Recovering Producer

Not to be a smartass, but considering the same first name and nothing on Rick Gevers' ND newsletter about KMGH over the last few months, solid chance same person, different last name due to a change in marriage status.

For folks in South Florida: How does WSVN make it work at times when one or both networks has sports and the news may start at an odd time? For example, tonight the World Series is on FOX, and Monday Night Football is on ABC. I'm guessing they only have one control room capable of a full newscast in the current facility, and it is anyone's guess which network wraps sports coverage first ... so master control has to be extra nimble and flexible. The logical solution is whichever network ends first gets a live newscast, and the other gets a tape delayed broadcast. But maybe they have a wild solution I can't think of. (Next day edit: if asking this question caused the 18 inning baseball game that ended just before 3 am ET, my sincere apologies to anyone who is sleep deprived today!)

Forgive the reasonable explanation, but in a 2025 world of laptops and using internet to send in video, and running with the assumption at least some photogs who live outside of the city have take home vehicles, a new mic flag roll out might take a while, especially in New York. The potential overtime cost or lost productivity of getting everyone to 30 Rock quickly to do a unilateral rollout isn't worth it for how inconsequential a new look microphone flag is to getting the job done. The mic flag as the primary way of reminding viewers of what station they are watching is a dinosaur leftover from the pre always-on station logo bug days.

From my experience, this is accurate. If it is a low to moderate risk change like a graphic refresh or new set - noon on a weekday is the ideal switchover time to have maximum people around at minimal overtime. If you're doing something big that could fail (new control room, going live with automation, HD conversion back when that was a thing) having all hands on deck for a Saturday early evening show was the ideal time to launch because you'd have a decent gap to rewire existing equipment after Saturday AM newscasts (or Friday PM for those without weekend AM shows) and the smallest amount of revenue in jeopardy should something go wrong and you have to roll the emergency backup filler show.

All we need is someone to leak the updated version of Roundball Rock.

Exactly this. All of this is crazy wishcasting. Was there tension between Nexstar/Sinclair and ABC? Of course. Does each party understand the other side's motivations? I think so. If it becomes a repeated thing, then there's definitely the potential for something to change. For now, this is like hearing your parents have a disagreement over something minor and assuming they're filing for divorce. Miami was a rare exception where ABC reached an impassse with a single station operator and took an unexpected path forward with an established operator/brand - who could accommodate ABC with the cost of engineering a HD .2 subchannel and a time brokerage agreement with a LP station to get a .1 for it. But, I do think if ABC/Disney decides to abandon a large ownership group, they'd rather temporarily subsidize the cost of people getting their product direct to consumer in those markets rather than starting fresh on little known stations that have no history at a time where linear TV is in rapid decline.

Almost identical statements? This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. /s

God I hope someone leaks that cease and desist letter from Bob Iger and Mickey Mouse's legal team to Hunt Valley that caused this change of heart. If there's one media/entertainment company legal team I never want to see on the other side a courtroom, it is Disney's.

I know it has no bearing on the claim WJXT is making here, but including WANF and WPLG as independents for a comparison that runs from January-August 2025 is a choice. Not one I'd make, personally, considering they both went independent in the month of August.

The spin in their article trying to make this a positive is... something. https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/top-stories/2025/09/23/kpix-news-launches-on-kion-expanding-statewide-coverage-for-the-central-coast/

https://northpine.com/2025/09/22/lincoln-abc-affiliate-sold-as-rincon-buys-standard-media-stations/ With Sinclair owning the non-license assets of WLNE, KBSI, and WDKA, only KLKN is being operated by Standard Media. I have my suspicions with Sinclair's KHGI+/NTV being ABC for the western half of the market, that will likely change after the deal closes.

So much of this merger and their plan to keep everything is predicated on rule changes that haven't even been formally proposed yet. Feels like a waste of billable hours to have a comprehensive exhibit document that shows what they'd do under current regulations only to have it all change in likely a short time.

WRIC makes some level of sense - statewide elections in just over 6 weeks, so they can use news as filler between political spots and charge news rates.

Manchester is part of the Boston Market. WCVB is almost certainly a top 4 rated station, while almost certainly WMUR is not a top rated 4 station because it targets a subsection of the market, so a perfectly legal combination when that was the metric for allowing a company to own and operate two stations in a DMA. Just a different type of duopoly from the other ones in the Boston TV market. (Also, ew, Boston Market. Too many newsroom Thanksgiving dinners spent eating that at my cubicle! )

Not a big deal, and likely any perceived negatives of brand confusion (which is mostly vibes, even if they have research) are made up for by improved operational efficiency. Graphics hub doesn't have to create deliverables for old, new, and alternative looks, one of which was only used by two stations at most. (Which would explain the order of the rollout so far, to minimize time with 3 active looks in use) When sharing content, preproduced graphics inside a story don't have to be re-made when shared between the two stations. Once everyone is on the common look, depending on how thourougly their ENPS and graphics systems are interconnected groupwide - it is entirely possible supers or fullscreens for groupwide content (DC bureau, special projects, etc.) could be stored in a common location and dragged and dropped into any station's rundown. And let's be honest, most of the people who nitpick aesthetic music and graphic elements of TV newscasts are, well, here. I worked at an operation that did two brands of newscasts with different graphics. Workflow headaches for everyone. If I had a dollar for every time the wrong graphic look popped up or wrong brand name was said in a reporter track on the other station, I would have had a respectable secondary income source.

