to dissuade you from watching it.

KSAT (ABC) (Channel 12) -- The gold standard for local news as far as I'm concerned. Virtually every single person in front of the camera delivers the news, weather, and sports with the kind of seasoned professionalism that should be evident in a news organization that is supposed to serve the kind of viewership base that it (and other stations in S.A.) does. Beautiful camera work, smooth, fluid production -- basically, the only thing one might complain about are the slightly too-busy graphics, but that is such a non-issue compared to the complaints one could lob against the other local news affiliates. Truly deserves its position as the #1 rated news organization in the city, and it shouldn't be a surprise if that lead widens in the future. Signs of even more improvement with this station: The lessening reliance on referring to sides of town while reporting news stories, instead referring to addresses and neighborhoods.

KABB (Fox) (Channel 29) -- It airs only one news broadcast, from 9 - 10 p.m. (Traditional late-night news broadcasts in Central time zones start at 10 p.m.) Its production values and on-air personalities seem to show a real interest in wanting to have a large younger viewership base; its directing features fast cuts, its news personalities are the youngest in town, the background music is loud and could be either rock- or hip hop-based, etc. But there are two major issues that turn that seemingly positive attribute into something most people would recoil at -- (a.) it's a news broadcast provided by a Fox affiliate, and (b.) KABB is owned by the notorious Sinclair Broadcast Group, the same neoconservative media organization that banned its ABC affiliates from airing Saving Private Ryan because of its all too realistic portrayals of war. KABB's news broadcasts show their ownership and connections with Fox. That will be all.

There are no other local affiliates in the city that air local news. We have a CW affiliate that will air the occasional news briefs from KENS (since Belo Corp. also owns that affiliate), and KMYS (which is our local My Network TV affiliate) airs news tidbits from KABB because it too is owned by Sinclair (and shares studio space with KABB), but neither has its own news organization. Hopefully, as our city grows, this will change, and we will have more than one excellent and one passable news organization to rely upon.

Five (Inexpensive) Local Culinary Treats

Most of the time, I eat pretty reasonably. I'll cook myself various roasted or oven-baked things, watch my portions, ensure I've consumed enough fiber, that sort of thing. But when I elect to eat out for something that's tasty and affordable, I go for things I know I'll love. The following are five of my choicest, most reliable local food selections, all of them easily affordable on nearly any budget.

1. Bill Miller's fried chicken (see picture)

Quite simply my favorite thing to get at a fast food-type establishment, period. I crave it to the point where if I don't get it at least once every two weeks, I crack. The combo that I always get is a two-piece, my choice one that consists of one breast and one thigh, capped off with a large glass of that tasty iced tea of theirs (and sometimes a brownie if I'm especially hungry). I am seriously considering getting that for dinner tomorrow, now that my refrigerator has stopped working.

2. Two breakfast tacos from La Cocinita

La Cocinita, a cafeteria-style casual Tex-Mex eatery located in the shadows of the Medical Center (see link for photo), is not an especially "special" type of place to go to. Truth be told, its interior would cause many neophytes to run. But when they serve breakfast (which is only until 10:30 a.m.), it is quite simply the best place to get breakfast tacos outside Loop 410. My favorite selection is one potato & chorizo taco with beans (a special combination my mother started me on) and one picadillo taco. And they both have to be topped with their perfectly spiced green salsa. You can have your Denny's feeding trough of greasy, eggy blandness. I'll choose this instead.

3. The hot & sour soup from Taste Of China

Those who know me well know that Taste Of China is my favorite Chinese restaurant ever. It's a buffet establishment that serves all manner of yummy Chinese goodness. I usually insist on their szechwan chicken, served over rice noodles, szechwan green beans, little bits of fried chicken, a spring roll, and a fried dumpling, but to me the highlight of any visit there is at the beginning, when I serve myself a cup of hot & sour soup. One sip of it quells any nastiness resident inside my stomach and starts my appetite going for some tasty Chinese deliciousness. I could quite happily lunch on the hot & sour soup any day of the week, especially if it's paired with their little fried won ton strips. Some may say it's not "authentic" Chinese food, but it's authentic enough for me.

4. The patty melt, half-order of fries, and half-order of onion rings from Jim's

Any aware Texan knows that Jim's Restaurant, a diner chain, is as ubiquitous as scrub grass and oak trees in the Great State Of. And, like any good diner would, they serve all manner of expected greasy spoon specials. Sometimes I like to stop by just for coffee and a serving of their homemade peach cobbler. Other times I just have to have their patty melt. Served on grilled seeded rye bread along with a pickle and your choice of either a full order of fries, a full order of (the most delicious) onion rings, or a half order of both (my personal favorite), it is something I savor whenever I eat it up. I don't often stop by Jim's -- indeed, I might order this particular delight once every other month -- but when I do and it's not just for dessert, I know already I'm going to order this.

