NewsMaster

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone at KVII and the Montgomery family. I would also like to make very clear that now is not the time to make any comments about Sinclair regarding this situation. This could have happened anywhere.

Interesting that KGUN has a new Scripps website when it still doesn't have the Scripps on-air graphics AFAIK.

The situation was a hoax.

Interesting timing: just after the Gray-Raycom deal was announced, KGMB/KHNL sports anchor Taryn Hatcher announced that she is leaving the station. No word on why she is leaving, but to me it is not connected to the deal.

WPTZ is moving its Vermont bureau from Colchester to a larger facility in South Burlington and will also open a new bureau in Lebanon, New Hampshire, which may replace WNNE's former studio in White River Junction that currently only houses an ad sales office. Their main studio will remain in Plattsburgh. Don't be surprised if the people at WPTZ start putting on more weight after the move: the same building they're moving into also houses the executive offices of Ben & Jerry's.

Sinclair probably didn't want one 9pm newscast competing against another 9pm newscast on their sister station, that being WEAR's 9pm newscast on WFGX, which does much, much better in the ratings being the only Pensacola-focused 9pm newscast in the market.

Ick. That's pretty bad. The worst part about it is that this is Heartland's first go-around at re-branding a station and this could roll out to their other stations. For a group that I was fascinated to see what they would be like, this is extremely disappointing.

Agreed. Basically Gray is doing now what they couldn't do during Tom Wheeler's commissionership. Quite possibly. I would have to imagine this station would have a much better signal than the LP currently carrying the KXJB calls; I bet the CBS affiliation and KXJB calls will move to the new station and the LP will change its calls to something else, and that'll probably be where The CW ends up.

This isn't a big deal in my mind. Many companies have PACs and just because Sinclair leans right it becomes a big deal. I guarantee if any of you work for any large corporation like Sinclair (broadcasting or not), they will have a PAC of their own that they will want you to donate to. I'm not a huge fan of Sinclair but nobody can seem to give them a break. I guarantee if any left-leaning broadcaster did this nobody would give a da*n.

Scripps is performing a comprehensive restructuring, which includes selling its radio stations, as well as centralizing some services. However, it sounds like Scripps is doing this so that they possibly could acquire more TV stations. EDIT: A thread has been started on this topic.

Awful news, especially the way in which he passed. Rest in peace. It's even more awful considering that Sinclair may soon come knocking at their front door.

Nexstar hands down.

Here's something interesting I saw recently. I did a TV query on Parkersburg, WV and found that Gray has a construction permit for what appears to be (on paper, at least) a WDTV translator in Parkersburg. Is Gray trying to replace WIYE with a WDTV translator for the market's CBS affiliate, possibly clearing up WIYE for an ABC affiliation? It's very interesting considering the Parkersburg and Clarksburg markets were supposed to be one large market in the late 50's.

It has only been a month since Marquee Broadcasting acquired WNKY in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and it now appears that they may be looking to start a full news operation for the station. A job opening for a news director at the station has been posted.

Tonight will be the final First Forecast for WWJ-TV chief meteorologist Jim Madaus. He is retiring after 33 years in Detroit television. He may have worked for a joke of a station, but he is without a doubt one of the best in the business. Wishing Jim all the best in retirement.

WLNE sports director Ken Bell is retiring after a 35 year career at the station. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/104478/wlne-sports-dir-ken-bell-retires-after-35-years

I have a feeling that Bob Prather's Heartland Media may be more interested in that pair. KEYC is often carried as an alternate CBS affiliate in parts of the Rochester, MN market (alongside KIMT in Mason City, Iowa, which Heartland owns), and WWNY would be their second station in upstate NY after WKTV in Utica.

There is now one less of them. Gray is buying WCAX in Burlington, Vermont for $29 million.

And here's their new logo. As dull as you can imagine. At least that station is showing life. Maybe soon KWTV will start producing a 9:00 newscast for KSBI...er, News 9 Plus. (If it means anything to anyone, sister KOTV up I-44 in Tulsa produces a 9:00 for KQCW.)

If they did it would be news department #5 (#6 if you count Bay News 9 and #7 if you count WWSB), so it probably would not be successful. I thought that it could have been spectrum auction bait but Hearst decided not to sell its spectrum, which I was very surprised about.

I'm assuming that this deal includes KTVA, amirite?

WMUR anchor / political director Josh McElveen is leaving the station today. He will move out of TV news to become the VP of Communications at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. I think that Adam Sexton will take his place as 5:00 co-anchor and he could possibly be promoted to political director, which is arguably the biggest job at channel 9. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1319662618113731

This is awful news. My prayers to Chris and his family.

It's about time that Charlotte got a Spanish network affiliate of its own. That market was long overdue for one.

WPRI could overtake WJAR since they have a good enough product. WLNE, on the other hand, has no shot whatsoever.