Coastal Television acquiring Waypoint Media stations

[Morphtato 43]

Per this RadioInsight article, Bill Fielder's Coastal Television is acquiring the broadcast assets of Waypoint Media. This includes the hub in Little Rock.

[TVLurker 255]

do you think NewsNet is going to replace the news departments in every station?

[GoldenShine9 1515]

51 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

do you think NewsNet is going to replace the news departments in every station?

Most likely yes.

[hmaxhanson 650]

This makes me wonder if Coastal actually owns a stake in NewsNet. Maybe they'll turn the old Independent News Network studio they have into a bureau for NewsNet?

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

Seeing as how they ran their Alaska and Wyoming stations (into the ground),  this could be bad news.

Then again, most of Waypoint's stations are basic means of bringing network affiliations (and "local" news) into under-served markets.

[GoldenShine9 1515]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Seeing as how they ran their Alaska and Wyoming stations (into the ground),  this could be bad news.

Then again, most of Waypoint's stations are basic means of bringing network affiliations (and "local" news) into under-served markets.

Not so much underserved, but run by a single uber-dominant station that no one would even consider competing against.

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

6 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Not so much underserved, but run by a single uber-dominant station that no one would even consider competing against.

Pretty much, especially in places like Meridian and Jonesboro where WTOK and KAIT have ruled the ratings since the beginning of time.

[Weeters 1981]

On 7/29/2021 at 1:36 PM, hmaxhanson said:

This makes me wonder if Coastal actually owns a stake in NewsNet. Maybe they'll turn the old Independent News Network studio they have into a bureau for NewsNet?

Given how they've been running their Alaska and Wyoming stations, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped NewsNet to save a few bucks and use the old INN "News Hub" to do their own hubbed newscasts.

[froyo49 231]

6 hours ago, Weeters said:

Given how they've been running their Alaska and Wyoming stations, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped NewsNet to save a few bucks and use the old INN "News Hub" to do their own hubbed newscasts.

From what I recall, they already do that. All their newscasts are produced in Little Rock and they only have a few local reporters. If they decide to keep it, I could see them changing the music and graphics to fit the News Net template. 

 

Two examples, but all of them look and sound virtually the same.

 

[Yankees4life 566]

I wonder if Standard General will have another go at getting the Coastal stations if they don't get their way with Tegna...

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

I would assume that the WMDN LMA with WGBC will be continuing as before?

 

WMDN is being sold to Big Horn Television group from WMDN-TV LLC, while WGBC is being sold to Coastal from Michael Reed (Waypoint).

https://tvnewscheck.com/top-news/business/article/station-trading-roundup-7-deals-54101788/

 

 

Also no mention of WHPM-LD in Hattiesburg, which has operated in tandem with WMDN and WGBC.

[CircleSeven 1963]

Yes the 1996 Grandfathered TBA for WMDN will stand post-closing.

[LOWERCASE GUY 287]

If I worked at Waypoint Media, I would be updating my resume & reel, and try to run like hell!

[Mrtraveler01 739]

On 7/31/2021 at 9:11 AM, froyo49 said:

From what I recall, they already do that. All their newscasts are produced in Little Rock and they only have a few local reporters. If they decide to keep it, I could see them changing the music and graphics to fit the News Net template. 

 

Two examples, but all of them look and sound virtually the same.

 

 

As cheap as the Waypoint newscasts look. They still look a lot more polished than the pre-packaged garbage from the Coastal stations.

[TVIntheDesert 185]

On 7/30/2021 at 6:38 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Seeing as how they ran their Alaska and Wyoming stations (into the ground),  this could be bad news.

Then again, most of Waypoint's stations are basic means of bringing network affiliations (and "local" news) into under-served markets.

The Casper stations were pretty much run as bottom-barrel operations prior to Coastal's purchase.

[CircleSeven 1963]

The deal was greenlighted on Monday. Here's the approval paper for WGBC/WMDN.

 

Let's see if Coastal can close this transaction.......

[AJClementeFan69 477]

Not much will really be lost here even if they do NewsNet it. These stations add very little to their markets.

[CircleSeven 1963]

And this should be mentioned. Coastal TV has completed the Waypoint Media deal last Friday (12/31/21). 

 

Here's the closing paper for WGBC/WMDN.

[EVVTV12 150]

Looks like Coastal has started making cuts 

[LOWERCASE GUY 287]

8 hours ago, EVVTV12 said:

Looks like Coastal has started making cuts 

This looks oddly familiar!

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

Not a good sign of things to come, for sure.  How many markets did he do forecasts for?  Most of the content looks like it was from Jackson, TN, with some posts about Lafayette, IN,  Jonesboro, and Lake Charles, LA.

[Samantha 2906]

It's the Bill Fielder Special, no doubt about it.

[LOWERCASE GUY 287]

On 1/30/2022 at 10:23 PM, Samantha said:

It's the Bill Fielder Special, no doubt about it.

Ahh yes, the Bill Fielder Special; have several staff meetings, promise sunshine, rainbows, better equipment, more resources, better pay, etc. In the meetings, he talks about how he worked with Gray, and he has connections to take a good quality newscast, and make it even better. Then once he takes over, he makes you sign the "employee handbook" under duress without reading the handbook, and threatens you if you don't sign it right then and there. (one of the things it says, it makes you an At-will employee and they can fire you for any reason including cause) whacks everyone out of a job, and offer a severance of one paycheck, and if you accept it, you aren't allowed to discuss what happened. (So do NOT accept the buyout). I, along with anyone else who has experienced the Bill Fielder Special, am telling you right now, if that man, or Scott Centers, his right hand man, EVER set foot in your TV station, start working on your Resume and Reel and run like hell.

Take this from Several people in Alaska and Wyoming, and now with the NewsHub staff, who have experienced this!

[lugnuts6 91]

So, coastal which replaced Alaska and Wyoming news with Traverse City, Michigan based NewsNet, NOW has bought [ to put it bluntly ]  what I guess could be considered their own NewsHub so to me that means that Alaska and Wyoming will be dropping NewsNet for newscasts of what was known as Independent News Network in Davenport ,Iowa  ? 

[CircleSeven 1963]

3 minutes ago, lugnuts6 said:

So, coastal which replaced Alaska and Wyoming news with Traverse City, Michigan based NewsNet, NOW has bought [ to put it bluntly ]  what I guess could be considered their own NewsHub so to me that means that Alaska and Wyoming will be dropping NewsNet for newscasts of what was known as Independent News Network in Davenport ,Iowa  ? 

INN left Davenport years ago. They're now in Little Rock.