Samantha

Counterpoint: KXGN is, logistically, a radio operation with a TV appendage. Morgan Murphy has radio properties—that's probably what drew them to the Michigan operation. But either the Montana/Dakota stations are being structured as a separate M&A from the Michigan ones or MMM didn't want them.

Morgan Murphy makes its Marks in Michigan with a $13.375 million purchase of the Marks family's Michigan broadcasting operation. WBKB, WBKP, and WBUP are included along with radio stations in Houghton and Iron River. The Marks family has been slowly divesting the properties the late Stephen owned, though this is the first TV M&A: An AM-FM pair in Park Falls, Wisconsin ($210K to Civic Media) WOWZ-FM Accomac, Virginia, to its LMA operator What's left? The famous KXGN and KYUS in Montana plus the Montana–North Dakota radio cluster with stations in Glendive, Sidney, Forsyth, Miles City, and Williston, and Belfield (near Dickinson).

Nexstar has a real challenge on its hands with KUSI, and it's not just an integration and construction challenge. KUSI was the most unabashedly conservative TV newsroom in a major market anywhere. Embarrassingly so. And they will be dealing with angry viewers of that persuasion. But anyone external to the McKinnons and right-wing politics probably looks at KUSI and goes "yikes". Heck, I think even someone who came to KUSI from a Sinclair station would be shocked. There is a difference between a conservative lean, justifiable in San Diego, and just being a peddler of conservative disinformation. KUSI was frequently the latter. And Nexstar is only a "left-wing" operation if you're so far off to the right that NewsNation is radically left.

The problem is that they have virtually no physical plant in Seattle. The nominal main studio is the transmitter site; there was a sales office somewhere (don't have the address), but it closed in 2020. WUPA has insufficient space—it has not moved since it began broadcasting in 1981. (Nor has WTOG, though that building did once house a news department.) Paramount moved KSTW in August 2001 from Tacoma to 602 Oakesdale Ave. SW in Renton. The station had a sales office in Seattle (which it closed at that time) and its 1976-vintage Tacoma plant, which now is a Bates Technical College facility (KBTC is there, and there is an adjoining building built by the college). It seems they were not in Renton long. They then wound up at 1000 Dexter Avenue North, Seattle (South Lake Union area), home to the CBS Radio cluster. (There is a 21-photo tour of CBS Radio Seattle on Flickr from 2006!) That facility is long-gone as well, with the now-Audacy stations being elsewhere.

KSTW's X/Twitter account is @Seattle11TV as of today. They are writing the name "Seattle11", no space.

Very much so. The next management was able to put the station back on sound news footing (they also hired Dave Murray at about the time Stu Klitenic left for WSB).

kpixplus.com was registered July 28 as well. Notably, wforplus and kywplus (among others) were not taken.

The KTVI piece is fascinating. Let me shed some light on what KTVI was like at the time, and you might understand how this one never saw the light of day. KTVI had adopted Hello in 1984 alongside the other "major" Times-Mirror stations (KDFW and KTBC). They all had similar open animations. All three of those stations (KDFW, KTBC, KTVI) plus WVTM Birmingham then adopted the same look in mid-late 1987: JAM's Yours Truly and the diagonal stripe bar graphics. I believe this comes from that time period. The ND of KTVI from 1986 to 1989 was Sue Kawalerski. Times-Mirror tended to make a lot of decisions at the level of corporate. (A corporate graphics package of the kind the Times-Mirror stations rolled out in late 1987 was not common then!) And they made some disastrous ones at KTVI, the market's third-rated news station (with KMOV and KSDK, two goliaths, in front of them). In November 1986, Lloyd Immel was hired to be one of the lead anchors. Then, just months after the Yours Truly look debuted at KTVI, it was gone. And so too were all the news presenters. In February 1988, KTVI debuted a new anchor team (see the very laughable promo above), which gained the nickname "Gang of Four" in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They all came from elsewhere: Kevin Cokely was working for Storer in Washington, Iola Johnson was in radio in Dallas (previously of WFAA), Stu Klitenic came from WXYZ, and Miles Muzio had been a journeyman weatherman already by this point (I believe his last posting was KOIN prior to this). The existing look was blown up (this is when they switched to the Great Prospect track from Bruton, then to Palmer, then to News Central, all in about two years). Apparently their installation had been in the works since August 1987 when a new promotions director came to KTVI. (There's a sign of something.) St. Louis viewers—famous for their resistance to change, as KDNL would later learn—never took to the Gang of Four, all of whom left the market within two years. Kawalerski was evidently forced out, not long after Times-Mirror broadcasting president John McCrory was replaced. In the KTVI newsroom, the news she was out was met with "jubilation" and "euphoria". (She landed at WCIX.) But the hiring of the Gang of Four was a corporate decision, beyond Kawalerski. McCrory was known for his intense involvement in KTVI's affairs. It took Bud Carey, the new T-M broadcasting head; Wayne Thomas, the new GM; and a salvage operation to return them to respectability. Losing ABC for Fox helped; ABC was never much watched in St. Louis, something else for KDNL to learn. Clearly In Touch was far along. It was finished work from Gari, the same company that had already done resings of Hello for them. But the change in promotions director and possibly other factors (the Times Mirror stations graphics package of 1987), and likely the forthcoming revamp of news anchors, likely left this to sit on a shelf. Forgot to post this originally, but some words from Kim Hindrew, who left for WMC in August 1988 when they took away her anchor duties: "They're still wondering what they did wrong. The fact that they would think the people of St. Louis had to accept what they were giving them ... it's an arrogance I don't understand. Then viewers did the only thing they could do: They stopped watching."

