mrschimpf

The background...why?! This gives me 'Family Video VHS tapes in front of the window for years and years' sun-weathered vibes. I know WAGM has always been low-budget no matter the owner, but the set should be reversed; an LED background on the back (even a cheap Roku TV would be fine!), and they can put some kind of still on the desk.

We have an update to the WZMQ side of things; Lilly is leasing a downtown Marquette building to serve as their studio for an expanded news op.

I know, I'm just shocked that Window to the World put all this work to keeping the license active, and then just turned it back in without any rhyme or reason? I think we'll find out more in the next few months, as there's always something odd going on with WTTW. And I could've seen VCY America pay plenty for the license to extend their programming into Chicago.

So did WITI (it was specifically scheduled in their EPG), though of course they had to air the entertainment lineup after the 10 p.m. news despite it all being reruns.

WYCC is now officially gone, with its 'channel' being replaced by PBS World on 11.5 (I hope 20 days isn't enough to be considered a double-post).

It was totally that decision because police injuries to that station are what they seem to relish covering deeply the most.

I saw this last night on a 10pm show, where a few other important stories which were developing were 'but first, breaking news!'ed for a minor car accident during a police chase...that happened at 5pm and was long cleaned up . If you as the viewer knows the other stories rundown deserved prominence, the news organization has failed to do its job. And highlight pieces from other reporters. I cannot stand only having a few on-camera reporters these days; it makes your organization look too insular and limiting.

Another silent dump of MyNetworkTV; WACY is done with the network as of today in the Appleton/Green Bay market and replaced it with Dateline and Monk reruns. Apparently WFRV is picking it up on one of their subs, but I'm not seeing anything on their schedule yet.

We've still got stations with the searchlights, non-standard text (Boston 25) and some using the Fox logo vertically like KXRM, so I do wish Fox would give them some logo guidelines; though I do laud stations like KHON and WSVN to sticking with no Fox logo. I don't really mind KOKI's logo at all (they do need a graphics update but it's a Cox station so don't count on it).

A lot of 'storm chaser' vehicles usually have a screen on an arm attached to the hatchback door to present a forecast outdoors...but they're usually always set to a very vivid mode and they usually use known brand name sets (often weatherproofed) with a very low-profile bezel. This one is a closeout 720p special (this one, specifically, a 24" 720p model with RCA and VGA hookups, and a '3.4 mm headphone output' (!); the brand is called Furrion, which specializes in RV TVs no sensible person would ever consider)...whoever picked out that unit should be fired; that's unacceptable even for one of those back-set monitors that plays a competitor station for decor. Even a damned iPad mini would be better than that POS. Do better, Fox.

My dream is that Fox uses this rationale to hoover up WUTV in Buffalo and finally makes it a Fox station that's respectable for 2023, not 1988. Including a full-scale news department and no more 700 Club. Sinclair can keep just keep WNYO and their tradition of not trying.

Never recorded it because it's on the Spectrum app, but the ticker's ads were for Elk & Elk and some service in Akron; it took until 2017 until we had Spectrum app access to TWC after the Time Warner merger.

I use my Apple TV all the time and not having it on there (as niche as it is) is a severe oversight. Not even a browser to AirPlay option. I have a Fire TV, but it's just too slow and, Roku's video standards and overall UX are years behind. Like the horrible situation where the private equity vultures forced apart the TV Guide channel and the magazine and it took revolt to bring them and proper listings back together, the entire situation with the Weather Channel's breakup has been a complete strikeout; I'm more apt to ignore the Weather Channel completely because Spectrum never upgraded their local headend for HD (thus I get the same feed as DirecTV in HD), so it's either watch local coverage in 4:3 SD (which I simply won't in 2022), or cue up the Spectrum app and watch the Milwaukee headend's data (with Cleveland ticker advertising for some reason) over reality glurge in primetime the vast majority of the audience doesn't give a damn about.

If KDKA Radio's talk lineup and KDKA-FM's sports hot takes haven't made it clear KDKA-TV isn't a part of them anymore, I don't know what to tell that viewer; there are still misguided radio listeners who call in to yell at WISN-TV for whatever hot take was thrown out by Mark Belling on WISN radio, even though they haven't shared anything, much less weather forecasts, in 20 years besides a callsign. That's definitely a viewer you're glad 'will never watch your TV station again you (whatever insult they have)!'.

Stephen Marks, the owner of WBKB, KXGN, WBUP and WBKP, passed away on May 11.

