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Has anyone been paying attention these last 7 months? Laws. Don’t. Matter. At least not any laws that impede or restrain the regime.

The way things are heading, we have resorted to a "fight fire with fire" mentality. Remember when Media General refused to turn over WAGT to Gray a few years back in the Gray-Schurz merger? We could see this again as the Tegna staffers refuse to turn the keys over to Nexstar. Jobs are at stake and so are a diversity of voices in places where Nexstar gets a third, fourth, and even a FIFTH station in the same market. Unless people with a backbone start standing up, America as we know it is done for. Donald Trump is not a king. And his ass better be out of office by the next inauguration unless congress finds a LEGAL way to overturn the 22nd Amendment which limits elected presidents to TWO TERMS. End rant.

He's so many years from retirement and earned the right to rotate his assignments from day to day. Maybe if Rob Marciano had known how to treat other co-workers and especially women he'd be doing the same thing now. I agree Sam is hyped up on all the caffeine and he's not for everyone, but his prime was in bright and cheery 90s news when seriousness was for the longtime 'grumpy old anchor who's too old for this but I'm used to this schedule' and everyone else could be goofy. But he does seriousness well when needed, is great as presenting even without certs, and he still has a 'morning show' mindset that's sorely missed when a lot of the format is now so much news, promotions, and having to regard the chicken sandwich wars like the Gulf War. I'll take his sincere cheer any day of the week.

Scott Fybush had this take on RadioDiscussions this morning on the merger and it is worth sharing here:

This idea of mutiny is hilarious. If there is no resistance across the industry to non-competes and people just sign them and hope for the best, there will be no resistance at all to consolidating stations. There is far more leverage by employees when presented with a non-compete: Walk away. When enough people walk away, they cannot run a station. When one company buys another with regulatory approval, there is no recourse.

If I was working for a Tegna station (or even a Nexstar station, especially if they’re in the same market), I’d update the resume tape ASAP. Plan for the worst, pray for the best.

All you need to do is look at what Nexstar has turned "The Hill" into - more propaganda for the regime than anything else. Now they want to control all TV news to be the same.

KCTV's tower will soon be lighting up Kansas City's skyline once more... for the first time in 21 years. https://www.kctv5.com/2025/08/20/kctv5-broadcast-tower-shine-once-again-with-relighting-ahead-2026-world-cup/

Overextending? I present the following to you without further comment. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMVmeLKuBG_/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D

Fybush is right. He usually is. While many people are gossiping over where a netlet will land, or whether newsrooms will consolidate, or whose tower will handle the antennas, he's pointing out it is a cataclysmic event for TV. People... broadcast-only towers will no longer be required soon. Clear Channel's top suits have been lusting over this moment for decades because it means they won't have to maintain those antiquated transmitters anymore. "The people will get what they want from phones." ... We're there. Top executives are itching for a reason to grab an angle grinder, put it to a tower anchor point, and be the first to let a tower fall but live to sell commercials into the future, mostly programmatically. A lot of years ago, Clear Channel explored using AI voices at its small news/talk stations as an entry point to kick anchors to the curb, but it didn't go well with focus groups. This has been in the works since high speed internet became a thing. Perry Sook just sped up what we thought would take longer. "He's a conspiracy theorist!" ... Ok. But mark your calendars right now.

Mmmhmmm

Whole heartedly agree with this. They would not do this deal if they knew they would get it all. It absolutely sucks for a lot of talented, smart, hard working people who are just salaries and benefit expenses on a spreadsheet for Nexstar. But, the election results in November made it just a matter of time before it happened. Sinclair thought they could do this with their attempted purchase of Tribune, frankly, it is still surprising they didn't pull it off, a lot of the credit for that goes to Deadspin and John Oliver. But the guardrails that prevented that deal from closing are gone. A TV group takeover is, on average, the 342nd most chaotic thing happening on any given day where the federal government has a role in the outcome right now. I've said it before, I'll say it again... IF there are spinoffs, it's all sidecars, or license only to spectrum speculators and godcasters. If you want a laugh, there is someone on the broadcasting subreddit who posts rambling, delusional, incoherent, baseless speculation on divestures and other future mergers and clearly has no understanding of the business. Things that make the speculatron on its worst day appear measured and calm. Like, groups voluntarily splitting up existing duopolies, groups like Disney/ABC that haven't bought stations in 30+ years going on mass buying sprees. The level of confidence in those posts are amusing. Not even worth fighting with common sense.

