ThatSowislander 52 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I recently saw a poll on Roger Simmons' website which debates which will Orlando TV station will its shut down its news department Most of the visitors said WKMG will the first. This, combied with what I read at the TVSpy Watercooler, got me thinking: who will be the first station in my market will shut down news. Dave or FOF can delete this if this violates the lists rule. In my home market, if I predict long-term, I can probably see WTMJ folding shop in a few years because of Journal's problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElliotJones 52 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Commercially, I'd probably have my chips on WCAU. NBC seems to be hemorrhaging money, with desperate cost cutting measures left and right. However, I can see WHYY loosing Delaware Tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1343 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 In my market: WFTS or WTSP...of course WWSB could too but then they really wouldn't have a reason to exist anymore. WFTS has been a perennial fourth and has never been able to make ratings gains. Both Scripps and Gannett have had the life sucked out of them by the newspapers. Doesn't WWSB still have the advantage of being in Sarasota? That gives it a coverage area that WFTS likely doesn't cover. I don't see any of the stations here in the Boston-Manchester market dropping news anytime soon. WMUR could be seen as our equivalent of WWSB, but being the only station that provides NH-focused coverage, they're not in any danger of going away anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 For me it would be KDNL, oh wait that already happened. But seriously isn't this just a bit of doom and gloom here? If it is true, it would be a shame, we need to have different options for news and cuts down me watching the networks a lot. Do I think they'll trim back newscasts? Yes, it's already happening across the country. But do I think that they'll shut down completely, no. I think stations make too much money off these newscasts compared to syndicated programing. But then again maybe I'm too optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain 17 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 It's right in front of our eyes, WTVJ will be first out in Miami, they just went through other massive layoffs, not planning to replace anyone and likely won't renew contracts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMA 135 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Probably WWOR or WNBC here in New York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucc 4 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 WTEN in Albany, NY would have to be my guess. They have like only 5 reporters and they already have no weekend am newscasts, and don't have sports each night; and it's clear Young isn't pouring any money into the station ---because they probably have none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyfla 196 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 In my two markets, I'm going with... Orlando- WKMG, They have been playing musical chairs with their staff and let go of good talent in Bob Frier and Marla Weech. New VP/GM Skip Valet may have done wonders for WJXT and WKMG until 4 years ago but as far as I saw he didn't do crap at KPRC and he isn't going to turnaround WKMG like he did in the past with the bonehead moves he's made already. West Palm Beach- WPBF, The only thing going for this station is a good owner (Hearst) otherwise they would have closed shop a few years ago, their newscasts are like a sub 100 market newscast, they have a small staff and a non-meterologist doing the evening weather. But now they have solidified themselves by overtaking WPEC for 2nd overall in the May sweeps. Of course no one is going to compete with "Florida's Most Watched Television Station" WPTV who despite having NBC, dominates the market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsJunkie247 1 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 In New York, WWOR - They have laid-off both on-camera talent and staff behind the scenes and they are, I believe, the lowest rated English local news organization in the market. If it weren't for lawmakers in New Jersey that have threatened to take away their FCC license because they don't cover the state enough, they would probably already be simulcasting WNYW's 10PM news on a daily basis. If the lawmakers threw a fit just because there weren't as many stories from NJ on the newscast as there were from NY, could you imagine what they would do if WWOR folded up their news division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMA 135 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Ironically, that law may lead to the founding of two new full power VHF stations in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaskanews 108 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 People have been predicting the death of KIMO for years here in ANC, but they keep holding on. It will either be them or KTBY. Their joke of a "newscast" isn't winning them any viewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacksonTV 0 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 In Jackson, MS, WDBD (Fox) would be the first to go, easily. Their 9:00 news has only been on the air since around February and I'll bet half the people in this market don't even know it exists. The presentation's terrible and so is much of the talent (especially the weekend meteorologist). They don't even have live trucks; so far, they've been using crappy Internet phones for live shots. The ONLY thing WDBD has going for them, IMO, is that they're in HD. /end rant //Seriously, they'll probably be gone by this time next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 In Birmingham it would have to be WVTM. Since it has been sold by one sinking ship (NBC) to another sinking ship (Media General) its newscast ratings has been in the toilet. They have laid off so much of their staff that they only 4 weekday anchors for all newscast, and each of those anchors take turn to anchor the weekend evening newscast. Also they don't have a sports department anymore rather just a sports anchor that is off nowadays more than he is on-air. Also they actually dedicated so much of their newscast time to air informercials that it is embarrassing for Alabama's first TV station. They didn't even celebrate their 60th anniversary last year because of financial issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susquvalleywgal 494 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Here in the SusquValley (Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York) market, I predict ABC27 WHTM. WHP CBS21 ratings have been constantly been getting better and their news product has been improving as well. WPMT FOX 43 recently refreshed their news product and they have 4 hours of news every weekday