A pair of beloved local anchors with extraordinary runs at their stations are finally stepping down. Tom Wills signs off at WJXT Jacksonville May 31, 49 years after he began there, while Don Alhart marks a stunning 58 years at WHAM Rochester when he steps down June 6. 

“I don’t want to keep working until they have to wheel me in there,” said Alhart, who is 80. “When I feel good, when the ratings are still good, why push it?”

Raised on Radio

A Pittsburgh native, Wills got a journalism degree at American University in Washington and went to work at WTOP, the D.C. radio station offering news and talk that at that time was owned by The Washington Post Co. The Post Co. also owned a TV station in D.C., and Wills got a little on-air experience. He was asked to switch to another Post Co. station, WJXT, and came on board as a weekend anchor in 1975. 

“My wife and I fell in love with Jacksonville, but I really fell in love with the television station,” Wills said. 

In D.C., he said, The Washington Post owned the big stories and other media outlets were mostly “irrelevant.” In Jacksonville, WJXT (part of Graham Media Group, renamed when the Graham family sold the Post to Jeff Bezos) broke more than its share of the big scoops. “It’s a heady feeling that this television station is so dominant in the community,” he said. 

Wills said he had a “brief flirtation” with a move to WPLG Miami, also owned by The Post Co. Stations in other markets, including Kansas City and Baltimore, also reached out to gauge his interest in a move. 

“I’d already worked in Washington, D.C., so I knew about big markets,” he said. “Big markets did not hold any allure to me.”

Wills’s children were born in Jacksonville, and he was part of a long-running anchor team, including Deborah Gianoulis, at WJXT from 1979 to 2003, with Sam Kouvaris doing sports (he spent 37 years there) and George Winterling handling weather (Winterling, who died last year, was WJXT chief meteorologist for 47 years). Wills said the team’s extraordinary tenure made him “one of the most spoiled men in America, maybe the Western Hemisphere.”

On Campus, Then On-Air

Alhart worked as a reporter for WHAM as an Ithaca College student in the summer of 1965, joining the station full-time a year later — 6/6/66, in fact. “I graduated college June 4, came home Sunday and went to work Monday,” he said. “I never looked back.”

Like Wills, and most any anchor, Alhart considered opportunities in larger markets, including Washington and Philadelphia. After a hiring manager in Philly viewed his tape, he was told the station was looking for an anchor “who exudes more warmth,” he said, perhaps a reflection of Alhart’s heart still being in Rochester. 

He’s particularly proud of the long-running segment “Bright Spot” at the end of the 6 p.m. news, which focuses on someone who’s doing something positive in the community. Alhart said the idea came up at a Rotary Club meeting, when a man complained that the news was too depressing.

“Bright Spot” was born. “Every day, even 9/11, we have found a bright spot,” Alhart said. 

Asked about stories he covered that stick out today, Wills, who did not share his age, mentioned covering the 1977 plane crash in Mississippi that killed members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. “We went into the woods and found the wreckage,” he said, describing “broken suitcases, a teddy bear on the ground.”

Words of Wisdom 

In terms of advice for a young reporter, Wills advised to learn how local government operates, and remember to have a conversation with the viewer, as opposed to reading something “lifted out of Associated Press.” 

Alhart too stressed speaking with people, not at them. “Go to the shopping mall,” he said. “Sit in a chair for 15 or 20 minutes, look at people, and remember those are the people you’re talking to when you write a  story, deliver a story, anchor a newscast.”

Wills said his retirement plans are “up in the air,” and mentioned his three grandchildren “will get a lot more Grandma and Grandpa.”

Alhart will consider a new venture, perhaps a podcast, that allows him to continue focusing on positive stories in Rochester. 

“I’ll take a month or two, maybe travel, but I won’t plan anything,” he said. “And see what happens.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it plans to replace local newscasts at stations in five markets with its national news program The National Desk in five markets beginning May 15.

The stations affected are WNWO Toledo, Ohio; KPTM Omaha, Nebraska; KTVL Medford, Oregon; KMEG Sioux City, Iowa and WGFL Gainesville, Florida.

The newscasts in each market were low-rated.

Some news staffers will be affected. In Toledo, for example, WNWO’s newscast was being produced by WSBT South Bend, Indiana, and the station had only a handful of news staffers.

The National Desk will air in what are currently local news slots. In some cases, local news cut-ins will be added to the broadcasts.

“We are changing the way we produce news in these markets to ensure long-term success,” Sinclair said in a statement. “Beginning May 15, The National Desk, which provides real-time national and regional news from Sinclair’s television stations across the U.S., will air during the stations’ regularly scheduled news time periods, with an opportunity for local news cut-ins in the newscast. TND offers an alternative choice for news, and has grown exponentially over the last year, reaching nearly 3 million viewers per week, across all dayparts.”

Spending on TV has been climbing back toward normal in Milwaukee since the pandemic struck, and the stations are getting a windfall from a Wisconsin state Supreme Court race that will give the balance of power to either the Democrats or Republicans, depending on how the vote goes April 4. 

Conservatives currently hold a 4-3 majority in the Supreme Court. “There are so many key initiatives that will be decided based on how the race ends up,” said Jan Wade, WISN president and general manager.

CNN reported, “In one of the nation’s most important political battlegrounds, the future of election laws, abortion rights and more could hinge on the outcome of an April race for a seat that will determine control of the state Supreme Court.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

A less divisive matter in Milwaukee is the market’s emergence as a major sports town. The NFL’s Green Bay Packers have been a power for decades. The Bucks won the NBA title in 2021 and are in first place in the Eastern Conference at press time. The Brewers finished second in the National League Central last year. In college hoops, Marquette’s men had a No. 2 seed in March Madness, and the women’s team a No. 9, though both were defeated — the men in the second round, the women in the first. 

“Milwaukee has really become a sports town,” said Chuck Steinmetz, WITI senior VP and general manager. “The Packers have always been a big deal, but that has translated to other sports.”

Lambeau Field is a one-and-a-half hour drive from Milwaukee. The stations were on “Aaron Rodgers watch,” as Wade put it, at press time, with the star quarterback looking to make a move. 

“We definitely bleed green and gold here,” added Spectrum News 1 senior news director Diane Irving. 

Hearst Television owns ABC affiliate WISN. Fox owns WITI. Weigel Broadcasting holds CBS affiliate WDJT, Telemundo station WYTU, independent WMLW and MeTV outlet WBME. Scripps has NBC affiliate WTMJ. Sinclair Broadcast Group owns The CW station WVTV, which has MyNetworkTV on a subchannel, and the public broadcaster in DMA No. 38 is WMVS. 

Spectrum is the major pay TV operator in Milwaukee. It owns Spectrum News 1. 

WISN and WITI are the frontrunners in the local news game. In February, WITI won the 6 a.m. battle in both live-plus-same-day household impressions and the 25-54 demo. At both 5 and 6 p.m., WISN won households and WITI took the demo. At 10 p.m., WISN averaged 49,200 household impressions, ahead of WITI’s 34,700, WDJT’s 22,400 and WTMJ’s 19,200. In the 25-54 late news race, WISN had 14,300 impressions, WITI averaged 14,000, WDJT had 5,400 and WTMJ had 5,200. 

“We have four competitive stations doing news, and they all keep each other on each others’ toes,” said Wade. 

Go 4 the Gold

Wade described WISN as “the big J journalists in the market,” in terms of both breaking news and investigative reporting. The branding is “Leading the Way with Important Local Coverage.”

“In terms of significant coverage, we want to be distinctive,” she said. 

Known as 12 News, WISN added a 4 p.m. news hour in June 2022. While the station was last among the local players in Milwaukee to enter that time slot, WISN quickly emerged as No. 2 to WITI. 

The station has been contributing to parent Hearst TV’s Very Local app, including Show Me Milwaukee, hosted by radio personality Greg Adams. 

WITI has a relentless approach to mornings. Its weekday news goes from 4:30 a.m. to 10, then Real Milwaukee at 10, and an hour of news at 11. Described as “a local version of The View” by Steinmetz, with four hosts discussing what’s going on in the so-called Cream City, Real Milwaukee is in its 14th season. 

“It deals with everything that’s Milwaukee,” he said. “The heart and soul of what’s happening in Milwaukee.”

With a “Because You Matter” branding, WITI, known as Fox6, welcomed Brandice Bailey as VP and news director in September. She had been assistant news director at WIS Columbia (South Carolina). 

Anne Brown, general manager of WDJT, WYTU, WMLW and WBME, spent time at WITI as director of strategy and marketing before shifting to the Weigel stations. Billed as Your Hometown Station, WDJT has shifted from the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ axiom. “I’m not saying we don’t cover crime, but we do it in a different way,” she said. “What we try to do is figure out the context and figure out where it fits in stories.”

CBS 58 newscasts are meant to resemble dinner-table conversations, where perhaps a fatal stabbing is further down on the list. “We try to make sure we execute on that every day,” she said. 

Jessie Garcia is the news director. CBS 58 provides 17 hours of news a week to WMLW, including 7-9 a.m. and 9 p.m. weekday news. The Telemundo station, for its part, has an 11 a.m. newscast, which rebroadcasts at 5 p.m., and a 10 p.m. one. 

Milwaukee does not have a local Univision station. 

Spectrum News 1’s Irving proudly noted that she’s the only news director in the market with Milwaukee roots. The cable news outlet offers solution-oriented journalism. News 1 reporters stick to their beats, be it education or business or the environment. 

“We encourage our reporters not just to go out and cover events,” Irving said. “We’re not reactive — we try to be proactive with our coverage.”

Joe Poss, WTMJ VP and general manager, chose not to comment on the station. 

Springtime Snow

The station professionals cited a mild winter for Milwaukee, which is about 90 miles north of Chicago, though the market got around 9 inches of snow March 25. Steinmetz mentioned the “family atmosphere” in the Lake Michigan-adjacent region. “It’s a very traditional Midwest market, with block parties and church festivals,” he said. “That’s all real and it happens here.”

Fiserv, Milwaukee Tool and Northwestern Mutual are among the major corporations calling Milwaukee home. The market was set to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was postponed due to the pandemic, then held in downsized form a month later. “It was a largely virtual event,” lamented Irving. 

Milwaukee will try again with the Republican National Convention in July 2024. 

WITI’s Bailey has found that there’s more going on in Milwaukee than she might’ve imagined prior to her arrival. “There’s always something to do — restaurants, sports, plays, concerts,” she said. “Any day of the week, you can find something to do. You have to try really hard to be bored.” ▪️

WSB, the longtime leader in Atlanta TV, is counting down to a significant milestone. The station turns 75 in September. Two prime specials are coming up in March, one looking at 75 years of weather in Atlanta and one looking at sports. There will be a half dozen anniversary specials this year, leading up to what Ray Carter, WSB VP and general manager, calls “a two-hour blowout” September 29, the day of the station’s birth. 

“That one’s just gonna have everything you could imagine in a special,” Carter said. 

The other stations in Atlanta have stuff to celebrate too. In early February, WXIA was one of five U.S. TV stations to pick up prestigious duPont-Columbia awards in New York, for Rebecca Lindstrom’s #Keeping report on a special-needs child who was abandoned in an emergency room, which revealed “a disturbing flaw in Georgia’s social safety net,” according to duPont-Columbia.  

In October, WGCL became WANF, short for Atlanta News First. Sister station WPCH, known as Peachtree TV, is set to launch a batch of new primetime programs. 

WAGA has new shows too. Portia, hosted by anchor Portia Bruner and focused on the needs of Black women in the market, debuted September 12. “It’s designed to be aspirational and inspirational,” Bill Schneider, WAGA senior VP/general manager, said. 

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Cox Media Group owns ABC affiliate WSB. Fox Television Stations has WAGA. Gray Television owns CBS affiliate WANF and independent WPCH, along with Telemundo station WKTB. Tegna has NBC station WXIA and MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL. Univision owns WUVG. 

Comcast is Atlanta’s primary pay TV operator. 

WSB won the key races in November, including 6-7 a.m., 5 and 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to Nielsen, in both households and viewers 25-54, with WAGA in second. In the late news race, WSB averaged 68,041 households at 11 p.m. in November, ahead of WAGA’s 44,725 (WAGA also has news 10-11 p.m.), WXIA’s 38,943 and WANF’s 34,904. In the 25-54 race at 11 p.m., WSB had 23,717, with WAGA just behind at 21,215. WXIA scored 16,142 and WANF had 6,463. 

Carter said consistency is key for WSB and its Coverage You Can Count On brand. “You know what that brand means and you trust we will deliver on that promise,” he said. 

WSB offers robust investigative work, including a pair of consumer investigative reporters, and has its own helicopter, while the others share. Cox Media Group has a Washington, D.C., bureau, which Carter called a major advantage. The station offers three streaming channels, including one for breaking news and another for weather. 

WSB’s rivals say the race is getting tighter, with on-air changes at the market leader, and Atlanta’s many new arrivals turning on their sets without a preferred station. “People move in every day,” said Erik Schrader, WANF-WPCH VP/general manager, said. “They don’t know which station people watched in 1977.”

Carter isn’t buying it. “It’s not very competitive,” he posited. 

Hustle Mode

Everyone is scrambling for ratings points. Besides the call letter change, WANF has added a whopping 50 people to the newsroom in the past year, along with “a ton of newscasts,” Schrader said. That includes 9-10 a.m., 3-4 p.m. and a half hour at 7 p.m. 

Gray Television acquired the stations in December 2021. Schrader is motivated to think about WANF playing in the Gray executives’ offices. “This is Gray’s hometown,” said Schrader. “It’s the only hometown station in Atlanta. We take that responsibility very seriously.”

On March 26, WPCH rolls out a new lineup, with the 8-9 p.m. slot home to unscripted shows with Atlanta influencers on center stage. Those include Celebrity Mamas Check In, hosted by Trina Braxton; court show Bury the Hatchet; and My Real Life, hosted by radio personality Sasha the Diva. 

“Atlanta programming for Atlanta people,” is how Schrader described it. 

Peachtree TV had an hour of original daily news when Gray picked up the stations, and now has 7-9 a.m. and 9 to 11 p.m. newscasts. 

Kim Saxon is the news director at WANF-WPCH. 

Known as Fox 5 Atlanta, WAGA features 73 hours of local news a week. It aired the weekly politics program Road to November last spring, a few months before the Georgia primaries, and again in the fall, months before the general election. Quarterly program Deidre Dukes Reports focuses on a single topic each episode, whether it’s violence among young people or affordable housing. Also quarterly, The Next Atlanta, hosted by George Chidi, features “long-form conversations with community leaders and newsmakers,” said Schneider. 

Portia is in the 1 p.m. slot on WAGA, which also does 41 hours of Atlanta Falcons programming per year. 

Schneider grew up in the region. “My dad calls me to tell me what we do right and what we do wrong,” he said. “I’m lucky that way.”

Gray acquired Telemundo Atlanta last year. With local news at 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m., the station will offer 10 community events this year, designed to “educate and empower the Latino community in Georgia,” according to Maria Bastidas, WKTB VP and GM. That includes the “Todos Somos Heroes” event, which celebrates unheralded heroes in the market. 

Ivan Shammas just reached his first anniversary as president and general manager of WUVG, in addition to a similar role in Raleigh. The station debuted weekly Contigo en la Communidad in August. Translating to “with you,” Contigo highlights individuals, businesses and services in the community. Adriana Andrade hosts and is the station’s community empowerment director.  

Peachy Keen

Delta Airlines, UPS and Coca-Cola are among the massive corporations that call Atlanta home. It’s a trucking/transport hub with a growing technology sector, and a massive TV and film production base. Series shot in Atlanta include Loki, Stranger Things and The Walking Dead. Tyler Perry Studios is based here. 

The metropolitan area continues to grow. The latest Nielsen DMA rankings has Atlanta at No. 6. “There’s construction everywhere you look. It’s absolutely incredible how much construction is going on in the city,” said Schneider. 

New arrivals are drawn to a diverse community, pro sports teams, a lively restaurant scene and all four seasons, with a mostly mild winter. They also add to Atlanta’s notorious traffic. 

Scott Stucky, WAGA VP/news director, said there’s never a slow news day in Atlanta. “At your editorial meetings, unless it’s Christmas day, you don’t sit around and stare at each other, wondering what you’re gonna do today,” he said. 

Unlike some markets, when a job opening is listed in Atlanta, countless TV news professionals envision themselves in the ATL. “Atlanta is a city where you put the name on the job description,” said Schrader, “and you’re going to get a lot of interested people.” ■

For decades, WBNS was the ratings colossus in Columbus. The station shifted from Dispatch Broadcast Group to Tegna in 2019, in a $535 million deal for it and WTHR Indianapolis, and the ratings race in Ohio’s capital has tightened. 

“The marketplace has never been more competitive,” John Cardenas, WBNS VP and general manager, said. “Three stations, on any given day, compete for first and second place.”

WBNS appears to be changing hands again with Standard General’s acquisition of Tegna in process. 

Nexstar Media Group owns NBC affiliate WCMH in DMA No. 32. Sinclair Broadcast Group has WSYX, which airs both Fox and ABC. Sinclair also manages Cunningham-owned WTTE and Manhan Media-owned WWHO, giving the group extraordinary reach in Columbus, including The CW, MyNetworkTV, Antenna TV and action-themed Charge! 

Charter Communications’s Spectrum is Columbus’s primary subscription TV operator. 

For 2022, according to Nielsen, WSYX had the top score in impressions at 6 a.m., in both households and viewers 25-64 (25-54 ratings were not available). WSYX was tops in 5 p.m. households, with WCMH edging out WBNS in 25-64. WSYX won 6 p.m. households, with WCMH again scoring a very narrow win over WBNS in 25-64. WBNS won 11 p.m. households, in impressions, and WCMH won 25-64. 

In the November Comscore race, WSYX won households and 25-54 at 6 a.m. WSYX won 6 p.m. in both races and WBNS took 11 p.m. in both races. 

Industry watchers in the market said WBNS was the default station viewers reflexively turned to, but the game is wide open now. 

WBNS, known as 10TV, introduced mobile product 10TV Plus in the fall, and aims to feature original programming on the platform. “We’re highly focused on creating new content, including historical,” Cardenas said, mentioning the “vault” of vintage local programming that documents Columbus’s history. 

WBNS has Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in the 7 p.m. hour. 

Cardenas was the WBNS news director from 1999 to 2010 and took over as GM in 2013. With users getting news all day from a range of mobile sources, he said enterprise reporting will make 10TV stand out. “Enterprise or breaking stories, not the news of the day that everyone covers,” he said. “It’s always been a 10TV mantra but it’s more important now than ever. The only way to truly differentiate yourself is with true enterprise reporting.”

WSYX is a power in morning news. With ABC on channel 6.1 and Fox on 6.3, the ABC station is live 4:30 to 7 a.m., while the Fox affiliate is live 6:30 to 10 a.m. “We’re clearly the market leader in a.m. news,” Tony D’Angelo, VP and general manager, said. “No debate.”

D’Angelo’s father Gene ran WBNS from 1972 to 1993, and Tony noted how there’s been a D’Angelo in Columbus broadcast since the mid-’50s. 

WSYX news director Jamie Justice was bumped up to Sinclair group news director last year, with Nicole Hogensen taking over the newsroom after a run at WPTV-WFLX West Palm Beach, Florida. 

D’Angelo boasted of “the largest news staff in the marketplace, and more news programming than any of our competitors.” He also mentioned “very little turnover on the air.”

WCMH, with a Local 4 You brand, goes live at 4 a.m. on weekdays and has news 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. NBC4 expanded its 4 p.m. news to an hour during the pandemic. 

“We look for the opportunity to be on when maybe our competitors are not,” said Ken Freedman, WCMH VP/general manager. “We’re consistently looking for ways to increase the amount of content we think our community wants.” 

College Town Pride

Ohio State, or The Ohio State University, as Columbus residents like to put it, drives the market in a number of ways. The university is a giant source of local pride, and its Buckeyes are a beloved football team. “We don’t have a pro football team, but one could argue that the Buckeyes are our professional football team,” Freedman said. “People root for the Bengals and the Browns, but the first love in the city is the Buckeyes.”

Residents are slowly recovering from a 42-41 Buckeye loss to No. 1 Georgia on New Year’s Eve, and a rough loss to rival Michigan in late November — almost exactly a year after another heavy loss to Michigan. “We can’t lose to Michigan three times in a row,” said Cardenas. 

Affiliated with both Fox and ABC, WSYX gets the lion’s share of Buckeye games, and has the Football Fever pre- and post-game shows. “Ohio State is part of our DNA here,” D’Angelo said. 

WBNS, for its part, has the coach’s shows for Ohio State football and basketball. 

WBNS stopped receiving Nielsen ratings seven years ago, Cardenas saying the return on investment for the station just was not there. The station deploys a DE&I community board to better help connect with diverse communities. 

Cardenas said the Standard General acquisition has not been a distraction for staffers. “It’s a legacy station with a gold standard of excellence,” he said. “We don’t expect that to change at all, regardless of ownership.”

DMA No. 32 is home base for Wendy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch and Nationwide Insurance. Intel is building a $20 million semiconductor chip plant in Columbus, the Ohio capital. Ohio’s population grew 3% from 2000 to 2020, but if one takes Columbus out of the equation, the state population went down 1%. 

Residents may not like the “Ohio gray” that is winter in Columbus, but they dig the mix of cosmopolitan vibe and Midwestern mindset, and easy access to other major cities. Freedman noted a “wonderful quality of life at a very reasonable cost.”

Columbus may be market No. 32, but it’s the 14th-largest U.S. city. Many larger TV markets are hyphenated ones, such as Cleveland-Akron and Tampa-St. Petersburg. 

With his multiple decades in Columbus, Cardenas has seen the market take off. Yet some things stay the same. “Despite the exponential growth,” he said, “it still feels very much like a small town.” ■

Weather is always a major story in Oklahoma City, whether it’s tornadoes, ice or the “Siberian bomb cyclone,” as one general manager put it, that rolled in just before Christmas. That meant snow and ice, brutal winds and extreme cold. 

The Oklahoma City stations were all over it. When the extreme weather turns up, “it’s showtime for our meteorologists,” said Rob Krier, president of Griffin Media, which owns KWTV. 

