From KOHD's website:

Changes to the local television landscape in Central Oregon, and the broadcast industry overall, have been significant during the last three years. In September of 2007, KOHD-TV launched local news programming poised for a major challenge against a competitor entrenched in Bend for more than thirty years. The station moved aggressively into the market with a talented team and all the tools required for success.

Unfortunately, KOHD News viewer's habits are not reflected positively in Nielson ratings. Factor in the dramatic impact of the economic conditions since The Great Depression, we now are taking the next logical step and changing our news product that better matches the current trend of how people get their news.

The result, after careful thought and review, KOHD-TV has made the decision to discontinue the station's current schedule of news programming. KOHD will air its last regularly scheduled newscast in its current form at 11 PM on March 5th. However, a news team will remain at KOHD, providing solid local coverage for the Bend market with news and weather updates - both on-air and online - throughout the day. These updates will air more frequently than the current long form shows, including reports every half hour in the morning, weather updates every hour during the day, and news updates again in the evening at 5, 6 and 7pm. At 11pm there will be a 10 minute broadcast that will give viewers all the day's local news, weather and sports.

KOHD will continue to air your favorite ABC prime time, daytime and weekend sports programming. I want to thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Jerry Upham
KOHD General Manager

OMC reported on these changes last night.

When the ax falls on KOHD tomorrow, the once booming city of Bend will be reduced to having only one full-time TV news station. Employees at the ABC affiliate were informed this morning that the station will become a Bend bureau for KEZI, Chambers Communications' sister station in Eugene. Bend employees will then create local packages for KEZI-produced Bend cut-ins.

Executives at KOHD and KEZI aren't yet talking, but information that we've learned, some from sources who were specifically instructed not to talk to blogs about this news, is that there will be three "one-man bands" in Bend and an anchor/producer hosting KOHD cut-ins from Eugene. We hope to have more information after laid-off employees cash their severance checks tomorrow.

KOHD launched as the United States' first HD television station to be built from the ground up in September 2007. Chambers paid an ambitious $8.5 million at auction for the station's FCC license in 2006. Their 11,000 square foot facility will now be used as KEZI's Bend bureau a facility for filing Bend stories off to Eugene for production, if not also a shrine to media industry and Bend industry hopes during the city's population boom and before the advertising recession.

KOHD cut its weekend newscasts in a major reshuffling last summer and rearranged its evening news lineup as recently as a month ago. At the station's last Christmas party, employees were told that Chambers was committed to maintaining KOHD's news operations without cuts through 2010. KOHD equipment will now be moved to Eugene, which may enable KEZI to become that market's first station to produce newscasts in HD.

The Bend TV news market is also served by NBC affiliate KTVZ, which airs morning, evening and late newscasts each weekday, as well as half-hour shows at 6 and 11 pm on weekends. The station also produces a weekday half-hour at 10 pm on Fox affiliate and sister station KFXO. CBS affiliate KBNZ simulcasts Portland sister station KOIN's newscasts with one-minute local cut-ins.

In addition to KOHD and KEZI, Eugene-based Chambers Communications also owns KDRV in Medford and its semi-satellite KDKF in Klamath Falls, as well as Chambers Productions in Eugene and Chambers Cable in Sunriver.

KOHD's last locally produced newscast will air tomorrow at 11 pm.

UPDATE (3/6, 7:03 am): In the absence of further communication from Chambers Communications, we're unsure to handle KOHD News Director Jerry Upham's email opposing the term "bureau." Since we haven't received an alternative to this word used by employees for the new relationship between KOHD and KEZI, we'll simply say that, to our understanding, KOHD will operate as a facility that three people will file stories out of. Those stories will then be sent to Eugene for production and anchoring, and will appear on KOHD as news updates. If anyone would like to help us fill in the details, please contact oregonmediagmail [dot] com. Thank you.

KOHD in Bend this week has swapped its 6 pm newscast and its 5:30 airing of ABC World News, realizing an opportunity to become the only locally produced news in the 5:30 time slot, General Manager Jerry Upham tells OMC.

KTVZ runs NBC Nightly News at that time, while KBNZ simulcasts big-sister KOIN's Portland news.

