TEGNA Broadcasting and Digital General Discussion

[east-tx-tv 121]

19 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Maybe it was because Tegna entered into a market that clearly is not going to put up with their Millennial ideas (which is the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton DMA).

 

For stations like KFSM, WTHR, WBNS and WNEP they may have been saved.

 

For stations like KING, KXTV, WFAA, KHOU, WXIA and WTSP among others it's gonna take a lot of work to reverse the damage that has been done to those stations for the last several years

 

I'm fairly certain (even though I have no ratings numbers) that Tegna did KYTX no favors in the "let's get rid of every recognizable long-time anchor and replace them with a bunch of no-name/talking-heads" mess, and likely gave away much of the viewership they'd built up over the years, to longtime ratings-topper KLTV.

[dman748 1256]

1 hour ago, east-tx-tv said:

 

I'm fairly certain (even though I have no ratings numbers) that Tegna did KYTX no favors in the "let's get rid of every recognizable long-time anchor and replace them with a bunch of no-name/talking-heads" mess, and likely gave away much of the viewership they'd built up over the years, to longtime ratings-topper KLTV.

Including Mike Landess just to name a few of those KYTX anchors/reporters Tegna got rid of.

 

Sure, Landess wasn't at KYTX for a long period of time but he was ousted for cheaper, younger and trendier people. Plain and simple.

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

1 hour ago, oknewsguy said:

Including Mike Landess just to name a few of those KYTX anchors/reporters Tegna got rid of.

 

Sure, Landess wasn't at KYTX for a long period of time but he was ousted for cheaper, younger and trendier people. Plain and simple.

 

And then given the same boot along with Ernie Bjorkman at KWGN. This was really disappointing. Innovation is great, but long-term guiding experience is critical too (especially when it comes to anchors). Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for GMs.

Edited December 24, 2019 by ABC 7 Denver

[dman748 1256]

1 hour ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

And then given the same boot along with Ernie Bjorkman it KWGN. This was really disappointing. Innovation is great, but long-term guiding experience is critical too (especially when it comes to anchors). Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for GMs.

1000% agreed.

 

Experienced anchors and reporters is the key to anything in this business and when your station owner and/or GM is booting the older anchors out the door, that's going to be reflected in a negative way for any station in this business. Innovation is great and everything but when a company does some of those things that Tegna has done to long time anchors, clearly there has to be concerns about innovative-style newscasts.

[justin2kx 237]

1 hour ago, east-tx-tv said:

 

I'm fairly certain (even though I have no ratings numbers) that Tegna did KYTX no favors in the "let's get rid of every recognizable long-time anchor and replace them with a bunch of no-name/talking-heads" mess, and likely gave away much of the viewership they'd built up over the years, to longtime ratings-topper KLTV.

I'm just 'asking for a friend' but if given a chance to long timers or them (Tegna/respective GMs) taking a stepback, would they be willing to hire back some of the dismissed talent or not, or if presented offer, would some talent decline? (basically enjoying retirement as is) 

[Webovision 202]

1 hour ago, justin2kx said:

I'm just 'asking for a friend' but if given a chance to long timers or them (Tegna/respective GMs) taking a stepback, would they be willing to hire back some of the dismissed talent or not, or if presented offer, would some talent decline? (basically enjoying retirement as is) 

 

they won't be back... their departures were financially driven... with a convenient side effect of the station bringing in younger talent to replace them...

 

unless they want to come back a much lower salary...

 

no longtime anchor wants to be an mmj...

[TheRyan 560]

Mike Landess has that kind of "voice" that was made for broadcasting.  Every time he was saying something he had my attention.  He is an excellent broadcaster...I will say that.  The fact Tegna would dump him at KYTX is just exactly the kind of low IQ dimwit decisions I would expect of them.

 

Time will tell if good change is coming to Tegna leadership--it needs to happen if Tegna wants to be around in 5-10 years or longer.

Edited December 25, 2019 by TheRyan

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

13 hours ago, TheRyan said:

Mike Landess has that kind of "voice" that was made for broadcasting.  Every time he was saying something he had my attention.  He is an excellent broadcaster...I will say that.  The fact Tegna would dump him at KYTX is just exactly the kind of low IQ dimwit decisions I would expect of them.

 

Time will tell if good change is coming to Tegna leadership--it needs to happen if Tegna wants to be around in 5-10 years or longer.

 

I'm not sure if his contract at KYTX was not renewed or he decided to move back to Colorado. If you recall, his children and grandchildren live in Colorado and his ailing mother live(ed?) in Tyler. He left KMGH (during a tumultuous time at that station, to be sure) to be closer to his mother, but had frequently returned to Denver where he owned a second home to visit local family. I haven't asked him directly, because it's none of my business, but he could have simply decided not to renew his contract at KYTX because he had no more local ties. He seems to persistently reside in Colorado these days, even after his KDVR/KWGN contract was not renewed.

