Samantha

TVNewsCheck this morning has an interesting profile of DuJuan McCoy, whose Bayou City Broadcasting recently moved to buy WEVV Evansville. This quote is really interesting:

Sinclair will need to find an alternate look for those two — it's just not wise to have them looking the same as WEAR.

That was more related to CBS syndicating that typeface (used at the network level) to its stations than anything else.

A good reminder that WAAY was once an NBC affiliate, too.

Most Gannett stations and newspapers are integrated into the USA Today product because the states/schools use a backend product called Schedule Star. AZCentral is by far the largest exception to the USA Today integration in large part because Arizona is not a Schedule Star state. In addition here Gannett has a partnership with MaxPreps, which in turn has a partnership with our state high school association.

I thought Landess was retiring? Though I suppose moving back to your childhood town is part of that...

Puerto Rico is a really odd one. While it's certainly small (it's smaller than Connecticut but larger than Delaware), there are many low-powered stations and they are packed in quite tightly. It has three main regions: western (Mayagüez), central-southern (Ponce) and northeastern (San Juan). To be statewide you need to get into all three of those areas. At one point, WLII had retransmission agreements with four stations: WSUR-TV (channel 9), WSTE (channel 7 with boosters across the island, distributed transmission system), WORA and WNJX (also in Mayagüez but WORA had a better transmitter site). This combo of "11-9-7-5-22" was so powerful that the FCC admonished WLII which dropped WNJX (now a WAPA repeater) and WSTE (now in duopoly with WLII under Univision ownership). WKAQ, WAPA, WORA, WIPM, WSTE and WLII — along with any TV station worth its salt in Puerto Rico — all have transmission systems that enable them to reach island-wide coverage either through distributed transmission systems, semi-satellites or full-fledged satellites. To demonstrate this would require a major digression and probably a very large table. It's boricua craziness, I'll say that much.

An affiliation change is afoot in Puerto Rico, where ABC is getting its first-ever full-power affiliate. The station in question is WORA in Mayagüez (and its translators), which will break from a nearly 20-year-long status as a semi-satellite of WLII to become "ABC 5" on November 1. The current ABC affiliate is a low-powered station in Aguadilla, WPRU (with translators to serve San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez). WORA currently produces inserts into WLII's newscasts and will produce a full-fledged newscast for the new station. WPRU, in contrast, only offers WABC's news. Also unclear is if the newscast and non-ABC programs will be in English or Spanish. The other Big Four networks are represented by these stations on the island: CBS: No affiliate (it's certainly possible LKK Group attempts to secure a CBS affiliation for WPRU, though they lost it on one of their Virgin Islands stations five years ago) Fox: WSJX-LP, San Juan, carried in digital on a subchannel of co-owned WPRU NBC: WKAQ and semi-satellite WOLE, as a digital subchannel (note that WKAQ is a Telemundo O&O) WORA also announced, in a separate release not covered by TVNewsCheck, that they will have a digital subchannel? called "VIVE" that will feature a variety of series including imports from TVE in Spain. I'm not terribly sure what is going on with the station though I have a suspicion that it may be mostly Spanish-language outside of ABC hours.

The article notes all the shows that are moving around in the afternoon daypart.

That's excellent. The pre-TVbD WJXT/We'll Take You There stuff is new too. They also have this mid-60s "Newsnight" promo that is amazing to see.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Possibly when the callsign changed to WXFL? Also, a new open and theme: KVBC, 1985! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRF1hTEp5Y And there's where that came from! And in full!

Their afternoon schedule is being shuffled around with Al Rojo Vivo moving to 4. The article says KVDA is included. It is the only non-NBCU-operated station* to be listed. *KDEN's news is produced using KUSA's newsgathering resources and facilities. It also uses Gannett's news graphics. They also inflate the numbers a bit by listing KTAZ and KHRR. As with Univision, Phoenix and Tucson are effectively one news market for Spanish-language news. (The newscasts give extended forecasts for both cities, for instance. KTAZ also has the ability to go live from Tucson with brand-new equipment which seriously impressed me when I tuned in back in July.) I'm of the opinion that this has been the most underrated development in TV news this year, as I can't recall an expansion of news so thorough at either of the networks. Not only have almost all the stations added weekend news, which was lacking across the board, but a 30-minute expansion on weekdays is a major edge Univision just does not have yet. In addition there have been serious investments into new, modern sets, local production or new news operations (in Las Vegas and Philadelphia), bringing McAllen up to O&O standards (adding a 10pm weeknight news) and returning locally produced weather to the stations. ZGS, which is Telemundo's answer to Entravision, has also stepped up its game with news additions in Tampa, and as seen in this list, apparently San Antonio. This is the first time I think in the history of Phoenix television that I can say KTVW has been thoroughly outclassed. The competition, KTAZ, has better graphics, sets, anchors (IMO) and overall better (and more, as KTVW only offers one newscast on weekends and two on weekdays) local news.

Telemundo is adding 30 more minutes of weekday evening news to 14 of its O&Os, at 5:30/4:30 (when the mostly-new weekend early newscasts already air). This is the largest step yet in Telemundo's dramatic local news expansion which has added weekend news (and in some cases, returned local production) to the various O&Os. The network also recently announced it will begin a national weekend evening newscast. The national weekend news debuts October 4, with the expanded local news coming on November 3. 30 more employees are expected to be hired nationwide. And it's not just NBC that's in the habit of expanding local news: a new newscast bowed on WRMD Tampa (owned by ZGS) back on September 9.

