MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Channel 10 Top Winner of Local Emmy Awards

KGTV-TV(Channel 10) emerged as the big winner in the local television industry’s annual ode to itself, the Emmy Awards, presented at the Town and Country Hotel Saturday night.

In addition to earning four of the five Emmys presented for newscasts, Channel 10 took home the Emmy for “Outstanding News Station,” a new award. The other newscast award went to KCST-TV (Channel 39). KFMB-TV (Channel 8) was shut out of the big awards.

Despite its infatuation with zoo stories, glitzy graphics and happy talk between anchors, Channel 10 was the logical winner. Not only has it emerged as the ratings champion, but also under the direction of news director Paul Sands, Channel 10 always seems to be the one station willing to assign reporters to cover the bureaucracies in town and the “little stories.”

Michael Tuck, Channel 10’s avenging angel of the airwaves, was one of the evening’s biggest winners. Tuck won Emmys for best news writing and best commentary, and he tied Channel 8’s Ted Leitner for “outstanding achievement as a news performer.”

KPBS-TV’s “In the Shadow of the Law” also won three Emmys, the most by an individual program, including one for its producer Paul Espinosa.

The list of winners also includes “Governors Award,” for “long and distinguished contributions to San Diego television,” which went to Ray Wilson, veteran Channel 8 news personality, and Bob Dale, Channel 39 feature reporter and former host of Channel 8’s afternoon movies.

KPBS, the nonprofit organization that operates public television(Channel 15) and radio(89.5) stations in San Diego, has sent a letter to its 67,000 members requesting $262,000 in contributions to meet its financial goals for the fiscal year. In response to viewer complaints, KPBS eliminated its auction this year and cut back on the annoying “pledge breaks.” At the same time, KPBS officials say, programming expenses on the TV side have shot up 30%. The facility’s total operating budget has soared to more than $8 million, a million-dollar increase from the previous year.

According to KPBS’s Pat Finn, the request for funding is not an “urgent” request, like the letter sent out last year to subscribers. No programs are expected to be cut if the station is unable to raise the money, but it would undermine any plans for growth.

“Last year, we needed to make up $265,000 and people came through,” Finn said.

Katie Manor, half of the 91X-FM (91.1) morning show for the last few years, is officially on vacation. But station sources said Manor quit the morning show a week ago Friday. The station asked her to take a week off to consider her decision; instead she took two weeks. She is currently in Mexico.

Manor, who was unavailable for comment, is rumored to have problems with her on-air partner, Bryan Jones. She worked with Jones previously, until Jones left the station after a series of drug-related problems. When Jones returned a few months ago, the magic just wasn’t there, as listeners can attest. In the last three years Manor has served as the straight person for at least half a dozen morning partners. “I just think she’s a little burnt,” said 91X operations manager Trip Reeb. If she still refuses to return to the morning show, Reeb said, Manor would be reassigned to other shifts. Her contract expires at the end of the month.

Notes and quotes: “Sun Up San Diego” co-host Kathi Diamant auditioned for and earned a part in the upcoming Gaslamp Quarter Theatre production of “The Nerd.” It won’t be a big stretch for her: she’ll play a TV weather reporter. . . . As expected, Channel 39 sports director Al Keck quit last week to accept a similar job in Tampa, Fla. His last day is scheduled for Aug. 5. . . . The most significant numbers of the TV rating books issued this week showed Channel 39 pulling even at 11 p.m. with Channel 8 for second place, the first time Channel 39 has pulled itself out of the cellar in more than a year. Channel 10 dominates at 11 p.m., with channels 8 and 10 in a horse race at 5 p.m. . . . XTRA-AM (690) disc jockey Irv Harrigan is feeling better about his future with the station. After his partner, former Channel 39 anchor Paul Bloom, and mid-morning deejay Bob Montague were fired, Harrigan was making plans to slide into a job in advertising. Now, he says, the station has given him a vote of confidence, at least until his contract expires in December. “It appears I’m not going to be one of the casualties,” Harrigan said. . . . When a few viewers complained about KGB-FM’s bass-in-the-blender commercial, Channel 39 refused to air the spots before 9 p.m. A take-off on the anti-drug, “this is your brain . . . “ commercials, with a little of Dan Aykroyd’s Bass-o-Matic sketch thrown in, the commercial shows a bass (“Your brain,” the announcer explains) being dropped in to a food processor (“The Berger and Prescott Show”). It certainly gets your attention.

Eyewitness Views: Channel 10’s Michael Tuck dramatically opened the 6:30 evening edition of the news recently, dramatically staring into the camera, dramatically asking, “Where is 2-year-old Sarah Toussant?” Then the station dramatically flashed a picture of a teen-age girl, clearly and dramatically not the 2-year-old. . . . Not everyone likes Channel 8’s Ted Leitner, but at least he’s willing to make fun of the TV business. After anchor Stan Miller, Channel 8’s answer to cardboard, made another puffy toss to Leitner’s sports segment Thursday, Leitner chided the anchors for their fake segues. “Why can’t we just say Ted’s next with sports?” he asked. Good point.