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FCC Approves Sales of Allbritton to Sinclair


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The untold story is how Robert Allbritton has been such a jerk to those of us at WJLA. Let's face it, the guy is hardly regarded as a heavy weight. His Dad left him a TV company and a bank. He screwed up the bank so badly that the Feds took it away from him. Then, Robert Allbritton turned his genious to the TV business. With his moronic venture to creat tbd.com, he nearly tanked News8 and screwed up WJLA for years. He got a couple of smart Washington Post reporters to launch Politico.

The well known secret around the joint newsroom is that the Politico editors keep Allbritton out of the decision making. They watched him drive Jim Brady nuts while Brady was trying to get tbd launched. The Politico guys vowed to give him lip service and a lot of ego stroking PR mentions if he keeps his hands off the publication.

He gives this over-the-top party during the White House correspondents weekend to show off his fancy mansion. None of us at WJLA get invited, but every minor celebrity at the dinner gets Robert kissing their butt at the party. Now, that he's selling the TV stations, Robert keeps hanging around the newsroom waitinng for us to kiss the ring and tell him how wonderful he is.

Funny thing is, nobody is giving him any time. We are so past him. While there is anxiety about SInclair, David Smith is a serious player and self-made success. He's not spoiled rich kid that doesn't have the decency to realize he should just go home and play with his toys.

Since everybody knows Politico is a money loser, it will be interesting to see how it fares without the resources of WJLA to back it up.

You work at WJLA? What is the sentiment around the station regarding the new owners?

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Lot's of people are very nervous about the new owners. Mostly based on fears of budget cuts and possible rightwing slant to the news channel they want to create. On the positive side, we are getting the message that Sinclair did not buy the station to destroy it. They want to be bigger players in news and will leverage off of WJLA and News8's assets.

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Lot's of people are very nervous about the new owners. Mostly based on fears of budget cuts and possible rightwing slant to the news channel they want to create. On the positive side, we are getting the message that Sinclair did not buy the station to destroy it. They want to be bigger players in news and will leverage off of WJLA and News8's assets.

 

Those are my same fears as well, but maybe Sinclair does realize that cheap doesn't work in DC and will keep working to make WJLA a serious competitor in that market.

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Today, Tthe Wash Post did a nice story on 25 years of Jim Vance and Doreen Gensler on WRC. Sinclair should take heed. In Washington news viewers dont like change!

 

You think they're going to take heed on that, even with success of Channel 4, Hell No. Don't even count on it. And even if they'd tried, they'll never reach that credibility that Channel 4 has.

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Today, Tthe Wash Post did a nice story on 25 years of Jim Vance and Doreen Gensler on WRC. Sinclair should take heed. In Washington news viewers dont like change!

Which is the real reason why WUSA plummeted after losing all of their star talent. Viewers tuned in to see Gordon and Maureen every night out of habit. As soon as they left to WJLA, the tide turned, and sharply so.

 

As I said before, I don't see WUSA gaining ground or overtaking WJLA. There are too many problems at WUSA that need to be resolved first.

 

You think they're going to take heed on that, even with success of Channel 4, Hell No. Don't even count on it. And even if they'd tried, they'll never reach that credibility that Channel 4 has.

His comments on Robert Allbritton, though, signify that he was more of a meddlesome owner than anyone in the Smith family ever would be. As much as many of us (myself included) pick on S!nclair for their apparent dream of a national NewsChannel 8, it would be nowhere near the utter failure that TBD.com was. And Robert Allbritton even poached Bob Ryan from WRC specifically for this venture after they already had ten meteorologists under contract!
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Which is the real reason why WUSA plummeted after losing all of their star talent. Viewers tuned in to see Gordon and Maureen every night out of habit. As soon as they left to WJLA, the tide turned, and sharply so.

 

As I said before, I don't see WUSA gaining ground or overtaking WJLA. There are too many problems at WUSA that need to be resolved first.