[dman748 1256]

11 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

I'm not sure if his contract at KYTX was not renewed or he decided to move back to Colorado. If you recall, his children and grandchildren live in Colorado and his ailing mother live(ed?) in Tyler. He left KMGH (during a tumultuous time at that station, to be sure) to be closer to his mother, but had frequently returned to Denver where he owned a second home to visit local family. I haven't asked him directly, because it's none of my business, but he could have simply decided not to renew his contract at KYTX because he had no more local ties. He seems to persistently reside in Colorado these days, even after his KDVR/KWGN contract was not renewed.

My educated guess on that one was that Landess' contract with KYTX wasn't renewed.

 

Maybe @east-tx-tv can fill us in on this subject because there's something that happened between Landess and KYTX that caused him to leave the station

[Conrad 113]

Gannett/TEGNA's decline started before Cheatwood came in. Trust me here. It started in 2014 when they decided to launch Atlanta Alive on WXIA. By early 2015 KPNX started to become, to quote Samantha, "the place with more fluff". Those two stations fell victim to TEGNA-itis before the split even was completed.

 

I agree, even without Cheatwood I'm not sure if TEGNA will get better, especially considering that this is a company where you never know what actually is going to happen. There's a chance they'll continue on the current path of underachieving. 

 

As you know, Gannett Broadcasting used to be a good owner of TV stations. Gannett/TEGNA is a shell of its former self these days, and it's rather likely that it won't change.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Conrad

[TheRyan 560]

2 hours ago, Conrad said:

Gannett/TEGNA's decline started before Cheatwood came in. Trust me here. It started in 2014 when they decided to launch Atlanta Alive on WXIA. By early 2015 KPNX started to become, to quote Samantha, "the place with more fluff". Those two stations fell victim to TEGNA-itis before the split even was completed.

 

I agree, even without Cheatwood I'm not sure if TEGNA will get better, especially considering that this is a company where you never know what actually is going to happen. There's a chance they'll continue on the current path of underachieving. 

 

As you know, Gannett Broadcasting used to be a good owner of TV stations. Gannett/TEGNA is a shell of its former self these days, and it's rather likely that it won't change.

 

5-10 years ago, if a company sold its stations to Gannett/Tegna, I would've thought they were going to a good owner.   Now, I assume that every station being bought by Tegna can be likened to a car going to a junkyard.   Back in the day Gannett valued hard journalism.  Now, Tegna despises it.   There are some bright spots that are semi-immune to Tegnaitis, perhaps the best example: WBIR.   And I believe a case could be made that KFSM might be able to weather the storm alright.  But time will tell. 

 

Don't even get me started about WATN, however.  I wouldn't be surprised if ABC would consider moving its affiliation elsewhere--to be honest, I wouldn't blame them.   If anyone thinks WATN was bad before, just wait until they are transformed into the WKYC of Memphis.  How does "Local 24 Studios" sound for an on-air identity? 

 

I will say that if the WSVN strategy (hard news) was applied to Tegna by Cheatwood, most if not all stations would be serious threats to their competition.  It would seem just the opposite strategy was applied. 

 

C Clarity is and always shall be one of the worst news "music" (noise) pkgs ever made.  They need to go back to This is Home as a first step.    That would at least remove the inappropriately silly sound to the newscasts.  That alone would make some improvement. 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by TheRyan

[Conrad 113]

21 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

 

5-10 years ago, if a company sold it stations to Gannett/Tegna, I would've thought they were going to a good owner.   Now, I assume that every station being bought by Tegna can be likened to a car going to a junkyard.   Back in the day Gannett valued hard journalism.  Now, Tegna despises it.   There are some bright spots that are semi-immune to Tegnaitis, perhaps the best example: WBIR.   And I believe a case could be made that KFSM might be able to weather the storm alright.  But time will tell. 

 

Don't even get me started about WATN, however.  I wouldn't be surprised if ABC would consider moving its affiliation elsewhere--to be honest, I wouldn't blame them.   If anyone thinks WATN was bad before, just wait until they are transformed into the WKYC of Memphis.  How does "Local 24 Studios" sound for an on-air identity? 

 

I will say that if the WSVN strategy (hard news) was applied to Tegna by Cheatwood, most if not all stations would be serious threats to their competition.  It would seem just the opposite strategy was applied. 