5. The fried chicken salad from Babe's Hamburgers

That's right -- a fried chicken salad. Let me go over the ingredients: lettuce (of course), tomatoes (of course), some bacon crumbles, some cheese, some crumbled hard-boiled egg, and the pièce de résistance, the fried chicken pieces. So obviously this is a healthy salad (like everything else mentioned is "healthy"). It's more than just a salad, it's a meal, and one has to consume it with the honey mustard dressing the restaurant (which does not have a web presence) provides. (I simply do not understand the contingent who eat it with ranch dressing.) One might view it as Cobb salad on steroids, and this is not to be ordered every day if one is to be sensible, but it is so good, and such an affordable thing to be viewed as a special treat.

My Seven Rules Of Driving In San Antonio

Possibly a part one. Depends if I can think of more or not. Obviously our city needs some help with the following:

1. When driving, keep in mind that the turn signal is there for a reason. It is not there for decoration, nor is it there to play around with. You, the driver, are supposed to use it. I know, it's a wild concept, but bear with me as I break even more scandalous news to you: There are specific cases in which the turn signal is to be used! I know, I know, it's shocking, but here's the deal -- whenever you're about to turn, either right or left, or whenever you want to change lanes, you are supposed to use the turn signal to indicate which side/lane you want to turn onto or into, the right or the left, before you actually do it. That way all the other drivers around you know what it is you're going to do before you actually do it.

2. Another shocking concept is this: There actually exists a "slow" and a "fast" lane on roads that consist of more than one lane. Let me help you out here just in case you've never heard of this before -- if you are on the left or "inner" lane (according to my mom it's the "inner" lane), you are supposed to go fast, and if you are on the right or "outer" lane, you are supposed to go slower. (Though not too slow, not if there isn't a lot of traffic around.) If you cannot bear the thought of going over 40 miles per hour, by all means stick to the right lanes of all main thoroughfares unless you need to turn left, and even then only switch over when you see the need for you to. Also, even though you're in the "slow" lane, don't take up half a minute just to turn right. Little old ladies with arthritic hands and joints don't even take but (usually) five seconds to turn, so any more than that is inexcusable unless, once again, unavoidable traffic tieups prohibit you from going any faster.

3. Pay attention to the road ahead as you drive. I am not going to have a shred of sympathy for you if you discover suddenly that the lane you are driving on is being closed at a certain point for the all-too ubiquitous road construction, and there were enough clear markings ahead to where even a half-blind octagenarian could've spotted the orange road blocks. You feel the need to switch over to the neighboring lane (which I've worked my way in) and I myself have seen how unmistakable that close-off is? Too bad, asswipe. You're just going to have to sit there and hope some overmushy sap lets you in before Ursula Pari and Steve Spriester have said good night. And yes, I am aware that sometimes there are occasions when road construction just sneaks up on you, and yes, I will take pity on you if I know that's the case. But really, there is no excuse for either accidentally or willfully ignoring what can easily be seen from a great distance.

4. No, you may not cut ahead of me. See that little rule about using the turn signal? If you exhibit even the slightest bit of persistence in using it when trying to get in front of me while I'm in a neighboring lane, I will let you in, even if I'm 35 minutes in to a 45-minute commute. But don't expect to rudely and abruptly sideswipe into my lane without me wishing I were a Wiccan into black magick, so I could cast a multitude of wicked spells upon you. BTW, I've noticed this condition persists mostly amongst rich old bastards and bags who parade about in luxury vehicles, usually BMWs, Mercedes, or Lexuses, who almost invariably have multiple bumper stickers plastered on in support of the current Bush administration. Suffice it to say, that's one stereotype that's actually true.

5. If you are the first vehicle waiting at a red light in the "slow lane" and there are people immediately in back of you who are showing, via their turn signals, that they want to turn right, don't be a lane hog and just sit there, being ignorant to those individuals' needs/wants. If you have enough room, move in closer to the left so the other cars can squeeze past and turn right. This will shorten the length and time of the overall queue and will get a whole lot more people thanking you and blessing you anonymously. Also, if you've absent-mindedly left the right turn signal on and you're stopped where one might very well turn right, don't be surprised when the people behind you who actually wanted to turn right flip you off and wish a prolonged and painful death upon you.

6. In cases where there is more than one lane to turn, turn where that lane leads you to turning. Don't gatecrash into another lane altogether without expecting a bunch of individuals who were actually following this particular rule to daydream about feeding you to the lions at the zoo. Why? Because that too is tantamount to cutting in line. Now, if for some reason you're lost to the point where you do feel the need to do that particular action, slow down as you approach the lane you're supposed to be in, then execute the turn signal and hope that someone will be kind enough to let you in. That will be okay. But sliding your way in? Oh no, that ain't going to happen if I have something to do with it.

