Scripps - General Discussion

[MidwestTV 1173]

Changes to Scripps' smaller market stations include eliminating some anchor positions, beefing up heavily on MMJs (including, apparently, giving substantial raises on the order of $20k+), eliminating the chief meteorologist title and placing all meteorologists under the purview of the assistant news director.

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

22 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

Changes to Scripps' smaller market stations include eliminating some anchor positions, beefing up heavily on MMJs (including, apparently, giving substantial raises on the order of $20k+), eliminating the chief meteorologist title and placing all meteorologists under the purview of the assistant news director.

“Reimagining” my a**.

Reference: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-mind-reimagining-local-news-adam-symson

[mrschimpf 2051]

Ehh, some of them have deteriorated to third-fourth place (or never got out of the basement under previous ownership) and have entrenched management that should have been gone a decade ago. For many of those stations, without the police comms officer in charge of their Nixle/Facebook writing up police PR and the craven accident-chasing social media accounts they happily take content from, they'd be even worse off.

 

I'm happy to see what Scripps can do, because the Journal deal was an albatross of badly-entrenched management (if you've seen my views over the years, you know exactly who I'm talking about) that they had to wait out before they could make their mark on those stations. Scripps News is a good product that needs more eyes on it and anything that gets away from the social media/Ring/drivecam 'filler news' model for their stations is welcome to me.

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

1 hour ago, mrschimpf said:

Ehh, some of them have deteriorated to third-fourth place (or never got out of the basement under previous ownership) and have entrenched management that should have been gone a decade ago. For many of those stations, without the police comms officer in charge of their Nixle/Facebook writing up police PR and the craven accident-chasing social media accounts they happily take content from, they'd be even worse off.

 

I'm happy to see what Scripps can do, because the Journal deal was an albatross of badly-entrenched management (if you've seen my views over the years, you know exactly who I'm talking about) that they had to wait out before they could make their mark on those stations. Scripps News is a good product that needs more eyes on it and anything that gets away from the social media/Ring/drivecam 'filler news' model for their stations is welcome to me.

I guess that’s fair; a lot of those ex-Journal stations have become downright awful over the years (KMTV, for example).

[Megatron81 179]

I think Scripps should've kept that share news agreement with WILX in Lansing for WSYM Fox47 as that is a dog station Journal gave up years ago on news and let the rival do the news for Fox47. I know that Fox47 used their sister station Fox17 weather mets until they hired someone last fall that does it out from Fox17 studio.

[doublejman69 105]

On 8/3/2023 at 7:56 PM, MidwestTV said:

Changes to Scripps' smaller market stations include eliminating some anchor positions, beefing up heavily on MMJs (including, apparently, giving substantial raises on the order of $20k+), eliminating the chief meteorologist title and placing all meteorologists under the purview of the assistant news director.

Obviosity it's good that MMJ's are getting raises (right now they get paid significantly less than reporters and longtime photojournalists) but that likely means there will be no longer reporters that don't shot or photographers only. Even with all the new technology in the last few years, I still think photojournalists play a very important role in a newsroom, its better to have a second pair of eyes in large crowds or reporting in dangerous areas (near roads) and quality does suffer when one person does all of these jobs compared to when it took 3 people just a few years ago. 

 

None of these moves will make improvements to ratings or increase the quality of newscast. Outside of WPTV, longtime Scripps stations before the McGraw-Hill deal were in 2nd or 3rd place or even worse, stations like KSHB and KJRH ratings have been downright garbage most of the time.

 

The thing is unless if you're a yes man Scripps has put in place their own management team shortly after acquiring new stations/groups and it doesn't matter how well the stations are preforming. Some of those ex Journal stations have gone through 2 or 3 scripps mangement teams already. WTMJ has been number 1 at 10pm only one time since Scripps has owned the station that came only a few months after the sale was approved largely under Journals former management team (news director, station manager) and before scripps made any big changes to the stations. Ratings have declined ever since and now WTMJ is in danger of CBS58 over taking them in the ratings in some day parts, I know this was long time ago but when I moved to Milwaukee in 2000 WTMJ had over 15 rating and CBS58 was at 0.7 at 10pm.

Edited August 7, 2023 by doublejman69

[Greggo 340]

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

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

3 hours ago, Greggo said:

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

From what I gather, they would essentially cut out the middleman of a traditional local anchor at these smaller stations, and the newsroom would be centered around reporters and MMJs. Any gaps in content could be filled by Scripps News.
 

I think it’s a decent idea at stations like WGBA. However, if it were implemented at an outlet like MTN, which covers an entire state, it would be a massive downgrade imo. I understand why they feel the need to implement something like this at their underperforming small stations, but I would hope that this strategy doesn’t fully extend to their few small outlets that put out a high-quality, competitive product.

