George HW Bush dies at 94

[David Salter JR 66]

President George HW Bush has died at age 94, here what each network is doing.

FOX is currently airing a level 1 SR anchored by Shannon bream

CBS is also on with jeff glor

NBC is on with Lester Holt

[24994J 5669]

Correspondent Lynda Lopez anchored from a flashcam on ABC with an obituary from Terry Moran, but they're prepping for a full report on Nightline at the bottom of the hour.

[memnews 36]

NBC's report was actually hosted by Steve Kornacki. The obituary was with Lester, though.

[rkolsen 1697]

CBS actually came from LA with KCBS’ Sharon Tay anchoring. 

[Northerner 32]

7 minutes ago, memnews said:

NBC's report was actually hosted by Steve Kornacki. The obituary was with Lester, though.

The NBC report wrapped up at 1226am ET

[newsbot 271]

WMTW in Portland, ME broke into Jimmy Kimmel (and preempted Nightline) with continuous local coverage after the ABC alert with Meghan Torjussen and Steve Bottari anchoring by themselves initially with Steve Minich joining them two hours in. Kathleen Jordan relieved Torjussen and Bottari, and Cristina Frank relieved Jordan at 5AM, at which time David Charns, Paul Merrill and Joe Glauber did live shots from Kennebunkport. WCSH and WGME/WPFO carried the network alerts but had no local coverage. The coverage was simulcast on newly-acquired CW affiliate WPXT, for which WMTW produces a daily 10PM newscast. WCSH began coverage at the usual 5AM with anchors Pat Callaghan and Rob Caldwell. WGME, which has no regularly-scheduled weekend morning news, aired a special two hour report from 6A-8A anchored by Kim Block and Gregg Lagerquist. The Bush family has a summer compound in nearby Kennebunkport.

[Northerner 32]

The National for CBC BC/News Network has updated their show.  CTV has not.

 

CNN kept Don Lemon on through the Cooper repeat and seem to be doing a recap through the Cuomo.  I suspect that they'll go to International at the top of the hour.

 

20/20 is airing a George H.W. Bush special.  Any idea if this was a change for the West Coast?

[TriangleTriadMediaNews 267]

CBSN has been back and forth between their own coverage and simulcasting KHOU.

[nydem2015 52]

It has to be an update for the west coast cause HW didn’t pass away until after 11 Eastern Time.

[TriangleTriadMediaNews 267]

Would not be surprised to see the network morning and evening shows going with the weekday crew later on today.

[Georgie56 3349]

5 hours ago, TriangleTriadMediaNews said:

Would not be surprised to see the network morning and evening shows going with the weekday crew later on today.

GMA has their regular weekend crew in today.

[David Salter JR 66]

6 hours ago, TriangleTriadMediaNews said:

CBSN has been back and forth between their own coverage and simulcasting KHOU.

Did any of the richnond stations break in last night?

[ColDayNews 438]

Fox News Channel has dropped their ticker for Bush coverage. 

[David Salter JR 66]

state funeral is set for wednesday

[NEOMatrix 1308]

16 minutes ago, David Salter JR said:

state funeral is set for wednesday

I imagine that Fox will likely carry the Bush funeral as level 2. However, most stations will take it since Bush Sr was a prominent figure as a former GOP president.

[David Salter JR 66]

2 minutes ago, NEOMatrix said:

I imagine that Fox will likely carry the Bush funeral as level 2. However, most stations will take it since Bush Sr was a prominent figure as a former GOP president.

How many fox affiliates took last night's SR, most eastern/central stations were in local news when bush's death was announced and i imagine it was a real pain to have to go back on the splicer just minutes after going to local news

[MidwestTV 1269]

I was watching late last night around 11:30 CT and didn't see any of the broadcast nets break in with coverage, only cable. I saw Nightline had a special on it that seemed as if it was ready to go at a moment's notice.

