T.L. Hughes

The graphics, MTV-esque tilted camera angles and extreme close-ups do seem out of place for a "Big Three" affiliate newscast, though. Then again, even though it was a Fox affiliate when the station launched its news department in 1993, they seemed to be trying hard to make their newscasts appeal to the younger demographic that Fox was attracting. How long after it joined NBC did KSHB shift to a more traditionalized news production style?

While that's not a bad idea, the Cox-Meredith co-op agreement does not include joint negotiations for retrans or reverse comp, with Meredith Local Media president Paul Karpowicz stating that bringing up such an option made their lawyers "twitchy". However, I'm not sure how such a negotiation agreement on those two avenues could be legally "quagmirous" (I'll create that word for this occasion), since A) the agreement as structured without a retrans-reverse comp negotiating arrangement doesn't include their respective Atlanta stations (which may be their only conflict market, correct me if I'm wrong, and B) the FCC's crackdown on joint negotiations for retrans and reverse comp focuses mainly on such deals involving commonly operated stations in the same market. Karpowicz is quick to point out that the co-op isn't a sign that the merger with Media General is dead or that it signals a future merger between Meredith and Cox, and that the Media General stations would be folded into the co-op if the merger goes through. Although are there any markets where MG and Cox both have stations where they would have to exempt them from the co-op?

If "RTM" and "Millionaire" were paired together, one episode of each would have to air in late night, since there's no room on the weekday schedules of any of ABC's O&Os to air back-to-back episodes of both shows in daytime. Though what does the ABC O&O pickup (and associated takeover of distribution rights by Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution from MGM) mean for "RTM"'s clearance deal with Fox Television Stations?

Even though the content maybe crass (though in a tongue-in-cheek sorta way), you do have to wonder if firing seven people for playing Cards Against Humanity, much less any game (unless overtly sexualized in nature, making such a move more justifiable), will bite WTOL/Raycom if some or all of those fired end up slapping them with a wrongful termination lawsuit.

WFOX is finally returning to early evenings. This evening (January 11), the station is adding an hour-long 6:00 p.m. newscast; the first half-hour is a simulcast of CBS sister WJAX's existing 6:00 news (the two stations already simulcast the 5:00-7:00 a.m. block of their morning newscast as well as news updates produced for WJAX to air during CBS This Morning that air during WFOX's continuation of its local newscast), while the second half-hour will be exclusive to WFOX (as WJAX airs the CBS Evening News at 6:30). As WAWS, WFOX carried an hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast from 2000 to 2007, when it was cancelled, leaving its 10:00 p.m. show as its only newscast for a time. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/91349/wfox-to-debut-6-and-630-news

Sinclair hasn't really created a news department from scratch on any of its stations since the News Central era (KDBC doesn't exactly count since Sinclair opted to beef up the existing resources, partly by hiring additional staff, used by KFOX for its revamped newscasts after the two were folded into the same complex). In fact, the company hasn't made good on his promise to move production of KPTM's newscasts back to Omaha, if that says anything. A news share agreement is more likely, though KRIS is out of the question, since it already produces newscasts for its CW Plus subchannel, leaving KIII as the only feasible option to produce KUQI's newscasts.

An update to the transmitter issues with KFOR and KAUT: KAUT and its This TV subchannel is back on the air, as is the Antenna TV sub on KFOR. They were restored sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening (January 2).

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. The station receives Antenna TV, like with NBC on its main signal, via satellite, so I'm not sure what's causing that issue. The equipment affected could include links that relay Antenna TV's signal from the satellite receivers to the transmitter, but that's just an assumption. However, many cable systems, like Cox and AT&T U-verse, receive local stations within their market via a fiber optic feed provided by the station, so KFOR, KAUT and their existing subchannels are still viewable on those two providers (not sure about any others within central and western Oklahoma, some smaller ones farther out probably pick up those and other Oklahoma City stations off-air).

A "key piece" of equipment for the transmitters of KFOR and sister independent KAUT suffered damage Friday morning (January 1) due to falling ice created by the winter storm that hit Oklahoma on December 26 and 27 that melted off their tower. As of 6:00 p.m. yesterday, KFOR's main signal was restored, although its Antenna TV subchannel on 4.2 remains blank as of 10:00 a.m. today (so unless you had Cox Communications or any other provider that receives KFOR-DT2 via a direct fiber connection, those in the Oklahoma City market trying to watch Antenna TV likely missed the network premiere of the Carson era Tonight Show episodes), while KAUT (and effectively, its This TV subchannel on 43.2) is dark completely (presumably, if it was to be added on New Year's Day, this may have delayed the station's launch of Escape, which is to be added on a new 43.3 subchannel through an agreement signed between Tribune and Katz Broadcasting in November). http://kfor.com/2016/01/01/ice-damage-knocked-kfor-off-the-air-for-many-engineers-working-to-fix-problem/ While it is odd for the geographic location, it's kind of a smart idea in foresight, since some of the sporting events Fox airs during prime time (such as the World Series and NCAA college football regular season and conference championship games) do spill over into that hour. In addition, if a prime time game that aired on a weeknight only spilled past 10:30, it would allow KTVI to air an hour-long late newscast, which it otherwise wouldn't be able to do when the 9:00 p.m. show is preempted.