Griffin holds KWTV, a CBS affiliate and a ratings beast, and MyNetworkTV station KSBI. Nexstar Media Group has NBC outlet KFOR and independent KAUT. Hearst Television owns ABC affiliate KOCO. Sinclair Broadcast Group has KOKH-KOCB, a Fox-The CW pair. 

Cox is the primary cable operator in DMA No. 46.

Oklahoma City is the state capital. The market’s economy was long driven by energy, defense and agriculture but it has diversified, including a growing biotech sector. “Oklahoma City has been able to grow its economy past agriculture and oil and defense,” Brent Hensley, KOCO president and general manager, said. 

Oklahoma City offers an array of entertainment options, including theater, live music, an array of upscale restaurants and breweries and Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball. 

“A lot of people think of Oklahoma as a flyover state, but there’s a little bit of something for everyone,” KWTV VP of marketing Houston Hunt said. “You’re going to find what you’re looking for in Oklahoma City, and you’re not gonna pay through the nose for it.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

KWTV devours ratings points. In 2022, the station won the 6 a.m. battle, in households and viewers 25-54, handily. KWTV won 5 and 6 p.m. in both races, and tallied a 6.5 household score at 10 p.m., ahead of KFOR’s 3.7, KOCO’s 3.1 and KOKH’s 0.6. In the 25-54 derby for late news, KWTV had a 1.9, KOCO a 0.9, KFOR a 0.8 and KOKH a 0.3. 

KWTV thrives on local ownership, well-established on-air talent, and a trusted weather team. “We hang our hat on weather,” said Krier. “We probably have the largest weather center in the country.”

KWTV moved into a new downtown facility in November, departing the northeast side of the city, where the other stations are located, and where KWTV spent close to seven decades. The new site is a couple of blocks from City Hall, and one block from the convention center. “It’s a completely different vibe,” said Krier, noting how, among other advantages, employees can walk down the street for dozens of restaurant options. 

Griffin donated the old KWTV building to Langston University, an HBCU that will use it for its aspiring journalists. 

Griffin owns six stations in Oklahoma, including KOTV. “The Griffins continue to be incredibly invested in Oklahoma,” said Krier. 

KWTV’s rivals are hustling to pick up ratings points. KOCO debuted a 4 p.m. newscast in August, replacing The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Zach Rael and Abigail Ogle anchor. The Ogle name is extraordinarily represented in Oklahoma City TV (see sidebar). 

“It has done really well,” Hensley said of the newscast. 

Hensley is bullish on Hearst Television’s Very Local app, which sees the group’s stations share content nationwide. “It’s catching on,” he said. “We’re really encouraged by it.”

KOCO has five meteorologists, with Damon Lane the chief. 

KFOR’s Sunday morning public-affairs program Flashpoint is approaching 30 years on the air. Kevin Ogle hosts, with Michael Turpen representing Democrats and Todd Lamb speaking out for Republicans. Turpen ran for governor in 1986 while Lamb ran for the same post in 2018. Wes Milbourn, KFOR-KAUT VP and general manager, quipped that “you have to run for a major office and lose before becoming co-host.”

Milbourn boasts of talent with deep roots in the market at Oklahoma’s News 4, including Ogle and chief meteorologist Mike Morgan, both with three decades at the station. “They are friends to viewers as they welcome our talent into their homes every night,” said Milbourn. 

The Nexstar stations produce 54½ hours of news a week. On KAUT, known as Freedom 43, Rise and Shine is on 7-9 a.m. “It tries to be a little more entertaining in that particular hour of the day,” Milbourn said. 

KAUT has 9 p.m. weekday news too. 

Diana Wilkin took over as VP and general manager of KOKH-KOCB in late July. Unlike the other Oklahoma City stations, the pair does not have a helicopter. Wilkin said she’s revamping programming and making some management changes. “There’s an opportunity to position ourselves in a stronger way in the market,” she said. 

Jack Gerfen joined as Fox 25 chief meteorologist in August. Shelby Love departed the station last summer when she married, and returned to the anchor desk, hosting mornings, in January. “She brings a renewed energy to our mornings,” said Wilkin. 

KOCB has high school football on Fridays in the fall when Friday Night Rivals airs. Wilkin called it “a great community service project.”

She mentioned Sinclair’s “digital-first” approach, and said it is paying off in Oklahoma City. 

The market’s newly diverse economy is holding up well. The city continues to grow, and the stations are seeing solid returns. “We saw nice momentum from local advertisers in the market through 2022 and despite all the talk of recession, the advertisers I talk to are optimistic about what 2023 holds,” Hensley said. 

Hensley has been the KOCO GM since 1999. The city has “changed immensely” during his time in Oklahoma City, he said. “In my young adult life, downtown Oklahoma City was not someplace you frequented,” he added. “Now it’s a vibrant downtown. There are things to do, places to live, restaurants and activities that were not available before.”

Local TV insiders mentioned vigorous news players in the market. “I’ll put my newscast — any of the market’s newscasts — up against the major market newscast,” Milbourn said. “We can compete with the larger markets in terms of quality of news and quality of anchors.” ▪️

Stories about Detroit’s demise were ongoing for decades, but Motown has undeniable momentum. Detroit will host the NFL draft in 2024, and was awarded the March Madness Final Four, and men’s college hoops championship, in 2027. 

Those events mean plenty of people will see in person the improvements across the Detroit metro area, including a lively retail scene along Woodward Avenue, skating and recreating at Campus Martius Park, and the pro football, basketball/hockey, and baseball stadiums and arenas all located in the city center. 

“You see cranes in the air, you see all the work, all the investment in the city,” said Mike Murri, WXYZ VP and general manager and a Detroit native. “You can see it and you can feel it and it’s real.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Detroit is Nielsen’s No. 14 DMA. E.W. Scripps Co. owns ABC outlet WXYZ and independent WMYD. Graham Media Group holds NBC affiliate WDIV. Fox owns WJBK and CBS News & Stations owns WWJ, which is launching local news in January, and The CW outlet WKBD. 

Adell Broadcasting owns MyNetworkTV station WADL.

Comcast is Detroit’s primary pay TV operator. 

In 2022 through November, WJBK won 6 a.m. news in both households and the 25-54 demo. WDIV took 5 p.m. households and WJBK had a slim lead in the demo. At 6, both titles went to WDIV. WDIV had a 5.3 household score at 11, ahead of WXYZ’s 2.9 and WJBK’s 2.4, and WDIV had a 1.5 in the demo, WJBK a 1.2 and WXYZ a 0.8. 

Downtown DIV

WDIV is located in downtown Detroit while WJBK, WXYZ and WWJ are situated in suburban Southfield, which is where the WDIV transmitter is based. Bob Ellis marked one year as the WDIV VP/general manager in August, having succeeded Marla Drutz upon her retirement. He grew up in Southfield, and recalls when it was dirt roads and his grandfather did construction on the WXYZ facility. He worked at WJBK and was later news director at WDIV before taking the GM job at WJXT Jacksonville. 

WDIV’s location gives the station better access to newsmakers, Ellis said, and perhaps a higher level of energy. “The fact that we’re here, and part of that, from a coverage standpoint, but also from a neighbor standpoint, from a business standpoint — I have lots of conversations with people who own businesses in Detroit, and own buildings in Detroit, because I am here,” he said. 

Local 4 also succeeds thanks to anchor/reporter longevity, Ellis said, and a working-class mindset. “We’re kind of a blue-collar station, and I think this is a blue-collar town,” he said. 

WDIV is “leaning heavily” into streaming, Ellis noted, with 3½ hours of original programming per weekday on Local 4 Plus, including 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. news. 

The station recently launched its 4 Warn Weather brand — letting viewers know when severe weather is coming, but also when a perfect day is approaching, so they can plan accordingly.

Motor City Indeed

Schlepping out to the other stations involves taking the M-10, part of the route named Aretha Franklin Memorial Highway. When we visited in late November, rush-hour traffic was light, and cars moved at a blistering pace that even a veteran of New York’s speedy roadways could appreciate. 

“Detroiters get where they’re going,” Ellis explained.  

It was 20 years ago that the Eminem movie 8 Mile came out, the film named for the line that divides Detroit and the suburbs. WJBK is on West Nine Mile Road, about 15 minutes from downtown. On the day we visited, protestors were waving signs outside the station. It was related to contract negotiations, and Greg Easterly, WJBK VP and general manager, said he “respects the process and respects employees and their rights.”

WJBK has 40-plus acres. Fox 2 succeeds thanks to “authentic, relatable on-air talent” and a “long-established brand,” said Easterly not to mention a lively lineup of local news that begins at 4 a.m. and has a Working For You brand. 

Those anchors had a bit of a shakeup, as Huel Perkins and Monica Gayle retired in late March after nearly 25 years on the air together. They got a proper send-off from their station. “It was a wonderful moment in the history of two great journalists,” said Easterly. “There are so many moments they shared on the air and off the air, and we tried to capture that.” 

Roop Raj and Taryn Asher are the new anchor team. Raj was mentored by Perkins as a boy with dreams of being an anchor. The talent transition has gone smoothly. “We haven’t really missed a beat at all,” said Easterly. 

Fox 2 introduced newscast The Noon, its name of a piece with morning show The Nine, in September. Easterly called it “Detroit-centric,” focusing on issues and people in the city itself. 

Fox Weather runs on a Fox 2 digital channel. 

WWJ-WKBD is on West Nine Mile Road too. Brian Watson is VP/general manager, and Paul Pytlowany is the news director. CBS News Detroit is scheduled to launch in January. There will be live streaming, and linear newscasts at 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m., with morning news to premiere in the first half of 2023. 

Shaina Humphries and Jeff Skversky are the primary anchor team, and multimedia journalists will be embedded in various communities, driving Ford Broncos with editing systems on board. 

Watson and Pytlowany speak of a “working newsroom” — producers and reporters in the background, high energy, everyone hustling to get the news out. “It’s not just two anchors and a meteorologist and a polished-off set,” Watson said. “It screams Detroit. It screams how hard-working we are, how gritty we are.”

Newsgatherers from around the country are knocking on WWJ’s door. “They see what we’re building here, and they want to be a part of it,” said Pytlowany. “The word is on the street that we’re building something different, from the ground up, and people have a place, they have a voice.”

Detroit general managers said launching local news in 2023 will be challenging, but wish their new rival well. “Competition is always good for the consumer,” said Easterly, “but I’m more worried about what we do every day than what they are doing.”

WXYZ-WMYD is on West 10 Mile Road, situated next to The Word Network, which is part of Adell Broadcasting. WXYZ’s bread-and-butter is sharing beloved Detroit events with viewers, including highlights of the North American International Auto Show, the Christmas tree lighting at Campus Martius Park and the classic car parade called Woodward Dream Cruise. 

WXYZ, known as Channel 7, also produced a governor debate between incumbent Gretchen Whitmer and Tudor Dixon, and offered it to other stations. Scripps outlets in Grand Rapids and Lansing grabbed the broadcast. 

WXYZ expanded its noon news to an hour in the fourth quarter. WMYD offers two hours of morning news and a 10 p.m. program too. WXYZ created a community advisory board this year, with a diverse mix of community and business leaders discussing key issues in the market. 

Murri, president of Michigan Association of Broadcasters, believes growing up in the market is an advantage for a general manager. “You’re able to have the insight,” he said. “You appreciate every community, the diversity of the people, all the different signature events the city develops.”

With a 90-acre spread, a station can have an employee garden, and Channel 7 does. Any employee who wants a plot can have one, and they grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash. Murri said the garden fits in with the “positive culture” at the station. “You have to want to be here and be all-in,” he said. “That’s how this team gets better.”

WADL, known as My38, took over the market’s MyNetworkTV affiliation in fall 2021. Comedies such as Mom and Black-ish are also on My38. Owner Kevin Adell called the affiliation “icing on the cake — it helped me attract advertisers.”

Lions and Tigers and … Nope, No Bears

Detroit is a football town. The Lions upset the Vikings December 11, and are hustling to get to .500. WJBK airs the preseason games. “The Lions are like the city — they’re fighting back,” Easterly said. 

College football is a big deal, with both Michigan and Michigan State. Detroit residents were celebrating Michigan’s defeat of rival Ohio State November 26 for days after. WXYZ has coaches shows for both the Wolverines and the Spartans. 

The economy is, like the city, fighting back. Rocket Mortgage is based downtown, and is growing. The auto giants are hustling on electric vehicle initiatives. Adell mentioned college grads moving to the city center. “Generation Z is coming in,” he said. 

Ellis saw “a different city for sure” when he came back to Detroit last year, restaurants and retail in formerly abandoned buildings. “As I drove around, I was unbelievably impressed with the progress that was made,” he said. 

Murri compares Detroit today to the one he knew as a boy. “It’s just a different city,” he said. “You can’t go downtown and not feel the energy.” ▪️

Chicago TV stations and newspapers are fighting a plan by the city to block live transmissions from police and fire department scanners.

Police scanners have long been at the heart of TV newsroom assignment desks, but a growing number of cities are using encryption to make it harder for media and the public to listen in to dispatch calls in real time.

The Chicago stations said they tried to meet with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about the matter, but said she refused to discuss the situation. On Monday, the stations posted an open letter to viewers and readers describing how the plan to encrypt police and fire radios would make newsgathering more difficult and lead to the public being less well informed about potentially dangerous incidents.

A statement attributed to city officials published by WLS-TV, said that “encrypted radios will eliminate 'rogue' radios with disruptive, often derogatory transmissions that disrupt the day-to-day traffic for emergency personnel. Having encrypted radios will provide added protection for communities and the personal information of victims, suspects, witnesses, and juveniles.”

The statement added that encryption “also will enhance officer safety and prevent suspects from gaining a tactical advantage by listening to live incidents and investigations."

The stations argue that “the Mayor’s decision to restrict our access to scanner channels will harm our ability to keep you, our readers, viewers, and listeners, safe and informed, and render it more difficult to hold our government and its personnel accountable.”

In the open letter, the stations point to several recent instances in the recent past when information from scanners helped keep the public out of harm's way, including after the shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

More recently, without the ability to monitor scanners, the public was not informed about dangerous incidents.

They said a shooting took place at a courthouse and police district in Chicago last week in broad daylight. “The perpetrators fired more than 40 shots and escaped on an expressway. You did not see, hear, or read about that incident as it was happening. The City of Chicago prevented you from knowing about this dangerous incident by blocking all live scanner transmissions. This jeopardized the lives of everyone at that police department, everyone at that courthouse, everyone on that expressway,” the stations said.

In another incident a man with a rifle in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood was shot by Chicago Police. “We were not able to alert the public as it was happening. All of this took place around dinnertime, as people returned home from work and children returned home from school,” the stations said.

The issue goes beyond Chicago, the stations said, pointing to how after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, an analysis of scanner transmissions revealed that local authorities did not accurately portray how law enforcement responded to the situation.

Other cities are also starting to encrypt police scanner data. According to KTVQ-TV in Billings, Montana, the police department there began encrypting communications last month.

In October, the Lawton, Oklahoma, police department spent $4 million on a radio system upgrade that include encryption of dispatch calls, according to KSWO-TV.

Louisville and Virginia Beach also instituted encryption programs earlier this year.

In Colorado, scanners have been encrypted since 2016 in Aurora and in Denver since 2019. The state legislature last year passed a law requiring agencies to create policies for giving news media access to dispatch channels, but the cities haven’t worked out agreements yet with the media, according to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

The New York City Police Department is also looking to upgrade its communication system in a way that would enable encryption by 2024.

In some cases, the police departments said they use the encryption to delay access to communications by 15 minutes, in order to allow officials to secure the scene of a crime or accident.

“Real-time access to police scanners promotes transparency and accountability by law enforcement,” the Chicago stations said. “To put it simply, the media’s informative reporting on these events would never have been possible without real-time access to scanners.” ■

VUit, a streaming platform that lets users watch television stations in other markets, said that elections and climate stories drove viewership in 2022.

The market most-streamed by VUit uses was Philadelphia as viewers got details on the U.S. Senate race between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and former TV host Mehmet Oz, a Republican. Fetterman won and so did the stations. During the three months before the elections, profit mostly from ad revenue on VUit increased by 51%. Revenue is split between the platform and the local stations.

Florida stations were highly viewed on VUit as destructive Hurricanes Ian and Nicole blew through the state. WSVN Miami and WSNN Sarasota were among the top 10 stations streamed on VUit during the second half of the year as viewers checked in on friend, relatives and properties.

“While 2023 will be an off-election year, we think political news will still be important to viewers in local elections.“ VUit CEO Jack Perry said. “Hyperlocal events are a huge growth opportunity, as local stations can provide additional content to their viewers than what is available on their airwaves. We see large increases in viewership where big news is unfolding and the long tail of viewership after these events provides unique opportunities for the stations on our platform to engage these viewers. With continued churn in the SVOD space, VUit provides local broadcasters and content creators with brand-safe opportunities for viewers that they cannot get elsewhere.”

Launched by Syncbak, VUit carries 250 stations covering 78% of the markets in the U.S. Participating station groups include Gray Television, which is an investor in VUit, and Hearst Television, Cox Media Group, Citadel Communication, Morris Network and News Press Gazette.

Also Read: Syncbak’s Streamer VUit Adds Stations from Weigel, Capitol, Lockwood, Marquee, Fort Myers and Sunbeam

The single most-watched station on VUit in 2022 was KTSF San Francisco. The station, which airs Asian-language programming, was also the top station on VUit in 2021. Viewers tuned into KTSF from markets including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle-Tacoma, San Diego, Monterey-Salinas and Portland, Oregon.

The other most watched stations on VUit in 2022 were WFMZ Allentown, Pa.; WWTV Cadillac, Michigan; WSAZ Huntington, West Virginia; WKYT Lexington, Kentucky; WBRC Birmingham, Alabama; KTUU Anchorage, Alaska; WSNN Sarasota, Fla.; KTVK Phoenix and WVUE New Orleans.

The market receiving the most out-of-market viewing for political coverage from October 15 to November 15 were: Philadelphia; Madison, Wisconsin; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix; Atlanta; Tallahassee; Las Vegas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Green Bay, Wisconsin. ■

Long-time central Florida journalist Nancy Alvarez is returning to the television business as an anchor with WESH-TV, Orlando, in January.

After a 20-year career in broadcasting, Alvarez left WFTV, Orlando, last year to become senior VP of community relations and equity impact at Heart of Florida United Way.

“I learned a lot this year during my time away from the anchor desk. I saw Central Florida’s challenges up close and worked side by side with people who are making an impact,” Alvarez said. “With the support of the great team at WESH 2, I look forward to turning those lessons into action, both on the air and off, for a community I love so much.”

Alvarez will anchor WESH 2 News at noon and 4 p.m. She will also work on special projects and provide Spanish-language content on sister station Estrella TV Orlando.

She started her broadcast journalism career in the Orlando market in 2000 and has reported on hurricanes, the Pulse nightclub massacre and launches from the Space Coast. She was the first Central Florida reporter to travel to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

“Nancy has built strong connections with our community through her integrity, credibility, and public service. As a journalist, she has covered Central Florida with authenticity and compassion,” said Stephanie Linton, WESH 2 News Director. “We are thrilled Nancy will be a part of the WESH 2 News team in January.” ■

With its colorful festivals, two major pro sports teams and lots of crime and corruption, New Orleans feels like a larger market than No. 50 to the newsgatherers toiling in the region. There’s never a shortage of big-time happenings. A peek at the calendar reveals the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras beginning February 21 and Jazz Fest in late April. 

But on any given night, there’s merriment in the French Quarter, in Treme, Uptown or in most any New Orleans neighborhood. 

“From a news perspective, it certainly feels a lot bigger than market 50,” said Tod Smith, president and general manager, WWL-WUPL. “There’s always something going on.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Gray Television owns the Big Easy leader, Fox affiliate WVUE. Hearst Television holds NBC outlet WDSU. Tegna has WWL-WUPL, a CBS-MyNetworkTV duo. Nexstar Media Group owns WGNO-WNOL, an ABC-The CW pair. Mayavision has Telemundo station KGLA. 

Cox Communications is the market’s main pay TV operator, and Spectrum has a significant cable presence, too. 

WVUE goes with a Fox 8 moniker. In October, Fox 8 was No. 1 at 6-7 a.m., in both households and viewers 25-54, with WDSU in second in both races. At 5 p.m., WVUE again won both contests, with WWL the runner-up. On to 6 p.m., where WDSU took both households and the demo, with WWL in second in households, and WVUE second in viewers 25-54. And at 10 p.m, WVUE had a 14.6 rating in households, ahead of WWL’s 11.3, WDSU’s 10.5 and WGNO’s 1.2. In the demo derby, WVUE scored a 9.6 in late news, WDSU a 7.5, WWL a 6.3 and WGNO a 0.9. 

WWL was the leader for decades, but WVUE wears the crown today. WWL had a unique arrangement where it ran local news, not the CBS morning show, from 7 to 9 a.m. That ended in late 2016, with the local wake-up show shifting to WUPL. 

Fox 8 had a local morning newscast for those who went looking for one at the time. 

The word “aggressive” comes up a lot when Mikel Schaefer, WVUE VP and general, describes the station’s rise. Aggressive in cranking out content, including investigative and a new 4 a.m. news, aggressive in bringing rival talent on board, including Lee Zurik and John Snell, and aggressive in marketing its wares to viewers. “We work really hard to get the best talent and do the best work,” Schaefer said. “It’s just a lot of hard work by really smart and hard-working journalists.”

Zurik, New Orleans-raised WVUE anchor, was named News Anchor of the Year by B+C this year. Schaefer was B+C’s News Director of the Year in 2013. 

Sandy Breland, former WVUE general manager, supervises the station as Gray TV’s senior VP of local media, and is based in New Orleans. “Conversations with Sandy about what we want to do and what we need to do are much easier conversations,” Schaefer said. 

Happy Anniversary!

Michael Neelly recently reached his first anniversary as WDSU president/general manager, shifting from the top spot at WAPT Jackson (Mississippi) when WDSU’s Joel Vilmenay took over CBS-owned KCBS-KCAL Los Angeles in September 2021.  

Next year, WDSU celebrates 75 years on the air. “I think we might have a little party,” Neelly said. “New Orleans is known for its parties.”

WDSU airs the Children’s Hospital Holiday Parade December 3. The inaugural event features floats, musicians, balloons and Santa himself. WDSU’s telecast will stream throughout Hearst Television on the group’s Very Local app. 

