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I’m going to be very blunt and say that, given what Apollo has to offer—a slightly above average group of television stations with an over-performer in WSB-TV and an unappealing laggard in WFXT, coupled with a whole bunch of radio stations—they’ll be lucky to find any buyers to speak of. Who’d want that hodgepodge of stuff? it would not be surprising to see Apollo take Cox off the market because no one wants it. They waited four years too late to sell and aren’t going to get another novice like INSP that is willing to burn $400M just for the ego boost of owning TV stations. Gray, Scripps and Nexstar don’t need them at all (and they ESPECIALLY do not want the radio stations) and Hearst doesn’t buy stations, period.

This is pretty much it; Coxpollo wants it to be 1997 where they can create an omnimedia company when nobody actually wants that. They're better off just keeping only the Atlanta, Orlando and Dayton clusters (or better, just the AM news/talk and FM simulcast) that are historically important to the company and so integrated into the TV stations that there's no way to easily break them up, and selling off the rest. They already created Summit Media the first time, which got the radio stations Scripps couldn't easily sell off, and that might just end up being the default direction they have to take.

WRTV's first new Chief in so long... Todd Klaassen. He's the official successor to the legendary Kevin Gregory (and one half of the Gregory heir throne). https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=657003307077852&id=1050883650187905

After 32 years, it's an end of an era at WRAL-TV. Debra Morgan will be signing off on May 21st. From the likes of Gaddy, Crabtree, Payne, and Owens, she's worked with the best of the best. Now, she'll be hanging it up. https://www.wral.com/story/wral-s-debra-morgan-to-anchor-final-newscast-on-may-21/21964181/

Unless there is some SERIOUS deregulation that is to take place, I agree with @Rusty Muck. Apollo is stuck with Cox unless someone comes along with either money and or cap space to support an acquisition. Even TV stations don't have a savior in the wings like the radio industry does with EMF. Even Trinity Broadcasting Network cashed in a lot of their stations during the spectrum auction, and as evidenced by Imagicomm selling out, the market is slim pickings.

Good luck with that. None of the suspected companies (Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps, etc, &c.) want radio stations and with Apollo wanting to sell the company as a complete unit, there are no available buyers, cap or no cap. And the industry dies outright with two or three companies too big to fail that are crippled when the networks abandon OTA for streaming, taking the last of the younger audiences with them.

I blocked the first attempt at this question, but I'm guessing you'd keep posting it. She didn't post her exit, the station would never say it, so you'll never truly find out. I'm guessing it was a part-time role post-Spectrum. Nothing more.

TEGNA is taking a page out of the Scripps playbook now. In Spokane on KREM 2, the weeknight 11pm broadcast is now a replay of the 10pm they produce for their sister station. The main channel doesn’t even air live news at 11. No disclaimer on the TV that it isn’t live, but the app lags a few seconds behind the on-air feed and they match up word for word. Interestingly enough, the app has a “previously recorded” tag but keeps the 10pm time/temp bug. The on-air rebroadcast has the right bug. Seriously cheap as this is a mid-60s market. Is this happening elsewhere in TEGNA-land?

That story would change if the FCC indeeds eliminates the ownership cap. I'd imagine Nexstar, Gray and Sinclair owning all of the stations in the US.

Does anyone. Know what happened to Bianca Rae? She joined KCAL in January 2024 from Spectrum News 1 SoCal, but she seems to have disappeared. Was she let go or did she quit?

Man, this is so weird to watch, and what the heck are all of the AI-generated thumbnails that look nothing like her?

Update on TJ Eckert he is joining KJRH starting Monday as senior reporter/anchor and will be anchoring the 6:00/6:30 Extra Edition newscasts with Naomi Keitt.

Rudabeh Shahbazi is officially promoted to the evening newscasts aloRudabeh Shahbazi is joining Pat Harvey on the evening newscasts. Sheba Turk will succeed her on Mornings. Both moves effective April 28th. https://deadline.com/2025/04/rudabeh-shahbazi-co-anchor-cbs-los-angeles-newscasts-sheba-turk-1236371104/

UK Not news but more TV in general. ITVBe is closing and migrating some of their programs to ITV2. In its place... ITV Quiz, a new gameshow network that's eerily family to one they used to operate, ITV Play, which would later close due to a scandal. I hope it doesn't go that route this time. However, I can see programs like The Chase and Tipping Point on the new network. https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/itvbe-itvquiz-rebrandann1

It would be ideal for Hearst. Big sigh!

WRIC has debuted a new never-before-seen Nexstar graphics package. Here are some of the weather graphics, taken from their website.

WTVO/WQRF has adopted NDC-3: Along with it, they switched SAM music packages: replacing “This is the Place” for “Unite”.

It sounds like Indie-Band News and Chris Crane had a baby.

Chris Crane? But yes, no doubt this is a custom theme.

