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I may not live in Oklahoma, but man losing a weather legend like Gary England sucks. My condolences are with his family and everyone at KWTV.

Apologies for hijacking this post, but @bennettmonk, please stop with your irritating reactions; there was nothing funny about this post. You make no comments here. I don't know how else to bring sunlight to this, but these inappropriate reactions must stop, and I have all interactions with them blocked, but for some reason, their reactions cannot be blocked from view no matter what I try, and it's needless notification junk/noise if you're never going to do more than react and not contribute.

Update Abilene Christian University (ACU) has allowed KTXS to utilize its facilities to help set up a temporary newsroom on campus. https://ktxs.com/news/abilene/abilene-christian-university-opens-doors-to-ktxs-after-severe-storm-damages-station

The news broke during their 10pm newscast, so nothing was planned (but there will be tomorrow). This one hurts badly. The weather community will mourn greatly. He, Tom Skilling, and James Spann have changed the game forever, and Gary will be missed for generations to come.

The move from fully physical sets to video walls allows for more variation of looks and could be more cost-effective in the long run. And they give a sense of realism as opposed to a truly virtual setup with chroma keying.

They used to be massive draws for viewership. Both GMA and Today drew pretty big artists for the release of their albums, part of their tours, etc. That said, the shows have changed so much that the concert series feels somewhat out of place these days. I recognize 2-3 artists from GMA’s announced line up. Today’s line up is a ton of has-beens.

While I'm happy for the desk, oh man the rest looks low budget... I'm holding out hope that those cut outs are temporary just for this ad...

When you hear of OK weather, you think Gary England.... RIP to a weather legend

Even though WISH was one of the original stations under Nexstar before they traded up to WTTV/WXIN, the package still somewhat exists at WISH under Dujuan McCoy. Sad to think that this was one if the inspirations for GrayOne, especially with the supers.

That one is actually scheduled for tomorrow rather than Friday, but the rest are Friday concerts.

This is not a one time thing anymore, CBS is going to replace all sets with AR/VR at their owned and operated stations, including newcomer WUPA. Just a theory, I sure hope that physical sets still exist and stay around for a few more years. If CBS is successful in reducing operating losses to the point where it's making more of a profit for the shareholders, just imagine what other broadcast or entertainment companies will do with VR/AR.

Update We now know what it will be... 10 News+. It will air at 6pm every Sunday-Friday and will begin on June 30th. https://www.facebook.com/10NewsFirst/posts/pfbid0yxkG8er3aVTpLtcCcjRYKieenvJ65XsYMpCuyv64hKLdF1qTe13oTjZQd5E9veVTl

It's a good open but my goodness is it long

Looks like ABC is taking notes from 20th's former cousin in the news space. Please don't attack me. I had to say it.

Repeat :

It's not too often you see carpeting in a studio. Usually it was the news desk and stage pieces, but not the floor itself. That could be a maintenance headache unless they have a good cleaning crew. Usually the studio floor is concrete and either painted, tiled or veneered for easy cleanup and durability for movement of sets and equipment. But the sale of their "old" studio (only from 2018) is likely a cash infusion that can shelter the owners from the challenges of broadcasting, especially as an independent owner.

I believe Disney will sell it. It's prime real-estate. Concerts on GMA aren't doing well, they were having difficulty finding sponsors over the past few years. Suspect that the series would be trimmed down.

How would this apply to stations that are in the host City?

Maybe so, maybe not. Some of the biggest costs with these conventions aren't the travel costs, it's renting space in the arena to work and do live shots. Some networks are charging their affiliates (including O&Os) thousands of dollars a day to use their workspaces.

So, this brings up a very good question: Unless there's a significant local angle, why on Earth would individual stations even bother sending anyone to an event instead of taking whatever packages their networks and/or station groups make available? For example, I would think that only stations in the teams' main and secondary markets would be sending anyone to the Super Bowl. For the Olympics, it'd depend on whether or not your station's market has multiple local athletes who are competing (or one or two high-profile athletes), then yes, definitely send someone. For the political conventions and debates? Only if the presumptive nominees are from your state (though that doesn't really apply this year).

I think in Denver Perry Sook doesn't want to work with the union and there was a protest at KDVR/KWGN. I don't think in West Michigan there is a union for the Wood TV, WZZM, WXMI, WWMT I'm not sure on that.