KWQC is partially changing their weekday daytime lineup starting next month. Kelly Clarkson at 2pm is out and Local News Live at 1pm is in. https://www.kwqc.com/2025/08/20/kwqc-change-weekday-programming/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMUOOdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHvoATzfObbiOpUsHCGoMEWR2Pu6iiqdiUIOkKT8BudaznC0fRAZzzvF-UtPq_aem_JCp7OdcVIwz1-5XoQPuf8Q

This. Brendan Carr would be violating the overturning of Chevron but he's unconcerned about a pesky contempt of court charge when he removes all cap restrictions. Plus SCOTUS can always give him a mulligan.

He's retiring?

Update According to Zap2it... WJET 24.2 on September 1st. The transition happens at 6am.

From what I've seen over the past year or so, Ed works primarily from home (like Mary Kay). He is rarely in studio.

I'd say hire two more. You have Lee, Brittany, Dani, and Jeff, but they seem to struggle on some days to rely on only one person to do everything on any particular day. I feel like having two more would be beneficial and help relieve some stress, especially in the #1 market.

It's more likely his health because weeks before he went MIA, he was doing the forecasts from home. I also don't want anyone from the weather team to leave because, believe it or not, this weather team is the strongest in the area, especially with Albert and David.

I just don't like the early and long hours as it contributed to the early deaths of Lisa Colagrossi, Katherine Creag and Elise Finch.

There is no way I would recommend in good conscience any organization accepting the donation of an AM broadcast license of any kind. Total waste of money. Better off starting a stream.

It doesn't seem like much thought was given when it came to design. Plus, I believe the weather desk isn't a functional work station and is just for show. The only good thing is the addition of the touch screen (which I assume is/was the one from the weather center). Honestly, they could have just added that, replaced the old FOX 32 logos, changed from TV monitors to LED seamless panels in the alcove and called it a day.

Is it just me or is Sam Champion overrated. He seems fake and over the top and basically gets whatever schedule he wants. I feel like having him back on is not really needed.

Ed Curran has been absent for months now, stretching the weather team thin this week. I wonder if Ed is having kidney issues again or it's something else. Btw, Kylee and Mary Kay(in Florida) have been awesome this week with the weather coverage.

The way things are going, I sincerely doubt that this will be a huge priority for a new administration once 2029 rolls around. The damage would have been long done, there will have been even more consolidations, and there will be nobody left looking to buy. TV will be in an even worse and more precarious place than it is today. Who knows what the landscape will even look like? Who's to say that the affiliation model doesn't break down before then? The money is gone, and the viewers are fleeing towards the exits. The weather streamers are a huge flashing red warning light that these companies seem to be failing to notice. Weather was always one of the pillars of local news. It was one of the reasons local media executives thought they were invincible. "Everyone loves their local meteorologists, they can't get this anywhere else!" Yet, several of these statewide weather streamers, and none of the big name national ones, have any connection to local media companies. They're these startup operations with a shoestring budget, doing something that a company like Nexstar could get off the ground in a week. The reality is that I really don't think there's enough room here for there to be a huge amount of competition. Alabama could use a service that focuses on statewide severe weather coverage, but they don't need six of them, and whoever isn't first will really need to make waves to be noticed.

The shame in all of this is how you have two companies that couldn't be more opposite on how they see things for OTT. While Nexstar has moved light years this year alone, Tegna is thousands of years ahead with even creating their own 7-9am shows that run exclusively on their digital platforms. One of the most devastating side effects could be if Nexstar squanders all of this in favor of their piecemeal digital strategy. For a dying industry, they're still signing their death papers. And when they control all of the network affiliations in a place, the networks will revolt and they'll be left holding the bag when they walk. We're seeing all of the weather apps popping up all over the country, namely in Alabama and Mississippi. Local news is next when the market is decimated and there are still stories to be told.

All kidding aside, while I totally believe Nexstar is going to try and acquire more, let's keep the discussion to the Nexstar-Tegna deal. Anything else is pure speculation, and there are appropriate channels for that. Otherwise, we'll cross that bridge (CBS or whatever) when we get to it.

Nothing. We just have one or two conspiracy theorists here who are absolutely convinced that they know what Nexstar will want to buy after swallowing Tegna. Hopefully one of the moderators will clean things up and move all the non-Netflix-buys-Tegna posts to another thread.