“We’re real excited to bring this to the people,” Neelly said. 

WDSU’s tagline goes “Live, Local, Late Breaking.” Melissa Dart took over as WDSU news director at the start of 2021. Neelly previously was the news director at Hearst TV stations WLKY Louisville and WLWT Cincinnati. He spoke of WDSU journalists focusing on the difference between entertainment and news, since the market has loads of both. “What people want to see,” he explained, “and what people need to see.”

WWL launched The Talk, which focuses on race relations and is anchored by Charisse Gibson, following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The program picked up a National Murrow Award last year. WWL’s “Wounded City” segments focus on crime. Recent stories include investigations into how other cities’ police departments cut back on crime, and steps taken to address mental health issues in the city. “It’s from the perspective of, yes, it exists, why it exists, and what can people do to mitigate it,” Smith said. 

The Tegna station also has segments called “Historic Neighborhoods,” which offer a deep dive on a different neighborhood, be it Stapleton, New Orleans East or Ponchartrain Park. They sometimes turn into half-hour specials. 

WWL, which recently had its 65th anniversary, deploys that deep-dive approach in its news product too. “We look at issues and try to go more in depth than headlines and quick splashes,” said Smith. “We don’t just present the problems. We talk to the people who have been impacted, and we talk to the people who are addressing the issues.”

WGNO is focused on ATSC 3.0 conversion and in the fall aired specials tied to Hispanic Heritage Month and to veterans. The station introduced News With a Twist, a 6 p.m. program that mixed news with lifestyle content, in 2011, and the motif spread to 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news. It now offers one-off Twist specials. 

“We went back to traditional news once the pandemic hit,” said John Cruse, VP/general manager. 

The stations are doing what they can to get ahead. WDSU welcomed anchor Darryl Forges, previously of CNN, to its noon and 4 p.m. programs. WWL revived its “Louisiana Made, Louisiana Proud” segments, which are paid for by companies with roots in the region. 

WVUE has sports shows in the 10:30 p.m. slot most nights, including Final Bet and Deuce McAllister-hosted Saints program Black and Gold Review. 

Saint Misbehaving 

The NFL’s Saints are a huge source of local pride, but the football team is in the midst of a losing season. “People will watch the Saints no matter what,” said Schaefer. “But if they’re not winning, the mood of the city is somewhat affected.”

The New Orleans economy is so-so. Midterm elections came and went with light political spending. “I think we’re hanging in there,” Neelly said. “The circumstances are tough for just about everybody, but the business community is chugging along.”

Hurricane Ida, which walloped New Orleans in 2021, set the market back a bit. “I don’t think the rest of the country realized how big a deal it was here,” Cruse said. 

But residents love the multifaceted ethnic flavor of New Orleans, be it Cajun, Creole, European or African. “Each culture comes in and adds something to the culture,” Smith said. 

New Orleans is known for extraordinary cuisine, music, nightlife, history and architecture. It’s a small city, Schaefer noted, but is nonetheless an international one. “People don’t move from New Orleans,” he said. 

Neelly has appreciated the friendliness of the residents upon his arrival, and the lively atmosphere that greets residents most every day. “There’s always something to do,” he said. “You have to try to be bored in New Orleans.” ▪️

A couple of Albuquerque stations are coming up on significant milestones and will be celebrating in due course. Next year, KOAT turns 70, while KOB reaches 75 years on the air. 

“November 29, 2023,” said Michelle Donaldson, KOB VP/general manager. “We’ll definitely have some historic look-backs. We will celebrate it all year.”

Speaking of anniversaries, and celebrations, for that matter, KOAT is marking 110 years of New Mexico’s statehood with a Celebrate New Mexico initiative, featuring segments and stories toasting the state’s beauty, history and people. “We spend time in the community and talk to people to get a sense of what makes it special,” Lori Waldon, president and general manager, said. “We remind them that we’re a state with beauty and a lot of potential.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Hearst Television owns KOAT, an ABC affiliate. Hubbard Broadcasting has NBC outlet KOB. Nexstar Media Group owns KRQE, and operates Mission Broadcasting’s KWBQ (The CW) and KASY (MyNetworkTV) through a joint sales agreement. KRQE is a CBS affiliate, and its channel 13.2 is the Fox affiliate. NBCUniversal Local holds Telemundo station KASA and TelevisaUnivision has KLUZ. 

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator. 

DMA No. 48 is a rare Nielsen market that covers its entire state. Salt Lake City is another. Large, powerful owners make for strong stations and good competition, but KOAT is a ratings powerhouse. The station won the 6 a.m. news battle, in both households and viewers 25-54, in September, and won the 5 and 6 p.m. derbies too, with KOB the runner-up. At 10 p.m., KRQE had the top household score, at 3.7, ahead of KOB’s 3.1 and KOAT’s 2.9, while KASA and KLUZ both had a 0.4. KOAT had the top demo score at 10, its 1.2 just ahead of KRQE at 1.1. KOB scored a 0.8, KLUZ a 0.3 and KASA a 0.1. 

KOAT has well-established anchors and keeps its helicopter on a helipad outside the station, while the competitors’ are over at the airport. (A helicopter is essential in vast Albuquerque-Santa Fe.) 

KOAT launched an 11 a.m. newscast on August 22. The news game is a two-way street for the station. “We try really hard to listen to our viewers,” Waldon said. “It’s not just what we think are the important stories of the day and it’s not just the cavalcade of what happened. It’s, here’s what happened, and here’s why it matters.”

KOAT did not have a sports department when Waldon arrived in 2019. She built one from the ground up. New Mexico may not have professional sports, she said, but it has plenty of sports fans. 

Ron Burke is the sports director. “We went from zero to 65 real fast,” Waldon said. “It’s had an amazing response from viewers.”

Also for sports fans, KOB has launched Football Night in New Mexico, running before NBC’s Football Night in America on Sundays. The Cowboys, Broncos, Cardinals and Raiders all have fans in New Mexico. 

KRQE has a lively lineup of news, along with daily morning lifestyle show New Mexico Living, which is on 9 a.m. on the Fox station and 10 a.m. on The CW one. “On any given morning, you’ll find six or eight or ten community members,” said Bill Anderson, VP and general manager. “Local business leaders, local charity leaders, local government, lined up in our green room, ready to appear.” 

The show also has sponsored segments. 

Anderson credited KRQE’s owner for investing in the station. “When you work for Nexstar, you need to have passion, and an inclination toward producing local programming,” he said. “Maybe even more than ever, due to the dearth of syndication.”

Donaldson took over KOB in late 2017, after a four-year run as news director. She mentioned the station’s active role in community business, including a task force that outlines what business leaders’ priorities were in a given week, amidst the pandemic, and what they wished to share with the public. “Now, in the new normal, we continue to work together,” Donaldson said. 

KOB also has had what Donaldson called a “dedicated message campaign” about getting the latest COVID booster. A little before the pandemic, it relaunched late news as The NightBeat, offering a more conversational format, and a variety of angles on a lone story when the news calls for it. 

“It was built for that moment,” Donaldson said. “It was the right approach at the right time.”

KOB recently opened a bureau in Rio Rancho. 

New Owner, New News

NBCUniversal Local acquired KASA in October 2021, and relaunched it as Telemundo Nuevo Mexico. A news team was assembled, including journalist Mayra Aguilar, and local news debuted that same month, running on same day delay at 5 and 10 p.m. 

In January 2022, the newscasts went live. 

“It’s the only live, locally produced, Spanish-language news in New Mexico,” said Tony Canales, KASA president/general manager. “It was an important market for us to pick up. This underserved Hispanic market needed, and needs, live local news in their marketplace.”

KASA is housed out of KOB. Canales splits his time between KASA and KTMD Houston (Telemundo Houston). 

In September, a 4 p.m. hour of news, from Telemundo El Paso, premiered on KASA. Canales called it more of a regional newscast than an El Paso-specific one. (El Paso is around 260 miles south of Albuquerque.) 

Tons of Sun

Meteorologist Yoselyn Castellanos joined Telemundo New Mexico in mid October. There’s no shortage of weather in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, between wildfires, monsoons and whatever else Mother Nature cooks up. 

But there’s also pretty terrific weather. Residents appreciate all four seasons, and multiple general managers cited the region’s 300 days of sunshine a year. “From sunrise to sunset, the weather is gorgeous,” Waldon said. 

The economy, not so much. Businesses were quick to shut down during COVID and some have been slow to reopen. Federal outfits such as Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Lab give the economy some stability, and TV and film production, including Better Call Saul, are picking up. “You can’t drive through Albuquerque without finding a major film production,” Anderson said. 

Political spending has helped offset softness from traditional TV advertisers. Some is coming from former KRQE chief meteorologist Mark Ronchetti, running for governor against incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham. Retired KRQE anchor Dick Knipfing appears in spots, in support of his former news colleague. “The whole thing looks like an old KRQE promo,” Anderson quipped.

KOAT’s Celebrate New Mexico campaign will continue after 2022 comes to an end. Said Waldon, “There’s a lot to celebrate in New Mexico.” ■

People in northern South Carolina were a bit anxious as Hurricane Ian bore down on the region, but were relieved to see a minimal impact on Greenville, Spartanburg and other cities in the area. The Upstate region has been on a hot streak, popping up on several best-places-to-live lists. CNN Travel, for one, included Greenville on a best-places-to-go-in-fall list, along with Madrid, Mexico City and Cape Town, among other far-flung locales. 

“It’s a great place to be right now — I think the secret’s out,” WSPA VP and general manager Kenny Lawrence said. “The market is becoming more and more metropolitan.”

The market is Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson, with Asheville located in North Carolina. Northeastern Georgia is part of the DMA too. Nielsen has it as market No. 38. It has the coast to the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north. 

WYFF and WHNS are licensed to Greenville, WLOS to Asheville and WSPA, as its call letters suggest, to Spartanburg. WYFF, a Hearst Television-owned NBC affiliate, is the market leader. Gray Television holds Fox affiliate WHNS, which goes by Fox Carolina. Sinclair Broadcast Group has ABC outlet WLOS and MyNetworkTV station WMYA. Nexstar Media Group owns CBS affiliate WSPA and The CW outlet WYCW. 

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets. 

Neither Univision nor Telemundo have stations in the market, but WYFF recently launched a weekly Spanish-language digital newscast called Aqui Para Ti. 

Spectrum is Greenville-Spartanburg’s primary cable operator. 

WYFF ran the table in the September sweeps. The station won the 6-7 a.m. race, in both households and the 25-to-54 demo, and the 5 and 6 p.m. contest too. At 11 p.m, WYFF posted a 3.1 household rating and 1.0 demo score. WLOS had a 2.0 and 0.3 and WSPA did a 1.9 and 0.5. WHNS, which also does 10-11 p.m. news, had a 1.2 and 0.3 in households and 25-to-54 at 11 p.m. 

WYFF stays strong thanks to stability, president/general manager John Humphries said, noting the recent ownership changes for stations around the market, including WSPA and WHNS. He mentioned a “significant investment” from Hearst TV. “As a privately held company, they operate differently,” Humphries said. “There’s a longer view. We’re not guided or mandated by the next market call.”

That investment includes Doppler radar for weather and the market’s only station helicopter. 

Stability also includes the established “Live, Local, Breaking News” brand and “Circle 4” logo. Humphries called Carol Clarke “the dean of anchors.”

This month, WYFF claimed a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Video. Employees see the phrase Commitment to Excellence when they walk into WYFF. “We don’t ever rest on our laurels — we’re constantly looking for ways to improve,” Humphries said. “We’re in everybody’s crosshairs. We’re the one everyone wants to take down.”

How to Take Down Top Dog

Indeed, the rivals are ramping up. Bryce Caldwell took over as WHNS VP/GM in December, when Gray acquired Fox Carolina. “It was very obvious there was a ton of unrealized potential for this station,” he said. 

Caldwell cited an investment of “hundreds of thousands of dollars right out of the gate,” including a head count increase of 10%. Fox Carolina boosted local programming by 35% this fall, according to the station. The 6 p.m. news went to an hour. The 10 a.m. lifestyle show Access Carolina debuted, as did Friday-night sports show Fox Carolina Tailgate. Marybeth Jacoby is news director at Fox Carolina. Looking ahead to January, an 11 a.m. news launches, with Hayley Spitler anchoring. When that happens, Fox Carolina will be local from 4:30 a.m. until noon. 

“That will give us the opportunity to have another hour of news where we are unopposed by the big three competitors,” Caldwell said of the midday program. 

Fox Carolina’s meteorological team has the new branding First Alert Weather. 

WSPA, known as 7News, has full-service newsrooms in Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg. 7News has been in its location on the main drag in Greenville a little over a year. Lawrence described “a huge stage presence” for the studio, with walls of glass that give passers-by a peek at the newscast. 

Kyle Brinkman runs the newsroom and Susan Pascal is creative services director. Amy Wood is a well-established anchor at WSPA, with more than three decades at the station. 

WYCW has 7-9 a.m. news, and its 10 p.m. newscast went to an hour earlier this year.

Nexstar’s Big Bunch

WSPA’s Lawrence detailed the perks of being part of Nexstar, which has 200 stations in its portfolio. “We feed each other when relevant,” Lawrence said, mentioning Nexstar stations sharing hurricane coverage and planning to do so when Herschel Walker debates Sen. Raphael Warnock in Savannah October 14. 

WLOS debuted 30-minute Saturday Sports Night this fall, running after the ABC football game in prime and covering regional football. The station debuts a new set later this month. “This state-of-the-art set is impressive,” Courtney Youngblood, WLOS VP/general manager, said. “We simply can’t wait to share it with our loyal viewers.”

The market continues to grow. Nielsen had Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson picking up more than 150,000 homes from 2020 to 2021. Lawrence mentioned seeing four or five construction cranes out his office window.

Political spending has been disappointing but 2020 was “massive,” said Humphries, and 2024 “is gonna be historical,” said Lawrence. 

The market used to be a textile power, but has deftly shifted to high-tech and manufacturing, including major automotive outfits, such as a BMW Manufacturing facility in Spartanburg that employs 11,000. 

Residents describe the Upstate South Carolina market as a well-kept secret, but one that won’t remain a secret for much longer. “We just think we’ve got a real gem, a real jewel down here,” Humphries said. “It’s a great place to live and a great place to raise a family.” ■

Stations situated on the southwestern coast of Florida are hustling to keep viewers informed of Hurricane Ian’s frightful trip through the area. That includes stations in Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), which is DMA No. 13, and Fort Myers-Naples, which is DMA No. 54.

Stations are streaming live to keep users up to date. At WFLA.com just after 3 p.m. ET, meteorologist Jeff Berardelli stressed that Ian was “about to make landfall,” and mentioned wind gusts in the region reaching over 100 mph.

The story changed minutes later. Over in Fort Myers, a live story on WINKNews.com reported that the National Hurricane Center said Ian made landfall at 3:10 p.m. A reporter then shared that station power had gone out, with WINK shifting to a backup generator.

Fort Myers Broadcasting Co. owns WINK.

Part of Nexstar Media Group, the WFLA Tampa website reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis labeled Ian “just shy of a Category 5 hurricane,” and added that the storm would be “incredibly dangerous.”

Elsewhere in Tampa, WTVT meteorologist Dave Osterberg added some perspective to Ian striking Florida. “We don’t expect the track to change,” he said. “The biggest storm surge will come to the right of where it makes landfall. Say it makes landfall in Port Charlotte, then you're going to see this big wall of water coming up into the Fort Myers, Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, up into these rivers. That's going to be a problem — 10-15 feet storm surge for those folks.”

Fox owns WTVT, known as Fox 13. Station newscasts are simulcast on various area radio stations.

Part of Tegna, WTSP Tampa said the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg has been closed. The station website noted a “life-threatening storm surge.”

Spectrum has Bay News 9 in the Tampa area. The website offers a live chat with meteorologists, and shared a story on a family of nine that had moved to the area three days before, then had to evacuate.

On the WBBH Fort Myers website, there’s a list of power outages by county, with Charlotte County counting 64,440 as of 1:15 p.m. Sept. 28. Known as NBC2, WBBH reports can also be heard on a group of local radio stations.

WBBH also shared that Comcast has free WiFi hotspots for the displaced.

The station is part of Waterman Broadcasting.

Weather.com led with the headline “Landfalling Cat 4 Monster”, which shifted to “Monster Ian Makes Landfall” a short while later. The site reports Ian “making landfall as one of southwest Florida’s most intense hurricanes on record, expected to produce catastrophic storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall.”

Maximum sustained winds are blowing around 155 mph, said Weather.com, and over six feet of storm surge inundation has been measured, more than any other storm in that spot in at least 50 years.

“Hurricane Ian is absolutely pummeling the southwest coast of Florida,” a Weather Channel reporter said. ■

The Minnesota State Fair has wound down, but the 2022 affair made quite a mark. The Great Minnesota Get-Together goes for 12 days, ending on September 5, and a stunning 1.84 million people turned up for it — 540,000 more than 2021. The Twin Cities TV stations turn up too, setting up their news operations at the fair, as attendees grab a corn dog and take a seat in the bleachers to watch. 

“To say it was a celebration is an understatement,” WCCO VP and general manager Ann Ouellette said. “We’re back.”

WCCO, part of CBS News and Stations, is a strong player in DMA No. 14. Fox owns KMSP and MyNetworkTV station WFTC. Hubbard Broadcasting owns ABC affiliate KSTP and independent KSTC. Tegna has NBC outlet KARE. On the Spanish-language side, Media Vista Group holds Univision station WUMN and SagamoreHill Broadcasting has Telemundo’s KMWE. The Spanish-language stations don’t do local news … yet. “It is in the plans for the station in the near future,” Telemundo Twin Cities general manager Mark Overstreet said. 

The major cable operator in the Twin Cities is Comcast. 

In August, KSTP, with an Eyewitness News brand, won the 6 a.m. household news race and WCCO took the 25-54 battle. KARE won both races at 5 p.m., and WCCO took both titles at 6 p.m. At 10 p.m., WCCO had a 6.1 in households and 1.3 in the 25-54 contest. KARE had a 3.7 and a 1.0, and KSTP a 2.3 and 0.7. KMSP rated a 1.9 in households and 0.7 in 25-54. 

WCCO has a popular married couple anchoring at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. in Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello. The station also stands out as the only one situated in downtown Minneapolis. “We’re in the middle of everything,” Ouellette said, “and can get to everything quickly.”

Run the Newsroom, Then Run the Station 

News professionals in the market describe the Twin Cities as a robust news market where people eagerly consume local content. That might be a factor in a couple of longtime news directors getting their first general manager job in the Twin Cities. Being news director at KMSP seems like good preparation for a GM position. Bill Dallman was KMSP news director until 2013, moving on to news director posts at KCBS Los Angeles and KOMO Seattle, among other positions. He was named KARE VP/general manager in June 2021. Marian Davey was KMSP VP/news director from 2013 to June 2021, when she was named KMSP-WFTC VP/general manager. 

Dallman and Davey are both embracing the aspects of their new positions. “It’s such a professional joy to learn about the parts of the business that I didn’t know so much about,” said Davey, who goes by Mim. 

Said Dallman, “Tegna sees that content is king, and those of us who are leaders on the content side can learn the sales side.”

It is no surprise that the Twin Cities stations are ramping up their local content. On September 5, WCCO introduced a 4 p.m. news in place of the departing Ellen DeGeneres Show. Jeff Wagner and Erin Hassanzadah anchor. Ouellette described the newscast as “more casual,” with a motif that sees the station “pull back the curtain on what we do, how we create news.”

She added: “There’s definitely an appetite for news here. We were fortunate enough to have such a deep bench to promote from within.” 

WCCO launched a Sunday 7 a.m. newscast in early 2022 that Ouellette said is “similar in style and tone” to CBS Sunday Morning. “It’s a positive, uplifting kind of storytelling,” she said. “Very community-driven.”

As it contemplates its initial newscast, KMWE in the meantime keeps viewers on top of local news with local segments in Acceso Total. Overstreet noted that 21% of the DMA’s total population growth is Hispanic. “We celebrate this growth and pledge to be an active contributor to ensure visibility and representation of Latinos in Minnesota for years to come,” he said. 

10,000 Stories

KMSP has a full lineup of local news, along with a 7-8 p.m. newscast on sister WFTC, known as Fox 9 Plus, and offers what station leadership calls “mini-documentaries” on hot local topics. Those could run for 7-8 minutes in the 9 p.m. news, or even warrant an hour-long special. “It’s inspirational for the staff to stretch our minds a little bit on things that are not necessarily news of the day,” VP/news director Kelly Huffman said. 

Fox 9 also touches on local topics with talk show Enough Said, and examines state history with Minnesota Untold segments. KMSP won a 2022 National Murrow Award for Minnesota Untold. “We’d be very proud of it whether we won the award or not,” Davey said. 

NBC News Daily debuted on KARE and other NBC affiliates on September 12, and KARE enjoys two five-minute cut-ins in the daytime program. KARE is also betting big on its KARE 11 Plus streaming platform; Dallman said KARE will be “dramatically expanding local content offerings” on the streamer this year and next — newscasts, specials, debates, sports. 

Speaking of sports, Hockey Night in Minnesota, offering 13 weeks of live boys and girls hockey, debuts this fall on the streaming platform. 

Boyd Huppert hosts Land of 10,000 Stories on KARE 11. (Minnesota is of course known as the land of 10,000 lakes.) Dallman mentions “amazing features that make you feel a vast array of emotions.”

Feeling Minnesota

Minneapolis and St. Paul sit next to each other near the eastern border Minnesota shares with Wisconsin. Minnesota was one of the more strict states in terms of COVID protocols, but those are loosening up as the pandemic slowly subsides. 

The market is home to a number of major corporations, including Target, Best Buy and United Healthcare. It is also where George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. 

Residents say Minneapolis-St. Paul offers big-city stuff, be it restaurants, theaters, museums and sports, including the beloved Vikings, and, paradoxically, the intimate vibe of a village. “It’s the perfect experience of a metropolitan area with just a little of that small-town feel,” Huffman said. 

Political spending is booming, including a hot governor’s race. The general managers mention a very engaged populace that politicians are eager to reach. 

Summer is over, and with it, a couple unique community initiatives at Fox 9. Fox 9’s Town Ball Tour visits the best ballparks in the market, and a Fox 9 ice cream truck made the rounds this summer, giving away free ice cream and getting anchors out in front of viewers. “We’re always looking for different ways to make meaningful connections with viewers,” said Davey, “or potential viewers.”

