WGCL (CBS 46) reporter Fred Powers seems to like his role as "stunt reporter" for the perennial ratings bottom-dweller in the local news race 'round these parts.Posted on 12/01/2004 11:04:31 AM PST by mhking
WGCL (CBS 46) reporter Fred Powers seems to like his role as "stunt reporter" for the perennial ratings bottom-dweller in the local news race 'round these parts.
Powers has been set on fire, bitten by attack dogs, tasered, "rescued" from a building as part of a firefighter training exercise, and most recently, shot while wearing a bulletproof vest by local police as a part of a training exercise -- all in the line of duty, and usually as part of "sweeps month" stunts.
No wonder he's being dubbed the "human piñata" by TV wags.Of course, what was funnier was the studio rerunning Powers' "tasering" and falling down -- complete with scream -- in sssssllllloooowwww mmmmooooottttiiiooonnn....Not coincidentally, his biggest stories tend to pop up during the sweeps months of February, May and November. (The current sweeps period ends today.) Because advertisers base what they pay partly on viewership during those three months, a shift of a ratings point here and there can mean millions of dollars for each station.
With such high stakes, it's not surprising that WGCL promotes Powers as the man who will do anything for a story, showing snippets of his escapades accompanied by a rotating 360-degree shot of the reporter, bionic man style.
"I have to admit I don't feel comfortable with that," said Powers, who often has an urgent, swashbuckling attitude on air. "I don't want to be promoted as the story. The story should be the focus."
Last month, Powers aired a live SWAT demonstration at a police training facility in Douglas County. He played a suspect holding a cop hostage. The police stormed the house on live TV and shot Powers, wearing a bulletproof vest, three times in the chest.
Powers' most infamous live demonstration aired in February, when police jolted him with a Taser stun gun.
The Georgia State Patrol was about to equip its officers with stun guns, so he approached Forest Park's police department, which already used them.
"I want to be Tasered," he told Chris Matson, the administrative captain.
"It was," Matson said, "an unusual request."
Powers convinced him that the goal of the segment was to show stun guns were not as dangerous as they appeared.
"We granted his wishes: We gave him 50,000 volts," Matson said.
When the dramatic moment arrived, Powers screamed and fell to the floor, immobilized for several moments. "You just freeze up, but five seconds later, I was fine," he said.
Powers was one of the first reporters to be "Tasered." Not surprisingly, dozens of TV stations nationwide copied WGCL in subsequent weeks.
Now. Tell the truth. How many of you watch reporter stunts like that to see if the reporter will REALLY hurt him/herself trying? Go ahead. Raise your hands.
I thought so. Me too.
Powers getting tasered last February.
He's an idiot. No other way to phrase it.
Taking voluntarily 3 slugs to the chest, bullet proof vest or not, intentionally, just for the sake of a news report. is not something I'm likely to do. Man's either got a very defective self preservation glad, or cahones the size of grape fruit.
gland=glad.
The channel it airs on.
It's on CBS. Viacom owns CBS as well as MTV.
In 1996 Johnny had the idea to shoot himself with pepper spray, a taser, a stun gun, .38, and then write an article about the experience. He pitched the idea to a couple of magazines that turned it down. Finally in 1997 he told Jeff Tremaine (editor at Big Brother Magazine) about his idea. Jeff hired him as journalist and convinced him to videotape this idea and other stunts (getting hit by car, poo poo platter, etc.) for stories. Eventually these became part of the Big Brother videos Boob and Number Two. Johnny quickly became a cult hit and soon there was a bidding war between MTV and Comedy Central to land him a TV show. He was offered a spot on Saturday Night Live, but turned it down. That's when Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, and Spike Jonze pitched the idea of Jackass to MTV...
Being tazed is not a huge deal. The guy sounds like he needs attention.
I hear that next year he's going to do something really daring, go for a late night drive with Teddy Kennedy driving.
> How many of you watch reporter stunts like that to see if >the reporter will REALLY hurt him/herself trying?
Why do you think I watch reporters struggling to stand up during a hurricane? I keep waiting for a beam to go through one of them.
To be any dumber, this guy would have to be twins.
Maybe he had the ceramic inserts. That would help guite a bit.
I am sorry, but he will have to do that without insurance. That is one of the exclusions in the policy no late night rides with any Kennedy, anytime. LOL
Basically, it's 'Jackass' masquerading as journalism?
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