My apologies for overlooking that, they do simulcast in that direction. I don't know what's stopping them from simulcasting WDCW on WDVM though (contractual against WHP-DT3?), so the point does stand.

Plus it always gives you a backup when you need to push off programming for breaking news or push the bombs off the main station's schedule. Duopoly stations may be the last thing anyone wants, but you're glad to have them not competing with you, or to have a place to put in-house shows. Plus public places or parties still need shows on their TVs during the day that won't annoy everyone and it's free ad money for little outlay.

WDCW is in a channel-sharing arrangement with WFDC and its four channels/two HD channels itself pre-dating Nexstar, so they're stuck with that arrangement. And that map is a really optimal reality, as WWPX (which is a satellite of WPXW)'s contour just a few miles north has a shaky signal into the Beltway itself.

At least for Indianapolis, WISH-TV will likely be precluded from that, as you know Circle City would immediately argue to the FCC that Nexstar would conspire to make them as a formerly-owned station a non-factor in the market and that nobody carries (or really watches) WTTV/K-DT2. And internally there will be WGN pushback, though sadly the personnel that would've been able to moot the move will be told by Perry they have no choice (even if the current primetime schedule of sitcom reruns is otherwise ignored by management and the public).

A very odd spin-off of iCarly dealing with her true crime reporting cousin? Actually, no, I'm not finding anything about it online. This is a total mystery of a show, and it's not associated with Fox First Run. The only thing I can think is former Bellum Entertainment staffers got together a new company and sold a new show, because outside Dateline and before Bellum's collapse (we're not counting True Crime Daily), they were the last to try a daily crime strip.

We're down to 22 UHF channels, and several (14-19) are already ruled out in military base areas due to land mobile radio use, along with medical radiology, so that's down to 17 realistically. And there's no realistic way that more channels could be added by reducing spectrum into smaller bits.

Yeah, I meant to leave out the obvious full-power ed licenses like KDTN, KLTJ, WYDN and KWDK; those aren't going anywhere anytime soon (and there's no way they're selling them to traditional educational interests). The low-powers acquired from bankruptcies like Equity's and Guardian are more likely to be sold off. And here, KDTL was duplicative to WPXS, and already carrying Retro TV instead, which seems to be an overall anamoly. That's good to hear at least. I do wonder if KPTV and KVVU have been able to genericize their More shows and just said to DDM 'well it hasn't been published in half a decade and it is an extension of our morning newscast, thus it's "more", so we aren't changing it', along with logo changes. I do think though eventually they'll take on the common Gray direction where an ad/traffic guy will host the segments with the sponsor.

Greta's been rumored to be moving to Newsmax, so the end of FCP definitely tracks. As for RTM, you can just assume that nobody would've noticed they stopped production until it didn't have a schedule slot in September. As they inherited their share from Raycom I assume they would have gotten out earlier if COVID hadn't got in the way and taken out some Fall 2020 premieres, and because it was just Zoom reactions mixed into clips for the last two years it was cheap to make. The other thing to watch in the next few months is if the Meredith stations retitle their versions of Better and More so Atlanta doesn't have to pay licensing fees for those magazine titles to DDM, or just because Gray prefers blended up-front advertorials in their newscasts to an outright hour lifestyle show, just cancel them for news extensions. Also interesting to see that station sale from Daystar; I get the feeling with Marcus Lamb's strong-arm tactics now gone, like TBN did after the elder Crouches passed, they're going to start taking a deep look at whether outside their Texas full-powers, they really need to own television stations when selling them to others and leasing a subchannel KOCE-style will keep their reach while saving them money.

Seriously, it's good that Nielsen isn't the monolith they were in the past and that ratings are now not only day-to-day in most markets, but often lessened as the 'rat race' has been de-emphasized. It always seemed stupid to 'hold back' an important story until a sweeps period because you had to have it backed up by some NBC disaster movie or tie somehow to an ER episode, and although there are still some sites (Deadline and TVNewser specifically) that still think people care about the night-to-night 'ratings battle', we're now in an age where those big stories are on YouTube or turned into a web series/vertical. If people need to take time off; let them. I'd rather see a happy anchor rather than one grumping through the last part of sweeps. Also don't forget that NBC station folks probably had to hold back summer 2020-2021 plans thanks to the Olympic delays and COVID, and are finally able to get those vacations in just now.

Tamron is moving to 2pm, then Jennifer Hudson at 3pm in the fall, so outside sliding back their lineup an hour, there's nothing to move.