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I'm kind of surprised that with the new graphics that there wasn't a plan for a combined logo. I get that Hearst doesn't do the "combined" branding (ex: like Gray does with Dakota News Now, Valley News Live, etc)- but something where for emergency coverage like a hurricane showed the NBC2 and ABC7 logos side by side? Is it because viewers in the area already subliminally know the two are co-owned (or more likely don't care when a Cat 5 is headed their way?)

FMBC is moving WINK-TV/FM and its other broadcast properties to a new location in Fort Myers. https://winknews.com/2023/08/03/wink-tv-buys-new-headquarters-for-18-5-million-in-gateway/?fbclid=IwAR3Yyw6O2ZTVoHxkWrLeA89O1SMpK5Be8Ej_NekLrvaQg5PNhTHpSJndUFI_aem_AaMEvmtuQXLZePPjjqtvctHajRDZI7uLCJtrqfGxDuaq1AlZXiLX22uIxa63Kek3tRk&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Wall-to-wall coverage already popping up ahead of Hurricane Milton. Hearst's WBBH/WZVN are once again combining their teams. In this pic, you see WZVN's Jesslyn Ferentz using WZVN graphics in WBBH's studio.

A good look at the new board for NBC Sports Philadelphia as the Sixers give the traditional international preseason exhibition shellacking to New Zealand;

No.

If Southwest Florida is affected (again), it will be another test of the WINK facility, as they even took on water from Helene. At least the other stations have out of town resources to fall back on if they have to abandon their facilities. Given the vulnerability of Tampa and St. Petersburg, how much at risk are their stations there? WFLA may be in a bad spot, so I'd bet they get WKRG or WMBB on standby to help out with coverage.

She left WVEC a while ago. She recently left WCAU for WVUE. https://www.fox8live.com/2024/10/04/lee-zurik-john-snell-enter-new-roles-lucy-bustamante-returns-home-fox-8-morning-anchor/

Loved that package, especially on the WB 11 NYC.

Same for Shepard Smith. I wish Shep was anchor of The CBS Evening News.

In Belgium, VTM has relaunched its branding and have new open for its news:

News involving WVUE in three bullet points (my TL;DR): Lee Zurik is promoted but will no longer anchor or do investigative reports as of October 10th. John Snell is back in the evenings starting October 14th. Lucy Bustamante is back on New Orleans television starting October 21st. https://tvnewscheck.com/journalism/article/changes-at-wvue-news-lee-zurik-john-snell-enter-new-roles-lucy-bustamante-returns/?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Changes+At+WVUE+News%3a+Lee+Zurik+%26amp%3b+John+Snell+Enter+New+Roles%2c+Lucy+Bustamante+Returns&utm_campaign=Warner+Bros.+Discovery+Ad+Chief+Jon+Steinlauf+To+Exit

Changes are on the horizon: Fridays: Mike Marza now is 11pm anchor and Pedro Rivera is 4:30am anchor. Neither will be “in for” Ritter or Marza respectively as this change is rolling into a transition coming in the new year. Ritter will step down from 5 and 11pm - keeping only the 6pm with Liz. He will maintain helm of “up close” for the time being. Mike Marza moves to 5 & 11pm, Rivera moves to mornings and 10am with Shirleen. Mike and Sade effectively become the “lead anchors” with Bill slowly transitioning to retirement in a few years. A formal announcement from Ritter will come after the election, closer to the year’s end.

The design is fine, but the motion really leaves a lot to be desired. Way too much snap. Feels like someone designed some nice boards and a junior motion artist did the leg work.

Package as seen on their 2:00 PM newscast — here I was thinking KTLA was alone on that. Nexstar is really inconsistent. They can drop bangers like this on KRON 4 and WXIN, yet do a mixed job on WPIX, and totally suck on News Nation. At least their stations don't all look the same like Sinclair's. Ranking station group aesthetics from best to worst, I'd say: Tegna, Hearst, Graham (they're declining), Nexstar, Gray, Scripps, Sinclair.

I haven't worked in that market in a long time, so much could have changed, but from what I recall - NBC was the favorite child, and ABC got the leftovers/looklives, at least in the evenings. And it makes sense, considering NBC has a much more massive news output. But creative lead choices can always lead to making things work. I don't recall how they handled mornings where there's the most overlap. (Although there was a time in the 2008-2010 recession that hit SW Florida worse than most parts of the country when they went down to one AM newscast simulcast on both stations) When I worked in a different market where there were dueling morning newscasts coming out of the same building, it required coordination among producers to make sure they weren't stepping on each other's toes. For a big enough story, you'd occasionally have two reporters on the same story so both could lead with it, and in very rare circumstances - a mini internal generic live shot where both producers agreed to a start time for a live shot and the reporter would get counted down - and they'd start talking whether both stations anchors had stopped talking or not.

Yeah they now have repeats of Dr Phil airing at 4:00am with KCAL News starting at 5:00am. I understand them getting rid of the 4:00am hour. KTLA & ABC are so established and have a huge advantage in the mornings, KCAL is basically building its morning news audience from nothing and likely relying on those who watch KCAL's primetime news to tune in, but how many people watching KCAL News in primetime are waking up at 4:00am?

CBS cuts.

Ken Rice at KDKA has been doing the 11pm show solo for some time now after the cost-cutting moves during the pandemic that led to the departure of the sorely-missed Susan Koeppen. But there was a lot of talk back then that going solo was their plan for the morning shows across the O&Os. A number of morning anchors were let go in that same wave of cuts: Chris McKinnon in Boston, Erin Kennedy in Chicago, Rick Dayton in Pittsburgh: and they did that for some time in Pittsburgh with Heather Abraham anchoring solo until it was evident that a 2.5-hour morning show didn't lend itself well to one anchor. 6pm/11pm shows can work with a solo anchor -- and if they're a strong talent like Ukee or Ken, it's a no-brainer. But CBS local hasn't been the greatest judge of talent in recent years.

FTVLive reports, in a paywalled story, that Gray is "tightening hiring." I haven't seen what's behind the paywall, and Gray's recruiters still seem to be pretty active on LinkedIn when it comes to posting job openings. However, I would not be surprised if Gray did decide to leave some open jobs unfilled. It's harder than ever to recruit ANYONE to work in TV news.

I think they signed off the best they could with an ode to all the jingles once played on 880, Wayne Cabot naming so many of the iconic voices we've heard over the years, and ending with an excerpt of John Lennon's "Imagine". He ended with "for the final time, this is WCBS, New York". After a minute of dead air, an ESPN program came on. For those wondering, they continued to do traffic and weather together until 11:38pm. Yes, 1010 will be there, but New York has lost a friendly, unbiased, and trustworthy source of news on the airwaves.

So what exactly IS Forum’s TV play in South Dakota? KNBN isn’t much of an operation. I remember they purchased an independent station in Sioux Falls that they claimed they’d have a news operation to pair with their digital newspaper (Sioux Falls Live) but it’s been two years and nothing except they keep running NDSU/Fargo based programming on it. Since the lady in the article mentions how well they’re doing in SDSU coverage, and you’d think they’d like to go after broadcasting deals like the ones have at NDSU, but they’re not endearing themselves to people now. Unless they’re planning to buy or sue Gray to get an affiliation I don’t see how that Indy station survives if it ever gets going.

Going past 65 isn’t uncommon. Neither is staying past your expiration date.