Leaderboard

Rescued from the WPXI graveyard!

We were discussing NewsNation in the Discord the other day, and I went browsing through Nexstar's latest Annual Report to see what mentions of NewsNation they make in it. One thing did jump out at me, in a mention of how much money they've saved cutting syndicated programming and other types of rights (emphasis mine): Dropping syndicated programming and other shows from NewsNation through 2021 saved them $17.5 million dollars. They now control all of that ad inventory, on programming they are paying much less for than what it replaced (hell, dropping syndicated programming very likely paid for the NewsNation programming outright.) This is an important part of the NewsNation strategy, the same strategy the local stations use when they drop an hour of Judge Judy for more local news. The "ratings" might not be as good, but if they're now paying $4,000 an hour to program NewsNation Prime where they were previously paying $8,000 for an hour of Law and Order: Parking Enforcement Unit, they are coming out ahead.

That seems to be the new trend emerging at the news-intensive stations that don't have to deal with network programming at the time. WGN Chicago goes from 4am-1pm central. Any other station exceed that time, locally? Only 1 hour of that is devoted to lifestyle programming...Daytime Chicago, from 10-11. Might be a good time filler on some former superstation of theirs, but alas....

Well Kelly Clarkson will have a new home in Pittsburgh. She'll be on WTAE at 3pm when the new season starts September 12th, replacing Ellen. Seen a promo for it during their 5pm news tonight.

On Patrol: Live did over 1 million viewers on its third outing Friday night 7/29. #1 25-54, 18-34. 340,000 25-54 viewers. On a channel with about 2/3 the subs as NewsNation and on a number of cable systems on a more costly tier. Congrats to Hubbard. Nexstar and NewsNation ARE A JOKE https://twitter.com/OnPatrolFNation/status/1554201511885946882?s=20&t=aS38y6H_lrx3mdXsnYSVUQ

Until KDOC flipped to religious programming, both stations shared the local syndication rights to the Seinfeld reruns, with KCOP airing two episodes in the 10:00 PM spot, with KDOC airing the same episodes in the 11:00 PM slot.

Harry Caray and Bob Bell are rolling in their graves. In fact, they might get better ratings if they give Bozo an hour-long talk show. Where's Joey D'Auria? The whole network is a circus, no pun intended, and an insult to what WGN used to be as a cable superstation. When reruns of a particular Tom Selleck program beat Dan Abrams and Fredo, they are in deep trouble. I can't see too many people returning to Chris Cuomo, tainted from his brother's COVID nursing home death and sexual scandals.

That's not a "mock", it's an actual graphics package offered up by our very own @cxd7346. It is NOT the new O&O graphics. While the package is well done, this thread is not the appropriate place to talk about it.

Seinfeld reruns already jumped ship to KCOP, which I assume will pick up more KDOC shows in the fall. You know things are bad for your channel when you've turned over 4 hours of your programming in the afternoon to simulcast Decades!

I completely agree, and I would certainly hang on to local identities at the top-rated stations if I were running the joint. That said, Wendy McMahon isn’t exactly a stranger to this industry. I imagine that if CBS really is going full-Macy’s, she and the rest of the management team have taken all of this into account. Local stations in Canada used to identify with channel numbers like their American counterparts. However, as the national networks in that country expanded their footprint, the local stations began identifying by their network, rather than “Channel X.” Even though leading stations like CFCF, CHAN, and CFTO dumped their longtime monikers, they still lead their respective markets, and they also contribute to the success of their networks’ national news operations. If I had to guess, CBS concluded that at worst, standardizing their stations’ brands won’t change their current ratings positions. Granted, these moves would not be “innovations” or ratings game-changers by any means. KYW, WFOR, and WBBM aren’t going to shoot to first place because of a brand change, and it’s unlikely that KDKA, WCCO, and WJZ will drop to last. However, standardizing station identities could give a relatively weak national news brand (CBS News) a much-needed boost. And besides, with the growth of streaming, people don’t tune in to “Channel X” anymore. They tune to the network. Will it work? Dumping established identities risks throwing away a station’s legacy, and established local stations usually help boost the national network (see WRAL.) However, if people are tuning into WJZ/KDKA/etc and turning off when the Evening News comes on, that doesn’t really help CBS. I highly doubt it will change anything at all on the local level, but there’s a chance it will improve the reputation and ratings of their national morning and evening news programs. Time will tell.

Also We The People With Lauren Lake, which I thought was going to be an hour show but it is apparently going to be split up into 30 minute blocks like most syndie court shows (other than Judge Mathis and People’s Court).

What about localized versions of (classic) game shows? A game show could be designed such that the same questions/clues/puzzles could be used with the ground rules being that all all are taped at the same time/date. (Think a localized version of the $25,000 Pyramid or the British show Countdown (where each game is truly different and all depends on random draw made by the participants…) If there wasn’t dependence on secrecy of questions (e.g., Countdown) a portable set could be created that travels between locales for taping. Keep prizes small (two nights at downtown hotel with Dinner - or exchange between cities - a New York version has 2 nights at a DC hotel and vice versa. Or in the case of Countdown, a Teapot…) Just an idea…

WCCB has Maury so I figured it would go there.

It blows my mind to think you’d want to take these legacy Group W stations—market leaders with recognizable brands—and fold them into a network news brand that has been the bottom dweller for probably close to 40 years.

KDOC in Orange County/LA market changed hands and flipped to religious programming as of late this week. Between this and the morning news block coming to KCAL, there seem to be a lot of displaced mid- and lower-tier syndicated shows in the area going into the new season.