WPTY/WLMT Memphis Announces Complete Station Overhaul

[Jterry 43]

 

Can you upload both news montages from WLMT and WJKT on YouTube? I don't have any luck on finding both.

 

Unfortunately WJKT only comes in occasionally on antenna for me, which I don't have the capability of capturing. That screenshot was taken with my phone. I can work on getting a WLMT montage up, but it may take some time. The only difference between WJKT/WLMT though is the bug, otherwise it's a direct simulcast. WJKT does have separate versions of the various WATN promos too, featuring an orange theme (versus red for WATN and green for WLMT).

 

Trevorbirchett might have some WLMT stuff that he can upload. Not sure.

[memnews1 25]

I may just record a whole WLMT newscast, and like you said when/if I can pick up WJKT, I have a way of recording that too.

[AaronQ 259]

Unfortunately WJKT only comes in occasionally on antenna for me, which I don't have the capability of capturing. That screenshot was taken with my phone. I can work on getting a WLMT montage up, but it may take some time. The only difference between WJKT/WLMT though is the bug, otherwise it's a direct simulcast. WJKT does have separate versions of the various WATN promos too, featuring an orange theme (versus red for WATN and green for WLMT).

 

Trevorbirchett might have some WLMT stuff that he can upload. Not sure.

I may just record a whole WLMT newscast, and like you said when/if I can pick up WJKT, I have a way of recording that too.

Ok, cool.

[Jterry 43]

 

I may just record a whole WLMT newscast, and like you said when/if I can pick up WJKT, I have a way of recording that too.

 

Great! I've noticed I've been able to pick up WJKT a lot more than I have before so I wonder if perhaps they've increased the transmitter strength some. Perhaps you can capture a bit of the simulcast then.

 

The WLMT newscasts look the same, except for the logo swaps of course, but the format and story order often differs a bit from say the WATN 10 PM as they target different audiences. They are doing one thing different in set utilization - they now have that monitor wall setup directly behind the anchor desk, obscuring most of the newsroom view. That actually makes for 4 different anchor backdrops now - newsroom, monitor wall, night duratran (10p) and sunrise duratran (5-8a).

 

Otherwise, the vast majority of glitches have been worked out now as you would expect. Station wide the only thing I'm still noticing not there is the bug equipment that inserts the time/temp on GMA and the Local 24 bug as ABC comes out of break. Also no live streaming, not sure what the holdup is there.

[sanewsguy 509]

Bumping an old thread because I found this interesting article from Tv News Check today (August 5) chronicling WATN's transition from WPTY and the reasons behind it. Interesting read.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/69438/nexstar-gives-memphis-a-complete-overhaul

 

A brief excerpt:

The call letter change came about because Diercks discovered the station’s call letters at the time, WPTY, had “residual disrespect in the community.”

 

“We wanted to change it to WATN, Local 24 which stands for ‘ABC for Tennessee’. Our website became LocalMemphis.com. We had a new name with a new brand in a new building. We essentially had a brand new television station and we wanted to re-direct ourselves to a new purpose,” Diercks says.

 

Diercks has more than 30 years of experience in broadcasting, having been a general manager of stations in Austin, Texas (KVUE); St Louis (KSDK); Washington (WUSA); and Miami (WTVJ). She says she competed against a station that had a prominent “local” brand [that station would be WPLG] and always liked it.

 

“Local transcends geography and almost everything else. It makes all of our business and coverage decisions easier.”

[Jterry 43]

Thanks for posting that article. Didn't even notice it. It's worth the read, very well done and not hard to find several jabs at Newport as well which is not a shock at all.

 

It confirms several things that are easily noticed if you watch: Many more live shots, a big shift away from crime-focused stories to more feature based and local issues (you almost never see national/international stories unless it's a major event or there's a local connection), and a much and still-expanding staff both on-air and off. Nexstar is pouring the money into them.

 

The other thing that's very clear - Diercks and Lovell have a well thought out vision of what they wanted to do and still plan to do, and also realize that to have an impact in the market it may take some time. That's a very good sign.

 

Good to know the image campaign was headed up by Stephen Arnold. In case you don't read through and see them - here's the YouTube links to the two :30 spots using it. There's a :60 second version out there but it hasn't been aired that I know of (it briefly made an appearance in a story about their opening).

