When KFMB San Diego was acquired by Tegna in 2018, the station was in need of a refresh. It was the first station in the market and had been owned by Midwest Television for decades. “There were a lot of people in my newsroom that had never worked anywhere else,” said president and general manager Alberto Mier y Terán.

Tegna made significant investments in the station’s look and newsroom infrastructure. And Mier y Terán hired Dana McDaniel as the director of content in September 2019. “She had worked in major newsrooms in Washington, D.C., in San Francisco, in Detroit, in Kansas City,” he said. “I knew she would bring new perspective and new ideas and processes to the newsroom.”

McDaniel’s first TV job had been overnight master control operator at WSJV in Elkhart, Indiana. She moved to Chicago to work at CLTV, and then, to be closer to her family, to WJBK Detroit, where she stayed for 12 years, rising to VP of news. 

When McDaniel got to KFMB, the staff appeared to be experiencing culture shock. “Tegna came in and gave them a lot of technology and wanted them to grow, but I don’t think  that they knew what to do with all of that,” she said.

Ratings were sliding and digital wasn’t a major priority. “There was a lot of catching up to do,” McDaniel said.  “My marching orders were to get people trained. There was tons of potential here, but they didn’t have the tools or the knowledge they needed to get to the next level.”

The station took on the slogan “Working for You,” and McDaniel said it wasn’t hard to sell it to the staff. “This gives the journalists a focus and a purpose,” she said. “They know the work they’re doing is truly trying to help our communities be a better place to live.”

The station succeeded in small things that are important to communities, like getting a stop sign installed at a dangerous intersection. And it’s now working on an investigation, looking at the roots of crime in one section of the city that McDaniel anticipates will lead to change.

The station unveiled a new news set in time for Election Day. It also launched a streaming platform. “We are producing a ton of original content that is now being shared with Tegna stations across the country,” McDaniel said. ■

San Diego might be the most picturesque market in America, but there’s plenty of news behind the postcard-perfect beach sunsets. Housing and cost of living are persistent issues in the growing market. 

Even the weather is a bigger story in San Diego than one might imagine. “People think the typical weather is 72 and sunny, but there are a lot of different microclimates in San Diego,” said Alberto Mier y Teran, president and general manager, KFMB. Between the High Desert, coast, mountains and valleys, he said, “it can be very different temperatures and people don’t realize that.”

KFMB, a CBS station Tegna acquired from Midwest Television in 2018, is a beast in DMA No. 27. KFMB has The CW on its dot-two. NBCUniversal-owned KNSD is boosting its profile; NBCU also owns Telemundo-aligned KUAN. Nexstar Media Group has Fox affiliate KSWB and Scripps holds ABC station KGTV. Entravision has Univision affiliate KBNT. McKinnon Broadcasting owns independent KUSI. 

Also: Read More Local News Close-Up Coverage Here

Cox Communications is the primary cable operator. San Diego shifted from Nielsen DMA No. 29 to 27 from 2020 to 2021. Hispanics represented 34% of San Diego County, according to the 2020 Census, and the Asian population is growing too. 

Tegna’s acquisition has been positive for KFMB. “They have such a strong, strong emphasis on journalism, and it was a really good fit,” said Mier y Teran. 

In April, KFMB had the top household score at 6-7 a.m., and KNSD was tops in the 25-54 demo. At 5 p.m. KFMB won households, and KNSD again won the demo, a tight race. KFMB grabbed the 6 p.m. households crown and shared the 25-54 win with KGTV and KNSD. At 11 p.m., KFMB had a 1.7 household score and 0.3 in the demo. KNSD was at 1.1 and 0.3. Indie KUSI scored a 1.0 and a 0.2. KGTV had a 0.8 and 0.2 and KSWB a 0.4 and 0.2. (KSWB does 10 p.m. news too.)

Among Spanish-language competitors at 11, KBNT had a 0.9 in households in April and 0.6 in the demo, while KUAN had a 0.6 and 0.3. 

KFMB cranks out 11 hours of news a day. Mier y Teran mentioned the station’s “commitment to journalism,” made stronger by Tegna’s fact-checking platform Verify. “We are the station that, when people look at news, they find us to be a very credible source,” he said. 

Longtime anchor Barbara Lee-Edwards retired in October due to health issues. Marcella Lee was promoted to CBS 8 evenings. 