[ColDayNews 438]

44 minutes ago, David Salter JR said:

How many fox affiliates took last night's SR, most eastern/central stations were in local news when bush's death was announced and i imagine it was a real pain to have to go back on the splicer just minutes after going to local news

Last night’s SR was level 1 which means network-wide. His death was announced around 11:30 ET which means many Fox affiliates were long out of local news at that point. 

The splicer only responds to two commands: Network and Local. The command sent to start a Level 1 is the same command being sent at 7:59 pm when Fox primetime is about to start. 

The Splicer can also be bypassed... so stations who had the crews/resources on site had the chance to do local coverage if they wished. Most east coast stations took the Level 1 simply because their crews had gone home for the night or because FNC had more resources to cover the story than their bare-bones news operation, especially for those Fox affiliates in duopolies with ABC/CBS/NBC affiliates.  

Remember, the Splicer isn’t some tool to keep your local Fox station “in line.”

[danderson500 31]

I'd say the broadcast networks will preempt everything for the funeral.

[Jterry 43]

14 minutes ago, danderson500 said:

I'd say the broadcast networks will preempt everything for the funeral.

This should be a given. In fact both the State Funeral and Capitol ceremony will certainly be given wall-to-wall coverage. If the Texas service (likely to be held before the State Funeral) is open to broadcast, networks will likely carry that as well. Don't know if the details have been released yet, but if President Bush opted for a processional through Washington DC as last done with Reagan, you would likely see the networks cover this as well. Likely many hours of network preemption in the week ahead.

[David Salter JR 66]

59 minutes ago, ColDayNews said:

Last night’s SR was level 1 which means network-wide. His death was announced around 11:30 ET which means many Fox affiliates were long out of local news at that point. 

The splicer only responds to two commands: Network and Local. The command sent to start a Level 1 is the same command being sent at 7:59 pm when Fox primetime is about to start. 

The Splicer can also be bypassed... so stations who had the crews/resources on site had the chance to do local coverage if they wished. Most east coast stations took the Level 1 simply because their crews had gone home for the night or because FNC had more resources to cover the story than their bare-bones news operation, especially for those Fox affiliates in duopolies with ABC/CBS/NBC affiliates.  

Remember, the Splicer isn’t some tool to keep your local Fox station “in line.”

also, FOX was airing the pac 12 football championship last night, they would have had a mess on their hands had HW's death been confirmed during the game. 

[David Salter JR 66]

1 hour ago, Jterry said:

This should be a given. In fact both the State Funeral and Capitol ceremony will certainly be given wall-to-wall coverage. If the Texas service (likely to be held before the State Funeral) is open to broadcast, networks will likely carry that as well. Don't know if the details have been released yet, but if President Bush opted for a processional through Washington DC as last done with Reagan, you would likely see the networks cover this as well. Likely many hours of network preemption in the week ahead.

that is really going to throw the daytime soaps off schedule for months

[danderson500 31]

Do you think NBC gives stations the option to air Days of Our Lives instead of the funeral, or would that not happen?

[Northerner 32]

1 hour ago, David Salter JR said:

also, FOX was airing the pac 12 football championship last night, they would have had a mess on their hands had HW's death been confirmed during the game. 

They could've broken in, either in a commercial break, between quarters or could've done what ABC did a few weeks ago and just have the announcers throw to the news desk and come back quickly.

 

Despite Level 1 status, I suspect the Fox affiliates I recieve turn off their splicers outside network time (or during)?

 

Last spring when Trump held a press statement and Hannity came on the Fox network with the news, WUHF stayed with MasterChef and KAYU stayed with syndie strips.

 

Regarding Days... doubtful.  They'll probably transmit a repeat to air for international broadcasters (looking at you Global TV).

[ColDayNews 438]

16 minutes ago, danderson500 said:

Do you think NBC gives stations the option to air Days of Our Lives instead of the funeral, or would that not happen?

The last time a President died — Ford — NBC gave the affiliates the option to run Days of our Lives and Passions in overnight hours. Same as with the Kavanaugh hearing. NBC offered a feed that went out at 7pm EDT for the affiliates to tape and run in the overnight hours or on a weekend afternoon as a make-good.