Big Rollo Smokes

New York 55 ("NY55") was a branding used by WLNY in its pre-CBS days, so that's going back in time. But why not keep TV38, TXA21 and K-CAL9? And Seattle 11, Tampa 44 and the rest (except the heritage Philly 57)? Is that the best CBS can do with these generic, cookie-cutter names?

Not anymore. The sale to RNN is off. ShopHQ's new white knight is a company owned by the founder of 5-Hour Energy. More from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. And this guy is just getting started. It looks like he's looking to be a major-minor player in broadcast media.

The link is broken.

For purposes of clarification: Not news stations, but local TV stations with news departments. Don't confuse them with all-news cable channels.

And...what does this have to do with the national scene?

My bad, that was a glitch on my phone. The submit button didn't take me back to the main thread page. One more: WNCN is 17, WTVD is 11.

Don't you mean WFLA-TV?

I would hope so, but Gordon Robertson doesn't seem all that much different from his father in that regard. But couldn't Disney simply sunset Freeform as a linear channel and convert it into a streaming-only service? That could be a way to get CBN out of their hair once and for all.

Anyone wanna take bets on which "H" he's headed to? (Both of which are non-existant, but that's my opinion and Schwarzenegger's.) But aside from the polarizing aspects of his political activism and religious mission, Pat Robertson should be remembered as a pioneer of religious television. CBN started with WYAH-TV (WGNT) in Hampton Roads, in 1961. WYAH was all-religious at the outset, though it evolved into a general-entertainment independent with a jones for censorship. The other three CBN TV stations–Robertson launched WHAE-TV (WANF) in Atlanta in 1971; bought KXTX-TV in Dallas in '73, and signed-on WXNE-TV (WFXT) in Boston in '77–followed that model until CBN broke up the group in the 1980s. CBN also owned five Christian FM outlets, in Hampton Roads and a four-station network in upstate New York. And of course, there is the cable channel now known as Freeform, which much to ours and Disney's chagrin will be forced to carry Robertson's legacy, The 700 Club from now until the "Second Coming".

FTV Live says it was his brother's home.

Behind a paywall.

I remember that and the "Fox 28 Kids Club" well during my summers in Columbus. (At least Yolanda Harris made out well for herself. But what happened to Suzy? ) Back to topic: yes, Stadium is like the Wish version of ESPN 8: THE OCHO if that were a real thing. But it's obvious what Reinsdorf is going to do. The White Sox/Bulls (and maybe the Blackhawks) will be on their own network in '25 and Comcast can wind down NBC Sports Chicago (though I'm sure some would prefer the return of those teams to WGN-TV).

Not directly related to Tegna/Standard General, but Soo Kim has a lot of irons in various fires. He appeared on Spectrum News NY1 here in NYC last night (5/17) talking about his interest in getting a license from New York State to build a casino on the site of the Trump Links Golf Course in the Bronx. For those who know the area, the course is at the foot of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, and between a municipal park and a cemetery. Folks around this way would love to see Trump Links go away. For Kim, the odds are better to land the license for the casino than they are to get the Tegna deal approved. And even a Bronx casino is a longshot by itself.

What, the actual French TV broadcast wasn't available?

The Fox Television Center in NYC, where WNYW and WWOR-TV are based, is on the border of the Yorkville and the Upper East Side neighborhoods. Fox Weather is headquartered with the rest of the Fox News Channel division in the News Corp. building on Sixth Avenue, near Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. Remember, the O&Os belong to a unit of Fox Corp. which is separate from Fox News.

Name one...the UK's reigning monarch or prime minister? The present dictator of North Korea? The present dictators...er, democratically-elected presidents of Russia and China? The president of Ukraine, who is an international hero? American media, in its very parochial worldview, doesn't spend a great deal of time covering other individuals and entities outside of those whom I mentioned above. Maybe the PM of Canada gets coverage every now and then, the president of Mexico even less. The former president of Brasil, who styled himself after the Great Orange Stain, was lucky to get any airtime up here. I also doubt that most of the target demo for any of the late night shows get their news from non-U.S. sources like CBC, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera or Reuters, or even the extreme left-wing Democracy Now! So, Orange Man it is until he goes away completely. (But the public disappearance of Melania, former First Lady of the Night, should be mined to the fullest.)

No more speculation. I just saw a spot during the Mets game with the new 10 PM team: Shirley, Kori, Irv and Moose.

Can someone please elaborate as to what is the toxic culture in the market?

This isn't a first for a regional sports network, but it's still notable. The YES Network (Yankees, Nets, Liberty) announced a new direct-to-consumer subscription product today, just in time for the start of baseball season. We'll see how this goes.

Did you do your research before you wrote this post? Because Donahue, Sally and Montel were not "conflict" talk shows. Neither were Maury or Springer when they first launched. It wasn't until Jerry took the deep dive into that (obviously scripted) abyss did the sub-genre emerge from the topical talkers. Of course, Richard Bey set the bar pretty low on that. In modern times the closest we'll get to a current events-focused topical talk show (ala Phil and Sally in their heyday) are the first couple of segments of a panel show before they bring out the entertainment guests.

Roland never worked for BNC. He had a morning show on TVOne ("NewsOne with Roland Martin") for a few years before it was canceled. Roland was, however, critical of Allen's decision to convert BNC into another entertainment channel. As if between BET, Bounce, TVOne, Aspire, Revolt and Fox Soul, there aren't enough of those already.

I think the poster was referring to Roland Martin. Again, Martin thought it would be more advantageous to partner with another "minority" who understood those challenges rather than one of those white-owned companies who may have only a handful of POC executives or board members. And remember, all of this is contingent on Standard General getting a firm go from the FCC.

Part of Roland's argument is that media companies wholly-owned by minorities–specifically Black-owned ones–still get the short end of the stick in regards to advertising support. And in that respect he is correct. (Look to the failure of the Black News Channel if you want a recent example.) So he sees this potential alliance as a way to force the mainstream ad community to finally pay attention.

As a sidebar: Remember when I posted about Roland Martin's interview with Soo Kim a few weeks back? It seems that Roland had more than a journalistic interest. He's advocating for the deal to get FCC-approved because there's a lot at stake for him and, in his words, all POC-owned media concerns.

...to "Paramount+ with Showtime". The suits say it's all about streaming. The New York Times has the details.