In Chicago the TV station unions are: WLS (ABC) NABET-CWA WMAQ (NBC) NABET-CWA WFLD (Fox) NABET-CWA WBBM (CBS) IBEW WGN(9) IBEW I think the reporters and anchors at WGN and WLS are in SAG-AFTRA

Yo, what exactly has Gray Television done that would provoke CBS to leave WANF?? Everyone keeps saying this. I don't get it. If CBS wanted to move to 69, they'd have done so back in 2006 or a long time ago. There is a reason why they sold 69 only to regain it coincidentally just after merging with Viacom. If things went South with the CW, they'll just either run an independent, do something else we don't expect them to do with 69 or sell 69 into a duopoly with one of the other stations and MAYBE get something back. But I don't even see any reason why they'd dump the CW as long as they still have that small ownership stake. Otherwise, they'd have dumped the full 100 in Nexstar's lap. To say nothing of just how badly Gray could screw CBS up if CBS really tried to pull its programming from 46. Remember, there are many more CBS stations owned by Gray. By this logic, WTTV should still be the CW affiliate and WBXI should be CBS.

Ok sorry if I've been living under a rock throughout this thread's time but what's the speculation/rumor over WANF?

No wonder why they must've been delayed so many times since announcing their return to news. They wanted everything right and they didn't launch until the full quality was perfect. Take it like a company that was releasing a new product. You see something wrong with one of the new features. Do you release that product with the flaw, or just delay it until you fix it? A quality company would delay it, and that's the case with CBS News Detroit. By the way...you don't see many companies doing that nowadays

CBS still has that LPTV in Indianapolis. Just saying…

1. I love talent with great/interesting voices. Everybody sounds like high school kids these days! Love interesting talent like Milton Lewis. Lively, entertaining--nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Why bore people to death with a bunch of milquetoast stiffs? It's the local news. It's not really as serious as some people pretend it should be. 2. Wow, a demonstration that actually looks like it could be organic. Can't remember the last time I saw something like that on TV. Now it's predominantly all rent-a-mobs. 3. With the Atlanta rumors, maybe they should have held on to some of those CW stations they previously divested. Like Providence, Columbus and Indianapolis. CBS News Providence? CBS News Indianapolis?

Wasn’t local production of Detroit Now already switched over to 62/50? I’m not sure most people would be able to see the difference anyway. The timeline for buildout appears to be: add the 4pm, then the noon (and 7pm?) and then weekend evenings… then buildout weekday mornings, with weekend mornings as the last piece. Going by the original “40 hours a week” projection for CBS News Detroit simulcasts on 62, WWJ stands to have local news from 4:30–7am, 9–9:30am, noon—12:30pm, 4–6:30pm, 7–7:30pm and 11–11:35pm on weekdays, two hours on Saturday and Sunday morning and the 6 and 11 on weekends.

Speaking of, when does WWJ plan to begin offering regular weekend newscasts? For that matter, when will production of WKBD’s 10:00 p.m. newscast be transferred from KTVT to the in-house operation?

Yeah, I should have thought of that. WJXX was full force at news launch, but the caveat was that the newscasts launched 10 months after the station. Allbritton had its launch priorities all the wrong way with that station (having had to get it on the air much sooner than anticipated at ABC's behest).

I used staggered wrongly… WWJ is going quicker than all of them. It crazy WPTY took a decade. But you forgot Jax and WJXX they did a full-slate of newscasts on the first day they were not in a new world market but you know what I mean. KEYE did so also.

This could be a one-off to audition talent or work out logistics, but WWJ just added a newscast for next Sunday night right after the Grammys… ATM there's no newscast scheduled for the following Sunday night@Samantha

I saw they want to get the full news schedule in place by March.

That would be news as Kris just left KARE 11 all together. Seems he may have landed a lot quicker than most thought he would, good for Kris. https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/kris-laudien-leaving-kare-11-after-four-years-on-sunrise

After watching the newscasts, I feel Amyre and Jeff are a much better anchor team.

Amyre Sr. is African American. https://alumni.med.wayne.edu/makupson

Amyre Sr. and Amyre Jr. - Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Amyre Makupson made her debut on the 6pm filling in for Shaina Humphries (who co-hosted The Talk out in LA today). Her mother Amyre Sr. also appeared at the end of the 6pm half-hour.

