TheRolyPoly

I'll say this... We learned what a SuperStation is all about (WTCG/WTBS/WPCH) because of Turner. I got access to 24-hour domestic (CNN), Spanish (CNN en Español), and international (CNN International) news because of Turner. I got access to great general programming plus Braves baseball games (TBS) through Turner. I got access to Inside the NBA (when it was around), and great sports telecasts (TNT) because of Turner. One of my favorite cable news networks to have ever existed (CNN Headline News) is because of Turner. Some of my favorite cartoons from my childhood (Cartoon Network) are because of Turner. The best classic cartoons of all time (Boomerang) exist because of Turner. IMO, the greatest classic movie network to have ever existed (Turner Classic Movies) because of Turner. I mean... nothing more to say. Without Turner, the television that we know today would not exist. Today is a very sad day for sure. This one hurts badly.

Ugh. This one hurts if you live in the Capital Region. Legendary WTEN and WNYT anchor and reporter John McLoughlin has passed away. He was 83. He was a general and political reporter for WNYT in his last few years of his career but he's more remembered for his decades on air at WTEN, not just as a reporter but also as an anchor at 5:00pm, mainly alongside ex-NYC anchor Tracy Egan. If you subscribe to Junkie's Tape Bin on YT, you'll see a lot of WTEN newscasts featuring him anchoring and reporting plus interviewing newsmakers on The Hot Seat. He will be gravely missed. https://wnyt.com/top-stories/john-mcloughlin-longtime-albany-political-reporter-dies-at-83/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRn9ntleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR49EhKSb67t9y5fXmCUhZ2_tkIt-vcAA_B2W6emx5lp7vwjiPoKBUYTnYRPkw_aem_eo6NXGMEI72sWpUNO1NHsQ

For the first time since News 24 Houston went off the air in 2004, Houston has 24-hour local cable news once again, with the Houston feed (also seen in Beaumont/Port Arthur) of Spectrum News 1 Texas. https://thedesk.net/2026/05/spectrum-news-1-xfinity-tv-houston/

KCWX Fredericksburg/San Antonio/Austin has become the first NON FOX O&O or affiliate to carry FOX Weather. Its located on KCWX 2.3 (replacing Main Street; old movies and TV shows), providing a first for San Antonio and a secondary home for Austin since its also there on KTBC 7.6.

Another big retirement announcement in my state. WBBH Fort Myers' Kellie Burns. She's calling it a career on June 4th after 33 years there and gets a one-hour special that night, in primetime, as a tribute. https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/anchor-kellie-burns-retire-gulf-coast-news-nbc-fort-myers/71205325

WDSU New Orleans has announced today that Scot Pilié is their new Chief Meteorologist, replacing their previous chief who I won't name here because he's under disgrace (domestic abuse and child endangerment arrest from last October). https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1470510168452440&id=100064804118189

Yeah. PBS is still around, just like NPR. Every day they're still around is a huge middle finger to the president and those who oppose public broadcasting.

Spain (Running of the Bulls, that's why) Not a broadcaster, but possibly the Martin Lambie-Nairn (and much more) of Spain, José María Cruz Novillo, the Spanish sculptor, painter, and designer, has passed away at the age of 89. In terms of broadcasting, he designed the current logo of one of Spain's national newspapers El Mundo (The World), the current logo of the radio network Cadena COPE (COPE Network), the first-ever logo of Antena 3 (first in radio in 1982, later defunct in 1994, and then used for television in 1990), and the TVE1 eyeball logo from 1982-1989. https://en.ara.cat/culture/jose-maria-cruz-novillo-dies-the-artist-who-designed-post-franco-spain_1_5725121.html

Let me include Belinda's final KARE 11 Saturday too because the program isn't what it was without her. Plus, it was her last time on the air until the fall.

With Ryan Elijah now running for Congress, John Brown is leaving evenings for mornings. Yep, he's heading back to Good Day Orlando. https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/fmc-r7om0g75wu2jgi42?fbclid=IwY2xjawRit0JleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR6Pu5IWaYaSNRkVmAePVur7FNYwLROoQ4OB33Lwrmluctv2qg8v6efwsunKKg_aem_OzzlJawa32TKUODObYRqlA

A shocker since she told nobody. WKRC's Liz Bonis, who essentially became Sinclair's Medical/Health reporter, has died from battling colon cancer for the last three years. She was only 58. https://www.wvxu.org/media/2026-05-01/health-reporter-liz-bonis-wkrc-tv-dies-tvkiese

Belinda Jensen's final weeknight appearance on KARE 11 after 33 years at the station as weekend meteorologist, Chief Meteorologist (since 2005), and Saturday morning host. She's coming back for one final regular Saturday morning appearance this week before semi-retirement. She'll be back as a Saturday morning contributor in the Fall. As mentioned here, she also did the popular Grow with KARE franchise with Bobby Jensen (no relation to her, just sharing her last name, that's all) for those 33 years.

