Media Watch

YOUR MEDIA HOLIDAY DO-GOODER ROUNDUP

Television and radio stations often sponsor fundraising drives during the holiday season. Here are some of the activities taking place on the television side:

KVOA Channel 4 is in the midst of the Kristi's Kids Season 4 Hope. The campaign runs through Dec. 20.. The goal is to collect food for the Community Food Bank, new and gently used clothes for Gospel Rescue Mission, and toys for Toys for Tots. The KVOA studios at 209 W. Elm St. will act as a drop-off location on Dec. 6 and 20. The Rural Metro Fire Department location at Sunrise Drive and Campbell Avenue will serve as a drop-off location on Dec. 13. Donations can also be dropped off at Pyramid Federal Credit Union branches, Circus Furniture, Brake Masters locations, Rite Way Ventilating, Rainbow Jewelers and Southern Arizona Union Care, along with a variety of Tucson, Rural Metro and Corona de Tucson fire stations.

KOLD Channel 13 has a tie-in with the Food Bank as well. On Wednesday, Dec. 12, KOLD, Wells Fargo and the Community Food Bank will be partnering for a holiday food drive. Donations of nonperishable food items will be accepted at the Wells Fargo at Oracle and Orange Grove roads.

KMSB Channel 11 and KTTU Channel18 have been sponsoring the Fry's Food Drive since Nov. 15, and that campaign runs through Dec. 29. Food-donation bins are located at Fry's locations throughout the greater Tucson area.

KMSB and KTTU are involved in the Christmas Angel campaign as well. It runs through Dec. 23. The Salvation Army, Peter Piper Pizza and Tucson-area malls are participating in the toy-collection drive, and encouraging folks to pick up angel tags and make a donation.

On the radio side: K-Love (KLTU FM 88.1) is teaming up with the Gospel Rescue Mission for the Hope for the Holidays campaign, which runs through Dec. 14. They seek spare-change donations for thousands of needy men, women and children in the Tucson community. A complete list of all the Hope for the Holidays collection locations is available on the events page at www.klove.com.

The Cumulus radio cluster has two major drives on tap. At KIIM FM 99.5, the annual Penny Pitch takes place at Foothills Mall. The station will broadcast live from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 19, 20 and 21. The goal is to collect 1 million pennies for Arizona's Children Association. Penny Pitch has been among the higher-profile holiday fundraisers in Tucson for quite some time.

KHYT 107.5 FM is partnering with Team Up for Tucson and its annual Stuff the Hummers Toy Drive. Sparkle Cleaners is among the other major sponsors; teamupfortucson.com has plenty of info on specifics.


KXCI RAISES MONEY

Community radio KXCI FM 91.3 is in the midst of its Winter Wonders online auction at KXCI.org.

Among the items up for bid: restaurant and personal-services gift certificates, gourmet food, books, CDs, massages, spa treatments, yoga classes, hotel and bed-and-breakfast visits, event tickets, art and something called a zombie apocalypse preparedness kit.

The auction continues through Tuesday, Dec. 11.

KXCI is also gearing up for its Sonic Solstice, a four-hour radio event with numerous live performances in the studio from 5 to 9 p.m., Monday, Dec. 17.


JOURNAL HIRES NEW CREATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR, REPORTER

The Journal Broadcast Group has hired Andy Schwabe as manager of marketing and creative services for KGUN Channel 9 and KWBA Channel 58. Schwabe has TV experience in sports promotions in markets such as Richmond, Va., Oklahoma City and Philadelphia.

He replaces Steve Harris, who accepted a similar position at a station in North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Liz Kotalik is the newest member of KGUN's news team. Kotalik is a recent graduate of the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at ASU. Kotalik begins at KGUN after the first of the year.


THE WWE SHOULD BE ASHAMED

That headline above could cover any of a number of things. Anyhow, I'm not a big video-game player, but there was a time when I was a more-than-I'd-like-to-admit professional-wrestling fan.

That time would be most of the last 30 years, with occasional breaks because the overall ridicule was just too great. As a result, I'm something of a historian on the industry, so I noticed when the WWE, in its latest video game, did Tucson a huge disservice.

It was 1999, the peak of the Monday Night Wars, and the then-WWF was turning the tide against WCW. Wrestling was a huge deal, with immense cable ratings—so big that the then-WWF tried something unique: It provided a championship-wrestling match as counterprogramming to the lengthy and generally uninteresting Super Bowl halftime show. The hook: It would be the first-ever match broadcast live inside of an empty arena.

The setting was the Tucson Convention Center, and the match pitted Mick Foley as Mankind against The Rock. Mankind won the belt.

Well, in the new video game, which allows wrestlers to play out historic matches from that period, the legendary Super Bowl match is featured. However, the video game lists the match as occurring in Phoenix—not in Tucson. Does Vince McMahon not recognize there's a significant distinction between the two? By Old Pueblo standards, that glitch is pretty darn close to unforgivable.

It's far more unforgivable than the time the world's most-profitable traveling circus passed through Tucson and overcharged for T-shirts that capitalized on one of The Rock's catch phrases: "Finally, The Rock has come back to Tuscon."

You'd think a company that at one time or another has employed Tucson media personalities Sean Mooney and Todd Grisham, and former Tucson resident Justin Roberts, would treat us with more respect.

I'm watching you, WWE. Somebody still has to.