tyrannical bastard

5 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

It's an LMA. It's what Nexstar does for Mission stations, especially WPIX, but because it's only one station, instead of all of them it flies under the radar.

Not to mention Graham is small enough for such an arrangement, and it's BH's only TV station, so their continued assistance keeps things status quo.

I've lost track over the years since WPLG was sold to BH....How much of the station is still operated by Graham or is it basically a perpetual outsourcing agreement?

5 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Also interesting to note that MSNBC had virtually no anchors or separate coverage, they just simulcast NBC News' coverage with Lester.

Aside from a few shows like Ayman Mohyeldin, isn't most of their weekend repeats anyway?  And due to the gravity of the situation, it makes sense to simulcast the mothership.

In general, stations send staffers to their sister stations for extra coverage of natural disasters or if there is an urgent need for a staffer if there is no backup available.

I don't know if this is still the case, but back in the 90s in Cleveland, there were a lot of "Vacation relief" people, especially in weather.  People like Shane Hollett, Jon Loufman, Dan Deely and AJ Colby did this back then when the staffed meteorologist was away. 

Since the stations (except WEWS) are unionized, they were probably freelancers or contractors and not part of the union or station staff.  I know at WJW, they still post jobs for "vacation relief" positions, so this is probably because of their union their department belongs to.

Well, a lot of producers are going to have to find some new "kickers" for their newscasts. 

Jeanne Moos has retired from CNN.

Well, at least there's still "take a look at this!"

Our favorite destroyer of networks (and possibly our democracy thanks to his former BFF) may be waiting in the wings for Skydance's leftovers....

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/7/8/skydance-to-buy-paramount

As Moe Syszlak once said, "Oh dear god, no!"

2 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

I agree that those channels have become useless rerun vats. Not to verge too off-topic, but what is the future of cable television? Non existance? 

Basically live news and sports.  CNN may have thrown the gauntlet first with putting a live feed of themselves on Max.  (which is basically the same as linear CNN).  This is likely because they've pushed themselves into irrelevance unlike the others.

Until Fox News and MSNBC do the same, cable tv has a lifeline.  ESPN may be helping to break the system once they go fully a-la-carte.

But yes, the Paramount channels are mostly rerun vats.  And basically added value for the clueless cable tv subscriber who wants their fix of shows readily available on streaming or on-demand.

8 minutes ago, MD TV said:

KCCI is starting a 4pm newscast this Monday:

 

https://www.kcci.com/article/kcci-tv-des-moines-new-4-pm-newscast/61532703

Let me guess, lots of people running for office in Iowa and they want that sweet political $$$.

Of course, with the presidential election, if someone drops out, all the better.

On 7/2/2024 at 9:49 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

Michael White, longtime morning meteorologist at WALA FOX 10 in Mobile is out, stating they are going in a "different direction"

 

https://1819news.com/news/item/meteorologist-michael-white-out-at-fox-10-in-mobile

 

EDIT:  This could be interesting....lets see if FTVLive picks up on this.

I wouldn't normally expound on this, but there is a lot of the story that has not been reported on yet. 

The two articles out on this have Michael's side of the story with none of the other information reported on...yet...

With the word on the street, he was definitely fired for cause after many people have come forward (even co-workers) with accusations.

Look up Mobile, AL on reddit and you'll see what I mean.  This could get ugly.  That's why I'm not expounding on this here and giving you a chance to judge for yourself.

53 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

And a better use of a signal for sure rather than plugging in syndicated talk shows, brokered or religious content. Hopefully a translator is in the works for the FM side.

AM radio needs to be more accessible for what Griffin is doing. 

A simple, inexpensive AM receiver is infinitely more valuable than trying to stream breaking information during a severe weather or other emergency.  Less margin of error when things go down.

I wish the industry would stop putting on the garbage it does on AM radio.  Make it useful instead of trying to be profitable.

Michael White, longtime morning meteorologist at WALA FOX 10 in Mobile is out, stating they are going in a "different direction"

https://1819news.com/news/item/meteorologist-michael-white-out-at-fox-10-in-mobile

EDIT:  This could be interesting....lets see if FTVLive picks up on this.

At least KOTV-AM is a 50KW clear channel. 

That's very nice to have since their potential audience is many times larger than their TV footprint at night.  Great for severe weather coverage.

