MarkBRollins88_v2

The video was made private anyone have screen shots 

On 12/15/2023 at 7:54 AM, Abraham J. Simpson said:

 

 

 

I’m old enough to say my generation isn’t going to be around to see a structural shift. I hope the upcoming generations make progress, 

 

 

This is the exact mindset killing this industry.

 

Current Boomer-aged executives are they to have their cake and eat it too.

 

They’re trying to make money off TV in the short term, while setting it up to fail in the long term, but they’ll be retired by then, so it’ll be Gen Z’s problem. 
 

Prime examples of this are Nexstar’s ban on livestreaming news, or the industry’s move as a whole to grow more and more dependent on retrans agreements with dying cable companies as revenue sources.

 

yes, these will maximize profits right now.

 

but what about when everyone has cut the cord, so there are no retrans agreements to be had, and everyone who watches news watches it via live stream, but they won’t know nexstar stations exist. 

but we’ll let the future generation deal with that.

 
let’s squeeze this sponge for all it’s worth first and the take our golden parachutes.

32 minutes ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

It is often popular and easy to blame some general group of people and paint them as some kind of Snidely Whiplash cartoon villain, but sometimes people with a specific skill set who excel in their field make what the market will support. Is it fair someone who can hit a baseball will collect whatever hundreds of millions the most recent contract was for? Makes me roll my eyes, but in reality, if they think that investment will fill the seats and move the merchandise to recoup the cost (and of course, I know it's part of a team, and the team being successful is part of the filling seats/selling merch equation), then whatever. Lots of other people in the organization undoubtedly work hard and do their best, and they aren't making that bank (I'm talking staff here, not players). 

 

Strikes are powerful tools, and if someone can organize one and make it successful, more power to them. It's not easy. Hell, it's often very risky to understate it. It's also not always an easy sell to garner public sympathy--sometimes yes, sometimes no. We're in a bit of a time in the nation where more attention is paid to the CEO/average worker gap, and there may be ways to leverage that, or it could end up backfiring, so to speak. I would suggest that the best target is the CEO type position, it's an easier concept to sell. Joe the sales guy who happened to make a nice living because he's darned good at selling doesn't make the same compelling comparison when you're trying to get sympathy on a large scale. Bob Iger? Ok, that's doable. Not going to win over everyone, but there's a difference there. (And not to pick him specifically, he was just the first example that popped to mind.) 

You sound just like a couple GMs I’ve worked for  

On 12/6/2023 at 2:33 PM, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Not sure if this is the place for this question or not, but please move it if it isn't...

 

Anyways, my question is: What's up with anchors/mmjs/etc constantly moving after 1-2 years?? Doesn't this make them less credible?? I'm just curious why stations are hiring people, only to have them leave after a year...  I've been doing some searches and haven't come across a somewhat clear answer...

I also just want to say thank you for asking this question.

 

For people outside the industry, most have no idea the crap conditions and pay reporters/MMJs/photogs/mets, etc have to put up with.

 

its time to shine a light on this for the public.

10 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Not to sound extremist, but journalists need to be the next group to strike. This especially as stations rely more on news departments for direct ad revenue with syndication options drying up. 

You will never see a mass TV journalist strike simply because very, very few are in unions.

 

And any attempts for a newsroom to unionize would likely be fruitless and would almost guarantee contract non-renewals for anyone who tried to unionize.  
 

that being said, I fantasize often about a day when I could join a union and show management how truly f*cked they’d be without their news people. 

2 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

A commission based team gets rewarded for successful sales. Good, bad, anywhere in between, it’s not any one group of people or one industry where that doesn’t happen. And if you’re not a successful seller, you’re not bringing home that big payday. 
 

I could never, ever in a million years be good at a sales role. So I’m never, ever going to be getting commissions commensurate with what I bring in.  Oh well, that’s the world. 

That doesn’t excuse the fact that, at every station I’ve worked, the base, pre-commission minimum salary range for even entry-level sales positions is still significantly higher than pretty much every news position except for main anchors and news director. 

and yes, I’ve seen the salary ranges with my own eyes. 

this is at several stations in small, medium and large markets. 
 

let’s also not forget, that ratings are directly tied to what sales can charge their customers. So if ratings go up, whatever commission sales people get would be higher than when ratings were down, simply by the fact that they can charge higher rates.

