WKTV 11pm Newscast (February 23, 2000; 95% Complete)

The majority of the late edition of "NewsChannel 2" on NBC affiliate WKTV in Utica, New York. The only thing missing is the last block of news, because apparently they split the D block up that night to air a story on a dumb criminal. Wish they taped that part!

The late and great Bill Worden is the anchor. Worden, who passed away in 2023, led the station's newscasts for decades and helped bring consistency in a market that many would consider entry-level. The meteorologist is Matt DiNardo, and WKTV was in fact his entry-level job. Matt interned at WTEN where he worked closely with Steve Caporizzo (and rumor has it they offered him a job there), but he ended up making a name for himself at their sister station in Richmond, Virginia (WRIC). This past spring, he became chief meteorologist after John Bernier retired from a 4-decade run holding the torch. Susan Tran (Worden's eventual co-anchor) also does a report, as does NBC News' Steve Handelsman, and Jason Powles does the sports.

The big story is on voters crossing over parties, with John McCain claiming he was receiving votes from Democrats and Independents as the primaries approach. McCain eventually conceded and would run for the chair again in 2008, where he was the Republican candidate. Meanwhile, a man is on trial for driving 30-above the speed limit while under the influence (and the witnesses from the bar he went to testified!), in Albany (hey I think I've been there before!) the Diallo trial continues, the Los Angeles Police Department undergoes corruption investigation (nothing new there), results from the Grammy Awards, and Tonya Harding is once again in trouble with the law for getting into a drunken fight.

The Grammy's story includes Santana and Rob Thomas winning an award for their song "Smooth" which was a smash hit in the summer of 1999 (and still is a summery smash 26 years later!). Cher also wins an award for her album "Believe." At 21:44 is a story about Carlos Santana being abused as a child; I timestamped it so you can skip past to 22:10 due to the disturbing content mentioned. Bill Worden read the whole thing like a pro, as he should.

Central New York gets a taste of spring as February closes, with temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s. Susan Tran interviews a girls' field hockey team at an athletics complex who claims "it feels like summer out there." The story even has a title simply named "Heat." Hey, it's New York State in the wintertime, cut it some slack! More sports stories include Syracuse basketball (13th-ranked in the country) soundly beating Villanova, the Raptors beat the Knicks, and high school basketball enters postseason play. The Sauquoit Indians (now the Red Hawks) play a game as well as New York Mills vs. Sackets Harbor. If you ever visit New York State's Lake Ontario region, definitely visit Sackets. Especially if you love fishing!

I said a bit on Bill Worden already but he's not a face you see much of in TV nowadays, that Cronkite-like delivery and communication. Note his interaction with Jason Powles at 20:56, where they joke about Jim Boeheim's rather vague comments at his post-game presser (not spoiling it). He also easily holds the 30 minutes of news, and why not since he had been doing it for so long.

The graphics, done by EGAD, I've seen before on here, but I don't think this talent bump's been seen yet. Definitely a good one for a small market like Utica, and easily an example of why WKTV was a trailblazer in the back end of Nielsen's DMA rankings. The news theme is a custom NBC-composed track originating at KNBC in Los Angeles, and the voiceover is unknown. My only complaint is the voiceover, he just doesn't sound good.

(C) 2000 Smith Media; WKTV is now owned by Heartland Media. No copyright infringement intended. For educational and historical purposes only. We don't profit off this video.