AJClementeFan69

A belated post, but former WJBK and KTTV anchor Tamara Iwerks died in a hiking accident back in May. https://www.independent.com/obits/2021/06/14/tamara-iwerks/

The bottom line is: The KTVA intellectual property sale should have never been allowed to happen and cannot be undone. Something needs to be done about the intellectual property license kabuki that Gray and Sinclair play in order to skirt duopoly rules. If the FCC can't do anything about it, one would think the DOJ would be able to under antitrust rules.

Not a bad one.

Wonder who did the WIS 1991 theme? Seems like way more than production music. Gives me Peters Communications vibes.

About time. The Raycom websites were some of the worst around IMO.

Another one I've wanted to figure out: the WPBN TVBD-era theme. It certainly sounds like more than production music. Bears a superficial resemblance to the WJBK "Major Theme" IMO.

The promo cut in this: Sounds an awful lot like the early 90s KSAT theme... Production music perhaps??

This is probably because Nexstar is requiring its stations to burn in a "News Nation" courtesy on certain videos submitted to the network news services in a lame attempt to promote it. It's goofy, like everything else associated with News Nation.

Tell that to all the people who got axed when they took over WDBJ, KSPR, etc. Bloodbath.

Won't happen. They may let them stay separate for about a year, and even claim that they intend to do so long-term, then they'll turn around and combine them to (ostensibly) create a "stronger" news operation. This has been their playbook every time. KYTV/KSPR, KSFY/KDLT, etc.

I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell anyone who thinks that Gray is going to keep the news operations separate. I don't even know why they try to lie about that anymore. It happens every time.

Idk if this has already been posted...but in the mid-2000s, WRNN ripped off WMAR's early 2000s look right down to the slogan.

Don't talk shit about Counterpoint.

Re: mid-sized to smaller markets: The time has already come on that. Pre-recession there were a number of stations in the 50-100 market range flying choppers (just look at late 90s/early 2000s news opens -- a LOT of stations had them). Now, to my knowledge, there's only KOTV in Tulsa, and the ultimate outlier, market 140-something WBOC. You can rest assured that their choppers would be grounded if either got sold. As for drones, they are absolutely not a replacement for choppers, regardless of how companies will try to spin it. Try getting a drone to an industrial fire clear across town in 5 minutes. Not gonna happen. At the same time, stations probably aren't sending their choppers up much to get aerials for a non-breaking-story. The two pieces of technology largely don't overlap IMO. Drones can be used for breaking news, but they can only get to scenes as fast as everyone else can driving, they take a while to set up once at the scene, and the operator has to hope that it's in a zone they're able to fly in and officials haven't put up any drone flight restrictions. Also, unless it happens to be near your station, you're probably getting more of the aftermath than the event itself. Choppers don't have the same restrictions over where they can fly, when, and how. You can fly a chopper over a crowd of people all day. Forget about a drone doing that. Basically, companies getting rid of choppers have decided the juice isn't worth the squeeze, and that whatever they're gaining in terms of spot news coverage doesn't outweigh the enormous amount they pay to fly the thing. A drone may soften the blow slightly, but I think it's a move these companies would be making whether drones existed for news or not. Having a drone just softens the blow a bit. I don't think you'll see Top 10-15 stations dump choppers anytime soon. They're still getting their money's worth. I'd consider them endangered in lower markets, especially the 30-50 range.

Crappy recording of a WISC weekend newscast in 1998 with the Star Trak theme. Would be nice if this person would digitize it (or send the tape to someone who can). Talent open at about 6:28.

If WAVY got to keep Newswire I'd imagine WOOD gets to keep Primetime (I hope). If they switch it to Aerial or This is the Place...yuck.

I was using that as more or less a generic term to describe their farmed out newscasts. You could call it a Fresno or West Palm Beach special, but doesn't have quite the same ring.

I guess Sinclair figured it wasn't even worth producing a South Bend Special...

Aren't they doing better than WISH?

What I find interesting is that it seems the cuts have so far haven't hit the more unionized ex-Trib stations. Haven't heard anything about WGN, KTLA, WDAF or KTVI. Could be just a coincidence though. https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/BroadcastStationListOCTOBER2019.pdf

I stand corrected then lol. KWTV and WBOC.

Isn't their chopper shared with KWTV or am I incorrect?

Seems like the KLAS grounding was a one-off. I think everyone was bracing for groundings at WFLA and WAVY that never came to pass. I think if someone were to make a list of markets that have at least one helicopter, you'll see a dropoff at about market 40 or so. Vegas is right on that cusp. Jacksonville probably only has two stations with choppers because both stations are owned by (for now) spendier companies. Norfolk has WAVY. You can probably justify having a chopper in Albuquerque because of the geographic size of the market, in the same way you can justify having a chopper in OKC because of weather. In markets below 50 or so, they're virtually nonexistent. I can't think of a sub-50 market that currently has one outside of WBOC, which is truly the outlier of outliers. Pre-recession, it was a different story. Much rarer, but a number of markets had them. Fort Myers, Lexington, Dayton, Des Moines, Jackson and South Bend come to mind. I'm sure I'm missing more. Those days are over. There's just not enough news or revenue to justify the enormous cost. In markets like LA, there still is. TL;DR, you're not going to see KTLA lose its chopper anytime soon.

Looks like WHO might be the first Trib station to get Nexstar graphics?

I see no reason why it wouldn't stay. SBG gets the benefit of having a news product with zero capital/employee costs and WWBT gets money to air a 10pm newscast on Fox rather than a lower-rated CW station. Remember, besides WWBT/WUPV, other Sinclair-Gray arrangements include WKYT/WDKY and KFVS/KBSI. I don't see SBG eliminating those or the WISC/WMSN or WHO/KDSM arrangements. If any of those were to end, Sinclair would almost certainly use the South Bend model and farm out the anchoring/production to a sister station. I don't think we'll ever see Sinclair build a full-fledged startup operation. You just hire a few low-paid MMJs and voila! You now have a "news operation."