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It only took them 30 years.

Losing a network affiliate and becoming an independent isn't as hard of a downfall as it used to be... I mean look at the news-intensive independents that have popped up recently. Now we'll have WPLG Miami and WANF Atlanta as the latest such examples.

Side note.. for those in the atlanta market who know.. I am curious.. has the rebrand to WANF and all the investment there made a dent in the ratings? Where do they stand? That news operation still seems to have a lot of turnover for all the money pumped in. The CBS Atlanta of the mid 2000s rocked. The tough questions era.

Well there is the WHDH/WLVI duo as an example of an indie/CW pairing. Since Gray made a big deal over airing some Braves games you might as well go for all of it on the old WTBS.

Long predicted, interesting to see this come into fruition. Top market Atlanta will now have another O&O besides WAGA. Hopefully whatever newscast they produce isn't as generic and lifeless as their former CBS "Nowcasts". I don't anticipate CBS News Atlanta will perform any better than WXIA or WANF but let's see.

In an explosive announcement, CBS is moving their affiliation to WUPA in Atlanta, making it an O&O.

Yeah I predicted this when they rebranded. There’s a reason Gray is removing all the network logos on their station logos…. Watch for more of this.

And WJXT/WCWJ…

Wow. Wooow. Woooooooow. Gray is going to take serious advantage now of WANF and its new status as a news-intensive Independent. I wonder how they'll use WPCH now since they'll use WANF to air more news.

The least surprised person has to be @Weeters, he suggested to me privately that WUPA easily could become CBS-owned after WWJ-TV finally got a news service. Or that they'd be used as a bargaining tool with the other groups. Now it's a matter of when WTOG and KSTW become CBS-owned, not if. As KIRO is already for sale; things could get spicy...

Before the piecemeal sale to operators who aren't buying speculation posts start, repeat after me: Byron Allen is going to want to sell to a single operator, structure it as a merger, and the buyer will divest assets they can't retain to minimize his tax costs and maximize the money made on the sale.

I don't believe there's no real loss for WANF when it comes down to the wire. The station has always been the underdog ranging from the initial affiliation swap in 1994 when WAGA became Fox and CBS moved to 46 after buying 69 just in case. Throughout WGNX/WGCL/WANF's history has been several attempts to beef up the news department to get viewers away from top dogs WAGA, WSB and even WXIA when all three stations were competitive in the market. Gray has been nothing but supportive of WANF to the point where the ratings were higher than WXIA which suffered from both lack of investment and a lack of care when it came down to not only it's news product but how the station was treated. CBS' intention to move to a station they own was solely for monetary reasons. CBS' investment in WUPA will also be significantly lower than WANF, WXIA, WSB and WAGA combined. What CBS did was a real slap in the face to Gray who owns several key CBS affiliates, a lot of them the top dogs in the market. I'm lucky that Gray and CBS managed to keep those stations affiliated but for how long? We're really reaching the point of no return where the affiliates/ownership groups are not treated with compassion, both WPLG and now WANF can attest. There's nobody to blame but companies who focused on getting rid of regulations in the broadcasting market, I doubt any of them recognize the damage that occurred under their watch and are basically laughing their way to the bank as we speak. WANF has more positives than negatives when it comes to the situation they're in, I have full faith that WANF will come out stronger without CBS.

WHDH has always been a powerhouse with popular talent and a winning formula. Same with WPLG. WANF has none of that. So cant compare success. As for CBS, they just did this in Detroit. Launched a whole operation. Its not the central cast thing.

Effective tomorrow Mike Marza takes over the 5:00 with Sade. Bill stays on the 6 with Liz. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AhpnvNR1h/?mibextid=wwXIfr

As I have said many of times Byron Cheap Skate Allen had no business to buy TV stations and should've just stayed in his lane with his cheap syndication dreck, he was always a Wannabe Media Mogle, and his empire is about to crash. I'm sure those that work for Allen Media at the local level are happy their being sold sometime soon.

Well, knock me over with a feather with this one...(sarcasm) It begs some real estate questions too. Surely CBS (assuming they'll start producing local newscasts) won't be operating a WUPA from that cramped Northeast Expressway studio once this shift happens. I could see Gray building new studios for WANF/WPCH on the Assembly Studios campus and Gray simply sells their 14th Street studios to CBS for them to use. Or, I could see either party relocating to some of the space that CNN just vacated downtown at what's now known as "The Center".

