The latest departure from the turbulent landscape: Channel 19 / Channel 43 Vice President and General Manager Dominic Mancuso. Mancuso reportedly told staff last week that he’d be stepping down. His last day will be Friday.
During two years at the helm, Mancuso presided over the re-branding of Channel 19. He coaxed the station from its in-your-face “19 Action News” approach to the softer, more upbeat “Cleveland 19 News,” the stated editorial goal of which has been to “champion all that is great about Cleveland.”
Though an executive behind-the-scenes, Mancuso was also a recurring on-air presence, sounding off in short editorials on the issues of the day — he’s a huge Chief Wahoo partisan, among other things. Mancuso was also the spirit and force behind Channel 19’s tenants-rights activism: He sent a dead mouse to the corporate landlords at K&D to protest the station’s hellacious working conditions.
Mancuso’s quiet departure follows closely behind the news that Channel 5 Multimedia Journalist Homa Bash has taken a gig in Dallas. In May, Channel 19 Investigative Reporter Scott Taylor jumped ship to the ABC affiliate in D.C.
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2016.
Whats with the firestorm??
Homa Bash is stunning. As an on-air reporter, I won’t bash Homa…she was no better and no worse than the hordes of female reporters that suddenly show up on TV newscasts here and then shuffle off to Buffalo or Miami or Denver or wherever…usually someplace bigger. Just like going from Single-A ball to AA and then Triple-A.
Face it, although we are still in the Top 20 TV markets, Cleveland is barely holding a spot in the Top 50 largest cities anymore. So they come here from the boonies and get a tryout locally, and then either move up or move on. But the tryouts seem to be shorter and shorter…days or weeks or months, at most.
I hardly can keep score of who’s arrived here and who’s left, because they shuttle in and out so quickly as to seem to be generic and interchangeable talking heads…
Not Homa Bash, though. She stood out…for her gorgeousnessness, if nothing else. She was lovely to look at. That alone will make sure she is missed. Cheekbones to die for!
She probably won’t miss standing out on an overpass in February, though, and having to inform viewers that snow is white, cold, and wet. I doubt if they stand outside in Tex-ass and tell viewers that it’s 102 in the shade again.
Chuckles the Clown
Don’t worry Chuckles, you can always refer back to those VHS tapes to, um, admire Homa’s cheekbones. Sheesh!
Sorry, pal… you must mean some other Chuckles. Taping cheekbones? Not my thing. Not into porn, either. Hell, I don’t even own a pornograph.
Chuckles the Clown