On the second week of its debut, 62 has launched the 5pm hour tonight. Rachelle Graham & Terrance Friday are anchoring the hour.

There is one roundabout tie to channel 33 in the 33/40 gaggle of frequencies. WSES (the former WCFT "33") on actual channel 36 and virtual channel 33 is one of the ATSC 3.0 stations serving Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, and it carries the 17.2 feed of 58.1 in 3.0. So.....yeah. Then again, for damaged goods like WWJ, best to simulcast a streaming service called "CBS Detroit" as opposed to starting a news department on CBS 62. Maybe the 62 carries a little extra baggage because of the movie UHF? But moreso by the desperate moves to keep CBS in Detroit at the time, even preparing to pipe in adjacent affiliates and resulting in ABC buying stations in Toledo and Flint at the time because of the fear of losing WXYZ (which never happened) If you think about it, the fear of WXYZ going CBS really set the ball rolling for a lot of the secondary affiliation switches because of the Fox/New World deal. That forced Scripps to go all in with ABC, which caused Westinghouse to go all in with CBS, which caused the swap in Philadelphia, and so on....

I think it's necessary to reference @Myron Falwell's post from the KCAL thread as it's extremely relevant to the ongoing channel number discussion. Long story short, look at Birmingham's WBMA, which brands as "ABC 33/40". It has not transmitted on the Channel 33 satellite since 2014, and is now regulated to the .2 on 40. WBMA's own low-power signal was on 58, which is also what their Virtual Channel is, but they didn't brand with any mention of 58 at all. What they do have is this mess, none of which have anything to do with the 33 in their brand, and And yet everyone still figures out where to watch James Spann when there's a tornado. In the words of one of our favorite media bloggers: JUST SAYING...

I think it’s safe to say that CBS Detroit falls into the “fewer legacy viewers at risk” category. Not only is channel 62 hard to get to for OTA viewers; that station (in its current form) doesn’t have much of a legacy to speak of. I generally agree, but it depends on how much CBS is invested in attracting OTA viewers in Detroit. Moving their virtual channel would only impact people who don’t have cable or streaming. I’m not sure if the number of antenna-only viewers in the Detroit viewing area would make that a big enough concern. Plus, CBS is putting a big emphasis on their streaming news networks anyway, so their Detroit OTA channel probably isn’t their highest priority right now.

My take is that it's real estate and you have to make it easy for your customer to find you, just like any other consumer driven business. I realize that viewers aren't the real customers in media, but media still depends on attracting eyeballs.

The audience who've been around will cling to a channel #. They will see the # in the logo, because people only remember the abstract. They sure move The Young and The Restless around in San Diego. Wasn't it just a decade ago they moved to 11am?

Right. Telemundo and CW are even further down and they are subchannels.

15 isn't too bad of a number. You're still in the general vicinity of everybody else with 4 and 5 (and 25). But Channel numbers like 46 and 62 are problematic IMO, from the standpoint of making it easier for the viewer. Right, but we're talking about OTA here as well as branding.

For the record, it appears that CBS Detroit is found on at least one cable provider slotted at channel 6. It's not up at 62 for everyone.

Like I said, it's real estate. Mcdonald's, Wendy's and Burger King all tend to be close to each other. If Hardee's is a couple of streets away, it falls off the map. You don't think about it. Same with the FM dial. Everything that's worth listening to around here is under 99.9. I don't even know what stations are on 100.1 and above for the most part. I simply don't get to that part of town. Also, just look around the country. Stations with the high UHF Channel numbers beating stations with VHF Channel numbers is still more the exception and not the rule. And if dial position doesn't mean anything, why do media companies still fight with cable companies to get lower channel numbers? Yes, people stream. But the thing about streaming is that you can't really flip through channels a lot. You're basically stuck with whatever you're watching. There's still value in a low channel number both from the standpoint of real estate, and simply from a marketing and image standpoint that you're not one of those UHF stations in the nosebleed section of the dial where all the crappy channels are.

I remember Ronnie Duncan from his WSYX days. He seems to be a lot smoother and low-key these days. The weather guy is also decent, I like his voice. Can't say the same about the anchors. They both have very annoying voices. Go out and hire a couple of smokers. The weather center is kind of clunky. They're going to have to do a better job with that. Otherwise, looks good.

The 6pm show