WGME News - duh, What's High Def?

It is hard for me to believe that after all this time, and after all phone calls and emails to WGME Channel 13 in Portland, Maine, that they still can't figure out when to hit the "HD" switch.

I thought we had this all set. But on Thursday night, March 27, 2008, The Late Show with David Letterman was not in High Definition.

I was really surprised because I had several email exchanges with Terry Cole, who I believe is the technical director of WGME. The last time we spoke, he promised me that they were having a meeting to discuss these simple technical issues like High Definition ON or OFF.

I called at about 1:30 am on Friday morning, March 28. I asked the person who answered the phone to transfer me to the control room. At the exact moment that a gentleman answered the phone I got about half way through my sentence. "Is there a reason you are not broadcasting....." and I saw my TV flicker and switch into HD.

I said, Oh, did you hit the switch? And the gentlemen said "Yes, I did". He had a bit of an attitude like he couldn't be bothered with a lowly viewer who had the audacity to call the station with an issue like this. I asked him his name.

After a few very long seconds, he said "Fred". I said excuse me? He said "Fred". I could tell by his voice that he was younger and probably was not telling me the truth. So I said "No really, What's your real name?" And he said, "It's Fred".

I hung up the phone after noting what incredible professionalism Channel 13 had AGAIN with technical issues and viewers like me calling them to alert them to issues.

After all these months, nothing has changed. What a joke this is. A television station can not even get a simple procedure down like "hit the switch, buddy". It's quite sad. I hate to say it but there are times when Maine's backwoods true colors come shining through.