KION news department shuttered

[Samantha 2923]

KION Monterey/Salinas aired its last newscast this morning. The news department was abruptly shuttered. They're going to provide news from KPIX instead.

 

https://www.ksbw.com/article/kion-news-department-immediately-shut-down-after-56-years/68021534

[GoldenShine_10 263]

Just now, Samantha said:

KION Monterey/Salinas aired its last newscast this morning. The news department was abruptly shuttered. They're going to provide news from KPIX instead.

 

https://www.ksbw.com/article/kion-news-department-immediately-shut-down-after-56-years/68021534

 

I'm guessing they were losing money for a while and couldn't sustain it. KSBW is the 100-ton gorilla in the market and California doesn't bring in political dough very much, being a very one-sided state.

[Archiva 20]

Here's the announcement from KION and a new logo for the station. They are branding themselves as "KION Central Coast".

[Recovering Producer 410]

The spin in their article trying to make this a positive is... something.

https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/top-stories/2025/09/23/kpix-news-launches-on-kion-expanding-statewide-coverage-for-the-central-coast/

[FiveNews 481]

Tough to hear. I hope those affected land on their feet. Morning wxcaster Tianan Phelps returned from a long weekend in Southern California....specifically Palm Springs. Perhaps she was looking at the NPG owned station there, KESQ. It has been the 800lb gorilla for years.

 

[Archiva 20]

The comment the higher up at NPG said as quoted around the :50 mark is absolutely insane. Would've never expected that from them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSn6WmhE4M8

[NYAZSporty 196]

58 minutes ago, Archiva said:

The comment the higher up at NPG said as quoted around the :50 mark is absolutely insane. Would've never expected that from them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSn6WmhE4M8

Love how the reporter says the station ID of the CBS O&O is San Francisco as K-PIX, I know the station likes to ID itself as KPIX. 

[norcalTVfan 58]

Sad day for media on the Central Coast. The folks at KION sure tried. Just checking in via streaming, it was obvious multiple folks wore multiple hats. The sports guy was mostly a news anchor, the news director did it all (news/weather/managing), and the assistant news director anchored the morning news.

[TVLurker 389]

so KSBW has the only news department I'm the market now right?

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

11 hours ago, TVLurker said:

so KSBW has the only news department I'm the market now right?

 

Yep.

 

Otherwise, you get TV from the San Fran Bay Area with KPIX's news on KION 46.1, KTVU's news on KION 46.2, PBS from KQED satellite KQET, and I don't know how strong antennas are in that area, but you still may get KNTV and KSTS if you're lucky. Oh, there's also KICU (Ind because MNT is NOT a network) translator K30OM-D that goes into the Central Coast.

[FiveNews 481]

Scott Rates is/was the ND at this station. He had stints up and down the Northern California coast. Worked at KRON and KGO. Then left to KRCR- the Chico/Redding market as ND (?) and lastly KION. His passion is mentoring younger journalists. Seems like a solid guy, hopes he lands on his feet.

[norcalTVfan 58]

2 hours ago, FiveNews said:

Scott Rates is/was the ND at this station. He had stints up and down the Northern California coast. Worked at KRON and KGO. Then left to KRCR- the Chico/Redding market as ND (?) and lastly KION. His passion is mentoring younger journalists. Seems like a solid guy, hopes he lands on his feet.

The guy has been all over - SF, Redding/Chico, Eureka, back to Redding/Chico, then Salinas. As a viewer in a previous small market, I appreciated his dedication to accuracy and setting the standard.

[Yankees4life 599]

Shame on NPG. Another market gets raided out of their news coverage. From 2 to 1!!! Pathetic!!