KSPR using KY3's Set

[TheRyan 560]

It appears that KSPR is now using KY3's studio with KY3's graphics on the 4pm newscasts.  I don't live in the market right now so I don't know if there is a new open for KSPR's 4pm news or not.  It's unclear if this is permanent or temporary.

 

In 2017, Gray shuttered KSPR's news department and merged it into that of KY3's.  They also have been simulcasting newscasts from KY3 on most newscasts except for 11am and 4pm which remain uniquely KSPR News--which has kept its own music, set, and graphics.

[Gavin 118]

13 hours ago, TheRyan said:

It appears that KSPR is now using KY3's studio with KY3's graphics on the 4pm newscasts.  I don't live in the market right now so I don't know if there is a new open for KSPR's 4pm news or not.  It's unclear if this is permanent or temporary.

 

In 2017, Gray shuttered KSPR's news department and merged it into that of KY3's.  They also have been simulcasting newscasts from KY3 on most newscasts except for 11am and 4pm which remain uniquely KSPR News--which has kept its own music, set, and graphics.

Hmm, interesting, sad to hear they shut down KSPR news department and consolidated it they were both equally competitive. Even under the same ownership.

[TheRyan 560]

Today I caught some of KSPR's 11am newscast on replay.  They are using "This is the Place" music, at least for the close.  However the replay didn't include the open (for whatever reason) so I don't know how the opening is done or how it's officially called right now.

 

I wonder if this might be temporary due to COVID-19, which might be requiring KY3 to consolidate any operations still done at the station.  Time will tell.  Hopefully KSPR will get its remaining branding and set restored once things calm down.

 

[Gavin 118]

7 hours ago, TheRyan said:

Today I caught some of KSPR's 11am newscast on replay.  They are using "This is the Place" music, at least for the close.  However the replay didn't include the open (for whatever reason) so I don't know how the opening is done or how it's officially called right now.

 

I wonder if this might be temporary due to COVID-19, which might be requiring KY3 to consolidate any operations still done at the station.  Time will tell.  Hopefully KSPR will get its remaining branding and set restored once things calm down.

 

 

KYTV doesn't have news in those time-slots.

[TheRyan 560]

21 minutes ago, Gavin said:

 

KYTV doesn't have news in those time-slots.

 

Exactly, it's possible that KY3 is having many behind-the-scenes work from home and maybe consolidated the floor crew into one studio until COVID-19 passes.  But even if that were the case, I don't see why they couldn't still have them work out of the KSPR studio since it's in the same building. 

 

I will add that both Steve Grant and Lisa Rose were working the 6pm newscast on KY3.  So they seem to be keeping their main talent at the station--albeit with social distancing in effect.

[TheRyan 560]

Bumping this thread to provide this update:

 

It appears that KY3 has further consolidated the news branding on KSPR.  Instead of KSPR having it's own branded newscasts at 11am and 4pm, they are now using the title "KY3 News on KSPR" with KY3's set, music, graphics, and overall branding.     

 

It remains unclear whether this is a temporary or permanent change.  Of course, it's possible that this could be semi-temporary due to COVID-19, although it should also be noted that KY3 has dropped references to KSPR when its simulcasted from KY3.

 

I don't know of there ever being a formal announcement of these changes.  So until it becomes clearer whether this is semi-temporary as a response to COVID-19 or if it's permanent, I'll hold short of saying this is a "permanent" change.

 

 

A final thought on this post:   I would say it's not normal of a Gray station to take this approach.  Other Gray stations (such as in Panama City) have completely unique news brands when a newscast is done for a different channel. 

[jbnews 344]

53 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

Bumping this thread to provide this update:

 

It appears that KY3 has further consolidated the news branding on KSPR.  Instead of KSPR having it's own branded newscasts at 11am and 4pm, they are now using the title "KY3 News on KSPR" with KY3's set, music, graphics, and overall branding.     

 

It remains unclear whether this is a temporary or permanent change.  Of course, it's possible that this could be semi-temporary due to COVID-19, although it should also be noted that KY3 has dropped references to KSPR when its simulcasted from KY3.

 

I don't know of there ever being a formal announcement of these changes.  So until it becomes clearer whether this is semi-temporary as a response to COVID-19 or if it's permanent, I'll hold short of saying this is a "permanent" change.

 

 

A final thought on this post:   I would say it's not normal of a Gray station to take this approach.  Other Gray stations (such as in Panama City) have completely unique news brands when a newscast is done for a different channel. 

I feel like this is a local decision. I'd like to buy KSPR and build a news operation. Springfield can easily handle 3 news departments -- it has before.

[Gavin 118]

5 hours ago, TheRyan said:

Bumping this thread to provide this update:

 

It appears that KY3 has further consolidated the news branding on KSPR.  Instead of KSPR having it's own branded newscasts at 11am and 4pm, they are now using the title "KY3 News on KSPR" with KY3's set, music, graphics, and overall branding.     

 

It remains unclear whether this is a temporary or permanent change.  Of course, it's possible that this could be semi-temporary due to COVID-19, although it should also be noted that KY3 has dropped references to KSPR when its simulcasted from KY3.

 

I don't know of there ever being a formal announcement of these changes.  So until it becomes clearer whether this is semi-temporary as a response to COVID-19 or if it's permanent, I'll hold short of saying this is a "permanent" change.

