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KCBS and KCAL weatherman Kaj Goldberg has left the duopoly for rival KTLA Channel 5. He was welcomed today on Twitter (below) by news director and VP of News Jason Ball. Goldberg doesn't tweet much himself; his own feed still lists his employer as the CBS stations.
Don't know a thing about the move or what it means for the CBS stations. I have noticed a new level of social media promotion for the weather personalities on CBS LA. Evelyn Taft, the morning weathercaster, now announces on Twitter that she will be live on Periscope prepping to go on the air. The Evelyn Taft groupies who go over there get to watch up close via laptop camera as she brushes her hair, puts on eye makeup, and verbally replies to some of the fanboy praise that flows by on Periscope such as "You look like a model" and "Are you single?" (Her answers: Thanks for the compliment, and "I am not.") Some of the male comments that stream past are much cruder, of course. They get a show as she carries the computer onto the set and lets the Periscope viewers watch from the wings as she waits to go on the air. They see her do her weather segment, then she comes back to the computer and whispers more comments into the Periscope screen.
It's all about audience engagement, but the intimacy and the production values and what they're selling — um, it's not the weather report — sort of resembles the dynamic of live streaming porn. I'm sure CBS could charge men to watch Taft put on her makeup if they wanted. But it hasn't come to that in local TV news, has it?
Welcome to the @KTLA family, @weatherkaj. #oneoclocker @glenwalkerktla @LuParker @tarawallis pic.twitter.com/Q9OA1xvj3G
— Jason Ball (@jasonrball) July 23, 2015
