Karen Adams

Mike Montecalvo

Tony Petrarca

Patrick Little

EYEWITNESS NEWS on WPRI 12 #1 at 11pm

For the first time in station history, Eyewitness News at 11 on WPRI 12 was the #1 rated late night newscast in the Providence/New Bedford DMA (for the week of October 19 -23, 2009). In addition to the news win, CBS prime time programming on WPRI 12 was also rated #1 in the prime time period. Over the past several years, Eyewitness News at 11 on WPRI 12 has had the largest growth of all the late, local newscasts.

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“We’ve made a commitment to the viewers of Southern New England,” says Jay Howell, President/General Manager of WPRI 12, Fox Providence, and my RI TV. “As Rhode Island’s only locally owned TV station, I’m very proud of the Eyewitness News team and their historic achievement. Along with the dominant CBS prime time line up, this viewing trend continues to validate that more local viewers are watching Eyewitness News.”

According to News Director Joe Abouzeid, “we’re allocating more resources and dedicating more coverage to the stories that matter most to our viewers. No matter when news breaks, viewers can count on Eyewitness News to be there.”

Eyewitness News at 11 on WPRI 12 is anchored by Karen Adams and Mike Montecalvo, along with Chief Meteorologist Tony Petrarca and Sports Director Patrick Little.

October 28, 2009
For More Information
Joe Abouzeid:
401-228-1700
jabouzeid@wpri.com

For a .pdf version of this release, please Click Here

Source: Nielsen Media, October 19 – 23, 2009
_______________________________________________________________________
About LIN TV: LIN TV Corp., along with its subsidiaries, is a local television and digital media company, owning and/or operating 27 television stations in 17 U.S. markets, all of which are affiliated with a national broadcast network. LIN TV’s highly-rated stations deliver important local news and community stories, along with top-rated sports and entertainment programming, to 9% of U.S. television homes, reaching an average of 11 million households per week.

LIN TV is also a leader in the convergence of local broadcast television and the Internet through its television station web sites and a growing number of local online innovations that reach 15% of U.S. broadband households. LIN TV is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TVL”.

No one loves Halloween as much as RoseAnne DeAngelis. Take a look at the Street Story video blog.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/on_air/local_wpri_street_stories_video_blog_20091028

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The tragic news of the healthy 12-year old Bristol, RI girl who died this week from a suspected case of the H1N1 flu has sent this concerned mom into a downright panic.   How did a healthy, active little girl succomb to the flu?  How did she get so sick, so fast?  How do we prevent this from happening again?  My heart aches for her family, her friends and her neighbors in my town of Bristol. 

I’m sure I was not alone when I held my baby a little tighter last night and gave him an extra kiss good night.  Nor, I’m sure, was I alone in feeling a sense of fear and unknown about this flu season… looking at the calendar and seeing the long winter months that still lay ahead of us.  I keep wondering what else I can do to protect him and keep him healthy.  I have the added concern of having an infant recently diagnosed with asthma, which puts him in the high risk category for possible severe complications if he were to contract H1N1.  I’m frustrated that he doesn’t have access to the H1N1 vaccine.  I’m frustrated that our company just cancelled it’s flu clinic for next month because of a shortage of regular flu shots for adults.  I’ve been contemplating whether I should pull him out of his home daycare and pay for a nanny to watch him at our house instead.

Can you really truly protect them from the germs that are everywhere?  You can be clean and cautious, but they will still be exposed to them. 

I have almost daily discussions with my co-anchor, Vince, about whether the media is blowing the H1N1 flu pandemic out of proportion.  The big question is, is it worse than the regular flu?  From research I’ve done, it appears that majority of cases are no more severe than the regular flu.  But, there’s still that small subset of the population that will have a major complication from it…. healthy, young people who suddenly find their lungs under attack and end up fighting for their lives.  And that’s what is scary.

One of our Street Stories made it all the way to Belgium and attracted a unique request and you may be able to help. . .

 http://www.wpri.com/dpp/on_air/street_stories/rhode_show_search_for_honor_for_a_local_here_street_stories_200910191255964341100

Click ‘more’ to see the message/request from Belgium.

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We are looking into an audit that investigated how a local school district monitors its Student Activity Account.  You fund these accounts when you pay to see a game or give a few dollars to a fundraiser.

For bigger districts, your generosity can add up to half a million a year! (more…)

A softer side of rough and tumble Patriots’ defensive lineman Jarvis Green is the focus of this week’s Street Story.

He lost 8 family members during hurricane Katrina. Read that again. 8 family members! (more…)

Courtesy NASA: An Artist's Rendering of Distant Planets

I think I’ve written about this in in previous blog posts, but there have been hundreds of new planets discovered beyond our own solar system.    Recently, astronomers in Europe have discovered 32 new planets orbiting distant stars. 

