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Last week I found myself watching CNN’s coverage of the Reagan assassination, the space shuttle Challenger disaster and Desert Storm coverage on YouTube. It was what real journalism was... and should be today. Just straight reporting. FOX, MSNBC and CNN today are not news operations anymore. They are opinion channels. It’s a shame. Good reporting about world events is much more riveting to watch than a Brady Bunch split screen with six talking heads blabbering on and on about what the weird haired man posted on twitter today. Hopefully these “news” nets find their way back to reporting the news again... but I’m not gonna hold my breath for that.

Time to update a now 5-year-old news open playlist...

By the way, Sam Rubin is in this week's episode of KTLA's "The News Directors Office" podcast, of which, I really thoroughly enjoy. Of course, it has the interview but it also starts with quotes and offers a fun fact on Dolly Parton (and who doesn't love her, seriously?) in every episode. I seriously recommend it. Past interviewees include Eric Spillman, Ellen K. from KOST FM, Kevin Fraiser (last week's) and Megan Henderson (first episode).

36 years ago today, WSAV and WJCL swapped network affiliations, only to reverse said swap 3 years later after NBC turned everything around. In the days leading to the switch, WJCL blacked out ABC promos in favor of this graphic promoting the upcoming switch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=mdtQ7A125Zs;m=2;s=1

Ahhh.... Pittsburgh, one of my most requested compilations.

Please let it be a holiday special.

I've never worked for Tegna either, and I've never worked on the management level yet, but IME it's a two-way street as to what influences the editorial direction. The corporate level of any station group will bring in consultants to try to guide local management into what they think is the best way to make a profitable newscast, and local management will then figure out how to do that on the more granular level. Tegna didn't hire Joel Cheatwood to just sit around. (Or on second thought, maybe they did.) Corporate doesn't give station management carte blanche to do whatever they want, but corporate also doesn't "force" stations to do much either (at most companies, anyway.) WVEC backpedaled really fast on their 11pm experiment, and I'm sure that was a local decision. I don't think you can pin these experiments on just corporate or local management. I know I posted on here a while ago an interview with Kyle Clark and Tegna's CEO, who was KUSA's news director in the 90s. I remember him saying that they're proud of trying all kinds of different ideas in multiple markets because every station and every market is different. I don't think it's as easy as saying "every station needs to produce its own version of Next" because not every station is KUSA with strong management, not every anchor is Kyle Clark, and not every newsroom may want to commit to setting up such a specialized team for one newscast. Also, a GM with a sales background sounds bad until you work for a GM with a news background who won't let the news director do his/her job.

We don't have a domestic news channel anymore. They are all talk radio and inside baseball. CNN is shameless in how much of a ratings grab it's become. It is sad because of how great CNN used to be. CNN International still has some bright spots coming from Atlanta and London, and they still have a pretty great stable of correspondents. But you'll almost never see any of that on the domestic channel. CNN was always the dream for me professionally. Not so much anymore.

While obviously local management plays a large role in how a station is run, if you think corporate ownership doesn't make a difference, you're badly mistaken. I say this as someone who works in local TV. And TEGNA isn't considered a top choice company for most TV professionals. From my observation, I see TEGNA as a company trying almost too hard to innovate. They often roll out silly, social media driven, experimental newscasts to multiple stations before such concept has even been successful on one station. Sure, there have been some successes here and there (like the intelligent and thoughtful Next at KUSA), but those have been rare. More often, cheap beats intelligent, thoughtful production. Yes, that's the direction local TV is headed, but the company seems to take pride in driving the industry there even faster by proclaiming things like "Change isn't an option." I think in some ways the company outsmarts itself with its commitment to the theoretical without the tangible results. Just my thoughts.

WRTV/Indy WISH/Indy during CBS era WTVW/Evansville during ABC era

CNN, like all of cable news, is an entertainment product at it's core. Why do you think CNN went with wall-to-wall coverage of that missing plane? Cable news is there to make money; the most money possible. All-day coverage of the president's tweets is what they believe will make them the most money, so that's what they cover.

Without going into a list, WKYC has largely stayed away from any social-media drivel. Instead, they're traditional mainly because it's keeping WJW from being absolute #1 in Cleveland. Hell, it was Gannett that made WKYC relevant after NBC ran it as a basement-dweller from the 70s until 2000.