KOHD has also moved its interview segment, "Direct Connect," featuring questions sent in by viewers, from 6:30 to 5:30, helping to emphasize that newscast's locality.

The Bulletin in Bend (available via Multnomah and Deschutes libraries) reports that KTVZ has provided one Tami Sawyer with the IP addresses of commenters who replied to stories about her; her real estate businesses, which are under FBI and IRS investigation; and her husband, former Bend police captain Kevin Sawyer, who retired last February, the month the FBI's investigation became public. The couples' bookkeeper has admitted to activity akin to a Ponzi scheme.

In a civil case filed by the children of one deceased investor, Tami Sawyer submitted data that she said she subpoenaed from KTVZ, according to court documents viewed by The Bulletin. She claimed that the internal, identifying information from the station's website showed the "true colors" of the investor's children. KTVZ did not contest the subpoena. The station's privacy policy states:

We reserve the right to release any and all information contained within our access logs concerning any visitor or member when that visitor or member is in violation of our Terms of Service or other published guidelines, or partakes (or is reasonably suspected of partaking) in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order, and to release such information in response to discovery requests, or in response to any circumstance which we, in our sole discretion, deem an emergency.

According to KTVZ's terms of service, visitors are in violation whenever they post "objectionable or harmful information of any kind."

In a similar 2008 Oregon case, Willamette Week and The Portland Mercury received subpoenas from a John Doe for IP addresses associated with comments such as this one. But instead of handing the data over, the two competing newspapers teamed up to contest the subpoena, and won.

In that case, Clackamas Circuit Court Judge James Redman ruled [PDF]:

The statutory language, however, deliberately protects not only news but also "data" and what is commonly understood as information. It would seem clear that Oregon's Media Shield Law is intended to have a wider scope than "news gathering". The posting on the Portland Mercury Website titled "Busy Day at City Hall, Part 2" discussed actions taken by Sho Dozono to qualify for public financing in his run for mayor of the City of Portland. The Portland Mercury invited readers to comment on the blog post. An anonymous reader calling himself "Ronald" responded with a comment related to Mr. Dozono's candidacy which was allegedly defamatory of plaintiff. If the comment had been totally unrelated to the blog post, then the argument could be made that the Portland Mercury did not receive it in the "course of gathering, receiving, or processing information for any medium of communication to the public".

The Oregon Media Shield Law is broadly written and it is intended to protect a broad range of media activity, not simply news gathering. This court feels compelled to follow the broad statutory language in regard to plaintiff's motion to compel and therefore denies plaintiff's motion to compel.

Asked why his station handed its website's internal information to the Sawyers, KTVZ General Manager Eric Bradley provided Oregon Media Central with the following statement:

We here at News Channel 21 have always and will always stand by our right to protect our anonymous news sources (we do not consider a public comment an anonymous news source). Our policy on disclosing information on people who make comments regarding our stories is posted on our website. While the laws protecting Print, Radio and TV are clearly defined, we feel the laws regarding Internet properties are still evolving. With that said, we continuously review and revise our policies regarding comments on our public forums as warranted.

Oregon's media shield law protects individuals "connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public," with the definition of such a medium including examples of print and broadcast media, but not specifying the internet. A seemingly generic "news service" is listed. The law states that the examples are not intended to be limiting. In the motion [PDF] filed in the 2008 case, the plaintiff did not attempt to argue that a website is not a medium of communication.

Central Oregon bureau reporter Ethan Lindsey has left OPB for California:

"My wife got a job in LA at USC and so I left OPB at the end of December," Lindsey tells us. "I am now in LA freelancing for NPR, Marketplace and other public radio programmers, and staying in public radio journalism. But, know that it is really good news that OPB posted the position and is re-filling my job in Bend."

Lindsey was hired to open and run OPB's Central Oregon bureau in 2007. Last summer, he had a most unusual hiatus: he was put into a medical coma for a mystery illness, later becoming only the tenth person in Oregon's history to be confirmed as having contracted hantavirus, a potentially deadly disease. He was released from the hospital after a week-long stay.

A new listing for a Bend reporter/producer has been posted to OPB's website.

The following release was written and provided to us by Kathy Cullis' husband, Rick:

Kathleen I. (Randall) Cullis of Bend passed away on Jan. 4th, 2010 after a valiant three-year battle with cancer. She was 57 years young.

