tyrannical bastard

It's kind of a sad commentary on all the larger market Scripps stations though...

Phoenix

Tampa

Denver

Cleveland

Baltimore

Indy

San Diego

Especially Cleveland and Cincinnati, since both are markets where Scripps has continuously owned stations since they were signed on.

 

WEWS has fared far worse than WCPO and has been a ratings disaster for over a decade now...

WKRG has hired a fourth meteorologist, Melissa Constanzer, from WJFW in Rhinelander, WI. Presumably this is the first step of their long-rumored expansion into weekend morning news.

...and to my surprise, the weekend newscasts started TODAY!

 

It runs an hour on Saturday at 5am and 6-8am on Sunday. A long overdue move in Mobile since the only other option was WEAR's hour long show on Saturday and Sunday at 6am.

Not necessarily breaking news, but here's a comprehensive recap of the recent departures at WTMJ....

http://www.duanedudek.com/blog/2015/06/19/exodus-begins-at-scripps-owned-wtmj/

 

How many were forced out by Scripps? Some of them left on their own volition, seeing the writing on the wall...

Some additions (and subtractions) in the Mobile/Pensacola market...

 

WKRG has hired a fourth meteorologist, Melissa Constanzer, from WJFW in Rhinelander, WI. Presumably this is the first step of their long-rumored expansion into weekend morning news.

Also, WALA has hired Lee Peck from KPLC in Lake Charles as a reporter/anchor...

http://flnewscenter.com/?p=9521

 

Meanwhile, over at WPMI, chief meteorologist Derek Beasley is leaving the station in August...

http://lagniappemobile.com/alabama-media-group-nola-merge-mathews-back-bama/

 

Also in recent weeks, WPMI has discontinued their 4:30am newscast, leaving sister station WEAR and WALA as the only stations in Mobile/Pensacola to start at that time.

A good mix of their on-air brand with the domain name,brand styling, and STATION LOGO integration!

Much better than the standard issue CrappyLocalPortalSite.com that has nothing to do with the station that runs it.

Digital is destroying TV news (and journalism in general). It's giving the power to a public who has no idea what they are doing as they misinform themselves into oblivion.

 

Any fact-checking or judgment has been done away with in order for anyone to say anything they see fit via social media and it's power to rapidly share things no matter how factual they are.

 

Some may have good intentions, but the cycle of potential manipulation and the endless speculation of captured events is turning people resistant to the facts and truth.

 

KAIT just recently added NBC to 8.2 and just simulcast WMC's newscasts.

 

Not sure how antitrust work with networks on subchannels but I guess Raycom figured it was easier to just make 8.2 a satellite of WMC instead of tackling a new network.

 

Had KAIT added CBS instead of NBC to it's subchannel, Raycom would have had a de facto monopoly over Jonesboro after the importation of WMC's signal, making Raycom the supplier of all 3 major networks. Since Memphis is a separate market and KAIT is only a single station, it's all legal under the current guidelines. Given Jonesboro's location, Memphis is their only option.

 

If Lima, Ohio can have one company control all of the affiliations through subchannels and low-powered stations, it's possible because there's only 1 full powered license involved in said DMA.

 

I fully expect KPLC to shoehorn another network or two onto their frequency given Raycom's desire to sub-channel their incomplete markets and to make up market share from losing Lafayette to Nexstar when they sign their own NBC affiliate there..

 

Now if this wasn't broadcasting, this may pose an antitrust issue. That's the irony of the state of the FCC with digital television.

 

New Fox Station for Jonesboro

 

 

http://arkansastvnewswatch.blogspot.com/2015/06/new-fox-station-for-jonesboro.html

 

And you might need a good outdoor antenna to pick it up, since its transmitter is near Walnut Ridge.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KJNB

http://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=1370021&map=Y

 

Now, when will Jonesboro get a CBS affiliate? Or will WREG fight it?

