tyrannical bastard

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".

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

More proof that the station groups are totally out of it when it comes to their practices. It may have made sense 20-30 years ago when they were riding high and salaries were above board. But now, there are more lucrative "at-will" jobs and careers where the relationship between employee and employer can be terminated at any time by either party, with adequate notice to condition any guarantee of earned benefits. That does pose the risk that the employer may exercise this option. Contracted employees are paid for the duration of the contract unless there is a breach that nullifies it. In some cases, an employee may be released and still paid for the duration of the contract.

Well, Thomas Geboy was supposed to debut as WPMI NBC 15's new Chief Meterologist today at 5pm.... But then the power went out.... So they had to simulcast WEAR's news out of Pensacola for 5 and 6. We'll see if they're back at 10pm.

It seems the contracts are getting shorter and shorter. Turnover is constant, and jobs in smaller markets are either stepping stones for larger markets or only stops for the journalists who take them. The recruiters are on colleges trying to snatch up any recent graduates (or even students) to fill the voids created by all of the turnover. In a way, this may create a future void, as current long-haul journalists and TV people leave the industry for a better life (and salary) because of their experience. When the experience goes away, these other jobs may suffer unless the schools teach for this kind of experience.

I think station groups small and large could be vulnerable. Small groups could be vulnerable because they lack the resources that the larger groups have. And the large groups could be vulnerable simply because they have grown so big that if they should fail, their failure would have a catastrophic impact on the communities they serve.

Looks like the old TVNewsTalk.net domain is active again. I accidentally typed it in, and it redirected back to here after being in limbo since the outage.

Broadcast TV is likeky long past its chance to be broken up by the government. When Ma Bell (AT&T) was broken up into the RBOCs, it only took 20 years for many of them to merge back together as....AT&T. By then, cellular phones were a regular part of life and customers had options. Nowadays, the very POTS that comprised phone service is a rarity that has been largely replaced by VOIP and cellular. At least we still have competition in TV, even if it's the same three owners and many markets. The stations are going to have to start falling before anyone intervenes. I think on the internet end we could start seeing some regulation since the content pool is getting smaller.

Fox is pretty well-known for their old and decaying buildings they run their stations out of. WNYW had issues several years back and even had carbon monoxide issues in their live trucks. Not to mention WHBQ in Memphis, which was so terrible that when Cox got the station, they basically overhauled it from the inside out. I can only imagine if Fox still had WJW, if they would still be on their 2007 set. Although, it seems that the prior set and current one were parting gifts before ownership change. Local TV took over shortly after the 2007 set and Nexstar took over shortly after Tribune put in the 2019 set....

That would be the quickest way to drive the network(s) into the ground. Especially if the Barstool people are actually entrusted with games.

WPMI has a new Chief Meteorologist. Thomas Geboy returns to the area after a stint in Utah at KTVX. https://mynbc15.com/news/local/nbc-15-welcomes-chief-meteorologist-thomas-geboy# Before moving to Utah, he was a dayside meterologist who worked at WKRG, along with his predecessor, Alan Sealls. ...and here's his bio from WKRG, which they forgot to take down years back https://www.wkrg.com/author/thomas-geboy/

Found this article about Kevin Adell being sued by family members over fraud and racketeering in the "theft" of land in Novi, Michigan. https://www.metrotimes.com/news/910am-superstation-owner-accused-of-fraud-racketeering-in-federal-lawsuit-34167968 This makes me wonder, how does this man even hold a broadcast license? Especially in a place like Detroit, he uses this as a weapon that has scared away major companies that have kept his WADL-TV from becoming a major factor becuase of his own ego, incompetence and greed. What does it even take to be stripped of a license anymore these days? This is even a picture the Detroit News pulled from Adell Media.

Do these WPBN/WTOM newscasts supplement the existing WBKB ones, or are they completely replacing them? At one time, WGTU/WGTQ was also owned by Tom Scanlan, but they were absorbed into WPBN/WTOM prior to Sinclair's purchase of Barrington.

Too bad that WVUE didn't go with the purple in their package. I guess they're too engrained with the blue going all the way back to their pre-Raycom days under Louisiana Media post-Emmis. Beating WWL into submission and being the top station in New Orleans is probably something they don't want to mess with. They have the reach that the other stations simply don't have in terms of freedom to program newscasts. WDSU is all alone and anything WWL (WUPL) and WGNO (WNOL) even tries to put out can't even hold a candle to what WVUE can put out...

With the Reagan "original movie" that they've been hyping up, now they're trying to out-fox NewsMax..... I wonder if they still get double the ratings that NewsNation does...

Yet another departure in the 'Land..... WKYC legend Jim Donovan is calling it a career at the end of June. https://www.wkyc.com/article/entertainment/television/jim-donovan-retirement-wkyc-cleveland-channel-3-news-sports-anchor/95-7eb461dc-b705-44cc-852c-735792d496e7 Not only in Cleveland, people are heading for the exits all across the country. It seems like this is a turning point in TV.

They do have an awkward and unwieldy logo (the "12" is much wider than the "Fox") so simplifying it for the mic flag was a good idea. Portland may also have a strong "anti-Fox" sentiment as well, so the less ties to the national news channel, the better. But if Gray is separating network identity for their affiliates, it may be a very tough sell, especially for their longer-tenured affiliates that have co-branded for decades.

With this, it throws Bally Sports back into question. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40153860/loss-comcast-tv-carrier-devastating Let it die. Comcast customers will not miss the RSN fees on top of all of the other "fees" they have to pay.