Granite sells stations to Scripps & Quincy.

[ns8401 846]

 

How do you know they "could care less about that stuff"?

 

Because every other station they have is using Inergy, if they were going to have a station that was going to get the privilege to use something else other than standardization, WKBW would not be it, besides the fact that their ratings are so bad it's pretty obvious that MCTYW is not going to break the station. It'll probably go when they upgrade everything else to Scripps standards.

[ns8401 846]

 

I wish viewers would care less because it's not the music that makes or breaks your newscast...

 

They probably also don't care that the copyright on WKBW's site still says "A Granite Broadcasting Station"

 

Anyways I'm glad Scripps has WKBW in their fold and I see changes happening pretty quick, the website probably being the first. Management and staff aren't the problem so of course I don't see anyone leaving or getting fired. In fact I'm somewhat surprised but not shocked that Scripps has kept Mike Nurse as GM. What Granite did was not invest into WKBW and that's why they're what they're at now. But I do see the morning show retweaked a little but no personnel changes. I think what they need to do is get people to watch the station and of course invest, invest invest which they'll do.

 

As for WMYD, shame on Scripps for not hiring any of the WMYD reporters. They have job openings so I don't know why they didn't use the two or three WMYD reporters to help fill those vacancies...

 

The WMYD reporters were from Ft. Wayne, they were absolutely terrible. The people at WXYZ are 10 times better than they ever were. It's sad but it's also one of the rules of TV news, you can't just use someone because you have an opening. They have to be good first. These folks had trouble speaking, trouble enunciating etc. Maybe the lady that anchored was good enough to be a weekend reporter or something but everybody else couldn't make it here. They may have been offered jobs as producers or some other behind the scenes job or been sent back to Ft. Wayne.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Because every other station they have is using Inergy, if they were going to have a station that was going to get the privilege to use something else other than standardization, WKBW would not be it, besides the fact that their ratings are so bad it's pretty obvious that MCTYW is not going to break the station. It'll probably go when they upgrade everything else to Scripps standards.

I know that. But what makes you think the Lighthouse don't care about the historic aspect of the station. Yes we know that Scripps standardized, just like all these other groups and all. You can't make that assumption that Scripps don't "care about that stuff"? And even if their ratings are that bad, you still can't make that assumption that MCTYW is going away, because of it. As it's been said many times, the music doesn't make or break a newscast. IMO. But hey, if it happens it happens, but IMO, they would make a big mistake.

 

The WMYD reporters were from Ft. Wayne, they were absolutely terrible. The people at WXYZ are 10 times better than they ever were. It's sad but it's also one of the rules of TV news, you can't just use someone because you have an opening. They have to be good first. These folks had trouble speaking, trouble enunciating etc. Maybe the lady that anchored was good enough to be a weekend reporter or something but everybody else couldn't make it here. They may have been offered jobs as producers or some other behind the scenes job or been sent back to Ft. Wayne.

If you're trying to get channel 2 viewers to the TV20 10pm news, I wouldn't want the same folks that makes the rating stay a status quo, down the drain. I rather have a solid reporter telling the story that would resonate with the viewer, and not some average Joe from down the street reading a script, and not resonate with the viewer. I agree with this.

[ns8401 846]

 

I know that. But what makes you think the Lighthouse don't care about the historic aspect of the station. Yes we know that Scripps standardized, just like all these other groups and all. You can't make that assumption that Scripps don't "care about that stuff"? And even if their ratings are that bad, you still can't make that assumption that MCTYW is going away, because of it. As it's been said many times, the music doesn't make or break a newscast. IMO. But hey, if it happens it happens, but IMO, they would make a big mistake.

 

The lighthouse is trying to improve the station, they will standardize it because that will improve the station, they do not care about the music as a historical element to the station. If they did, "Cool Hand Luke" would still be WXYZ's theme. But it's not, we got over that. We had News Series 2000 for a long time... got over that one too. We had Eyewitness News, had to get over that too. It never killed it. Would it be nice if they kept it? Sure. Will they? No.