 

His comments on Robert Allbritton, though, signify that he was more of a meddlesome owner than anyone in the Smith family ever would be. As much as many of us (myself included) pick on S!nclair for their apparent dream of a national NewsChannel 8, it would be nowhere near the utter failure that TBD.com was. And Robert Allbritton even poached Doug Hill from WRC specifically for this venture after they already had ten meteorologists under contract!

 

I think you're confusion Doug Hill with Bob Ryan. I think Doug Hill has been with WJLA for quite a while.

 

And yeah, Allbritton did seem to be lousy owners outside of their DC operations, yet WJLA and Newschannel 8 prospered despite their lousy ownership.

 

And thanks for reminding me about the debacle that was TBD.com. It was a good idea but the execution of it was more an example of how NOT to handle that operation.

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And Robert Allbritton even poached Doug Hill from WRC specifically for this venture after they already had ten meteorologists under contract!

I think you mean Bob Ryan, and I don't think it had anything to do with the venture.
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The only good news with Robert Allbritton is that he didn't care to engage much in the operations of WJLA. But, back in the TBD.com days, each morning we would watch him parade through the newsroom as he went to meet with Jim Brady. Knowing what an idiot Allbritton was, Brady would do anything to avoid him. But Allbritton would roll in to the office at 9:30 everyday and trap Brady in his office. When Allbritton finally left, Brady would gather the TBD team to tell them the latest Allbritton psychobabble of the day. Some days it would be obvious that Allbritton's meds were a bit off. We see his goofiness through the window of the Brady office. Great to have that behind us and Allbritton almost out of our lives.

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I actually think Sinclair will try their hardest to make a good news product, they want to change the stereotypes everyone has of them. Will they be more likely to attack Dem politicians who mess up than Repubs? Probably. But I don't think you'll see outright bias that's similar to Fox News primetime. It'll be a little more like Shepard Smith or Megyn Kelly than Bill O'Rielly.

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I actually think Sinclair will try their hardest to make a good news product, they want to change the stereotypes everyone has of them. Will they be more likely to attack Dem politicians who mess up than Repubs? Probably. But I don't think you'll see outright bias that's similar to Fox News primetime. It'll be a little more like Shepard Smith or Megyn Kelly than Bill O'Rielly.

SMMFH!! And even if they tried, like I said, a leopard don't change their spots. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Be we just have to wait and see how they're going with these cable channel plans.

 

But I will tell y'all right now. It won't change the way I think of them. Even if they try to change their ways (and I know damn well that's not going to happen).

 

We're not talking about any broadcaster. We're talking about a company that spent over $3B in M&As, buying over 100 stations for almost 3 years, gobbling up everything like Ms. Pac Man, buying everything but the kitchen sink and they can't use that same dollars to invest into the stations they'd already have, including reinstating in-house news operations in cities where they had one previously (KDNL & WPGH), and make investments to buy equipment to so a station can multicast subchannels (WGFX). How the hell they'll going to entangle all of this? With over 160 stations, and a possible NewsChannel 8 going national, they're at a brink of "too-big to fail". I personally wouldn't want to see them getting any sort of bailout, if they end up being in financial ruins. Hey, they made their bed, now they have to lie on it.

 

And one more thing. There's nothing stereotypical about those Heathens from fifty miles away. They let their stance & presence be known, and they'd orchestrated their own bullshit tactics over the past several years. I hope the folks don't get bamboozled or hoodwinked by them, as they plan on the future of NewsChannel 8, even if they want to downplay their tactics (which I think they won't).

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I actually think Sinclair will try their hardest to make a good news product, they want to change the stereotypes everyone has of them. Will they be more likely to attack Dem politicians who mess up than Repubs? Probably. But I don't think you'll see outright bias that's similar to Fox News primetime. It'll be a little more like Shepard Smith or Megyn Kelly than Bill O'Rielly.

 

Bias is inevitable. Every news organization has it whether you want to believe it or not. Some are more noticeable than others. Conservative bias always gets called out more. Why? I don't know, but it does.

