Rusty Muck

Or Raycom could buy WBNX, bump the CW to .2 and send WOIO's intellectual unit to 55.1 while cashing in WOIO's VHF 10 transmitter. 55 Action News, anyone?

That would be a massive downgrade for WOIO and totally foolish for Raycom to consider. WBNX's signal is just as impaired by Canadian signals to the north and thus is probably the worst signal in the market.

 

WBNX is completely unrecieveable from where I live in Avon, even if I stick my antenna as far as possible. At least WOIO comes in if I make an effort to pick it up. Never have with 55.1.

 

Far more likely that Tribune will buy WBNX's intellectual property as a whole, run it on WJW 8.2 (scooting off SD-formatted AntennaTV to 8.3), and Angely simply cashes out on 55.1.

Scandal is rocking Ernest Angley Ministries....the owners of Winston Broadcast Network...which owns WBNX, the CW affiliate for the Cleveland/Akron area. (no surprises here...anyone who has ever seen his TV program is likely more entertained by it's phoniness and hokiness than its religious value....)

 

Here's the story from the Akron Beacon Journal:

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/ernest-angley-s-grace-cathedral-confronts-allegations-of-sexual-abuse-pressure-to-have-abortions-and-vasectomies-1.531094

 

Don't be surprised if WBNX is swallowed up either by Gannett, Scripps, or even Tribune as a duopoly partner in the near future....they are one of the largest stand-alone affiliates not part of a duopoly, or owned by Tribune or CBS (with the exception of Ed Ansin's WLVI, Sinclair's WUCW, and SagamoreHill's KASW)

 

...and by looking at the list of CW affiliates, Tribune and CBS could easily pare down their holdings in the Top 15 to expand otherwise!

WBNX is also a station that - until recently - openly censored curse words like "damn" by dropping the audio. Even on WB network programs.

 

The station is enough of an asset for Angely to sell off if this scandal gets worse (and it might; the above link is the first of a SIX-PART series by Bob Dyer).

Hopefully it's better than this at their sister station in NC...

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Dear God. The anchors look as cartoonish as the set itself.

The list don't include the Allbritton ones.

Likely that the negotiations with these stations took place while the Allbritton deal was still pending.

 

I'd be shocked if the Allbritton stations aren't bundled together with an extended affiliation deal in the coming months...

As I once said in the shoutbox:

 

Gannett is overly proud. Some of you mentioned that in the past that they frequently disclose that they are sister organizations to USA Today. I'm not sure I would be bragging about being USA Today's corporate sibling - it's bland journalism reduced to the lowest common denominator. However USA Today would be a good paper to read if you were starting to learn English.

USA Today is a McPaper.

 

It's also very popular among hotel housekeepers and tourist attractions.

 

And it's the only property Gannett has with a national reach.

 

I'd still stick it with the Gannett newspaper group with the impending spin-off. It can't be solvent by any stretch of the imagination, and it would totally drag down the Gannett television station group.

So KENS5 changed the name of their weekly high school football segment. It used to be called "KENS5 Friday Night Football". Guess what? It's now "USA Today High School Sports"... :bang:

That's pretty stupid considering the impending spin-off of the entire newspaper division.

CBS does have an affiliate on Puerto Rico but it's only available on cable. It is a localized feed of Erie, PA's WSEE.

Which, of course, is operated entirely out of the WICU/WSEE studios in Erie.

 

And NBC on WKAQ's .2 is a simulcast of WNBC. Not sure why it's WNBC and not WTVJ.

I'm wondering if WNBC got the .2 simulcast on WKAQ because of NBC's attempt to sell off WTVJ in 2008.

And the station's morning newscasts are scheduled to relaunch on or around September 29. Looks like they will use two meteorologists in the AM.

http://talkintv.buffalonews.com/2014/09/16/ch-7s-different-type-morning-show-weather-centric/

WKBW is tying in the new show to the implementation of the Scripps graphics package, in addition to a total rebuild of their weather and traffic computer equipment.

 

Methinks that MCTYW will disappear from WKBW forever after the 11pm news on Sunday, September 28.

I feel that, despite being a CBS affiliate (even though they've came to terms with them for the most part), KLAS is a better fit for the newly-merged LIN/Media General than Gannett.

 

LIN-MG obviously learned their lesson after being spanked by CBS over WISH. It shouldn't be much of an issue at all.

Well then, maybe my part of the world is childish.

 

We agree to disagree.

Come later this month, when Scripps installs the standardized graphics/music on WKBW, bringing that station into the 20th century, there will be some that mourn the loss of MCTYW. But WKBW has a terribly antiquated look and sound, so much so that MCTYW's retirement is sorely needed.

 

Change is a hallmark of the industry. Anomalies like WJZ and WPVI (and WNIR) are exceptions to the rule.

Booo! Hissss! I miss The Spirit of Texas. This is Home is NOT for Texas. Only the Spirit belongs.

At least one station is keeping The Spirit alive...

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And yes, WNIR still uses that jingle package to this day.

Instead of people bitching about the new graphics and website, people should (and I say should) bitch on WFAA's (and at some point KHOU's) pages demanding they bring back The Spirit. Name drop 615, TM Productions or even Stephen Arnold (and if you like/follow them, then add them into the wall conversation.) Some management are so arrogant they think the viewers are too stupid to know the details about sonic branding, despite said sites have been existent for more than 15 years now.

The only - ONLY - station to have revived a newscast theme due to popular demand... was WPVI in 1996. And they had good reason: NO ONE liked the London Philharmonic Orchestra's rendition of MCTYW.