[Viper550 268]

 

New name and logo were effective at Midnight, MyTV 20 was discontinued at that time.

 

 

How long has WMYD been "TV 20 Detroit" (no longer My20)? since the acquisition, or just now? And a little bit off topic, should we see more rebrandings of other mynetworktv affiliates? Plus, are those affiliates of Mynet TV basically 'Independent'? Basically because i can recall when HulkieD notes WPHL 17 in philly as essentially an "Independent station".

 

This is not the first time they've been TV20; they had most recently used it as an interim brand during the transition from WB to MNTV.

 

I do know that the television equivalent of a domain squatter stole away its old WXON calls for an otherwise worthless LP station, but the license has since been cancelled

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

The lighthouse is trying to improve the station, they will standardize it because that will improve the station, they do not care about the music as a historical element to the station. If they did, "Cool Hand Luke" would still be WXYZ's theme. But it's not, we got over that. We had News Series 2000 for a long time... got over that one too. We had Eyewitness News, had to get over that too. It never killed it. Would it be nice if they kept it? Sure. Will they? No.

 

This goes back to what I was saying, how do you know if the standardization would improve the station or not. Whether if these will be cosmetic changes (and likely they will see a graphics and in the future set changes) or any content formula changes at WKBW would work or not, that's up to the viewers to decide, in due time. But again, you can't make assumptions that hasn't came into fruition as of yet.

[mre29 1340]

Here's the map of the Lighthouse's updated TV portfolio (and BTW, there is a big, noticeable error on this map).

 

That's not the only error. Whoever made the map apparently also thinks Detroit is a bit farther west than it actually is.

[mre29 1340]

And to prove that Buffalo is making a HUGE deal out of this, the City of Buffalo have declared June 16, 2014, "E.W. Scripps Company Day".

Do people in Buffalo hate Granite that much? :lol:

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

Do people in Buffalo hate Granite that much? :lol:

 

Based on alot of tweets praising the Lighthouse today, I think the writing is already on the wall. Although I didn't expect the City would proclaim a day for a media company's entrance to Buffalo. I think that was a bit much gloating.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

I wished they moved Mike Randall back to Weeknights with the main crew instead of the mornings. But other than that, they can finally get the heavy infrastructure they really need. Obviously they'll get the Scripps graphics, and in the future they could finally have a brand new set. Of course getting viewers to watch your station won't happen overnight, so I can't wait to see the improvements the Lighthouse with provide within the next few months. All they need to do is to keep that light on, and they'll find a way to succeed.

 

Actually I disagree. Mike Randall is able to show more of his personality on the morning news and he works great with the morning team. Cole Heath should be sacked though. He doesn't really mix well with Tiffany Lundberg, who should stay on the morning desk with a new co-anchor.

 

I do think it was a boneheaded decision to strip him of the "chief meteorologist" title and they should give it back to him. Other than that, Scripps has their work cut out for them.

 

I do hope they institute a new brand marketing campaign. This "Good Things" image seems small-market at best. CSD who came up with that should be canned.

[skbl17 188]

In my opinion, MCTYW would not work with Inergy. If Stephen Arnold could somehow pull that off, I'd be very surprised.

 

With regards to what sanewsguy posted earlier, I mostly agree that news music cannot make or break a local newscast....except on the few occasions it does. Remember WPVI and its

? That didn't even last a week due to viewer outcry, and I can almost guarantee you that it will be a pretty long time before WPVI thinks of trying that again. Granted, WPVI is practically at the top of the ratings in Philadelphia, and WKBW is near the bottom of the ratings in Buffalo, so WKBW doesn't have the same clout WPVI has. That is on top of the fact that Scripps has been centralized Gannett-style, while ABC grants its owned and operated stations considerable amounts of freedom.