I got some indie band news vibes too! They run some IDs and it is sounds like it, I’ll try to capture that too

It's not their best look, and it's not the best thing to come out of Linear Drift. But it's manageable, and it certainly refreshes from an out-of-place and outdated old KOIN "arrows" package they were using. Given the station's history when it comes to creative services choices, I'd say this is pretty refreshing. It's not as jarring as that old gray/purple/navy blue look with the abrasive serif font and the lightning bolts they had about a decade ago. Even the sharpness and red applied to the old Young HD graphics. Like if a station was going for graphics that screams brutal murder, WRIC has a history. I can understand slightly the hate for the old 8 logo, it was kind of scary and jarring looking, very sharp like razor blades. But it was unique, very unique. What they use now and have used for a few years now isn't, it's very uninspiring. But to be honest, these new graphics are the first time I can look at WRIC and not be scared shitless by graphics, and that's like for the first time EVER, in over 30 years. Heck, even the animation of the open in the last package it replaced was too jarring. Now, it seems the station is finally starting to soften up it's longstanding "guy hiding in a dark corner with a knife and a menacing smile" image that they seemed to have had for a long time. And if you don't agree with me: (Why is the transition sharp razor blades?!)

WMTW and KOLO have better designs for a logo for an ABC affiliate featuring the number 8. Even WGHP's Sottsass-Memphis art movement-inspired "triangle 8" logo survived the switchover from ABC to Fox in the big TV affiliation shuffle of 1994-1996 before it was unceremoniously ditched in the late 1990s, was a better logo...

It's called "Aerial" as in aerial photograph, not "Ariel" as in the name of the little mermaid. Besides that, I I'm with the rest of this forum when it comes to the Aerial music package!

Why the actual heck would you cheap out on a VO when you know you'd be better off not hiring one? Also, this is Rey's work? What? I just thought of it as an in-house Hothaus/Gray ripoff cobbled with existing Linear Drift graphics they could get for free. Woof.

I don’t get the hate for that old logo. It’s better than a generic 8.

The designer of the new graphics package at WRIC Just when you think it couldn't be any worse, I hop on Photoshop and say, "Hold My Beer." I better not speak too loud, knowing our luck, someone in Creative Services over there will hop on here, take one look at the old logo and be like "this is the sexiest thing I've ever seen! Why aren't we using that logo?" Next thing you know... TADA!!!!

The blue and white floating/rotating squares remind me of the package WCTI used for 15+ years until Sinclair standardized them.

Looks decent…for 2010. Maybe it’s just me, but imho both the graphics and music are a downgrade from what they replaced. They both look/sound well past their expiration date, and they just debuted. If only Tribune’s creative services team was kept…

r I remember that logo and watched WRIC TV8 News in the mid90s while visiting Richmond. However down the road Young seem to do some investing. It got to a point WRIC & WTVR were tied in some newscast and WRIC beat WTVR for #2. That logo made it for two decades and I don't know how it survived without changes, but Young Broadcasting, wasn't like many groups.

I have several friends of mine that live around the outskirts of the Richmond area. If you lived in Williamsburg, West Point, Emporia, Waverly, Hopewell , and some others . You had an option to add WVEC to your cable/satellite package either as a replacement to WRIC or an addon for a extra fee (That was also possible for WAVY/WTKR/WGNT/WTVZ/and WVBT as well). If you lived in Fredericksburg, Bowling Green, Mineral, Charlottesville (They got their own ABC affiliate in 2004), Port Royal, Orange County, and some others. You had the option to add WJLA as a replacement to WRIC or an addon for an extra fee (this also worked for WUSA/WTTG/WFTY/and WRC). This was an option mostly for Cox Communications and Directv/Dish Network Subscribers.

Wait, WHAT?! I didn't know that.

At least it is better then THIS logo. WRIC has seen much worse. Their highlight was when they were Media General's Flagship. Remember, This station was owned by Young Broadcasting who treated WRIC as a dumpster fire. People around Richmond would actually ask for WVEC or WJLA in their cable/satellite subscriptions in the 90s/00s due to how bad this station was.

YUCK. Why in God's name did they switch to Ariel?

(would rather send the traffic to my channel lol)

Here's the graphics in motion.

Not only that, they have brand new music: Aerial by Stephen Arnold Music (yeah, the theme that most of TVNT hates, lol...).

This very quick promo explains who will be WRIC's next Chief Meteorologist once John Bernier retires next week. It's an easy no brainer home run if you ask me.

Emily Pritchard is Lisa Rose's replacement at KYTV Springfield, Mo. starting July 28th. https://www.ky3.com/2025/04/16/ky3-hires-ozarks-native-its-newest-news-anchor/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJuKcpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHnR5XF9vvqZG9X_a1rSRPfkS7QVdmPWrLcmXeFsIkb2MU9MlcEVhmfKpUMJ6_aem_ivvto1Qvxer4g5QYIwMMO. First, a departure: Nicolette Zangara will be leaving the station April 29th. While I was at UF, I would watch her forecasts so I vouch for her in her future. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1234834741985497&id=100063769471578

Roger that 10-4 and over.

...Wink Martindale.

What channel name on YT? Have my condolences for them.

The same dumpster that this graphics package belongs in?

I could have given you a copy without my logo on the top right but oh well. It didn't look right with the stations image at the time and it doesn't look right now. It belongs in the dumpster it came out of.

Stronk. That was a message meant for a PM.

Not too impressed. On both the weather graphics and on the open, the text seems to just get lost into the background. This is what happens when you use plain white text with no outline / no drop shadow on a busy background.