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Whoah! WABC news anchor John Johnson promoting a charity boxing match (1983). Surprised the station let him be shirtless on cam. https://youtu.be/SR1qhsY5Kx4?is=FMhXPbyHQfGFzdZu

Only Congress has that power. Not the FCC.

Sinclair’s response: https://sbgi.net/sinclair-commends-modernization-of-antiquated-media-ownership-restrictions/

The op-ed referred to: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/07/15/exclusive-fcc-chairman-brendan-carr-restoring-balance-to-the-broadcast-airwaves/

Here it comes: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-423080A1.pdf

What? Why didn’t she get a chance to say goodbye? I’m going to miss her.

From Stacey Sager on FB:

She stayed local through and through in Tallahassee. Graduated from Florida A&M Univ. (HBCU) in 2000, started at WCTV in 2001, and worked her way through in her 25 year career, topping out as full-time anchor of The Good Morning Show starting in 2020. Next month, Lanetra Bennett will celebrate 25 years at WCTV. However, soon after that, she will leave the station to spend more time with her family. https://www.wctv.tv/2026/07/15/wctvs-lanetra-bennett-sign-off-august-after-25-years-serving-viewers/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTEPvJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR7UBfUW8ANI-E_aigFPeJbJtAU8V4UVhuyvzkZaG0jVQSXhUl80BMK4YsKt4w_aem_GzMExzFFEsVRsUd9BdKsmA

I'll be sad when Dani leaves the weekend mornings. She's such a fun person and has more freedom to be silly on those broadcasts IMHO. Jeff always did strike me as a reserved quite person. I think the only time I've seen him slightly break that was when they had some tech issues and he appeared taller on the weather screen and then vanished before resetting whatever had broken. Whoa, that came out of nowhere?! Cannot begin to imagine why she'd leave. I saw Mike' Marza's Instagram story celebrating her, but hadn't a clue what that was about.

Apparently Lauren Glassberg has left WABC-TV, with no fanfare or announcement. Toni Yates posted this on her FB feed today (July 15)...

I don't know about execs, but I know a lot of the staff does.

Tulsa’s FOX23 website has officially been changed to Sinclair’s. As of now they are still on their current graphics package they have had since 2015ish.

Game shows are cheap to produce. You can film a week's worth of episodes in a day. WoF and Jeopardy, for example, do a month of shows in a week. They stretch the production out over many months. But some shows crank it out in a more condensed timeline. Scrambled Up is doing 160 episodes, which is only 32 days of production (assuming 5 shows in a day) for an entire year's worth of content. Plus, they shoot in Atlanta, which offers some cost savings compared to Hollywood. So even if the clearances aren't great and the ratings are meh, the low cost gives them a path to make a couple of bucks. Talk shows - especially ones that rely on celebrity guests - have become cost-prohibitive. You can't tape an interview with a star 6 months before their movie opens. So their production schedule is much closer to day and date. That's costly. And that is just one cost! Ha.

After almost 17 years at WOOD-TV and almost 50 in the news industry, Target 8 Investigator Ken Kolker is retiring as of today.

Lets say that we shouldn't be surprised if any employee who works there, and all of the other stations for this matter in this forum do see what we write and discuss here. And honestly, I think they 100% should hear about themselves from their most astute and knowledgeable viewers.

I wonder if any WABC execs look at our pages.

That one's a little surprising to me, because I feel like that show has terrible time slots in most markets. Although it does seem like game shows are where it's at in syndication these days, with The Perfect Line and Flip Side being pretty successful.

This is true because WABC just shuffled some of the talent over the last two years, redid all of it's talent opens, and viewers are now getting used to the new pairings, so the last thing the station wants is to do any drastic changes. If anything, Dani Beckstrom will most likely get the midday slots in the near future before they think about Liv Johnson, or any other outsider.

That what I thought also Liv isn’t a met she doesn’t even have a broadcast met cert. I think she’s going somewhere else. I do think Dani will eventually replace Sam, I don’t expect any outside hires but we’ll see.

Game show Scrambled Up was renewed for a second season in syndication. https://deadline.com/2026/07/scrambled-up-renewed-season-2-national-syndication-1236981047/

I haven't heard anything about Liv Johnson. I just know that when/if the time comes - it'll be Dani moving to weekdays. Jeff likes his weekends and he enjoys his work behind the scenes as Lee's producer during the week. Jeff is a quiet guy - very reserved.

Anita mentioned last week that she'll only be on Chicago Live at 3pm, going forward, and sometimes not at all, so her doing 3, 9, and the Chicago Report certainly seems like a reasonable, long-term option. Lee & Scafidi are together at midday, but now appear to be soloing the 4 & 5, respectively. Again, all that is for now, until they switch it up again in another 2 months. It's amazing how just a couple changes (exits like Scott and Paris don't really count, tbh) have seemingly derailed the "good" thing they had going.

It would appear that Liz is the third anchor (essentially replacing Anita) for Chicago’s Morning News along with Anthony and Natalie. Jackson and Premus have been moved off the desk and re-assigned. Anita has anchored at 9P the most thus far; so I’m guessing she is the leading candidate to replace Dawn? They do have a news anchor position posted. Unclear where that person would land.

There is still Family Feud and The People's Court and all the other court shows that Allen puts out but there's not going to be much in the terms of new product.

WDHN News 18 The Late Edition (November 6, 2000) WDHN News 18 at 10:00 (delayed due to Monday Night Football) (December 10, 2001) WHBF News 4 Tonight (November 30, 1993) WRTV 6 News at 11:00 (April 28, 1995)