 

It's hard to admit, but in this case, the cards are stacked against MCTYW remaining on WKBW. IF Scripps becomes aggressive with having all of their stations use Inergy, including newly acquired stations, MCTYW will be dropped. Now who knows, WKBW could take a page out of KARE's playbook and keep MCTYW with the Scripps graphics, which would be good, but I'm not anticipating that happening. Even KARE gave up their resistance when "This is Home" arrived in 2013.

 

Also, WKBW did drop MCTYW in 2003 to use "Right Here, Right Now" from 615 Music until the former was restored in 2008. Therefore, I'm not even sure that the station itself considers MCTYW all that sacred and worth keeping under Scripps ownership.

[Jess 1110]

As for MyNetworkTV:

 

Technically, it's not a network, but a "program service". It distributes repeats of older programming and, apparently, old-on-cable-but-new-to-broadcast stuff. (If they embrace the latter they could really land a niche, IMO.)

 

I don't know how the Fox-owned My stations operate, but WPHL operates like a traditional indie. Everything EXCEPT the 8-10 block is promoted heavily, including Action News at 10 on PHL17. They have issued press releases that outright say they're an independent station. Really the only thing that's "My" about them is the logo, which IMO looks a hell of a lot better than the actual MyNetworkTV one.

 

--

On MCTYW:

 

I think this has to be said - ABC owns the rights to Move Closer to Your World. At the very least, they own the melody, much like CBS owns the CBS Local signature. Any call on a full MCTYW update ala News Series 2000 would have to come from ABC. And if I had to guess, any full MCTYW update would have to be made for WPVI first, WKBW second.

 

If there were to be an MCTYW update - which may or may not be a good idea - I'd have the feeling WPVI would contract with 615. 615 already did the Action News Arrangements (their topicals and breaking news stings are from that mini-pack), they've done some of the general promo campaigns 6 has done.

 

Again, IF. I don't have any idea what a suitable update of MCTYW should sound like. I don't have any idea if a suitable update for MCTYW is possible. If Scripps keeps it, I would, at the very least, try to get the remastered/remixed cuts that WPVI uses.

[justin2kx 229]

 

As for MyNetworkTV:

 

Technically, it's not a network, but a "program service". It distributes repeats of older programming and, apparently, old-on-cable-but-new-to-broadcast stuff. (If they embrace the latter they could really land a niche, IMO.)

 

I don't know how the Fox-owned My stations operate, but WPHL operates like a traditional indie. Everything EXCEPT the 8-10 block is promoted heavily, including Action News at 10 on PHL17. They have issued press releases that outright say they're an independent station. Really the only thing that's "My" about them is the logo, which IMO looks a hell of a lot better than the actual MyNetworkTV one.

 

--

 

 

Yes, they landed 'Monk' from USA and now 'Walking Dead' from AMC. This should be their niche and possibly snatch off air rights such as 'Breaking Bad', 'Suits', 'Mad Men', shows that aren't to be heavily edited for OTA unlike HBO shows like 'Girls' and 'Game of Thrones' for obvious reasons. CW may have finally found their niche in producing shows based on comics. ('Arrow' and the new 'Flash')

 

I think the fox-owned Mynet stations operate more like a parking lot for their bigger sister stations in terms of double up runs of programs or joint coverage of special events. Case in point, WWOR-NY has doubled up runs with 'Wendy Williams', 'Bethanny', and 'People's Court' from FOX 5 and the first 2 hours of the recent Puerto Rican day parade aired on FOX 5 before migrating to My9 for the next two hours.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

Yes, they landed 'Monk' from USA and now 'Walking Dead' from AMC. This should be their niche and possibly snatch off air rights such as 'Breaking Bad', 'Suits', 'Mad Men', shows that aren't to be heavily edited for OTA unlike HBO shows like 'Girls' and 'Game of Thrones' for obvious reasons. CW may have finally found their niche in producing shows based on comics. ('Arrow' and the new 'Flash')

 

 

Even the Fox-owned MNTV stations "customize" their schedules. WWOR airs a two-hour block of "The Simpsons" in primetime on Thursday nights instead of the MNTV programming.