morning. And of course, WGAL is just the 500 lb. gorilla in the area. Another reason why I think this is because I think ABC27 has been completely inept and lazy with the whole DTV conversion. To this day, their OTA signal is so small that I can't get their DTV signal on my HDTV. I live about 12 miles from their tower. I can get every other station, including WGAL with no problem what so ever. WHTM's DTV signal is on channel 10. When I grilled ABC27 recently on what the status is on them boosting their power, they said ... get this ... it might not be until 2011. You serious ABC27? Let's get with it. I really do think that if ABC27 News went gone, no one would miss it. Ever since Rick Wagner left, and Chuck did feel good stories instead of weather, it hasn't been the same. Just my two cents. -- Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Commercially, I'd probably have my chips on WCAU. NBC seems to be hemorrhaging money, with desperate cost cutting measures left and right. However, I can see WHYY loosing Delaware Tonight. Delaware Tonight died a painless death last Friday. WCAU however is actually one of the few NBC O&Os actually financially solvent. If you've noticed they are doing a lot better than their sister station up the turnpike. I don't see any of the big 4 stations in the Philly market losing their news departments any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tw-804 190 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I don't see any of the stations in the Richmond/Petersburg market losing their news departments anytime soon. Recently, WTVR (CBS 6) cancelled its Saturday morning newscasts because of the economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Delaware Tonight died a painless death last Friday. WCAU however is actually one of the few NBC O&Os actually financially solvent. If you've noticed they are doing a lot better than their sister station up the turnpike. I don't see any of the big 4 stations in the Philly market losing their news departments any time soon. Ditto. All of the Philly stations are doing quite well comparatively; there have been cutbacks but nowhere near as severe as other markets. In fact, there have been expansions. Let me go through all of them. WPVI is the 900 lb. gorilla. I don't recall any cutbacks; in fact, they added a sports reporter and this was before Gary Papa passed away. WTXF also seems to be doing quite well, even though there have been some layoffs. KYW cut back the most of all of the stations in the market, but their news is still number two in many timeslots. The Larry Mendte/Alycia Lane fiasco might have been a PR nightmare, but almost certainly was a financial godsend. Count that and the retirement of Marc Howard and the three largest contracts at the station have all disappeared. Chris and Susan seem to be doing a good job for them, but both combined have to be making a fraction of what one of the three was being paid (and are anchoring more newscasts to boot). KYW has added newscasts through WPSG - they now do a 10pm news and a 7-9am news over there. Finally, WCAU. Talent is leaving but it seems to be mostly through retirements than mass layoffs ala WNBC and WTVJ. They made their cutbacks years ago, when Bolaris and Mendte left - they haven't hired anyone as "big" since then. They haven't really innovated since then, but I can only think of one major misstep (All That and More, which they've since fixed). Whatever you think of the on-air product, WCAU has always been run as a lean, mean operation since NBC bought it and a lot of credit has to go to Dennis Bianchi, who's been there since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sctvhound 27 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 In my market, Charleston, all of the stations are owned by competent organizations (Media General, Allbritton, and Raycom) which care about news. However, I think the first station that would drop news would be either WCIV or WCBD. WCBD moved their Noon newscast to 11am (cost-cutting, so it could lead into MG's horrible Daytime). They dropped sports except on weekends and football Friday nights last year, and they fired their morning anchor, their experienced weeknight anchor, and changed some reporters in the last year. Before Warren Peper got fired, for a while, WCBD was a strong #2, sometimes defeating WCSC. Now, WCBD gets beaten sometimes by WCSC's Fox affiliate, WTAT. WCIV has always had a tough time as the #3 station in town, even though they keep most of their talent for several years on end. Their news anchors are good, but their reporters are a revolving door. They do have better newscasts than all-crime all the time + stories from 100 miles away on WCSC, but they can't deliver the ratings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFTV 484 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 XETV or KGTV XETV eliminated the sports dept and went from full hour to 30 minutes. Ratings have sunk ever since they lost its FOX Affiliation. Newsroom getting emptier day by day. looking at the anchor and reporter section, they went from 9 reporter field positions to 6. KGTV has been on a union strike since 2006 and has been a tumbleweed rolling along with reporters and anchors, which some who were Radio & TV icons in SD have departed. they lost 6 great people and 1 is about to leave in mid july...make that lucky 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelicanGuy 117 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 In New Orleans, my money would be on WGNO because of Tribune's money woes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mediadorkx07 0 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 In Connecticut... it will be WTNH (ABC) first, followed by WVIT (NBC 30). WFSB (CBS) and WTIC (FOX) will be the only ones left standing two years from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief-O 28 Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 WGBA. No morning show [except for weather]. No noon show. The newscasts they do have have always been weak in the ratings game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroCirq 148 Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Here...I would definitely say..WTVJ first. Obviously due to the struggles at NBC. Then WFOR. Why don't they sell the stations anyway??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1343 Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Here...I would definitely say..WTVJ first. Obviously due to the struggles at NBC. Then WFOR. Why don't they sell the stations anyway??? Bad economy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsProducer 0 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I don't see anyone folding soon in Colorado Springs, Denver, or Grand Junction. Long term, I would say the most at risk news departments in Colorado are KWGN Denver, and KXRM Colorado Springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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