GoldenShine9

At least WFAA was on the ball Sunday night as they were quick to get on the air and stay on it (along with KDFW). KTVT was late and less active, which was problematic for a situation with a confirmed large tornado on the ground (would be okay if it was radar indicated), but KXAS definitely took a huge reputation hit there. My letter grades of the coverage: KDFW: A KTVT: C- KXAS: F WFAA: A-

Hedge funds are always bad news.

How old were their old graphics? KXII is a Gray legacy station though and not an ex-Raycom station.

Honestly, the WVLT package would be best for WVUE IMO given the orange/blue tinge on the logo and New Orleans colors (although Gray has never used purple or green that I can tell with this package).

The WHO/KDSM arrangement and the KFVS/KBSI arrange also involve companies who now has a duopoly in the market and they might instead want the advertising dollars for themselves rather than Sinclair in those cases, especially with big political dollars coming in 2020. If Gray acquired another station in Lexington or Morgan Murphy acquired another station in Madison, I could certainly see them moving the news over. Plus I doubt it would be Sinclair pulling the plug there, since Gray (or Morgan Murphy or Nexstar) does the heavy lifting and having an additional station allows them to move it to their own signal. Agreed re: farming out to sister stations. WRLH could easily run its news out of WJLA.

Not really. They can be friends with smaller companies, but certainly not with their top rivals.

That seems likely IMO. Would WRLH start its own news department (out of WJLA?) or just go without?

I wonder how much longer that agreement will last. Gray and Sinclair aren't exactly friends.

They'll still get annihilated by WCJB in the ratings...

Are there any LP's laying around in Alpena that WBKB could look into to accommodate it?

Weigel and Gray seem to have good relations too between each other, so this kind of makes sense. Weigel was one of the first buyers for Gray's new show from Greta as well in non-Gray markets.

They should also look at taking the weekend shows on the road too, something like sports shows do (think College GameDay) but with a different idea and all year. Also an 8 am ET start time would be better, to allow more time for local affiliates to do news and a more reasonable time frame if they take it to the west coast. One possible option: 6:00 am (or earlier in the biggest markets) - 8:00 am: Local news (or national feed in smaller markets unable to produce a newscast) 8:00 am - 11:00 am: GMA (3rd hour optional; live ET) - subject to sports pre-emptions especially PT

Until the big affiliate owners become the networks, that is...

That building dates back to long before Tegna owned it (and past owners couldn't afford anything bigger). Regardless, the fact it survived Harvey tells something.

Although into Speculatron territory, WFXG should really think about reaching out to WJBF and maybe give them extra newscasts - i.e. WJBF could run a 10 pm newscast or extended morning news on WFXG. Nexstar should also look to Lockwood for the same in Dothan and Panama City (at least) as well. WRDW is one of Gray's weaker stations, so it isn't surprising in a way.

In a 175+ market though and not a top-25 market. Big difference.

Also, KGBT meteorologist Alex Herbst passed away yesterday at age 26. Cause is unknown but some have suspected suicide. https://valleycentral.com/news/local/cbs-4-meteorologist-alex-herbst-dies-at-26

With all that is going on in Cleveland, could WOIO be the big winner?

As for the graphics, this would be a good package for all Gray stations, although they should have the ability to change colors depending on local demands and logos (I know KKTV has a red base and WVLT uses orange in their color scheme). The blue base works well for WBTV though, but would look awful at WCSC, for example.

It seems Gray doesn't have any real standards for the news layouts, other than weather.

It might just be becoming a trend.

There seems to be a bunch of reasons that they can't get any of their stuff into non-Sinclair markets.

One question on Sinclair's show Full Measure with Sharyl Atkinson. It is on practically no non-Sinclair stations, yet Soledad O'Brien and Greta Van Susteren have been able to get good coverage outside their companies. Does the toxic nature of Sinclair extend down to sales offices?

I think WLBT could use a different logo too. The color scheme looks awkward with those graphics. A yellow or orange touch, like WVLT has, would look better.

Did Gray decide to ship it out to other companies? I wonder what royalties they would be getting.