 

 

On a side note to the expanding staff - their latest reporter hire is Jamie McGriff, who was very popular as an anchor at KOTV and left there at the end of last year. I believe she officially joins around the beginning of next month.

[CircleSeven 1944]

That's tremendous news for Miss Ardyth Diercks and her fabulous crew at the new channel 24. But I'm going to wait until the numbers for the upcoming November books period come out to see if all these improvements made any difference. Then if it has, then we can say these changes made the stations itself improved for the better.

[Jterry 43]

 

That's tremendous news for Miss Ardyth Diercks and her fabulous crew at the new channel 24. But I'm going to wait until the numbers for the upcoming November books period come out to see if all these improvements made any difference. Then if it has, then we can say these changes made the stations itself improved for the better.

 

While it would be great to see some jump in the numbers by the November book, I think the key they realize is that it simply might take longer than that. I would hope it doesn't but the reality of market habits (in Memphis in particular) say otherwise.

[MidwestTV 1173]

 

That's tremendous news for Miss Ardyth Diercks and her fabulous crew at the new channel 24. But I'm going to wait until the numbers for the upcoming November books period come out to see if all these improvements made any difference. Then if it has, then we can say these changes made the stations itself improved for the better.

 

I doubt that we will see any improvement in WATN's numbers for at least a year. While I'm sure there will be a slight increase, you can't expect massive change only 5-6 months after a massive relaunch like that. They will need to give things some time to settle down and really find their groove. Hell I wouldn't be too surprised if it was two years before we really saw any true, significant change.

[memnews1 25]

The teleprompters appear to be out right now on the midday show

 

EDIT: Fixed. For the first few stories they were reading off of the papers on their desk.

[Jterry 43]

...and the first hint of expanding programming now apparent. WATN just posted job openings for producer and host of an "infotainment" talk/variety show - I would guess something very similar to WREG's Live@9 that would air at "mid-morning".

 

Could be going directly against L@9 too taking Kelly and Michael off the schedule. I assume they would keep the View at 10a and Midday probably isn't going anywhere though it could be pivoted back toward harder news instead of interview and feature segments that it partially is made up of now.

[memnews1 25]

Awesome! Yeah, midday right now is almost like a mix of a midday news report and something like Live at 9. I could see them moving their singers, interviews, etc. to this mid-morning show and having midday strictly news. I could see it happening and I think it would work well for them.

[Jterry 43]

 

Awesome! Yeah, midday right now is almost like a mix of a midday news report and something like Live at 9. I could see them moving their singers, interviews, etc. to this mid-morning show and having midday strictly news. I could see it happening and I think it would work well for them.

 

My only concern though unlikely is they would replace Midday with this. I would rather not see that though Midday/Noon news in general is increasingly becoming superfluous and irrelevant these days. They *could* cut Midday to a half hour, then do this for the second half hour at 11:30. That said, 9 AM seems most likely I would think.

 

Would not be shocked if this show ends up being modeled after Good Things Utah on sister station KTVX.

http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/gtu/default.aspx

[sanewsguy 509]

 

...and the first hint of expanding programming now apparent. WATN just posted job openings for producer and host of an "infotainment" talk/variety show - I would guess something very similar to WREG's Live@9 that would air at "mid-morning".

 

Could be going directly against L@9 too taking Kelly and Michael off the schedule. I assume they would keep the View at 10a and Midday probably isn't going anywhere though it could be pivoted back toward harder news instead of interview and feature segments that it partially is made up of now.

 

Not necessarily. Look at WMBD ("Living Well"), KSNF (also titled "Living Well"), KOLR (Ozarks Live! at 4), and WBRE (PA LIVE!). These are all Nexstar stations that air similar shows but at 4PM as opposed to a 9AM timeslot. They also air for one hour. If WATN launches anything similar, it'll probably be at 4PM as a lead in to their 5PM.

 

Take a look at KOLR's show, that's probably what you'll be getting on WATN. They have a former meteorologist and a popular "relationship expert" who co-host the show (while that pairing sounds laughable they actually seem to get along well). The show can get pretty funny at times, such as when they tried to make fried ice cream on TV.

 

They could also try to shoot for something like "Good Things Utah/Daily Dish" on KTVX, but I doubt it, since those are holdovers from the Newport days.

