Channel 6 staff occupations
 

During seasons 1-2 of the original series, it seemed to be established what everyone did at Channel 6. April O'Neil was a news-reporter, Vernon Fenwick was the cameraman, Blodgett drove the newsvan and Irma was Burne Thompson's secretary (he seemed to have some more).

Then, suddenly, during season 3 changes began. April O'Neil stayed what she was, but suddenly Vernon Fenwick began to report news, and Irma began to drive the newsvan and operate the camera.

Why all these changes suddenly?

I had wondered about that before as well. I believe I made a similar thread to this before, in fact.

The news station must have been short on staff. I mean, it was attacked often after all. Would you want to work there?

Remember that April is literally a magic drawing her dad made? See, when she grew up she needed a job, she just couldn't get one since she didn't have a birth certificate to prove she's a citizen. So in order help her out, daddy created people who would indeed hire someone without proof of citizenship. That's why their roles kept changing, he just wrote them differently depending on the situation. Then when Shredder blew up the building, he was effectly written into a corner. That's why they disappeared and were never mentioned again, just to be replaced by completely different people. He had to come up with a new job for her, the fictional manifestations couldn't just start over, they didn't have birth certificates either. So they literally just vanished out of thin air.

Lol nice one.

But yeah, April was definitely not a drawing in the FW series. In Fact, her being a drawing was only revealed in volume 4 of Mirage comics wasn't it? Volume 4 came out after the FW series ended, didn't it? I doubt Pater laird even had her as a drawing in mind back in 1987.

People changed their occupation?
Vernon was promoted most likely (for properly licking ass of his boss (not literally)). And Irma was...promoted too. Possibly.

Irma was still back at secretary in many episodes.

Blodgett was only in that Eye of the Sarnoth episode really. Also, Vernon fired him... which was odd since Vernon didn't have any authority at Channel 6. He was a cameraman. How could he have the authority to fire someone?

I guess April was just a famous reporter with the viewers so Burne allocated all his resources into giving her the spotlight by making Irma her cameraman etc. I mean, who wouldn't watch her all the time?

He couldn't rely on April all the time (since she disobeyed him all the time) so its natural he'd get the next best (well not the best, but certainly loyal) guy, Vernon, to be a news reporter.

Why is this a surprise? People's jobs change, they got promoted. Irma went from a secretary to a camerawoman. Vernon went from a cameraman to his own reporter. They got raises and changed jobs in the company like people do in real life.

That being said its pretty funny for what seemed to be at least a 7 story tall building, the Channel 6 news crews staff seemed to not be that much. What about that middle-aged slightly overweight blonde reporter who would report the news in a few eps? I don't know if he was ever named.

Are you talking about the one with a deep voice and a mustache? He was heard alot more than seen, but I found his voice to be pretty memorable. A shame he was never made into a proper character, it would've expanded on the Channel Six crew beyond the main four members.

Yes, that's the guy. He also appeared in the episode Raphael being the Green Avenger superhero, and April sees the reporter and says, "I'm April from Channel 6 news" like she never met the guy before. :lol:

Going from a secretary to camerawoman and even a reporter(in some eps) is a bit of a strange path, though. Pretty sure reporter and secretary jobs require different qualifications. Not everyone who works at news stations is a reporter. It'd be like Phil, the security guy who appears in one of the episodes, eventually becoming a janitor or something.

This thread is surprisingly entertaining. I have come to love the Channel 6 crew and their various episodic "B stories."

Yeah sure, that obviously wasn't the intention and I was just joking, it's just funny to imagine it always applies as long as it's not straight up contradicted.

Like remembering how the radioactive spider was retconned as a red herring, that it was really the Spider-God who gave Peter Parker his powers, then claiming it applies to all versions of Spider-Man. If it applies in the comics after decades of assuming otherwise, who's not to say it retroactively applies universally?

Same thing with April, intentions aside, what really hinders her from being a magic drawing in the Fred Wolf cartoon?

Me too! I normally don't like spin off ideas for tmnt that people propose such as a Casey Jones movie or a Mutanimals cartoon but I'd totally get behind a Channel Six sitcom!

It felt like its own show within the FW universe that works independently from the turtles rather than being reliant on them like other characters are.

Aunt Agatha would never hide such a secret from her own niece :lol:

How would she know? Who's to say she's not a drawing too?

April as a drawing is just... what was Peter smoking at the time even? :lol:

Are you sure? :toops:

Wouldn't that require some years of education course first?

Yeah. It's one thing if you're a reporter and go from doing the weather report to opening the 8 o'clock news. But going from secretary to journalist? That's two different career paths.

Also, I could be wrong, but I don't think journalists really work as cameramen ever or vice-versa. They're two completely different jobs. The guys who work the camera and in the production van have different qualifications from journalists. In order to become a journalist you need a bachelor's degree in something like journalism or communications. I suppose that for cameramen and production related stuff they hire photographers and people with qualifications in video production and editing and such. Like I've said, not everyone who works at a news station is a journalist.

Oh well, it's just a cartoon and they probably didn't have time or bothered to create more co-workers for April. Vernon and Irma were more than enough.

How much money do you think April made at Channel 6? What was the average salary per year for a news reporter back in the late 80's or early 90's?

No idea. But she was in her mid-late 20s in the cartoon iirc. So even if she was Channel 6's most recognisable reporter I doubt she was making a fortune already.

Btw, in that Hokum episode where the Turtles go the future and April is still a reporter at the age of 70 she's still working for Channel 6...but as we all know, Channel 6 eventually got off the air for good and April became a freelance reporter in the Red Sky seasons. Then she worked for a different channel and her boss was a guy with glasses.

April says she's 28 years old in one Season 3 episode. So she was almost 30.

She may have asked her company to work for som years more.

The future scenes in "Once Upon a Time Machine" may take place in a possible future, where seasons 8-10 never happened. The big deal was the turtles retiring after defeating Shredder, but Shredder wasn't their main enemy during much of the red sky seasons.

Not much I imagine due to Burne's attitude and reporters not being the best paid profession, but 80s April certainly loved her job with a passion.
It is possible that Shredder came back after the defeat of Dregg and things returned back to the pre-Red Sky era style.

However, I'd say that the events of Once Upon a Time Machine would've motivated the turtles not to lay off their training and end up unfit, making the actual timeline play out differently.

There were two older reporters on Channel 6. A fat guy with a mustache and a blonde guy. I'm guessing they made more money than April? Vernon also looked older than April. Vernon looked like a guy in his early 40s alraedy, or almost.

Tbh April ran a lot of risks with many of her stories. Several of them almost cost her life. Plus, she mostly covered Turtle stories. I hope she asked for a raise. I'd hate to risk my life for my job all the time and make barley over minimum wage.

In some episodes Vernon acted like he had the same level of authority as April. It's possible they were just both below Burne so had that authority.

Promotion! Promotion! Promotion!

https://hips.hearstapps.com/pop.h-cd...f?resize=768:*

She mostly covered interviews with scientists, before Shredder showed up to steal some inventions to repower the Technodrome.