Red October is here again for the fourth consecutive year
While the L.A. Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnati Reds play for survival in this week’s Major League Baseball wildcard round, the Phillies, as second seed with a bye until the division series, don’t play again until Saturday.
That game will be on TBS from Citizens Bank Park, and that’s about all that’s known about it so far.
TBS hasn’t announced a time for games its will air from Philadelphia and Milwaukee. It probably wants to see the opponents before deciding which teams will play in the afternoon and which in primetime.
The Phils, as No. 2 seed, will play either the third or sixth seed, depending on which wins the wildcard round.
No. 3 is the Dodgers, and 6 is the Cincinnati Reds.
My guess is whoever plays the Dodgers will get the evening slot and the “A” announcing team. TBS is probably rooting for a Phillies-Dodgers matchup. That will have the most national interest.
Brian Anderson and Alex Faust are TBS’s primary announcers, but I’ve not seen anywhere how they will be divided during the playoffs.
They could stick together while another team covers the Brewers matchup. They could separate with one of the TBS analysts — Jeff Francoeur, Ron Darling, Pedro Martinez, Jimmy Rollins, or Curtis Grandson — being split between crews covering the Phillies and the Brewers.
Rollins, of course, would be a natural to follow the Phillies through their playoff journey.
The divisional round is best of five series. It can go from three to five games.
The Phillies are scheduled to play Saturday, Oct. 4. Monday, Oct. 6, Wednesday, Oct. 8, Thursday, Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 11, the last two games only if needed.
Just to be clear about where to find specific games on televisions, this week’s wild card round games, NL and AL, will be seen on ABC or ESPN.
For the divisional round, NL games are on TBS while AL games air on Fox.
Should the Phillies advance to the NL championship round, it commences on Monday, Oct. 13 and also airs on TBS.
The World Series, which heaven willing includes the Phillies, begins on Friday, Oct. 24 on Fox.
Radio coverage of the playoffs and World Series is not affected by national networks having rights to broadcast over local stations.
All 2025 Phillies playoff games will be called by the usual crew over WIP (94.1 FM): Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen or Kevin Stocker.
Channel 29 reporter jumps to 6abc
Cheyenne Corin crossed town to join Channel 6’s “Action News” as a reporter. She came to the market in 2023 to report for Channel 29.
Before returning to her hometown, the North Penn High and West Chester University graduate worked at WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C.
While at West Chester, she was an intern at Channel 29 and was, for a while, on the news team at Channel 17.
It’s amazing Corin ever left Philadelphia. She earned her master’s degree in journalism from Temple University.
Last week, Corin attended the Mid-Atlantic Emmys, where for a story she did for Channel 29 earned an award in the Best Daily News — Single Shift category for photojournalist and editor Michael Leftwich.
The story was about an group of men in Olney who started a group called Pull Flags Not Guns, to fight gun violence in their area.
Corin’s arrival at Channel 6 comes soon after the departure of reporter Jessica Kartalija, the former Channel 3 anchor, who left the station to become a national correspondent for NewsNation.
Mid-Atlantic Emmys review
The local Emmys were an annual industry landmark when they were inaugurated in 1983.
They may still be, but you’d never know it from the way the pass most years without attracting notice. The Mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has not sent out a press release about the awards, their ceremony, or recipients in what must be more than a decade.
Maybe two.
The only way I knew about the local Emmys being distributed last Saturday was by seeing winners’ posts on Facebook and getting a surprise release from one of the local stations.
I remember the excitement in 1983.
There were statewide awards from broadcasting organizations and other entities but nothing that said “prestigious” like an Emmy does.
People attended the first several ceremonies in formal attire, and the competition for the Emmy was heady even though, from the outset, Channel 6, the market’s perennial ratings leader, declined to participate or vie for nominations.
Individual reporters, photographers, etc. sometimes defied the ban and submitted tapes to judges on their own, but in general, Channel 6 stays home on Philadelphia’s Emmy night.
Within two years, the Mid-Atlantic Emmys were televised on Channel 12, with Joey Bishop as the ceremony’s emcee.
Two things may have dimmed the local Emmy’s luster.
One is time. There may be a party where nominations are announced, as in the past, but it certainly isn’t the event it was before local television was eclipsed by cable and streaming outlets that attract far more viewers and erode loyalty to a local station or a sampling of them.
The television personalities on local air were once the primary celebrities of the market, on a par with sports figures and, later, chefs.
It was almost impossible for a Philadelphian not to know the anchors and primary reporters on Channels 3, 6, 10, 17 and 29. These people were stars.