Minnesotans are looking forward to the next state fair, kicking off August 24. The 2022 shindig was “a raging success,” Ouellette said. “People were really looking to get back out and have a sense of normalcy.” ▪️

Check out our Local News Close-Up profiles on dozens of U.S. markets. 

The final new episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show aired in May, and many stations that air the syndicated program, now in repeats, are lining up a new newscast to take its place. KNTV San Jose, WJAR Providence and WCCO Minneapolis are among the stations set to introduce an afternoon newscast as their Ellen DeGeneres deals end. 

On September 12, KNTV will debut the East Coast feed of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt at 4 p.m., then NBC Bay Area News at 4:30, with Audrey Asistio the anchor. 

“We’ll give people a peek behind the curtain as to how our newscasts come together,” Stacy Owen, KNTV-KSTS president and general manager, said. “We’ll draw back that curtain and bring people in to our [newsgathering] process.”

A wall between the studio and newsroom was torn down, and a presentation area was built in the newsroom, nicknamed The Duopoly Dome, as it serves both KNTV and its Telemundo sibling. 

Asistio is from the Bay Area and knows the market intimately. “The selection of Audrey is very reflective of what we want the show to be,” Owen said. “It reinforces the Bay Area ties of our entire team.”

KVVU Las Vegas starts a 2 p.m. news in place of Ellen DeGeneres on September 5, giving the Gray Television station a whopping 15½ hours a day of local content. “When you need local news, we are the station you turn to,” Michael Korr, VP and general manager, told B+C.

Down in Los Angeles, Ellen DeGeneres occupies the 3 p.m.-4 p.m. slot at KNBC. On September 12, the station will have local news at 3 p.m. and NBC Nightly News at 3:30. (KNBC and KNTV, both part of the NBCUniversal group, will also air Nightly News in its traditional 6:30 p.m. slot.)

“When you look at Los Angeles, we thought news was the right choice,” KNBC president and general manager Todd Mokhtari said. “It’s such a big audience. With how things have changed the last few years, news was our Plan A the whole time.”

KNBC’s 3 p.m. news will see the station go in-depth on particular stories, said Mokhtari, instead of aiming to drive up the story count. 

Work From Home, Watch From Home

COVID-19 is a factor in stations substituting local news for syndicated shows. The pandemic enhanced the relationship between consumers and vital local news, and many viewers found themselves working from home and increasingly available to watch local news. 

“COVID did change the expectations of our audience for their newscasts,” said Mokhtari. “The information they want and need is so important — they want all of it, and don’t want to just scratch the surface.”

New 4 p.m. newscasts debuting in the coming days include one at WCCO Minneapolis, starting September 5, as Ellen departs and Dr. Phil shifts from 4 p.m. to 3. Erin Hassanzadeh and Jeff Wagner anchor the hour-long program. "The desire for local news is as strong as ever," WCCO VP and general manager Ann Ouellette said in a statement.

WJAR Providence launches one Tuesday, September 6, with the hour-long newscast replacing Ellen DeGeneres. NBC 10 News at 4 will be anchored by Tamara Sacharczyk. News director Scott Isaacs noted the increased working-from-home rate as a factor in the show’s launch. “The 4 p.m. newscast will bring [viewers] the latest breaking news, weather and traffic, plus we’ll help viewers save money, live healthier and know what’s going on in our community,” he added in a statement. 

WJAR is the one Sinclair Broadcast Group station to insert news in place of Ellen DeGeneres, though the group does feature 4 p.m. newscasts in several markets, including Baltimore, Seattle and Salt Lake City. 

Of course, not every station that has aired Ellen DeGeneres is going with news in that slot. Syndicated The Jennifer Hudson Show debuts September 12, with Fox Television Stations and Hearst Television among the groups to air the Warner Bros. show. 

How Much Is Too Much?

Stations are introducing a wide array of new newscasts beyond time slots held down by Ellen. On September 12, KCNC Denver adds 10 hours of news a week, with new weekday programs from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. and 4 p.m.-5 p.m. “Our goal is to develop new relationships in our communities, allowing us to source more original content at the neighborhood level,” KCNC VP and general manager Tim Wieland said.

Starting September 12, CBS-owned stations in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Denver and Miami launch 9 a.m. newscasts. Also part of CBS News and Stations, KCAL Los Angeles launches a morning news block that runs 4 a.m.-11 a.m. on weekdays in the fall. KCAL has never had a weekday morning news. 

Gray TV’s WHNS Greenville, South Carolina, extends its 6 p.m. news to an hour September 12. 

The NBC group, for its part, starts NBC News Daily on September 12, with Days of Our Lives moving to Peacock. 

As stations double down on their unique offerings in an era defined by on-demand content on the streaming giants, it makes sense that many are slotting local news in place of a syndicated staple. Bill Hague, Magid executive VP, said it’s on the stations to make sure each new newscast is unique. “The question is, how much local news is too much?” he asked. “Are you able to provide unique content in each news time period?”

Startup newscasts require an investment in personnel and gear. Local news “makes a lot of sense but it’s not easy,” Hague added. “You have to invest in newsrooms and you have to invest in content creation.”

According to Owen, KNTV never did consider another syndicated show in place of Ellen. “This is an opportunity to provide a one-two punch in terms of national and local news,” she said. “More people are working from home and there is a new audience available at that time.” ■

Tegna's 12News stations in the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, DMA, KBMT-TV and KJAC-TV, named Brenda Matute as co-main anchor of their 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, effective September 5.

Matute, who had previously been a morning anchor at KVEO-TV, Harlingen, Texas, will co-anchor with Jordan Williams and join meteorologist Patrick Vaughn and sports director Ashly Elam on the newscasts.

She is replacing DeJonique Garrison, who left the industry to pursue a personal business venture, the station said.

“We are excited to welcome Brenda to Southeast Texas, and to the 12News family. She is an exceptional journalist whose passion, drive, and strong Texas roots will fit right in with our evening newscasts,” said John Treviño, general manager, 12News.

Matute was raised in the Houston area and graduated from the University of Houston in 2016. She worked as a producer/reporter at KIDY-TV,  San Angelo, and KZTV, Corpus Christi, before joining KVEO.

"After traveling up and down the Texas coast, I am thrilled to get closer to my roots. I’m excited to tell important stories in Southeast Texas, and highlight what matters to this community,” said Matute. ■

KCNC-TV, the CBS-owned station in Denver, said it will be adding 10 hours of local news per week and shifting to a community journalism approach.

The new newscast will air on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. starting September 12. The station currently airs The Drew Barrymore Show at 9 a.m. and Dr. Phil at 4 p.m. 

To provide more community reporting, each member of the station’s news staff, from anchors to editors, will be covering important news in the neighborhoods they live in, the station said. 

News staffers also are being assigned beats geographically. Anchor Jim Benemann and reporter Marissa Armas will cover Denver; reporter Connor McCue, anchor Karen Leigh and anchor Dominic Garcia will cover Douglas County and reporter Alan Gionet will key an eye on the foothills and Boulder County.

Political reporter Shaun Boyd will continue to stay on top of that beat, while covering her neighborhood. 

“The hard-working journalists at CBS News Colorado will serve our communities with reporting that resonates with the audience,” news director Kristine Strain said.  “They’re not only taking on the most pressing topics, but also looking at what is working, what is not, and sharing solutions. We live in these communities, know the people we serve, and we care about continuing to make Colorado a great place to live.”  ■

To look at the Las Vegas Strip today, crawling with tourists en route to the next casino, restaurant or show, it is hard to imagine that the thoroughfare was closed for some three months in COVID-19’s heyday. More high-end hotels are launching, including the Fontainebleau late in 2023 and Dream Las Vegas a year later. 

“Visitation and tourism are back to pre-pandemic levels, which is very encouraging,” said Larry Strumwasser, VP and general manager of KSNV, KVCW and KVMY. “People are coming out here to Las Vegas.”

DMA No. 40 has succeeded in its game plan to become a big-league sports town. The Golden Knights joined the NHL in 2017, and the Oakland Raiders shifted to Vegas in 2020. “The dream of this market was to become a sports market, and that has happened,” said Michael Korr, VP and general manager of KVVU. “And there’s still potential for more growth.”

That may include a potential MLB or NBA franchise. 

Super Bowl LVIII, to take place in 2024, will be in Vegas. CBS has the game. 

In addition to the major-league franchises, Vegas also boasts of a bunch of minor league teams, including indoor football and lacrosse. 

TV is a hard-hitting game as well. Gray Television closed on its acquisition of market leader KVVU, a Fox affiliate, late last year. Sinclair Broadcast Group owns KSNV-KVCW-KVMY, an NBC-The CW-MyNetworkTV trio. Nexstar Media Group has CBS affiliate KLAS and Scripps owns ABC outlet KTNV. Telemundo has KBLR and Entravision owns Univision station KINC. Estrella TV airs on Sinclair’s KSNV dot-two channel.

Cox Communications is the market’s primary pay TV operator. 

KVVU had the best 6 to 7 a.m household rating in July, per Nielsen, while KTNV won the 25-54 race. KTNV won both races at 5 p.m., the demo contest a tight win over KVVU. At 6 p.m., KTNV won the households and KVVU the demo. Moving on to 11 p.m., and KLAS had 14,569 households, ahead of KVVU’s 12,232, KTNV’s 10,561 and KSNV’s 10,555. KVVU had 5,102 viewers in 25-54 at 11 p.m., while KTNV had 4,292, KLAS had 3,437 and KSNV drew 2,502. 

KVVU wins with stability in the on-air team, including long-running anchor John Huck, and in providing news when the other stations have not. “I think the biggest thing is, we are always there,” Korr said. 

A Fox5 7 p.m. newscast launched August 1, and a 2 p.m. news arrives September 5, in place of Ellen. That will give KVVU 15½ hours a day of local content. “When you need local news, we are the station you turn to,” Korr said. 

Rivals Respond

The other stations are hustling to win over viewers. Jay Howell took over the top spot at KLAS in February and Dan Salamone was named 8 News Now news director in December, shifting from a corporate post at Nexstar, where he focused on local content development. 

KLAS is making a big bet on investigative, including the work of chief investigative reporter George Knapp. One recent story detailed wild horses dying while being kept at government holding pens, and another reported on a Black man who spent six days in jail when police mistook him for a white man with the same name. 

All the stations cover crime and weather and local business, Howell said, but “you make your mark with unique investigative content.”

Howell praises parent Nexstar, mentioning the Washington, D.C., bureau that supplies the stations and groupwide program NewsNation. KLAS at times shares special programming with sister Nexstar stations when a big event is in Vegas, such as the Grammys or the NFL draft. “The thing about Vegas, there’s always an event here,” Howell said. 

Jeff Kiernan started as KTNV VP and general manager on July 25, after being news director at Scripps stations WXYZ Detroit and WTMJ Milwaukee. Jessie Williams, formerly of WSYM Lansing, is on board as news director. Willie Garrett is the new creative services director, shifting from KSNV. 

Kiernan vowed to “serve Las Vegas with the best journalism, serve clients with the best solutions on our various platforms, and serve our communities with the stories we tell.”

Kiernan noted the “meaningful investigations” at KTNV, and growing OTT presence. 

An expansion of local news could happen at 13 Action News. “We’re always evaluating that,” Kiernan said. “There’s an appetite for news in this market.”

KSNV juxtaposes its News 3 local product with Sinclair program The National Desk. The station has an initiative focused on mental health that runs in newscasts and specials. “We’re trying to build the exposure in the marketplace when it comes to mental health,” said Strumwasser. “It is all hands on deck.”

KBLR has a lively Spanish-language news lineup that includes two-minute briefs at 7:25, 8:25 and 9:25 a.m., noon news, then 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. The station also features a five- to seven-minute digital newscast called Dale Play that can be found on Roku, Apple TV, TelemundoLasVegas.com and the station app. 

“Telemundo Las Vegas is the only Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the market that produces live local news here in Las Vegas,” Ramiro Lopez, president and general manager, said. “Our facilities are here, our talent is here and we are proud to serve southern Nevada’s Spanish-speaking community.”

Lake Mead, about 25 miles from Vegas, is a constant source of news for the stations. As the lake dries up, disposed bodies are found with frightening frequency. “It’s the biggest concern and the biggest story,” Korr said. 

Political Payday

Political spending is through the roof, with governor, Senate and House hopefuls all shoveling cash at TV. “We usually see a break between the primary and general elections,” Strumwasser said. “But with aggressive, tight races, the spending hasn’t stopped.”

Multiple House races are, in Howell’s words, “toss-ups.” 

While tourists favor the Strip, Vegas residents are more focused on the communities they live in. Multiple general managers described the market as “a big small town” — loads to see and do, but also a place where one often bumps into friends and colleagues, especially away from the Strip. “It’s got a small-town feel for a big city,” Korr noted. 

With tourism going strong, the Vegas economy is on solid footing. “Except for inflation impacting the cost of goods, we feel like our economy is moving in the right direction,” said Lopez.

Residents cite the restaurants and nightlife, pro sports, short commutes, outdoor activity options and the access to other states, including California and Arizona, as key attributes to Las Vegas life. “There is so much happening here,” new arrival Kiernan said. “The excitement in Vegas is on the Strip and beyond the Strip.” ￭

Check out dozens of Local News market profiles at https://www.nexttv.com/features/local-news-close-up.

Omaha residents say the friendly market always welcomes new arrivals, and that’s a good thing for the station general managers. All the Big Four affiliate GMs in town have turned up in the last two years. 

Franco Gentile, who is approaching his one-year anniversary as VP and general manager of KPTM, describes the populace of Nebraska’s largest city as “tight-knit, wonderful people. They’re very accepting of people who are not from here.” 

Yet another new general manager will arrive soon. Scripps recently announced that Lisa Volenec will become KMTV general manager August 22. 

Omaha sits on the eastern border of Nebraska, alongside Iowa. The Missouri River flows through DMA No. 72, and separates the states. 

The College World Series was held in Omaha, as it has been for decades. “It’s a wonderful event where we get to showcase Omaha,” said Shawn Oswald, president and general manager of KETV, calling the event a $100 million driver for the market. 

Hearst Television owns market leader KETV, an ABC affiliate. Gray Television holds NBC outlet WOWT, the runner-up. Sinclair Broadcast Group owns Fox outlet KPTM, and operates CW affiliate KXVO, owned by Mitts Telecasting, through an LMA. MyNetworkTV and DABL share KPTM’s dot-three channel. Scripps has CBS affiliate KMTV. Flood Communications owns Telemundo-affiliated KOHA and News Channel Nebraska, through which the company’s TV and radio properties provide news, weather and sports across the state. 

Cox Communications is Omaha’s primary pay TV operator. 

KETV has a commanding lead in Omaha. In May, KETV averaged 22,700 total viewers at 6 a.m., per Nielsen, ahead of WOWT’s 8,400, and 7,600 viewers ages 25-54 to WOWT’s 2,400. At 5 p.m., KETV averaged 27,800 total viewers, ahead of WOWT’s 20,600, and 5,600 aged 25-54 to WOWT’s 3,100. KETV averaged 38,300 total viewers at 6 p.m., and WOWT had 17,900, while KETV scored 10,100 in the demo and WOWT had 3,500. 

In late news, KETV averaged 52,200 total viewers in May while WOWT had 27,000, KMTV had 10,100 and KPTM averaged 7,000. In 25-54, KETV had 11,300, WOWT 5,500, KPTM 1,800 and KMTV 1,700. 

KETV thrives thanks to a team, on both sides of the camera, that has worked together for a long time. “We have the most tenured talent of anybody in the market,” Oswald said. “They know the market well, which is a huge benefit, and the market knows them. It’s like inviting somebody you know very well into your house every night — there’s a sense of comfort and trust.”

Also: Omaha Stations Start Switch to NextGen TV Broadcasting

Knicely Done

The stations are trying new things. WOWT moves into a new building July 22. A $22 million investment that measures 29,000 square feet, it features much more modern technology, including the studio and master control. “Like a lot of TV stations built in the ’50s, we were in need of some updates,” Jim McKernan, VP and general manager, said. “And we certainly got them.”

Gray TV’s Local News Live digital network, which provides national news to the Gray group of stations, is in the new building, as is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. “Nice neighbors to have!” said McKernan, who came on board in December. 

WOWT adds a 3 p.m. newscast in September. Anchor John Knicely recently marked 30 years on the air at WOWT. “A market icon,” per McKernan. 

KETV moved into the Burlington train station facility seven years ago, which Oswald calls a “spectacularly renovated place to work. It’s as beautiful as it was on the first day.”

KPTM has local news at 9 p.m., and Sinclair’s daily newscast The National Desk as well. The lone local newscast is anchored in Fresno, California, but gives the station an Omaha identity, Franco said. “We’re able to produce a nice looking, locally flavored, profitable newscast,” he said. 

Radio host Tom Becka offers his perspective in the newscast in “Becka’s Beat.” 

Another way Sinclair gets local in Omaha is Thursday Night Lights, the high-school football broadcast starting August 25 on KXVO and going for nine weeks. “Nebraska loves high school football,” Gentile said. “It really comes with a lineage of its own, where schools beg us to be featured.”

KOHA has news at 5 and 10 p.m. weekdays, a joint effort with Spanish-language radio stations in the market. Andy Ruback, CEO of parent Flood Communications, said morning news is being considered. “We’ve made a very, very large investment in the Hispanic population in Nebraska,” he said.

Ruback likens News Channel Nebraska to a broadcast version of Spectrum News on cable. 

Over at KMTV, incoming GM Volenec is an Omaha native who has been regional business development director for Scripps’s local media division. Years ago, she was an anchor at KPTM. Volenec replaces Dave German atop KMTV, with German shifting to the Scripps stations in Waco. 

Johnny Carson got his start at WOWT, hosting a show called The Squirrel’s Nest in 1952. He will appear in a mural depicting the history of the station. “His comedic talent was always on display,” McKernan said. “Johnny Carson never forgot his roots.”

Gov Love

As with any market, automotive spending is soft, but Omaha enjoyed a robust GOP primary for the governor’s office. “Three candidates ran a very tight race,” McKernan said. “The spending was very strong.”

The stations even get a taste of political spending in Iowa. 

The region’s primary industries are food processing and agriculture. Nebraska unemployment stands at 1.9%. With the state population not quite 2 million, “that’s not a lot of people that don’t have jobs,” Gentile said. 

The College World Series ended June 27, with Ole Miss crowned champ. It was many attendees’ first visit to Omaha. Noted Oswald, “People always walk away with a feeling of, ’Wow, that was a lot nicer than I thought it would be.‘ ” ▪️

Check out dozens of Local News market profiles at https://www.nexttv.com/features/local-news-close-up.

Roku said it made a deal to put NBCU Local streaming news channels on The Roku Channel, effective Tuesday.

The first channels to be included in The Roku Channel’s Live TV Guide are from NBC-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Hartford and South Florida.

Other NBC Local streaming news channels will be added to The Roku Channel in the coming months. 

Roku said that the deal marks the first time local news will be available through The Roku Channel. Roku device users can also access local news channels from CBS stations, and local news programming from hundreds of stations via services including VUit, Local Now, Stirr, NewsOn and Haystack News.

While scripted and non-scripted entertainment programming have long been popular on streaming services, they are rapidly adding sports and news programming. The Roku Channel already offers national news offerings, including NBC News Now.

“Audiences are increasingly opting to consume news through streaming, and local news has consistently been one of the top requested categories by our users,” said Ashley Hovey, head of The Roku Channel, AVOD. “We’re excited to work with NBCUniversal Local and the NBC Stations to expand our relevant live TV offering for streamers and to bring news from multiple major cities to millions of viewers across the country to easily access and enjoy.”

Viewers of The Roku Channel can watch the local news from any of the available NBC stations regardless of where they're located.

In January, NBCU Local began launching its local stations’ streaming news channels on the company’s Peacock platform. Initial channels include NBC Chicago News, NBC Philadelphia News and NBC Boston News and NBC Miami News.

“Local news has never been more vital to helping our audiences stay informed about what’s happening in their communities,” said Meredith McGinn, executive VP of diginets and original production, at NBCUniversal Local. “We look forward to bringing our NBC local news channels and our stations’ best-in-class journalism to the millions of people The Roku Channel reaches and to launching more of our NBC local news channels to expand streamers’ access to our local news content.” 

The NBC local news channels will feature the latest local news, breaking updates, weather forecasts, and live events. ■

Hurricane season began June 1 and, right on schedule, Miami had a hearty blast of extreme weather when June arrived. Some 10 inches of rain fell in Miami across three days, causing serious flooding, and the winds topped out around 40 miles an hour. 

“It wasn’t officially a tropical storm,” Darryll Green, VP and general manager, WFOR-WBFS, said. “But it was very close.”

Tropical storms and worse are part of life in South Florida and Miami got a wakeup call. “I would say it was a dry run,” Jorge Carballo, president and general manager, WTVJ-WSCV, said. “But it was really more of a wet run.”

Weather aside, there is never a shortage of news in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Sometimes, the market makes national news. It was a year ago that condominium Champlain Towers South collapsed, killing close to 100 people. Four years ago was the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, a little north of Fort Lauderdale.  

Also: Read More Local News Close-Up Coverage Here

DMA No. 18 is full of worthy entrants, in English and Spanish, in the news race. Sunbeam Television has Fox affiliate WSVN. NBCUniversal owns WTVJ-WSCV, an NBC-Telemundo pair. CBS News and Stations also has a duopoly, in WFOR-WBFS, the latter a MyNetworkTV affiliate. Berkshire Hathaway owns ABC outlet WPLG, the lone TV station in Warren Buffett’s vast and varied portfolio. Univision Communications has WLTV and E.W. Scripps owns The CW station WSFL. 

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. 

The market fell from Nielsen’s No. 16 DMA to No. 18 from 2020 to 2021, despite gaining more than 51,000 homes. “I believe the market is being substantially undercounted,” Bert Medina, president and CEO of WPLG, said. 

Serious Players in News

The ratings race is a tight one and the Spanish-language players are super-strong competitors. In 6-7 a.m. ratings from January through May, WSCV won households and 25-54, with WPLG at No. 2 in households, and WSVN No. 2 in the demo. 