 

even though they did nothing to contribute to those higher ratings that allowed them to sell ads for more. 
 

in other words, the news department at every station plays *a* role in the sales team’s success, but they do not see the rewards. 

5 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

Not sure it means anything for “credibility.” We all understand people move on, and of course some settle in for long stretches, too. 
 

As for the money aspect, for better, worse and everything in between, the bottom line is what it is. You aren’t going to get the same viewership and ad revenue in a world that has splintered into a million different viewing options. The slices of those pies get smaller. It undoubtedly sucks, and like many fields, sucks more as time goes on. But there are far bigger macroeconomic issues at play that aren’t unique to the industry and aren’t going to be solved in one industry alone. 

While the fact that revenue is shrinking and money is drying up and the industry is basically dead is true, stations have been screwing over reporters and MMJs for money in favor of their sales buddies since the dawn of TV news, even when the cash was flowing deep

Without revealing too much…

 

1. Because for reporters/MMJs, the contracts are usually 2-3 years

2. Because those contracts usually always pay them crap money, and stations are usually not willing to give them raises for a new contract that would even account for any inflation that happened during the expiring contract—because at the end of the day—they know they can just bring someone else in with less experience and pay them less than the experienced person wanting to renew their contract. 
 

“But wouldn’t a station want to pay what it takes to keep talent around if they’re willing to stay, so the product is stable and the journalism is actually good?”

 

No. Because despite what GMs and excs will tell you, they give approximately zero shits about newscast quality, as long as the viewership isn’t plummeting (and even if it is, they see that as an excuse to get rid of the current people).
 

It’s all a money game. That’s all it ever was and ever will be. It’s why sales people make the big bucks. Because execs and GMs don’t view news talent as “direct revenue producers” who deserve a fair, comfortable wage (actually words a GM has told me ).
 

They view reporters and MMJs as objects—as nuts and bolts in a car the sales department is trying sell and make commission off. You don’t pay the parts that make up the car. They’re lifeless objects. You pay the sales guy who sold it. Even though there would be no car to sell without the nuts and bolts. 
 

They wish they didn’t have to pay them at all, but those pesky labor laws force them to have to view reporters and MMJs as humans deserving of minimum wage and not much more. 

 

With this analogy in mind, even if a reporter or MMJ likes the smaller market they’re currently under contract in, the only way for a reporter or MMJ to get a sizable raise is to move to a bigger market when their contract is up, to a market where they’re viewed by management as the expendable, lifeless nuts and bolts in a GMC Yukon a sales hotshot is trying to profit off, instead of the expendable, lifeless nuts and bolts in Ford Fiesta a sales hotshot is trying to profit off. 
 

 

 

Lot of stations getting delayed numbers right now because of the Dish outage

July sweeps is always seen as not that important. Usually the least important of the four sweeps periods. 
 

The ones that stations really care about are May and November, since those are the ones they metric to set ad rates.

 

But more likely, the reason we are seeing this is because “sweeps” is pretty much a thing of the past, with more accurate metrics from companies like commscore which are measured at all times, not just certain periods, many stations are switching away from Nielsen.

 

When I worked at a station in a market that preferred commscore, the saying was “we’re always in sweeps”

2 hours ago, ScottSchell said:

I honestly think it just depends on the contract conditions when Clint left he couldn’t announce where he was going until the contract was up so I think his contract was done at the end of December since that’s when he announced where he was heading.  Kinda like when Mike Collier left 8 he wasn’t actually supposed to be on air for another week but KJRH said screw it kicked Brett Anthony out during severe weather and had Mike go on.

I just mean more of the fact that this can happen at all…

 

I believe the only other states this is really even possible are California and South Dakota. 

On 1/1/2022 at 10:08 AM, ScottSchell said:

Update on Clint Boone he has joined KOTV replacing Kendell Smith who’s with FOX Weather and Sawyer Wells who left the station yesterday to become a doctor (His replacement starts soon from what Sawyer told me).  Clint rejoins Travis Meyer who was his boss at KTUL in the mid 2000’s he will be on weekends starting next weekend. 
 