7. White people: Stop driving around with your convertibles open in the middle of a typical 100-degree (Fahrenheit) summer. It just makes the rest of us annoyed and casts you as the subject of endless ridicule.

Enraptured About An Edifice

Daer Internets,

Why you suprize me so?

Okay, so I suck with teh lolcat spellingz, but I am sincere in my utter and complete "WTF?"-ness about a recent find. After using the Google Image Search to try to find an image of Loop 410 (for the previous post), I was beyond surprised to find this particular photo.

As a small child, I remember spending summers with my grandparents and being their passenger as my grandfather drove us around the part of town immediately north of where we were situated. Because my grandparents lived just north of downtown by the time I was about four, this meant venturing into the glittery North Side, right in the shadows of North Star Mall. Now, usually if we were to go to the mall, we'd opt for the considerably more middle class Central Park Mall, but North Star always loomed large in my mind. (So much so that I am still not comfortable with venturing in, unless it's to visit a store that only they have.)

Another building that my grandfather would always drive past was this particular building. It's called the Spectrum Building and, for a very long period in my life, it was my favorite building in the whole wide world. Never mind the Ferry Building or the Conservatory Of Flowers or the Bank Of America Tower or the Smith Tower or any other, much more notable edifice. When I was in San Antonio, I longed to be taken to drive past the Spectrum Building and, once I was, I let my eyes drink up every moment I could spot it. I obsessed about it to the point where I fantasized about what exciting businesses might be located within its glittery, curved walls. I fancied some kind of hip record company or architectural design firm or something equally thrilling and deserving of such spectacular sights. So imagine my disappointment when I found out that the Spectrum Building actually houses, of all things, real estate companies! Something mundane! Not something exotic!

But never mind that. I've found a photo of this Most Favored Building of my youth and my inner child is happy, for she can finally gaze at that building at her leisure. Even though I've found myself more excited by other buildings as I've grown older, there's always that soft spot in my heart for this particular building, so to have found this photo is truly exciting to me.

Rantage About Roads

Dear San Antonio Road Planning People,


Do you guys actually have degrees in urban planning or civil engineering or something else that's an equivalent of that? If so, which school(s) did you attend? I'd like to know the answer to that so I won't ever say to anyone, "You know, you really should look at [x] -- that's a quality institution."

I had to go in to work last night for yet another overnight shift. I had left plenty of time for me to get in to work on time and thought that since the portion of my commute that usually gives me the most consternation didn't really give me much of any, that I was home free. I was even planning a nice, relaxing pre-shift period of leisurely listening to my iPod while tucking myself into a book. But then came The Accident.

The last leg of my commute to work consists of a single, lengthy road that my workplace is located in the middle of. There are no other ways to hook directly into this road aside from this one, direct route that I know very well. I cannot, for example, go down another road, then cut across and end up at a segment of this road. There is one other option to get onto this road, but it involves going down a winding, indirect, and poorly lit highway. So far, though, I haven't found any cause for concern regarding this distinct lack of commute choices. That is, of course, until last night's accident.

I was coming down this lengthy road, happy as can be that I was making good time, when I saw road flares and a police vehicle blocking the rest of the pathway. "Uh oh," I remember thinking, "What's going on here?" That's when a police officer came up to me and said, "Sorry, there's been an accident up ahead. You're going to have to turn back." Turn back? TURN BACK? I need to get down this road! This road is where work is! And it's too late for me to call out! Besides, this is the only way I know how to get to work! So the police officer not-so-helpfully gave me vague, "Go THERE"-type directions to go around to where it is I needed to go to. (BTW, the police officer incident made me wonder how he got his sparkling, friendly personality.) (That's sarcasm, just in case you didn't know.) So after a couple of misdirections, I finally managed to find my way in to work.

A commute that should have taken me 30 minutes? Took me an hour instead.

Which got me to wondering -- what kind of bozo set up the road system to where there were any other feasable alternatives to this one route? I'm not talking about highways, I'm talking "side streets", which I've already found to be the most direct option anyway. (Which does also factor into this discussion.) Why can't there be at least two different ways to get from point A to point B for these lengthy routes, so that in case option 1 happens to be blocked for some reason, people can automatically opt for option 2. And why was there this confusing, badly labeled and highly inconvenient option that was the only one that could be posed in this situation? I choose not to drive down highways, so this forcing me to go onto a highway anyway was not advantageous to anyone. Thankfully it was late enough at night that few people were on this highway, but I dread to think what might have happened had more people been inconvenienced by my inexperience on the highway.