Today, I mention someone other than Channel 3’s Ukee Washington or Channel 29’s Mike Jerrick, and I have to tell my listener who I’m talking about.
Oh, Channel 6’s Adam Joseph and Cecily Tynan prove familiar as well.
I think with some publicity, some effort on the part of NATAS to get the viewer to care, then glamorous part of the local Emmys could prevail, at least to people who watch local news regularly.
The other factor that made the local awards less interesting is harder to surmount. You’ll notice, the local award is called the Mid-Atlantic Emmys.
That’s because NATAS, as the national governing body of local chapters, doesn’t organize those chapters according to markets. It organizes them based on broad geographic areas.
The local Emmys aren’t confined to local stations in the Delaware Valley, including those in New Jersey and Delaware, but to the entire state of Pennsylvania, which of course encompasses Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton, and markets that hold no appreciable interest to the Philadelphia viewer.
Not only do the major Pennsylvania markets compete with local nominees, but NATAS’ mid-Atlantic region expands to neighboring stations in Pa.’s border states: Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and lower central New York.
While the majority of nominations once favored Philadelphia stations, a time came when local channels were barely mentioned among the nominees.
If they were, they were often passed over in favor of colleagues in Pittsburgh.
What fun or interest does that hold for the local viewer? Why would they be interested in seeing honors go to people they never heard of and whose work they would not see?
None.
The 2025 Mid-Atlantic Emmy, given last week, was more equitable than most recent years in terms of Philadelphia stations holding their own in nominations and victories.
As with the national Emmys, the categories seem endless, divisions of divisions that seem conceived to assure that lots of people will receive Emmys.
Naturally, the most important award of the night is for Overall Excellence.
This year, that award is locally moot because it went to WVIA-TV, a public station broadcasting from Pittston, near the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre market.
Locals fared better in the second most prestigious award, News Excellence, which was given to Channel 3 and accepted by news director Kathy Gerrow.
From the 1983 inception, the awards that interested me most were the individual awards given for excellence at single job.
The first recipient for Best Reporter, for instance, was Anthony Mason, then at Channel 10, now a 40-year veteran at CBS News, where he arrived in 1986.
Philadelphia folks did well in these categories, especially those at Telemundo 62.
Best Anchor went to that station’s María Belén Smole while the award for Best Multimedia Journalist was given Smole’s colleague, Crishtbel Mora.
Best Weather Anchor was presented to Channel 29’s widely wandering meteorologist and fun finder, Drew Anderson, who may give the most spirited weather reports in market history and be can anywhere, including Channel 29’s studio, doing it.
Usually, Anderson is in a crowd dressed in a plain white T-shirt and celebrating weather conducive to such attire. He also has a penchant for sunrises and sunsets and posts them from throughout the region onFacebook.
Best Photographer was given, for what I imagine is the millionth time to Channel 3’s Brad Nau, who recently announced his retirement.
Nau also earned an Emmy for Best News Feature, Light and Short. (I told you there are categories within categories.)
Other local personalities who received individual awards are Joseph Bologna from the University of Pennsylvania as Best Solo Storyteller and Drew Miller from Princeton University Athletics as Best Content Editor.
The crash of a medical plane near Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue and coverage of the 2024 election earned various awards for various stations.
One of the region’s top producers, Channel 12’s Karen Smyles was given two Emmys, one for Arts-Long Form for a program about Philadelphia Ballet artistic director Angel Corella, the other for interview/discussion for Terry Gross’s interview with pantheon cellist Yo Yo Ma.
Channel 10’s Siobhan McGirl received the award for Best Sports Story.
Her colleague, Sheila Watko earned one for Arts and Entertainment. Another colleague, Matt De Lucia tookhome two, one for education, the other for a daytime newscast that featured election analysis.
‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’
A little nostalgia resulted from an unremembered sequence in Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” being given a worthy production at Bristol Riverside Theatre.
Durang lived in Bucks County and would watch local news.
“Vanya, etc.” is set near New Hope in Bucks County, and Vanya, played with balanced measure of humor and depth by Alan Safier, talks about impending weather by mentioning a report he heard from Carol Erickson.
Obviously, Vanya, and probably Durang, watched Channel 3’s “Eyewitness News,” where Erickson had two stints as a weather anchor, from 1978 to 1987 and from 1991 until 2015.
“Vanya” premiered in 2012 and received the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play.
Erickson was one of the first on television to talk about pet care, especially in inclement weather.
After her retirement from full-time broadcasting, she appeared on CBS 3 doing a spot with the Pennsylvania SPCA called “CBS 3 Pet Project.” She continues advocating for animals off the air.
Source: Berkshire mont