ScottSchell

Meteorologist Colton Williams is heading north. As I previously mentioned he left KTUL at the end of April and was helping KJRH and still is until the end of the month, then he will be heading up I-35 to Wichita and joining the KAKE First Alert weather team and will start in June doing the 4pm newscasts Monday through Friday.

New set and building is fully live. And good news they didn’t from the FOX from the logo.

12 minutes ago, nathannah said:

 

Hopefully nothing breaks in these next three hours (news or technically!).

Well they already said if anything breaks severe weather wise while flipping everything over to the new building they are ready to go.

Bad news KWTV’s Bob Mills SkyNews 9 a new Bell 505 has been totaled in an accident this evening while landing at Wiley Post Airport. Both pilot Jim Gardner and photographer Tim Young walked away with some non serious injuries, the 505 replaced the 407 that was totaled in 2023 hail storm in Pauls Valley Oklahoma and this comes on the same week that KOTV debuted the 505 Osage SkyNews 6. Photos of the helicopter before and after the crash.

4 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

That is one of the laziest brand names. I'm guessing AI created that. When have you seen a meteorologist slackin' on air? The only one that I see not 'Weather Ready', is Nexstar with a two-hour delay which can have consequences during a weather emergency.

I like it better than the Plan on it they were using.

On 4/12/2025 at 4:47 PM, ScottSchell said:

Couple of departures from KTUL/KOKH. Yesterday was sports Director TJ Eckert’s last day after 7 years at KTUL. Tonight is Meteorologist Colton Williams last day at both stations. Both are planning to stay in green county but haven’t announce their plans. Well I should say TJ said he will announce later on down the road Colton isn’t for sure as to his next plans but is planning on doing social media weather updates still.

Update on TJ Eckert he is joining KJRH starting Monday as senior reporter/anchor and will be anchoring the 6:00/6:30 Extra Edition newscasts with Naomi Keitt.

Couple of departures from KTUL/KOKH. Yesterday was sports Director TJ Eckert’s last day after 7 years at KTUL. Tonight is Meteorologist Colton Williams last day at both stations. Both are planning to stay in green county but haven’t announce their plans. Well I should say TJ said he will announce later on down the road Colton isn’t for sure as to his next plans but is planning on doing social media weather updates still.

Apologies for bumping this but is there any word on how much longer it will be before they officially move and start broadcasting from the new building?

6 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Say it with me... I won't this time.

 

It's Gray, KMOV, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

For the first time since KSDK had longtime OTA rights to them before giving it up in 2010 (KPLR before that), KMOV will be carrying a select few telecasts of the birds this upcoming season, whether it's Channel 4 or Matrix Midwest.

 

KFVS, KYTV, KSPR or KYCW; WMC, KAIT, WIFR or WSLN; WEEK, WGEM, WFIE, KTIV, KCRG, KYOU, KWQC, and KTTC or KXLT (either on their main channels or on a digitnet) will carry these games as well.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/st-louis-cardinals-partner-with-gray-media-kmov-matrix-midwest/?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=St.+Louis+Cardinals+Partner+With+Gray+Media%2c+KMOV+%26amp%3b+Matrix+Midwest&utm_campaign=Less+Hype%2c+More+Hybridity+For+Cloud+Vendors+In+2025

Add Griffin Media’s KOTV and KWTV to the list with them in an agreement with Gray Media. The 10 games (still being finalized as to which games) will air on NewsOn6Now which is their 24/7 news rebroadcast channel over the air and Cox Cable 53. While OKC will be on KSBI 52.

Another departure from Tulsa tv… KOTV meteorologist Megan Gold is leaving 6 and heading down the turnpike she’s staying with Griffin Media going to join News 9’s weather team on weekday mornings not sure if Jed or Lacey is swapping shifts to have Cassie’s old shift or what’s happening there. Kotv has hired a replacement for weekend mornings it will be Chloe Arroyo who will be joining the team straight from graduating from the Meteorological school of OU.

UPDATE: Jed Castles is now going to be on weekend mornings and the field meteorologist (just like what KOCO does with Michael Armstrong), Justin Rudical will move to the Noon show Monday through Friday, and Andrew Adams moves from weekend morning to the weekend evenings. David stays 4,5,6,10pm and Lacey will handle 5-7am,9am weather while Megan does Jed's old shift of 4:30am weather, 5-7am traffic and be back up weather.

