video: Channel 10 says “See Ya” To Coletta’s Coffee Cup Salute
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Say it ain’t so.
A time honored tradition at the market’s number one station is gone.
The station has now decided to do away with its “Coffee Cup Salute”.
Veteran morning anchor Frank Coletta would do this segment and made it his own. We tried to find out exactly how long this has been running on the Sunrise Show but station officials were not sure but conventional wisdom has it dating back at least 15-years maybe 20-years. It gave the station and especially Coletta a trademarked morning tradition. Countless civic and community organizations along with a long list of non-profits here in Rhode Island that do tremendous things day in and day out were given the chance to promote an event or a fund-raising opportunity.
It was a good thing. A thing a station could be proud of.
If you have never seen it, Coletta would encourage either non-profits or local businesses to send in a coffee cup with a logo or message on the mug and also some information. Coletta would then read the information on the air and also raise the coffee mug and have a slight smile on his face while toasting the specific organization or business. For organizations with little or no promotional budget it was gold to be on the highest rated morning show in the market. Basically, it was a free quick commercial.
Why Get Rid Of It?
We checked in with Channel 10 News Director Chris Lanni on why this move was made. “With so many options already available, we feel our morning news audience would be better served if the time previously devoted to Coffee Cup Salutes each morning was instead used to deliver the important news of the day.” Lanni did not say what Coletta’s reaction was to the elimination of the salutes.
As Lanni correctly points out, Channel 10 does do an awful to support community events by heavily promoting events on the air constantly through-out the day. Many members of their talent team also do a lot in the community. “NBC 10 already provides so many options for organizations to get their messages out. Obviously, businesses can contact our sales department. For not-for-profits, NBC 10 continues to donate 10's of thousands of dollars of air time every year through our Neighborhood 10 program, not to mention our 10 Around Town segments on Sunrise and our "Things to Do" Community Calendar on turnto10.com.”
Rest assured though Coletta will still have his own coffee mug with him at the anchor desk. “Frank does love his coffee in the morning so this segment aside, he'll always have a cup in his hand to salute the treadmill troops.”
We asked Channel 12 if they now plan to do something similar now that Channel 10 isn’t doing it anymore. No word on that either way. But, don’t be surprised if you see someone jump on it.
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