Greggo

KPRC/Houston has added a third hour to its Saturday morning news: 6-7, 8-9 and now 9-10 as of this past weekend. Also, they will be replacing Dr. Phil at 3 p.m. with a 3 p.m. newscast this fall. These on-air additions — plus recently expanding their morning online stream from 7-8 a.m. to 7-9 a.m. — are all happening after they canceled their 4:30 a.m. newscast earlier this year over what they alleged at the time was a shortage of hiring and keeping producers.

KTRK doesn’t do morning traffic?!?

They’ve been doing this for several years now. It is produced by KXAN and airs live on Nexstar stations statewide. In San Antonio, the address typically airs on Graham’s KSAT since that city doesn’t have a Nexstar station.

Interesting. The Graham station in Houston, KPRC, has been hit hard too. Lots of abrupt departures in recent months, including midday and 4p anchor Christine Noel, 5p anchor Lauren Freeman, Houston Life co-anchor Courtney Zavala, Houston Life reporter Joe Sam and the news director, who had been in the market for nearly two decades (first at KTRK). Plus a morning anchor change-up, bringing back a former anchor and bumping the current anchor to middays and 4p. Bizarre programming changes too, including canceling the 4:30a newscast, sticking a day-old rerun of ET between the 11a and noon newscasts and moving Houston Life back to its old, less desirable timeslot. Some of this is no doubt related to getting a new GM after the old one retired, but it still seems excessive. I’m wondering if it’s more indicative of potential turmoil at Graham corporate as opposed to station-specific issues.

I get it … FTV said today they’re down by half. The people left are probably burned out due to all the OT they’re being asked to work. Understandable in a small market, but not in Houston. Why the hell did they allow it to get that bad? Things aren’t anywhere as dire at any other large market station that I can think of. New ND and GM are both very experienced and have plenty of connections they could work to try to find people. They have (or had) one producer who arrived from tiny Lake Charles many years ago. Certainly there are others who would kill to make a jump like that. Better pay, larger city and a ton of fancy toys to make your shows better, such as their storm tracker and their chopper. Hopefully they can bring back the 4:30a show at some point. Dumping it makes them look weak and a bunch of people were complaining about it on social today, with some folks saying they were switching stations. You can’t help but think the numbers at 5a will drop at least some without local news as the leadin. If people get their start elsewhere each morning, many likely won’t switch when the clock strikes 5.

KPRC/Houston will no longer air a 430a newscast starting tomorrow (Monday, 1/9). An extra Early Today will air in that timeslot. Seems like a bizarre move for a station in such a large market, esp one that has had a lot of momentum lately. Their 4:30a newscast is around 15 years old now and every other Houston station is on the air at that time. KRIV goes on even earlier at 4a.

Doesn’t really look like anything that special. Considering all the hype.

Pretty big anchor shuffle announced this afternoon at KPRC/Houston: 11a, noon and 4p anchor Christine Noel is leaving. Weekday morning anchor Lisa Hernandez is her replacement. Former weekend morning anchor Sophia Ojeda is returning just a few months after she left to take over the weekday morning shift. Switch happens later this month. Lots of changes there since the new GM arrived. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2022/10/big-kprc-2-2022-anchor-changes.html

He’s a young, very good-looking guy with some news chops in Hollywood. I can totally see him getting picked up by ET, Extra, Access Hollywood, etc.

It’s bizarre that he felt the need near the end of his post to say it was his choice to leave. Pure ego. Um, you’re going from Detroit to Chicago. It’s a clear promotion. No need to explain yourself other than you being afraid someone might think you were demoted … to a bigger market.

After the dumpster fires at KTLA and KTVI in recent days, I’m sure Nexstar (and Mester and Faust) are thankful the spotlight is now on NY1’s Erick Adame https://nypost.com/2022/09/19/nyc-weatherman-fired-after-webcam-nudes-sent-to-boss/

The latest Nexstar dumpster fire. With that audio leaked and the language he used, it would be hard to imagine him back at the anchor desk. He (allegedly) swore 40 times in 4 minutes, saying some really awful things to her.

Considering Mester praised Drafs at least twice that I can recall in that 5-minute rant, it seems pretty clear she was likely going to allow some sort of goodbye and was overruled by corporate. Maybe pre-recorded. Who knows? After yesterday’s stunt, yes, Drafs probably is pissed — and rightfully so — because she got dragged into this on air. He even showed a picture of Drafs with Lynette! It makes her look bad, like she doesn’t have control of her staff. Unfortunate all the way around. I will say it is interesting to see how the others reacted. Telles seemed uncomfortable but supportive. The two fellas were just plain awkward, with one not saying a single thing and the other rambling for a short bit before getting cut off.