[tyrannical bastard 3464]

 

 

On MCTYW:

 

I think this has to be said - ABC owns the rights to Move Closer to Your World. At the very least, they own the melody, much like CBS owns the CBS Local signature. Any call on a full MCTYW update ala News Series 2000 would have to come from ABC. And if I had to guess, any full MCTYW update would have to be made for WPVI first, WKBW second.

 

If there were to be an MCTYW update - which may or may not be a good idea - I'd have the feeling WPVI would contract with 615. 615 already did the Action News Arrangements (their topicals and breaking news stings are from that mini-pack), they've done some of the general promo campaigns 6 has done.

 

Again, IF. I don't have any idea what a suitable update of MCTYW should sound like. I don't have any idea if a suitable update for MCTYW is possible. If Scripps keeps it, I would, at the very least, try to get the remastered/remixed cuts that WPVI uses.

 

There's also the Cliff Schwarz version that WNEP uses....it may be a grandfathered version before ABC took the lead in securing the rights to MCTYW.

 

MCTYW is as good as gone at WKBW. It was taken away and only brought back as a last gasp effort to resurrect the station to a shred of its former glory. Any effort by Scripps to repair the station would be much more effective at this point.

 

If Scripps wasn't so hell-bent on standardization, I could have seen WEWS resurrecting "Catch 5" with a new Gari version. They did an updated "Hello Cleveland" promo in the 2000s....this was when their ratings (and ABC's) began to slip, and went into pure freefall when the Circle 5 was dumped entirely in 2004 (the logo wasn't a true Circle 5, but worked in the News Channel to it). It only took less than 3 years to bring it back, but in mutated form while WPTV kept theirs, but made it thicker.

[MidwestTV 1173]

 

This goes back to what I was saying, how do you know if the standardization would improve the station or not. Whether if these will be cosmetic changes (and likely they will see a graphics and in the future set changes) or any content formula changes at WKBW would work or not, that's up to the viewers to decide, in due time. But again, you can't make assumptions that hasn't came into fruition as of yet.

 

I think the point he's trying to make is that Scripps is 99% likely to cosmetically change the station to look like the other ones. If they give WKBW special treatment then it's kind of a slap in the face to the other Scripps stations that probably resisted the standardization as well. It'd be something like, "We've been one of your stations for decades now whereas they've been one of yours for not even a year so why do they get special treatment over historic aspects and we didn't?"

 

Also, seeing how Scripps has plastered the lighthouse logo on every station that's got a new set over the past two years, it stands to reason that Scripps is going to take WKBW and make it theirs.

 

Either way it'll be most interesting to see how the station transforms.

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

I think the point he's trying to make is that Scripps is 99% likely to cosmetically change the station to look like the other ones. If they give WKBW special treatment then it's kind of a slap in the face to the other Scripps stations that probably resisted the standardization as well. It'd be something like, "We've been one of your stations for decades now whereas they've been one of yours for not even a year so why do they get special treatment over historic aspects and we didn't?"

 

Also, seeing how Scripps has plastered the lighthouse logo on every station that's got a new set over the past two years, it stands to reason that Scripps is going to take WKBW and make it theirs.

 

Either way it'll be most interesting to see how the station transforms.

 

I strongly understand what you're saying. But he shouldn't make any assumption. That was my point towards him.

 

What's going to be done is WKBW would finally get the infrastructure it really needs. And that would be a major plus.

[sanewsguy 509]

Actually Inergy would be an improvement over the one cut of MCTYW (I think they're using a version re-mastered in the mid 80's) they're using now.

 

I believe Scripps has their plans for WKBW. I do think they will go with full-on standardization, probably ditch John Young as the V/O while they're at it and replace him with David Kaye or Rich Van Slyke. They will definitely get a new website because the one they have now sucks. Also, remember that they laid off their webmaster a few years ago. Well I'm sure Scripps has plans to build a new fully staffed digital department for the station since they seem so big on that concept.

