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No they wouldn't be satellites, they would help WISN bolster Wisconsin coverage. Plus, Hearst would be smart to bring them all back to their own independence (that's IF Hearst were to acquire them, not saying it WILL acquire them).

For the next two days before his retirement from WTHR, Chuck Lofton will be delivering the weather... from the Chuck Lofton Studio as WTHR has commenced as of today. Chuck retires on Friday after a 40-year run that also has included gifted signed jerseys from the Colts (signed by the late Jim Irsay), Pacers (signed by Tyrese Haliburton), and Fever (signed by Caitlin Clark) plus an invitation to join the Pacers' upcoming (maybe) Championship Parade. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKfkITbvoj4/?igsh=MWN0a3RreGxxbm9hNw==

So they can all run MeTV off the bird? Why would Hearst waste their time with the beyond-broken OW stations? They don't need full-power satellites for WISN, which is all they would be.

This makes me wonder if CBS regrets trading away WDCA and KTXH if anyone from that era is still at the company.

I wonder if the affiliates will get any money...

The staggered departure of Bill, probably is rooted on production side. What the general audience does not know is that these newscasts, while they may look and feel the same on air, they are all very different productions with different staff, producers, etc, news teams, etc working solely for the 5pm show, the 6pm show likely has different people behind it's production as well.

I think losing the SEC was the last straw for Gray and CBS in Atlanta, as that was their most reliable ratings draw (other than a couple of Falcons game, which Gray could bid for the OTA rights of cable and streaming games anyway). I've also heard that, in the southern edge of the market, people are more likely to watch WMAZ for CBS programming and related news, even though it's a Macon station.

Not only is CBS unwilling to buy anything (they haven't since ... what, when they merged into the first Viacom?? in 2000??) they're also stuck with three stations they can't sell: WUPA, KSTW and WTOG. I betcha if no regulations existed anymore, Nexstar would have grabbed WUPA and KSTW as CW-owned stations. But since the 39% cap still exists, CBS can't get rid of them. Putting CBS on WUPA is the path of least resistance, plus it gives this miasma soon to be known as ParamountSkydance another local digital platform to have once viewership totally dries up and CBS becomes nothing more than a brand name for P+ and Pluto.

This is precisely what the problem is. They took the lazy route and copied WNT's format, especially with the excessive use of breaking news for stories that are sometimes days old. Feeling the need to make changes is fine and necessary, but directly copying your competition is the easy way out, especially if you aren't taking their ideas and trying to improve upon them.

The CW will air the Savannah Bananas baseball game on July 27th: https://www.nexstar.tv/banana-ball-heads-to-the-cw-network-with-the-broadcast-television-debut-of-the-savannah-bananas-on-sunday-july-27/

Having trouble editing my previous post...The circular monitor and desk in the bottom video remind me of ABC and FOX's Newsrooms.

CBS is not in a buying mood. Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration. Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were. CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O. Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market? I doubt it. CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox. As for WANF becoming a "WHDH-like juggernaut?" History would say otherwise. WHDH already had good ratings when it went independent. WANF and its predecessors never had good ratings, and the overall trend of fewer people watching TV in general doesn't bode well for the future -- no matter how much money Gray shovels into WANF.

I think Tom gets the job done. He strikes me as the NBC version of David Muir. Young(ish) guy in a suit and tie at the desk, Roving anchorman in a black t shirt out in the field. If not Tom then who is the alternative with those all encompassing traits? Peter Alexander perhaps? IMO the issue is more so NBC Nightly News than Tom. I like Lester Holt but the program's quality declined after took over. It's been rapid fire pacing, high story count, head spinning graphics in packages, and breaking news for the entire A block. All of this I'm sure was a response to World News Tonight getting #1 (so I understand why they felt the need to change). Of the modern era anchors, Brian Williams' broadcast was superior. It fast paced as well but not to the ADHD level it is today. He also possessed a grand narrative style that was evident during his anchor intros that I appreciated. Regarding the speaking I've noticed and been irritated by it too. NBC and ABC anchors seem to shout and as you say talk in half sentences. "Bullets flying; police coming to the scene, investigators finding victims". It's a mechanism to keep the story's "TRT" or runtime down to about 90 seconds long.

Update WDAY-TV has found their replacement for John Wheeler as Chief Meteorologist... ... its Jesse Ritka. For those of you who've been on the forum for so long, she used to work at WTMJ-TV Milwaukee for a decade before joining WDAY-TV shortly before COVID took over. Now, she gets the Chief gig full-time and leading a weather team of six which is rare for a market that size. https://www.facebook.com/wdaytv/posts/congratulations-to-jesse-ritka-wdays-new-chief-meteorologist-jesse-has-been-with/1095953142566157/ Here, she's being interviewed by former KVLY-TV anchor Robin Huebner (who you don't see or hear here) who TIL works for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, the TV station's sister daily newspaper:

I just wanted to say thank you to the admins, moderators, and users for all the wonderful updates, videos, and photos that debut each Gray TV station's new graphics. I've been here from the start of the GrayOne thread. Also, to the few who know what and when each one will debut, thanks for keeping it secret. I like the suspense and surprise. I still despise the red theme (Richmond, Atlanta, etc.,) but the others are fantastic. Thanks again for all the updates!