I tracked down clips of the theme in question, thanks to YouTube user jacky9br, who uploaded this video -- among a slew of others -- Wednesday (it's featured in some clips starting at 0:50 up to 2:45, you can hear most of it clearly in the teaser clip at 2:13). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i4efn6bTU0

In essence, as pointed by the WJZY example, I'm saying stations don't really care where they place in the ratings. Even last place stations have added newscasts in recent years, so whether WFLD gets trounced by its longer-established competition if it enters the early evening arena doesn't matter much nowadays compared to when they tried The TEN late last decade. Many stations feel they can garner better advertising revenue (particularly with political ad dollars) if they produce more local news, viewership is important but those that don't get strong ratings have legroom to work on building them.

Its New York sister station WNYW has early evening newscasts that gs up against four stations at 5:00 and 6:00 (WABC, WNBC, WCBS and WPIX). The only difference there is that WNYW had a nine-year headstart over WPIX at 5:00 and a 12-year headstart over 11 at 6:00. Even more to the point, WFLD competes with WLS, WMAQ, WBBM and WGN from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. weekdays. The performance of WFLD's morning program (as with its other newscasts) has more to do with management issues in the news department and the continuing musical chairs of talent. Remember too, that WJZY launched a 6:00 p.m. newscast only a few months after its news departmemt started, and that station (even with its shift toward a more traditional format) is in the ratings basement like WFLD is.

Building on ChiCubsFan's comment, aren't they kinda working backwards here? WFLD is adding weekend morning newscasts, when they haven't even added early evening newscasts on any night (and remain the only Fox O&O without any). Other stations that once had news lineups structured like WFLD's, such as WGN, usually waited until after launching a 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. newscast before adding morning news on Saturdays and Sundays (though in retrospect, WGN's first weekend morning news attempt in the early 1990s did predate the launch of the weekday WGN Morning News by two years and the initial half-hour iteration of the WGN Evening News by 16).

To add to this, this will leave the 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. slot as the only common news time period where WDRB doesn't have a newscast (although I don't believe they have extended "WDRB in the Morning" into the 9:00 a.m. hour, and the new 11:00 p.m. show will be a weeknight-only newscast, so its news programming on Saturdays and Sundays will still be limited to the morning and 10:00 p.m. newscasts, since they don't have an early evening newscast on weekends either).

This happened in October (occurring almost simultaneously with Living Oklahoma host Shelby Cashman being added the 5:00-9:00 a.m. block of the program as its first in-studio traffic anchor), and technically, it was more of a rebranding. Good Day was just an extension of the Fox 25 Morning News, but the station never referred to it in any promotions for the newscast in the five years since it expanded into the 9:00 a.m. hour.

Didn't see it posted here or on the Sinclair Corporate Chat thread already, so... Bill Young has left KOKH as co-anchor of its morning newscast. Young (who first worked at the station as an intern in the late 1990s, when KOKH only produced a 9:00 p.m. newscast, before returning as an anchor/reporter in 2012) has accepted an evening anchor position in Huntsville (the TVSpy article linked below, nor Bill himself in his sign-off, did not specify whether he'll be joining WHNT, WAFF or WAAY). Former "Daily Buzz" weather anchor/host Mitch English, who joined KOKH as a morning reporter last year, will officially take over as co-anchor starting Thursday (November 26), though he unofficially began his new role on the 9:00 a.m. hour of the program this morning, as Young only anchored the 5:00-9:00 a.m. block. http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/bill-young-leaving-kokh-names-replacement/159329

Although this may be somewhat off-topic, here's something interesting about Scripps' purchase of the Journal stations: from what transpired just yesterday (October 7), it appears that Journal's decision to unload its broadcasting properties and add Scripps' newspapers may have been the precursor to the sale of that company. Gannett bought Journal for $280 million, which means that the newspaper assets of two publishers that used to be broadcasters and one broadcaster that used to be a publisher are now going to be part of one company. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/10/07/gannett-buy-journal-media-group-280-million/73548926/

I think he means Sinclair's new show "Full Measure with Sheryl Atkisson", which doesn't debut until October. Although that's not formatted as a political talk show in the traditional sense, moreso a political-focused investigative news program.

Well, it looks like Sinclair is setting its acquisition sights on cable now, as The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company is in discussions to acquire the Tennis Channel.

Although it says that the show debuts "this fall", the two story links I've read don't specify a premiere date.

TV Guide, though, is listing the 10:00 a.m. hour under the title Living Oklahoma. It seems weird that they're adding an hour to the end of the program instead of at the beginning; KOKH is the only English language news-producing station in Oklahoma City that hasn't expanded their weekday morning newscast someway into the 4:00 a.m. hour.