About time.

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME. The sooner it is off Allen's hands, the better. This means all of Allen's dumb moves will be reversed immediately. Stations like WJRT, KVOA, and WTHI must be rejoicing at this news.

I can see Gray doing just that. I could also see it being a regional superstation that becomes a sub on Gray's other Georgia stations (although they'd probably want to go from 95% coverage to 100% coverage as they are missing Chattanooga and Jacksonville in the corners of the state).

Just move the CW to 46 and put sports PBP on 17. Simple enough and it would make WANF a news-intensive CW station just like WPIX, KRON, KTLA and WGN.

Wow. Wonder what the path forward is for WANF/WPCH at this point? Not sure what the benefit is of having an independent primary/secondary pairing. Shows how much I watch linear TV here in ATL. Completely forgot CW was on WPCH now.

For that matter, is there an off chance of Weigel buying the chain in general.

Tegna is a non-factor in Tucson as KMSB-KTTU are fully shelled out to Gray. They wouldn't waste money on an unfixable station like KVOA. Think about it. Who else would want KVOA or any of the other Allen stations? Coastal? Marquee? NP&G? Gray is IMO the prohibitive favorite and the only buyer who would continue to operate the stations with any semblance of locality.

They're all Gray's to lose. KVOA can be a subchannel of KOLD, WJRT can be a subchannel of WNEM and the OW stations can be rumps of WSAW and WMTV. It's a perfect test case for the NAB begging for full dereg, especially with how much Byron completely destroyed the viability of each and every one of those stations.

I'm actually waiting for the point where I can buy Nexstar stock. Right now it's too expensive. I don't know if anybody really wants a linear broadcast TV network anymore, doesn't stop a man from dreaming right?

WNBC has long been housed on the 7th floor, mainly on the 49th Street side of the building. The new space is on the 2nd floor and spans the entire width from 49th to 50th Street. NBC gutted the whole space and created a purpose-built home for WNBC and WNJU. What is particularly impressive is that the massive newsroom is completely open-concept. To make that much square footage open in a building that is almost a hundred years old is amazing. The elevators serving the studio portion of 30 Rock and the studios themselves make this feat more challenging as you go higher in the building.

Yeah after my little stint working for KMSG MY53 News at 8pm in Fresno I figured out I don’t like this industry too much. Yeah I was fortunate to get a job and I have a reel so if I want to comeback into I can get hired. But it funny how easy you can backdoor this profession. Shoot my mom is teaching me AP format. But I lost my passion for this industry and the Reddit forum I was in was full of Debbie downers and honestly I accepted that, I just looked at myself in the mirror and said screw this. Though I enjoy talking about it that’s why I’m in this fandom. But the thing I will say is my boss Austin Reed who now in Yakima-Tri Cities market really taught me a lot he taught me how to put together a package what is a vsot is, he taught me how to pitch stories he even gave me the freedom to do whatever news story I wanted. I did a story on the NH primaries, he told me everything about local news answered all my questions. I’ll be forever grateful for that. We don’t talk as much anymore but he was a blessing. He was also very defensive of the broadcast as a lot of people including some people on this forum who I won’t name constantly demonized the broadcast, criticism was alright we had a lot to improve but some weren’t nice we did the best with what we had we had cheap owners that really didn’t want to invest in the product and abruptly fired us for no reason shoot I was on vacation when I got laid off but we managed to put out a good product every day Monday-Friday for an hour. We even bested a competitor newscast. Btw one of my colleagues Eric Walker who also had no education background and also worked for Austin is now doing news in Boise, Idaho, now I considered applying to some news jobs and putting my reel after I saw him get that job but honestly I don’t really wanna leave home. I tried finding jobs in my states small markets, not the major city markets but they weren’t hiring. So currently I’m back in university to study something else. But that job was a dream come true. If you have any questions about the experience message me.

Was thinking this myself. Journalism has a broad enough skill set where one can study adjacent subjects like English, law, or political science and enter the field. I supoose that broad skill set is why the industry pays so low. Writing articles or conducting interviews are perhaps not considered specialized enough for high pay compared to medicine, law or skilled trade jobs. Furthermore, a lot of training for journalism happens on the job which deemphasizes the formal education necessity. Most colleges do not teach broadcast skills like teleprompter reading, voice modulation or even how to edit packages. They simply teach standards of journalism, writing structure and how to craft print/web stories. Journalism is also a field where anything more than a masters degree, or attending a high status college aren't necessary. While the degree gets you in the door, skills like pitching stories, having robust contacts, and your on camera personality appearance and sound, is what carries you furthest.