This has become too painful to witness. The once mighty CNN degrades it's product to the lowest of the low. And people wonder why CNN is called "fake news"? Here is why... https://theintercept.com/2018/08/28/cnn-credibly-accused-of-lying-to-its-audience-about-a-key-claim-in-its-blockbuster-cohen-story-refuses-to-comment/ Now I "get" that CNN wants to be the network to "Bring down Trump", but it will never happen because CNN has destroyed it's own brand...that BRAND was credibility. CNN is done as a legit news org. Nobody can save CNN now. Just like the catholic church it needs to be torn down for good...and then MAYBE rebuilt from scratch. The only saving grace is that hardly anybody (less than 250,000 viewers per week) watch CNN. More people last week watched Rick and Morty (pretty funny show) on Cartoon Swim. Like watching a good friend commit suicide in front of you... Good Bye CNN. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" There goes that KBEX-TV "EatNews One".... whoooooosh!

They did almost a decade ago at 11:30 a.m. but later canceled it.

Those walk-in bath tubs are kinda nice, and why walk up the stairs when you can RIDE?

Ah yes, Fox is a big hit with the 54+ demo.

When have I ever run away silent from debate here???? NEVER! FOX has ratings that reflect it's ability to attract an audience. it's all about money. Forget the politics because it's OK if you hate Trump. But FOX is #1 with waaaay more people. FOX gained audience last quarter while CNN's viewers continue to RUN away. Hating Trump has destroyed CNN. Otherwise democratic viewers would be watching CNN by the millions. TV is a business first. CNN is dying right before our eyes. Go hug your children.

I'm not sure what company you work for, but I also work in the business and disagree with a couple of things here. Full disclosure, I was at a management level position for a TEGNA station a couple of years ago when the company spun off of Gannett. Not once did I ever encounter anything along the lines of "Corporate is making us do so and so" (Nor has this occurred at my current station). Standardized graphics you say? Nonsense. If a CSD really wanted to, they could launch their own package, but most stations these days do not have a graphics department to support the every day needs of the news department. TEGNA may encourage their business units to think outside of the box, but they aren't forcing anyone's hand here. That said, I would work for them again given the opportunity. Secondly, again, those social media driven/experimental newscasts are coming from local management. If it was corporate, you'd see something like that on it's entire television portfolio. In this case, some GM/ND came up with the idea and others started running with it. I guarantee you whoever first pitched the idea was someone from sales who found their way into a GM/ND position. Sadly, this is a common occurrence in this business.

I didn't see the premiere in its entirety but Michael and Sarah make a great partnership for this type of format. KTLA's Sam Rubin is already speculating that insiders believe this is a trial for cancelling LIVE at some point in the near future.

They sure did... and so did their sister station in Syracuse, WSTM: Both were owned by Federal Broadcasting at the time - Federal later divested WCFT when ABC/Allbritton came to set up the ABC 33/40 tri-mul-cast.

SAS7 in Adelaide signing off in 1993:

Here is WCFT in Tuscaloosa during their final days as a separate CBS affiliate. Take note at 1:16, because they used a TVbD graphics package.

WKEF/Dayton during NBC era WHIO/Dayton

In the Gannett years, KOCO did a noon newscast. To be honest, It's about time they reentered the noon game. That and adding a 4pm show.

Was Cecilia Vega in for Michael this morning on the mothership GMA? I wonder if it was just because GMA Day premiered today. Also, Whit seems to have become a permanent third anchor on weekend GMA.

Canal 13's ironic promo of Telenoche about the 1999 Argentinian presidential campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=oXe0rF8IFUU;t=45 Claudio Rígoli anchors a weather update from Azul Televisión in November 2000. (both videos include commercials and station IDs)

Why not blame Jeff Zucker? He's the one at the helm of the network. Ever since he took over he did turn CNN into a reality show cable news. The last few days Maddow/O'Donnell/Williams had big wins last week and Lemon won a slot on CNN. You can be mad at what they're doing, but in 2018 and beyond. All these exectives at every network don't care about journalism. They care about $$$ revenue and what good for their shareholders. Remember Jeff Zucker & Trump were friends. Don't know how that friendship is today, and the same with Mika & Joe were friends with Trump, and now they hate him. Well, Zucker, Mika & Joe should hate themselves while they're at it. At the end of the day it business as usual, and we live in a different era with the internet, everybody rushing to post something on social media for the clicks. When CNN was the loneranger in the early days. If there were social media/internet around 1990 & 1991, who knows how local/network/cable news would be back then. I agree journalism is gone, and yes CNN used to be the gold standard, but that the past. We can hem and haw about what used to be, but those that should be held accountable executives, producers and more. Again, remember these cable outlets are owned by corporations, and look at FOX NEWS. There no journalist bone of intergery in their news, they know how to cater to an audience (use tactics of fear), but they make a boatload of money in the process. Will it change? Who knows?

