Greggo

Gray’s KOSA in Midland/Odessa has been using this First Alert News branding for a bit now. They are the. No. 1 station so not really clear why they felt it necessary to rebrand. It’s super clunky and cheesy. Leave it for weather, not for news.

Another site — Radio Insight — is reporting that Scripps fired all its GMs today, replacing them with regional VPs overseeing clusters of 6-8 markets. Any Scripps insiders who can verify or offer more info?

What is the newsroom “structure” FTV is talking about when he teases small-market newscasts without anchors?

Why in the world would she go from Seattle to El Paso? Yes … I realize she will be the main anchor, but still …

Competitor KTVT gave up on that timeslot during the early days of coronavirus. And earlier this year, KPRC/Houston killed their 4:30a newscast allegedly due to a producer shortage. They’re also now airing 2 Early Todays. Not aware of any others, although I’m sure there are some more. In both markets you still have the Fox O&O starting at 4a though.

KPRC/Houston has added a third hour to its Saturday morning news: 6-7, 8-9 and now 9-10 as of this past weekend. Also, they will be replacing Dr. Phil at 3 p.m. with a 3 p.m. newscast this fall. These on-air additions — plus recently expanding their morning online stream from 7-8 a.m. to 7-9 a.m. — are all happening after they canceled their 4:30 a.m. newscast earlier this year over what they alleged at the time was a shortage of hiring and keeping producers.

KTRK doesn’t do morning traffic?!?

This. They have to do something about the logo being everywhere. How did they not catch that earlier? Or did they not care? They have been using a shot of downtown on the video wall behind the anchors a lot, but that only takes it from 5 logos to 4 on the wide shot. With the desk, they could maybe do the day of the week on one screen and the date on the other, then switch it to an animation showing the logos of the social channels they’re on? And then their URL? Repeat. Kind of like a bug on steroids. Just spitballing here. That would get them down to 2 logos, which is manageable. The columns look good when there’s a OTS on them. Otherwise … meh. The new KXAN set is guilty of having multiple logos, too, but it’s nowhere near as obnoxious.

They’ve been doing this for several years now. It is produced by KXAN and airs live on Nexstar stations statewide. In San Antonio, the address typically airs on Graham’s KSAT since that city doesn’t have a Nexstar station.

This thing is HIDEOUS. Very sterile. Could be popped into any market in the nation without a single tweak. Nothing about it says “Austin” or “Texas”

Interesting. The Graham station in Houston, KPRC, has been hit hard too. Lots of abrupt departures in recent months, including midday and 4p anchor Christine Noel, 5p anchor Lauren Freeman, Houston Life co-anchor Courtney Zavala, Houston Life reporter Joe Sam and the news director, who had been in the market for nearly two decades (first at KTRK). Plus a morning anchor change-up, bringing back a former anchor and bumping the current anchor to middays and 4p. Bizarre programming changes too, including canceling the 4:30a newscast, sticking a day-old rerun of ET between the 11a and noon newscasts and moving Houston Life back to its old, less desirable timeslot. Some of this is no doubt related to getting a new GM after the old one retired, but it still seems excessive. I’m wondering if it’s more indicative of potential turmoil at Graham corporate as opposed to station-specific issues.

One of their anchors announced it will debut Monday!

Update: One of their anchors posted on Facebook that rehearsals on the new set started today. So … soon.

The project is pretty substantial … it’s not just the set. Other parts of the building are being worked on as well, including moving some offices and even relocating some restrooms. Everything has to be sequenced. With regard to the set, they had to remove a load-bearing wall to enlarge the studio. That’s quite a task. Last estimate for completion that I heard from one of their anchors was “early 2023.” The shot they used during the debate was super tight because not everything was done. Just a couple months earlier, they had to do the farewell for their longtime evening anchor in the parking lot because of all the construction. The temp set was too small to crowd everyone in. It looked just as bad and cheap as you’d imagine. With February sweeps less than a month away, that’s probably a good guess.

I get it … FTV said today they’re down by half. The people left are probably burned out due to all the OT they’re being asked to work. Understandable in a small market, but not in Houston. Why the hell did they allow it to get that bad? Things aren’t anywhere as dire at any other large market station that I can think of. New ND and GM are both very experienced and have plenty of connections they could work to try to find people. They have (or had) one producer who arrived from tiny Lake Charles many years ago. Certainly there are others who would kill to make a jump like that. Better pay, larger city and a ton of fancy toys to make your shows better, such as their storm tracker and their chopper. Hopefully they can bring back the 4:30a show at some point. Dumping it makes them look weak and a bunch of people were complaining about it on social today, with some folks saying they were switching stations. You can’t help but think the numbers at 5a will drop at least some without local news as the leadin. If people get their start elsewhere each morning, many likely won’t switch when the clock strikes 5.

KPRC/Houston will no longer air a 430a newscast starting tomorrow (Monday, 1/9). An extra Early Today will air in that timeslot. Seems like a bizarre move for a station in such a large market, esp one that has had a lot of momentum lately. Their 4:30a newscast is around 15 years old now and every other Houston station is on the air at that time. KRIV goes on even earlier at 4a.

Doesn’t really look like anything that special. Considering all the hype.

Shocking! Looks like it may not be a Nexstar corner set.

Well, maybe not. Looking like a runoff.

Pretty big anchor shuffle announced this afternoon at KPRC/Houston: 11a, noon and 4p anchor Christine Noel is leaving. Weekday morning anchor Lisa Hernandez is her replacement. Former weekend morning anchor Sophia Ojeda is returning just a few months after she left to take over the weekday morning shift. Switch happens later this month. Lots of changes there since the new GM arrived. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2022/10/big-kprc-2-2022-anchor-changes.html

The dreaded corner set is spreading

I wouldn’t allow a bunch of curious people from the Chamber who are eating and (presumably) drinking booze to wander around the brand new studio. (I say this based upon similar events I’ve attended.) But maybe that’s just me …

Precisely! Amen.

Wondering if we are seeing parts of the future KXAN set in tonight’s gubernatorial debate? This is quite an elaborate setup to only use on an occasional basis. For those not in Texas, it’s being held at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus. I guess we shall see …

The huge ad for an AC company on the weather desk? Awful!