At 5 p.m., WSCV won households and 25-54, with WLTV in second in both. Among English-language stations, WPLG was tops in households and WSVN in 25-54. 

At 6 p.m., WSCV won households and 25-54, and WLTV was second in both. Among English-language players, WPLG took households and WSVN won the demo. 

At 11 p.m., WSCV won both categories with a 4.6 and 1.6. WLTV did a 3.1 and 1.3. WFOR had a 1.6 and 0.6 and WPLG posted a 1.6 and 0.5. WSVN had a 1.3 and 0.6, after a 1.8 and 0.9 at 10 p.m. 

WTVJ has improved its standing in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Carballo, who had been general manager of WSCV, gained oversight of WTVJ in early 2020, following the retirement of general manager Larry Olevitch. “The fact that we are now two stations that are fully integrated has been very helpful in the last two years,” Carballo said. 

He spoke of a more focused and more aggressive newsroom. The station duo has nine meteorologists and, for the past year-plus, its own helicopter. WTVJ-WSCV’s contract in a helicopter share with the competition ended, and the NBCU duopoly now flies solo. NBCUniversal, Carballo said, “does not hesitate to spend the dollars when there’s value.”

WTVJ launched a 7 p.m. news during the pandemic. It was a temporary program that saw success and earned a permanent spot on the schedule. Carballo said giving each newscast a distinct identity has helped WTVJ, and WSCV, stand out in a crowded marketplace. 

WSVN added a Sunday 7-8 a.m. newscast last year, and runs 68 hours a week of local news. Anchor team Craig Stevens and Belkys Nerey have 19 years together, and it shows on the air. “They know the market inside and out and have a lot of loyalty and trust from viewers,” Paul Magnes, Sunbeam co-president and WSVN general manager, said. “They know each other so well they could easily finish each other’s sentences.”

WSVN reporters are quick to hop on a plane to cover a key story, such as the Miami Heat in Boston for the Eastern Conference finals. “We continue to be very aggressive on sports travel,” said Magnes. 

Two vital figures in the Sunbeam/WSVN universe died in recent years. Robert Leider, former WSVN general manager and executive VP, passed away in June 2019. He spent 40-plus years at Sunbeam. In July 2020, Ed Ansin, owner of Sunbeam Television, died at 84. Following his death, Ansin’s eldest son Andy became CEO, while his son James and Paul Magnes were named co-presidents. 

“Ed passed down all of his qualities — his knowledge, his character, his business sense — to his kids,” Magnes said. “That’s evident every day.”

CBS Stocking Up

Darryll Green took over as WFOR-WBFS general manager in March 2021, and is the first African-American station GM in Miami. WFOR has picked up points in late news. In March, it led the English-language pack at 11 p.m. with 39,800 viewers and 10,800 in the demo, ahead of WTVJ at 34,000 and 9,500. Green mentioned “newsroom voices from all the different communities that make Miami such a unique and great place to live. We’re working hard to reflect that.”

Thirteen to 15 new positions have been filled, Green added, primarily in news. “We’ve received a lot of support from corporate,” he said. 

Streaming channel CBS News Miami launched in January and Kerri Cavanaugh became WFOR-WBFS news director in June after a stint at Magid.

Berkshire Hathaway picked up WPLG from Post-Newsweek Stations (now Graham Media Group). Medina said the Berkshire philosophy is: “Buy a company. If you trust and believe the CEO and team, then basically let them do their thing.”

WPLG has a bureau in Washington, D.C., and another in Bogota, Colombia, while one in Havana was shut down amidst COVID-19. “We do plan to reopen as soon as they give us clearance,” said Medina, who describes WPLG as “a regional player.”

The general managers say the economy in Miami-Fort Lauderdale is relatively solid — it’s dealing with inflation and supply chain issues, like the rest of the country, but seeing tourism pick up following the pandemic funk. Automotive advertising is down amid the chip shortage, but the stations should start to see political spending for Florida’s governor and U.S. Senate races getting turned on in the coming weeks. “We expect a pretty competitive race in the back half of the year,” Magnes said. 

Station chiefs speak of a diverse marketplace, one where the weather is dandy for most of the year. There’s big-time sports, including the NBA’s Heat, Major League Baseball’s Marlins, the NHL’s Florida Panthers and the NFL’s Dolphins, scenic views in most every direction and a lively local news scene in two languages to keep viewers up to date. “The weather is amazing, the people are terrific, the culture is great,” Magnes said. “It’s an exciting place to live.” ▪️

For a look at Local News market profiles from the past couple of years, arranged on a map, click here.

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.”  ■

Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut, has long enjoyed its location, situated roughly midway between Boston and New York. The urban bookends offer more than metropolitan proximity. As the nation crawls out of the pandemic, the Connecticut market is seeing more and more big-city people move in.

“We’re seeing a lot of New York folks coming up,” Rich Graziano, VP and general manager, WTNH-WCTX, said. “People are realizing, with their work-life balance, they don’t have to go in five days a week. There are mountains and trails, lakes and golf, and you can go to the ocean.”

The market crept to No. 32 from No. 33 between 2020 and 2021. 

Nexstar Media Group holds the ABC-MyNetworkTV pair, WTNH-WCTX. Gray Television acquired CBS affiliate WFSB late last year. NBCUniversal owns WVIT and Telemundo station WRDM. Tegna has WTIC-WCCT, a Fox-The CW duopoly. Entravision owns Univision-aligned WUVN. 

Comcast is the major cable operator in Hartford-New Haven. 

Stations are getting back to relative normal after a couple of COVID-19 affected years. WTNH has rebooted its CT Style lifestyle show, which had been shelved when an audience was not permitted in the studio. It restarts April 22. Natasha Lubczenko is the anchor and Griffin Pierson is the lifestyle reporter. 

Besides new graphics, CT Style offers a fresh mix of content. “People’s taste and interest in the marketplace is evolving,” said Graziano. 

WFSB premieres a 7 p.m. newscast May 2, running in place of canceled People (The TV Show!). WFSB had 7 p.m. news amid the pandemic and makes it a regular thing in a couple of weeks. Stephanie Simoni anchors. 

“Part of our goal, and a big part of Gray Television, is to do as much local as you can,” said Dana Neves, WFSB regional VP and general manager. She mentioned the 7 p.m. news being a “great success” when it ran last year. 

Last summer, WVIT premiered a 7 p.m. newscast. It has enjoyed offering the only local news in that slot, though that changes soon. Diane Hannes, president and general manager, WVIT-WRDM, described a non-traditional newscast with more in-depth stories. “It has found a local audience,” she said. 

Humberto Hormaza was named president and general manager of WTIC-WCCT in March, after a stint as senior VP and general manager at Entravision. He did not comment for this article. 

Based outside Hartford, WFSB is a ratings powerhouse. In March, the station won both the households and viewers 25-54 race at 6-7 a.m. WTNH was tops in 5-6 p.m. households, while WFSB narrowly beat WTNH in the 25-54 race. At 6 p.m. WTNH won a tight household race, with WFSB in the top spot in the demo. 

In late news, WFSB did a 3.15 household rating and 1.00 25-54 rating. WTNH rated a 2.63/0.40, WVIT a 2.32/0.95, and WTIC a 1.18 household score at 11 p.m., and 0.57 in 25-54. 

Neves cited “consistency in the product” as the key to WFSB’s success. “We have long-term, trustworthy folks in front of, and equally important, behind the camera,” she said. 

She also mentioned the market’s only live Doppler radar as “a huge advantage. Our job is to keep people safe.” 

Chuck Carter became WTNH news director late in 2018, after a run as executive producer of news at WTXF Philadelphia. Graziano said the Nexstar stations offer the most local news in DMA No. 32, around 63 ½ hours a week. That includes three hours of primetime news on WCTX, which began in 2020, with MyNetworkTV prime shifting to 11:30 p.m. 

Graziano mentioned a “nice group of experienced, seasoned anchors,” including Ann Nyberg and Dennis House. “We believe in longevity and trust and experience.”

Nyberg is the longest-serving, full-time female anchor/reporter in Connecticut television history, according to her bio. She anchors the 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. news, and hosts the lifestyle show Nyberg too. 

House co-anchors the 6 p.m. news and hosts This Week in Connecticut with Dennis House. 

Telemundo station WRDM is a partnership between NBC Connecticut and NBC’s setup in Boston, which includes NBC and Telemundo TV stations, NBC Sports Boston and New England Channel News. There are 10 WRDM employees in Hartford, and the station does two hours of local news a day, at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. 

News may expand. “I think we’re always considering it,” said Hannes. “Nothing is off the table.”

WVIT debuted an OTT newscast called The Connection in October 2021. “We are content creators so we are following the audience,” said Hannes. “If the audience wants to see local news on these platforms, we are giving it to them.”

Hartford-New Haven offers a mix of city and country, with historical sites, culture and upscale restaurants in the urban spots, along with hiking and water recreation out in the country. Graziano said New Haven has a New York feel, with art, history and high-end food, while Hartford is “quintessential New England.”

“There are cities, small towns, the shore and mountains,” said Hannes. “And you get in your car, and you’re in New York City or Boston in no time at all.”

The market’s proximity between the big cities also means good pizza, including Sally’s Apizza in New Haven and Pepe’s franchises across the state. Graziano grew up in Boston and used to be the GM at WPIX New York. “The pizza is legitimate,” he said of the local fare. ■

With loads of natural beauty and a bit of available space, people have been flocking to Salt Lake City since the pandemic began. The local news outlets are expanding their offerings as the population grows. KUCW, for one, added the 7 a.m. hour of Good Morning Utah in late 2020 (Good Morning Utah airs 5-7 a.m. on sibling KTVX), and tacked on a half hour to the station’s primetime news at the same time, shifting the newscast from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

“We continue to upgrade the show,” said Richard Doutre Jones, KTVX-KUCW VP/general manager, of the prime news program. (Doutre Jones retired as of March 18.) “With an hour-long news, we’re able to put some longer-form content in there, including interviews with community leaders.”

Nexstar has ABC-The CW pair KTVX and KUCW. Sinclair Broadcast Group holds CBS affiliate KUTV, MyNetworkTV station KMYU and independent KJZZ. Bonneville International has NBC station KSL and local radio outlets. Scripps owns Fox affiliate KSTU and former Ion station KUPX. 

Also: Local News Close-Up: Stations Battle for Booming Houston’s New Arrivals

On the Spanish-language side, NBCUniversal has Telemundo station KULX and Univision Communications owns KUTH.

Just outside Salt Lake City is family entertainment network BYUtv, based in Provo and owned by Brigham Young University. 

Comcast is the dominant pay TV operator in DMA No. 30. 

The market picked up nearly 150,000 homes from 2020 to 2021, per Nielsen, and home prices shot up in the double digits. “There are a bunch of cranes in the sky,” said Jose Suarez, president and general manager, KULX. 

KSL is the market leader in household ratings, and KSTU is strong in the demo. Neither station returned multiple calls seeking comment. KUTV did not comment either. 

KTVX has expanded lifestyle show Good Things Utah an hour, going 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays. The show offers a mix of sponsored content and general stories of interest. “The clients love it and it does great,” said Doutre Jones. 

KTVX has The View at 11, then news at noon and local show Daily Dish, which has added a half-hour. 

Also: Local News Close-Up: Stumptown Gets Over the Hump

Known as ABC4, KTVX airs Inside Utah Politics on Sunday mornings. Glen Mills hosts in addition to anchoring at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekdays.  

In 2019, NBCUniversal closed on KTMW Salt Lake City, along with Utah low-power stations KULX, K17II and KULU. The seller was Serestar Communications and the price, which included a trio of LPTVs in California, was $21 million.  

Telemundo Utah airs local news at 5 and 10 p.m. and may expand its output. “We are constantly evaluating,” said Suarez, who oversees stations in Sacramento and Fresno, California, in addition to Salt Lake City. 

The KULX studio is being remodeled. Suarez described the gear and technology as something that befits a larger-market station. “We’ll be able to tell better stories and be visually more impacting,” he said. 

He said the 14-person KULX news team brings real hustle to the game every day. “I love their energy and how determined everyone is to get the work done, tell the best stories, and really be present,” said Suarez.

The Hispanic population is around 15% in Salt Lake, according to Suarez, and growing. More of the market speaks Spanish, he noted, due to Mormon missionary work in Spanish-speaking locales. 

BYUtv’s Provo base is less than an hour’s drive from Salt Lake City. The network reaches 50 million U.S. homes and shows include sketch comedy program Studio C, drama Ruby and the Well, about a teen girl who grants wishes to the residents of a downtrodden town, and reality show The Fixers, about a team of builders fixing up decrepit spaces, such as an impoverished orphanage. Season 15 of Studio C kicked off March 14, with Will Forte the guest star. Season 14 of Heartland, about a family running a horse ranch, debuts April 1. 

BYUtv aims for the whole family with its programs. “Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and a 12-year-old kid as well,” said Jeff Simpson, managing director, BYUtv. “Co-viewing is what we really talk about. We want the family to watch together and not have to lunge for the remote.”

BYU Broadcasting has three studios at its 100,000-square foot facility. BYUtv airs around 125 live sporting events a year, including basketball, softball, volleyball and soccer. “We have more live collegiate sports outside of ESPN than almost anybody,” said Simpson.

BYUtv worked with KSL to air Ballet West’s The Nutcracker in 2020.  

KSL’s anchors include Nadine Wimmer and Mike Headrick, and Kevin Eubank is chief meteorologist. KSL also has KSL NewsRadio at 102.7 FM, and a couple music stations on the FM dial. The station produces the true-crime podcast Cold.

KSL owner Bonneville International is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

KUTV’s “Beyond the Podium” franchise focuses on politics and Chris Jones covers education, including “Beyond the Books” segments. 

KSTU offers “360” reports that tackle complicated issues from multiple perspectives. The station’s “Positively Utah” segments focus on the good stuff happening in the market. 

The Wasatch Mountains tower over Salt Lake City. Locals describe a more progressive market than one might think — a relatively diverse city, from a political perspective, in a deeply red state. 

Suarez called Salt Lake “an easy place to be and an easy place to visit.” SLC residents mention a pro-business environment and a region that is friendly to the LGBTQ community — and everyone else. 

“It’s a very welcoming place,” Doutre Jones said. “It reminds me a lot of a Midwest market even though it’s the Mountain West. It’s like the Midwest on steroids in terms of its values.” ■ 

The Big Freeze, as it is known, took over in Texas just over a year ago. Severe storms caused a massive grid failure, knocking out power for millions of homes. The temps got downright cold again in early February 2022 in Houston, and many lost power. 

But things were nowhere near as frightful as they were a year ago. 

“Everybody’s sensitivity level is so high,” Wendy Granato, KTRK president and general manager, said. “Folks have been through so much. Add it to the list — hurricanes, tornadoes, crazy crime and now we get freezes.”

To be sure, Houston is in a good place these days. The oil industry that fuels the local economy is on solid footing and the region for years has worked to diversify its business portfolio, with the likes of health care, aerospace and the legal profession growing. “There’s such an influx of companies coming into Houston,” John Hannon, KXLN president and general manager, said. “Oil and gas used to drive 100% of the economy, and now it’s a smaller percentage.”

ABC owns KTRK and Graham Media Group has NBC affiliate KPRC. Fox owns KRIV-KTXH, and Tegna has CBS outlet KHOU. Univision owns KXLN and Telemundo holds KTMD. 

Also: 10 Stations Coordinate in Houston To Launch NextGen TV

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in DMA No. 8. 

Robust Competition

KTRK, which uses an Eyewitness News branding, rules the English-language stations and KXLN does so on the Spanish-language side — often winning the overall ratings races. Everyone competes; one GM notes how the ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC stations all occupied the top spot at 10 p.m. for a period last year. 

In January, KTRK won 6-7 a.m. in households, and it and KRIV took the viewers 25-54 derby. At 5 and 6 p.m., it was KTRK again in households and KXLN in the demo. (KXLN offers network news at 5:30 and network entertainment programming at 6.) At 10 p.m. in January, KXLN posted a 3.2 in households, and KTRK got a 3.1. KPRC got a 2.8 and KHOU a 2.7, while KRIV scored a 1.8 and KTMD a 1.5. In the late-news demo in January, KXLN ran away with it, posting a 2.7, with KTMD at 0.8, KPRC, KTRK and KRIV at 0.7 and KHOU at 0.5. 

KTRK is a power thanks to a bullish digital strategy, signature long-form reporting and its own helicopter, among other attributes, with the competition sharing a chopper. The station is ramping up Spanish-speaking personnel on both sides of the camera. “If you don’t serve the Hispanic audience in the Houston area, you will not be Houston’s news leader for very long,” Granato said. 

KXLN knows all about serving the Hispanic audience, with morning news, an 11:30 newscast, and news at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. KXLN introduced a new news set in early February. Its 11:30 a.m. news, Edicion Digital, has a digital focus, as the name suggests. “It’s not your hard and fast like you see at 5 and 11,” Hannon said. “It’s shorter clips and stories where you want to go online and explore it deeper.”

Fully 45% of the city population is Hispanic, according to Census.gov. Asked what they like about Houston, every general manager who responded for this story mentioned the diversity. As one put it, in other multicultural cities, one goes out to a restaurant and sees a variety of ethnicities around them. In Houston, the range of ethnicities is in your dinner party. 

“The sheer diversity of the city is such an asset,” Robert Springer, KHOU president and general manager, said. “There’s a real sense of community, and people are proud to be from Houston.”

Houston gained nearly 240,000 homes from 2020 to 2021, per Nielsen, and the stations are working hard to turn the new arrivals into viewers. Morning news is a giant business, with plenty of shift workers in the health care and energy fields. KHOU revamped its a.m. program amidst the pandemic, slowing things down a bit. “Not everybody is trying to race out the door first thing in the morning,” Springer said. “We’re not in as much of a rush as we were before, so we added more context.”

KPRC has an Insider program, where users sign up to receive exclusive content and giveaways. The real membership push began late summer, said Jerry Martin, KPRC VP/general manager, and numbers are over 100,000. “It’s in the beginning stages, and we keep tailoring it,” he said.

Lots of Local Innovations 

KPRC has Houston Life at 3 p.m. Martin calls it a “nontraditional lifestyle show” with “very, very few sales elements.” The plan is to expand the program to two hours next year. “It won’t be news, but it won’t be all cooking, recipes and restaurant openings either,” he said. “It’s information that can make your life better.”

KRIV, known as Fox 26, has signature news segments such as “Breaking Bond,” about felons released on their own recognizance who commit violent crimes after their release, and “The Missing,” about missing persons in the area. 

“We don’t just shine a light on the issue, we cause people to take action,” D’Artagnan Bebel, senior VP and general manager, said. 

Fox 26 offerings include Sunday political show What’s Your Point, which Bebel said is “not your father’s political show,” and the live-streamed Lunch for the Soul, hosted by anchor Melissa Wilson. “People are hungry for stories of faith and personal success and how do you create an environment of hope and happiness,” Susan Schiller, KRIV VP and news director, said.

KTRK introduced a live 24/7 streaming channel, along with the rest of the ABC group, on the last day of January. It adds 17 hours a week of live news on the platform, streaming from 4:30 to 9 a.m. weekdays, with the premiere of Eyewitness News at 8:00 A.M. with Jonathan Bruce. “It won’t be long before we launch a 9 a.m., a 10 a.m.,” said Granato. 

Univision has a substantial stash of media in Houston. Besides KXLN, there’s a UniMas station and five radio outlets. 

Keaton Fuchs became KTRK news director in July following roles as digital producer, investigative producer and head of content and data strategy for the station. “He’s done just about everything you can do in the newsroom,” Granato said. “Keaton is a data geek who’s obsessed with what the data can tell us about what the audience wants.”

Two years ago, Tegna acquired KTBU Houston, and airs its Quest programming. 

The station execs in Houston mention a big-city market full of worthy news outlets covering local stories that often go national. “It’s just a go-go market,” Springer said. “It takes a lot of resilience to work in Houston. The pace here is just so intense.”

Bring your A-game every day, they say, or you’ll lose your perch. “Let your guard down for one day in Houston, and you’ll get your butt beat,” Granato said. “I love that and would not have it any other way.” ■

It has been a most eventful couple years in Portland, Oregon, but things appear to be getting back to normal. Corey Hanson was station manager at KPTV, then shifted to a general manager job in Mobile, Alabama in 2020, only to come back 13 months later, arriving in August to be KPTV-KPDX general manager. 

“COVID, riots, extreme weather events — wildfires, ice storms, heat waves,” she said. “The city had really been through a lot.”

Tom Keeler, VP/general manager of KOIN-KRCW, described the past couple years in Portland similarly. Months of civil unrest protests, an ongoing homeless issue, a record high temp of 116 in June. “There’s never a slow day in Portland these days,” he said. 

Gray Television recently acquired KPTV-KPDX, a Fox-MyNetworkTV duopoly, from Meredith. Nexstar Media Group has KOIN-KRCW, a CBS-CW pair. Sinclair Broadcast Group holds ABC affiliate KATU and Tegna has NBC outlet KGW. 

Also: Local News: Start Spreading the News, and There’s Lots of It

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in DMA No. 21. 

KPTV is a ratings beast and KATU a robust rival. In December, KPTV won the 6 a.m. race in both households and viewers 25-54. KATU is an early-evening power, winning the 5 and 6 p.m. battles for households and the demo in December. At 11 p.m., KATU posted a 1.9 household score, just ahead of the 1.8s put up by KPTV and KGW, with KOIN at 1.6. (KPTV tallied a 3.0 at 10 p.m.) In the 25-54 demo in late news, KPTV scored a 1.0, KATU a 0.7, KGW a 0.6 and KOIN a 0.3. 

KPTV, known as Fox 12, is the uncommon Fox affiliate to win local news in its market. “We’ve established ourselves as the place for viewers to start and end their days,” said Hanson. “Our consistent, informative and engaging product helps viewers prepare for their days.”

Before moving up to her GM post in Alabama, Hanson was KPTV creative services director, then both CSD and news director, then station manager. She succeeded Adrienne Roark atop KPTV-KPDX, with Roark named CBS Stations president. 

In November, KPTV transitioned its morning lifestyle show to a traditional newscast, as More Good Day Oregon shifted to Good Day Oregon.

