Out & About

[Chief-O 34]

After 30 years at WBAY, reporter/anchor Jeff Alexander is retiring from the business. He will be returning to Washington state to take care of his mother. He had stepped down from his normal roles at the station earlier this summer, but continued to appear on the station's popular "Small Towns" series. Morning anchor Emerson Lehmann will take over "Small Towns".

https://www.wbay.com/2024/12/17/small-towns-host-jeff-alexander-announces-full-retirement/

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

One of Orlando's best-ever reporters calls it a career: WESH 2's Dave McDaniel.

 

https://www.wesh.com/article/longtime-reporter-dave-mcdaniel-retires-wesh-2-news-orlando/63204985

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

52 years in television news (mostly in Buffalo) ended today for Don Postles. He's now off to retirement.

 

 

[J.W. Rodriguez 17]

In Pittsburgh, Celina Pompeani Mathison, who gave birth to a son in September of last year and is also well known for her previous association with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, has made the irreversible decision to leave KDKA's Pittsburgh Today Live and the entire television business to focus more on spending time with her family.

 

 

[VHSgoodiesWA 309]

Two HUGE developments in central WA: Alan Sillence and Monty Webb are both retiring from television.

Their last days are next week if I recall. Alan is one of the last Fisher/Retlaw holdouts at KIMA, working as the sports director for the past 31 years. Mike McCabe will be the only one left, having worked at KIMA/KEPR since the late '90s. And Monty Webb has been all over the place doing weather (Louisville, Seattle, etc.) and came back home to central WA for the past several years at KNDU. Monty leaves television after nearly 35 years on the air doing what he loved.

 

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article297548678.html

https://kimatv.com/news/local/yakima-celebrates-alan-sillence-day-honoring-31-years-of-sports-broadcasting-excellence

Edited December 31, 2024 by VHSgoodiesWA

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

Bob Lindmeier has closed off a 45-year career as being Madison's weatherman at WKOW... and all of those 45 years at WKOW, a real rarity in today's business.

 

https://www.wkow.com/news/retiring-bob-lindmeier-says-goodbye-to-wkow-viewers-after-45-years-of-service/article_9b6e5844-c48a-11ef-bc17-1f70693dfa0f.html

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 947]

Robb Ellis has again switched stations... He is now at WTHR -- Happned Mid-October

Edited December 31, 2024 by MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

9 hours ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Robb Ellis has again switched stations... He is now at WTHR -- Happned Mid-October

 

I'm not surprised. He's wanted to go back to Indy for quite some time.

[J.W. Rodriguez 17]

Not sure what thread this would fit in, but for those in Northeastern/Central, PA, you may want to look at this. Has it even been resolved yet?

 

 

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

5 hours ago, J.W. Rodriguez said:

Not sure what thread this would fit in, but for those in Northeastern/Central, PA, you may want to look at this. Has it even been resolved yet?

 

 

NBC doesn't really have a lot of options there except for Sinclair.  

 

Hopefully this general manager didn't shoot the station in the foot by bringing this to light.... They could be the next sacrifice (a la WJMN) in a network deal in the works.

 

Perhaps Uncle Perry is playing another game of network poker with his "flagship" station?

[NowBergen 690]

Interesting, this is from 2 days ago.  So what happened, now that it is Jan. 2?

[GodfreyGR 685]

2 hours ago, NowBergen said:

Interesting, this is from 2 days ago.  So what happened, now that it is Jan. 2?

Temporary extension for a few days.

 

[Recovering Producer 221]

5 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

NBC doesn't really have a lot of options there except for Sinclair.  

 

Hopefully this general manager didn't shoot the station in the foot by bringing this to light.... They could be the next sacrifice (a la WJMN) in a network deal in the works.

 

Perhaps Uncle Perry is playing another game of network poker with his "flagship" station?

 

The fact this video just vanished is... something. I have no idea what that something is. But most likely, Nexstar legal didn't want that dirty laundry to be aired publicly.

[GodfreyGR 685]

It seemed rogue... I don't believe any other of Nexstar's NBC affiliates produced anything like that. From a negotiations standpoint, nothing productive could come from airing that.

Right up there with the affiliates saying that DirecTv/Dish/Comcast et al. are taking their quality local programming away when there's a retransmission dispute.

[nathannah 2493]

The only thing that video created was fear, uncertainty and doubt and it felt oddly personal to the GM as he probably has the same spiel for WYOU but they can just sub CBS/P+ in there. You don't tell an audience you could lose your affiliation without warning.

 

They're lucky this was on a New Year's Eve broadcast barely anybody watched and that WNEP eats their lunch and dinner. If this was 16 the Talkback line would no longer know peace.

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

I wonder how much longer the dual-affiliate "ban" will last under the new administration.

 

It's not like a network can just pick up and move to another station in the market.  Especially when you have the largest broadcaster in America potentially displacing a large number of affiliates.  Running a second stream should be an option especially if it's an emergency fix.

 

And for the record, here's where Nexstar's affiliations stand as of their 2023 Annual Report.  They renewed with CBS earlier this year.

 

 

 

And for comparison, here's Sinclair (from their 2023 AR).  Guess who else's agreement was up at the end of 2024?

Edited January 2 by tyrannical bastard

[MidwestTV 1236]

Well...what was the video for those that missed it?

[GodfreyGR 685]

13 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

Well...what was the video for those that missed it?

