Coastal buying KVRR and KQDS

[plzstandby 31]

God Speed to the staff 

https://www.kvrr.com/2023/12/01/coastal-television-reaches-agreement-to-acquire-red-river-broadcast/

[atlnews2 591]

Those poor people. Time to dust off the résumé

[GoldenShine9 1513]

That's terrible, terrible news for those stations. Even Byron Allen or Nexstar would have been much better.

[plzstandby 31]

That’s exactly what I was thinking 

25 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

That's terrible, terrible news for those stations. Even Byron Allen or Nexstar would have been much better.

 

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

Even worse considering KQDS became a third option after Malara essentially shut down KDLH and merged it into KBJR.

 

Even Hubbard or Gray producing a newscast for them would be better.

[LOWERCASE GUY 261]

As someone who worked for a station bought by Coastal Television only to get terminated 2 weeks after the fact. LEAVE....NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They come in with all of these promises saying they will make the newsroom much better, invest in a lot of new equipment, provide better resources, the CEO (Bill Fielder) who is also a politician (if that gives you any idea as to what kind of person he is) will act like he is your best friend, has your interest at heart, then when he takes over he eliminates about 90% of the newsroom staff. He will offer you a severance of 1 weeks pay and an extra weeks pay if you sign paperwork promising not to discuss what happened. Spoiler alert, none of us did, and we all took to the competition and newspaper.

 

This company makes Sinclair look like a 5 star company to work for. The guy who owns this is seriously scum.

 

To those who work at KVRR and KQDS, get your resume and reel ready and be prepared to be on the chopping block if you do not leave immediately.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

30 minutes ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

As someone who worked for a station bought by Coastal Television only to get terminated 2 weeks after the fact. LEAVE....NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They come in with all of these promises saying they will make the newsroom much better, invest in a lot of new equipment, provide better resources, the CEO (Bill Fielder) who is also a politician (if that gives you any idea as to what kind of person he is) will act like he is your best friend, has your interest at heart, then when he takes over he eliminates about 90% of the newsroom staff. He will offer you a severance of 1 weeks pay and an extra weeks pay if you sign paperwork promising not to discuss what happened. Spoiler alert, none of us did, and we all took to the competition and newspaper.

 

This company makes Sinclair look like a 5 star company to work for. The guy who owns this is seriously scum.

 

To those who work at KVRR and KQDS, get your resume and reel ready and be prepared to be on the chopping block if you do not leave immediately.

 

Ideally, the other companies in the market should snag the Fox affiliation to their DT2 and use it to expand their news presence. If, say, WDIO or WDAY grabbed it, they'd have more revenue and more opportunities.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

That's terrible, terrible news for those stations. Even Byron Allen or Nexstar would have been much better.

This. So much this. 

[Recovering Producer 218]

Kind of sad that KDLT getting absorbed by KSFY/Gray is likely the least worst outcome of the Red River stations as that group sold off assets. 

[LTSC1980 112]

50 minutes ago, Recovering Producer said:

Kind of sad that KDLT getting absorbed by KSFY/Gray is likely the least worst outcome of the Red River stations as that group sold off assets. 

Yeah, another “Gray vs News Hub” market 

[nathannah 2428]

2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

Ideally, the other companies in the market should snag the Fox affiliation to their DT2 and use it to expand their news presence. If, say, WDIO or WDAY grabbed it, they'd have more revenue and more opportunities.

If KRDK or KNGF got them otherwise, it would probably be the best-case scenario. But for now going by how ABC/Fox Alaska is effectively a Superfund site outside ABC and WoF/J! (they'll be out ASAP) and KTWO now standing for the number of local employees it has, these stations are doomed.

[CoopInTheHouse 68]

3 hours ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

As someone who worked for a station bought by Coastal Television only to get terminated 2 weeks after the fact. LEAVE....NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They come in with all of these promises saying they will make the newsroom much better, invest in a lot of new equipment, provide better resources, the CEO (Bill Fielder) who is also a politician (if that gives you any idea as to what kind of person he is) will act like he is your best friend, has your interest at heart, then when he takes over he eliminates about 90% of the newsroom staff. He will offer you a severance of 1 weeks pay and an extra weeks pay if you sign paperwork promising not to discuss what happened. Spoiler alert, none of us did, and we all took to the competition and newspaper.

 

This company makes Sinclair look like a 5 star company to work for. The guy who owns this is seriously scum.

 

To those who work at KVRR and KQDS, get your resume and reel ready and be prepared to be on the chopping block if you do not leave immediately.

Red flags here.

1. The station owner is a POLITICIAN. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

2. He fires more than half of the news crew the station started with.

3. You WILL end up surrendering and working for news stations in other cities.

4. Your budget for newscasts goes DOWN THE DRAIN.

Don’t be like KVRR/KQDS. (I sound like one of those children’s advice posters lol)

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

On 12/1/2023 at 5:12 PM, LOWERCASE GUY said:

As someone who worked for a station bought by Coastal Television only to get terminated 2 weeks after the fact. LEAVE....NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They come in with all of these promises saying they will make the newsroom much better, invest in a lot of new equipment, provide better resources, the CEO (Bill Fielder) who is also a politician (if that gives you any idea as to what kind of person he is) will act like he is your best friend, has your interest at heart, then when he takes over he eliminates about 90% of the newsroom staff. He will offer you a severance of 1 weeks pay and an extra weeks pay if you sign paperwork promising not to discuss what happened. Spoiler alert, none of us did, and we all took to the competition and newspaper.

