Gray Media - General Thread

[nathannah 2416]

1 hour ago, ATLNewsExpert said:

Maybe this needs it's own thread but Fairbanks Ak NBC affiliate KTVF has announced they are upgrading their graphics system and hence getting new graphics through commercials and asks for viewers patience. They seem to be getting the WMC/WTOC graphics and a new logo (don't know what the name of it is) so at least it is not honeycomb!

So they're coming up on dogsled through the Iditarod...hopefully the dogs don't get tired delivering that flash drive.

 

(yes I do know Fairbanks isn't on the route)

[MidwestTV 1232]

Kate Glover has been fired as news director at KCTV. She lasted a year. She's their...9th(?) news director in 13 years.

[TennTV1983 804]

3 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

Kate Glover has been fired as news director at KCTV. She lasted a year. She's their...9th(?) news director in 13 years.

 

How bad is it over at KCTV, ratings-wise, for them to cycle through so many NDs in over a decade? 

[TheRob 937]

I noticed Gray is starting to hire for its "daily magazine show," which I presume will begin airing in September at the latest. They say it is not a newscast, but it sure looks like a newscast from the description.

[TennTV1983 804]

Just now, TheRob said:

I noticed Gray is starting to hire for its "daily magazine show," which I presume will begin airing in September at the latest. They say it is not a newscast, but it sure looks like a newscast from the description.

 

The proper term is "infotainment". Think Better TV under Meredith.

[TheRob 937]

11 minutes ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

How bad is it over at KCTV, ratings-wise, for them to cycle through so many NDs in over a decade? 

 

Ratings are not as bad as people think. KCTV is competitive in the afternoon and evening. They are way behind in the morning.

[TennTV1983 804]

1 minute ago, TheRob said:

 

Ratings are not as bad as people think. KCTV is competitive in the afternoon and evening. They are way behind in the morning.

 

Wow. Just ......... wow.

[MidwestTV 1232]

20 hours ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

Wow. Just ......... wow.

CBS programming helps. A lot.

[Oliverolang 41]

6 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

CBS programming helps. A lot.

For Daytime and Primetime absolutely, their News Department on the other hand.

Edited February 10, 2023 by Oliverolang

[nathannah 2416]

On 2/8/2023 at 10:45 PM, TheRob said:

I noticed Gray is starting to hire for its "daily magazine show," which I presume will begin airing in September at the latest. They say it is not a newscast, but it sure looks like a newscast from the description.

And there's your Dr. Phil replacement for Gray stations at least.

 

As for KCTV...like many AFC market stations, a good football teams=good news ratings, even if you don't have the 'official station' tag. It makes sense that they'd struggle in the morning for sure.

[CircleSeven 1955]

New M&A. Looks like Gray and Marquee are swapping.

 

From TVNewsCheck, Gray is selling its Boise, Idaho Fox affiliate KNIN to Marquee Broadcasting. Upon the closing of the KNIN deal, Gray will then acquire Macon, Georgia's MeTV outlet WPGA.

[nathannah 2416]

WBAY has been going through a major computer crash since yesterday afternoon; socials are down, along with prompters and graphics outside the T&T and Gray ticker, and packages have been rolling off a video player with obvious syncing issues and lives have to be done on-set. Weather is completely separate and okay, being presented as usual, so outside of having to ad-lib, everyone's reading off paper, and the big screen is down.

[atlnews2 591]

53 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

New M&A. Looks like Gray and Marquee are swapping.

 

From TVNewsCheck, Gray is selling its Boise, Idaho Fox affiliate KNIN to Marquee Broadcasting. Upon the closing of the KNIN deal, Gray will then acquire Macon, Georgia's MeTV outlet WPGA.

interesting. What use do they have for a metv station in Macon? 

[TennTV1983 804]

32 minutes ago, atlnews2 said:

interesting. What use do they have for a metv station in Macon? 

 

Gray needed somewhere to park a future Telemundo feed in that market.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Gray already has a little LP for Telemundo (WTMH-LD).

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets move to the full power signal......

[T.L. Hughes 883]

1 hour ago, atlnews2 said:

interesting. What use do they have for a metv station in Macon? 

Unless Gray plans to snare the ABC or Fox affiliations from WGXA (assuming Sinclair’s contracts with those networks for that station are set to expire in the near future), it seems like an open question what they plan to do with WPGA. (Incidentally, WPGA replaced WGXA as Macon’s ABC affiliate in 1996; its previous owners, Register Communications, dropped the network in 2009, because of objections to the content of some programs and ABC’s request that its affiliates pay $500,000 in annual reverse compensation fees to carry its programming.)