This brings the thought to my mind that there is life out there…somewhere.   However, none of these 32 planets would likely harbor life.   I think eventually we will find a planet which has the possibility of sustaining life.    Astronomers have found some planets which almost meet certain criteria to sustain life.   Even if we found a distant Earth-like world,  it would take thousands and thousands of years to get there (with current technology).

Here’s an article about these recent discoveries:   32 New Planets Found

My little Charlie is 9months old today… happy day baby boy!!  It got me thinking about all the things no one ever tells you when you’re contemplating bringing another life into this world.  So here’s my list of things every new parent should know:

1. Sleeping in will be 7am.  You’ll try not to think about those lazy Saturdays of days gone by when you awoke at 10am and went straight to the couch to watch “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ marathons on TLC. 

2. You and your spouse will talk at length each day about your baby’s bowel movements… how many he had, what they looked like, were they contained or part of a “blow out”.

3. Work will be your “down time”.  You won’t bat an eye at going from a 9hr day at the office to your next shift as mom, collapse into your bed for a “replenishing” 4hrs of sleep just to turn around and do it again tomorrow. 

4.  You’ll forego television in the evening to watch your baby sleep on your color, flat screen video monitor that you dutifully take from room to room lest you miss a single wimper.  How did any parent survive without it?

5.  You’ll laugh deliriously at the term, “sleeping like a baby”.  Who came up with that phrase?  Babies don’t sleep.  And they certainly don’t sleep soundly. 

6. Your baby will look like a million bucks when you run to the grocery store, but only after you leave the store will you realize that you have make-up streaking down your face, a piece of carrot in your hair and spit up on your shirt. 

7. You’ll immediately have people asking when you’re going to have your next baby.  Seriously?!  Don’t ask a mom this question until her baby has been sleeping through the night for at least 6months. 

8. Your “first baby”, the furry, barking kind that your swore would never become background noise, has indeed been demoted to a dog.  You still love ‘em, but more often than not they will be what sends you over the edge when your emotional state is hanging in the balance.  Something along these lines:  THE DOG IS PUKING ON THE CARPET RIGHT NOW AND THE BABY IS SPEED CRAWLING RIGHT FOR IT!

9. You’ll feel like your heart is going to burst when you tiptoe into your baby’s room to watch him sleeping in his crib.  There is nothing sweeter in the world. 

10. In a blink of an eye your baby will be sitting up, feeding himself, crawling, trying to walk and approaching his first birthday… then his 16th.   And you’ll say… it feels like yesterday.

An Orionid Meteor, Courtesy Rich Swanson

I remember when I was 14 years old, in the backyard, looking for Halley’s comet in the cold of winter.  I figured that I might not be around for the comet’s next trip through our solar system (2061), so I got myself outside to have a look.   I’m glad I did.   But…. we’ll (sort of) be able to see it again the next 3 mornings with the Orionid Meteor Shower.

As a comet travels through the inner solar system, it evaporates and breaks apart.  What’s left behind is a rocky debris field floating through space.  Halley’s comet last came through our solar neighborhood in 1985/1986, but the Earth will be travelling through a Halley debris field 3 to 4,000 years old.  For the next 3 days, we’ll be travelling through that ancient extra-terrestrial rock.  We’ll see it in our sky as meteors or shooting stars.   

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We….well my husband really..just figured out a few cool things that allowed us to get a new Keurig coffee machine for free and a Wii with spare change.

Keurig for Free

Let’s start with the Keurig machine. I have wanted one for years and my husband just surprised me with one for our anniversary. To make the surprise sweeter, he told me he basically paid nothing for it.

He used the cash back bonus credits from our Discover card, which we have been racking up for years. To make the money go farther, instead of taking the cash outright, he bought $25 gift cards at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for $20 bucks each. Combine that with a 20 percent off coupon from the store – he paid nothing out of pocket for the machine.

BTW – We now only use the Discover card to buy gas and groceries (since you get more cash-back bonus credits for those purchases) and pay it off at the end of the month. After all, the cash back bonus really is no bonus if you are paying interest rates on a balance.

(A side note: If you buy a Keurig – be sure to read the manual. They have a deal – buy two large boxes and get two for free. Plus you get 10% off each order and free shipping if you register online.)

Wii with Spare Change

Now to the Wii. We have wanted to get one for a while, figuring it would be a great video game console the whole family could play together. Then one day I came home from work, and my husband was setting one up.

He told me he paid for it with the spare change he’s been saving up for years. Every time he comes home he throws his spare change into a big jug. We’ve been meaning to roll it up for a while now – but it’s such a pain, we always put it off.

We always knew Coin Star was convenient – but we were reluctant to use it because of the fees - UNTIL my husband realized there were no counting fees if you choose to take your money in gift card form as opposed to cash. There are several gift card options. He chose to take an Amazon gift card.  We had enough change to buy the Wii and still had some money left over on the card.

Not bad for life’s little luxuries!