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The FCC paperwork makes it very clear: Hearst agreed to buy the option to purchase WZVN that Waterman held should it become legal for them to do so. Any talk of an outside sale is pure fantasy.

Here's a rarity---a 1983 newscast from KTVK in Phoenix during the Phil Allen/Jim Scoutten period of the Eyewitness News era. Apparently, the station was on the verge of becoming competitive at the time, but personnel changes would later once again doom it to runner-up status. It took a management overhaul and the adoption of the NewsChannel 3 brand for the station to reverse its fortunes for good in the late 1980s:

Because FCC laws. Both stations are Big 4 affiliates, which generally means they rank in the top four in the local ratings, which means "No can do, buddy".

Exactly. That's probably a big reason why the price is over $200M as well. If it was only WBBH and not the LMA as well, it would likely have been around $125M to $150M I would think. I know the market is over twice the size, but what was the purchase price when Tegna acquired KFMB in San Diego? That was the last large market standalone station sold that I can think of.

A Thursday, this was only their 5th night in the newly-built NBC Tower.

It's too small of a market, NBC Universal isn't interested.

Looks like we'll be hearing "Strive" in SW Florida now...

Another ABC affiliate that used Ernie Anderson. Also, KTVK's news director at the time was Cecil Tuck, brother of Michael Tuck of San Diego fame and Gene Tuck from KTVI and KSAT.

According to informalsky on the Discord, KYW debuts Wednesday.

Be careful what you wish for...

David Bloom: One of the better weekend today hosts. Can’t believe it’s been 20 years already. He is still sorely missed for not only his anchoring skills but his reporting. Always was a friendly face in the mornings and real good guy. https://www.today.com/today/amp-video/mmvo168256069527?cid=referral_taboolafeed

SIoux Falls has a top 4 duopoly with KSFY and KDLT, I know it is a completely a different situation. with WBBH and WZVN .

NBC Staff Announcer Fred Facey acting in an ad for Preparation-H in 1980. This is the first time I have ever seen an image of Fred Facey! So for those who think of him only as a voiceover, close your eyes and imagine him doing a sponsor plug on News 4 New York for Preparation-H and laugh like I did. Plus my name is Bill so this made me crack up more!

On an episode of Allen's Judge Mablean Show, many youtube users commented the plot was very similar to "The Imitation of Life" movie.

Someone posted on the discord that KYW's Monday newscasts are (once again) showing CBS News Philadelphia. Maybe a double launch on Monday with WCCO? We'll see!

The original divorce was scripted as was Superior Court and The Judge. All three claimed to be based on actual cases. Do we know if this is the case with byron's shows or do they just make it up from scratch?

I’m sad to see WBBH get sold, but I’m glad it’s going to Hearst. Hearst has done a good job of pouring resources into its stations and they are one of the gold standards in broadcast journalism. I will say that it’ll be interesting to see how they handle WZVN.

Ohio has been traditionally a hotly contested state, but I think it has settled on Trump-style Republicanism being very popular, whereas Bush-style Republicanism made it contested. Not the man, the policies. I think Ohio would prefer more of a Bush-style person with Trump-style policies, but that's not one of the choices.

Also if you look at the Hearst map in terms of resources and geography, it compliments WESH and WPBF by giving them coverage on the Gulf coast.

I may have missed it in this thread, but supposedly they paid $220 million dollars. That's quite a hefty sum for a station in Market 55. Or maybe not since they are effectively buying two stations. This makes what the wolves sold WBNS/WTHR for seem kind of paltry. I guess it's the Florida vacation thing.

This is from 10+ years ago, but promos that taunt the other station for their perceived shortcomings, orders from management for field crews to go scorched earth with the competition when out on stories everyone was covering - block other stations from getting interviews that they happened on first (witnesses to car crashes, fires, and crimes and other things where there's really no meaningful reason to sandbag the competition), on one occasion WBBH deceived the widow of a murdered police officer saying they would share an interview they did with every other station but really used it as a heavily-promoted exclusive (to be fair, they did give WINK and FOX4 the video a few days later after it aired and other stations learned of the sketchy tactics they used to get the interview and possibly a chewing out from the police department PIO) And management where I work definitely frowned upon being friendly with people from the other stations socially. All things that didn't happen in any other market I worked in. Healthy competition? Yes. But respect and understanding the biggest difference we all had with the people working at the other stations was the name of the company on our direct deposit.