 

This is Home isn't bad. It's generic. It's a bit corporate-ish. But there's nothing that garners immediate negative reaction like MCTYW by the London Philharmonic Orchestra did. And honestly, I don't think the majority of viewers to either station are spitting angry that "The Spirit" - a musical signature barely in use for YEARS - got retired.

 

Your idea is not only impractical, it is impossible and almost childish. No suit from Gannett is going to read posts on FB fan pages for WFAA or KHOU and think, "Ah ha! Let's bring back The Spirit!"

 

That is not how the world works.

Scripps has made official that KMGH's ND Jeff Harris is jumping over to WEWS.

 

Take from that what you will.

WEWS just posted a promo for "The Now Cleveland," which unsurprisingly has it's own dedicated YouTube channel.

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Nope. At WCAU she always had this sort of condescending attitude that was off-putting. Especially when she was doing mornings. She went out, like many Philadelphia newscasters do, in a complete blaze of stupid. She threatened a reporter electronically with the words "you ever been in a street fight, bitch"?

Sharon Reed was an embarrassment to Cleveland television news. She was only hired by Bill Applegate because of her outrageous persona - the WCAU flameout was pretty much a resume enhancement** - and was best known for her "Body of Art" sweeps stunt.

 

When WOIO finally 'fired' Reed (the Plain Dealer infamously spiked a plausible rumor - which somehow got published on their own website - as to why) the station became 100% more watchable. Plus WOIO hired away the very respectable Romona Robinson from WKYC to replace Sharon, and WKYC shockingly was able to lure away Russ Mitchell from CBS to replace Romona.

 

So it effectively became a trade of Russ Mitchell for Sharon Reed. And that's a hell of a trade.

 

**If you think I'm kidding, look at Catherine Bosley and Chuck Galeti as other public rehabilitation projects that Applegate initiated. But at least those two had some likable qualities.

Sinclair is bringing the "#LiveOnKOMO" hashtag groupwide. Although all the Fisher stations already used the "#LiveOnStation" hashtag some legacy Sinclair stations are now starting to.

 

Examples:

WBFF: "#LiveOnFox45"

KABB: "#LiveOnFoxSanAntonio"

WKRC: "#LiveOnLocal12"

 

And the list goes on. I have no idea why Sinclair loves the hashtag, but hey, to each their own right?

As long as hashtags aren't incorporated into the graphics (see KALA-TV as a prime offender) then it's not that big a deal. More of a viral marketing effort than anything else as well as to help with search efforts on Twitter.

Did WJW ever find a new co-anchor for Mark Zinni? Just curious considering our Fox affil stole his co-anchor...

Actually, WJW needs a new anchor/reporter to replace Zinni.

 

He's headed back to New England at an unspecified station (Zinni worked at WPRI before joining WJW in 2008).

I don't know if anyone has posted about this, but WEWS has also added another hour to their Saturday morning news. Now wrapped around a live clearance of "GMA Saturday" at 7am, WEWS has local news from 6a-7a and 8a-10a. The third hour of Litton's E/I ABC package gets scooted to 11am Sundays.

 

So here's the local-news-on-Saturday-morning landscape for Cleveland:

 

WKYC (as of early September): 6a-7a, 9a-10:30a, and 12p-12:30p. "Today Saturday" from 7a-9a.

WEWS: 6a-7a and 8a-10a. "GMA Saturday" from 7a-8a.

WJW: 7a-10a. (You have to wonder when they up the start time to 6a.)

WOIO: none, surprisingly. "CBS This Morning" runs from 9a-11a.

Fred' date=' meet Sara, Bethany and Paul.

So remind me again why Linda Pellegrino had to leave WKBW's news department when "AM Buffalo" was converted into an infotainment program?

I'm surprised they haven't sold the naming rights, like what's been done in radio. They do have a knack for weird sponsorships....

WKYC uses sponsorship billboards leading into their newscasts. They've done that since 2006. And WEWS's newscasts were "brought to you by Ohio Edison and the Illuminating Company" for decades up until the late 90s (likely when both utilities merged to form FirstEnergy).

 

WOIO's newsroom also has a sponsorship billboard usually run after the second commercial break... I forget the sponsor.

Ha. People want to see junk and banners? They haven't seen the old gannett graphics!

Oh God. Don't remind me of those AND the Rampage Music. The Belo stations were damn lucky that they were never subject to those.

Who knows what Gannett is going to do with the Belo and London stations in Texas? Although it is hard for the London stations not to be standardized.

 

That percentage of Texas viewers served by a Gannett TV station is mind-boggling. 83%. Good Lord.

Has any station ever switched out their graphics system while a news/weather emergency was taking place? This could be a first.

I tried ux.wfaa.com to no success (it was the first Belo station that came to mind). So I would assume that they are building these new sites one at a time.

 

It should be noted that you can replace "www" with "ux" on any Gannett website using Presto - e.g., ux.wkyc.com, ux.wgrz.com, ux.ktvb.com - and still access their main websites.

 

EDIT: I tried out ux.kgw.com... and it has the Presto layout with content populated. But oddly enough, no logo.

Based on my memories, WKYC's weekend morning shows were filled with some news, weather, and a LOT of time on live shots with feature reporters at events (usually the weather person doing the forecast on location....)

And it's still the same setup today. So expanding it should not dilute that much to begin with.

 

If the stupid, worthless E/I rule didn't exist, I bet most stations would literally program their entire Saturday morning block as one extended newscast.