Since it is the only remaining non-Sinclair operated Standard Media station: KLKN's public file shows a Rincon option agreement.

There's a solid chance that URL will be dead shortly after someone at Nexstar corporate or NewsNation sees it up on KTLA's website.

The lack of any formal announcement is surprising. I don't doubt the WLNE thing is happening, just a question of what legal form it is taking. Sale agreement with immediate LMA until it closes, non-license sale, etc. As for the Sinclair/Rincon websites, you may also be right there. Time will tell. I've seen transition service agreements that remain in place up to a year after a sale.

WFTX to Sun transaction paperwork is up. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in any of the documents.

Easy listening and News/talk as 1 and 2 says you everything you need to know about the geriatric demographics of Lee and Collier Counties in Florida.

It is also worth noting the exclusive option for Hearst to acquire WZVN is at a 2023 base price of $4.46 million, with an annual escalation minimum of $133,800. Source: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f91874e5250018756995d3503e2 - last page I'm curious how quickly they'll acquire it once new ownership rules are in place.

If I am Hearst, there is no reason to change anything right now. Let the chaos with the competition happen and capitalize on opportunities that come from it and creatively come up for solutions to challenges it creates. And I say this as someone who drank the Kool-Aid at WINK for several years. Hearst's piece of the revenue pie isn't shrinking. Just two other slices are getting combined. I haven't seen numbers in a long time, in fact, I blocked Darrel Adams on Twitter within days of signing up in 2009 because I didn't want his rating brags to mess with me. But as far as I know, the NBC side has consistently received better ratings than WINK for the last few years. My SWOT analysis for Hearst in Fort Myers Strengths Pre 1996 grandfathered LMA/Time Brokerage deal that makes WBBH/WZVN a unified, efficient operation and 30+ years of operating that way Hearst resources that reduce operating costs and benefit the product: centralized traffic, billing, accounting, graphics hub, DC bureau, national investigative team, etc ABC and NBC are (for now) far more stable and in less turmoil than CBS Fort Myers has a reputation as a market with higher than average HUT levels. And WBBH tends to over perform on NBC flagship events like the Olympics Speculation: Better leverage in negotiating retransmission as a multi-market company for WBBH so a revenue advantage there Subjective: Stronger digital presence and adapted to the 21st century far earlier and faster than WINK Subjective: By far a superior creative services team and long-term marketing strategy Subjective: They always operated more confidently. WINK's newsroom culture during my time there can best be summed up as "competition monitor bedwetters" Subjective: They didn't get go off the air for days during Hurricane Ian Weaknesses In-market scale disadvantage English language only operation, losing out on a respectable percent of the market and Spanish language TV viewership has lost much less of its audience than English TV. TV and digital only sales packages Limited in-market partnership opportunities with other media outlets (radio, print, new digital) WZVN's history of underperforming in the market Opportunities Sampling from Fox 4 News viewers when that brand disappears (somewhat limited by having .1s unavailable for 7-9am and 10pm) Even though they just rebranded, they now have the perception of being the stable, consistent operation in the market Businesses who do not like WINK/WXCW and have sworn off advertising with them who bought ads on WFTX may move money they spent there to WBBH/WZVN Big changes elsewhere presents the opportunity to pursue subtle changes to be more efficient under their unified brand (test the waters of simulcasting) Partners across the state on big news event (WESH, WPBF) Threats TV's great decline, especially as baby boomers age and die , while Southwest Florida grows and sees more younger people move there in demographics who don't watch much linear TV Corporate budget life problems: If Hearst makes cuts, those cuts will likely be consistent across the company Keeping a news intensive operation fully staffed as fewer people pursue TV as as career or burn out faster Diluted product with dueling AM, 6pm, 11pm newscasts Hurricanes, alligators, elderly drivers, and "a Florida Man" - the most dangerous parts of Florida

No, no, and no. This is a play by WINK and partner companies to increase revenue (both advertising and retransmission) in the market with as little operational cost as possible, and eliminate a competitor. Maybe a few MMJs will get carried over. But the realistic outcome is WINK newscasts currently on WXCW will be moved to WFTX or they'll be simulcast on both WXCW and WFTX. One other thing of note with this deal is Jim Schwartzel, the president of Sun Broadcasting, is a candidate for a U.S. House seat in 2026. Running in the crowded 19th District Republican primary to replace Byron Donalds who is running for Governor.

Being WINK/Fort Myers Broadcasting with oversized glasses and a fake mustache.

I may be wrong, but I believe Denver is the only market with 4 OTA English language 7-9 am local newscasts with KDVR, KWGN, KUSA on KTVD, and KMGH on KCDO. Plus KCNC doing OTT for at least the 7 am hour. The funny part being from having worked at a news operation there, the Denver market was an early dead canary in the coal mine for declining overall TV viewership. Too many things to do there and ways to enjoy being outside for people to watch TV on a fixed schedule. HUTs were consistently low and minuscule viewership in key demos were celebrated as wins.