Lowkey starting to think and I talked about this in a Reddit forum but I got my first tv job when I was in college and I dropped out. I’m starting to think you don’t need a degree for journalism or at least you don’t have to study it, some of the best journalist didn’t even study it they studied another genre than went into journalism. For example Tom Brokaw studied political science not journalism, I’m not saying going to school for journalism is important I’m not saying that but obviously people have back doored their way into TV News. Another example people have back doored there way into tv weather apparently you can get a metrology certificate (which is a degree without the Gen Eds) from Miss State and do the AMS exam and become a metrologist I’d didn’t know that I thought you had to get the 4 year degree. Even Al Roker didn’t go to school for metrology he majored in communications to be a journalist, he in a way back doored his way to weather. Again not saying j-school isn’t important that of course that’s traditional way but some journalist I’ve watched didn’t take that route.

Great retrospective of Lester’s NN tenure, it’s hard to believe 10 years has flown by since he was elevated from weekends. He’s always been one of my favorites.

I’ll offer my piece: CBS is probably in even worse shape than even the Tisch years. It seems like whatever plagued Viacom in the 2010s has finally claimed CBS (and to an extent, Showtime). As someone said, other than the NFL and college football and basketball, what sports does CBS have to hang its hat on? The Big Ten deal is a massive downgrade compared to those SEC years. They have golf, but post-Tiger Woods, it’s not really popular. Outside of that, it’s mostly stuff that would’ve been on CBS Sports Network a decade ago. Say what you will about the other networks, but they have a robust slate of sports like NBC with the NFL, the NBA, and likely the MLB. Or ABC with the NHL, NFL, college football, etc, all via ESPN. And then there’s the news division. Dear God, the news division. Between wondering who is anchoring CBS Evening News this week, the scandals with 60 minutes, and the curse of Captain Kangaroo that permeates the 7-9am timeslot, CBS News has been a joke post-Cronkite, but especially since Scott Pelley left Evening News and CBS had to revamp its morning show for the 5000th time. Oh, and primetime! Jumping Jesus, primetime! What is primetime on CBS like in 2025? Ten different versions of NCIS, FBI, and Blue Bloods, few if any comedies, and an excuse to give away Chevy Traxs and Hyundai Accents before the 11pm news. Yes, I’ve long accepted that broadcast TV is on life support. However, watching CBS is the equivalent of watching your elderly family member on life support and in pain. It’s that unbearable.

An unexpected lowpoint from what used to be a respectable network. What is the purpose of this video anyways?

I agree with all of this. He’s such an underwhelming anchor and presenter that it’s hard to believe he’s the flagship anchor for NBC News. Maybe we’ll feel different about him when he’s had the role for a few years but then again I’ve always thought this of him. It seems like NBC just wanted to find a Muir answer.

This is both a win and a loss for Gray. The win? Gray gets total control of WANF and can basically run whatever it wants. What’s going to fill those extra hours? More news and more locally-produced programming, which will lead to more advertising revenue, since WANF doesn’t have to share with CBS. It can also treat WANF as a testing ground of sorts for the rest of its stations. Plus, it’s not like CBS’ ratings did WANF any wonders. The loss? Gray is doubling down on a format that is losing viewers and revenue. Unless you’re a baby boomer who takes the prescription medicine advertised on the commercials during the evening news, you’re probably not watching local TV. WANF’s ratings are also a distant third or fourth place. Few people are watching. It’s been that way ever since Meredith ran and mismanaged the station. No amount of “more local news” and “more local sports programming” will change that.

Will they hire, build and launch a newsroom and product in just 10 weeks? If it is outsourced again to WCBS, WFOR, KTVT, WBZ or other O&O, I just can't see how they will have an actual local presence and build viewership. Because there is a large Gray affiliation agreement part of all this, I wonder who pushed whom? It puts a little different light on this.