You read my mind

Probably due to contracts that happened way before network-owned streaming was even a thought for the companies. I know that's what happens with NASCAR - the 2015 TV deal had no space for streaming so watching it online is a complicated mess, made worse by NBC keeping several of its races on USA after NBCSN's death (which again, was probably from the deal mandating x number of races on cable). What fans now hope is that the new TV deal does include spots for Peacock to stream the races live instead.

The scripted part is what kills Allen's court shows. Is there not a production company out there willing to do a real cases?

Nice to see they're both getting new shows. I think it will be weirder to me not seeing Marilyn on the People's Court. I'll miss so much of the elements People's Court had, such as the music, the iconic logo, the typewriter and gavel sound effects, and Curt Chaplin's deadpan introductions. Now I'm waiting to see if Byron brings back judges Joe Brown, Alex Ferrer or Lynn Toler back to Daytime TV. I just feel Byron's new shows won't be the same compared to WB's longrunners.

I think the ideal logo would be the gold "5" of old, combined with the font from that WBTV proposed design.

As old as Waterman his, he probably has some connections everywhere. My first thought is he feels Hearst would be most likely to maintain whatever standard/level he thinks WBBH is and that Hearst would touch it the least out of the others. As for Hearst, it's definitely a stunning move. There could be endless motivations behind it. They're like that quiet dude at the party that says some off the wall thing you didn't think they were capable of.

Just saw a promo for WCCO’s Next Weather… current “4” logo replaced with just “WCCO”- they’re going the KDKA route. I’ll stomach CBS primetime for a bit to see if I can catch the promo again.

The answer probably is wildly inconsistent. I've seen people who have fallen out with management at one station in a group land at other stations in the same group. I know HR systems, as part of the termination process (be it voluntary or involuntary), have a question that asks if it is beneficial for the employer that they are leaving. I'm sure the answer there can determine a possible future. I also know people who took buyouts had to sign paperwork saying they are ineligible for employment at a station group ever again. And chances are a release from a contract would include similar language. But, considering how difficult of a time TV is having hiring people... there are probably exceptions that can and will be made.

Unlike Ed Ansin's sons taking over Sunbeam after his passing, Edith Waterman probably had no one in the family interested in continuing the family business, so selling was the only option. Had it been part of an estate sale, it would have driven up the taxes for any buyer.

We also have to remind ourselves: Edith Waterman is turning 100 in September... I'm pretty sure this had a huge reason behind the decision.

With this purchase, I think Hearst is building up a news network of some kind in Florida to compete with both Scripps and Spectrum; going by the direction of syndication, it'll be inevitable that WBBH and WESH have an outpost of some kind with WMOR, and WPBF will certainly contribute too.

I"m sure Hurricane Ian may have prompted them to sell. They fared much better than WINK, but the storm may have give them the realization that they need sister stations to step in when the next storm comes. And given the market, corporate ownership may be a good thing, dissolving the toxic cultures that have seemingly permeated the market for years. It is an end of an era for sure. What other market has been primarily comprised of locally-owned stations in this day and age?

Always a bummer to see local ownership selling to a larger corporation, but the economics of it just don't work anymore. The press release also mentions Hearst will be taking over the existing SSA for WZVN as well. It'll be interesting to see if Hearst continues to operate WZVN as its own distinct news operation, or if we'll start to see more cross pollination between the two newsrooms.

I'm surprised it took this long for Waterman to sell after Bernie Waterman's death several years ago. It is great to see Hearst buying. It will be interesting to see how it shifts the culture of the market, which as someone who worked there for a few years, is beyond toxic competitively. And all the stations have toxic internal cultures too. Now we wait and see if the McBrides realize now is the time to cash out WINK.

This is about the most stunning announcement I have heard. What a big pickup for Hearst - a company that almost never buys stations. (Also, it pretty much wipes them off the "seller" list). It takes Fort Myers-Naples down to one locally owned station.

Maybe it's for a new TLC show: Little People, Big Video Wall.

Allen Media Group/Byron Allen I would think might want to get his hands in there.. he's always itchy for a good deal.. and I don't think he has any FL stations yet, does he??