 

C Clarity is and always shall be one of the worst news "music" (noise) pkgs ever made.  They need to go back to This is Home as a first step.    That would at least remove the inappropriately silly sound to the newscasts.  That alone would make some improvement. 

 

I pretty much agree with what you have said.

 

I also forgot to mention that, as everyone knows, Belo was one of the best station owners out there. They were right up there with Cox and Hearst and better than even Gannett. Unfortunately, Belo is mostly gone except for that little A. H. Belo company that still happens to own two North Texas newspapers, and Cox Media Group is now 80% owned by private equity (and is likely to get worse soon). That leaves us with just Hearst out of the three.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Conrad

[newsbot 271]

12 hours ago, TheRyan said:

C Clarity is and always shall be one of the worst news "music" (noise) pkgs ever made.  They need to go back to This is Home as a first step.    That would at least remove the inappropriately silly sound to the newscasts.  That alone would make some improvement.

Heck, I'd settle for the Rampage package at this point...

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by newsbot

[J1975am 208]

12 hours ago, TheRyan said:

 

 

C Clarity is and always shall be one of the worst news "music" (noise) pkgs ever made. 

 

I won't go so far as to say it's one of the worst, but as I've said a few times, this package sounds more like it is for Newsy. I see your point about this package for broadcast stations, though.....

[ttvn2000 320]

2 hours ago, newsbot said:

Heck, I'd settle for the Rampage package at this point...

 

According to the comments section to that video, that theme was remembered fondly.

 

And after hearing it for the first time in a while, I guess it isn’t so bad...relatively speaking.

 

TEGNA really didn’t need to change anything from the 2013 package, aside from minor updates.  “This is Home” and their truly innovative graphics package have set the tone for all broadcast design as we see it today.  (Even as the current package is a step back in terms of intentional, grid-bases design.) 

[newsbot 271]

I never really cared for "This is Home," and I'm generally a fan of warm-and-fuzzy Gari packages ("Hello News" especially.) Our local TEGNA stations even continue to use "Good News" for their winter storm coverage.

Edited December 26, 2019 by newsbot

[TheRyan 560]

There are things I like and dislike about This is Home and Rampage, although I tend to favor This is Home more.   If not This is Home, I'd certainly be okay with hearing Rampage again.  I think it sounded great.  Sure, you had some stations mess up the implementation of it--but it was a great package overall.    KUSA and WBIR used it the best, imo.

Edited December 27, 2019 by TheRyan

[atlnewsfan03 78]

I'd agree that the previous "This Is Home" (Gari) and the "Gannett" (Rampage) themes weren't too bad, but Gannett/TEGNA stations butchered them.  Graphics... I didn't really care for Pyburn graphics (used with Gannett theme).  The USA Today style color-coded graphics weren't too bad, although the color-coded tabs were a bit over the top.  I don't care too much for "C Clarity" (Sixeme Son) music.  Current graphics is okay.

 

KUSA had its custom music (Third Street Music) from 1995-2009, and KARE had its custom music (also by Third Street) 1996-2013, as they didn't get Gannett package.  Their custom music packages could easily be their versions of MCTYW (still heard on WPVI) and Chroma Cues (WJZ's longtime theme music).  Portland and Bangor stations had "Good News" (Gari) for longest time.  WFAA having "The Spirit of Texas" signature in their news music, before Belo sold out.  It'd be a sad day for WNEP if and when they're forced to dump the Cliff Schwartz version of MCTYW for C Clarity.

 

Besides TEGNA stations having newscasts with non-traditional names (like the current WKYC mess, WUSA's morning news, WTSP newscasts, WXIA newscasts, etc.), I wasn't a huge fan of the Rundown/Lineup concept.  I believe that was something started on WGRZ by their former news director Ellen Crooke, and she implemented it on WXIA, and Gannett forced it on other stations.  I also don't care for WXIA's current 11Alive logo either.  I'd have welcomed them bringing back their pre-1993 logo or variation, or maybe a circle 11 logo with the Times New Roman font 11 (1993-2019 logo) with the Alive and NBC peacock to right.  It's a thought.

[TheRyan 560]

13 minutes ago, atlnewsfan03 said:

I'd agree that the previous "This Is Home" (Gari) and the "Gannett" (Rampage) themes weren't too bad, but Gannett/TEGNA stations butchered them.  Graphics... I didn't really care for Pyburn graphics (used with Gannett theme).  The USA Today style color-coded graphics weren't too bad, although the color-coded tabs were a bit over the top.  I don't care too much for "C Clarity" (Sixeme Son) music.  Current graphics is okay.