 

 

 

The untold story is how Robert Allbritton has been such a jerk to those of us at WJLA. Let's face it, the guy is hardly regarded as a heavy weight. His Dad left him a TV company and a bank. He screwed up the bank so badly that the Feds took it away from him. Then, Robert Allbritton turned his genious to the TV business. With his moronic venture to creat tbd.com, he nearly tanked News8 and screwed up WJLA for years. He got a couple of smart Washington Post reporters to launch Politico.

The well known secret around the joint newsroom is that the Politico editors keep Allbritton out of the decision making. They watched him drive Jim Brady nuts while Brady was trying to get tbd launched. The Politico guys vowed to give him lip service and a lot of ego stroking PR mentions if he keeps his hands off the publication.

He gives this over-the-top party during the White House correspondents weekend to show off his fancy mansion. None of us at WJLA get invited, but every minor celebrity at the dinner gets Robert kissing their butt at the party. Now, that he's selling the TV stations, Robert keeps hanging around the newsroom waitinng for us to kiss the ring and tell him how wonderful he is.

Funny thing is, nobody is giving him any time. We are so past him. While there is anxiety about SInclair, David Smith is a serious player and self-made success. He's not spoiled rich kid that doesn't have the decency to realize he should just go home and play with his toys.

Since everybody knows Politico is a money loser, it will be interesting to see how it fares without the resources of WJLA to back it up.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Sinclair are definitely much better owners than Allbritton and I'm sure you and all your coworkers will be in a much better position under the new owners.

 

Aside from the must-runs, hopefully ABC7 will continue to "give it to me straight".

 

OK everybody. I saw a WJLA sales video from 2013. According to the video, they are the biggest local news operation in the country.

[yt]Qtd8-6hM6CU[/yt]

 

 

 

We're talking about a company that spent over $3B in M&As, buying over 100 stations for almost 3 years, gobbling up everything like Ms. Pac Man, buying everything but the kitchen sink

 

Cliche of the day...

 

And if Sinclair is Ms. Pac-Man then the FCC must be the ghosts.

 

ghVsAc.png

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Someone mentioned it would turn into WBFF II - What exactly does that entail?

 

 

OK everybody. I saw a WJLA sales video from 2013. According to the video, they are the biggest local news operation in the country.

[yt]Qtd8-6hM6CU[/yt]

 

 

No offense but that sales video kind of made me sick. Some of the things they mentioned just seemed sad or stupid like mentioning they have 7 ENG vans and 3 Satellite trucks! I mean isn't that about the average of what every big city station has (maybe it's even on the low end). Then their mentioning that every journalist has a cell phone which can go LIVE just seemed odd to me. I'd expect a news organization (and most medium-large businesses) these days to issue or give a credit to buy a cell phone given how much they are used.

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Someone mentioned it would turn into WBFF II - What exactly does that entail?

I have no idea.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the opposite happened, though... that WJLA's operation rubs off on WBFF.

No offense but that sales video kind of made me sick. Some of the things they mentioned just seemed sad or stupid like mentioning they have 7 ENG vans and 3 Satellite trucks! I mean isn't that about the average of what every big city station has (maybe it's even on the low end). Then their mentioning that every journalist has a cell phone which can go LIVE just seemed odd to me. I'd expect a news organization (and most medium-large businesses) these days to issue or give a credit to buy a cell phone given how much they are used.

If WJLA's in-market competition was WKBW (which has, what... only ONE ENG truck?) then that boast would make some sense.

 

I'm curious if ABC7 follows WSYX's lead and brings in a ton of Live U backpacks for their reporters. (Doesn't WSYX have 25 or so of those packs?)

 

And that's not a Bad Thing. Especially in a traffic hell that Washington DC is, you need as much mobility as possible.

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I have no idea.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the opposite happened, though... that WJLA's operation rubs off on WBFF.

If WJLA's in-market competition was WKBW (which has, what... only ONE ENG truck?) then that boast would make some sense.

 

I'm curious if ABC7 follows WSYX's lead and brings in a ton of Live U backpacks for their reporters. (Doesn't WSYX have 25 or so of those packs?)

 

And that's not a Bad Thing. Especially in a traffic hell that Washington DC is, you need as much mobility as possible.