I have not come across anything to indicate they did this package. I also doubt it would have been done in Boston, especially back then; CIII's clients, except for things DI was actively syndicating like Window on the World (apparently tied to a 1986 station image package they introduced at the BPME show in Dallas, wondering if this is the KXAS etc. look of that era), generally came from New England. Not unthinkable but not my first guess.

Ben Atkins is at it again. There is a lot here, so it's worth unpacking — I had to go deep diving into Back Stage once more! Editel/Boston was established in 1988 when Scanline (which had Editel studio companies in other cities) acquired Century III Teleproductions, which had offices in Boston and Orlando. Century III was a prolific producer of music, animation (through its Digital Images division), and other design/media services in New England. The fact that Ben has labeled this Editel tells me the tape was possibly compiled in 1988, but the material in it seems to be more 1987. The notable things on here are: An image package for WVIT, "Connecticut's NBC Station", and (at 10:07) the WVIT 1987 theme from when they rebranded as Connecticut News, titled here as "The News". I believe the actual launch date for both of these is in 1986; the image and logo debuted in June, and the news theme debuted when Toby Moffett joined WVIT in November. An image package for WGOT in New Hampshire, which would be from its launch in August 1987. A syndicated news package titled Window on the World, better known in the NMSA as WDEF 1987. This is credited to "CIII Audio" (took a fair amount of digging to realize why C3 turned up no hits). A sung image set for WCVB, titled "Tune to the Ears, Tune to the Eyes". The open music adopted by the Boston Red Sox on WSBK in 1987, dubbed here as "Target". Digital Images produced this open. "Latitudes", a syndicated music and graphics package for independent stations produced for WXIN in 1987. WGNT, KMSS, KWKT, and other stations used elements from this. We know that in 1987, CIII Audio launched syndicated music packages through Digital Images to sell to stations, first shown at the BPME/BDA conference in Atlanta, and that they did customs for WVIT, WLVI, WCVB, and WNEV in just that time period. (This opens up some really unusual Pandora's boxes: WCVB 87? WNEV 87 + KCBS?) Their staff composer was an Evie Nelson. Digital Images was no slouch. They did work for WCVB, WBTV (the 1986 city map flyover open), WTTG (Forty Years Together, Channel 5 and You), WHCT (their Right Now image from the 1985 relaunch), and the animation for WTVJ's 1988 overhaul, and for Showtime and the Discovery Channel.

Pontius retired on June 30. Adams stays.

Tegna's CW agreement runs through the end of August 2026. It does not contain any clauses about removal because the network has bought a station (other affiliation agreements I have read do have such provisions). The CW can only terminate the agreement: If the station's technical parameters change so drastically that "the Affiliate becomes of materially less value to The CW" If the station owner is bankrupt, or if the network is bankrupt In the event of breach of contract If the network announces it is ceasing operations, six months' notice required If the station enters into or terminates an SSA or LMA without network approval I believe it will be three years before KUSI becomes The CW in San Diego, unless the agreement is amended. But you are right to point out that the call letters are newly prominent as of May 24...

You called it. It's a JAM custom for WJAR. 's a

The best way to phrase that is that the license is not, but Hearst replaces Waterman as its service provider and will handle all the operations under (an amended version of) the original 1994 LMA.