San Antonio's KLRN has gotten into the news business. As of Monday (September 14), the station began airing news updates four times per night before PBS primetime programs between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Monday through Fridays. The updates are being anchored by former KENS and WOAI anchor/reporter Bruce Kates, who serves as an executive producer for the station's public affairs program "Texas Week with Rick Casey". The station is considering eventually expanding into a longer-form format similar to news programs carried by other PBS stations such as NJTV and OETA that focus on local issues.

So, WKYC was carrying NBC Kids on Sundays? There have been stations that have aired NBC's children's blocks on both Saturday and Sunday in the past (KFOR used to split the TNBC and Discovery Kids on NBC blocks in this manner, and occasionally still did this for the Qubo and NBC Kids blocks whenever there's free time on Sundays due to a late-morning sports event the day before), but how'd that work out what with them having to air their Sunday morning newscast, "Today" and "Meet the Press" as well? Hence why Myron stated WOIO as being "the only Big 4 affiliate in Cleveland that doesn't have a morning newscast on both Saturday and Sunday", since its Saturday morning lineup is filled mainly by the CBS Dream Team and "CBS This Morning Saturday" (that I only found out about when I did research for an update to WOIO's Wikipedia article a couple weeks ago).

Well, KFOR's set is partly the same as it was in the '90s. The set originated as one of those combined newsroom/desk areas when it debuted in the early 1990s, shortly after the call sign change to KFOR. The newsroom has been modified a few times since then (repaintings, updates of the logos near the assignment desk and the conference rooms, etc.). The current background was added in 2006, with the duratrans being revised this spring. The weather center was also updated, I think, in 2001-02 and again a few years later. The only way KFOR is getting a new set is when the new studio facility they were supposed to be building next door to the current building is completed. Although, I've never heard anything about whether they've even broke ground on that facility. On another note, there are several newscast changes coming this fall other than the few mentioned on this thread and a couple others (coming from TVNewsCheck and WSVNFan's Changing Newscasts Blog): * WUAB will reduce its 10:00 p.m. newscast to a half-hour after 27 years as a one-hour broadcast (it will also be cut to weeknights only), while also launching an hour-long 9:00 p.m. newscast starting September 21; Sports Extra will move to 9:45 p.m. MyNetworkTV programming will be shifted to 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. as a result. * WLUK will expand its weekday morning and late-evening news blocks on September 21, extending Good Day Wisconsin by a half-hour to 4:30 a.m. and adding a half-hour 10:00 p.m. newscast (the first time WLUK has aired news in that timeslot in more than a decade, if anyone knows when the original 10:00 p.m. newscast was cancelled, please reply). * WDRB will expanded its midday newscast to an hour on September 21, now running from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; it is also cancelling the 7:00 p.m. newscast it produces for CW-affiliated sister station WBKI, after the September 18 broadcast. * WECT will launch an hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast on September 14. * WXXV will launch a weekday morning newscast on September 21, under the title News 25 Today, consisting of an hour-long 6:00 a.m. newscast on WXXV-DT2 and a 7:00 a.m. newscast of the same length on its main channel. * Newsfix is expanding on both KDAF and KIAH. KDAF has expanded the weeknight edition of the program's 5:00 p.m. broadcast to one hour as of Monday (September 7); the weekend 5:00 p.m. newscast had already ran for one hour even prior to the conversion to the Newsfix format, with the 5:30 p.m. slot being occupied on weeknights by syndicated programming. KIAH will also add a 10:00 p.m. edition of Newsfix on September 14. * WNCN has re-expanded its weekday morning newscast into the 4:30 a.m. half-hour as of Monday, after having dropped that portion of the program in January 2014. * KXII has dropped its hour-long 7:00 a.m. morning newscast for its Fox-affiliated subchannel KXII-DT3. However, unlike with WFOX and WEVV-DT2 (which air both a simulcast of their parent station's morning newscasts and an exclusive newscast after 7:00 a.m.), the station has replaced it with a simulcast of the 5:00-7:00 a.m. newscast seen on KXII's main channel. * KQDS will alter the scheduling of its morning newscast on September 21, dropping the 6:30 a.m. half-hour and simultaneously adding an hour to the tail-end of the program at 8:00 a.m. * KAAL will debut a half-hour newscast at 6:30 p.m. each weeknight starting September 14. * KVAL (and satellites KCBY and KPIC) will debut an hour-long morning newscast at 9:00 a.m., starting September 14. * WDAY will begin simulcasting its 6:00 p.m. newscast on sister stations KBMY in Bismarck and KMCY in Minot, as well as on its WDAY/WDAZ Xtra subchannel on Monday through Saturday evenings starting September 14.

KTVU is expanding Mornings on 2 to six hours starting September 14. An additional hour is being tacked onto the program at 9:00 a.m., just six months after it added a 4:00 a.m. half-hour to the station's morning news block.