 

They will probably build a new set but I don't see it being a priority; maybe just a simple refresh and changing of the duratrans to reflect the new graphics. However I expect them to add weekend morning newscasts soon since that seems to be something they like to do. They also have four meteorologists so it only make sense to take advantage of the fourth one and add weekend morning news. Also that would put them on a more equal footing with WGRZ and WIVB.

 

They may hire an MMJ or two, and hopefully a new morning co-anchor, but other than that I don't think they plans to add additional on-air personnel.

 

But at the same time, they may let everybody down and do little investing into WKBW. Look at WMAR, Scripps decimated that station shortly after the recession hit in 2008 and 9. WMAR is their red-headed stepchild now.

 

For somebody who like to shove their ownership down your throat, WKBW's website still says they're a "Granite Broadcasting Station". You'd figure they'd fix that by now. Unless they're figuring out how to put an image of a very large Scripps logo in the footer...

[news89 467]

I found this tonight on WKBW's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/60388086891/photos/pb.60388086891.-2207520000.1403143256./10152135042711892/?type=3&theater

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

I found this tonight on WKBW's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/60388086891/photos/pb.60388086891.-2207520000.1403143256./10152135042711892/?type=3&theater

 

Let me blow it up for you.

 

 

.....Give Light and the People will find their own way....

 

You going to see that Lighthouse on everything, when they get through.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Kinda curious if anyone has video captured how WKBW is using the Scripps copyright endcap (I'm assuming they are, even as that would severely clash with their in-house graphics). Is it with MCTYW playing in the background?

Actually Inergy would be an improvement over the one cut of MCTYW (I think they're using a version re-mastered in the mid 80's) they're using now.

 

This cut of Inergy actually has a MCTYW-type feel to it that I like.

[yt]QUpxT0skKaM[/yt]

It would be interesting if Scripps has Stephan Arnold add the closing six note 'signature' of MCTYW to this cut.

 

But at the same time, they may let everybody down and do little investing into WKBW. Look at WMAR, Scripps decimated that station shortly after the recession hit in 2008 and 9. WMAR is their red-headed stepchild now.

After the way Granite treated WKBW, even a minimum of investment would be an improvement. But with way they have been talking about WKBW since the purchase was announced, I think they really want to do a turnaround here and bring 7 back to its former glory.

[A3N 996]

Kinda curious if anyone has video captured how WKBW is using the Scripps copyright endcap (I'm assuming they are, even as that would severely clash with their in-house graphics). Is it with MCTYW playing in the background?This cut of Inergy actually has a MCTYW-type feel to it that I like.

[yt]QUpxT0skKaM[/yt]

It would be interesting if Scripps has Gari add the closing six note 'signature' of MCTYW to this cut.

Inergy is a Stephen Arnold pack, not Gari.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Inergy is a Stephen Arnold pack, not Gari.

My bad. Corrected above!

[sanewsguy 509]

Here is a nice article from The Buffalo News that explains some of the changes Scripps wants to implement at WKBW:

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/talkintv/2014/06/scripps-stars-rebuild-at-channel-7.html

 

Also from FTV Live, WFTS is outsourcing master control to a company in Minnesota, laying off about 10 in the process.

http://ftvlive.com/todays-news/2014/6/23/scripps-moving-master-control-at-tampa-station

[Thundershock MN 169]

Also from FTV Live, WFTS is outsourcing master control to a company in Minnesota, laying off about 10 in the process.

http://ftvlive.com/todays-news/2014/6/23/scripps-moving-master-control-at-tampa-station

Ummm...Unless he knows something super-double top secret and Scripps is wasting money just for fun, someone should let Scott know he's wrong.

 

From earlier in this thread:

Guys, Scripps is building a master control hub in Indianapolis at WRTV. It will house MC for all the stations in the Scripps group.

I'm not sure how the hell he got Minnesota. The only thing I can think of is either misheard or the info got transposed on it's way to him. IDK, I think it's likely it somehow went from Indianapolis to Minneapolis and somehow that ended up as Minnesota.