[LexTVandRadio 412]

2 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

From what I gather, they would essentially cut out the middleman of a traditional local anchor at these smaller stations, and the newsroom would be centered around reporters and MMJs. Any gaps in content could be filled by Scripps News.

Wonder if WLEX would be a part of the "smaller" market. 

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

24 minutes ago, LexTVandRadio said:

Wonder if WLEX would be a part of the "smaller" market. 

Yeah I have no idea what the meaning of “small” is in this scenario either. I’m assuming markets 100 and below, but that’s just a guess on my part.

[MidwestTV 1173]

From my third-hand understanding (from someone who had a conversation with someone who works within Scripps and is likely more informed on the matter than any of us), these changes will vary on a market-by-market basis. That includes small markets. I couldn't imagine Scripps totally doing away with anchors in their largest markets.

[compubit 670]

What I found interesting is that although MTN is a statewide brand, the various stations still do their own newscasts (KPAX, KTVQ, KRTV, KXLF/KBZK, and KTVH) during the evening hours at least.

[Greggo 340]

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? 

[mrschimpf 2051]

I'm not finding that link on their site (unless it's in the paid section), and why would a radio site care about a broadcaster that got out of said industry five years ago?

[Recovering Producer 99]

4 hours ago, Greggo said:

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? 

Here’s more than a tweet… https://thedesk.net/2023/08/scripps-general-managers-fired-layoffs/

[noggi 600]

1 hour ago, Recovering Producer said:

Here’s more than a tweet… https://thedesk.net/2023/08/scripps-general-managers-fired-layoffs/

 

Glad to see Matthew Keys out of prison… again…

 

Several station groups have GMs who also serve as regional VPs. I don’t know that this means they are getting rid of that position altogether. 
 

Edit: He just updated his bullshit story. Scripps denied the rumors of the layoffs. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by noggi

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2023/9/3/scripps-is-tanking

 

It seems the changes are not having a good effect on their stock price.

 

The way Scripps is headed, they are an oversized albatross with too many worthless (Ion) stations.  They need to right-size themselves by divesting the rest of the Ion stations to Inyo (at least the licenses) so they may be a company worth investing in and potentially merging into another as a means of survival.

[Megatron81 179]

Scripps is adding Scripps News to WXMI Fox17 1PM to 1:30PM & 7PM to 7:30PM starting next week Mon.

[who?cares 253]

WKBW is supposedly debuting a new set on Monday.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 743]

On 9/4/2023 at 9:15 PM, Megatron81 said:

Scripps is adding Scripps News to WXMI Fox17 1PM to 1:30PM & 7PM to 7:30PM starting next week Mon.

Makes sense since they have officially discontinued their "Fox 17 Unfiltered" Show...

[DetroitTVNews 65]

Starting Monday, WMYD will simulcast Scripps News' Early Rush from 6:30 AM to 7 AM, leading into their WXYZ-produced morning newscast.

[MonkeyFighter 14]

Longtime KERO morning anchor Mike Hart announced that he’s stepping away from the anchor desk and transitioning to a new ‘executive reporter’ role. KERO is also debuting a new ‘neighborhood news’ format in October. 
 

Story here

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

7 minutes ago, MonkeyFighter said:

Longtime KERO morning anchor Mike Hart announced that he’s stepping away from the anchor desk and transitioning to a new ‘executive reporter’ role. KERO is also debuting a new ‘neighborhood news’ format in October. 
 

Story here

Sounds a lot like they’re getting the Scripps small market treatment.

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

2 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

Sounds a lot like they’re getting the Scripps small market treatment.

 

I mean my CBS O&O does the neighborhood news format too.

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

Caught some of the WEWS 4:30am portion of Good Morning Cleveland and it was basically an edited series of packages with a little weather in between.

Most likely, the future of Scripps newscasts.

 

In another thread, someone likened this approach to news like the Al Schottlekotte approach WCPO used until the 80s.  This was later copied by WIAT for their "42 Daily News" relaunch in the late 90s.

 

Back when Al Schottlekotte did it, it was unique and driven by his personality.  Now with Scripps launching this approach at their stations, it's cheap, lazy, and basically throws the concept of live news out the window.

 

And in Cleveland, WKYC has once again seemingly come to their senses after "normalizing" their newscasts and it's WEWS once again that's gone off the deep end.  Meanwhile, despite Nexstar taking hold of WJW, their dominance still remains and WOIO is now owned by a major broadcaster seeing how Gray has leaped ahead of both Scripps and Tegna.

Edited September 27, 2023 by tyrannical bastard