Samantha

Over the weekend, the Seattle Times issued another editorial urging the FCC to hold off on approving more TV station acquisition deals:

That certainly would be a possibility particularly if Nexstar can actually get ComCorp. WTVW is a station with a much stronger market identity than WEVV (which most people at least on this board remember for its failed attempts at a local newscast).

Roberts must have been real desperate. Then again they were debtors in possession so they needed to sell to appease creditors.

WKAQ, Puerto Rico. Speaking of which, I just made a find of a 1991 theme that is not in the NMSA (Puerto Rico stations evidently have full NMSA listings): That's a great compilation. Probably wouldn't have seen most of those (a few, like the Seven National News/1983 open, I've seen). *** Also, KING 5, 1992. Two straight hours: a full 5pm newscast with commercials, NBC Nightly News and 6:30 Evening Magazine! The Internet Archive hasn't turned up anything new like this in some time: https://archive.org/details/Tobacco_egy27a00

A settlement has been reached in an anchor discrimination case at WGME/Portland. Former longtime anchor Doug Rafferty claimed that after he suffered a stroke, he was discriminated against by being removed from his job and getting his pay cut. The settlement was reached on Friday, four months before the case was to head to federal court.

Nightcap, the current and anemic news effort from KDAF in Dallas, is likely on its way out. The replacement? A Dallas version of the NewsFix format already at sister KIAH in Houston.

Time Warner Cable and the ACA are now challenging Nexstar's purchase of stations from Brian Brady. They see rising retrans fees if Nexstar can claim the three-of-four.

I think some Raycom operated stations are owned by Southeastern Media anyway.

Dude, your timing is so good that I think TVNewsCheck is coming here now to get information on station prices when they break... (TVNewsCheck posted this story 57 minutes after you did.)

Except ComCorp is on a much tighter budget and has often hubbed/pre-taped local news for its stations. They are similar in their mastery of virtual duopolies but not in the budget. If Nexstar buys ComCorp, I'd expect to see some freshness added to the Baton Rouge and Tyler clusters.

The FCC has approved the acquisition by Alaska telecom GCI of one CBS and two NBC affiliates, giving it TV reach across the entire state.

Jim Heath strikes again! KOOL News 10 10pm open and close, 1982 with the 1981 theme:

with a newsbreak, news open and close. The news theme is in the NMSA as KTVK 1987. A major find indeed. Also, that is one ugly set.

What an upgrade for KTVK. Also, that's the first time that the Spirit signature has been used in Phoenix—and Belo has owned KTVK for 14 years. 3 is coming a long way.

Wow. Comparing this to the current sites azcentral.com (Arizona Republic + KPNX) would have a very hard time switching to this layout. It's Gannett's only newspaper-TV duopoly IIRC.

It's Inergy, no less. Though I suspect KHON commissioned the alternate instrumentation. Stephen Arnold has done some interesting regional variations on his packages before—the KABB mariachi variant of the Sinclair package and the come to mind. Speaking of which, unfortunately the latter seems to no longer be in use.

KHON has at last debuted HD news, as well as a set that incorporates lots of blue-greens and new music with traditional Hawaiian instruments (!). If that music stands up to their 1995 theme—one of the best ever—it is certainly worth a listen.

Gray Television has a wild new logo. Gone is the conservative oval and in is...well, click the link. Unfortunately I can't post the image here because of image extension restrictions. Meanwhile, without Fox, WCCB is turning its attention toward local sports. They secured a contract to show UNC Charlotte football games (the team started up this year) and could soon be the TV home of Charlotte Knights baseball. The football games apparently have attracted four times the projected viewership.

At one time KLAS was KTUD's newscast partner. It didn't help that Sinclair's station, with its far deeper leverage, was able to get the CW affiliation over KTUD, nor did it help that the recession probably hurt Las Vegas the worst of any major media market.

WISH's Debby Knox has announced her retirement, scheduled for next month, after 33 years at the station. Meanwhile, Rod Grams, who anchored at KMSP and also was a U.S. senator for Minnesota from 1995 to 2001, died after a battle with cancer at the age of 65.

Another part of the NewsActive3 collection which has two WKXT closes that are probably production music from a period when their music is a big question mark, the mid-90s:

It's the first brand-new package with that signature since 2000 (!), when WKRG commissioned a version.

Another new newscast, this time at Univision outlet KUTH Salt Lake City. This one seems to be a low-effort job. Notice they've hubbed out weather. Anchor Irene Caso has come full-circle: she started at KUTH when it was owned by Equity then moved to Little Rock to anchor a centrally-produced newscast for Equity's Univision outlets.

At least the KGET one ties into their calls a bit.

It is gorgeous.