Samantha

A broadcasting pioneer who built several Michigan stations passed away June 1 at his Tucson home after a lengthy fight with cancer. Tom Scanlan built WBKB, WBKP and WBUP and owned WGTU-WGTQ for a time as well. He received the lifetime achievement award from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters in 2013. Scanlan had previously served in the military, helping run AFRTS in Turkey and American Forces television in Germany. He was 76.

WLNE promo in 1994. This is a rare era with an early version of their current 6 logo...

That's right. Thanks for the correction.

It's the end of a long era in Phoenix television. Tonight is Dave Munsey's final forecast for KSAZ. He started in the mid-70s at KOOL-TV and has survived a lot of change in Valley TV news. Unfortunately, what has not survived are good traces of KSAZ's old logos, evidently. They trotted this abomination out last night:

With so many stations, how are their newscasts structured?

It's the "10" logo which is a lot like the one they had in the late 80s.

Exquisite: a KSDK "Sports Plus" with Mike Bush from 1996. This sounds like an add-on to Prime News, does it not? This, however, is a little different. In June 2002, all seemed ready to go for Fox to bring viewers the Cardinals and Cubs from Wrigley Field. Suddenly, a delay is announced. As viewers watch the other games, the news breaks in the top of the second inning: Darryl Kile has committed suicide. KTVI runs a local crawl informing viewers of the breaking news and the game's cancellation. When the top of the inning ends, KTVI breaks in with a brief update. In the bottom of the inning, all national viewers are sent to Chicago to learn of the news as Joe Girardi informs fans at Wrigley Field. The Fox baseball coverage also features tributes after the recent death of Jack Buck. A fascinating look at how coverage of a very sad baseball event (something I still very much remember) was handled by Fox Sports and by KTVI.

Yeah, it definitely has an immediate "I've heard something like it before" vibe.

Wow, that graphics set is like the opposite of what they had in '92 — one of the most barebones opens you'll see:

A weekend edition of WCPO's 9 Newswatch in 1985:

Yup, I immediately recognized this from Kirk Varner's writeup! Heck, I even remembered the "ten minutes" line. I was expecting a stripey classically 80s "did Gannett own this station?" desk, and did 'FSB deliver!

Here's something: a short KCCI clip from 1991: And four years later with some by then tired CBS News graphics: (The Lary Lane Morgan story dates this clip to 1995, not 1997) WWTV/WWUP in 1986 (see KLTV 1985): WWTV/WWUP used Tuesday's Action News in 1991: WNEM in 1991, I have no idea: (That's not the 1987 theme)

KCCI "TV 8 News" from April 1984 (though I think this might be '83): A taste of how KCCI operated in 1980: And holy cake is this trippy or what: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiwhxMdkLA

This isn't like some of the recent Gray and Nexstar acquisitions where an immediate LMA resulted in transfer of operational control before the sale was consummated. I did hear someone suggest that Bonten's stations had a similar conservative lean to SBG though...I'd have to find it.

Yeah, that's screaming a ripoff alright.

A taste of something different: KGMB in 1999. The news theme debuted two years earlier and was written by Audy Kimura. The graphics at least that accompanied this theme lasted into 2001.

One more I think is noteworthy:

It's the Gannett of the Mid-90s Grand Tour:

Did Blacker's become Mor Furniture for Less or something, or at least did they use the same production company? The whole ad screams Mor to me (including VO). Mor had a tendency at one point to use Network Music and actually directly contributed to one ID of a piece of music! (That would be Dominant Force. Hearing it in a Mor commercial actually sparked me finding it. It helped that I already knew it was a production track by its appearance in a Rick Santorum presidential ad.)

A taste of WCPX 6 News from 1993:

I sure hope so.

KXAS had them by April 1987, but by then they were in use elsewhere (WJKS, WHTM). I do not think KXAS debuted them until the new NBC peacock was rolled out. There is a lean toward NBC affiliates in the roster, but not totally.

I can name a bunch off the top of my head... , , , KNDU, WGGB...

That WHTM open is light-years ahead of what they had in 1986. Also, Charlie Van Dyke jumped from WHTM to WGAL really quickly...

That's what I get for finding these things at 12:30am... Here's a WEWS story from 1979: