tyrannical bastard

The one thing worse than a lousy news open? Not having one at all. It's a troubling trend as some stations have given up entirely and just dump straight into the news as if they're coming back from break. Maybe a breaking news stinger to start it off, but that's it. Some stations have made the compromise to make the "breaking news" open that's quick and serves the dual purpose.

I guess WWL and WKYC would fall into the stations mentioned above as well. I have to wonder how WWL's morning show is doing now that they've been forced to move the 7-9 am portion to Siberia on WUPL...

WKRG has had one for several years, dating back to before their current on-air look.

Scripps buying WBNS would be an interesting about-face because it was Dispatch that pulled the plug on the JOA that would have kept the Scripps owned Citizens Journal over 30 years ago. Now that both companies have divested their print properties...The bad blood is gone.

The way things are going, they can have them. From their inbred syndication efforts, cost cutting of experienced talent and needlessly re-inventing the wheel, Nexstar may be a positive... But such a deal would be LADEN with conflicts. It would likely put WTSP on the block so a real owner could undo the damage... From one deathstar.... To another...

Seems almost like a trade, since WKRG/WFNA's former GM is now heading up WSFA.

WKRG is "expanding" their news AGAIN.... As posted on their Facebook page! Funny since they announced the same thing last year on this day..... Happy AFD!

Rev. Ernest Angley is in trouble AGAIN for not paying his employees. http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2017/03/televangelist_ernest_angley_or.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home_pop Makes me wonder how WBNX is staying afloat. Could the "volunteerism" bug be rampant there? Or are they the cash cow of the whole ministry, along with the gullible folks who write them a check once a month... Or maybe they're waiting on that spectrum money. One things for sure, don't count on Tribune owning them at this rate. It may be Sinclair's bidding IF they get a hold of Tribune and/or WJW.

As long as they aren't actively pre-empting network programming (if something goes against their "views"), that's the only way a network could cry foul. Now if they try the same stunt they pulled with Nightline back in 2004, then that may cause a problem. Given the growth of retrans and network reverse compensation since then, the obligation to carry network content is heightened even more.

I guess ads like these weren't enough to keep them going...

It sounds like he has major disagreements over how things were run under prior management. Earlier this week, FTVlive documented the numerous openings that had developed under prior management. While I get that Nexstar/MG wanted to wait to fill them, the fact that so many jobs opened up to begin with was a direct result of the prior management chasing off or laying off employees. And to put this "sane" move in perspective, this new GM was the same guy who mailed a dead rat to the landlord of his prior station WOIO/WUAB after a rodent problem at their studios.... http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2015/05/19_action_news_mails_dead_mous.html

Looks like the Nexstar hiring system is starting to take hold. The old MG one is still active for now and has some of the same openings.... Most of the openings existed before Nexstar took over. More like an "exodus" than a housecleaning. WJTV's GM was moved to WIAT in Birmingham pre-merger when their GM left for WOIO.

Not only does the "new and improved" WNWO use the same SET as WOLF FOX 56 from South Bend.... ...it uses the same ANCHORS! https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2017/3/8/the-news-from-another-state

...And they're distributing this new channel on Roku, something I wish a lot of other diginets did to make themselves available in markets that don't carry them. Putting it on broadcast TV is like selling someone a texting plan for their landline phone...

Mission could still technically cash out their 2 stations or any other of their sidecars with Nexstar. It only said Nexstar was not cashing out their spectrum. If Mission is the licensee, that's their spectrum.

Especially Youngstown, Dayton and whatever is left in Albuquerque...

Nexstar released 4Q earnings and they will not be selling any legacy spectrum of theirs. However, some former Media General spectrum is going away... http://www.tvnewscheck.com/mobile/index/article/id/101870 The question is....Are Mission and the other Nexstar sidecars selling?

I believe March 1st is the day when many of the former Media General stations will become fully integrated into Nexstar from a back-office perspective. From there, get ready for the websites....my god...the websites...

Please be Meredith....please be Meredith....PLEASE PLEASE be Meredith that ends up with them! Now that Meredith owns the station formerly known as WTBS outright.....they could have a superstation and a former one on their hands... They're the only ones who have room to expand and taking the prime Tribune properties could be a new avenue for them.

Since WUAB broadcasts on Channel 28, it would command more value to cash in since it's UHF. Since it's also "in the zone" for repacking, it could be the future home for a going concern that wants to stay on the air and currently exists above channel 30 or 31..whatever that is...

The "Deathstar" has it sights set on WIVB in Buffalo.....their target? GM Rene LaSpina, according to FTVLive.... And this wouldn't be the first time Nexstar has sent her packing. She was the GM at the helm of WPTY in Memphis that hit rock bottom under her reign. The sale to Nexstar resulted in the relocation and relaunch as WATN Local 24. While her time in Buffalo is debatable, she was responsible for a lot of layoffs and cost-cutting of the on-air talent during her time there driving morale into the toilet as Scripps was picking up the pieces over at WKBW... And as long as this video is still on YouTube....here's how bad it was at WPTY back in the day.... UPDATE: Dominic Mancuso, former WOIO/WUAB GM has been named as the GM of WIVB... http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/101659/mancuso-heads-buffalo-pair-for-nexstar

Although it never reached the heights of WTBS, WGN or WWOR, it did have a sizeable audience outside of the Cleveland Area as a mini-superstation...sort of like WTTV or WSBK. Losing the Indians telecasts and the growth of subchannels with MyNetworkTV programming replaced WUAB in these areas. While the Gaylord era (1977-1991) was considered second-rate to the original United Artists era (1968-1977), the station changed a little during the Stephen J. Cannell era (exclusively until 1994), and when Malrite...then Raycom started the LMA. Raycom purchased them outright in 2000 when it became legal to do so. I guess we'll see what subchannels are going away (if any) because WUAB has 2 (Bounce & Grit) and WOIO has 1 (MeTV). Perhaps push some off to the WOIO-LD repeater in Akron?

I'll bet they will be cashing in their the majority of their exclusively UniMas afffiliates and stations like WQHS in Cleveland they aquired from USA Broadcasting. That would spell the second demise for channel "61" in Cleveland, as Kaiser-owned WKBF operated there from 1968-1975, went dark and a new licensee signed on WCLQ in 1981, attempting to run it as an independent/Preview station. When WBNX and WOIO signed on in 1985, WOIO immediately rose to the top of the independents, leading to a gradual adoption of HSN programming that lasted until the sale to Univision. The call letters reflect the changeover to HSN as "Quality Home Shopping".

This is probably one of the first instances that we're hearing...but it makes complete sense given it's Raycom's largest market. But it is a very sad "end" to a station Raycom has systematically driven into the ground over the last 15 or so years. WUAB was the station I REALLY watched growing up. It was before we had cable. They had all of the cartoons I watched, and I stuck around to watch their off-network reruns of shows. I even remember watching "Barnaby" and "Superhost" in their final days of television back in the late 1980s early 1990s. It would be a few years later that I would get into news and all of the other nostalgia of Cleveland TV, but their shows were my "must-see-tv" when independent TV was still a viable thing. Flash forward to Raycom taking over, flooding WUAB with third-rate court and talk shows like all of the other MyNetworkTV stations. They had a chance to keep their dominance, but gradually pared down their more expensive programming, only to have WBNX pick it up. In the process, they became one of the top WB affiliates in the country, and won the chance to get the CW affiliation. The stigma of Ernest Angley and mild swear words being bleeped out disappeared because WBNX was more willing to run a better station than WUAB was. And to make matters worse, WUAB will live on as a subchannel on WOIO's anemic, abysmal VHF frequency. A signal so terrible that they had to sign on an LD in Akron just to cover most of the market decently.

Let me guess.....WYTV or WYFX beat them to it! But methinks it was WFMJ with the inside scoop.