The only transaction the FCC has ever voided was the 1956 NBC-Westinghouse swap, and that took nearly a decade to resolve. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that any subsequent administration will wave a magic wand and undo approval of this merger. Nor will it rehire any of the thousands of staff that will be fired by Perry once this is ramrodded. The fix is in.

I would assume any relaxed rules will get rid of the obsolete UHF discount, and if so, Nexstar's current coverage would jump up without Tenga, and that could definitely result in station sales even with a higher cap.

If our administration ramrods this deal through as it is against our current regulations, expect it to be unceremoniusly overturned and even reversed by the next administration, whenever that is. And Sinclair (and others) could sue their way into the deal, getting some of the stations that should rightfully be divested or some cash as a consolation prize.

If Nexstar actually tried to buy CBS, anti-trust laws would potentially come into play. I don’t see that happening in the near term if ever. I doubt that whoever made that graphic at WJZY had any special insider knowledge. It’s a poor interpretation of the corporate press release that was turned into a hastily prepared graphic. In my view, they read too much into the announcement. The official announcement is just an initial one. They should have said that Nexstar, WJZY’s parent company, has agreed to buy Tegna, which is WCNC’s parent company. And they should’ve left it at that. Anything more outside direct quotes is adding to the language of the actual announcement. I’m sure we will hear more in the coming weeks and months as to the exact scope of how this transaction will happen. The chances are high that Nexstar will need to divest some stations to get this through. Just because the rules may be adapted or relaxed, it does not mean that rule-making and laws go away. And it’s a maybe on rules changing, not a guarantee currently.

This cluster is the most bonkers one I've seen; you're telling me they have a completely sober CBS affiliate (and the usual afterthought MNTV sub) and then a sub-company out of the same building (operating the CW, Estrella, and Univision network affiliates) that has brands such as "Right All Along" and "Trump Country" (formerly "Hell Yeah!" and hinting at wanting WF*K for a joke) owned by a literal GOP congressional candidate? When Venta writes an essay about it, you know even he sees through the facade. Watch as they also make an overture to Scripps to give them WFTX for a pittance.

CBS is very blatantly Nexstar's next takeover target after this goes through. Not only does it get them a second network and twinsticks in almost all the top 10 markets, but they also get another 12.5% of the CW as an added bonus. WJZY openly told their viewers that they expect to control WCNC when this goes through. Perry is counting on Brendan Carr openly flaunting or ignoring the rules (which is 100% to be expected with this regime) and declare the cap as an outdated rule that no longer applies. Which is absolutely going to happen... what's the supple, pliable speaker Mike Johnson going to do when he's already fully doing the bidding of Carr's boss?

Don't sleep on LinkedIn. Otherwise, you'll miss out on content like this video showcasing the new WCCB logo and their Independent status (again) that begins on September 1st. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wccb-charlotte-the-cw_charlotte-and-the-surrounding-region-define-activity-7363652135391010817-4o53?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAABqGw-0BrOQ_9csrv95OAtvM37gqLkE_dSc

Agreed... This particular topic of CBS programming issues/debates/cancellations/etc should be moved to the CBS forum or the Speculatron...

I too agree that Nexstar would be smart to divest stations, especially the larger market stations, including Denver and Charlotte. I'd even add places like Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Columbus (Ohio), Sacramento, San Diego, Portland (Oregon), Hartford-New Haven, Norfolk, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Buffalo, to name a few. As for who'd buy up divested stations would be a different discussion for a different day.

Parents... Its 10 O'clock. Do you know where your children are? KFOR is bringing this tradition back. https://kfor.com/news/local/in-by-10-reminds-parents-to-get-kids-home-by-10-p-m/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMQ5RVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHi_9aIoepmWstIm3TbcG9SWEbkH6yyIJnSBV0K9LSejSlEP_VOGTjOGLv9kV_aem_ZFnvMYMKTzYrIKXaLth0iw

3rd? Don't they outperform CNN? They kept the MS in MSNBC after Microsoft left due to brand recognition. MSNBC was so ingrained in the media lexicon that it would've been like Twitter rebranding to X. In that same vein I understand Versant keeping "MSN" is their name. They want the public to immediately recognize MSNOW as the successor of MSNBC. I was initially skeptical of the name, but I can tolerate it. Agreed, the logo is . Versant probably paid consultants and this is the best they could've done! I'm all for NBC distancing itself from that toxic partisan cable network, but if CNBC is keeping it's name, MSNBC might as well. We're already supposed to ignore that MS originally means Microsoft so they can keep that up for the NBC part. CNBC is already covered with Consumer News & Business Channel. I'm surprised the star of their network coverage didn't suggest "MSDNC" as a rebrand.