In fairness, I do happen to work in a lightly developed part of the city, so maybe there will be other routes and options somewhere down the line. Though it does strike me as strange that a segment of town with several large employers situated therein would not have had more developing done to it so that all of those employees could get to work without having to worry if there's an accident on the very road their workplace is located on.

Welcome To My Nightm-- I mean, My New Blog!

This time I'm going to be blogging about a subject I know full well about -- life and living here in San Antonio. Whether short or long, serious or not, of miniscule importance or so great it should make the national news, I intend to blog on about it. Lord knows how often I've wanted to comment on something without the available forum to do so. So now, without further ado, my guide to San Antonio.

Part One: Local Radio

Now, you may be the kind of person who adores listening to the same song over and over again. You may also be the same kind of individual who likes to bang your head repeatedly against a brick wall. But as for the rest of us, I'm pretty sure we all agree that the now ages-old tradition of limiting what a station can play by numbers is pretty much the real thing that "killed the radio star". Our local radio stations are by no means in jeopardy of going against the grain here. You like country, even the schlocky contemporary stuff? You will sell your cowboy belt buckles and weep whenever you gaze at your Hank Williams LPs after a week's worth of "country radio" here. You appreciate and adore the '60s for its innovative music? You won't anymore after listening to KONO day in and day out for awhile. If you enjoy listening to Hawkwind, KZEP will cure you of that, and Magic 105.3 will have you questioning what if anything you saw in adult contemporary music from the '80s and '90s.

Basically, our terrestrial radio landscape is a vast post-thermonuclear wasteland. You know there's something absolutely vitally wrong with local radio when the most refreshing and enjoyable radio station on the dial is an "easy listening"/American standards radio station on the AM dial, KAHL 1310, which, aside from the AM talk radio station KTSA (550), is now the only San Antonio radio station I can listen to without snapping and raging on. The sad part is that this was all so very different even as recently as the mid '90s. Back then, Magic 105.3 used to be my destination station, a wonderful mix of new songs and '80s pop hits that, while not exactly being chronologically correct (there was very little emphasis on '80s New Wave and almost none on modern college radio rock), was still quite enjoyable. Our own local college radio station played an admirable variety of songs and artists that one could not normally find on regular radio; it remains to this day the only terrestrial radio station I have ever heard a The The song from (and they were songs off Dusk!). And really, KAHL is basically a rehash of what KQXT used to play in the early - mid '80s, back when my grandparents used to play that station for me during what was purported to be "naptime" (but I never actually napped then). But oh!, the fun I used to have listening to those classic soft pop hits!

Of course, now in the technologically advaced 2000s, one could choose to reach for a number of alternatives. One good one is satellite radio, which loosens the constraints that are ever-so present in local radio, though you do have to splurge on the necessary equipment and spend even more on a subscription to your chosen satellite radio provider, so it's obviously primarily for the rich bitches who can afford to careen carelessly down I-10 -- close to De Zavala -- in their Mercedes or BMWs. For the rest of us, either we can score a deal on satellite radio that will allow us to have it for free for a certain number of years (now it's 3), or we can be stuck at home with our CD-RW capable computers making homemade mix CDs of whatever songs we feel we won't get tired of if we listen to them approximately three times that day. I myself stopped counting how many of these "driving around" homemade mix CDs I've made thus far, but there must be at least forty of them. It was an infinitely less expensive way for me to get my entertainment thing on when my take-home pay wasn't much and I was having to spend a lot of it on school-related things. All one would need is a computer and some CD-Rs; I got to snapping up the bargain-priced Memorex brand at Wal-Mart (5 for about $2.50 = winner all around). So many of these CDs, which still work even after many dozens of plays, sustained me throughout my commute and even while studying or relaxing, portable CD player always at hand.

Because of that, though, I completely lost track of everything radio-related, and eventually stopped grieving for What Could Have Been. So San Antonio radio sucks, I figure; at least I have a way to ignore them and thus defeat them. But now I've found myself holding off on the usual CD insertion routine, even if only for a portion of my commute, to listen to KAHL and its soothing old people pop. For while its target audience consists of individuals who might be interested in finding out about the newest retirement communities, I suspect its actual audience might just be people exactly like me, people who are a long way away from thinking about "retirement" but who are about ready to retire from the rubbish regularly spoon-fed to us by the other radio stations out there. What happens, though, when KAHL finally goes down, when it's either taken off the air or replaced by yet another crappy Spanish-language or country radio station, or when its playlists stop being so comparatively adventuruous and start chafing under the pressure of having to play the same thirty or forty songs over and over again? What happens to that great democratizing thrill of just picking up radio airwaves and being entertained for hours in that way? Does it truly become yet another case of the widening gap between the haves and the have nots?