Out & About

[Roadrunner 212]

Emilie Ikeda, reporter at FOX 5 Atlanta, is leaving the station. There was some buzz on her going back to Philly (being that she worked at FOX 29 and it was also her hometown) but she shut down those rumors in a comment by saying she's only going there for a bit before she moves to her next spot. I don't claim to know anything but she did follow some NBC accounts recently, so that's what I'll speculate on. 

20 hours ago, nbc9houston said:

KTRK traffic reporter Kathrine Whaley will depart the station to spend more time with her family.  Her last day is March 25th.

https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2021/03/katherine-whaley-leaves-abc13-ktrk.html?fbclid=IwAR2j7PCHxcvxfYJDwbKKLJe4NsXX_iIEufqIM82M7xROfq4kv1QR-raR54w 

Been numerous cuts/departures planned at KTRK since the pandemic began, most of which have rattled their viewer base. Wondering when we'll see any new hires coming onboard. Same with KABC. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Roadrunner

[CircleSeven 1946]

Longtime WFOX/WJAX anchor/reporter Paige Kelton is leaving the station after over 24 years.

 

She was one of first anchors when then-WAWS launched the news operation in late 1996.

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

Yesterday's weather was very close to home, literally, for ABC 33/40's James Spann, as one of the tornadoes damaged his house and property as he was on the air covering the storm.  Meterologist Taylor Sarallo took over as Spann was able to check in with his wife Karen, who was able to shelter in their storm shelter, and is ok.

 

https://abc3340.com/news/local/alabamas-chief-meteorologist-anchors-storm-coverage-as-a-tornado-bears-down-on-his-house

 

Despite this news, he kept on covering the storm and thanked viewers for their concern, and told them to instead to help those in need who lost their houses and loved ones.

[Gavin 118]

On 3/24/2021 at 8:47 PM, newsman123 said:

WNCN is a dump of a station. Nobody stays very long save a few longtime settled folks.

No not really they have done really well in this market, since I live there they just need to do better with contracts, like the other 2 dominate stations. They could also use a chopper.

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

2 hours ago, Gavin said:

No not really they have done really well in this market, since I live there they just need to do better with contracts, like the other 2 dominate stations. They could also use a chopper.

Despite the troubles that WNCN has had over the years competing against WRAL and WTVD, they pale in comparison to the disaster that WRDU/WPTF/WRDC was as the market's NBC affiliate.  And these all predate their takeover by Sinclair.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

On 3/24/2021 at 5:47 PM, newsman123 said:

WNCN is a dump of a station. Nobody stays very long save a few longtime settled folks.

 

Their schedule looks better today than they did under their later Media General days, when they were showing third-rate syndicated programming during network off-hours.

[newsbot 269]

WFXT anchor/reporter Malini Basu is leaving for a gig in her home market
https://www.boston.com/news/media/2021/03/26/malini-basu-departing-boston-25-news

[Gavin 118]

10 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Despite the troubles that WNCN has had over the years competing against WRAL and WTVD, they pale in comparison to the disaster that WRDU/WPTF/WRDC was as the market's NBC affiliate.  And these all predate their takeover by Sinclair.

Brisette Shut there news department down, but Sinclair was horrible to WRDC sister WLFL. 

10 hours ago, TVIntheDesert said:

 

Their schedule looks better today than they did under their later Media General days, when they were showing third-rate syndicated programming during network off-hours.

Yep they only had a 4:30-7am, 6, 7, 11pm newscasts. There was in 2008 weekend newscasts from the NBC O&O days but was later cancelled. The full-hour 7pm newscasts was in there favor it made them unique till they cut it to a half-hour. And weekends was 6,7, and 11 and Sunday 6pm, and 11pm. They were incomplete because media general destroyed there news department from the inside out instead of strengthening it.

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

1 hour ago, Gavin said:

Brisette Shut there news department down, but Sinclair was horrible to WRDC sister WLFL. 

 

It's never good to balk to FOX whenever the question is "what to do in the 10pm hour".....and if the answer is not "News", that's probably why FOX bolted for WRAZ. 

Even though the news department was intact, it lasted until the demise of News Central in 2006 and has been farmed out to WTVD ever since...

[scrabbleship 428]

 

10 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It's never good to balk to FOX whenever the question is "what to do in the 10pm hour".....and if the answer is not "News", that's probably why FOX bolted for WRAZ. 

Even though the news department was intact, it lasted until the demise of News Central in 2006 and has been farmed out to WTVD ever since...

 

WLFL left Fox for the WB because Sinclair gave them a sweetheart affiliation deal, not because lack of news. What you speak of applies to what happened in Norfolk at the same time with WTVZ (I can't remember of WAVY already had a 10:00 on WVBT when they were WB). That same sweetheart deal also triggered UPN to WB switches in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio.

 

WLFL's news did well even into their time as WB, it was Sinclair want to force everyone Fox/Netlet (and WXLV) onto News Central that led to its demise.