I do not get modern broadcasting trends. Normally you would affiliate with the station that provides a benefit in terms of audience and stature and it's been that way for decades until up to this year. The WPLG affiliation switch in retrospect was definitely a sign of things to come, the networks have devolved from strategic alignment to focusing on the bottom line which happens to be money and nothing else. I have a feeling CBS is considering even more affiliation swaps with the stations that they own. I wouldn't be surprised if KTSW became a CBS owned and operated station. I would try to figure out the sense of it but of course it's Shari Redstone who's actions make no sense whatsoever. Good luck to WANF, I have a feeling their independence is going to net better ratings then whatever WUPA can come up with.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. It always seemed like they were just temporarily "parking" CW on WPCH until CBS' eventual exit from WANF.

I think the best option is to keep WANF as all-Atlanta and focused on the area, while WPCH acts as a regional superstation with the sporting events and state coverage (for things like the Legislature), with the latter also becoming a subchannel on Gray's other channels in the state. For example, in Savannah, WPCH could go on 11.3 or 11.4 or something.

WANF and Gray aren't wasting any time on the news either. I hope this is a good thing for the Atlanta viewers and not a way for Gray to assume more control of other market's stations. Many in the region were decimated in favor of regionalizing newscasts. But this was clearly an expected outcome that they've been planning for years. WHEN this happens to other stations, they may not be so lucky when they realize they have more hours of programming to fill when their network walks...

The other headline in this is CBS/Gray renewed their deal with every other CBS affiliate in the Gray group. So, no other shoes to drop with CBS/Gray, at least for now.

Not flagship WLTV/WAMI though since they're housed with the network.

The true test of when CBS crosses the line of no return is when the CW overtakes it in the ratings. CBS is not what it used to be, but at least the CW under Nexstar is fading even faster towards oblivion trying to be a "catch all" network as opposed to the niche one it used to be under CBS and Warner Brothers.

Warner-Chappell, which owns the rights to the original Hello package, composed this new series of themes, effectively Hello News v.2 (or Series 5, if you want to go by how Gari called their theme updates). Chris Majka composed a custom theme using the Hello signature that debuted last year, alongside selected cuts from Gari’s first three Hello series (the ones KWQC brought back in 2023 for their 75th anniversary).

Lester Holt's farewell was also featured on... CBS Evening News. With a tribute from Maurice DuBois to his closing phrase every night. output.mp4

JUST FOR REMINDER: After taking the role as a anchor and managing director a decade ago in June 2015, tonight will be the last day of Lester Holt anchoring NBC Nightly News.

Actually, I can see affiliates demanding that CBS put something in the time slot rather than just let them have it back. Considering the time slot and that all episodes will be at least eleven years old, CBS should give affiliates the option to opt-out of airing the show if they'd rather run something else.

No one’s gonna terminate their CBS affiliation because they chose to put an out-of-production Byron Allen show at 12:37 a.m. ET, BFFR. Considering the state of syndication these days, the current American network/affiliate programming model actually looks increasingly out of place, given that in most countries (as well as our Spanish-language networks and diginets), OTA broadcast networks handle most of their daily program output, fillling timeslots not occupied by first-run programs (e.g., dramas, sitcoms, reality series, lifestyle shows), news (local or national) and sports with acquired programming and repeats of current and past network shows. It kinda makes less sense now for networks here in the States to give lower-rated timeslots back to affiliates (the most recent occurrence being in 2021, when NBC gave up the 1:37 slot after A Little Late with Lilly Singh ended), given the downturn in the syndication market and stations’ tendency to just expand local news usually using an already stretched staff, rather than invest in other types of programming. Plus, CBS’s affiliates probably aren’t clamoring to take back the 12:37 a.m. slot. It’s too late for live news (outside of the occasional overrun during March Madness), and Big Three stations don’t run syndicated sitcoms and dramas in late night like they did through the 2000s (thanks largely to CBS and ABC making valiant challenges to NBC’s once-powerhouse late-night lineup with the Late Show, The Late Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live!). If CBS had turned over the timeslot, it’d probably be filled by lower-rated first-run syndies (as was often the case until the 1990s), newsmagazines (either second runs of shows like Inside Edition and ET or lower-rated shows like Extra that the station might already air in a later slot), second runs of daytime talk shows (KOCO, for example, has done this since the early 2000s starting with Oprah and now Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson), or late news rebroadcasts. You’re likely not going to see the types of suited-for-late-night first-run syndies like Arsenio, Love Connection or Blind Date that did well in the past.

Yes they did. Westchester even used to do an entire tribute and the end listing then names and pictures of those from the viewing counties. They covered ground zero in full every year

You can surely make the case it should have been on their main channel, it did air on News12+ on cable.

Whoops, yes. Important detail!