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The FCC appears to be going down this route. They have issued guidance opening up waivers of the 15% weekly programming time limit for stations operated under brokerage agreements to offer additional news programming they couldn’t run otherwise under current rules for as long as the pandemic is considered a national emergency. From Broadcasting & Cable: Also of note, WMC-TV has formed a partnership with Shelby County Schools (the district encompassing Memphis and its suburbs within the county to offer distance education telecourses for language arts/English, science and math for students from pre-K to 12th Grade on its 5.2 subchannel (relegating Bounce TV programming on that subchannel to nights and weekends mainly) starting today. This lasts likely until the district is able to either resume in-person classes or the calendar school year ends. It’s interesting that the school district approached WMC to do this, since telecourses have historically been broadcast on PBS stations (like Memphis’ local PBS member station WKNO and nearby Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Arkansas PBS [fka Arkansas Educational Television Network]) and other non-commercial educational stations.

WFMZ shared on Facebook that Ed Hanna is returning to tv this fall with an inspirational special. It sounds like he is hoping it will turn into a series.

WJZY is still on YouTubeTV.

Plus, they're limited on in-studio news anchors since the weekday team is doing all the newscasts for the time being (one anchor only) while the rest is at home or on the field. Save the energy for mornings, evenings, and nights. Besides between 11am-6pm, they'll be preempted by Cuomo (NY), Murphy (NJ), DiBiaso (NYC), and Trump in that order.

YouTubeTV took off WMYT from their lineup today.

They know it'll be preempted by some kind of Tri-State governor's statement, so why prepare a noon show? They have more important things to worry about (not having a functional building/newsroom) than preparing a noon show that'll probably go in the shredder anyways. These are unusual times and there are stations placing their E/I burdens on during weekday noon hours in order to get them in if 45 preempts them on the weekends and provide something to kids knowing they're a captive audience. Honestly, FTVLive's usual 'news grump' act looks kind of petty right now; I don't give a damn about their whining about some reporter having their regional Emmy in their home shot.

Speaking of John Paul II, here is WWL's special on the Pope's visit to New Orleans in September 1987, narrated by Angela Hill.

From one of Michael Pannoni's channels, one of the last USA Tonight (nee Independent Network News) broadcasts from March 29, 1990 (recorded from WGN) Also, tried posting this last night but don't see it here; here's an extended 11:00 WAVY newscast covering Hurricane Gloria in 1985

AirchiveSloan is a legend! So is the KNBC jazzy close. Those bumper cuts are legendary as well. Awesome work here! This made my day. The 4pm and 5pm news is also on his site as well. Love how "anchor heavy" LA was at the time. Different teams for all shows....John/Linda 4pm, Colleen (still there at 5pm) and Jess at 5, Keith/Kelly at 6pm and Keith/Kelly at 11pm. The good ol days.

Thanks to Mr. Sloan, Christmas came early for me in terms of late 80s Houston content... Some observations follow as well. A weekend newscast & a midday newscast from KHOU in April 1989 - featuring a young Arthel Neville in the first weekend story. At about 15:11 (and again at 26:00), is the longest I've ever heard of the sports cut of their 1989 package. Most times during the weekday newscasts they'd cut the first five seconds with the "Spirit of Texas" signature off or opt for a version minus the horns. At 39:40 - the "Job Search" segment has a piece of music which I had previously assumed was either library or from CBS' network-to-affiliate reels from the period - the last 5 seconds play under many psa/station IDs from that time from what I've seen on my tapes. A KHOU 6PM Newscast from October 1989, focusing much of the coverage on the San Francisco earthquake. KPRC's 10 PM newscast from April 1989: The music tracks are somewhat out of sequence for the different blocks to my ear. The cut coming out of the first block and the one teasing the sports segment are swapped. The one teasing the last segment generally would be in between. AND SOMEONE FINALLY LET THE CLOSE PLAY AT THE END. I haven't actually heard it that clear in about 30 years and genuinely liked to hear the music as a young kid - what a trip back! KTRK's Live at Five from May 1989, with part of the 6 PM newscast at the end. Both have opens where Ed Brandon has been excised from the sequence due to his stint in rehab, but prior to the hiring of Joe Diaz. It works better on Live at Five than the 6 PM or the 10 PM, which leads us to... a KTRK 10 PM newscast from April 1989. Good quality audio on the close at the end featuring the "Turn To / News Series 2000" version of their theme. This was a Friday, since it was the only time during the week they'd play this version. Couple of good SLIME IN THE ICE MACHINE! moments from Marvin Zindler in his "Rat and Roach Report".

The Chris Sloan archive gravy train keeps giving. There's even some rare KHJ from 1988! The 9:00 VO at the time would later do a lot of ABC Sports work in the late 80s and 90s. The 1:00 one was a longtime station staff announcer. Also some Louisville, including a variant of the Copeland/Symphony opens and a longer TVbD open with the "neo Home Country" theme: And there's a cool Easter egg in this KCBS noon open from 1988:

In the memory and in tribute to former WRAL and CNN anchor; The late Bobbie Battista. RIP Bobbie and Godspeed.

I'm surprised there are stragglers like WSAZ that haven't switched BACK to Stephen Arnold. The way they used Signature before the great SESAC disaster of 2006 may have qualified it for the KOTA/WIVT award for longevity....