[channel2 918]

I believe it was The WB that gave Sinclair the sweetheart affiliation deal. The network, famously averse to compensation, agreed to fork over $64 million to Sinclair over a ten-year period in exchange for affiliations!

[TexasTVNews 1373]

I don't know if this is true, but CBSN is now on KTXA 21.2 replacing MeTV now on 55.1

 

Source: rabbitears.info

[Georgie56 3176]

22 minutes ago, TexasTVNews said:

I don't know if this is true, but CBSN is now on KTXA 21.2 replacing MeTV now on 55.1

 

Source: rabbitears.info

 

I checked, it is on there.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

7 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

 

I checked, it is on there.

Is it CBSN National or CBSN DFW?

[Georgie56 3176]

1 minute ago, TVIntheDesert said:

Is it CBSN National or CBSN DFW?

 

CBSN DFW.

[Georgie56 3176]

MeTV moved to KAZD 55.1 (Weigel bought the station from HC2 in January).

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

3 hours ago, scrabbleship said:

 

 

WLFL left Fox for the WB because Sinclair gave them a sweetheart affiliation deal, not because lack of news. What you speak of applies to what happened in Norfolk at the same time with WTVZ (I can't remember of WAVY already had a 10:00 on WVBT when they were WB). That same sweetheart deal also triggered UPN to WB switches in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio.

 

WLFL's news did well even into their time as WB, it was Sinclair want to force everyone Fox/Netlet (and WXLV) onto News Central that led to its demise.

That makes sense since many of Sinclair's stations dumped UPN for WB around the same time, and WRDC even dumped the network for a few months until both sides made up?   Vegas sent UPN packing and that's why 33 became an independent IIRC...

 

And since WRAZ was tied to WRAL, it was a dream duopoly in the making. 

 

I believe CBC even gave WRAZ a lot of independence from WRAZ unlike most duopolies with a separate facilty in Durham along with separate staffing.  IIRC, that has changed in recent years and more functions have moved over to WRAL's facility.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

22 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

That makes sense since many of Sinclair's stations dumped UPN for WB around the same time, and WRDC even dumped the network for a few months until both sides made up?   Vegas sent UPN packing and that's why 33 became an independent IIRC...

 

And since WRAZ was tied to WRAL, it was a dream duopoly in the making. 

 

I believe CBC even gave WRAZ a lot of independence from WRAZ unlike most duopolies with a separate facilty in Durham along with separate staffing.  IIRC, that has changed in recent years and more functions have moved over to WRAL's facility.

The Vegas case was strange. Channel 21(KUPN -> KVWB), which was wholly owned by Sinclair, went from UPN to WB. Channel 33 KFBT, had just been sold to a company affiliated with ACME Communications (headed by then-WB president Jamie Kellner) and LMA'd to Sinclair. I think the ownership issue was the reason why they didn't pick up UPN, which ended up on low-power Channel 25.

[tw-804 190]

Back on topic: WWBT chief meteorologist Jim Duncan is retiring from the station after 40 years today.

 

From Jim Duncan: Facebook

 

From Curt Autry (main anchor): Curt Autry NBC12 - Posts | Facebook

Edited March 31, 2021 by tw-804

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

3 hours ago, TVIntheDesert said:

The Vegas case was strange. Channel 21(KUPN -> KVWB), which was wholly owned by Sinclair, went from UPN to WB. Channel 33 KFBT, had just been sold to a company affiliated with ACME Communications (headed by then-WB president Jamie Kellner) and LMA'd to Sinclair. I think the ownership issue was the reason why they didn't pick up UPN, which ended up on low-power Channel 25.

If the Acme thing was the case, then why didn't UPN just go to 33 as part of the deal which saw Acme and Paramount airing each other's networks in groups where one network was missing a station? One would think it would have been a no-brainer.

 

When KASY rejoined UPN after that short break, Paramount had also agreed to have the WB remain on WWHO and WLWC and add it to WTVX. Acme did the same for UPN in Champaign and Knoxville, in addition to keeping it in off hours on KPLRm 

[TVIntheDesert 183]

33 minutes ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

If the Acme thing was the case, then why didn't UPN just go to 33 as part of the deal which saw Acme and Paramount airing each other's networks in groups where one network was missing a station? One would think it would have been a no-brainer.

 

When KASY rejoined UPN after that short break, Paramount had also agreed to have the WB remain on WWHO and WLWC and add it to WTVX. Acme did the same for UPN in Champaign and Knoxville, in addition to keeping it in off hours on KPLRm 

 

Interesting point. Maybe UPN already had the contract with Channel 25 (KCNG-LP, later KTUD-LP, now completely defunct), and didn't want any breach of contract suit filed by them if they were to affiliate with KFBT. I suspect UPN would have wanted to be on KFBT instead of the low-power, which had a hard time getting on cable at first.