 

This company makes Sinclair look like a 5 star company to work for. The guy who owns this is seriously scum.

 

To those who work at KVRR and KQDS, get your resume and reel ready and be prepared to be on the chopping block if you do not leave immediately.

 

On 12/1/2023 at 9:05 PM, CoopInTheHouse said:

Red flags here.

1. The station owner is a POLITICIAN. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

2. He fires more than half of the news crew the station started with.

3. You WILL end up surrendering and working for news stations in other cities.

4. Your budget for newscasts goes DOWN THE DRAIN.

Don’t be like KVRR/KQDS. (I sound like one of those children’s advice posters lol)

 

First of all, being a politician should bar you from owning any journalism entity. Journalists investigate public officials and hold them to account of the public interest. Republican or Democrat, politicians shouldn't invest in those that hold them accountable. It's a conflict of interest.

 

However, not all politician is the same. Don't paint with a broad brush. Those who follow the letter of law have no issue being held to account. It is those that are vehemently opposed to accountability that are the ones that are abusing our institutions and laws that are here to protect us. If organizations like Sinclair Broadcast Group and Bill Fielder (a party politician directly), are openly interested in curtailing the accountability that journalism is intended to enforce, then you can easily tell who is on the right and wrong side of the people and easily tell for which political parties they support. Period.

Edited December 4, 2023 by ABC 7 Denver

[plzstandby 31]

I think an ideal and best fit situation would have been Morgan Murphy. I do wonder how much interest there really was for the stations for them to sell out to Coastal.

Edited December 3, 2023 by plzstandby

[nycnewsjunkie 1439]

On 12/1/2023 at 7:12 PM, LOWERCASE GUY said:

As someone who worked for a station bought by Coastal Television only to get terminated 2 weeks after the fact. LEAVE....NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They come in with all of these promises saying they will make the newsroom much better, invest in a lot of new equipment, provide better resources, the CEO (Bill Fielder) who is also a politician (if that gives you any idea as to what kind of person he is) will act like he is your best friend, has your interest at heart, then when he takes over he eliminates about 90% of the newsroom staff. He will offer you a severance of 1 weeks pay and an extra weeks pay if you sign paperwork promising not to discuss what happened. Spoiler alert, none of us did, and we all took to the competition and newspaper.

 

This company makes Sinclair look like a 5 star company to work for. The guy who owns this is seriously scum.

 

To those who work at KVRR and KQDS, get your resume and reel ready and be prepared to be on the chopping block if you do not leave immediately.

Thanks for your insight. I’m sure many of the people working at those stations are taking your advice as we speak. It wouldn’t surprise me if Coastal has enough of a notorious reputation for people to know that it’s time to haul ass for the exit asap if they’re buying your station.

 

It’s a shame that the sale to Forum didn’t go through. It may not have been ideal for FCC regulators, but given how the big affiliate owners use brazen loopholes to own multiple big four affiliates in much bigger markets (including Gray in Fargo itself), I think it’s ridiculous that the FCC thinks a group like Coastal serves the public interest better than a group like Forum.

[Megatron81 258]

Bill Fielder lost big time when he ran for US Senate in GA a few years ago in a primary. I didn't even know there was a Coastal in the TV business sounds like they just hub the news from another city with green screens.  

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

The fact that Coastal plays shell for Allen in Tupelo-Columbus  gives me hope (and I cannot believe I'm saying that in this context) that Coastal would turn over operations to Forum. 

 

But the higher ups have really cracked down. If Forum had a mind like a few other people around here, they'd have bought the non license assets in Fargo and made WDAZ the Fox station. 

[nycnewsjunkie 1439]

On 12/7/2023 at 3:07 PM, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

The fact that Coastal plays shell for Allen in Tupelo-Columbus  gives me hope (and I cannot believe I'm saying that in this context) that Coastal would turn over operations to Forum. 

 

But the higher ups have really cracked down. If Forum had a mind like a few other people around here, they'd have bought the non license assets in Fargo and made WDAZ the Fox station. 

I didn’t even think of that; Idk if it might’ve screwed over antenna viewers to some extent (I’m not familiar with the geography of the area or how well stations are received there), but that probably would’ve worked.

 

EDIT: I suppose they could’ve moved Fox to a WDAY subchannel to remedy that issue. I suppose it’s also possible that Red River wanted a buyer to purchase the stations themselves as a condition for a sale, which might explain why a sale of the non-license assets didn’t happen.

Edited December 9, 2023 by nycnewsjunkie

[CircleSeven 1955]

The paperwork is up.

 

Purchase Price: $18.1M.

[bhratbrat 437]

So I did look last night in the Coastal Careers site. Granted its still roughly 9 months after the initial purchase, but did see that they were hiring a local morning anchor for KVRR. 

 

They are the only ones (KVRR/KQDS) that still have their local newscasts. 

 

Also saw a disturbing "internship" for the Wyoming cluster where they are paying MMJ's $7.50/hour

[JCB4TV 347]

1 hour ago, bhratbrat said:

Also saw a disturbing "internship" for the Wyoming cluster where they are paying MMJ's $7.50/hour

That's practically minimum wage for an MMJ, it's not worth it.