KPTV and KOIN both boast of anchor talent that is well entrenched in the community. KOIN morning anchor Ken Boddie joined the station in 1985. He also hosts Sunday show Eye on Northwest Politics. Anchor Jeff Gianola has been on Portland’s air for over 36 years. He took a turn hosting CBS Weekend News in 2020, when the CBS Broadcast Center in New York was closed due to COVID-19 and the network asked affiliates for help. Anchor Elizabeth Dinh joined KOIN in September 2020 after a run at KPTV. 

In May, KOIN premiered its Is Portland Over? series. Keeler called it “a deep dive that held local leaders’ feet to the fire on things they need to do to clean up the city.” It was weekly through November. As things get back to normal, the focus has pivoted to recovery and restoration, Keeler said. 

Duopolies are handy news extensions in Portland. KPDX, known as Fox 12+, simulcasts the KPTV morning news for three hours, then has newscasts at 8 and 9 p.m. KRCW has a 7-9 a.m. news, then a 10 p.m. program. 

General managers at KATU and KGW did not return calls seeking comment. 

Portland moved from DMA No. 22 to 21 this year, and the stations are hustling to greet the new viewers. KPTV-KPDX picked up Outdoor GPS from NBC Sports Northwest, and debuts the live local hunting and fishing program, hosted by Owin Hays, March 5. It will bear the mouthful of a name Les Schwab Tire Center’s Outdoors GPS Presented By Fisherman’s Marine & Outdoor. “We’re excited to expand our live, local programming,” said Hanson. 

KRCW has a host of local sports, including Portland Winterhawks hockey, University of Portland basketball and volleyball, and Linfield University football. 

Also: Local News: Pep Raleigh

KRCW premieres lifestyle show Everyday Northwest in the 9 a.m. slot at the end of January. Ashley Howard will host. “It will reflect the lifestyle and the people that make the Northwest unique,” said Keeler. 

Portland is indeed unique. People are out and about more as the city’s angsty vibe has waned. If the lively urban center is ever too much for residents, the beach is an hour away, and the mountains are too. “It’s a great place to be outdoors,” said Hanson. 

From foodie-friendly restaurants to arts, Portland offers residents plenty. “It’s one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the country,” Keeler said. ■

Local News is a monthly feature in B+C/Multichannel News magazine and on nexttv.com, highlighting happenings at TV stations in a given local market.

The nation’s largest DMA, and almost certainly its busiest, is getting back up to speed after the pandemic had New Yorkers shut in. Broadway’s theaters are open, tourists are flocking to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and offices are reopening. While everyone awaits the next phase of COVID-19, the streets are getting crowded. 

New York news gatherers welcome the revivification. “There’s always something happening in New York,” WNBC VP of news Amy Morris said, “and there’s a New York connection to any story in the nation.”

Disney’s ABC Owned Television Stations holds WABC. CBS Stations has WCBS-WLNY. NBCUniversal Local owns WNBC and Telemundo station WNJU. Fox has WNYW and MyNetworkTV station WWOR. Mission Broadcasting owns The CW affiliate WPIX and Nexstar Media Group operates it. Univision has WXTV. 

Spectrum News NY1, which turns 30 next fall, is owned by the cable operator. In November, NY1 launched weekday newscast News All Day in the noon slot, anchored by Ruschell Boone, with News All Day updates at the top and bottom of the hour through 4 p.m. 

Besides Spectrum, Optimum and Verizon Fios TV are other pay TV options. 

ABC7 Leads the Way

WABC, known locally as ABC7, is the team to beat. With an Eyewitness News brand, the station won the 6 a.m. race in November. WABC won 5 and 6 p.m. in households and viewers 25-54, and scored a 3.8 in 11 p.m. households and a 1.5 in 25-54. WCBS got a 2.9 and 0.8 at 11, WNBC a 2.3/0.9, WXTV a 1.7/1.1 and WNJU a 1.6/0.9. WNYW and WPIX have news at 10 to 11 p.m. 

Chad Matthews, who was WABC news director, was named president and general manager in February, with Debra OConnell moving up to president of networks for Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. Rehan Aslam came on as WABC VP of news in April. 

Matthews is off to a strong start. In June, WABC pulled off an in-person mayoral debate. The plan was for a virtual debate amidst COVID concerns, and the call to go in person came about a week before the eight-candidate event. “The team did a really, really great job,” said Matthews. 

As with all the ABC-owned stations, WABC features a data journalism team to give stories extra heft, and a race and culture reporter finds neighborhood stories a general assignment reporter may miss. 

“WABC just looks and feels like our market, more than our competitors,” Matthews said. “I think our viewers see that as well.”

WNBC launched a 7 p.m. news in June [see sidebar].”I don’t think anybody is doing a truly local anything at 7 p.m., even on the cable side,” said Eric Lerner, WNBC president and general manager. “We saw an opportunity.”

In April, WNBC debuted a 10-minute weekday OTT newscast called News 4 Now. Views exploded when the Gabby Petito case took off in September, according to Benjamin Berkowitz, VP, digital, WNBC and WNJU. It’s for viewers “who want to engage with our brands, but they don’t have 30 minutes to sit on the couch at 6 o’clock,” he said. 

WNJU (Telemundo 47) offers early morning, midday, early evening and late news. Cristina Schwarz, president and general manager, said the station appears to be set for news, but non-linear product launches may be coming.

Fox 5 Makes People Moves

Over at WNYW, known as Fox 5, Bianca Peters shifted from Good Day Wake Up to Good Day New York, airing 7 to 10 a.m., November 1, alongside Rosanna Scotto. “She played herself into that position,” said Lew Leone, WNYW-WWOR senior VP and general manager. “When you hire someone from outside, you never really know if there’s chemistry.”

Lori Stokes left the morning show to anchor evenings and 10 p.m. in June, when Dari Alexander departed. Dan Bowens slid in as Good Day Wake Up anchor.

WNYW launched The Vault, a digital initiative that offers historic news videos on demand. Byron Harmon, VP of news, referred to it as “a Netflix of news.”

Last month, Morgan McKay joined WNYW from NY1 to cover politics. “No one produces the amount of content or the varied amount of content that we do,” said Harmon.  

Johnny Green Jr. was named president and general manager of WCBS-WLNY in July, succeeding Peter Dunn, who was also president of CBS Television Stations. Green had been WCBS interim news director and VP of news services at CBS News. He noted that CBS2 now has a general manager focused only on the station, not the group. “We’re targeting more coverage and wider communities that we may not have touched before,” he said. “It’s time to give certain issues that are more important more time.”

Sarah Burke came on as WCBS VP and news director in late September, joining from WLS Chicago. WCBS is looking to hire a producer the group calls executive producer, Impacting Communities in early 2022. 

The station occasionally dedicates the 5:30 p.m. news to a lone topic. Mental health and suicide prevention took over the newscast one day in July. “It didn’t feel like it needed to be cut down,” Green said. “We ran it in its entirety.”

Social justice and COVID also got dedicated 5:30 newscasts. 

WXTV (Univision 41) offers morning, midday, early evening and late news on weekdays, and 6 and 11 p.m. on weekends. Univision New York president/general manager Roberto Yanez oversees two TV stations and three radio stations. “We’re providing news around the clock,” he said. “We’re on TV, we’re on radio, we’re on digital.”

In April, WXTV announced Sabados Con Los New York Giants, hosted by former Giant Victor Cruz and WXTV’s Damaris Diaz. The weekly show is designed to bring  football — “not fútbol,” or soccer, said Yanez — to Hispanic viewers who may not follow the game. 

“It has been very well-received by our community,” he added. 

New York stations are hustling to get ahead in the busy market. WNBC and WNJU are moving in together. WNBC is in Rockefeller Center and WNJU in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They will share the second floor of 30 Rockefeller Center starting in fall 2023, with the massive workspace extending from 49th Street to 50th Street.

It represents the final duopoly in the NBC group to co-locate. “We are excited about the collaboration that will happen between departments and department heads,” said Schwarz, who noted that WNJU will maintain a presence in New Jersey. “I’m excited to be next to Eric every day.” 

Lerner mentioned a “gorgeous, state-of-the-art, open news operation. It’s two television stations coming together in a way that we’ve never been able to before. Both stations really deserve a new home.” 

Business Is Reviving

General managers said business is picking up as New York gets back on its feet. Vaccination spots are all over the air. “It’s been a huge source of revenue for the marketplace,” said Leone, who added that sports gambling is also boosting revenue. 

New York attracts the finest news gatherers in America, and it makes for a hot news scene. “All the stations in town have really strong journalists,” said Morris, “and do strong journalism.”

Johnny Green’s newsroom days are behind him, but he still sees things from a news perspective on occasion. For reporters anywhere, “there’s always the element of something new every day,” he said. In New York, “that something new every day may just be down the street.” ■

Pittsburgh is known as one of the truly competitive TV markets in the nation, and a new battleground has emerged in the 4 p.m. hour. KDKA has run 4 p.m. news since 2002, while WTAE debuted an hour-long program in July and WPXI did so in mid-September. 

“There’s been a pretty good shift in the market at 4 p.m.,” said Kevin Hayes, VP and general manager, WPXI. 

Cox Media Group owns NBC affiliate WPXI. Hearst Television holds ABC outlet WTAE. CBS owns KDKA and WPCW, a CBS-The CW duopoly. Sinclair Broadcast Group has the Fox affiliate, WPGH.

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in DMA No. 26. 

KDKA is the station to beat. It premiered a 7:30 p.m. newscast in summer 2020 that focuses on positive stories. Chris Cotugno, KDKA-WPCW VP/general manager, mentioned a real appetite for good news in Pittsburgh. “It’s doing phenomenally well in the ratings,” he said. “The news of the day, when something happens, we have to tell it. But we try to focus on all positive stories.”

KDKA has a similar philosophy for morning newscast Your Day Pittsburgh. “We want to solve people’s problems,” Cotugno said. “We want to be partners in the community, not just tell them the news.”

WTAE won the 6 a.m. battle in household ratings in September, and WPXI was tops in the 25-54 demo. KDKA won the 5 p.m. races in households and the demo. WTAE won 6 p.m. households, while KDKA took the demo. At 11 p.m., KDKA averaged a 5.7 in households, WPXI a 5.2 and WTAE a 4.3. WPXI posted a 2.5 in the 11 p.m. demo, KDKA a 2.3 and WTAE a 1.3. 

WPGH and WPCW do 10 p.m. news. 

KDKA lost its grip on the market leader title a few years ago, but it’s headed in the right direction. “We have it back,” Cotugno said. “We got our mojo back.”

WTAE uses Action News branding. Chuck Wolfertz, WTAE president and general manager, mentions “fast-paced, high-information newscasts” on the station’s air. 

WTAE hired its fifth meteorologist earlier this month in Penn State grad Kasey Reigner. “We have the largest [weather] crew in the market,” Wolfertz said. 

Pittsburgh has plenty of winter weather news. Asked what he likes about the market, Hayes commented, “I love the weather in the spring, summer and fall.”

As the cold weather approaches, WTAE is hustling to provide coats, hats, mittens and boots for those in need through Project Bundle Up, a long-term partnership with the Salvation Army. KDKA is working on its Turkey Fund, providing Thanksgiving meals to the needy. That initiative, a partnership with PNC Bank and Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, is in its 40th year. 

Big in Health Care, Higher Ed

Pittsburgh dropped from DMA No. 24 to No. 26 in the Nielsen rankings from 2020 to 2021. The market was, of course, known for steel production, but so-called “eds and meds” — colleges and hospitals — have emerged as a giant economic driver. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Allegheny Health Network are big health players in Western Pennsylvania. “It’s a town that has reinvented itself,” Cotugno said. 

The local economy is finding its way out of the pandemic malaise. “It’s better in a sense that everything is open,” said Hayes, “but business has not returned to retailers the way it was.”

When Hayes came to Pittsburgh four years ago, he was told repeatedly to prepare for an intensely competitive market. Pittsburgh has proven to be that. Broadcast viewing is high in the region, thanks to an aging populace and concerns about the day’s weather, and stations are trying everything to hook in viewers. “It makes it a fun market to work in,” said Hayes. 

KDKA has a team of five working on digital news platform CBSN Pittsburgh. WPCW does weekday news from 7 to 9 a.m. WTAE airs quarterly specials for local newsmag Chronicle, including a recent one commemorating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Susan Koeppen, who worked at both WTAE and KDKA, anchors the new 4 p.m. news on WPXI, which goes with Channel 11 News branding. 

Residents speak of big-league sports in Pittsburgh, including the beloved Steelers, world-class arts, and more down-to-earth people than you’d ever hope to find in a market. “Very friendly, very welcoming,” said Wolfertz. 

Cotugno called it “the best place to raise a family.”

“It’s a great place to live, not that expensive, three major sports teams, Broadway, concerts,” he added. “Everything comes through here.”

The Orlando stations are active participants in local charities. WFTV held two back-to-school initiatives as part of its 9 Family Connection, one asking viewers to donate lightly used laptops and tablets, and another that came up with 3,000 backpacks full of supplies for needy students. 

Also Read: Local News: Sweltering Orlando Heats Up

WKMG raised $700,000 for students needing school supplies with an August 26 phone bank on behalf of A Gift For Teaching. “Every day is a chance for us to build our brand and engage our audience,” said Jeff Hoffman, WKMG VP/general manager. 

WOFL’s community initiatives include Fox 35 Back to School Supply Drive and food drive Fox 35 Pay It Forward. Telemundo 31 held multiple COVID phonebanks this summer, providing viewers with vital health information. 

As the pandemic took over last year, WESH organized phone banks and virtual food drives. The station raised over $2 million for Second Harvest in 2020. “We recognized early that the need for food was at an all-time high,” said John Soapes, WESH president and general manager. The money raised, he added, “speaks to the character of this market.”

Florida news gatherers and residents look at mid-September as the peak of hurricane season. Tropical storms and hurricanes are more than weather stories in Orlando. “Weather is a huge priority,” WOFL-WRBW senior VP and general manager Mike McClain said. “It’s an all-departments effort.”

WOFL has Fox 35 Storm Alert warnings, and ran the special Tracking the Tropics in late August. In recent years, Telemundo station WTMO compelled its weather presenters to get their meteorological certification. WKMG offers viewers “Forecasting Change” segments on climate change. 

“Weather can be a matter of life and death on a pretty regular basis around the market,” said Jeff Hoffman, WKMG VP and general manager.  

Also Read: Orlando TV Stations Quick to Help Viewers

Cox Media Group holds market leader WFTV, an ABC affiliate, and independent WRDQ. Hearst Television has NBC affiliate WESH and The CW outlet WKCF. Fox has WOFL and MyNetworkTV affiliate WRBW, known as Fox 35 Plus. Graham Media Group owns CBS station WKMG. NBCUniversal holds WTMO and Univision has WVEN. Spectrum is Orlando’s primary pay TV operator. 

Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne moved up a slot to DMA No. 17 this year, bypassing Miami-Fort Lauderdale. New arrivals mean viewers who have not yet settled on their preferred news station. 

Orlando is best known for its theme parks, including Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, but the market offers more. An Orlando Economic Partnership slogan says, “You Don’t Know the Half of It.” There’s a vibrant business community and the Space Coast, including Blue Origin and SpaceX. “It feels like there’s a rocket going up every week,” said Paul Briggs, WFTV-WRDQ VP and general manager. 

Lots of Competition

Exceptionally strong owners make the TV market super-competitive. “If you’re a news person at heart, this is the place to be,” Melissa Medalie, VP and news director at WOFL-WRBW, said. “You need to win every minute, every day, and you can’t have a bad day. It pushes us to be better — all of us.”

WFTV won the 6-7 a.m. household race in August and WKMG won viewers 25-54. WFTV won 5 and 6 p.m. in both races, while WESH, which had the Olympics until Aug. 8, took the 11 p.m. title. WESH had a 2.64 in 11 p.m. households, ahead of WKMG’s 2.18, WFTV’s 1.75 and WTMO’s 1.21, with WVEN posting a 1.06 and WOFL a 1.04. In the 11 p.m. demo, WESH scored a 1.31 and WFTV a 0.96. WKMG had a 0.78, WOFL a 0.39 and WTMO a 0.25.

WFTV thrives on balanced reporting, an experienced anchor corps and robust investigative work, such as a late August story on drinking water in Orange County running low, due to a shortage of a purifying element used to treat COVID patients. “Viewers can rely on us to do investigative, to do important journalism,” Briggs said. 

Indie WRDQ, known as TV 27, does 7-9 a.m. weekday news, and a 10 p.m. newscast Monday to Sunday. 

WESH special Crusade for Change, part of Hearst TV’s Project CommUNITY initiative, focused on social justice. The station has moved some anchors around, including Summer Knowles shifting from 4, 5 and 10 p.m. to 6 and 11 p.m., and Meredith McDonough departing the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts to do morning news. Michelle Imperato moved from the morning newscast to
5 and 10 p.m. 

“We always evaluate where our strengths may be and try to fit the right anchors into the right time periods with the right teams,” said John Soapes, WESH president and general manager. “This gives us the best opportunity to win the time periods and be our best in the market.”

WESH was tied for tops in Olympics Opening Ceremonies ratings among LPM markets, which Soapes said was a result of creative services director Steve Rifkin’s promotional work and the steamy market’s love for summer sports. WESH has the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl in early 2022. “We’ve got some big events here all in a matter of a few months,” said Soapes. 

Unlike its competition, WKMG does not have a duopoly partner. The station wasn’t much of a news player when Hoffman arrived in 2015, but he, news director Allison McGinley and creative director Kym Peoples have hustled to build the News 6 — Getting Results profile. “Now I think we’re established,” said Hoffman. “People know what we stand for.”

WKMG’s ClickOrlando.com has emerged as a digital force in central Florida. 

Fox 35 picked up a couple experienced anchors this summer, with Ray Villeda jumping from WNBC New York and John Brown, who used to anchor Fox 35’s Good Day Orlando, departing KTVI St. Louis to anchor WOFL’s evenings. McClain described Brown as “a fan favorite,” and “not the kind of anchor who sits behind the desk and waits for someone to write copy.” 

WOFL has syndicated You Bet Your Life and Nick Cannon premiering this month. 

WTMO added noon news during the pandemic and debuted morning traffic and weather updates, running a couple minutes a pop. A morning newscast isn’t in the plans quite yet. “Of course I want to, but the station needs to continue to improve its foundation, its workflows,” president and general manager Migdalia Figueroa said. “We’re still building one step at a time.”

Figueroa was WTVJ Miami VP of news before moving into the WTMO GM office in August 2020. 

Stations are connecting with consumers on digital platforms. WTMO plans a daily digital newscast to debut in the fourth quarter. In May, WFTV premiered Breve Del 9, a digital daily newsbrief hosted by anchor Nancy Alvarez. Briggs noted “the tremendous Hispanic community” in DMA No. 17. 

WOFL is the East Coast hub for streaming platform LiveNOW, serving the Fox Television Stations in the a.m., with Phoenix the hub in the later hours. “We’re really excited to be able to be in this space,” said McClain. “It’s a feather in our cap that the company chose us.”

Orlando turned on ATSC 3.0 this summer.

Disney Turns 50

Theme parks represent a giant chunk of the local economy. When they’re doing well, the whole market does well. “The pandemic has had an impact on tourism,” Soapes said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to recuperate from that.”

Walt Disney World turns 50 this year. The anniversary festivities begin Oct. 1. “Every day, Disney is in the news,” said Medalie. 

The theme parks mean residents almost always have a friend visiting Orlando. “Every person you ever met in your life is going to come through town,” Hoffman said. 

The heat this time of year is oppressive, but cooler temps await. Briggs described winters as “spectacularly beautiful.” He added, “Seven months of perfect weather almost makes up for four and a half months” of crippling heat. 

Orlando welcomes people from all corners of the globe, whether they’re tourists or new residents, which tends to make them friendlier to more recent arrivals. “People here are warm and welcoming,” said McClain. “It’s a place where people are from all over, and that’s what I like about it. 

Denver hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 13, with the game’s best showing their stuff at Coors Field. It was also a chance for Denver to show its stuff to the rest of America. “This year especially, it was a coming out party for Colorado,” said KCNC VP and general manager Walt DeHaven, “as we come out of the pandemic.”

The All-Star game was shifted from Atlanta to Denver as a response to new voting laws in Georgia that many voting rights activists oppose. The game “was a big deal for the city, a big deal for the market, and a big deal for Fox, because it aired on our channel,” said Byron Grandy, VP/general manager, KDVR-KWGN. 

The American League dominates the annual mid-summer showdown, and KUSA dominates the news battles in DMA No. 16. Tegna owns NBC affiliate KUSA and MyNetworkTV station KTVD. CBS holds KCNC. Scripps owns ABC outlet KMGH and independent KCDO and Nexstar has Fox affiliate KDVR and CW outlet KWGN. Telemundo station KDEN is part of NBCUniversal Local and Entravision-owned KCEC carries Univision. 

Comcast is the major pay TV operator in Denver. 

KUSA easily won the 6-7 a.m. race in households and viewers 25-54 from January through July 19, and took 5 and 6 p.m. news by a comfortable margin. At 10 p.m., KUSA averaged a 4.45 in households from January to July 19, ahead of KCNC’s 3.13, KMGH’s 2.23, KDVR’s 1.92, KCEC’s 1.15 and KDEN’s 0.57. In the late news demo race, KUSA scored a 1.81, KCEC a 1.03, KDVR a 1.00, KCNC a 0.86, KMGH a 0.63 and KDEN a 0.44. 

Mark Cornetta, president and general manager of KUSA-KTVD, said strong competition keeps 9News staffers hustling. “It’s a pretty high bar in Denver for producing local news,” he said. “It keeps everyone on their toes. We’re not one to sit back and rest on our legacy and assume we’ll be the top station moving forward. We always try to come at it like, we have to work harder because we have such good competitors.”

Cornetta also oversees Tegna stations in Little Rock, Portland and Sacramento. 

In February, KUSA launched 9News En Español, hiring a bilingual digital producer and meteorologist for Spanish-language news on KUSA’s streaming platform. “The growing number of Latino and Latina viewers is not something to ignore,” Cornetta said. 

On the Spanish-language side, KDEN has launched a daily midday newscast, accessible on the station’s digital platforms as well as on Apple TV and Roku. “We are meeting consumers on their preferred platforms and can accompany them anywhere they go, at any time of day,” said Tatiana Arguello, president and general manager of Telemundo Denver. 