Kathy was born on Jan. 23, 1952 in Portland, the daughter of William and Illaine Randall. Her sister is Robin Bailey (Jim), who lives in Portland. When Kathy was five she moved with her family to Salem. As a child, Kathy was creative and imaginative, inventing puppet shows for family and friends to enjoy. This talent led her into high school choir and drama where her love of performing truly emerged when she got her first leading role as Eliza Doolittle in the South Salem High School production of My Fair Lady.

Kathy received a B.A. Degree in Theater at the University of Oregon. In 1997 she married her husband Rick on April 19th at the Woodland Chapel Church of Religious Science in Salem and later moved from Eugene to the Big Island of Hawaii where she worked for Dolphin Quest Hawaii, Kona Association for the Performing Arts and KISS-FM as a morning radio news anchor.

After moving back to Oregon in 2003 she worked as a morning news anchor for KBND 1110 Radio. There, she produced “Heart of the Arts”, a weekly 5-minute feature series.

Earlier in her career she worked in television for KFXO-TV (Bend), KMTR-TV (Eugene), KOMO-TV (Seattle), KEZI-TV (Eugene) and KOLD-TV (Tucson). While in Tucson she co-hosted the Easter Seal Telethon with Pat Boone for two years. She also acted in dramatic film and television including Praying Mantis (USA Network) with Jane Seymour, Baywatch Hawaii, and independent films. She was a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

It was the theater that Kathy loved the most and while living in Hawaii she was nominated for the island wide 2001 Po’okela Award as “Leading Female in a Musical” for Mame produced by the Kona Assoc. for the Performing Arts. In 2002, she was nominated again for the Po’okela Award for “Leading Female in a Play” for Night of the Iguana. In Bend she acted in local community theater, including Taming of the Shrew and Chicago for the Cascade Theatrical Co. She also starred in Lettuce and Lovage in Portland while a member of Equity Actors. While a student at the University of Oregon, Kathy starred as Sally Boles in a Eugene production of Cabaret.

Kathy is survived by her husband Rick, her mother, sister, brother-in-law, two cats and six llamas.

A private gathering and celebration of Kathy’s life will take place for family and friends in Bend, Portland and on the Big Island. Her final resting place will be in Hawaii, where her ashes will be scattered in the blue waters off the Kohala coast.

Any donations can be made in lieu of flowers to: Partners In Care (Hospice House) at 2075 NE Wyatt Ct., Bend, OR 97701

Rick also encourages supporting local theater in Kathy's memory. "It is what Kathy loved," he says.

(Thank you to Al Peterson for posting this news in our forums.)

Chris McKee

Chris McKee, senior producer at KOHD in Bend, is leaving the station in January to become the Roseburg bureau reporter for Eugene's KMTR. He tells OMC:

It's going to be tough to leave KOHD for sure. I've worked with an awesome group of people who are totally dedicated and work incredibly hard. Having help start the station, I think I'll always feel like I'm a part of KOHD... even though I'm leaving. I've got nothing but support from my co-workers. I'm excited to move on to a different chapter in my career and working with the team at KMTR. It's going to be fun getting to know Roseburg and its surrounding communities. I'm excited to step out from the producing role, getting to tell stories as a reporter now.

Everything is going well at KOHD. The station hasn't made any new cuts since the major ones announced in April. Management has expressed the positive message that KOHD will definately survive the "tough economic times" and continue to make strides as a leader in the Central Oregon news scene and community. I would argue that KOHD has one of the most streamlined newsrooms in the state. Everyone there, literally everyone... from each production assistant to the news anchors know how to shoot, capture and edit video. Our assignment editor doubles as a producer, finding stories, setting them up, writing them, editing video for them. Meanwhile, some of our news staff doubles as assistant engineers, fixing computer network issues, video server problems that other stations reserve for a team of engineers. We make it work.

When I take a step back, and look at the product that we've achieved with so few people... it definitely makes me proud to work here. We keep up with what's happening in Central Oregon, we break stories and we compete, putting on 125 minutes of news during the weeknights, and 90 minutes during the weekday mornings. It has certainly been a challenge that none of us ever anticipated... but, when we continue to hear viewers saying, "I think you guys have really raised the bar for news coverage in Central Oregon," you know you're doing something right. We hope to keep those comments going, and I know all of the professionals at KOHD are more than qualified to do that.

