Matt Lavine had an interesting piece of news on his blog. Roseanne Rogers who has been The Buzz Lady at KPRC Channel 2 since the mid-1990s is taking the show on the road over to Channel 55 KTBU The Tube. How did she get to be known as The Buzz Lady?
If memory serves me, KPRC started doing an entertainment segment called The Buzz on many of its newscasts after Post Newsweek took over. I guess it was their effort to get the younger demo with its new tabloid look based on WSVN in Miami. Remember how 2's news used to be a lot more exciting? In fact you might have noticed how the other Houston TV stations started to look more exciting too.
Roseanne Rogers was the entertainment reporter on The Buzz segment (not to be confused with 94.5 The Buzz KTBZ which started around the same time). She started to catch on with the audience supposedly and the public started calling her "The Buzz Lady." Eventually some consultant was flown in and probably told management that the entertainmnet reporter trend was over because she was removed from the segment as far as I could tell. Or maybe the station looked at Rogers and saw green and I'm not talking about saving the environment.
Enter chapter 2 of The Buzz Lady.
In the last few years you might have noticed Rogers still on the air, but never in newscasts. The next version of The Buzz Lady was not in news, but the sales department from what I understand. Rogers started appearing in local programming that was more ad than editorial. For example there might be a 30 minute special with her as the host focusing on local businesses. I think the station did a decent job of selling but still keeping the show watchable for viewers. Heck, Rogers might have been involved in helping sell those shows, I suspect she was.
As Lavine says the show is moving to Channel 55 now. Good luck to Rogers. She always struck me as a talented TV presence with a lot of warmth. That's a rare commodity in the television biz. She is also fortunate to have been able to build a brand for herself that can move on. Most talent never get that chance.
Rogers joins a lot of other popular Houston broadcasters at 55. Jan Glenn and Kathy Turner have shared duties over there too.
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