I think that truck count is probably on the low end.
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SMMFH!! And even if they tried, like I said, a leopard don't change their spots. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Be we just have to wait and see how they're going with these cable channel plans.

 

But I will tell y'all right now. It won't change the way I think of them. Even if they try to change their ways (and I know damn well that's not going to happen).

 

We're not talking about any broadcaster. We're talking about a company that spent over $3B in M&As, buying over 100 stations for almost 3 years, gobbling up everything like Ms. Pac Man, buying everything but the kitchen sink and they can't use that same dollars to invest into the stations they'd already have, including reinstating in-house news operations in cities where they had one previously (KDNL & WPGH), and make investments to buy equipment to so a station can multicast subchannels (WFGX). How the hell they'll going to entangle all of this? With over 160 stations, and a possible NewsChannel 8 going national, they're at a brink of "too-big to fail". I personally wouldn't want to see them getting any sort of bailout, if they end up being in financial ruins. Hey, they made their bed, now they have to lie on it.

 

And one more thing. There's nothing stereotypical about those Heathens from fifty miles away. They let their stance & presence be known, and they'd orchestrated their own bullshit tactics over the past several years. I hope the folks don't get bamboozled or hoodwinked by them, as they plan on the future of NewsChannel 8, even if they want to downplay their tactics (which I think they won't).

Could you fix your link on WFGX?
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Here's the story which was one of those examiner articles...so take it with a large grain of salt.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-reason-wfgx-tv-has-no-digital-sub-channel

 

WFGX used to have TheCoolTV AND Country Network as subchannels, but dropped TheCoolTV as a corporate decision and moved Country to sister station WEAR. So until recently when they added GetTV, they didn't have a subchannel.

 

 

As I've mentioned before, shoehorning subchannels on to either WMMP or WABM/WTTO/WDBB is going to get dicey, especially if they want to keep the former primary channels in HD. Since both ABC and MNTV are in 720p (and even WTTO broadcasts CW in 720p as well), this makes multicasting less of an issue than having to deal with a 1080i signal, which is very degradable in a multicast situation.

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I have no idea.

It wouldn't surprise me if the opposite happened, though... that WJLA's operation rubs off on WBFF.If WJLA's in-market competition was WKBW (which has, what... only ONE ENG truck?) then that boast would make some sense.

I'm curious if ABC7 follows WSYX's lead and brings in a ton of Live U backpacks for their reporters. (Doesn't WSYX have 25 or so of those packs?)

And that's not a Bad Thing. Especially in a traffic hell that Washington DC is, you need as much mobility as possible.

Well in the sales video they showed cell phones using a lower end cellular streaming app called live cast that only uses your cell phone to broadcast, and it appears they don't offer any bonded units using multiple cards like LiveU or Dejero does.

I think that truck count is probably on the low end.

I agree, the two big news ops here (WBAL and WJZ) here in Baltimore (20 markets down the DMA totem pole) all probably have a minimum of 10 ENG units - I know WBAL has at least 3 dedicated SNG trucks (1 large body and 2 sprinters) and probably 2 of the ENGs have SNG capabilities and I know at a minimum WJZ has two. WBFF and WMAR probably only have two ENG /SNG combo units and the rest are backpacks and it shows.
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Now, here's what I don't get. Part of the reason as to why it took 11 months just to approve the Allbritton-Sinclair deal was the element of an existing LMA between WABM and WDBB. Legally, a single company can own a station acting as a satellite of another (as was the case with WCFT and WJSU). Even in smaller markets, this is legal, look at the KHBS/KHOG operation.

 

Couldn't the pending shutdown of WCFT and WJSU have been avoided had Sinclair acquired WDBB years earlier (before it bought WABM outright) and sought authorization for it as a WTTO satellite, which would have avoided WTTO/WDBB and WABM from being considered an illegal triopoly, then sell those two stations (WTTO and WDBB) to avoid the conflicts instead of WABM (creating a new, legal duopoly with either 'CFT or 'JSU that moreso complies with ownership limits) or are there more variables here that make less cut-and-dry than that?

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