KOKI’s FOX23 evening anchor Sara Whaley announced that she is leaving the station and the desk to be a full time mom to her little girl. Sports Director Nathan Thompson has been named her replacement starting Monday at 5pm and Spencer Tilus will be the Sports Director no word on who will take the weekend sports anchor/reporter position as of yet.

Sorry for bumping this but has anyone heard any updates on the new building if construction work is still going on or any ideas on if or when WINK will move?

1 hour ago, mre29 said:

I have a friend in Amarillo who mentioned that the Sinclair station there (KVII) has "reportedly ditched all local news people other than the weather team". That's the ARC thing, right?

More the national desk or taped news like they did to NTV.

The graphics have been leaked. I like it other then their usual cartoon characters FOX uses in NASCAR and NFL.

Wanted to bring this up CW released the layout of their graphics for the NASCAR coverage.

10 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

Ozarks First what? F1RST ALERT? Gray and Nexstar are going to merge, aren't they? -_-

No KOLR has always gone by Ozarks First on the website so they just kept the name and go by Ozarks First News now.

To be honest I like it better than the CBS and FOX graphics they had.

3 hours ago, ScottSchell said:

So anonymous employees with Allen have said that meteorologists at stations WTVA, KITV, WSIL, WAAY, WQOW and a few others are all “safe for now”. Now they need to switch the decisions on the rest of the stations. https://www.change.org/p/preserve-our-local-meteorological-teams-at-allen-media-group-stations-amg-and-wtva/u/33187039?cs_tk=A3WmPu0A9zRKK5SUm2cAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvDdjNDczNGU0NzhjMjI4NTc3ZTM0MzhmYTYwODA2ZjE1ZGI5YjdkODAwZjgwMzhlZjcxOWFjYzkzMmI0YmEzNTc%3D&utm_campaign=d164f3686f17432daa44e4eafc27baf1&utm_content=initial_v0_9_0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

WTVA has confirmed from Allen Media that the decision has been reversed and they are staying.

 https://www.wtva.com/news/local/wtva-parent-company-reverses-decision-severe-weather-authority-to-remain/article_62b9d4da-d9b4-11ef-9386-a7fc886aea62.html

So anonymous employees with Allen have said that meteorologists at stations WTVA, KITV, WSIL, WAAY, WQOW and a few others are all “safe for now”. Now they need to switch the decisions on the rest of the stations. https://www.change.org/p/preserve-our-local-meteorological-teams-at-allen-media-group-stations-amg-and-wtva/u/33187039?cs_tk=A3WmPu0A9zRKK5SUm2cAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvDdjNDczNGU0NzhjMjI4NTc3ZTM0MzhmYTYwODA2ZjE1ZGI5YjdkODAwZjgwMzhlZjcxOWFjYzkzMmI0YmEzNTc%3D&utm_campaign=d164f3686f17432daa44e4eafc27baf1&utm_content=initial_v0_9_0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

39 minutes ago, Howard Beale said:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Broadcasting/comments/1i7nzaf/allen_reversal/

 

It's only a rumor at this point, but the Broadcasting subreddit has been pretty spot on about things like this.  Perhaps even Byron Allen realized this was an incredibly dumb move.

Please let it be true and they reverse it for all stations.

10 hours ago, HanSolo said:

The FCC and Congress are not going to “investigate” scaling back news operations for economic factors. And there are few to no unicorn operators out there who will sink money into a pit from which it will never return. 

Never know especially if the FCC gets a lot of complaints from viewers especially WTVA.

39 minutes ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

Did they (WFFT) just removed the FOX out their branding 'Fox 55'?

Yes but still has it called Fox 55 News.

41 minutes ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

My question though: isn't it federal law to break into programming for life-threatening severe weather?  So isn't Allen "technically" breaking the law because they aren't providing life-saving information?? I just can't see TWC providing live coverage, especially if they struggle bad enough with who they have for national coverage?? I'm just curious if there are lawsuits just waiting to happen??

Yes they are breaking a contract with the FCC that is a legally binding contract. They can get fined by the FCC and local residents can file complaints to the FCC for them not breaking into programming. As for lawsuits I’m not 100% sure on that end.

I’m hoping Hearst, Nexstar (who should have originally bought KOKI instead of Cox), Tegna, or Gray decides to buy KOKI.

I’ve heard on the story that the new building will have multiple studios to work out of. A set in the newsroom plus a new bigger space for the new studio and set with multiple different spots in the studio to read news stories at.