What do you disagree with?

It's really sad how much of a joke this has turned out to be. They are tripping all over themselves to not appear "biased" that it hinders their ability to deliver facts--if that's what this was ever about in the first place. Instead of catering to the people who think FNC/CNN/MSNBC is overloaded with partisan crap, it seems they're catering to the people who think the network newscasts are equivalent. I overlooked the Compton-Trump connections at first, but in hindsight, I think those have should have been a bright red flashing warning sign. Even discounting the tepid coverage, the whole program is utterly uninspired. You can tell it's been put together by someone who knows nothing outside of local news. A WX segment? Really? I can only imagine it's predicated on the idea that "Well...[local news] viewers love weather, so we need to have it" and it's clear that a lot of the talent are still of "local" quality. Especially the weekend team.

Turns out the inspiration for this thread also did WILX and WSJV. So he's done those two in addition to WTEN, WKBT, WTVO, WFRV.

Here's another one. Any idea who the guy on the (newly posted) WGEM 1995 open and the WDKY 1995-2000 opens is? Sounds like the same guy.

The logo/graphics are a downgrade from what they had before as far as I'm concerned. I'll never understand Nexstar's obsession with Aerial.

Tell that to all the people who got axed when they took over WDBJ, KSPR, etc. Bloodbath.

Won't happen. They may let them stay separate for about a year, and even claim that they intend to do so long-term, then they'll turn around and combine them to (ostensibly) create a "stronger" news operation. This has been their playbook every time. KYTV/KSPR, KSFY/KDLT, etc.

I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell anyone who thinks that Gray is going to keep the news operations separate. I don't even know why they try to lie about that anymore. It happens every time.

Idk if this has already been posted...but in the mid-2000s, WRNN ripped off WMAR's early 2000s look right down to the slogan.

Pretty sure the main reason people watched them was for Chicago sports and Chicago news. When those left it basically lost all purpose.

If KDNL can still not air news I doubt ABC really cares what KYUR does. I would imagine if ABC needs footage of something from Alaska they could get it from KTVA through NNS.

It was a shame to see it shut down so ignominiously.

Don't talk shit about Counterpoint.

Re: mid-sized to smaller markets: The time has already come on that. Pre-recession there were a number of stations in the 50-100 market range flying choppers (just look at late 90s/early 2000s news opens -- a LOT of stations had them). Now, to my knowledge, there's only KOTV in Tulsa, and the ultimate outlier, market 140-something WBOC. You can rest assured that their choppers would be grounded if either got sold. As for drones, they are absolutely not a replacement for choppers, regardless of how companies will try to spin it. Try getting a drone to an industrial fire clear across town in 5 minutes. Not gonna happen. At the same time, stations probably aren't sending their choppers up much to get aerials for a non-breaking-story. The two pieces of technology largely don't overlap IMO. Drones can be used for breaking news, but they can only get to scenes as fast as everyone else can driving, they take a while to set up once at the scene, and the operator has to hope that it's in a zone they're able to fly in and officials haven't put up any drone flight restrictions. Also, unless it happens to be near your station, you're probably getting more of the aftermath than the event itself. Choppers don't have the same restrictions over where they can fly, when, and how. You can fly a chopper over a crowd of people all day. Forget about a drone doing that. Basically, companies getting rid of choppers have decided the juice isn't worth the squeeze, and that whatever they're gaining in terms of spot news coverage doesn't outweigh the enormous amount they pay to fly the thing. A drone may soften the blow slightly, but I think it's a move these companies would be making whether drones existed for news or not. Having a drone just softens the blow a bit. I don't think you'll see Top 10-15 stations dump choppers anytime soon. They're still getting their money's worth. I'd consider them endangered in lower markets, especially the 30-50 range.

Crappy recording of a WISC weekend newscast in 1998 with the Star Trak theme. Would be nice if this person would digitize it (or send the tape to someone who can). Talent open at about 6:28.