KMGH acquired independent KCDO for around $9 million last year, then launched morning, 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. daily newscasts on the indie. The station is branded Local 3. “It has kept us busy, but it’s been a great addition to our portfolio,” Dean Littleton, KMGH-KCDO VP and general manager, said. 

KCDO represents yet another news player in Denver. “When you include our independent and the Spanish-language stations, nine stations are doing news,” said Littleton. “That’s quite a bit of competition, which is good for viewers.”

With additional hiring on the KCDO side, Scripps is looking for a new Denver headquarters for the two stations. 

DeHaven retired July 30. With previous stints at CBS properties in Boston and Chicago, he described Denver as “the best TV community I ever worked in.”

KCNC launched CBSN Denver in February 2020, right before the pandemic became major news. The streaming platform features anchored programming, coverage of live breaking news and a library of local news content that is available on demand. “Sadly, it couldn’t have happened at a better time,” said DeHaven. “People were craving the information and we were able to offer it in that way.”

KDVR added a 10:30 p.m. nightly news, now going 9 to 11 p.m. with local product. KWGN has a 4:30 to 9 a.m. newscast, another at 4 p.m. and an hour at 7 p.m. “There’s just a good appetite in this market for local news,” said Grandy. 

Denver moved from DMA No. 17 to 16 in the past year. Littleton worked in sales at KUSA in 2008 and 2009 before coming on board as KMGH general manager early in 2017. Upon his return, he was struck by the growth in Denver. These days, he notes cranes tickling the sky in every direction. “It’s amazing how much the city has grown in a short period of time,” he said. 

The stations are eager to connect with the new arrivals. KCDO debuted talk show The Kathie J Show Aug. 2. Littleton described the program, hosted by a local radio personality, as “an energetic sort of show focused on local issues,” with “positive, inspiring stories.”

DeHaven said more news may be coming to KCNC in the fall, with a focus on weekends. 

KDVR connects with users on the move through streaming platform Fox31 Now. 

KDEN redesigned its app recently for iPhone and Android users, offering real-time weather alerts in Spanish. KDEN launched its news out of KUSA’s facility years ago, but has since moved out. The stations still share what Cornetta called “an editorial relationship.”

KUSA has a new content initiative called Voices of Change, which seeks out the stories of the underserved members of the community. “We decided to invite voices from the community in,” said Cornetta. “That’s what Voices of Change is all about.”

Denver’s many new arrivals are drawn to the market’s physical beauty, which includes easy access to the Rockies, and a wide range of cultural offerings, including live music and a dynamic restaurant scene. “It’s really outdoorsy and there’s lots of stuff to do,” Littleton said. “The city has a lot going for it. I can see why so many people move here.”

Cornetta described Denver as “a big city with a small-town feel” — a cosmopolitan vibe, but a place where residents are eager to help their neighbor. He added, “It’s a city where people are involved and engaged.” 

Walt DeHaven, VP and general manager of KCNC Denver, marks his last day on the job July 30. He has spent 20 years atop the CBS-owned station, and 14 more with other stations in the CBS group, including ones in Chicago and Boston. The longest-serving general manager in the CBS Stations group, DeHaven has spent 34 years with the Viacom and CBS groups.

DeHaven said his plan is to “leave things in as good a shape as I can, then get out of the way.” 

No successor has been named yet.

Wendy McMahon, president and co-head, CBS News and Stations, saluted DeHaven in a note to KCNC staffers. “Walt’s importance to our organization has been defined not only by his longevity, but also by his leadership, poise and the passion he has for caring about the communities we serve, our clients and all of you,” she said. 

DeHaven will remain active in non-profit organizations in and around Denver. He is president and treasurer of Take Note Colorado, which provides musical instruments and education to schoolchildren, and vice chair at Swallow Hill Music, which provides music education to underserved communities.  

Asked about career highlights, DeHaven responded that the biggest, most memorable stories are often tragedies, and not exactly highlights. He mentioned seeing the KCNC team coalesce amidst wildfires and mass shootings. “The very worst brings out the very best in the people in our organization, in our community,” he said. 

Mark Cornetta, KUSA’s president and general manager, called DeHaven “a great partner,” whether it was educating the market on the digital transition in 2009, or on the four-station helicopter share. “Walt is a great competitor and I’ll be sorry to see him go,” said Cornetta. 

DeHaven said his 20 years at KCNC, and 40 in broadcast, seemed like good numbers to end on. “I loved my time in the business,” he said. “It just seemed right.” 

Sinclair Broadcast Group is looking to expand its free, ad-supported website and app that lets viewers check in with local TV newscasts from 275 stations across the country, to see how wildfires are being tackled in Oregon, if rains have let up in Western Massachusetts or how new voting-access laws are being covered in Texas. 

NewsON has been around since 2015, originally owned by several station groups that contributed broadcast feeds to the service but, since 2017, wholly owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which had joined the consortium in 2016. 

Sinclair this month took note of several upgrades to the service, including a new (since February) web-based version of the service on NewsON.us and better search and display functions on the over-the-top channel, which is available on Roku devices, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and iOS and Android mobile devices. 

Also Read: Ripley Says Bally Sports Net DTC Offering Will Be 'Lean-Forward' Experience

Sinclair officials said the service has been growing in terms of viewing and revenue. Without giving out specific numbers, Sinclair said for the first six months of this year, NewsON’s viewing minutes are running over 30% ahead of where they were in the six months pre-COVID (March 2020), average sessions per user (per month) are up over 10% in that span and revenue run rates are up over 50%. Sinclair offers advertisers options to geo-locate their spots or have them retransmitted as they air on the stations.

Some other figures: NewsON has news content from more than 275 stations owned by 15 station groups, with the biggest absence from the affiliates being Nexstar, which was in the consortium but left after Sinclair took it over. (ABC owned and operated stations also left, in 2020.) Live and on-demand local newscasts on NewsON come from more than 165 local markets covering more than 75% of the U.S. population, according to Sinclair.

Upgrades to the viewer experience put in place since this spring reported by Sinclair include:

--Improved discovery of breaking news, so that when a local story gaining national attention occurs, a dynamic breaking news banner at the top of the screen alerts viewers to stations with coverage of the event.

--Additional market imagery, with each market represented in the app now identified with a featured image for the designated market area. 

--Simplified access to stations marked as favorites (see screenshot), allowing viewers to easily access news outside of their own market. 

Scott Ehrlich, senior VP of growth networks and content at Sinclair, said “the idea of having the broadcast news industry working together to deliver to consumers a national offering of local broadcast news is something we’ve always thought was important. And as OTT has developed over the last few years and as it’s gotten more important to have a local presence as part of an OTT strategy, NewsON has really kind of come into its own.”

Also read: Local TV Connects Amid Crises (Cover Story)

News viewing clearly grew in the last couple of years with interest in the presidential election, with protests over the George Floyd murder and with the COVID pandemic. “It put particular focus on local broadcast news, because local broadcast news was the feet on the street telling those stories, the stories in Seattle, the stories in Portland, the stories across the country,” Ehrlich said. “And as a result the business has continued to grow and we’re investing more and we’re expanding in all those kinds of things” that were outlined in Sinclair’s news release about the NewsON upgrades. 

Like other OTT services, NewsON wants to keep adding platforms to keep growing and building on its gains, Ehrlich said, with talks ongoing with platform providers and with other station groups. 

KGO has a unique newsroom setup, with reporters and producers clustered around five story subjects. The five-subject setup was hatched a couple years ago under the header Building a Better Bay Area. The beats are health and safety, education, race and social justice, the economy and the changing workplace, and climate and the environment. 

“The goal is to get rid of the daybook stuff, the daily churn of spot news,” said Tom Cibrowski, president and general manager, KGO. “We’re focused on the really big subjects that matter.”

Also Read: Bay Area Stations Are Local News Innovators

The five coverage topics can change over time. Climate and the environment, for example, made the list of five this year, and race and social justice has been a go-to subject since last year. 

“We’re focused on finding solutions and providing information on the big problems,” said Cibrowski. 

The game plan emerged as the Bay Area was, in Cibrowski’s words, “coming apart at the seams” amidst astounding population growth. Housing and traffic were two issues that popped out as more and more people arrived. 

Reaction from viewers to the beat approach has been positive. Cibrowski said the five-bucket setup has resonated with younger viewers in particular. “They want perspective, context, someone who says, how are we going to fix this and who is my ally?” he said. “They want someone to say, how can I take action?”

With much of the nation’s — and the world’s — technology innovations coming from the Bay Area, stations in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose are wholly focused on reaching consumers on platforms beyond traditional TV. KPIX premiered streaming news site CBSN San Francisco Bay Area in fall 2019; KTVU connects with users on both Tubi and OTT product FLX; KNTV-KSTS launched newscasts for various digital platforms (The Fast Forward for KNTV, Al Momento for KSTS); and KRON connects with users on the go via its KRONon mobile news product. 

“We’ve invested a lot of time and resources into KRONon,” said Jim Rose, KRON VP and general manager, “and it seems to be paying off.”

The Bay Area market is DMA No. 6. Fox owns KTVU and independent KICU, branded on-air as KTVU Plus. ABC holds KGO. CBS owns KPIX and The CW affiliate KBCW. NBCUniversal Local owns NBC-aligned KNTV and Telemundo station KSTS. Nexstar Media Group has MyNetworkTV-affiliated KRON. Univision owns KDTV and KFSF. Stryker possesses independent KOFY.

Also Read: KGO Takes a Five-Subject Newsroom Approach

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose. 

Fox Television Stations acquired KTVU in 2014 and the station is a power. At 6 a.m. in May, KTVU won households and the 25-54 demo. KGO edged out KPIX in the 5 p.m. household race, and KTVU won the demo derby. At 6 p.m. in May, KPIX nipped KGO in households and KDTV got past KTVU in 25-54. At 11 p.m., KPIX posted a 2.2 in households, ahead of KTVU’s 1.9, KGO’s 1.8, KNTV’s 1.2 and KDTV’s 1.0. In the demo race at 11, KTVU had a 0.8, KGO and KDTV a 0.6, KPIX a 0.5 and KNTV a 0.3. 

KTVU’s 10 p.m. news averaged a 3.6 household rating in May, and 1.8 in the demo. KRON had a 1.0 and a 0.4 at 10.

Lots of News

KTVU-KTVU Plus cranks out 89 hours of news a week, including a 7-8 p.m. newscast on the independent, which offers Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory and Seinfeld during primetime. 

“Our news reporting is very direct and covers the community’s needs, and our talent is well respected and trusted,” said Mellynda Hartel, senior VP and general manager of the Fox duopoly. “KTVU has a long history of delivering the news without a lot of fluff.”

Frank Somerville, evening anchor at Fox 2, went on leave in early June for health reasons. 

Bay Area TV insiders say the race is tightening, and KGO is focused on taking over the top spot. Tom Cibrowski, KGO president and general manager, said ABC7 has some real momentum. “We’re making a run at them,” he said. “Our goal is to be the outright leader in this market.”

The station revamped its beat strategy (see sidebar) to focus on critical issues in the Bay Area, and has found that documentaries work well on the streaming platforms, which include a popular network owned by its parent called Hulu. One documentary, 32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome, focused on the murder of a police officer in Italy, allegedly by two Bay Area students.

“The longer-form content strategy for OTT has been super successful,” Cibrowski said. 

ABC7 launched a 3 p.m. newscast called Getting Answers during the pandemic. The station’s NextGen Advisory Council brings people 18-24 to the station to give insights on what they want to see from KGO. 

Kevin Walsh, president and general manager of KPIX-KBCW, called CBSN San Francisco Bay Area a differentiator for the station. Featuring live streams of KPIX-KBCW’s newscasts and additional digital-only newscasts, CBSN San Francisco Bay Area was the fourth CBSN Local product to launch, following CBS-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles and Boston.  

“It has really proven valuable in terms of giving consumers a different platform and a different way to find our content,” said Walsh. “Giving us the ability to stay on the air 24/7 has been invaluable.”

Online Differentiators

KRON’s mobile news product launched in February 2019 and initially had a $2.99 monthly user fee. The charge was scrapped as the pandemic rolled in, and it’s now free and ad-supported. KRON cranks out 122½ hours of news per week, for both linear TV and KRONon. A 3 p.m. newscast launched last September. 

Jim Rose took over as KRON general manager in mid May. He called the station, which had been an NBC affiliate until 2001, “resurgent.” 

“The call letters are pervasive in this market — people know the station,” he said. “That’s a luxury in this day and age.”

With Stephanie Adrouny heading up news, KNTV added 5:30 and 7 p.m. newscasts June 7, and moved NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt to 6:30 p.m. from its 5:30 perch. Janelle Wang and Raj Mathai anchor the 5:30 p.m., and Mathai anchors the 7 p.m., which Stacy Owen, president and general manager of KNTV-KSTS, said is “designed to be a two-screen experience” with a strong social component. 

Mathai heads to Tokyo to cover the Summer OIympics, his sixth, while Carlos Yustis covers his third Games for KSTS. NBC has that, then the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl in early 2022. “We have the pedal to the metal in the next eight months,” Owen said. 

The Olympics are “a big part of what we do, and a big differentiator in the market,” added Owen, who noted that some new competitions, involving surfing and skateboarding, are well suited for the California lifestyle. 

Univision has a full plate of offerings in the Bay Area, with KDTV and UniMas-
affiliated KFSF, along with three radio stations. “You kind of get the whole whammy with us,” said Raul Rodriguez, president and general manager of the Univision Bay Area properties. 

Rodriguez mentioned three “passion points” for the Hispanic community in the region: news, sport and music, with the Univision properties delivering all three. 

“Univision Contigo” (Univision With You) viewer advocacy segments include “Contigo A Salvo,” which helps the community stay safe in the ocean. “People pay attention and listen to us,” said Rodriguez. 

Tourism is a giant economic driver in the Bay Area, and is getting back up to speed after the COVID lockdown. Restaurants are open again. “The market is definitely showing some health,” Hartel said. 

The GMs speak of a diverse marketplace, overspilling with natural beauty, nightlife and things to do outdoors. 

The Bay Area is, of course, home to Silicon Valley and all the big brains figuring out the next killer app, whether it’s self-driving cars, social media or something else. “The innovation and the ideas here are pretty incredible,” said Cibrowski. “There’s no letup to the amount of great ideas, and the amount of smart and dynamic people that live here is incredible too.” λ

Gray Television is pushing the FCC to classify over-the-top video providers as MVPDs so they will have to negotiate carriage with stations.

That is according to a presentation to FCC commissioner Nathan Simington and his media advisor, Adam Cassady, by Gray counsel and former FCC commissioner Robert McDowell.

Gray is tying that and request for other regulatory changes to the value of local journalism.

In a presentation to Simington and Cassady, according to an FCC document, McDowell said that because of "quirks" in copyright law and FCC regs, OTT services like Hulu and YouTube TV don't have to negotiate retransmission consent with individual stations.

Also Read: Affiliates Ask FCC to Revive OTT-Regulating Item

Instead, he said, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC negotiate the agreements then offer them to stations at what he calls rates often "far lower than the stations receive for traditional MVPD retransmission consent."

That, said McDowell and Gray, is a "regulatory distortion" that "artificially reduces
station resources that otherwise would be directed to local news production."

McDowell pointed out that the FCC has a proceeding pending since 2014--when then chairman Tom Wheeler teed it up as a way to promote OTT competition to traditional video--to "correct" the problem by classifying linear
OTTs as MVPDs when it comes to retransmission consent.

Linear OTTs provide day and date lineups of content channels similar to cable and satellite operators. Wheeler wanted to make sure those OTTs got nondiscriminatory access to programming affiliated with competing cable and satellite distributors.

Last year, and under previous FCC chairman Ajit Pai, the network affiliate associations collectively asked the FCC to reopen the issue, pointing out that OTTs were beyond the reach of retrans and program access rules.

While it had Simington's ear, Gray also called for excluding local news from the FCC rule that if a station providers more than 15% of programming to another, the FCC treats the two as co-owned and thus subject to limits on duopolies. "Excluding local news from this limitation would incentivize stronger stations to supply local news programming to weaker stations and increase the amount of local news content aired in the market," McDowell told them. 

Against what would seem to be long odds, local TV news employment actually increased during the pandemic year of 2020, according to the latest data out of the RTDNA/Newhouse School Newsroom Survey.

The study found that 500 jobs were added in 2020, compared to the 300 lost the previous year. Total TV news employment stands at 28,000. But that good news doesn't look like it is holding. RTDNA also said more than 400 jobs have been lost in the early months of 2021.

RTDNA earlier reported that despite budget cuts and the challenges of operating in a pandemic-battered economy, more local TV news aired in 2020 than ever before.

Also Read: Survey Shows Record Local TV News

The latest data from the survey, released Wednesday (May 19) showed that full-time local TV news employment was up 1.8% in 2020, a record for local news employment and more than covering the job losses a similar survey found in 2019.

That overall increase came despite staff cuts in a record 30.2% of stations, which was offset by growth in about a fifth of stations, as well as the addition of new newsrooms. Affiliates of the top four nets were the most likely to have added staff, but stations in larger markets, non-network affiliates and stations in the Northeast were all more likely to see cuts than gains.

Also Read: Sen. Maria Cantwell Pushes Infrastructure Billions for Local Journalism

Staffing of websites was up slightly, led by stations in the top 25 markets. There were gains in social media producer/editor jobs and station managers surveyed said more staffers were being dedicated specifically to digital.

RTDNA said fewer news directors predicted staff increases in 2021 than in past years.

It’s been a challenging year-plus, to say the least, but things are slowly getting back to normal in the Texas capital. Besides the pandemic, Austin was hit with a snowstorm in February that knocked power out and shut off the water for many residents. But the fair weather is here and Austin’s many attributes, including live music along Sixth Street and lots of outdoor activity, are approaching full swing. 

“The market is as hot as it’s ever been,” said Michael Lewis, KTBC senior VP and general manager. “Sixth Street is not as alive as it was, but it’s getting there.”

Also Read: Austin CW Affiliate KNVA Makes News Push

Fox owns KTBC. Nexstar Media Group has NBC affiliate KXAN, MyNetworkTV- aligned KBVO and manages The CW outlet KNVA. Sinclair Broadcast Group has CBS station KEYE and runs Telemundo on a dot-two channel. Tegna owmABC affiliate KVUE. Univision owns KAKW and UniMás station KTFO.

Spectrum is the primary pay TV operator. The market jumped from Nielsen’s No. 40 to No. 38 in 2021. Austin adds around 169 residents a day. The city finally has a professional sports team, as Austin FC joined Major League Soccer. The Nexstar stations own the English-language game rights, with most matches on KNVA. Things kicked off with an April 24 win over Colorado. 

“It’s got this huge, positive enthusiasm and buzz,” said Eric Lassberg, VP and general manager of KXAN-KNVA-KBVO. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Everyone is just fired up.”

Univision Austin has the Spanish-language rights to Austin FC, with games on KTFO. “It’s a big deal because we have so much soccer passion in the market,” Christine Escobar, KAKW-KTFO president and general manager, said. 

KXAN is a ratings beast. In March, KXAN won the 6 a.m. households race, while KTBC was tops in the 25-54 demo. The stations split the 5 p.m. battle, and KXAN won households and 25-54 at 6 p.m. At 10 p.m., KXAN scored a 4.3 in households, ahead of KVUE’s and KEYE’s 2.7, KTBC’s 2.2, KAKW’s 1.3 and the local Telemundo’s 0.8. In the 10 p.m. demo, KXAN earned a 1.8, KVUE a 1.6, KTBC a 1.4, KAKW a 1.2 and KEYE and Telemundo 0.8 apiece. 

Station Goes ‘In-Depth’

KXAN has “In-Depth Investigation” as its branding and reminds viewers of it often. “Every single promo you see, we pound it into the minds of viewers,” Lassberg said. 

KXAN won two National Murrow Awards last year, an extraordinary accomplishment for a station. Jim Spencer, chief meteorologist, shifted to semi-retirement after 31 years at the station. David Yeomans became KXAN chief meteorologist in March. 

KTBC offers a relentless local news approach, cranking out 53 hours a week. A 6 p.m. newscast came on board in 2019, often giving the full 30 minutes to a specific topic, whether it’s homelessness, COVID or a transportation bill. “We do it when the topic says we should,” said Lewis. “It’s dictated by the news of the day.”

Lewis mentioned that President Lyndon B. Johnson and wife Lady Bird once owned the station. “The spirit of service and giving back to our community is still alive and well,” he said. 

Escobar oversees the Univision and UniMás stations as well as a pair of radio outlets. Staffers from TV and radio are “cross-trained,” as Escobar puts it, to work in both. Radio hosts, for instance, provide entertainment highlights for Austin viewers on Fridays. “We’re all Swiss Army knives here,” said Escobar. 

KAKW has two hours of morning news, a midday newscast, and 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. news. Saturdays are being considered for expansion. “News is what drives the ratings and the revenue,” said Escobar. “It’s alway something we’re looking to expand on.”

Streaming local news on a mobile app has expanded the consumer base for Univision Austin content. 

Weathering Snowmageddon

The stations had their hands full when the snow hit in mid February. Referred to as Snowmaggedon, the issue wasn’t so much the snow, but the havoc that followed, including power outages. Escobar called the storm a once in a lifetime event, and hopes it stays that way. “Nobody wants to go back to that period,” she said. (An Austin native, Escobar named her son Austin.)

Austin’s mix of hot companies, including Tesla and Apple, an influx of new residents and a burgeoning music scene keeps the market on its toes. Slogan “Keep Austin Weird” reflects the independent mindset here. 

“There’s such a large diversity of cultures,” said Escobar. “With the music and food scene, Austin never gets boring.” 

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told an audience of broadcasters this week that she was trying to fight the trend of broadcasting workforce losses due to the pandemic and "information age changes" (translation: Big Tech), including by proposing a big government investment in local news.

In a virtual keynote at the National Association of Broadcasters state legislative fly-in, Cantwell said that was why she believes broadcast journalism should be considered part of the nation's critical infrastructure.

She said that if the President moves an infrastructure bill, journalism should be included as a source of trusted information because it "puts faith into many of our policy decisions because we know there is competition and we know we can trust the source of information."

Also Read: Cantwell Says American Jobs Plan Bucks Should Buttress Broadcasting

She said the chances that an infrastructure bill would get passed were high, but that the chances broadcasting would be part of it were not as high. But she said that she thought that broadcasters and legislators working together could succeed, as they did with getting more money for stations in the COVID-19 small business aid package.