 

It looks like Waypoint Media is doing the exact same thing in Jonesboro that they are also doing in Hattiesburg, MS. Waypoint acquired a low power station there and beamed in a FOX affiliate (and eventually a CW .2) from their facility in Meridian. Waypoint owns both WGBC and WMDN in Meridian, having acquired WMDN from Frank Spain via a failed station waiver.

 

I'm surprised KAIT didn't go after CBS as a .2 prospect. This way, they would still have WMC to import into the market as an NBC. Antitrust issues perhaps?

Eric Land has been named General Manager of Sinclair's Birmingham stations, succeeding former WBMA GM Mike Murphy who left for KMOV in St. Louis.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/mobile/index/article/id/85805

 

It should be noted that Land was the General Manager hired by Media General to hit the reset button at WBMG and rebrand the station as WIAT and "42 Daily News".

I doubt that the Sinclair stations in Birmingham would be subjected to such a fate...

I know this is way off, but would you picture WOIO/WUAB a CBS O&O station?

If they ever would have become one, it would have happened years ago. CBS still maintains several radio stations in Cleveland after selling off other markets.

 

Now if the Cleveland Browns were a halfway decent team, CBS would have jumped on them like FOX has done (Charlotte and San Francisco) and tried to do (Seattle) in their NFC markets.

What's really surprising to me is the supposed re-brand to "Cleveland 19 News" from "Action News." Are they trying to tone it down perhaps?

It's been heading that way ever since the departure of Sharon Reed, the return of Romona Robinson, and most importantly, the retirement of Bill Applegate. The departure of Tanchak only furthers this since he was one of the more boisterous personalities to come aboard.

 

I have to wonder what card Raycom has up their sleeve, because their initial effort, "Hometeam 19/43 News" using the Raycom template was a complete flop that was only made worse when the Indians pulled their games from WUAB in 2001, which was a major blow which they've really never recovered from.

 

Now if they take the WBTV approach, then they may have something. Its a slick package that blows their current abomination out of the water.

 

FTVlive.com is reporting that Jeff Tanchak is out at CBS19 and the station making many changes. Along with branding name to Cleveland 19 News.

 

http://www.ftvlive.com/todays-news/2015/6/1/out-the-door-in-cleveland

 

It will be interesting to see who replaces him, as this is a clear signal that the days of "Action News" are as very much numbered. If Bruce (Edwards) Kalinowski hadn't been picked up by WKYC, he would have been a good choice to return to his former position as he held it before Tanchak was hired.

Sharon Reed is OFFICIALLY joining WGCL as an anchor.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/85422/sharon-reed-named-anchor-at-wgcl-atlanta

KVHP has significant overlap into KBTV's territory. This goes back to when KVHP was the parent station of KUIL-LP, which was FOX's Beaumont affiliate until KBTV took it in 2009.

 

I could see Raycom eventually picking up another affiliate or two on KPLC to attempt to round out the market.

This may have bigger implications for Lake Charles itself. If KPLC covers the Lafayette area decently, it still has the coverage advantage over piping in news from Baton Rouge.

 

On the flipside, KPLC may challenge "K-JAC" (KBMT's NBC subchannel) if there's enough crossover. If i'm correct, viewers there associate better with the Beaumont-Port Arthur market than with Lafayette for their remaining affiliates.

 

It is good news for Lafayette since they're most likely the largest market in the country now that still relies on an adjacent market for a major network affiliate. But on the flipside, it could mean the ultimate collapse of the Lake Charles market should Lake Charles merge into Beaumont.

 

It could also be the next Zanesville, OH or Victoria, TX if KPLC sticks around for their local Lake Charles viewers.

WVTM has the potential to become the #2 station again if they play their cards right. Undoing the damage inflicted by Media General is the first step. They wasted no time putting in their own people and dumped the "Alabama's 13" brand as soon as they could get the Hearst material up and running.

 

WIAT ran out of gas when they reset their managment and rebranded under LIN. They had a good thing going on for the first time in their history and tossed it out the window with all of the changes.