Even RT America is more of a news channel than CNN is!

Hurricane Gloria coverage Part 1 Hurricane Gloria coverage Part 2 WWOR Promo WEVU 80s bloopers Please do not repost.

KTVN Reno is getting new graphics (the CBS O&O or the WNEM one) to coincide with the station adding 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. news starting next Monday.

This time of the year is a busy time for me when I do my blog and, if you allow me because this will be a list, this is how much expansions you can expect next month alone. September 3rd: In Utah... KUTV forces to move its 7:00 a.m. to KJZZ while KUTV brings back 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. In New Orleans... WDSU brings back its noon newscast and its an hour long (starts as a half-hour due to NBC Sports but will then be an hour-long the next day). In Roanoke... WDBJ 7 will put more local news on its newest sister WZBJ 24 at 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. September 4th: In the DFW Metroplex... FOX 4 News - Good Day becomes a six-hour broadcast with a 9:00 a.m. hour. In South Bend... WNDU NewsCenter 16 at 4:00 will make its debut to go against WSBT 22. September 10th: In Houston... the recently announced ABC 13 Eyewitness News at 3:00 joins the lineup. In Milwaukee... WISN 12 News Midday brings the station back to the midday news game for the first time in quite a while. In Memphis... WMC Action News 5 Today will start at 4:00 a.m., the earliest in Memphis. Also in New Orleans... FOX 8 News - The Morning Edition goes to 9:00 a.m. as well. In Providence... WJAR 10 is going to 3:00 p.m. too. Questionable move at best. September 17th: In Charlotte... probably not getting enough attention but FOX 46 News at 5:00 will arrive. Announced today, WPMT 43 is adding another hour to its FOX 43 Morning News, this time at 9:00 a.m. In Lafayette, Ind.... WPBY 35 and its Star City News will add an extra half-hour at 7:00 p.m. Please allow this list post just to prove a point that September is a busy time for local television everywhere. Its usually not this busy in all other months of the year.

I will be happy to debate you or anyone else at any time....anywhere. All I ask is that you come armed with verifiable FACTS and not a bunch of talking points or emotional garbage. I would expect you to also have a very deep knowledge of the subject including all relevent players and legal scenarios currently being discussed by the pointy bearded university types. Anytime...anywhere. I look forward to your invitation. ~Chuu These goes that stupid KBEX airplane....AGAIN!

Any station that relays on social media for it's content is on a path to failure. Show me ONE success story of a newscast based on SM. Now take a look at a station that doesn't use SM as a crutch or a starting point for its coverage...a station that gets very solid ratings and has higher billing than any other local station including all the network affils locally. It's KUSI.

I'm sure both she and Michelle Beadle will be clucking away on The View in no time.

I don't work for Tegna, so I'm obviously not an expert on what goes on inside its newsrooms so I appreciate your insight there. My position isn't really that "corporate forces stations to do xyz." I just think saying "It's all on local management" seems like a bit of an overstatement. While corporate my not force anything, there's no doubt it encourages some things. You need look no further than the fact that so many of its stations are run so similarly. Many of the stations run with ideas that just aren't seen anywhere else. I think if you walk into any given Tegna newsroom, you're likely to find a lot of consistencies. Lastly, I think that's a very good point about GMs with sales backgrounds. It is all too common and I really hadn't thought of that being at play with some of the sillier ideas.

Looking at TV listings for 9/10, it appears the 3:00 news bug has hit Providence. WJAR is the one taking the dive there, an interesting thing for two reasons. 1: Providence has nobody doing news at 4:00. 2: This 3:00 newscast will be only a half hour. Filling the hole between it and Ellen is...an infomercial. Even for a Sinclair station this seems extra lazy. Why not follow the lead of WCVB, WVIT, WNBC, WMTW, and assorted others and do Ellen at 3 with news at 4?

** COUGH ** Election Season ** COUGH ** Seriously, nobody mentioned that in the last page and a half... it’s an ad grab and nothing more...

Inside Edition does its thing live at 3pm ET/2pm CT so unfortunately, Jeopardy! is the one who's moving.