As to the knock on fake news, Cantwell said that if "from time to time" it may be inaccurate, the system is self-correcting.

She said that was why she would be proposing that infrastructure investment include "at least" $2.3 billion in tax credits and grants for local journalism over the next two to three years.

She said that while Congress investigated unfair antitrust impacts on the news marketplace--most notably whether broadcast and print journalists should get an antitrust exemption to collectively negotiate for the use of their content by online aggregators--those journalists needed help now.

The tax credits would help broadcasters pay for salary and healthcare benefits, while a grant program would help rehire some of the workforce.

"Local journalism has won the support of many advertisers and others who believe this is the go-to source when they want their brand to be trusted," she said.

Cantwell said her committee would be launching a series of hearings in the next few weeks on the state of broadcasting, unfair market competition in the sector and what Congress should do about it.

For the second year in a row, local TV stations produced a record amount of news in 2020 despite pandemic-related budget cuts and revenue shortfalls. Likely helping sustain that investment was the fact that, according to RTDNA, The Radio Television Digital News Association, at least in the early days of the pandemic the loss of TV station ad revenue did not exceed the gains in retransmission consent revenue.

A record 1,116 TV stations aired local news, up 18 from last year's record. Of those, 710 reported producing their own news, up five, four of them small independent broadcasters; 406 aired news, up 13 from 2019.

RTDNA said increases in weekday news accounted for the boost, offsetting a slight decrease in weekend news. More than a third of stations (34.5%) said they aired more news in 2020.

On network affiliates, news was up on all except Fox, with CBS affiliates most likely to have increased their news over 2019.

That increase in news output came despite the fact that almost a third of stations (29.3%) reported budget cuts in 2020, compared to only 9.1% in 2019, with most of those cuts coming in the top 50 markets.

Still three quarters (75.9%) of news directors who were privy to the bottom line reported a profit.

A majority of news directors (70%) said that they expected either long-term or permanent changes to be one of the inheritances of the pandemic. Those include fewer staffers using the newsroom as a home base, more remote meetings, and more virtual interviews.

Fully 80% of the news directors said that at least some staffers continued to work remotely.

The survey was conducted in fourth quarter 2020 among all 1,762 operating, non-satellite TV stations. Valid responses came from "as many as" 1,358 stations (77.1%). Some data sets (the number of TV stations originating local news, for example) are based on a complete census rather than projected from a sample, according to Pew.

WISH bears “All Indiana” branding, and holds true to the motto in its mission to spread its news product statewide. The station seeks affiliates to run WISH news, and has WRJK Chicago and WHME South Bend on board. 

DuJuan McCoy, president and CEO of WISH parent Circle City Broadcasting, focuses on border residents — Indiana people based in the DMAs of other states. He estimates that 1.2 million Indiana residents get local news from non-Indiana stations. Gary, Indiana residents, for one, get Chicago news. 

Also Read: Indianapolis Stations Court New Viewers

“We’re working on Cincinnati, Louisville and Evansville,” said McCoy. “Once we get those, we’ll have full statewide coverage.” 

In September, WRJK began airing 80-plus hours of WISH news weekly. Last April, WHME started airing more than 60 hours of WISH news each week. 

Circle City acquired low-power stations in Fort Wayne and Terre Haute and plans to put WISH news product on in those markets. “My news can go anywhere I want it to, because I own it,” said McCoy.

WISH will also offer All Indiana Bets, a weekly sports betting show it aims to launch in the fall, to affiliate partners. 

The syndicated news strategy drives traffic and on demand viewing on WISHTV.com. “It’s a brand extension for WISH-TV and my news brand,” McCoy said. “It’s not a moneymaker at this point, but it will be.” 

The whole of March Madness was consolidated in one market, and there may not have been a more logical home than Indianapolis. Beloved basketball movie Hoosiers was, of course, set in Indiana, and the state capital loves its hoops. 

“Indiana is one of those places where basketball is king,” said Dominic Mancuso, VP and general manager, WXIN-WTTV. 

Besides turning out for games, Indianapolis residents were eager to help with putting on the show and showing off their home city. “So many people are volunteering for things to help make the area look good,” said Lana Durban Scott, WRTV VP and general manager, in late March. 

Baylor won the tournament, and Fox affiliate WXIN wins many of the news races. In February, WXIN easily won the 6-7 a.m. battle in both households and viewers 25-54. WTHR, an NBC affiliate, won the household race at 5 and 6 p.m., and WXIN took both titles in 25-54. At 11 p.m. in February, WTHR scored a 3.5 in households. WXIN and WTTV were at 2.2, WRTV at 1.7 and WISH at 0.8. In the 25-54 demo at 11, WXIN posted a 1.4, just ahead of WTHR’s 1.3. WTTV scored a 0.9, WRTV a 0.5 and WISH a 0.2. 

Nexstar owns WXIN and CBS affiliate WTTV, closing on the pair in 2019. Tegna has WTHR, acquiring it from Dispatch Broadcast Group in 2019. Scripps owns ABC affiliate WRTV and DuJuan McCoy’s Circle City Broadcasting has CW affiliate WISH and MyNetworkTV outlet WNDY. WDNI airs Telemundo. 

Comcast (Xfinity) is the market’s major pay TV operator. 

WTHR is the legacy station, and Indianapolis insiders say the NBC affiliate does not dominate the way it used to. Budgets have tightened since Tegna acquired the station, they note. WTHR did not respond to requests for comment. 

Tighter Local Race

WXIN has gathered momentum with a tireless approach to news. “Local, local, local” is how Mancuso sums up the WXIN-WTTV philosophy, mentioning nearly 90 hours a week of local news. The stations share a newsroom but go head to head in several time slots, including 5 and 6 a.m., 5 and 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. 

“We have legacy talent that’s done very well,” said Mancuso. “We also have new talent that’s done very well too.”

WXIN’s morning show goes from 4 to 10 a.m. and is a beast. Morning anchor Ray Cortopassi departed in September, joining WGN Chicago. “We’ve been very happy with our replacement,” said Mancuso of anchor Daniel Miller, who came from WFXT Boston, and previously worked at WISH. 

WTTV became the CBS affiliate in DMA No. 25 in 2015, taking it from WISH, which shifted to The CW. WTTV anchors Debby Knox and Bob Donaldson anchored CBS Weekend News last May when the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan was shuttered due to the pandemic. 

Also Read: WISH News Tackles All of Indiana

WISH is all in on local news. McCoy was born and raised in Indianapolis, and graduated from Butler University. He jumped at the chance to own a station in his hometown. He said the station’s 82 hours of news a week may be tops in the nation. 

All Indiana is the WISH branding. Last year, the Sunday program All Indiana Politics launched. A 4 p.m. daily show, offering a mix of light news and lifestyle content, bears the All Indiana name, as does a local podcast network that launched during the pandemic. With some 250 podcasts, the network hosts local businesses’ programs. WISH retains the rights, and the podcasts boost traffic on WISHTV.com. 

“It brings in new media consumers, and gives them a sample of what WISH TV has to offer,” said McCoy. 

One hit podcast is homegrown. Year-old Daily 8 is hosted by WISH anchor Kylie Conway. “It cuts through the noise and gives people the facts they need to know right away,” said McCoy, calling the host “a true journalist.”

The 69,000-square-foot WISH headquarters will be home to Multicultural News Network, a venture involving Circle City and Cox Media Group. McCoy is aiming for a fourth quarter launch, hiring around 150 staffers for the 24-hour network. “We’ll aggregate all the multicultural groups in one network,” said McCoy, who stressed that MNN will be a network with affiliates and not a channel. 

Al Carl runs the “News 8” newsroom at WISH. There’s currently no general manager, but McCoy plans to hire one down the road. 

Sister WNDY airs an array of live, local sports. 

WRTV has launched an over-the-top channel that offers users a mix of station content and Scripps programming. Durban Scott aims to evolve it to more local and less corporate. “It’s an opportunity to get content in front of more eyeballs, to get your storytelling in front of more faces,” she said. 

Getting Hoosiers to Work

WRTV pushes a “Hiring Hoosiers” franchise that appears on air and online. The initiative “works to connect Hoosiers to employment opportunities, career development resources, training programs and educational paths,” according to the station. 

“The company urged each station to come up with a franchise topic,” said Durban Scott. “It can be hard to get buy-in in a cynical world, but the staff is all in.”

Pharma colossus Eli Lilly is based in Indianapolis, as is healthcare giant Anthem. Residents describe the market as having a classic Midwestern sensibility — affordable, not much traffic, low crime and loads of decent people. “It’s a great Middle American market,” Mancuso said. 

In terms of news content, they suggest Indy punches a bit harder than its weight. “This is a hard-working, humble town, a little bit rural, a little bit city,” said Durban Scott. “It’s market No. 25, but I don’t know that it feels like market No. 25.” 

Jonathan Mitchell, VP and general manager of WMC, turned up in Memphis with sports production in his background, having led a team that built a local sports network on a diginet years ago when he was the news director at KHQ Spokane, Washington. 

He worked out a partnership with the University of Memphis to produce the university’s sports games for ESPN Plus. The venture began in December with men’s and women’s basketball, and has moved on to soccer and volleyball. Baseball and softball games happen this spring. 

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Mitchell described the sports broadcasts as “network-quality.”

The mission is off to a solid start. “It’s been a really neat project, especially in challenging times,” he said. 

When COVID issues subside, the enterprise will provide production experience to college students who may end up pursuing a career in local television. “Hopefully it develops a pipeline, not only for WMC, but for [parent] Gray Television as a whole,” Mitchell said. “We’re always looking for talent.” 

While much of Memphis, Tenn­essee, was shut in during the mid-February snowstorm, the news crews were out and about, covering this once-in-a-generation event. 

“We knew it was going to be bad,” said Jonathan Mitchell, VP and general manager of WMC. Putting 12 crews in hotel rooms “was not a cheap venture, but it was the right thing to do. We were kind of everywhere.”

Six to 10 inches fell across the market. Long-range freezing temperatures kept Memphis in lockdown and the city’s water supply was impaired. 

“This part of the country is not accustomed to that,” Ron Walter, WREG VP/general manager, said. “It was crippling and dangerous and beautiful all at once.”

Also Read: WMC Produces Games for ESPN Plus

Nexstar Media Group owns CBS affiliate WREG. Gray Television holds NBC outlet WMC. Apollo Global Management has Fox station WHBQ and Tegna owns ABC affiliate WATN and The CW-aligned WLMT. 

Comcast is the dominant pay TV operator in DMA No. 51. 

Walter has spent a stunning 34 years at WREG. It is a local news powerhouse, facing stiff competition from WMC and WHBQ, with WATN playing catch-up. “As people search for a trusted source of news in their community, more people have turned to us than before,” said Rick Rogala, WATN-WLMT president/general manager. 

WREG had the top household Nielsen score at 6 a.m. in January, and WHBQ was tops in 25-54. WREG won a tight 5 p.m. households race and 25-54, and won 6 p.m. households, tying with WMC in 25-54. 

At 10 p.m., WREG had an 8.3 household rating and 2.9 in the demo. WHBQ did a 4.1 and a 1.8, WMC a 4.1 and 1.5 and WATN a 1.2 and 0.5. 

The stations are hustling to get ahead. WREG unveiled a new set in October, which Walter said is “modern, digital and like a network’s.” Next up is the newsroom. 

Mitchell arrived at WMC in September 2017 after a stint as VP of news at KNTV San Francisco. The station has gone from 33 hours of news a week to 47 during his time in the market. 

Rogala arrived late in 2019. WATN produced a digital town hall on race called “Uncomfortable Conversations.” “It was ground-breaking,” said Rogala. “We asked, what are the possible solutions to these questions?”

Another one on vaccines was called “Candid Conversations.” Both ran on-air. 

Stations Change Owners

Memphis has seen substantial ownership changes among its stations. Apollo acquired the Cox Media Group stations, including WHBQ, late in 2019. Late in 2018, Nexstar grabbed WREG and had to sell WATN-WLMT in 2019, with Tegna acquiring. In 2018, Gray and Raycom merged, giving WMC a new owner. 

The stations are looking forward to life after pandemic. WREG’s Saturday show Informed Sources became The Coronavirus Alert Health Check last year. “We modified it to reflect what is going on in the community,” said Walter, “and sometimes in the nation.”

WMC aired school lessons on a subchannel for students stuck at home last year. When students in need got laptops and internet access, and did not need televised lessons, the station raised $350,000 for headsets. 

WMC’s 3 p.m. show Bluff City Life is on hiatus, with news filling in. “Fingers crossed, we hope to come back in the fall,” said Mitchell. 

WATN-WLMT has partnered with Heal the Hood Foundation of Memphis to build the Hero Empowerment Center in the city. 

Memphis is diverse, with a rich history, and lots of nightlife on Beale Street and beyond. Said Mitchell, “It’s one of those cities that really has a soul.” 

Amazon said it is adding on-demand local news in 88 more cities to the news app on Fire TV.

The stories come from stations owned by The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Television Stations, CBSN, Tegna, Cox, The E.W. Scripps Co. and Altice USA.

Amazon introduced local news last year in 12 cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Also Read: Comcast’s Vudu to Launch on Amazon Fire TV

“Local news helps our customers stay connected to important issues and updates within their communities,” said Charlotte Maines, director of Amazon Fire TV. “In the last year especially, local news has been incredibly helpful in an uncertain environment and our viewers continue to ask for more news options. This expansion will bring a truly local experience to both Fire TV and the streaming industry.”

Newly added markets include Detroit, Phoenix, New Orleans, Salt Lake City and Orlando.

“Our distribution with Amazon provides viewers access to 49 local Tegna station brands they know and trust most for the highest quality local news,” said Adam Ostrow, chief digital officer, Tegna. “Local news is more important than ever to the communities we serve, and Fire TV and the Amazon news app help us deliver the stories and information that matter most to our audience regardless of which platform they use to consume news content.”

The service would compete with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Stirr and VuIT, launched last year by Syncbak with an investment by Gray Television.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Scripps is committed to serving local viewers on every platform with accurate, reliable news and information that helps them live better lives,” said Brian Lawlor, Scripps’ president of local media. “Amazon’s thoughtful expansion of local news content on its Fire TV devices is a strong testament to the power of local news to keep communities safe and informed through everything 2020 has brought us, and everything ahead in 2021.”

Amazon’s news app is free and supported with advertising. 

In addition to local news providers, it includes content from ABC News Live, CBS News, Reuters, Cheddar, Entertainment Weekly and Black News Channel.

E.W. Scripps has made a deal that will put newscasts produced by Berkshire Hathaway-owned WPLG-TV, in Miami, on WSFL-TV, which Scripps acquired in 2019.

WSFL, a CW affiliate, will air news from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. until 11 p.m. weekdays beginning in June. The newscasts are being specifically produced for WSFL, but will employ WPLG on-air talent.

The stations will also simulcast major storm and hurricane coverage from WPLG’s news staff.

Also Read: E.W. Scripps Plans To Take Over the Air Nets Over the Top

“In every market where Scripps owns a TV station, we provide local news to serve that local community. When we purchased WSFL in late 2019, launching news on our station was our top priority,” said Brian Lawlor, Scripps’ president of Local Media. “Miami is an active and diverse market with plenty of opportunity to bring news and entertainment to local audiences. This new partnership gives South Floridians three more hours of the market’s most trusted news brand. We are thrilled to be their partner.”

Audiences will be able to access these additional newscasts on all WSFL platforms, including Roku, Amazon and Apple streaming apps. 

“Partnering with the market-leading news team at WPLG will allow WSFL to provide important local news coverage, including coverage during the frequent severe weather that impacts South Florida,” said Bill Siegel, VP and general manager at WSFL. “We’re excited about furthering our commitment to our community through Local 10’s coverage of South Florida’s most important social, economic and community issues.”

WSFL is one of six TV stations Scripps operates in Florida. 

WPLG has served the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market for 64 years. WPLG became part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2014.

“Scripps is a leading local broadcaster, and we are proud to partner with them to expand our news footprint in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market,” said Bert Medina, president and CEO of WPLG Inc. “News viewers in our community will now have more choices for local news in time periods that are convenient to them. This furthers WPLG’s commitment to being the news leader in South Florida, producing more newscasts than any other station in our community, 73.5 hours of news and local programming.”

Scripps acquired The CW affiliate KASW from Nexstar Media Group two years ago in an eight-station, $580 million deal. CW61 has emerged as a news destination. 

KASW offers weekday news at 7-9 a.m, noon-1 p.m. and, most recently, 9-9:30 p.m. The morning news happened in late March. “Our plan was to extend our community presence and the strong connection our team has with our ABC15 Mornings viewers,” said Anita Helt, VP/general manager of KNXV-KASW. “Little did we know that the connection would only deepen as we have helped our viewers through these unprecedented times.”

ALSO READ: Local News Battle Royale in Phoenix

KASW’s news features ABC15 on CW61 branding. The noon program happened when daytime viewership spiked amidst the pandemic and the primetime newscast premiered in July. 

KASW has also enjoyed an upgrade in its syndicated programs, which include Seinfeld and Friends. “Nostalgia really seems to resonate,” said Helt. 

KASW had a minimal news presence prior to the acquisition. “We’ve really expanded our news footprint,” Helt said. 

With Arizona a prime swing state on Election Day, stations in the capital enjoyed enormous political spending. It put an emphatic exclamation point on a year made dismal by the pandemic. 

“The market went nuts,” Andrew Deschapelles, president and general manager of KTAZ, said. “Arizona became very much a battleground state.”

Fox owns KSAZ and MyNetworkTV station KUTP. Scripps has ABC affiliate KNXV and CW affiliate KASW. Meredith has CBS-aligned KPHO and independent KTVK. Tegna owns NBC affiliate KPNX. Univision has KTVW-KFPH and Telemundo holds KTAZ. 

Cox Communications is Phoenix’s primary pay TV operator. 

DMA No. 11 added 279,000 TV households from 2020 to 2021, according to Nielsen. Stations are increasing their news output. KSAZ does 12 hours of news per weekday and KUTP simulcasts OTT product NewsNow from Fox 10 a.m. to noon weekdays. NewsNow is “very raw and unfiltered,” said VP/news director Doug Bannard.

KNXV has made KASW a news destination.  

KTAZ does 11 a.m., 4-5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. news weekdays, with Deschapelles citing NBCUniversal’s ownership as key. “That investment was really substantial,” he said, mentioning how the news department spiked from three people to 30 over the course of a year. 

KTVW has 11:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. news, and Joe Donnarumma, president and general manager, is thinking about mornings. “It’s always in discussion,” he said. 

In November, KSAZ and KTVK tied in 6 a.m. households, and KSAZ took the 25-54 title. At 5-5:30 p.m., KNXV had the top household score, followed by KSAZ and KPNX. (KPNX and KNXV have network news at 5:30.) KTVW topped KSAZ in the 25-54 race at 5. KNXV had the top local household score at 6 p.m., while KSAZ won 25-54. 

The 10 p.m. household race saw KNXV at 2.5, KPNX at 1.9, KSAZ and KPHO at 1.8,  KTVW at 1.6, KTVK at 1.2 and KTAZ at 0.7. In 25-54, KTVW did a 1.3 and KSAZ a 0.9. KPNX got a 0.8, KTAZ a 0.7, KNXV a 0.6, KPHO a 0.4 and KTVK a 0.3. 

KSAZ thrives on an average anchor tenure of 18 years at the station. “We’ve carved out our niche as the big-story station,” Bannard said.

The Phoenix market has adopted ATSC 3.0. The Big Four stations share a helicopter.

Stations are figuring out how remote working will work when the pandemic ends. Anita Helt, VP and general manager at KNXV-KASW, mentioned how reporters like the more “efficient” morning editorial meetings now, which get them out the door faster. Staffers miss serendipitous meetings that spark ideas, she said, but Helt is pleased to see how quickly staffers adapted. “If anyone asked a year ago, could you do that, I would’ve thought they were dreaming,” she said. 

KSAZ will test The Mediator with Ice-T starting March 1. “We like to pride ourselves as a viable test market,” said Mark Rodman, senior VP and general manager. “If it gets any traction we’ll roll it out nationally.”

KTVW-KFPH is hosting the virtual small business event Possible April 6-8. “It’s informational but also inspirational,” said Donnarumma. 

Tourism is down, but real estate is booming. “We are cautiously optimistic that, once the vaccine is widely distributed, things will turn around,” said Rodman. 

Local content is a dynamic business in Phoenix. “The news cycle just does not stop,” said Helt. “What we do as news organizations is more important than ever.”

Robb Hanrahan, an anchor in markets including New York and Miami, said he is retiring from his post as anchor at WHP-TV, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to focus on his health.

Hanrahan, 58, had a heart attack last year and was off the air from June to November. He has been with WHP since 2010 and his wife Stacey is the station’s assistant news director and does fill-in weather reports for the station.

“I have been through an extraordinary and life changing experience. It has truly opened my eyes as to what is most important to me,” Hanrahan said. “Although TV news has always been, and will always be, a part of who I am, I know this is the right time to step back. I will miss all my friends and co-workers at CBS 21 and I remind them that I am not going anywhere. I still live in the market, my wife, Stacey, is still doing the weather and CBS 21 will always be my station.”

Hanrahan started his TV career at KODE-TV, in Joplin, Missouri, and moved to Pennsylvania to work at WHTM-TV, in Harrisburg. He moved to Miami’s WSVN-TV, before moving to New York as an anchor for WABC-TV from 1996 to 2003. He returned to Miami at WFOR-TV before joining WHP.

“It’s been a real honor to work side by side with a true professional like Robb Hanrahan,” said CBS 21 news director, Bryan Queen. “Robb is the ultimate ‘news guy,’ and we wish him the best as he starts this new chapter in his life.  He will always be a part of the CBS 21 family.”

At WHP, Hanrahan was co-anchor of the weeknight evening and late news. He covered major events including two presidential elections, the flood of 2011 and the closing of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. He also anchored a weekly political news show and hosted numerous town halls.

“Robb is a great anchor, reporter, and leader and will be truly missed in the CBS 21 newsroom,” said WHP VP and GM Bill Bradley. “The positive impact that Robb has had both on our news coverage and our news team has been instrumental in our continued growth. Robb will be missed by the entire CBS 21 family.”