Long story short- the GM took a couple minutes of the newscast to explain WBRE's long-standing affiliation with NBC and that NBC is more focused on Peacock than providing programming for their affiliates, which he then lamented loses millions of dollars while listing all the Peacock-exclusive programming. Comments were also made how while doing all of this, NBC/Comcast is squeezing more money out of the affiliates.

 

Anyone else feel free to add anything I missed.

[T.L. Hughes 900]

I know this would be a thing for the Speculatron, but the wrinkle with NBC having yet to renew deals with the two largest station groups is that, given the current limits on subchannel-based major network affiliations (which should have included exceptions for situations where a network would otherwise be left without a local affiliate), there’s no plausible replacement affiliates that NBC can move to in markets where Sinclair and Nexstar both have stations.

 

Case in point, here in Oklahoma City, Nexstar owns KFOR/KAUT (KFOR has been with NBC since it signed on in 1949) and Sinclair owns KOKH/KOCB (KOCB has been an independent since The CW moved to KAUT in 2023, which theoretically would make it the feasible replacement if KFOR lost NBC). If NBC were to somehow fail to ink new contracts with both Nexstar and Sinclair, the network would have to pull a lot of lateral moves to keep it available in the affected markets (in this scenario, NBC’s only option in OKC would be to cut a deal with Tyler Media to move its programming to KTUZ/KUOK, punting either Telemundo (on KTUZ) or Univision (on KUOK) to subchannel status or, like Sinclair did with Univision in Seattle and Portland, causing one of them to be dropped entirely).

Edited January 2 by T.L. Hughes

[Recovering Producer 221]

51 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

I know this would be a thing for the Speculatron, but the wrinkle with NBC having yet to renew deals with the two largest station groups is that, given the current limits on subchannel-based major network affiliations (which should have included exceptions for situations where a network would otherwise be left without a local affiliate), there’s no plausible replacement affiliates that NBC can move to in markets where Sinclair and Nexstar both have stations.

 

At some point, the game of chicken between networks and station ownership groups will end in a non-amicable way, leading to a major shift in how a network distributes programming in some areas.

 

Do I believe it is imminent? I have no idea. The incoming FCC chair's comments about station group and network affiliation negotiations might make a network hesitant to rip off that band-aid right now. 

 

That said, NBC has shown in the past that it will cut off an affiliate it is frustrated with (WHDH) and terminate relationships with stations that threaten even a tiny bit of exclusivity for its O&Os (WHAG, WMGM). They have the infrastructure in Peacock for streaming and Comcast ownership to potentially fill some coverage gaps for linear distribution. NBC's broadcast operations are just one piece of Comcast's revenue pie chart. 

 

ABC has a streaming infrastructure and ownership with diverse assets.

 

CBS is in a world of uncertainty. FOX is small but also has a history of trying new things. Stay tuned... or... I guess streaming now? 

[nathannah 2493]

2 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Case in point, here in Oklahoma City, Nexstar owns KFOR/KAUT (KFOR has been with NBC since it signed on in 1949) and Sinclair owns KOKH/KOCB (KOCB has been an independent since The CW moved to KAUT in 2023, which theoretically would make it the feasible replacement if KFOR lost NBC). If NBC were to somehow fail to ink new contracts with both Nexstar and Sinclair, the network would have to pull a lot of lateral moves to keep it available in the affected markets (in this scenario, NBC’s only option in OKC would be to cut a deal with Tyler Media to move its programming to KTUZ/KUOK, punting either Telemundo (on KTUZ) or Univision (on KUOK) to subchannel status or, like Sinclair did with Univision in Seattle and Portland, causing one of them to be dropped entirely).

They'd be more likely to go to KSBI since that would not hit any subchannel rules. And in most markets where Inyo or Scripps aren't sistered up, the Ion station is a possibility for an emergency affiliation, but Nexstar playing chicken wtih NBC is going to hurt them more than it does the network, which can simply shift viewers to Peacock or at worse, junk one of their SpinCo networks like SyFy, Universal Kids or Oxygen market by market to carry their shows on a one-day delay if somehow Innovate/HC2 refuse to carry them (I would hope it wouldn't get that desperate).

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

One of the best meteorologists in the history of Capital Region television is hanging it up and retiring on June 30th. However, Pet Connection will still be around.

 

https://www.news10.com/top-stories/steve-caporizzo-i-know-it-is-time/

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

It looks like Lindsey Mastis has left WJLA-TV Washington, D.C., and seems to be getting out of the TV news business to enter the tech and AI industries.

 

https://www.facebook.com/LindseyMastisJournalist/posts/pfbid02LoBGcc7ZmASbdHFhw1pbnQLcas96uvuLxUq4WQVaXa99x7a91C7nSEmuqi4zgxaol

[MediaZone4K 2233]

WAGA's Alex Whittler announced on IG that she was promoted to host of Good Day ATL replacing Sharon Lawson who left last year "for her own well being".

 

Im never up that early so not sure if GD ATL has a separate team for 4:30-7AM.

 

But quite the load as she will also continue anchoring the hour long noon newscast. Originally she anchored just the noon. 

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

KNTV was probably the longest stop in Terry McSweeney's long and legendary career. He retired last night after a twelve-year run there and more than four decades in journalism, with stops at KTXL, WPBF, KSAZ, WTEN, and even KGO along the way before rejoining KNTV for the second time. He was also there from 1987 to 1995.

 

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/nbc-bay-area-longtime-anchor-terry-mcsweeney-retires/3752027/