Shakespeare Festival’s Economic Impact

Shakespeare FestivalKILGORE — 2010 marks the Texas Shakespeare Festival’s 25th season, and the TSF Foundation is highlighting the festival’s impact on the East Texas economy. Among the examples:

• More than 96% of available seats were sold during the 2009 season.
• 75% of attendees were from outside the Kilgore area.
• More than 75% ate out in the region before/after attending performances.
• Almost 30% spent the night in the area as a result of attending performances.

• TSF has worked with more than 1,139 theatre artists from forty states, the District of Columbia, and eight foreign countries.
• The Festival has staged 110 productions for more than 1,181 performances including 28 plays of the Shakespeare canon, many of them more than once; 22 non-Shakespearean classics; fifteen American musicals; nine productions of a history play based on the East Texas oilfield; 24 productions for children, many of them original scripts; and a world premiere of the musical, Reveoco.

Also of note: Recognizable TSF alumni include Michael Hall, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and star of the HBO series “Six Feet Under”; Glenn Kessler, Emmy-winning writer and co-creator, writer, and executive producer for the FX series “Damages” with Glenn Close; and Danny Pino, in his seventh season as Detective Valens on the CBS series “Cold Case.” You can go to http://www.texasshakespeare.com for more on this year’s festival.

Police Investigate Drive-By Shooting

Tyler PoliceTYLER — Tyler police are investigating an early Sunday morning drive-by shooting. Police responded around 1:00 a.m. to a residence in the 400 block of Cochran Street and found a woman inside who had sustained a single gunshot wound. She was transported to East Texas Medical Center Hospital by ambulance. Police say her injury is not believed to be life-threatening. According to authorities, the incident involved several shots being fired from an unknown vehicle as it passed by the residence.

Anyone with information about the suspects involved in this crime is urged to contact the Tyler Police Department, at 903-531-1000, or Crimestoppers, at 903-597-CUFF (903-597-2833). Crimestoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information that leads to arrests and charges filed against the suspects in this or any felony case.

Foul Play Suspected in Woman’s Death

Crime Tape
SMITH COUNTY — The body of a young woman was found on a dirt trail Saturday. Now, according to KETK, deputies say they’re looking for help in what could be a case of murder. Smith County detectives say a passerby found the young woman’s body off County Road 219 just south of Tyler. They have yet to identify the woman.

Deputies say clues at the scene indicate the body wasn’t there for very long. “We believe she’s been here for less than 24 hours,” said Lt. Tom Dana of the Smith County Sheriff’s Department. “We do believe there’s foul play involved in this death.” Detectives describe her as a young black woman between 18 and 35 years old. She was wearing capri style pants, a black blouse, and white shoes.

Wright “Humbled” By Council Win

TYLER — Jason Wright says he’s humbled to have been elected to Tyler’s City Council. The local businessman bested runoff opponent Kara Camp Saturday, 867 votes to 816, in the race to succeed Charles Alworth in District 6. Wright commented, “What an honor it is…to have the opportunity to be a servant-leader in a city that you love.” He says he can’t wait to get to work and is looking forward to meeting with city officials and staff so he can start learning his way around City Hall. Wright said the Council race was long and hard, but well-run. He added that both he and Camp love the city and want to serve it in any capacity possible.

Possible Murder-Suicide

Possible Murder-SuicideTYLER — Authorities feel they have a better understanding of what happened over the weekend in the deaths of a Tyler lawyer and his ex-wife. It happened Saturday night in Smith County’s Hidden Hill Lake subdivision where the bodies of Thomas Blow and Kinsey Lynn Lewis-Blow were found. Both had been shot to death. Authorities believe Thomas Blow shot his former wife and then turned the gun on himself.

KETK-TV reported a woman, who authorities say was a friend of Blow’s ex-wife, had dropped her off and was waiting in the drive-way for her to come out. When she never came back to the car, the woman went looking for her, and found the bodies. The couple’s two young boys, ages 5 and 7, who had been staying with their dad for Father’s Day, were not injured.

I sure have missed KDOK and it’s great music. Do you think there will ever be another radio station that will play that kind of music?

I sure have missed KDOK and it’s great music. Do you think there will ever be another radio station that will play the kind of music KDOK played in Tyler? There is not a radio station in the area that plays the 60’s,70’s music. Can’t pick up KLUV, station from Dallas. Thank you for a reply.

ANSWER

I cannot speak for other broadcasters in the market. There is always a
chance that one of them will make the business decision to change formats on
one of their stations to something similar to what KDOK did. When and under
what circumstances that might occur, I cannot say.

I miss KDOK, too. I liked listening to it a lot. But it was not a growing
business and it was taking away resources that were necessary to protect and
grow our core franchise, which is news and talk. Playing music on the radio,
and particularly music from a “frozen” playlist, in other words a playlist
that does not continually take in new material, has become a very different
business than it used to be. The proliferation of personal music devices and
the ability to easily interface those devices to the sound system in one’s
vehicle has dramatically chnaged the game for FM radio music broadcasters.

In order to keep time-spent-listening to KDOK at competitive levels, I was
having to spend a ruinous amount of money every year doing focus group
research on the KDOK playlist in order to determine which songs were getting
burned out and which songs needed to be brought back into rotation. The
truth is, it is hard to compete with a person’s iPod. The playlist on a
person’s iPod is the absolutely perfectly researched playlist for that
person. It is particularly true in a format that doesn’t regularly introduce
new music, such as an oldies station like KDOK, that constant music research
is necessary or the audience will not spend as much time listening and that
ratings will suffer.

KLUV in Dallas conducts continuous music research in order to address this
issue. The problem for a similar station in a market like Tyler is that it
costs the same amount to do the research in Tyler as it does to do the
research in Dallas-Ft. Worth. The cost of research as a percentage of KLUV’s
revenue, however, is a fraction of that same cost as a percentage of KDOK’s
revenue.

Thus, we made the decision regarding KDOK and, despite the fact that I miss
KDOK, it has proven to be a good business decision.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Paul L. Gleiser

TEACHER OF THE MONTH – March 2009

Tyler ISD – Rebecca Townley, Bonner Elementary School

Winona ISD – Donna Van Ness, Winona Elementary School

Chapel Hill ISD – Judy Fletcher, Kissam Intermediate School

Lindale ISD – Sheila Herring, E.J. Moss Intermediate School

Troup ISD – Arden Johnson, Troup High School

Whitehouse ISD Teacher of the Year: Marilyn Meyer-AIM Center