Andrea Adams, associate producer and assignment editor at the station, will take McKee's position, a KOHD representative tells OMC. The AP/AE job listing is now posted on KOHD's website.

KOIN owner New Vision TV has emerged from bankruptcy, eliminating $400 million of debt in roughly ten weeks.

"New Vision now has one of the strongest balance sheets in our sector," said CEO Jason Elkin. "Being debt-free will enable us to invest in our people, our product and complementary acquisitions to drive New Vision forward, while our competitors continue to focus on daily liquidity and covenant compliance."

No jobs or benefits were cut as part of the restructuring, the company said in a statement. New Vision also owns KOIN affiliate KBNZ in Bend.

The full press release is posted after the break:

New jobs in the jobs forum:

• The Bulletin in Bend is hiring a city editor for "leading reporters, directing coverage, initiating change and inspiring a night city editor and 11 reporters, including correspondents in Washington, D.C. and Salem, Oregon."
• KPTV in Beaverton is looking for a photographer who "videotapes various news events and edits tape for daily news broadcasts."
• KPTV is also seeking a weather producer who "analyzes data and develops weather forecasts/graphics for both on-air and online" and "manages the graphics and weather center while the on-air talent is on live shots." This position is part-time.
• And Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland is hiring a morning announcer to "be the voice of JPR during Morning Edition." Responsibilities include "signing on JPR’s numerous stations at 5am, and the preparation, editing and delivery of a daily 7-minute morning newscast, as well as live and recorded weather forecasts throughout the morning and other station announcements as directed."

Additionally, The Columbian in Vancouver is still looking for two metro reporters to cover city hall and courts beats.

Ron Pivo returned to Portland's air yesterday, but not to provide Ducks scores or to show Blazers highlights.

The former sports anchor, best known for his eight years at KGW as part of an 18-year career in Oregon TV sports, is now a broker with Windermere Real Estate. He started as a contributor for KOIN's Keep It Local Tuesday.

Pivo tells OMC that he'll be doing reports, features and commentaries for the 4pm newscast, mostly involving real estate. He jokes that, "In my spare time, I will make animal balloons for children in the KOIN lobby."

But should someone who sells real estate be reporting real estate news on TV?

Pivo draws an analogy to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon who "does a great job of medical reporting on CNN."

KOIN wouldn't be the first news outlet to partner with Windermere agents for stories. Fisher Communications' community sites, currently live in Seattle and coming soon to Portland and Eugene, are also featuring content from the home seller's agents.

But Troy McGuire, Fisher's vice president for news, tells Seattle blog TechFlash that, "The one rule that we have with them is that they can’t write about real estate."

Asked about Pivo, KOIN news director Lynn Heider told OMC, "He does an excellent job showcasing on camera and we may tap him to take a look at what's on the market. But the properties would be the same public listings any other real estate agent could have access to."

"He won't be featuring his own listings," she says.

Pivo may also provide commentaries on topics unrelated to the housing market.

Questioned about KOIN satellite station KBNZ's philosophy as a "pro-business advocate station" in Bend that focuses on "positive things" in the marketplace, Heider said that KOIN has "a different focus than KBNZ," and that "Bend is in a different situation" economically.

"Keep It Local is not a business show," she points out.

Regarding visits to two local companies in the show's premiere episode last week, where business was booming and doing "better than ever," Heider says that "the businesses featured in the first show were 'mom and pop' stores where neighbors put everything they had on the line to open up and eek out a living." She says that KOIN is looking more for those kinds of "personal stories" for the show.

"If businesses are doing well in the year 2009, that's interesting," says Heider. "If they're going under and we can examine why, that too is interesting."

Keep It Local airs weekdays at 4pm on KOIN-TV 6.

(Photo courtesy Windermere Real Estate.)

UPDATE (9/16, 3:42pm): As an example of other subjects he may cover for the station, Pivo tells OMC that he had a commentary on the University of Oregon's LeGarrette Blount punching a Boise State opponent for KOIN's 5:30pm news the Friday before Keep It Local premiered.