The major news players in San Diego share a helicopter. Most are based in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood.

More Enterprising Stuff

Todd Mokhtari, KNSD-KUAN president and general manager, is shifting to the GM job at KNBC-KVEA Los Angeles, also part of NBCUniversal. Before taking the top spot at KNSD-KUAN, Mokhtari was VP of news at KNBC. 

He spoke with B+C Multichannel News before his move was announced. KNSD reformatted its late news, he said, to deliver more enterprising reports. “There’s no focus on story count,” he said. “We take a story and answer all the unanswered questions until we are done.”

There is less crime in the NBC 7 newscasts than there used to be. “We said, let’s put on something where people check in and get everything they need to know, not so much stories we don’t follow up on the next day,” Mokhtari said.

Greg Dawson is news director at KNSD and Mike Gaytan heads up the newsroom at KUAN. NBC 7 has a Responds unit focused on consumer issues, while KUAN has Responde.  

San Diego news veterans are not surprised to see Mokhtari move up to DMA No. 2. “Good things happen to good people,” said one GM. 

KGTV produces 44 hours of news a week, and is also rethinking news, with a focus on meatier content. Leon Clark, VP and general manager, noted parent Scripps’s roots in serious journalism. “We are reimagining how we do our news,” said Clark. “We are doing more in-depth stories than we’d done before. We have research that shows that viewers will watch longer stories if they are compelling.”

KGTV’s anchors are active newsgatherers in the field, Clark added. “At the end of the day, anchors are journalists as well,” he said. 

San Diego is a market full of lively neighborhoods, ranging from Pacific Beach to Encinitas to Spring Valley. Clark mentioned KGTV’s efforts to be street level at times other than when crimes occur in one of the communities. “There’s a passion for the respective communities that you don’t see anywhere else,” he said of the market. “There’s a Main Street in every community and they want us to know about it.” 

KSWB has been growing its local content at a steady pace [see sidebar]. A 7 p.m. newscast was added in 2020, and it was extended to an hour last year. “People said, there’s no news at 7 and 7:30,” said Scott Heath, KSWB VP/general manager. “Now there’s news. It has done well and it has met our expectations.”

KSWB lifestyle show The Localist SD, with pay-to-play vendors, premiered January 24. “It has just skyrocketed,” Heath said. 

KUSI has “San Diego’s More Local News Station” branding and conducts consumer reports under an “It Ain’t Right” tagline. 

Economic Issues

The San Diego economy could use a boost. The automotive category has long suffered from supply-chain issues. “They just don’t have units to sell,” Heath said. 

COVID-19 has hampered tourism. Political spending, including sports betting on the ballot, looks promising. National advertising is down, the GMs said, but local is up. 

“Ask any general manager here in the market right now, and they’ll tell you it’s a little challenging,” said Clark. “But we’re working through it.”

Asked what they like about San Diego, the general managers spoke of the gorgeous weather, of course. They also mentioned how a diverse population enhances the quality of life. “I love seeing different types of people,” said Mier y Teran, who grew up in the market, “and culture and food and art.”  ■

Cox Communications said it has reached a retransmission consent agreement with Midwest Television, the parent of CBS affiliate KFMB in San Diego, after the station went dark for 4 ½ hours on Dec. 16 over a fee impasse.

In a brief statement Friday, Cox said it had reached a deal with Midwest and that programming would return to its customers. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We regret the recent disruption in service and appreciate our customers' patience and support as we sought to reach an agreement reasonable to our business and our customers,” Cox said in the statement.

On KFMB’s we site, it too confirmed that a deal had been reached at about 4:30 p.m. The station returned in plenty of time for Cox subscribers in the area to watch Sunday’s National Football League contest between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. (Oakland won, 19-16).

“GREAT NEWS! Thank you for your patience and for your continued support of CBS 8 here in San Diego. We are pleased to announce that CBS 8 programming is now available on Cox Cable!,” KFMB said on its website. 

 The two appeared to be ready to fight this one out for the long haul, with Cox claiming at about 12:00 p.m. on Dec. 16 that the station went dark after KFMB demanded a 1,000% increase in retrans fees. 

KFMB has a history as a tough negotiator. Last year the station went dark for three weeks to DirecTV customers.