tyrannical bastard

Even more departures from WPMI in Mobile..... Morning Meteorologist Deitra Tate is leaving in September, and current weekend meteorologist Kelly Foster will return to the AM shift next month, reversing a swap that happened almost 2 years ago when Kelly Jones was brought aboard to anchor mornings. She may end up staying longer if a replacement for Derek Beasley still hasn't been found, as her departure would leave them with only Kelly Foster as their sole meteorologist. Sports anchor Paxton Boyd is gone as well, after less than a year at the station. With all of these upcoming moves and departures, it could be a reason why the Sinclair-ization hasn't taken place yet. Here's the story from Lagniappe, as well as several anonymous reporters and anchors talking about the over-usage of "exclusive" in Mobile's newscasts.... http://lagniappemobile.com/reporters-going-exclusively-overboard/

WALA Fox 10 in Mobile is adding a 2 hour weekend morning newscast from 6-8am beginning on August 8. They become the third station in the Mobile/Pensacola market to take the weekend AM plunge and will offer 2 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. This leaves WPMI, who may not be able to start one due to their ownership structure since any additional Sinclair programming (newscasts) could violate their JSA/SSA. This could be why they recently dropped their 4:30am show (and why sister station WHAM did the same)

the "Battery Drainers" rejoice!

Charlotte and Detroit are two completely opposite places. Charlotte is a burgeoning metropolis that has exploding growth while Detroit has been bleeding jobs and population for decades. FOX bought WJZY because WCCB refused to sell out to them....so FOX stripped WCCB of their affiliation and ran with it after Capital Broadcasting was made an offer they couldn't refuse (and dodged a bullet in Raleigh too). Even with FIVE news operations (6 if you count TWC) and a dominant WSOC, there's the optimism and hope that keeps all 6 in operation. WWJ was a last minute desperate move because no other station (including WADL) wanted CBS at the time. Their only option was to throw a large pile of money ($24 million) at a station that barely covered Detroit at the time. They tried, and failed numerous times trying to make it work. Therefore, CBS is doing the bare minimum to get its programming to Detroit viewers and entrusting this to another company is a risk that no sane company, and CBS iteslf is willing to take. Atlanta was in a similar boat, but unlike Detroit, it's a growing place as well. WUPA was another insurance policy should the WGNX/WGCL deal have failed. They have more of a niche operation running a CW station there rather than have to deal with being trounced by WSB in the news ratings. This, and radio stations in a very large market is another way for CBS to make it work there.

Detroit is anything but a growth market. Especially with the cost cutting CBS is making, Detroit is the LAST place they would consider a news product. WWJ is for the sole purpose of providing CBS for Detroit and for keeping viewers from watching WTOL, WNEM and WLNS.

Being a Sunday night, it's the only night without a "hole" to fill with a newscast since the other nights have Tonight and SNL afterwards leaving a 30 or 35 minute hole to fill with a newscast or other program. Therefore, it's puzzling WHY affiliates in Eastern and Central time would exert the effort of producing a LIVE newscast at such an hour. It would make more sense to call it a night and join the schedule in progress. Station or ownership policies may necessitate running a newscast, even in such a case. Likewise, the "2am" rule may prevent it. In my experience, 5am was considered the start of a new broadcast day.

Is she going by de Florias in Phoenix? In Pensacola she was "Lena DeFlores". EDIT: Her WEAR Facebook page is still active....and was last updated in 2013. She became an evening anchor soon after until her departure... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lena-DeFlores/130901883699365

...and WEWS is the sole commercial station in Cleveland that's non-union, even after WOIO joined one.

WTVF is indeed one of their bright spots. It's not exactly my cup of tea, IMHO (I prefer WSMV) but if it dominates the market and is making piles of money, it's a prime example of what's been working. Very little has changed since Landmark sold out to Journal back in 2012. They have a highly regarded investigative unit, something that seems to be on the chopping block for many of Scripps' stations and newer acquisitions (namely KMGH and WTMJ)

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...

...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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.