If USA Network truly had the brand equity to justify changing the name of MSNBC to "USA News", then I suspect they wouldn't have picked "Versant" as the spinoff name. We'd have seen a return of "USA Networks". I hear there's a motivated seller with the brand "NewsNet" available!

It was cool to see how the network looks, and it won't be a success... it'll be a massive success. Also, I'm seeing via FB posts that 1° Outside, the New England-based weather service created and run by the husband and wife meteorology duo of Matt and Danielle Noyes (loved them for years), has launched their own 24/7 streaming network of their own but its hidden for Patreon folks for now. It's a sign of the times, and I know that more networks like these are coming...

You have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.

And just days after Ken Schwall passed on. https://www.wbir.com/video/life/people/remembering-ken-schwall-the-newsmans-newsman/51-a13fc4b4-5fe4-4d66-a118-1ae92b95b32d

WQAD NewsChannel 8 at 10:00 (February 22, 1999) KSLA Eyewitness News at 10:00 (August 14, 1985) WRAL Six O'Clock News (August 17, 1997) KGO Channel 7 News Tonight (aired at 9:00pm Pacific time due to the Summer Olympics) (August 8, 1984) KSNW NewsChannel 3 NightBeat (May 7, 1995)

And a partridge in a pear tree… and Gulfshore Life Magazine, The Naples Press, and a few smaller one-off publications. Not to mention they are spending an obscene amount of money on an updated facility that was supposed to be done a year ago after their existing building got flooded by Hurricane Ian in 2022. ($18.5 mil alone for the building + renovation and equipment) Without revealing too much about myself, I worked on the TV side as a first job a very long time ago. It was a great place to start, or at least that’s what I thought at the time. Going from a one off operation to a big group was a culture shock. Whenever one or both companies decide to sell, that’ll be a complicated transaction. But buying more radio properties makes me think they’re nowhere close to cashing out. (And if I was a betting man, won’t accept an offer that values WINK-TV for any less than the adjusted for inflation price of what WBBH sold to Hearst for.)

Once again, there over extending Brittney Bell. She did the morning and noon newscasts and did WNT and ABC News Live prime. With Sam almost out the door, they really need another full time meteorologist to avoid the super long hours.

If you've seen any opens regarding WANF lately, you may not have seen Shon Gables in any of them. That's because she's taken a leave of absence for personal reasons and has been off their airwaves since February. Today, it became official. She's not going back. https://www.ajc.com/arts-entertainment/2025/08/shon-gables-officially-leaves-atlanta-news-first-after-seven-years/

Who's going to enforce said laws? A decimated, understaffed FTC? A DOJ led by whackjobs Kash Patel and Dan "Toasterhead" Bongino? Those safeguards we once had are gone. We're talking about a lawless regime with zero credible opposition and zero oversight. Brendan Carr will flaunt or flagrantly break the rules to get his way because he's a political hack. He doesn't give a damn about a contempt of court because they can't enforce anything. And no, Nexstar is not selling a single station. This is a dream scenario for a conglomerate whose sole existence has been centered around buying up everything.

I think the final logo will change, it's currently used by the network in some of their graphics and it looks like they threw it together at the last minute. As a loyal MSNBC viewer, I'm thrilled that MSNBC is distancing itself from the toxic disgrace known as NBC News, and I know many others who feel the same way. Yes MSNBC is partisan, but there are a lot of people out there who want and need a partisan network right now. We can't trust any mainstream TV news to cover Trump fairly because their owners are worried Trump is going to come after their theme parks or internet business or whatever. By removing all associations with NBC News, this new network can highlight the fact that they are independent and the only television news outlet not scared of death of upsetting the president. NBC News is actually hurting MSNBC's credibility with its audience right now.

Tom McGee, who anchored several stints at several TV stations in Charleston & Huntington, WV, has passed away at the age of 78. https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/former-west-virginia-anchor-attorney-tom-mcgee-dies-at-78/ He also worked at CNN in the 1980s, and after his stint at WHCP-TV (now WQCW), left TV news to attend law school and become a personal injury attorney. Despite his past reputation that cost him several anchoring stints at WCHS and WOWK, his post-television career was one of redemption and forgiveness that prove that nothing is impossible.