nycnewsjunkie

1 hour ago, WCAUTVNBC10 said:

The Flyers' first preseason game on NBC Sports Philadelphia is tonight and they trotted out this monstrosity of a scorebar. Please tell me this is temporary:

 

 

That’s gotta be a one-off thing. There’s no info on the period, SOG count, etc. Just a wild guess, but maybe they had some production issues and had to slap that scoreboard together?

19 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

I don’t get this. What terms of employment did the ND violate that should result in this termination or reassignment?

It’s not about violating terms of employment, it’s about his mismanagement of the newsroom even before Romero’s departure. The mass exodus of KTLA staffers under his watch is not a coincidence. I agree with Mester being sent packing for his stunt, but if they had someone competent running the newsroom, this whole situation may have been different.

2 hours ago, bogusabc7breakingnews said:

Initially I thought “Mark has balls” and management must be chill for approving his message. Then he got suspended and I was confused because even after management informed talent not to speak about Lynette on-air, Mark advertised on Twitter informing he was going to talk about her the following morning at 8. I just assumed management knew because surely if I’d seen Mark’s Twitter post someone inside must’ve seen it too, right? So Mark has his rant, shaming management for not allowing Lynette to say goodbye, then just a bit ago, I see in the LA Times, Lynette didn’t want to say goodbye HAHAHAHA. Why tf didn’t Mark know this? Now he looks even more foolish IMO. To get fired over all this is insane.  It demonstrates he’s not mature and a loose cannon. No one else in the market will hire him.  

You might want to read that part of the article again. The LA Times attributed Lynette “declining to record a farewell” to news director Pete Saiers, the same man reportedly responsible for causing the low morale at KTLA. Keep in mind, this is also the same ND who oversaw KING as it tanked in the Seattle ratings. Unless Lynette herself clarifies it, I’m not trusting a word of his.

That said, it seems that the weekend crew actually planned a proper farewell, and he alone went off script. Also, if it’s true that Mester was the one who hired that plane without informing anyone else, that’s truly moronic on his part.

6 hours ago, CalItalian2 said:

No. This is not the standard. The standard is to for the station's p.r. department to release a press release thanking the employee for their service and wishing good luck in their future endeavors.

I’ll concede on some of my earlier points; that’s actually true. If a departure doesn’t happen on good terms, most announcements I’ve seen are through PR, and rarely on air.

6 hours ago, CalItalian2 said:

This started when KTLA allowed Sam Rubin to read a lengthy departure story about his co-worker on-air. Then KTLA posted it to their social media. It should have been known by management that Mark Mester was going to make a statement - he promoted it the day before - and it should have at the very least been reviewed ahead of time & monitored live. 

 

If anyone is to blame & should be suspended and in my view fired is management at KTLA. They dropped the ball themselves. I've worked at/consulted radio stations that would have cut off Mark Mester mid-sentance for criticizing management on-air and they'd instantly be fired. Clearly management doesn't follow his social media or watch him on air live. This is Los Angeles not podunk West Virginia. This was highly unprofessional from all involved at KTLA - but specifically management.

I’ll agree with you that management should’ve known about the whole thing and should’ve discussed it with Mester and the rest of the staff beforehand. Also, the fact that they didn’t see his social media post is telling of how little attention/discipline KTLA management has toward its own staff.
 

However, one should not strip Mark Mester of his own agency. His actions were not beyond his control. He could’ve said goodbye and handled any problems internally, rather than speaking for the station and blasting management (which, as it turns out, may be a violation of the terms of his employment). If you work at McDonalds, you don’t get to talk smack about your manager at the drive-thru window, no matter how horrible he/she is. It shouldn’t be any different in TV.

I am certainly not defending what KTLA management did to Lynette or how they handled the aftermath, but this isn’t an either/or situation. Both the news director and Mark Mester ought to be suspended, and corporate needs to do a thorough workplace review.

28 minutes ago, Greggo said:

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. 