 

As for KNIN, that’s an open question as to whether Marquee continues the SSA with KIVI or turns it into a standalone station with its own studio, staff and news department, like what it did when it bought WSWG from Gray a few years ago. (Boise used to have four news departments until KNIN replaced KTRV as the Fox affiliate in 2011, which resulted in Block, which later sold the station to Ion Media, shutting down KTRV’s newsroom.)

Edited February 15, 2023 by T.L. Hughes

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Macon is the only market in Georgia that Gray is absent in. Maybe, just maybe, they could swipe a major network. I'm sure they would have loved WMAZ, but that is off limits to them except via a trade, and what would they give Tegna in return?

 

Also, KNIN is pretty useless for Gray. Scripps does all the heavy lifting there, and Gray has no realistic path into that market either for a news producing station (plus it's too small for 4 such stations).

[T.L. Hughes 883]

54 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Macon is the only market in Georgia that Gray is absent in. Maybe, just maybe, they could swipe a major network. I'm sure they would have loved WMAZ, but that is off limits to them except via a trade, and what would they give Tegna in return?

If you count bi-state markets, Macon is one of three serving the state where Gray doesn’t have a station; it’s also absent in the spillover markets of Jacksonville (which includes far southeast Georgia) and Chattanooga (which covers the northwestern counties not in the Atlanta market).

 

The only path into Chattanooga is a trade with Sinclair for either WTVC and/or WDSI/WFLI or with Morris for WDEF, or if Sarkes-Tarzian eventually decides to offload WRCB. It could enter Jacksonville by snagging either WTLV/WJXX or WFOX/WJAX, but only if the FCC ever rules on Apollo’s purchase of Tegna and decides that its interests in Tegna and Cox create ownership conflicts meriting spinoffs.

Edited February 15, 2023 by T.L. Hughes

[CircleSeven 1955]

New callsigns for the three allotments it won from last year's auction.

• Winnemucca, NV (7)  - KWNV
• Flagstaff, AZ (32) - KAZF
• Yuma, AZ (11) - KAZS

Already mentioned Freeport (WSLN), so that only leaves Eagle River. The calls above will be in effect next Tuesday (2/21). No word on when any of these new stations will launch. Gray has active petition to move the Yuma outlet to UHF 27.

[Samantha 2895]

I think those call signs explain the intended programming in Flagstaff and Yuma...

 

And I think at this point with the WPGA-TV swap (which will likely give them WPGA-LD too, as that was hived off in the same "Marquee Broadcasting West" subsidiary for the purposes of the trade), we have to start thinking about what a Georgia Sports and Entertainment Network may look like...

[T.L. Hughes 883]

5 hours ago, Samantha said:

I think those call signs explain the intended programming in Flagstaff and Yuma...

Could you clue me in? ‘Cause my only conclusion with the Flagstaff purchase was in the same vein of KNAZ’s relationship with KPNX: to act as a satellite of either KTVK or KPHO. Same with the Winnemucca purchase in relation to KOLO, since what is now KWNV was once a KRNV satellite.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

11 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Could you clue me in? ‘Cause my only conclusion with the Flagstaff purchase was in the same vein of KNAZ’s relationship with KPNX: to act as a satellite of either KTVK or KPHO. Same with the Winnemucca purchase in relation to KOLO, since what is now KWNV was once a KRNV satellite.

Yuma is a separate market, unless they are thinking of acquiring the Imagicomm cluster...

[tylerSC 61]

On 2/15/2023 at 4:32 PM, GoldenShine9 said:

Macon is the only market in Georgia that Gray is absent in. Maybe, just maybe, they could swipe a major network. I'm sure they would have loved WMAZ, but that is off limits to them except via a trade, and what would they give Tegna in return?

 

Also, KNIN is pretty useless for Gray. Scripps does all the heavy lifting there, and Gray has no realistic path into that market either for a news producing station (plus it's too small for 4 such stations).

Are any Atlanta stations still carried on cable or satellite in Macon? Seems like they used to be back in the day, as Macon is just beyond fringe coverage for antenna reception from Atlanta. I think I remember possibly WSB, WXIA, and WAGA on cable there.

Edited February 19, 2023 by tylerSC

[DGD1314 4]

7 hours ago, tylerSC said:

Are any Atlanta stations still carried on cable or satellite in Macon? Seems like they used to be back in the day, as Macon is just beyond fringe coverage for antenna reception from Atlanta. I think I remember possibly WSB, WXIA, and WAGA on cable there.

WSB is still available on Cox Cable. 

[CircleSeven 1955]

1 hour ago, DGD1314 said:

WSB is still available on Cox Cable. 

But don't they blockout the network/syndicated programming from that feed for Macon viewers?