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That announcement was so interesting that I forgot to watch it. And so did pretty much everyone else.

Former WCBS reporter and QVC host Katie McGee will be subbing for Heather on the traffic reports. She currently works for Total Traffic who provides the WABC traffic data.

Chris Cuomo just announced on Dan's show (as we suspected) is Joining NewsNation this fall with a primetime show

WAGA reporter Janice Yu leaves the ATL for NYC.

That’s lame in my opinion. Ana has been part of the show consistently enough to test her chemistry with the others and it works. So what if she’s a Never Trump, she’s an established Republican strategist historically.

WGN's Midday News from February 24, 1988:

KBJR is stronger, yes. But with two states (three, if you want to get technical since there's a couple counties in Michigan's UP) they have done a good job after the "NewsCenter" breakup to make KBJR6 a Minnesota-heavy newscast and CBS3 a Wisconsin-Heavy newscast. Given that both stations share reporters and a newsroom, the only real cost differential is that Quincy has 2 studios and 2 control rooms in the Lake Avenue studio that they operate simultaneously. Each station also has their own anchor teams and meteorologists (Which Gray might keep- Looking at KVLY in Fargo, similar is done for the 4pm-7pm news blocks that alternate channels every half-hour). What I see happening in Duluth is consolidating Morning newscasts, Weekend Newscasts, and Breaking news/weather cut-ins, but leaving weeknights alone.

They probably won’t rebrand as “X’s NewsCenter” or “X News Now,” but I could see the Peoria operation rebranded as “21 News,” as both ABC and NBC are on WPTA now. I don’t know if Gray has been doing the same “consolidation via attrition” strategy in Duluth, but if they are, I imagine they’ll do something similar and take the name of the stronger newscast (KBJR I assume.) I agree with your sentiments of everything being boring and cookie-cutter, but they already do this now. Everything has been consolidated under the same umbrella for a while, and I don’t think having different studios and anchor teams changes that. Besides, the content is pretty much the same anyway. Gray doesn’t want to spend on different studios, anchors, etc. to put out essentially the same newscast from the same news department with the facade of looking different. It makes financial sense to consolidate everything under the stronger news brand (25 News) than to spend on a facade. It might actually drive more viewers to the ABC station. I imagine more people watch “25 News” than “Heart of Illinois News” even though they’re both from the same operation. Ideally, I would rather the two stations have completely different newscasts, staff, newsrooms, identities, etc., but we sadly don’t live in that world anymore.

I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, times have changed. Just like towns don't really need 10 newspapers anymore, do you really need three or four TV stations covering the same news with the same kind of boring newscasts? It's not like they do any investigative reporting or that there is anything interesting enough to cover on the municipal level. At the same time, having your own talent gives a station personality. Otherwise, it's just a jukebox of stuff being played from a server. If it was my checkbook and I were spending the money, I would have consolidate everything in the background, but have separate anchor teams, studios and sets just to give it the facade of being a different newscast.

The person who wrote this couldn't have done this with a straight face, right? Like, really? Nobody buys this excuse. Based on what was published on FTVLive yesterday, it sure sounds like they're taking steps to make that a reality in the Fort at least. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/7/24/the-news-director-is-out-at-this-gray-station The fact they haven't filled a lot of positions or hired a new reporter in a year sure sounds like the foundation for consolidation is being laid. Not filling positions through attrition. I knew this consolidation was going to happen the second Gray announced they were buying Quincy. There's nowhere else in their legacy group they operate like this with competing shows during prime viewing slots (this is more common with Nexstar in their older, smaller market holdings than anyone else; their Lubbock operation comes to mind). Speaking of Lubbock, KJTV's newscasts are now full-on "NewsChannel 11" branded products, and I saw that coming as well. Surprised they didn't go the "Lubbock News Now" or "Central Illinois News Now" route though.

If I was NewsNation, I would be hitting the NYC area hard in hopes there's enough people who might be interested. After all, he is a Cuomo. I can't for the life of me think of who those people are, but....

Meanwhile, Nexstar is still forcing their affiliates to have their footage credited as "NewsNation" when sent to their respective affiliate news services. Case in point, the deputy who was shot in Clark County, Ohio...the footage was likely shot by WDTN. Will it ever see the light of day on NewsNation itself? Or is it just another way to boost the ego of this "news" operation in it's futile quest for more viewers?

At 6:34, WFLD Fox News at Nine open (February 6, 1998) And here's the rest of the newscast from that same day. WFRV Eyewitness News at 10:00 (February 1986) WCCO 4 News at 5:00 story on the passing of Mrs. Minnesota, Mary Kay Sanders (February 3, 1998)

WBRZ reporter Earl Phelps will do his last story July 24. He's leaving after six years at the station to join the Delta News complex in Greenville, Miss.

If WABC follows its own pattern, hiring Dani Beckstorm is a bench building strategy because they anticipate an upcoming departure or additional airtime to fill. They are not suddenly in need of a 5th meteorologist to do what they’ve always been doing.

Sorry folks, my YT channel is off the air until I start a new one this fall. I'm sure by now you all know my YT channel was hacked.