Look, I’m no Nexstar fan, but I wouldn’t blame the entire company over one idiot. Unless he exhibited the same behavior at KTVI (which we have no evidence of), they have no control over an individual employee acting like an abusive moron at another workplace. Even in that instance, most of the blame would go to local/regional management for their negligence, not corporate. I’m confident that KTVI will handle this appropriately (i.e., dump him).

6 hours ago, C Block said:

The station owns the airtime and decides what they do with it. If they decide to let an anchor use it to say goodbye, then great. If they don't, then that's their decision too. Different stations and different circumstances could lead to different decisions, but ultimately, nobody is owed any airtime.

 

You'd also be surprised to find out how little viewers actually notice or care if an anchor 'disappears.' Yes, many might notice, but most don't. What everyone in this line of work should know is that everyone, from the GM, to the anchors, to the part-time video editor, is replaceable.

 

I am far from a Nexstar apologist, and I'm glad I don't work for that company, but unless there's a huge backstory that we're not aware of, then it sounds like a lot of the on-air people at KTLA need to be reined in and have their egos put in check. I get that KTLA is all about personality, and to a degree, that's fine, but anchors are principally hired to do a job, which is to do the news. They're not hired to do a talk or reality show, and they're not hired to sell products or a lifestyle on Instagram.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if Mark Mester just anchored his last newscast on KTLA. What he just did is stupid. I highly doubt the GM would have approved of what he said, but the fact that he referenced her in it is enough to make it appear like she did, and that's just stupid on his part. He just put a target on his own back by doing that. I get that he must feel like some special connection with their viewers has been violated, but being the weekend AM anchor at a big market station (or an anchor at any station) is not that big of a deal. Ultimately, it's management calling the shots, and management hire people to do the news and also not make the company look bad.

I completely agree, but I think it’s important to emphasize that, as others have noted, management royally screwed up. The station owns the airtime, but they could have used it better re: Lynette Romero. Sure, it may be the norm at many stations to handle it as KTLA did, but it doesn’t make it right. Mark Mester was still extremely unprofessional in attempting his “I am Spartacus” stunt, but he’s only half the reason KTLA looks bad right now.

If we insist on there being smarter ways for Mark Mester and company to say goodbye, it’s only fair to say that there were smarter ways for management to address Lynette Romero’s departure. Here’s one example from Buffalo: Kevin O’Connell left WGRZ under less than ideal circumstances, but was allowed to say goodbye through a prerecorded message.
 

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/a-message-from-kevin-oconnell/71-574424657

Conversely, the anchors at WGRZ didn’t air dirty laundry regarding O’Connell’s departure. They didn’t try to speak for the entire station or fly a damn prop plane with a banner. They handled it professionally, as professionals and journalists should. That is how both management and station staff should handle a high-profile departure.

54 minutes ago, MisterBill said:

Seems like Up Close With Bill Ritter, which used to air at 11am on Sundays, is no longer on the schedule (it was not on today and is not on my Verizon guide for next week). Same for the show with (I think) Joe Torres that used to follow it.  Not sure if it's going to be available for streaming, but there's nothing on the program's website, and Bill has not responded to a tweet I tagged him in.

On YouTubeTV, both are on the schedule for 11am and 11:30am next week. So does WABC’s program guide on their website.

6 minutes ago, Requiere said:

Apart from going back to TV33, primetime is just Family Feud with no mention of the MyNetworkTV programming. I also don't know what channel MYTV would move to, have they announced it in Boston yet?

It actually checks out in Boston too. WSBK has WBZ News, a Jeopardy rerun, the Phantom Gourmet, and comedy reruns scheduled for Monday night. I was curious to know of a source because I haven’t seen any announcements, although I suppose this isn’t the type of thing most people will actually notice/care about.

4 hours ago, SoCalLocal said:

Mark Mester is suspended from the station.