 

Vegas was a strange market for Sinclair pre-KSNV. The stronger (at the time) Channel 21 decided to go with MyNetworkTV instead of The CW when all that went down 15 years ago.

Edited March 31, 2021 by TVIntheDesert

[Roadrunner 212]

After the infamous Blake McCoy saga, Fox 5 in DC has named a new evening anchor:

Anchor-Reporter Rob Desir Joins WTTG News

Desir was most recently an evening anchor at WTVR (CBS 6) in Richmond, VA.

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

On 3/31/2021 at 1:17 PM, TVIntheDesert said:

 

Interesting point. Maybe UPN already had the contract with Channel 25 (KCNG-LP, later KTUD-LP, now completely defunct), and didn't want any breach of contract suit filed by them if they were to affiliate with KFBT. I suspect UPN would have wanted to be on KFBT instead of the low-power, which had a hard time getting on cable at first.

 

Vegas was a strange market for Sinclair pre-KSNV. The stronger (at the time) Channel 21 decided to go with MyNetworkTV instead of The CW when all that went down 15 years ago.

Sinclair was all-in for their stations getting MyNetwork.  Their only CW pickups were in markets that didn't have Tribune/CBS, no other willing takers or another netlet station in the same market (like WRDC).

Mobile/Pensacola was very peculiar since they aligned WFGX, then a half-market station that was also a WB affiliate for a time, but lost out to upstart WBPG (now WFNA) in 2001.  They later got CW under Emmis, and WJTC, the UPN station went independent as UTV44, then owned by Clear Channel alongside WPMI.

 

WFGX later became a full market digital signal in 2010 and finally had a market-wide MyNetwork station, even if it was padded out initially with This TV during the day and JTV at night.  They've picked up more syndicated programming over the years, especially since WPMI and WJTC were Sinclair-ized.

Edited April 2, 2021 by tyrannical bastard

[Adam MadMan 283]

3 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Sinclair was all-in for their stations getting MyNetwork.  Their only CW pickups were in markets that didn't have Tribune/CBS, no other willing takers or another netlet station in the same market (like WRDC).

Mobile/Pensacola was very peculiar since they aligned WFGX, then a half-market station that was also a WB affiliate for a time, but lost out to upstart WBPG (now WFNA) in 2001.  They later got CW under Emmis, and WJTC, the UPN station went independent as UTV44, then owned by Clear Channel alongside WPMI.

 

WFGX later became a full market digital signal in 2010 and finally had a market-wide MyNetwork station, even if it was padded out initially with This TV during the day and JTV at night.  They've picked up more syndicated programming over the years, especially since WPMI and WJTC were Sinclair-ized.

I remember hearing somewhere that Sinclair liked that MyNet didn't force retrans like The CW did. For all the good it did them. The telenovela thing bombed like a B-52, and nothing else they did besides SmackDown afterwards fared much better. Now it's basically just prime time reruns, assuming the local affiliate doesn't just shove it off into late nights. Sinclair bet on the wrong horse, which is a shame, considering some of their stations could've been prime CW affiliates. While WCWB (now WPNT) and WTVZ didn't have a prayer thanks to CBS owning WPCW and WGNT respectively, I've heard of some other cases where The CW landed on a weaker station due to Sinclair's initial disinterest, like KCWX in San Antonio (though KMYS did eventually realize their mistake and swapped networks a few years later).

[tyrannical bastard 3673]

25 minutes ago, Adam MadMan said:

I remember hearing somewhere that Sinclair liked that MyNet didn't force retrans like The CW did. For all the good it did them. The telenovela thing bombed like a B-52, and nothing else they did besides SmackDown afterwards fared much better. Now it's basically just prime time reruns, assuming the local affiliate doesn't just shove it off into late nights. Sinclair bet on the wrong horse, which is a shame, considering some of their stations could've been prime CW affiliates. While WCWB (now WPNT) and WTVZ didn't have a prayer thanks to CBS owning WPCW and WGNT respectively, I've heard of some other cases where The CW landed on a weaker station due to Sinclair's initial disinterest, like KCWX in San Antonio (though KMYS did eventually realize their mistake and swapped networks a few years later).

MyNetwork is essentially a brand for an independent station with some syndicated repeats in prime time.  Sinclair has mostly kept the branding intact, aside from WPNT (22 The Point) in Pittsburgh.  They serve as duopoly partners to their primary stations in markets such as Pensacola, Asheville, and with the Allbritton merger, serve as the host station in Birmingham (hosting a full powered feed of 33/40) and Charleston (WMMP becoming the new WCIV, with the old "WCIV" on the .2)

 

Other places like Norfolk, it's just a standalone station that bet against Fox years ago, and is a subchannel in others like Columbus, Chattanooga, and have taken over the primary stick of WRGT after the former "Fox 45" moved to WKEF.

 

While some have a strong lineup in their own right, many are just pass-through operations for ThisTV or other networks during the day aside from MNTV programming, especially the subchannels.

Edited April 2, 2021 by tyrannical bastard