 

KUSA had its custom music (Third Street Music) from 1995-2009, and KARE had its custom music (also by Third Street) 1996-2013, as they didn't get Gannett package.  Their custom music packages could easily be their versions of MCTYW (still heard on WPVI) and Chroma Cues (WJZ's longtime theme music).  Portland and Bangor stations had "Good News" (Gari) for longest time.  WFAA having "The Spirit of Texas" signature in their news music, before Belo sold out.  It'd be a sad day for WNEP if and when they're forced to dump the Cliff Schwartz version of MCTYW for C Clarity.

 

Besides TEGNA stations having newscasts with non-traditional names (like the current WKYC mess, WUSA's morning news, WTSP newscasts, WXIA newscasts, etc.), I wasn't a huge fan of the Rundown/Lineup concept.  I believe that was something started on WGRZ by their former news director Ellen Crooke, and she implemented it on WXIA, and Gannett forced it on other stations.  I also don't care for WXIA's current 11Alive logo either.  I'd have welcomed them bringing back their pre-1993 logo or variation, or maybe a circle 11 logo with the Times New Roman font 11 (1993-2019 logo) with the Alive and NBC peacock to right.  It's a thought.

 

I remember when WBIR started using the rundown as part of their on-screen graphics.  I actually liked it at the time, but maybe it was because WBIR was doing it intelligently and not over-the-top like some Gannett/Tegna stations.   I liked the color scheme of the 2008 graphics, but I liked the functionality of the 2013 graphics as well.  The 2018 graphics are just ridiculous--but it would be more tolerable with something other than C Clarity "noise."

 

And the current WXIA logo is an absolute joke.  I don't get why they dumped their longtime logo for something unimaginative and ridiculous.  Surely they could've made something far better than that.

[Weeters 1915]

Ah yes, the Rampage theme everyone on here absolutely hated when it debut. I remember someone described it as sounding like "a malfunctioning fax machine". 

 

Sorry, but C-Clarity is leaps and bounds better than the theme that sounds like it was originally composed on the Floppotron.

[NEOMatrix 1299]

49 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

 

And the current WXIA logo is an absolute joke.  I don't get why they dumped their longtime logo for something unimaginative and ridiculous.  Surely they could've made something far better than that.

Same reason WKYC dumped the Helvetica "3" for the Elevator 3,

 

 

BECAUSE TEGNA!

[tw-804 190]

1 hour ago, TheRyan said:

 

And the current WXIA logo is an absolute joke.  I don't get why they dumped their longtime logo for something unimaginative and ridiculous.  Surely they could've made something far better than that.

 

The current logo was created by a local company. https://matchstic.com/work/11-alive

 

Here's a video on their new "Where Atlanta Speaks" mission statement from earlier this year.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by tw-804

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

The sad thing is that WKYC out-Tegna-ed Tegna on their latest disaster.

 

Usually WKYC has forged ahead of the corporate mandates, putting out BETTER stuff than if they had towed the company line.

 

The ultimate 180 will come when they FINALLY launch a 5pm newscast with Jay Crawford next month.  As if his current lunch-time show wasn't enough of a bomb.

 

Remember, it was WKYC counter-programming Dr. Phil at 5pm which even rescued WKYC from the doldrums they were in going WAY back to their days as a farm team O&O for NBC.

[TheRyan 560]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

The sad thing is that WKYC out-Tegna-ed Tegna on their latest disaster.

 

Usually WKYC has forged ahead of the corporate mandates, putting out BETTER stuff than if they had towed the company line.

 

The ultimate 180 will come when they FINALLY launch a 5pm newscast with Jay Crawford next month.  As if his current lunch-time show wasn't enough of a bomb.

 

Remember, it was WKYC counter-programming Dr. Phil at 5pm which even rescued WKYC from the doldrums they were in going WAY back to their days as a farm team O&O for NBC.

 

It's one thing when Tegna puts on a show (Lunch Break) that gets ratings so low it sometimes does not even register in the ratings.   But it's a special kind of stupid when they double down and do it again later in the day.   That together with the "WKYC Studios" branding and you've got one big clown show.

 

 

2 hours ago, Weeters said:

Ah yes, the Rampage theme everyone on here absolutely hated when it debut. I remember someone described it as sounding like "a malfunctioning fax machine". 

 

Sorry, but C-Clarity is leaps and bounds better than the theme that sounds like it was originally composed on the Floppotron.

 

I guess I was in the minority in that case because I liked the Rampage theme--and the 2008 graphics.   And I dislike most cuts of C Clarity 100%.

[DENDude 217]

Not a big fan of C Clarity, however anything is an improvement over KUSA's third street music package used between 1995-2009, that package was long in the tooth when it was retired. 

I would hope they could go for "The Rock" or "NBC LA Groove", but it's tegna media so what am I thinking.