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/9/18/la-anchor-suspended

On the one hand, Nexstar is a big station owning company with a small market mindset. Lynette Romero’s goodbye could’ve been handled much better than it was. In hindsight, not only was Lori Stokes allowed a goodbye in NY; Roz Abrams, Ernie Anastos, and Amy Freeze were able to leave on reasonably good terms when they left stations for other opportunities. Lynette Romero should’ve been given a bit more acknowledgment for her years of service, and KTLA/Nexstar blew it. IIRC, she was working there without a contract, and they owe her for that.

On the other hand, is Mester’s suspension really all that surprising? If you badmouth the company you work for, of course there are going to be repercussions. It doesn’t matter if that company is Nexstar or NBC. He’ll be lucky to have a job after all of this. I still maintain that there were better (and smarter) ways to give a proper goodbye to Lynette Romero without A) making both local and national management look bad and B) making it all about you. It was a needlessly foolish gesture on Mester’s part.
 

Also, FTVLive is reporting that “KTLA management” (read: local management) isn’t happy with Mester either. I’ll reiterate that I don’t like Scott Jones’ antics and petty behavior, but he’s usually on the money with these kinds of stories.

6 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

Looks like it's reverting back to an Indy station which will open up more opportunities for some extra newscasts...

Source? And where is MyNetworkTV moving?

1 hour ago, SoCalLocal said:

Which means not the GM’s and or ND’s fault but blame corporate at the top.

Sounds like it, given that Mester was more than complementary toward Janene Drafs.

The thing is, like it or not, immediate dismissals after signing with a competitor are the norm, regardless of the station owner. If Lynette wasn’t leaving voluntarily and was fired like Demetria Kalodimos and Lisa LaFlamme were, I’d have a lot more sympathy for Mark Mester doing what he did. That isn’t the case here. I’ll echo what @MorningNews said; one can understand frustrations with corporate, but there are much better ways to handle this.

33 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

 

So much for dumping opinion.

Wow, what a loss for NY news. It’s a shame she left WABC because of…well, let’s just call it poor management, and she made a great anchor on Fox 5.

3 hours ago, nynewslover said:

That’s a huge hit not only to FOX5 but to NY news as a whole. Best of luck to Lori in a well deserved retirement. As for her replacement I would assume it’s Teresa Priolo. Unless they bring in an outsider there really aren’t many options within the station that I can see filling the seat. Too bad things went down the wat they did with Christina Park she would’ve been a shoe in 

Agreed on all points. Christina would’ve been perfect for the job, but Teresa would be good as well.

Advanced Media Broadcasting System, a media company owned by billionaire tycoon and former senator Manny Villar, launched its new broadcast network today. The new network, AllTV, launched on VHF Channel 2 in Manila, and is slated to launch with a number of variety/game shows. News programming will be supplied by CNN Philippines.

Some background: This new network is the product of a politically-motivated shutdown of ABS-CBN, the former occupant of the Ch. 2 frequency. ABS-CBN’s franchise was not renewed by the Philippine Congress after then-President Rodrigo Duterte pledged that its franchise would not be renewed. The network’s critical coverage of Duterte has been cited as the primary reason for its shutdown on linear TV. The same Congress later awarded a broadcast franchise to Villar, who was a close ally of Duterte.
 

ABS-CBN continues to broadcast on cable. It also simulcasts some of its programming on its former competitor, TV5, and on a religious-owned station in Manila (DZOE-TV). 

AFAIK, AllTV is only available in Metro Manila (and on cable). I have some family in the Philippines who live far from Manila, and they are unable to get OTA reception.

Here’s the launch:

2 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

https://www.wkyc.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/donovan-live/fresh-off-velosano-sara-shookman-joining-home-team/95-b8cc72b7-38f9-4aa5-bab7-f83f05541e17

 

Sara has left WKYC

Well, looks like I got that totally wrong then. In hindsight, they took her off the 6 even before maternity leave.

EDIT: And they didn’t hire Christi Paul for nothing either.

36 minutes ago, AaronQ said:

Yeah hearing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on ESPN is really weird. 