 

For 33/40. James Spann. That is all. The Sinclair look and feel is a massive improvement though.

 

WBRC will continue to rule the Birmingham market as long as Raycom owns them.

WVTM has always been a hubbed station, going all the way back to NBC when they hubbed their master controls. I believe they finally have built or are in the process of building their own master control.

 

Graphics-wise, they went from the WNBC Pyburn package to MGFX, and over to Hearst's look. MGFX probably supported them in the interim until the Hearst changes were implemented.

...or resurrect the death star, make it a symbol and call it "The company formerly known as Gannett"

 

And since the Comcast deal is on death's door "Spinco" sounds pretty good too.

They would have been better off resurrecting "Multimedia" or even "Combined" for their spinoff.

 

In this case, it looks like the company is spinning off the non-print business unlike other deals which spun off the print sides like Media General.

WJHG in Panama City, FL is moving their hour-long noon newscast to 11am on Monday April 13.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/299263801.html

 

This will make way for a half hour noon show on low-powered sister station WECP, which recently began airing a 5:30 newscast as "Local 18 News"; pushing the CBS Evening News to 6pm.

 

This now means that WMBB and WJHG will compete head-to-head at 11am. Since WECP relies so heavily on WJHG, this arrangement makes sense since newscasts can't air on top of each other. I'm surprised it took this long considering WTVY in Dothan began producing a 5:30 show for WRGX right from the get-go. And Panama City still lacks a 9pm newscast of any kind.

 

More astonishing is that the station was still using the WeatherPlus brand.

 

Probably one of the last stations that used the interface and software to run the channel, which long outlasted the original channel and concept itself.

 

WPMI kept theirs going until late 2013-early 2014, but it was re-branded as "The Weather Authority Network" soon after the national shutdown, using the same template and software as WeatherPlus, but with a branded look that matched the station's branding.

 

Not sure if it's been mentioned anywhere here but Let's Ask America is not returning next season:

 

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/syndication-and-distribution/scripps-lets-go-lets-ask-america/139088

 

Wonder what will replace it: more news? More RightThisMinute? Actual viable syndicated programming?

 

I had mentioned it before it was "moved" to another thread about the "possibility" of The Now going on hiatus.

Former WKRG Meteorologist and "County Road 5" reporter Jere Hough has passed away at the age of 74.

http://www.wkrg.com/story/28622764/remembering-longtime-wkrg-meteorologist-jere-hough

David Rogers worked at WKYC from 1997 to 2000, when he jumped to WCBS. He was later fired from WCBS because hit and ran over two construction workers on the interstate....one critically while under the influence.

Kirk Clyatt at WVIR was apparently fired for speaking to the Charlottesville, WV city council urging them to stop celebrating Lee Jackson Day. The holiday is celebrated in Virginia on the Friday before Martin Luther King day. Apparently he's relief US news presenter for a few radio stations in Australia and provides commentary. WVIR hired him knowing he did commentary online and on radio but it appears speaking out at a city council meeting was too much. I assume they did not care about the Australian radio commentary because they figured no one would pay attention to Australian radio. I'm guessing there is something else that precipitated his firing.

 

http://wina.com/news/064460-recently-fired-weatherman-speaks-out/

 

Here's his blog entry: https://kirkclyatt.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/really-fired-for-speaking-to-city-council-about-a-confederate-holiday/

 

The audio of his speech: https://soundcloud.com/clyatt/what-i-did-said-that-so-upset-nbc29

 

As a side note WVIR was station number 38 he's worked at. A quick google search makes it appear he was fired from WBFF, WHP and WVIR.

If "Captain Kirk" got canned from WVIR, that's the end of his career, unless he succeds Emelie Boyles at KXGN in beautiful, picturesque, Glendive.

 

WVIR is like a rehab market for people who have done things that have gotten them canned elsewhere. Is David Rogers from WKYC and later WCBS still there?