 

Also, where would the show be done from? I don't think this was ever mentioned, but they do have a second studio in their building? Or just the main one where they do the news from?

[Jterry 43]

 

Not necessarily. Look at WMBD ("Living Well"), KSNF (also titled "Living Well"), KOLR (Ozarks Live! at 4), and WBRE (PA LIVE!). These are all Nexstar stations that air similar shows but at 4PM as opposed to a 9AM timeslot. They also air for one hour. If WATN launches anything similar, it'll probably be at 4PM as a lead in to their 5PM.

 

Take a look at KOLR's show, that's probably what you'll be getting on WATN. They have a former meteorologist and a popular "relationship expert" who co-host the show (while that pairing sounds laughable they actually seem to get along well). The show can get pretty funny at times, such as when they tried to make fried ice cream on TV.

 

They could also try to shoot for something like "Good Things Utah/Daily Dish" on KTVX, but I doubt it, since those are holdovers from the Newport days.

 

Also, where would the show be done from? I don't think this was ever mentioned, but they do have a second studio in their building? Or just the main one where they do the news from?

 

Very true on the 4p shows, but the opening for the show's producer specifically states it's for mid-morning...

The show producer will be responsible for the daily production of a new mid-morning show which includes line producing as well as editorial and technical elements.

That's why I was thinking along the lines of a Good Things Utah type of thing, at the very least something to directly compete against Live @ 9 on WREG and WHBQ's 9 AM hour of Good Morning Memphis which tends to follow a similar talk/variety format too.

 

They do not have a second studio in their new building. They would have build out something else (they might or might not have room for that, not sure) or modify their interview offshoot area.

[sanewsguy 509]

Somewhat old news, but KAMC is now using the WATN graphics when they made the conversion to HD. They made the switch back in July and I'm surprised I'm just now learning that. Sister station KLBK is using the WROC HD graphics which are a step up from the bastardized version of the CBS O&O graphics they were using previously...

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/KAMCNews

[Jterry 43]

Just a minor update on WATN's upcoming local infotainment show - as of September 9 WATN is replacing Live with Kelly and Michael with an infomercial block, which indicates it's being dropped entirely (it's not anywhere else on the schedule at either WATN or WLMT). I think it's safe to assume the infomercial block will be temporary filler until the upcoming new show, meaning 9 am for it will be.

[Jterry 43]

WATN confirmed this morning on FB (after receiving numerous comments/complaints) that they did not renew Live with Kelly and Michael and that it will be replaced by "Local Memphis Live" at the beginning of October.

 

Doesn't appear Live has been picked up by anybody else in the market either - which means it won't be seen in Memphis for the first time since the early 90s.

[T.L. Hughes 753]

 

WATN confirmed this morning on FB (after receiving numerous comments/complaints) that they did not renew Live with Kelly and Michael and that it will be replaced by "Local Memphis Live" at the beginning of October.

 

Doesn't appear Live has been picked up by anybody else in the market either - which means it won't be seen in Memphis for the first time since the early 90s.

 

Tsk. Memphis will be in the same boat that Oklahoma City was in for three years (2010 to 2013), when KWTV dropped the show. But with Nate Berkus (which replaced Live at 9 a.m. in 2010) and then Ricki Lake (which replaced Nate last year) floundering, KWTV brought it back earlier this week, so chances are that Live might return to Memphis someday. Considering how well Live performs nationally, especially since Michael Strahan replaced Regis, it seems peculiar that no station would pick it up if another station in the same market dropped it (there might be scheduling issues with the show being picked up by an NBC station, like WMC for example, because of the last two hours of Today, or a Fox affiliate that runs their morning news until 10 a.m., like WHBQ, but that's it).

[sanewsguy 509]

Yeah, some other station will probably pick it up in due time. This actually happened in San Antonio. WOAI had carried Live with Regis and Kathie Lee/Kelly at 9 AM since it debuted in syndication in 1986. It did OK in the ratings on WOAI (nobody watches this station here but anyway...) but they decided to dump it in favor of "Rachael Ray" back in 2009 because their then-current GM said that it received better ratings in the market. This was a stupid move. The reason why is because, no duh RR got better ratings, it aired on KSAT, the number one station overall in the market!