I’m not the biggest Joe Buck fan (although I certainly don’t hate him either), but hearing him and Troy on ESPN/ABC is…oddly comforting? I never thought I’d say that, but I suppose it’s because ESPN finally has a decent booth they can keep around for the long haul.

16 minutes ago, Nick said:

Maybe next Monday  .  As of 5:10 EDT WCBS is still partying like it's 2016.

Honestly, it’ll likely be longer than that. There are clearly things they’re trying to iron out behind the scenes.

Maybe we’ll see them when CBS Detroit launches? There’s still no date for that, although they’d be stupid not to launch before the midterm elections.

1 minute ago, 24994J said:

Ladies and germs, might I suggest we not do play-by-play of our local stations, checking in to say that nothing has changed? All signs, at this time, are pointing to a package launch closer to, if not during or even after November. From now on, let us know when you see something legitimately new. Otherwise, we might just have to locked up this thread, for a bit.

If my posts on KCNC are cluttering the thread, I will happily hide them. My apologies.

7 minutes ago, NBC 5 Chicago said:

Definitely a nice facelift and FINALLY a new desk. I cannot tell if its a video screen one or if that NBC Chicago logo is physically on it. I don't like that they used the NBC Chicago logo . It looks blurry at times. The set is a lot brighter! I have a feeling those LED's can change colors where the brick is and around the screens. It would be nice if they could use orange for mornings. I think its a nice touch when WTVJ does it. I loved that they brought back the wide shots! Hopefully those stay across all newscasts and not just today to show it off. They did some nice shots as they were going to break today. Here is how they used the set at 11am and will provide more to see how they use the set during the 4pm. 

 

 

I like the design references to the Chicago flag in those last three pics. IMO, this is one of the best sets in the entire station group.

26 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

You would've thought they'd zero down on FF considering their new ownership.

To be fair, their syndication agreements might’ve been made before the sale.

33 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

Update: the “CBS Colorado Mornings” branding is being used for the 9am newscast.

No major changes. The intro looks to be done in-house. 

Excerpt:

An announcement from KCNC during the Chiefs-Cardinals game, along with the 9am intro on 9/12.

8 hours ago, Viper550 said:

We also had an interesting situation today: apparently ESPN sub-licensed two mid-major college football games to NFL Network. Seeing ESPN CFB graphics on NFL Network is a bit jarring, but given all the Thursday Night Football/NFLN Special situations we've had...

 

 

Even more notable: Ed Orgeron sub-licensed himself to Lafayette

Anyway, a minor change for CBS. They added a transparent blue background to the top right logo bug.

WCBS is starting to introduce the CBS New York brand outside of news. Meanwhile, WBZ and WJZ have both dropped the gold from their logos. WJZ seems to be adopting the “On Your Corner. In Your Corner.” slogan seen on promos for CBS News New York.

Some images/video:

Here’s the first I’ve seen of the new CBS New York brand outside of news. This is a promo for their NY Jets insider show.

2 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

They do have a history of knee-jerking (Ann Curry), but there has been VERY vocal disdain for Chuck Todd online all year. It seems like every Sunday he's trending on twitter and it's never anything good. Granted, it's Twitter, and the people who are fans of NBC/MSNBC are ideologically to the left much like the company. Biggest criticisms of Todd I've seen is that he's moved too far right or, as an attempt to not seem like a left-leaning shill, he's tried (unsuccessfully) to play Devil's advocate or be more "neutral."

 

I think he got too big for his britches as time went on. He might have been an ok choice initially as a replacement, but I think it's clearly time to move on. It's the same situation with Andrea Mitchell.

I wouldn’t put too much stock into the Twitter complaints. There are many people out there who will cry “bias” if someone is the slightest bit critical of their ideological viewpoint (also, Twitter is home to a lot of sociopaths). That said, Chuck Todd just isn’t a good presenter or moderator, and can come off as pretentious at times. Like you said, he got too big for his britches.