Oklahoma’s “no non-competes” law really does help talent wreak havoc on their stations when they just pick up and cross the street and I’m here for the drama. 

On 12/28/2021 at 1:06 AM, C Block said:

I haven’t paid too much attention to KUSA lately, but I noticed they’ve rebranded their morning show from “Mile High Mornings” back to simply “9News Mornings.” They’ve also brought back the “Colorado’s News Leader” tagline, and it seems like they’re starting to use the KTVD callsign in the KTVD branding. It seems like they’re trying to go back to a more sober and authoritative brand unlike…*gestures broadly* whatever they’ve been doing the last few years.

It’s almost like viewers want the news—to do—get this—actual news. 
 

Hopefully this return to the way things were will be contagious and spread to their sister station in Dallas. But I won’t hold my breath.

 

Maybe that’ll happen if Soo Kim/Apollo/The Cox family (what little power they have left) get their hands on TEGNA. 

2 hours ago, TheSpeedKing said:

I know this is not "The 3 Thread", but in hindsight, WKYC probably did this right. Even their branding relates to audio/visual media, and "3News" is not the name of a blog. 

Whoa whoa let’s slow down

a couple thoughts I shared in the discord I want to bring over here. 
 

Hate to say it, but I agree… failure is the likely outcome. Do not like what I’ve seen. Queen City News is not a good name to begin with…

 

Here’s my problem with Queen City News… and all the other generic names (mostly Gray) affiliates have been switching to… It does not, in any way, indicate the fact that it is a broadcast news outlet.

“But that’s what they want to do! It’s about more than just terrestrial television now!”

 

That’s true. But at the core of it, the product is still video news, with an emphasis on live and immediate VIDEO news reporting. That will always be true for this business no matter if the main medium people consume the product on changes from over the air TV, to streaming, an app, a website, or whatever else may come in the future.

 

The problem is, this name sounds like what you’d name the free pamphlet newspaper handed out at coffee shops.

 

The name, does not in any way, indicate how the outlet is different from the local newspaper. It does not indicate that, even if you’re only patronizing them through a digital outlet, you can expect strong audio and video to tell the stories,  not just written text. 

 

It deemphasizes what makes a video news outlet unique and different from the rest of the news outlets out there.

 

Names like ‘Queen City News,’ ‘Alaska’s News Source,’ etc. do not at all indicate that the outlet is anything more than a startup local news blog.

 

Think I’m wrong? Visit QueenCityNews.com right now, and tell me what you see. You’ll see a website for another outlet already called Queen City News, that is exactly the kind of thing I described above. A local news blog straight out of 2005!

 

Nevermind the fact that clearly, Nexstar is not really concerned with the digital product, or it would have bought the domain name that matches what it is calling its News product. That is BASIC cross-platform branding stuff. 

 

This is just an example of Nexstar not using common sense when trying to build a brand. 

 

Believe it or not… I think Sinclair is the example of how to do this right.

 

When they rename their affiliates to deemphasize network affiliation, they make the names still portray the sense of urgency and immediacy of broadcast news.

 

“Iowa News Now,” “Ohio 24/7 Now” are names that (while I still have problems with) still portray the immediacy and urgency only a broadcast news outlet can bring—whether it’s on their website, OTT channels, or terrestrial channels—in a way names like “Queen City News” do not.

 

Would would I have done? I wouldn’t change anything. But if I had no choice, I would go with something like “Fox46 Queen City News” or “Queen City News on Fox 46”… or “Queen City 46” if we don’t want to mention Fox. I’d be much more okay with those names. 

 

Heck, some of the most legendary stations in the country get away with naming themselves in such a way.

 

See “ABC 7 Eyewitness News” or “6 ABC Action News.”

 

You can have a ‘fun’ name for your newscasts, but people need to know they are, in fact, watching a newscast. 

 

I get that they want to be forward thinking and emphasize that their product is available on more than just TV. That’s why they could brand their TV newscasts as ‘Queen City News on FOX46’ or “Queen City 46 News”… while on the web, just calling themselves Queen City News.

 

As someone on discord pointed out… if a random guy driving down the highway sees a billboard for “Queen City News”… how do they know even what it is? If I saw a billboard for “Fox46 Queen City News,” or “Queen City 46 News” I would at least know what it is.