3 hours ago, KS-IL-IA said:

It's a day that rivals only Christmas -- the WBNX fall schedule is out!

 

https://www.wbnx.com/fall-schedule

 

New: Flip Side, Abishola, True Crime News

Gone: King of Queens, at least I think that's it from weekdays.

Northeast's Ohio Family SuperStation! (if they really wanted to be one....)

Now that Angley's a thing of the past aside from their Sunday morning program. 

Do any markets outside Cleveland and the religious broadcasters/channels even carry it anymore?

11 hours ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

Yes, hence why Fox re-acquired WITI - part of a deal to get KCPQ/KZJO (Seahawks) - twelve years after offloading it to a private equity group in 2007. They did have to sacrifice another NFC market in Charlotte (WJZY/WMYT) to make it happen though.

Fox did such a poor job in Charlotte with "Fox Carolinas", "Fox 46" and whatever else....that trading for Seattle and Milwaukee was almost a certainty.  Besides the Panthers have had a rough time in the NFC.

1 hour ago, NowBergen said:

I think you misunderstood. Fox’s strategy was to own the Fox station in every NFC market. The Patriots are an AFC team. Fox holds the rights primarily to the NFC. It made having a station in SF more attractive than in Boston. It’s about keeping the advertising $$$ for themselves. 

Hence why Fox dumped WJW (Browns), WDAF (Chiefs), KDVR (Broncos), KTVI (Rams at the time), WITI (distant market for the Packers)  as well as non-NFL markets like Salt Lake City, Greensboro and Birmingham. 

The only reason Memphis was kept was likely LocalTV's desire not to re-sell WREG to another owner, so Fox kept Memphis until the KTVU/WFXT swap and Cox got WHBQ as a consolation prize.

On 6/19/2024 at 3:11 PM, mrschimpf said:

NBC would love to get rid of WTWC, which has been a 'get a tall tower to view a competent NBC station' since Sinclair starved out its news plans in 2000 to become a WB affiliate in all but network programming. WCTV has a spare sister with MeTV (WFXU) which would allow them a better affiliate with the market's top news department and a traffic department that's not embarrassed about its public reach.

Tallahassee is about as backwoods as a state capital can be, especially for Florida.  Sinclair could have capitalized on that, but they didn't.  Instead, you have WCTV and whatever's left of WTXL when Scripps stops stripping it (and their sister stations) for parts.

Meanwhile, the less media, the better for all of the state politicians who bow down to Lord DeSantis and his regime over Florida.

23 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

I do hope NBC would move it to WALA-TV, just so they would have an nice little reunion with NBC after 2 and a half decades of being an Fox Affiliate. (Of course, with Fox being on 10.1)

The only issue with WALA is how they would brand themselves. 

Given Gray's penchant to de-brand their NBC affiliates, it would have to be something like "10 News" or even "10 News Now" (since they used "The News Now" in the 80s working in the "10" in "NOW".

20 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

I don't see Sinclair axing NBC just because of MSNBC taking them to task Sinclair doesn't care if they get good press or bad press like most O&O's along with cable news in my opinion.

If anything, NBC will walk simply because they want affiliates that can compete in their markets.  Having stations that won't bother to create a viable lead-in to Today (a morning newscast) keeps the ratings and market share low.

I'd keep my eye on Mobile and Pensacola.  NBC could walk from WPMI and could easily end up on either WKRG or WALA.  WALA having the means to produce local newscasts if they secure NBC as a .2 or WKRG making a play since the SEC package is gone and would greatly improve NBC's ratings in the market, and that CBS's deal with Nexstar is up alongside NBC's deal with Sinclair this year.

Media General thought they won the lottery when they snagged CBS from WRAL but the opposite happened since WRAL dominates the market and NBC's fortunes flip-flopped since they have been beleagured for decades under 28 and WNCN.

CBS may be willing to settle for a weaker affiliation simply because of their devotion to streaming.  And CBS has less animosity towards Sinclair on the news side.

2 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

WNBW. Not WGFL.

Fixed.  But same issue for both stations cheaping out on local news.

Sinclair is so cheap these days, they are cutting imported newscasts! 

You can only wonder how much longer the WOLF Scranton and WXLV Greensboro ones last...

