Waterman Selling WBBH To Hearst

[Breaking News 825]

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[Recovering Producer 207]

2 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Asked this in the Sinclair Chat. With the concebtration of local ownership between a few companies, if a talent falls out with management at one station (and either quits or gets terminated), does that blacklist them from working in the station group totally? 

The answer probably is wildly inconsistent. I've seen people who have fallen out with management at one station in a group land at other stations in the same group. I know HR systems, as part of the termination process (be it voluntary or involuntary), have a question that asks if it is beneficial for the employer that they are leaving. I'm sure the answer there can determine a possible future. I also know people who took buyouts had to sign paperwork saying they are ineligible for employment at a station group ever again. And chances are a release from a contract would include similar language. But, considering how difficult of a time TV is having hiring people... there are probably exceptions that can and will be made. 

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

On 4/5/2023 at 3:22 PM, Recovering Producer said:

I'm surprised it took this long for Waterman to sell after Bernie Waterman's death several years ago. It is great to see Hearst buying. It will be interesting to see how it shifts the culture of the market, which as someone who worked there for a few years, is beyond toxic competitively. And all the stations have toxic internal cultures too. 

Now we wait and see if the McBrides realize now is the time to cash out WINK. 

 

Can someone please elaborate as to what is the toxic culture in the market?

[MidwestTV 1229]

As old as Waterman his, he probably has some connections everywhere. My first thought is he feels Hearst would be most likely to maintain whatever standard/level he thinks WBBH is and that Hearst would touch it the least out of the others.

 

As for Hearst, it's definitely a stunning move. There could be endless motivations behind it. They're like that quiet dude at the party that says some off the wall thing you didn't think they were capable of.

[atlnews2 591]

shame WVIR couldn't have gone to Hearst too. Probably too small of a market for Hearst to care about

[channel2 978]

5 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

As old as Waterman his, he probably has some connections everywhere. My first thought is he feels Hearst would be most likely to maintain whatever standard/level he thinks WBBH is and that Hearst would touch it the least out of the others.

 

As for Hearst, it's definitely a stunning move. There could be endless motivations behind it. They're like that quiet dude at the party that says some off the wall thing you didn't think they were capable of.

 

The political ad dollars Florida brings in? Their already strong presence in the state?

[Recovering Producer 207]

14 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

 

Can someone please elaborate as to what is the toxic culture in the market?

This is from 10+ years ago, but promos that taunt the other station for their perceived shortcomings, orders from management for field crews to go scorched earth with the competition when out on stories everyone was covering - block other stations from getting interviews that they happened on first (witnesses to car crashes, fires, and crimes and other things where there's really no meaningful reason to sandbag the competition), on one occasion WBBH deceived the widow of a murdered police officer saying they would share an interview they did with every other station but really used it as a heavily-promoted exclusive (to be fair, they did give WINK and FOX4 the video a few days later after it aired and other stations learned of the sketchy tactics they used to get the interview and possibly a chewing out from the police department PIO) And management where I work definitely frowned upon being friendly with people from the other stations socially.

 

All things that didn't happen in any other market I worked in. Healthy competition? Yes. But respect and understanding the biggest difference we all had with the people working at the other stations was the name of the company on our direct deposit. 

 

[DirtyHarry 727]

I may have missed it in this thread, but supposedly they paid $220 million dollars. That's quite a hefty sum for a station in Market 55. Or maybe not since they are effectively buying two stations.

 

This makes what the wolves sold WBNS/WTHR for seem kind of paltry. I guess it's the Florida vacation thing.

[Georgie56 3293]

2 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

I may have missed it in this thread, but supposedly they paid $220 million dollars. That's quite a hefty sum for a station in Market 55. Or maybe not since they are effectively buying two stations.

 

This makes what the wolves sold WBNS/WTHR for seem kind of paltry. I guess it's the Florida vacation thing.

 

Also consider that Florida is a hot political state. 

[GodfreyGR 650]

1 hour ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Also consider that Florida is a hot political state. 

Also if you look at the Hearst map in terms of resources and geography, it compliments WESH and WPBF by giving them coverage on the Gulf coast. 

[channel2 978]

1 hour ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Also consider that Florida is a hot political state. 

 

So was Ohio in 2019!

[DirtyHarry 727]

33 minutes ago, channel2 said:

 

So was Ohio in 2019!

 

Ohio has been traditionally a hotly contested state, but I think it has settled on Trump-style Republicanism being very popular, whereas Bush-style Republicanism made it contested. Not the man, the policies. I think Ohio would prefer more of a Bush-style person with Trump-style policies, but that's not one of the choices.