It looks like the ax came for Macon, where the news output is being reduced. Spotted this Wikipedia edit, and I have confirmed at least the 10 p.m. part... They are also losing one of their meteorologists, Eric Garlick, to a destination unknown. KMEG was a third-wheel station in the worst way. It was a UHF in a part of the country with very few UHF network affiliates. It only was a CBS affiliate because KCAU correctly judged that it could serve Sioux Falls and Sioux City by going to ABC (a decision that proved to be the right one as the station then had its best 15 years ever). It had no local news for quite some time until 1999.

Holy mooing cake, it's Ernie Anderson voicing a KTVK news open. I never thought I'd hear that. I figured Tony Evans did it.

The Jazz are not in their circulation area. The Rockies are, but with Altitude still blanked out from Comcast after several years... I don't think a team would want to enter that scenario.

I am far from a Standard General defender, but Team Telecom reviewed the deal on the foreign investment/ownership issue and found no national security risks. It's become routine at the FCC for details involving Caribbean foreign capital (and from other countries with which the US has good trade relationship) to receive approval. Some large radio companies had to ask for declaratory rulings on foreign ownership because of actions outside its control (e.g. iHeartMedia when US-based OppenheimerFunds was acquired by Bermuda-organized Invesco in 2019).

Apparently they began broadcasting in HD today, but Cox is not carrying the service in HD. Gray is probably gonna want that to change...

Sorry about not seeing this until now. On March 1, Gray launched the Arizona Family Sports and Entertainment Network on KPHE-LD here in Phoenix. It airs almost all of the KTVK/KPHO newscasts as well as sports programming from Gray's library and the rights to Phoenix Rising FC (USL) soccer and Arizona Interscholastic Association high school championships (PRFC was announced alongside the launch of the channel). KPHE-LD had spent most of the last 15 years as a Spanish-language station. It was the last TV station owned by Lotus—which is primarily a radio operator in the West and has clusters in Las Vegas and Tucson, but not Phoenix. They had intended to sell to Phil Falcone's Sovryn Holdings, but the deal fell through. Gray then spent $1.75 million. Gray also secured a low cable position (13) for it, though it is still broadcast in SD. When Gray filed paperwork in re: what's now KAZF, they went out of their way to note that the station has no contour overlap with KTVK or KPHO—in other words, that it can be programmed separately. I expected them to illuminate at least Flagstaff with this new service, and Yuma is very possible now that I see the content on it. Also worth noting they added a subchannel to KPHE-LD containing Fido TV, which is a niche cable channel about dogs. This must be their first OTA exposure. They also still have two subchannels of infomercials. LATV has disappeared.

I think those call signs explain the intended programming in Flagstaff and Yuma... And I think at this point with the WPGA-TV swap (which will likely give them WPGA-LD too, as that was hived off in the same "Marquee Broadcasting West" subsidiary for the purposes of the trade), we have to start thinking about what a Georgia Sports and Entertainment Network may look like...

It's interesting to see the website URL evolution. Pre-MyFox, KSAZ was fox10.com and still owns that domain. I was baffled when they decided to become fox10phoenix.com post-MyFox. It then occurred to me that it was probably an SEO move.

Yeah, I should have thought of that. WJXX was full force at news launch, but the caveat was that the newscasts launched 10 months after the station. Allbritton had its launch priorities all the wrong way with that station (having had to get it on the air much sooner than anticipated at ABC's behest).

Having recently done extensive research into the histories of a number of the biggest post-New World station builds, they mostly were staggered over a period of months. KSHB had an existing 9pm news which moved to 10 at the time of switch. A 5 was added in October 1994, a 6 in March 1995, but mornings had to wait until the summer of 1996. WDJT added two newscasts at the same time in its March 1996 news debut and then a third shortly thereafter. Weekend news was added the next year. Took them until 2001 to compete in mornings. KNXV started news at 10 on August 1, 1994. They added a 6 in about October, 5 in December, and mornings and middays in January 1995 when the remainder of the ABC programming moved over. WFTS aired its first news on December 12, 1994, but only at 6 and 11. The remaining newscasts showed up in the first four months of 1995. WGNX was not like many of the others. They were not producing a full line of newscasts until the new millennium: just noon, 6, and 11. It was not until Meredith took over that they added morning and 5 p.m. newscasts. WPTY went in all at once in evenings. When they debuted, they had 5, 6, 9 (WLMT) and 10. It took them at LEAST a decade to start a morning newscast! WWJ started with 6 and 11 (not including streaming hours) and has added a newscast in each of the two following weeks. Mornings do seem like they will take a little longer, and I'd expect that because of the time slot. Evening news additions tend to be more incremental, while mornings require a whole other team of on- and off-camera personnel.

Then-WBTI's Dayton translator was more about increasing the coverage area of their subscription TV service. WXIX never had one, as far as I know.