 

 

A final thought on this post:   I would say it's not normal of a Gray station to take this approach.  Other Gray stations (such as in Panama City) have completely unique news brands when a newscast is done for a different channel. 

 

Nah, that sounds kinda permanent. Because after Corona blows off. Budget TV are gonna have to deal with monetary budgeting loses with advertising. Trust me there not gonna spend money on rebranding a newscast, two to be in exact fir a different graphics package, look, and Brand, while the majority of there live newscasts on there are simulcasts of KSPR newwcast. So I think it's permanent. And considering the situation with Gray, I don't see it. I will say it was foul to shut down KSPR's news department there were equally competitive why could they just be under one roof. Sad.

[Gavin 118]

On 5/9/2020 at 9:44 PM, jbnews said:

I feel like this is a local decision. I'd like to buy KSPR and build a news operation. Springfield can easily handle 3 news departments -- it has before.

 

It obviously did. Before Gray brought KSPR.

[NEOMatrix 1299]

Dear Gray,

Please end this charade and just “News Now” already in Springfield!

[TheRyan 560]

If KY3 retired the "KSPR News" brand to save themselves from being rebranded as Ozarks News Now (or similar), then I can understand why they did that.   But I think the jury is still out on whether they did in-fact retire the "KSPR News" brand permanently because of two things:

 

1. KSPR.com is still active and continues to have content posted daily.

2. There is still (to the best of my knowledge) no official announcement of "KSPR News" being retired altogether.

 

It's perfectly possible (absent an official announcement to the contrary) that the "KY3 News on KSPR" branding is semi-temporary due to COVID-19, such as due to a temporary reduction of staff at the station.  We shall see what happens once things begin returning to normal whether they keep with this or return to "KSPR News" at 11am and 4pm with KSPR's set and unique branding.

 

If KSPR News has been retired, it will be interesting to see what becomes of the KSPR set.

[dman748 1256]

On 5/9/2020 at 8:44 PM, jbnews said:

I feel like this is a local decision. I'd like to buy KSPR and build a news operation. Springfield can easily handle 3 news departments -- it has before.

I would as well. Springfield did fine with 3 news departments even after KSPR moved to KY3's facility and it wasn't broke. The only ones that thought it was "broke" was the people in Atlanta.

 

I will be visiting Branson for vacation this summer and I can say with confidence I won't be watching Gray, I'll be watching Nexstar

[MarkBRollins88_v2 350]

On 5/11/2020 at 7:13 PM, oknewsguy said:

I would as well. Springfield did fine with 3 news departments even after KSPR moved to KY3's facility and it wasn't broke. The only ones that thought it was "broke" was the people in Atlanta.

 

I will be visiting Branson for vacation this summer and I can say with confidence I won't be watching Gray, I'll be watching Nexstar

Honestly the fact that the people Southwest Missouri only have two choices for their tv news... and those choices are Gray and Nexstar... is a travesty. That market deserves so much better. 

On 5/9/2020 at 8:44 PM, jbnews said:

I feel like this is a local decision. I'd like to buy KSPR and build a news operation. Springfield can easily handle 3 news departments -- it has before.

It definitely can handle 3 news operations, if not 4. Their much smaller neighbors to the north in Columbia/Jefferson City easily support three highly competitive stations, same thing for their neighbors to the east in Cape Girarfeau/Paducah. 
 

If I’m a station in either of those markets, or even in the very close-by Joplin market, I’d start making a play for the viewers in the overlap areas of their markets with Springfield market. 

[TheRyan 560]

31 minutes ago, MarkBRollins88_v2 said:

Honestly the fact that the people Southwest Missouri only have two choices for their tv news... and those choices are Gray and Nexstar... is a travesty. That market deserves so much better. 

It definitely can handle 3 news operations, if not 4. Their much smaller neighbors to the north in Columbia/Jefferson City easily support three highly competitive stations, same thing for their neighbors to the east in Cape Girarfeau/Paducah. 
 

If I’m a station in either of those markets, or even in the very close-by Joplin market, I’d start making a play for the viewers in the overlap areas of their markets with Springfield market. 

 

I totally agree that they deserve much better.    I grew up watching KOLR10 and that's the station I still prefer, however I appreciate good competition.  It's difficult to reason why the Ozarks went from having four news options to just two.  It's really still a shame that the KSPR news dept was shut down and merged into KY3.  And I still don't get to this day why they surrendered the KSPR-TV license when they could've had a "channel share agreement" with KY3's spectrum and keep KSPR's license.  But instead they shut down the old KSPR (for a short interim renamed KGHZ), moved the KSPR intellectual unit to a low-powered station and then simulcast on KY3's signal (but not as the old "legal" KSPR).

 

Despite the national trend towards consolidation, I think the Ozarks can still readily handle four TV news choices.   I hope someone will eventually try to launch something new down the road. 

[channel2 979]

Nexstar has a virtual duopoly in Joplin...it would need to be up to Morgan Murphy there!

[ScottSchell 356]

14 minutes ago, channel2 said:

Nexstar has a virtual duopoly in Joplin...it would need to be up to Morgan Murphy there!

Only problem is that Joplin is the same as Springfield.  Morgan Murphy has the cbs and fox stations while nexstar has the nbc and abc stations.

[TheRyan 560]

It now appears that the KSPR website is officially no more.  The KSPR.com link re-directs over to KY3's site.   I noticed the change a few days ago.  I'm not sure exactly when it happened though.