There are certainly some dog NBC affiliates within Sinclair. 

Notably WTWC in Tallahassee and more recently, WPMI in Mobile and WGFL WNBW in Gainesville.

WTWC doesn't even air TND during local news slots like the other stations that have given up on news.

Also, their affiliations are apparently up at the end of the year.  We shall see if they renew.  It seemed like an eleventh hour thing the last time.

But like the ABC affiliates keeping stations like KDNL the way they are, it's probably worth it to keep NBC around for stations like WTOV, WJAR, WCYB and WJAC.

An anchor and a producer from WEAR in Pensacola are gone.

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/6/13/no-longer-with-the-station

Yona anchored the weekend news, for both WPMI and WEAR since they produce the weekend shows out of Pensacola.

I was wondering why Sue Straughn was anchoring on a Sunday...

1 hour ago, HanSolo said:

Not at all. Never really did. It's a perfectly usable branding convention (with history on that particular station, but that is neither here nor there). There's a relatively limited (all things considered) pool of branding conventions that work. There's a good reason CBS went that direction with, what is it, a half dozen of their stations post CW? (KDKA+/KPIX+ as exceptions, IIRC?)

 

There's no singular right or wrong approach, and honestly, you'd be hard pressed to find something that would be truly "stupid," since generally speaking, no one wants to tank their employer and endanger their paycheck.

 

Any one person may have preferences, hangups or quibbles with an approach, subjectively. But stepping back and trying to put things through an objective filter and leaving personal animus aside, it's serviceable for their needs. 

While this sort of applies here, but also applies to Gray (if they follow through with de-branding ALL of their network affiliated stations)

What are they going to do with "FOX Carolina"?  For them, WHNS and 21 may be pretty foreign to their viewers bv now.

Putting this topic back on track, it will  be interesting to see how Scripps carries through with their soon-to-be independents.  CBS is using news for many of them.

Pre-1995, many independent stations (that became UPN & WB) ran a movie at 8/7 rather than programming serials or syndicated shows.  Many still had sports deals before cable took them mostly away.

Now, syndication takes up these time slots in many places.  Some do news as well.  Perhaps Scripps will program sports in the markets they have deals in.

18 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

*2018 repeats again.* 

 

But no seriously on this one, and I'm being serious, this crap is going to kill the good reputation of a boat-load of Sinclair-owned stations. The situation in 2018 was bad enough, given Sinclair was trying to aquire Tribune Broadcasting/Media, but did Sinclair have to do this in 2024, an presidential election year? 

Aside from a few that somehow still rule their markets (notably WSYX), Sinclair has tanked quite a few of them during their ownership tenure.

WSYX leading the market has mostly WCMH and WBNS tanking under their owners, especially when WBNS got sold to Tegna.  Inertia pushes ABC 6 & Fox "28" to the top.

There's still some decent journalism at the local level.....for now...

7 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

— Except small to mid-market stations do little by way of training employees anymore. In my old mid-market newsroom, there was no formal training for reporters, just learning as you go along. There was no hair, makeup, work phones, or any perks attached for reporters. So their argument that investment in employees justifies post-employment non-compete clauses or contract breach fees is null and void. 

 

And so what if they did invest in employees? Why do employers feel the need to exercise control over what someone does when they leave your company? Fear of losing viewers?  As Katie Couric leaving Today for the CBS Evening News displayed, talent switching channels doesn't mean the viewers will leave in droves as the CBS EN remained #3 and Today remained #1 in their respective slots. Nonetheless, I doubt audiences will abandon a station because a reporter (a more interchangeable face than an anchor) has switched channels. 

 

If it's fear of spreading company intellectual property — cameramen and digital writers who weren't under contract were privy to just as much information as reporters and producers who were contracted. So that policy of subjecting one to contract not the other was inconsistent to me. 

 

 

When it comes to recouping their investment in employees, a lot of the so-called "training" is the corporate brainwashing that these companies pile on them. And therein lies the "trade secrets" these companies are trying to protect through non-competes and enforcing contracts.

Just another example of top-down management trickling down to the average employee...

Another "local" news operation of Sinclair's is no more.  Savannah's WTGS aired their last newscast on May 31st...

Even though their news was produced by WPDE up in Myrtle Beach, it's yet another newscast replaced by TND.