I think most affiliates would prefer to do an hour at 9/10 and keep the 35-minute show at 10/11. Several Fox stations already do this. (In fact, WAGA goes from 10 to midnight.) If someone is watching ABC or CBS prime and prefers the late news on the NBC station they’d have to make a tough choice. Same goes for if they watch local news on the CBS or ABC station and then like to switch over to Fallon. Another tough choice. Also, re: the list above … KABB and WOAI may be a duopoly but KABB produces its own 9p news with its own anchor team on its own set. The two already compete against each other in the mornings so this wouldn’t be anything new.

WGCL also stole another investigator from WXIA a few weeks back: Andy Pierrotti. Looks like Gray isn’t messing around when it comes to making CBS 46 a contender.

KXAN/Austin is expanding its 430p newscast to a full hour this week. Jennifer Sanders will anchor, in addition to adding the noon news to her duties following Friday’s departure of Amanda Dugan. First-run Jeopardy and Daytime Jeopardy will air at 3p and 330p. (First-run Jeopardy had been airing at 4p on KXAN.) Dr. Phil, which had been airing at 3p, slides to 2p, and displaced Rachael Ray gets bumped to 3p on sister station KBVO (MyTV). Daytime Jeopardy had been airing at 530p on sister station KNVA (CW) and is being replaced by a 4th run of Family Feud. Family Feud will now air for 2 straight hours on KNVA: 5p to 7p.

Interesting news about the news in Dallas: The Spectrum News 1 North Texas feed will be simulcast over the air on Weigel’s KAZD. This will air around the clock, 7 days a week — except for a break on the weekends to show E/I programming. The financial arrangement isn’t entirely clear — is Spectrum paying Weigel or is Weigel paying Spectrum? I can’t see this getting many viewers, but who knows?!? https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/6/28/moving-from-cable-to-broadcast

KPRC in Houston recently posted a help wanted ad for their lifestyle show, “Houston Life,” that said it would expand in 2023. It’s already an hour, so it stands to reason it could soon be 2. 2 hours strikes me as a lot for a station the size of WALA.

They’ve been paying rent on it so I guess they finally decided they should put it to some sort of use instead of just flushing money down the drain. It was up for sublease for about five years and they had no takers. If they did a somewhat standard 20-year lease, they’re stuck there for about six more years.

Current 4p anchor Keith Garvin has been named main anchor at KPRC/Houston. He’s been with KPRC for 10 years and knows the market well. Keith will shift to the 5p, 6p and 10p shows, replacing Kris Gutierrez, who abruptly left a few months ago. No official word on who will take over at 4p, but I suspect current 11a and noon anchor Andy Cerota will add that show to his duties instead of reporting for the afternoon newscasts, like he does now. https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/06/08/keith-garvin-named-anchor-of-kprc-2s-evening-and-late-newscasts/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=kprc2&fbclid=IwAR34kdsOEU0lwe-giDjxXQw1UE5th_-JOwP0KPiHbdztrZaVk53XSkAZGNs&fs=e&s=cl

It appears those rumors from FTV and others about Sinclair moving KFDM/Beaumont to WOAI/San Antonio aren’t true. KFDM broke ground on a new building today, which will replace the current one, which has been condemned by the state as part of a freeway expansion project. KFDM is moving to the opposite side of town from where they are now. Building will open next year. https://www.facebook.com/79318758755/posts/pfbid02mSyNoF7zsEBMuX4VfAiEWTQVYNbpF29BtFuJzzRUqiQMzsEuamjvAX2dfgWTRGWVl/

Considering it came right after the end of May sweeps, it may very well have been related to ratings.

You can pay to license it.

A couple changes from Texas to report … Former Fox 26 Houston chief met Jim Siebert, who abruptly left earlier this year, has resurfaced at WeatherNation as a VP. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2022/04/dr-jim-siebert-joins-weathernation.html In Bryan/College Station, several changes at top-rated KBTX. Evening co-anchor Karla Castillo has shifted to mornings, citing a desire to spend more time with her family. She fills one of the two seats vacated recently by husband-wife anchor team of Josh and Kathleen Ninke, who both went to WAVE in Louisville to report. The other morning anchor seat is posted online, with reporter Fallon Appleton filling in on an interim basis. Castillo’s evening co-anchor seat is also posted. The station said various reporters will fill in for her on the evening shift for now. The station has also revealed it will be replacing Ellen at 3p this fall with an hourlong local lifestyle show that will be called The Three. (Not only will it air at 3p, but they are also Channel 3.) Jobs are posted for a host and a producer. All four KBTX jobs are listed on Gray’s career website, along with several others.

Gut-wrenching. They had just announced she had gone to hospice hours earlier. This was a horribly aggressive cancer. At least we know she is at peace now.