Five more states are now joining in on the bipartisan lawsuit. You read that right. Indiana and Vermont are two of the five joining in and they have Republican governors. https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthedesk.net%2F2026%2F04%2Ffive-states-added-to-antitrust-lawsuit-against-nexstar-over-tegna-deal%2F&urlhash=nYYk&mt=1bo3E9OQnzdhNC0dKhy12ougIWpPSsFiiBQcZxG59cFmeHlUgKXRrRe0oiFAChEW28ArcVEnZhLZXKmHURoPMZwJm75rPvMitgSOTMCpxsDEXqJSsx1kw18hDg&isSdui=true

Another retirement coming up... WFLA's Keith Cate. After 26 years at WFLA, and 44 years overall in broadcasting (including the few years he spent as one of the faces of WIAT's relaunch as 42 Daily News), May 20th will bring an end to an extraordinary career in Tampa Bay. Keith became THE face of WFLA after Bob Hite's retirement in 2007. He has since worked with Gayle Sierens (who has since retired), Stacie Schaible, and Jennifer Leigh to co-anchor WFLA's main newscasts. No immediate word as to who will take over at 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 once he leaves, though Josh Benson (who anchors the other newscasts at 4:00, 5:30, 6:30-WTTA, and 10:00-WTTA) could be the one to replace him. Also, unlike other anchors who retire and stay in the market, Keith will actually be leaving Tampa Bay to return to his family farm in Tennessee. https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/veteran-news-anchor-keith-cate-to-retire-from-wfla-after-extraordinary-44-year-career-in-broadcast-journalism/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRghbRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR4Wl__ZaQxAwEXMsrFZnNGCAHYcQXFCYk8gwo1e_2moVUabBVV-Do-fWG0Rfg_aem_2XHuELRLuJ6vAtBc5_SAhQ

Our best wishes are off to Sara Gore. She announced today during New York Live that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXw3dq-OIxz/?igsh=dHFjaHp2dmZiOXBh

Scripps now officially owns KKTV, KMVT/KSVT, and KKCO/KJCT. Gray now owns KATC and WSYM. It became official after the FCC approved the swap between the two media groups. https://www.tvtechnology.com/regulatory-legal/fcc-approves-station-swaps-between-scripps-and-gray-media

History is being made in Portland. For the first time ever, we're getting a women's sports-focused RSN and Gray is making it happen. KPDX is being converted from FOX 12 Plus into Rose City SportsNet, the home of Portland Thorns FC (NWSL) and the new Portland Fire (WNBA). It will still be OTA on Channel 49 and Cable 13 (next to KPTV itself). https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kptv.com/2026/04/27/gray-media-raj-sports-launch-rose-city-sportsnet/%3foutputType=amp

Canada Two notes from the same station, CHCH-TV 11. Longtime anchor Dan McLean, the man with that signature voice, has died at 78. https://www.chch.com/chch-news/longtime-chch-anchor-dan-mclean-dies-at-78/ After 40 years at the station, and 21 years anchoring Morning Live, Annette Hamm is retiring. June 19th, 2026 will be her last day. https://www.chch.com/chch-news/morning-lives-annette-hamm-to-retire-after-nearly-40-years-with-chch/

That's a real shocker. Audacy hasn't done this yet, mainly because they already have sports and news on the FM dial in other markets (Philly, NYC, Chicago, etc.) but they're stuck in LA with no good options left.

More retirement news and its another meteorologist too... WHEC's Glenn Johnson. After 41 years of TV weather in Rochester, June 24th will be his last day after 4 years and some change at WHEC and 36 years at 13 WHAM (plus WOKR) before that. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1345795697359997&id=100057887389179

After 14 years at WOFL Orlando, all of it on Good Day Orlando, Ryan Elijah has left the station to transition over to politics and run for Florida's 7th Congressional District as a Republican. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep-cory-mills-draws-first-republican-challenger-sexual-misconduct-allegations-expulsion-threat-mount?fbclid=IwY2xjawRd6-lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR5OEX02QgMX-EpO7kDce167eZ0urBIJrzRD8hTIaMSf1IBHczXC0okOn39PWw_aem_sWe_JVG2D9qdCkicNBlj0Q

After nearly 38 years on the Triad's airwaves, WFMY's Ed Matthews is hanging it up. Sunday, May 24th will be his last day before he enters his next phase... retirement. https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/life/wfmy-ed-matthews-to-retire-from-tv-this-may/83-5bf333cc-ca17-46b8-8866-4292bc12dd36

An update... she has joined former KXRM Meteorologist Matt Meister's digital streaming weather platform, Peaks2Plains Weather. https://gazette.com/2026/04/27/veteran-meteorologist-merry-matthews-joins-meister-at-private-colorado-springs-weather-firm/

I'm going to provide an update on that... TEGNA is almost the first company to provide live 24/7 weather streams across all its stations. I've checked and done the research, and every station EXCEPT for KWES-TV Odessa/Midland (due to technical difficulties) has launched its weather streams. Unfortunately, since these stations took down their other streams except for the main 24/7 stream online, the only way I was able to verify was to download every single TEGNA station's streaming TV app on my Roku (later deleted afterward except for WTSP's and WTLV/WJXX's since I'm in Florida), which is available under either Live Radar 24/7 or Weather Impact 24/7.

Only seven and a half months after this, WEIU-TV is going off the air. May 15th will be their final day on air. https://www.wandtv.com/news/weiu-tv-live-broadcast-to-end-switching-to-streaming-only/article_bcfeaabd-3742-454e-8b42-d364f293dc42.html