If (this is speaking theoretically) CBS were to re-affiliate with KSTW 11 and KIRO 7 were to go independent, KIRO would be able to hold its own. WHDH and WJXT have done remarkably well since losing their network affiliations. I'd anticipate WPLG, which is also losing its network affiliation in August, along with WANF, holding its own too. I'd agree with responses by @TVLurker and @Howard Beale about Gray Media investing too much money and resources into WANF (which previous owners Tribune and Meredith, from the WGNX and WGCL days, did very little to no investing), to CBS likely not being interested in buying WANF.

I can tell you this, it won't be clean for Gray if they even wanted to buy more stations. The only markets Gray doesn't have a presence in with Allen stations are Chico-Redding, Terre Haute, Lafayette (both in Indiana and Louisiana, Gray's last market where it doesn't own a station in that state), Tupelo/Columbus, Eugene, and Medford.

I don't really think Brian Williams screwed himself per say. He was moved to MSNBC and left around the time politics and journalism became perverted and sensational. I know he did stuff for Amazon during the election, the most important question is why would he go to Amazon who was partially responsible for getting Trump elected via The Washington Post not endorsing either candidate? And I know Amazon is a division with a bunch of companies owned by Jeff Bezos. He left MSNBC on his own terms though and is still presented and represented as a legendary journalist at NBC News. If you really want somebody who totally screwed himself over. Look no further than Matt Lauer who is persona non grata at NBC. The day after his last show was basically the news anchors of Today at the time talking about his firing over sexual misconduct. There are still videos up featuring him on the official Today channel but aside from that, NBC News does not mention Matt Lauer at all, only reluctantly because Matt is a large part of the Today's show history from 1996-2018. Almost 3 decades of content that features him. I don't think anybody misses Matt anyways. YT comments that mention him are either pounding on him for his treatment of women or semi-nostalgic for his tenure. I say semi-nostalgic because I haven't anybody say that The Today Show needs Matt back, they just like those days when Studio 1A actually had people in it.

The thing is, CBS doesn't need to run WUPA well as a CBS O&O for it to be a financial success to stockholders, which is all that matters. It just needs a better balance sheet than WUPA as an independent. This paragraph is speculation, but the retransmission deal CBS has with pay TV providers likely is structured that so CBS gets more per subscriber for a station running CBS programming than an independent station. Plus, they get to keep all of it as opposed to negotiating a reverse compensation affiliation deal with WANF where Gray was paying CBS some percentage of the retransmission fees Gray collected. Syndicated programming costs will go down in the long-run since CBS network programming covers 11 hours per weekday in the time between CBS Mornings and Colbert. (Plus however many hours of CBS News roundup and CBS News Mornings they air overnight) There will be CBS programming where they can charge more for ads than they could with existing syndicated programming. They don't need to go big or expensive building a news department. That cost can be managed along with the expectations for it, and there is far more space to sell in a local newscast than in syndicated programming. Even if they attract lower quality advertisers, that revenue, ideally, gets made up in added availability to sell.

A reminder for folks when it comes to cbs buying stations. 1. their finances aren’t exactly in the best shape right now. Buying a non appreciating asset like a broadcast station would not be a smart move financially 2. The current administration has a vendetta against Paramount. Even if cbs wanted to it’s likely to be held up by regulators for petty reasons

One of the new shows on the new WXPX Channel 66, which will be Independent as The Spot - Tampa Bay 66... WFTS' streaming weather show, Denis Phillips Live. It begins the day the Independence era begins. https://www.facebook.com/denisphillipsweatherman/posts/2-buttons-1-bans-people-while-the-other-immediately-goes-to-commercial-break-so-/1269147774574148/

CBS purchasing WANF would save them a lot of money in the long run since they have an established news department and other departments relating to community involvement. CBS by moving to WUPA not only has to spend money on a news department but also build up the station to be on equal footing with WANF. I doubt CBS is going to put in the time and effort into WUPA. The move to WUPA is going to be disastrous for CBS in the long run. Prepare for WANF to become a WHDH like juggernaut.

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF? Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money. CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

Re-railing back to the original topic of this thread, Latenighter has an article about the deal that brought Allen and Comics Unleashed back for a second round.

Apparently June 2nd was the day. The full Weather Unfiltered team has been together today and yesterday.