 

WOAI got a lot of complaints over this. Finally, KSAT picked it up in 2011 after "Nate Berkus" wasn't renewed (the show that replaced Rachael Ray on KSAT). KSAT now gets good ratings in this timeslot, outrating KENS, KABB, and WOAI.

 

And if you're wondering as an aside, WOAI airs the third hour of Today at 11AM, and the fourth hour at noon.

[Jterry 43]

It would be difficult for any other Memphis station to pick it up unless they wanted it to air way out of normal pattern given WREG/WMC/WHBQ's morning schedules. Of course, when WPTY went to ABC in '95 they dumped Live in the middle of the night (usually 1 or 2 AM) for several years. Honestly the best fit would have been WLMT and I was surprised they didn't keep it and just move it over to there. Much of WLMT's AM schedule consists of next-day repeats of WATN's syndicated shows so there was definitely room.

 

This is where the Memphis market shows a big weakness in not having a 6th station for syndicated programs the other 5 don't pick up. WPXX gave a weak attempt when they affiliated with MyNetwork in '06 but it didn't last long before they were back to a full-time ION simulcast.

[Jterry 43]

Didn't know where else to put this, so I'll put it here since it certainly is related to WATN.

 

This afternoon WATN posted a job opening for a weeknight anchor position, for three newscasts each night. By the description, it certainly sounds like a main anchor position in that they require 10 years experience and knowledge of the Memphis market and issues, etc. I'm not sure whether to infer either Cameron Harper or Joyce Peterson could be leaving, either would seem highly unlikely - or else maybe there is a plan to expand newscasts in some way (4/4:30 PM?) and move people around a bit in response. Anchoring three newscasts each night would certainly not be able to include WLMT's 9 PM for instance unless you took out WATN's 5, 6, or 10 from that position.

 

Uncertain what it means at this point. I also note they posted an opening for a weekend anchor so I don't know if Jeff Beimfohr might be leaving or perhaps they are going to expand to 2 anchors on the weekend (that one seems more unlikely I would think).

 

Here's the weeknight anchor opening...

http://nexstar.hirecentric.com/jobs/63145.html

[Leavellebrett 85]

Weekend anchor is probably moving up to weeknights and they're looking for a coanchor. Joyce and Cameron may just be moving to 6:00 and 11:00 and the 5:00, 5:30 and 10:00 will be taken care of by Jeff and the soon to come coanchor.

 

That's just my guess.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

Didn't know where else to put this, so I'll put it here since it certainly is related to WATN.

 

This afternoon WATN posted a job opening for a weeknight anchor position, for three newscasts each night. By the description, it certainly sounds like a main anchor position in that they require 10 years experience and knowledge of the Memphis market and issues, etc. I'm not sure whether to infer either Cameron Harper or Joyce Peterson could be leaving, either would seem highly unlikely - or else maybe there is a plan to expand newscasts in some way (4/4:30 PM?) and move people around a bit in response. Anchoring three newscasts each night would certainly not be able to include WLMT's 9 PM for instance unless you took out WATN's 5, 6, or 10 from that position.

 

Uncertain what it means at this point. I also note they posted an opening for a weekend anchor so I don't know if Jeff Beimfohr might be leaving or perhaps they are going to expand to 2 anchors on the weekend (that one seems more unlikely I would think).

 

Here's the weeknight anchor opening...

http://nexstar.hirecentric.com/jobs/63145.html

 

Damn, 10 years experience? They're not messing around here.

[Jterry 43]

 

Weekend anchor is probably moving up to weeknights and they're looking for a coanchor. Joyce and Cameron may just be moving to 6:00 and 11:00 and the 5:00, 5:30 and 10:00 will be taken care of by Jeff and the soon to come coanchor.

 

That's just my guess.

 

That's a good guess. However just to be clear WATN's current weeknight newscast times are 5, 6 and 10, with an hour on sister WLMT at 9. Central Time! LOL

 

Very possible Jeff would move up to anchor two new newscasts at undetermined times, plus maybe pick up the WLMT 9 PM hour (or some other combination), and the position opening tonight would be a co-anchor for him. Then the weekend opening would be his replacement there. All speculation but probably the best guess to have for right now.

 

I would still favor a 4 and 4:30 at the most likely time if they are expanding. They've already done a few special reports in that hour in the last few months (for breaking news or weather) that they've never tried before, so that might have been some experimenting, and several Nexstar stations do have 4 PM news hours.