 

Or if they could even say “Queen City News: Always Local. Always Streaming” or “Queen City News: On Air. Online. Always streaming”

That would be a great way to convey to people what you do, while letting them know you can watch them and consume their content on more than just TV.

 

But holy crap, that logo is awful too. 

 

I’m not usually a guy to be a huge pessimist… and like to give things a chance.

 

But if I lived in that market, I would have considered watching this station before this rebrand. Afterwards, it looks like a station that is trying too hard to hide the fact they are, in fact, a TV station

16 hours ago, dman748 said:

Wouldn't that put Google at risk of being sued by groups like Hearst, Tegna, Gray and Scripps for breach of contract on the ABC affiliates? Because they do have deals with those groups which did cover the ABC affiliates.

My (non-lawyer) brain tells me google would be violating retrans agreements with the station groups by removing all of their programming, even local newscasts and syndicated shows, infomercials, education programming, etc. that have nothing to do with ABC.

 

But clearly Google’s lawyers think this is okay. 
 

Seems like an overreach if you ask me. But I haven’t seen the fine print of the deals the station groups have, so maybe it allows for this.

 

Certainly, if there is a loophole in station groups’ agreements with google (or any other carrier) that allow this to happen, I’m sure next time they negotiate a deal… they will add a clause to make sure this can’t happen. 

 

—

 

I’m curious, have we ever seen something like this happen before… where a cable/streaming provider removes an entire network and its affiliates from its lineup, without regard for the fact that those affiliates carry more than just that network’s programming?

 

I can’t think of one. 

6 hours ago, Sendir said:

This is new. 

Acme brick can single-handedly thank Tegna set designers for keeping them in business. 

On 12/6/2021 at 8:59 PM, CircleSeven said:

At last..... KRIS 6.

 

Vid courtesy of "DADOSUPERMARIO 2" from YT.

Someone answer the phone!

18 hours ago, Greggo said:

WOAI/San Antonio had this set as well until they were acquired by Sinclair and moved in with sister station KABB. After collecting dust for a bit, Sinclair shipped the aging set to KFDM/Beaumont where it lives on. 

In my opinion, the old set is better than that cheapass piece of cardboard Sinclair gave WOAI and called a set. 

On 11/13/2021 at 9:37 AM, MidwestTV said:

 

This is correct. It's only on full screen gfx. Minor changes, but they're definitely improvements. Bigger elements, more depth, color gradients, and some updated animations. It isn't as flat as it was.

 

 

Any examples?

 

11 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It's strange they got KLRT's old set, while KLRT had a re-creation (or clone) made for their move-in with KARK.  I"m thinking the set had to be scaled down in order to fit, and a smaller version was necessary?

I’m talking about KOKI

On 11/3/2021 at 10:32 AM, Jterry said:

 

Per WATN anchor John Paul, it looks as if they are in the process of getting a new set or at least some remodel of their current studio. 

Maybe someday the carbon copy of this set a couple markets to their west will finally get torn apart too. 

I have confirmed that TEGNA will be rolling out a new graphics package for all of its stations in the near future.

They are done and ready to go. It will happen soon. 
 

I haven’t seen what it looks like yet but have confirmed with sources in the know that this is happening.

 

If anyone else has more info please share.

On 10/15/2021 at 12:46 PM, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

Lol. I know why too, but I can't give away the tea.

Lemme guess the tea… every single Scripps station communicated how crappy the new music was and told corporate they needed a more urgent cut. 
 

The “Florida 24” theme is a way of corporate caving and giving them what they want while being able to say “we didn’t screw up… this is a totally new theme that we only ever intended for Florida24 to use… but if it turns out our other stations want to use it, so be it.”

54 minutes ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

I'm not so terribly sure, seeing that they tweaked the logo post-nexstar acquisition... why would they waste time and money doing so again?? 

They did the same for WATN too though

On 6/11/2021 at 2:04 PM, MarkBRollins88_v2 said:

Meta question… the banner at the top of this thread has said it’s about to become “coming and goings” for like two years now.

 

Is that ever going to happen?

Cc: @Weeters