mvcg66b3r 100 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well well well… It looks like Sinclair is ready to make a transition to make WICS/WICD look more like one news station, instead of two. And that requires also shutting down one of the stations’ duopoly’s news departments. And WICD, will get that ax. We are being told, according to VermillionCountyFirst.com and also according to FTVLive, that Sinclair has pink slipped a number of on-air and off-air staffers at WICD 15, the ABC station out of Champaign, IL that is a semi-satellite to WICS 20 in Springfield, IL. And because of that semi-satellite status, WICD will dump 95% of its locally produced newscasts and move them to WICS 20, starting next month in April. In other words, all newscasts seen on WICS 20 will also be seen on WICD 15. Just letting you know that I said 95% and that I didn’t count the other 5%. Why? Its because WICD 15 will be trading in the 95% for the 5% to start up a brand new one-hour 9:00 p.m. weeknight newscast on WRSP 55’s semi-satellite station WCCU 27. This new one-hour newscast will also start in April and will be produced out of WICD 15. WICS 20 will continue to produce the Springfield version of the news at 9:00 for WRSP 55 as well as the weekend editions at 9:00 on WRSP 55/WCCU 27 in both areas. According to VermillionCountyFirst.com and FTVLive, some employees have been given 30-day termination notices and will only keep a few employees while the rest could either be retained by WICS 20 in Springfield or could be let go altogether. A news release says that the “reallocation of resources will require fewer staff members in Champaign and more news staffers in Springfield.” https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/wicd-planning-to-dump-95-of-local-produced-news-only-900-pm-be-saved/ We already seen this in Minneapolis with WCCO/KCCO/KCCW and KSTP/KSAX/KRWF. Could this happen in other markets with semi-satellites (WDAY Fargo/WDAZ Grand Forks; KLTV Tyler/KTRE Lufkin; KIMA Yakima/KEPR Pasco)? Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 727 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/wicd-planning-to-dump-95-of-local-produced-news-only-900-pm-be-saved/ We already seen this in Minneapolis with WCCO/KCCO/KCCW and KSTP/KSAX/KRWF. Could this happen in other markets with semi-satellites (WDAY Fargo/WDAZ Grand Forks; KLTV Tyler/KTRE Lufkin; KIMA Yakima/KEPR Pasco)? 86 miles distance between Springfield and Champaign. Too far for a shared news operation, especially with Champaign being home to a major university. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125642 Share on other sites More sharing options...
WXmanTim 88 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 86 miles distance between Springfield and Champaign. Too far for a shared news operation, especially with Champaign being home to a major university. What's more surprising is they didn't do this sooner. There really is no need to keep two fully staffed stations (anchors, technical staff, etc) in this market, when your competitors do it with one. With software such as bitcentral/oasis, it's incredibly easy to shoot and edit in C-U and get that content on air almost immediately. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125646 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 727 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 What's more surprising is they didn't do this sooner. There really is no need to keep two fully staffed stations (anchors, technical staff, etc) in this market, when your competitors do it with one. With software such as bitcentral/oasis, it's incredibly easy to shoot and edit in C-U and get that content on air almost immediately. Columbus and Dayton are roughly about 70 miles and even closer to Cincinnati. I doubt you could do a Dayton newscast from Columbus or Cincinnati and be successful for the same reason that ONN and the Texas News operation were shuttered. Nobody really cares about what goes on in other cities. So, I think it depends on how you do things, I guess. Sports and weather could be shared, but how many people care about Springfield news in Champaign and vice versa? They whould have at least their own anchors and have their own news segments in my ideal world. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125647 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 738 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 What's more surprising is they didn't do this sooner. There really is no need to keep two fully staffed stations (anchors, technical staff, etc) in this market, when your competitors do it with one. With software such as bitcentral/oasis, it's incredibly easy to shoot and edit in C-U and get that content on air almost immediately. To be fair, WAND is based in Decatur which is in between C-U and Springfield so they can cover both cities fairly easily. WCIA is based in C-U and if I recall, they hardly cover anything in Springfield unless its something major or something with the state government. I think this move is more of a sign that Sinclair is giving up that portion of the market to WCIA. WICS dominates the Springfield side of the market since they're the only station based in Springfield so I guess they figured that was good enough. The Cape Girardeau-Carbondale-Paducah market is a similar anomaly. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125658 Share on other sites More sharing options...