[rtmclaug 67]

I’m sad to see WBBH get sold, but I’m glad it’s going to Hearst. Hearst has done a good job of pouring resources into its stations and they are one of the gold standards in broadcast journalism. 
 

I will say that it’ll be interesting to see how they handle WZVN. 

[MediaZone4K 2158]

11 hours ago, Recovering Producer said:

And management where I work definitely frowned upon being friendly with people from the other stations socially.

 

All things that didn't happen in any other market I worked in. Healthy competition? Yes. But respect and understanding the biggest difference we all had with the people working at the other stations was the name of the company on our direct deposit. 

 

What a shame. There's a saying that goes "don't go too hard on the competition, you never know if you might end up working for them".

Edited April 8, 2023 by MediaZone4K

[mre29 1513]

9 hours ago, Recovering Producer said:

This is from 10+ years ago, but promos that taunt the other station for their perceived shortcomings, orders from management for field crews to go scorched earth with the competition when out on stories everyone was covering - block other stations from getting interviews that they happened on first (witnesses to car crashes, fires, and crimes and other things where there's really no meaningful reason to sandbag the competition), on one occasion WBBH deceived the widow of a murdered police officer saying they would share an interview they did with every other station but really used it as a heavily-promoted exclusive (to be fair, they did give WINK and FOX4 the video a few days later after it aired and other stations learned of the sketchy tactics they used to get the interview and possibly a chewing out from the police department PIO) And management where I work definitely frowned upon being friendly with people from the other stations socially.

 

All things that didn't happen in any other market I worked in. Healthy competition? Yes. But respect and understanding the biggest difference we all had with the people working at the other stations was the name of the company on our direct deposit. 

 

 

So, how did WFTX (Fox4, which hasn't been locally owned in decades) behave during all that?

 

[JCB4TV 347]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:22 PM, Recovering Producer said:

Now we wait and see if the McBrides realize now is the time to cash out WINK. 

Gray is probably breathing down their neck.

[Georgie56 3293]

2 hours ago, JCB4TV said:

Gray is probably breathing down their neck.

 

Would be a good fit considering WINK/WXCW is a news-intensive operation, which is what Gray stations are trending toward.

[CubsFan79 58]

Why not have HEARST buy WZVN too and create a duopoly between WZVN and WBBH TV. 

[Adam MadMan 285]

48 minutes ago, CubsFan79 said:

Why not have HEARST buy WZVN too and create a duopoly between WZVN and WBBH TV. 

Because FCC laws. Both stations are Big 4 affiliates, which generally means they rank in the top four in the local ratings, which means "No can do, buddy".

[CubsFan79 58]

SIoux Falls has a top 4 duopoly with KSFY and KDLT,  I know it is a completely a different situation. with WBBH and WZVN .

[DENDude 216]

13 hours ago, CubsFan79 said:

Why not have HEARST buy WZVN too and create a duopoly between WZVN and WBBH TV. 

The F.C.C. Will not allow that, the market is too small.  And I'm sure that Ms. Klunkler & Montclare Communications don't want to sell just yet.   I would love to see WZVN go to a completely different owner at some point, Tegna, News press & Gazette, or Hubbard, a group that would separate it completely from WBBH.   Not that it would happen necessarily. 

[Megatron81 256]

Hearst is pretty big in FL WBBH fits for Hearst, yeah, Hearst doesn't buy many TV stations.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 909]

Allen Media Group/Byron Allen I would think might want to get his hands in there.. he's always itchy for a good deal.. and I don't think he has any FL stations yet, does he??

[kfc513 235]

5 hours ago, DENDude said:

 I would love to see WZVN go to a completely different owner at some point, Tegna, News press & Gazette, or Hubbard, a group that would separate it completely from WBBH.

 

Be careful what you wish for...

 

[Recovering Producer 207]

9 hours ago, DENDude said:

The F.C.C. Will not allow that, the market is too small.  And I'm sure that Ms. Klunkler & Montclare Communications don't want to sell just yet.   I would love to see WZVN go to a completely different owner at some point, Tegna, News press & Gazette, or Hubbard, a group that would separate it completely from WBBH.   Not that it would happen necessarily. 

The FCC paperwork makes it very clear: Hearst agreed to buy the option to purchase WZVN that Waterman held should it become legal for them to do so. Any talk of an outside sale is pure fantasy.