To bring us back to WFLA, I have located (on microfilm) and scanned an article from 1984. The scan is not great, so I will reproduce it here. The callsign is incorrectly spelled in the original title: ——— WFXL Captures Spirit Of Tampa Back Stage 25.45 (November 2, 1984): 65 Tampa's WXFL Channel 8 has a new on-air advertising campaign that takes an authentic, historical journey into "The Spirit of Tampa Bay". Channel 8 delved into the history books to find the spirit of Tampa's pioneering ancestors, with the help of Tony Pizzo, author/historian and Tampa native, and the Tampa Public Library, all the photographs used in the spots are authentic. In the late 1890s, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders "caught the imagination of generations to come", to quote Tampa: The Treasure City. WFXL [sic] Channel 8 brought him back for a visit with the help of Joe Early, a Philadelphia actor well-known for his masterful recreations of historical figures. His makeup and acting artistry include Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and Sitting Bull. Earl Hammer, creator and narrator of "The Waltons", did the voiceovers. Hammer is an award-winning screenwriter/producer and currently is the co-executive producer of "Falcon Crest". The production company was Vik Winkle Productions, L.A. and Seattle with Dave Vik directing and Ed Winkle, cinematographer. Jim Collier, of Collier Concepts, L.A., was producer and also came up with the theme of the four :30 spots. An additional :60 was shot around a live event in Tampa to demonstrate community spirit. ——— This confirms the involvement of Collier Concepts on some level in producing Spirit of Tampa Bay, and I suppose "coming up with the theme of the spots" implies music? What is noteworthy is that the campaign was produced in 1982, but this is from late 1984. I will say that the graphic animations from the 1982 campaign :30 we have are different from the and radio promos we have with the sung "Watch our Spirit Now" which are very much Collier Concepts work.

Sold! WTVA is being sold by the Spain family to Heartland Media for an undisclosed price. It is their fifth station.

Chunks of KCMT/KNMT news from 1983. The theme, as expected, is the CBS News Ticker:

Well, we have some actual new content to feast on: * a reel of (with some voiced by Ernie Anderson!) * a KVOA open from 1986 * a WTHR open from 1986 — the second example of WTHR using the WBNS 1983 Roger Tallman theme * KRCG 1986, another copy of the "All We Are, We Are For You/Depend on Us, 13" open (and not one I have seen before) * The source for all three of those, is this two-part Internet Archive reel: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 — there is MUCH MUCH more, including rarities from KNAZ and WITF! * KXLY opens from and

It could even be said that after the 90s the signature was something completely different. KTVK has it (for now). It has absolutely no meaning to people in Phoenix (the closest we came to Spirit was KSAZ's Spirit of Arizona campaign, complete with John B. Wells narration, and even that had a completely different feel to it and lasted just months in its full form), and given how much Texas has changed in the last 30 years it might not even have meaning to large swaths of the Texas markets of Gannett (especially the ones that never used it — though WFAA, KHOU, KIII and KBMT all did). Heck, in one market (San Antonio, where KMOL had it in the late 80s) it wouldn't be on the right station for those who do remember it. I may think the WFAA symphonic update of 1987 (which was also used by KAMC, KVIA and KBMT) is one of the best news packages ever produced (and the definitive version of the original TM work), but I have to agree here. It's a dead duck. Also, there is another example of a "change back". It's KWQC, which used U-Phonix for three months in 2007 and then spent the next five years still using Hello (though almost exclusively the newer parts). However they dumped it for Breakthrough in 2012.

Sinclair has closed on its purchase of WGXA today, in addition to closing on WHTM and buying KSNV.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. The next question: what will Sinclair do? If they do this I would not be surprised to see Sinclair move KSNV to one of its other Vegas stations to consolidate. (KSNV's DT signal is on low-band VHF!)

Dish had some long ones in the late 2000s. I remember they had a spat with Fisher, and they didn't have WBRZ for a number of years either. On another note, KVIA will be doing some technical funky stuff. Apparently a part failed at their transmitter and replacement materials can't be ordered. The station is ordering a new transmitter and wants to temporarily operate on both RF 7 and 17 (the latter with reduced power) until the new transmitter is installed. NEW THIS MORNING: Former KNOP-KHAS owner Ulysses Carlini has died at the age of 89 in North Platte. He purchased KNOP in 1968 and shaped the development of the station along with co-owner Richard Shively. In 1995, K11TW ("KIIT") was started as the area's Fox outlet, and two years later the duo bought KHAS in Hastings from the Seaton family, forming Greater Nebraska Television. The two were sold to Hoak Media in 2005.

If you have satellite especially and you can get a signal from the transmitter, keep an antenna handy. You never know when you'll need it.

It's an interesting thing. Certainly the rise of this branding strategy among the Big Three (Fox has always been heavy with this) dates back to the 90s, when these were really sorely needed in certain markets. Not only that but around the time of the Atlanta Olympics, NBC pushed for all its stations to co-brand, which worked well because NBC was the top network at the time. Nowadays I think it's more of a representation of how the network relationship has changed. It's no longer "compensation" by the hour coming out of the networks but "reverse compensation", the greatest of oxymorons (it's basically an affiliation fee). Heck co-branding is written into every ABC affiliation contract. What I'm surprised hasn't happened in some place somewhere is a complete "nationalization" of the brand. Local identities, particularly channel number ones, have stuck around. But except for in some odd, still-localized cases, no Big 3 affiliate has really wanted to have a brand too tied to the national one.

It's passable, but my oh my is it bland.