formeraa 2 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Columbus and Dayton are roughly about 70 miles and even closer to Cincinnati. I doubt you could do a Dayton newscast from Columbus or Cincinnati and be successful for the same reason that ONN and the Texas News operation were shuttered. Nobody really cares about what goes on in other cities. So, I think it depends on how you do things, I guess. Sports and weather could be shared, but how many people care about Springfield news in Champaign and vice versa? They whould have at least their own anchors and have their own news segments in my ideal world. Yet NWCN (which covers Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) is extremely successful. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125659 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2896 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 To be fair, WAND is based in Decatur which is in between C-U and Springfield so they can cover both cities fairly easily. WCIA is based in C-U and if I recall, they hardly cover anything in Springfield unless its something major or something with the state government. I think this move is more of a sign that Sinclair is giving up that portion of the market to WCIA. WICS dominates the Springfield side of the market since they're the only station based in Springfield so I guess they figured that was good enough. The Cape Girardeau-Carbondale-Paducah market is a similar anomaly. Or another legacy Sinclair market where one of their stations does wildly well, WLOS which is the only decent newscast for the North Carolina portion of the market. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125673 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 738 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Or another legacy Sinclair market where one of their stations does wildly well, WLOS which is the only decent newscast for the North Carolina portion of the market. We also forgot about WEAR. They dominate the Florida side of the Mobile-Pensacola market since they're the only one based in Florida. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125676 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvcg66b3r 100 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 We also forgot about WEAR. They dominate the Florida side of the Mobile-Pensacola market since they're the only one based in Florida. But their transmitter is in Alabama like the market's other stations. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125680 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3955 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 But their transmitter is in Alabama like the market's other stations. The news coverage doesn't even touch Mobile. Maybe a Baldwin County story or two (usually beach related along the coast in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores)....and virtually ALL of the advertising is for the Florida side. Plus, they now have WPMI to focus on the Mobile side of the market, and cover the eastern shore of Mobile Bay (Daphne, Fairhope and Spanish Fort) along with the associated ad market. For WEAR to cover anything on Mobile, it had to be something of uber-importance....now they can let WPMI cover it for them. What likely did WICD in was it's longtime secondary status as WICS's bureau, and the fact that Sinclair hasn't made the upgrades for them like WICS got. At least with WPMI, Newport did the heavy lifting. But if the station is still in the basement ratings-wise, they could eventually farm out news to WEAR. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125683 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1513 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 To be fair, WAND is based in Decatur which is in between C-U and Springfield so they can cover both cities fairly easily. WCIA is based in C-U and if I recall, they hardly cover anything in Springfield unless its something major or something with the state government. I think this move is more of a sign that Sinclair is giving up that portion of the market to WCIA. WICS dominates the Springfield side of the market since they're the only station based in Springfield so I guess they figured that was good enough. The Cape Girardeau-Carbondale-Paducah market is a similar anomaly. WCIA tends to win the market big time overall though? I know they have 49.2 to cover Springfield as well. The lower Ohio Valley market is a weird one in that each station has their base: WPSD owns the Kentucky side, KFVS owns the Missouri side and WSIL owns southern Illinois, yet no one claims overall dominance. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125727 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cg41386 132 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 WCIA tends to win the market big time overall though? I know they have 49.2 to cover Springfield as well.The lower Ohio Valley market is a weird one in that each station has their base: WPSD owns the Kentucky side, KFVS owns the Missouri side and WSIL owns southern Illinois, yet no one claims overall dominance. I'm pretty sure KFVS is a dominant or borderline dominant #1 overall and WSIL is a very distant third. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14295-wicd-cancels-all-local-newscasts-will-now-be-produced-at-wics/#findComment-125932 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.