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WSAZ 'Charleston Split' question


mvcg66b3r

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Does WSAZ still do the "Charleston Split" or has all news production moved to Huntington? The "Charleston Split" is when the station produces separate newscasts for Charleston on W16CE and Suddenlink cable. W16CE still broadcasts in analog per RabbitEars, there was a CP to convert to digital, but it expired in September.

http://www.wsaz.com/home/misc/Charleston_Split_18322959.html

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=W16CE

 

Sister station WQCW had a translator in Charleston which was sold off to DTV America. What might happen to W16CE?

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Does WSAZ still do the "Charleston Split" or has all news production moved to Huntington? The "Charleston Split" is when the station produces separate newscasts for Charleston on W16CE and Suddenlink cable. W16CE still broadcasts in analog per RabbitEars, there was a CP to convert to digital, but it expired in September.

http://www.wsaz.com/home/misc/Charleston_Split_18322959.html

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=W16CE

 

Sister station WQCW had a translator in Charleston which was sold off to DTV America. What might happen to W16CE?

 

You know I was thinking about this last week but didn't bother making a thread. Thank you for doing so!

 

Are there any other stations in the US that do this type of format? I know there are some BBC and ITV regions that do a split newscast - but only one is live and the rest are recorded (for regions served by multiple transmitters.). I think they usually start out with a live fully regional newscast, then split part way and the region with the most or latest news is usually live.

 

I think I may have floated this idea around when WMGM was sold to LocusPoint that NBC should buy WMGM-LP and operate it as an opt out for a block of news each half hour.

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WSAZ's "Charleston Split" is very interesting to say the least. But they've done this since forever, I believe. Don't expect WSAZ to end this anytime soon.

 

And according to Wikipedia, has always had one anchor in Charleston and another one in Huntington since 1956 and that the "Charleston Split" has been done since my birth year, 1995 when the low-power translator W16CE was launched.

 

So yeah... it's not ending anytime soon.

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I agree I don't see WSAZ doing away with the Charleston spilt. I lived in the Charleston-Huntington market for 2 years. It's a nice concept since wsaz is the market leader. During the weather segments, when Tony, Kelly-Ann, or Josh say here's you're foreast the Charleston feed goes to a preceded weather forecast for the Charleston and Kanawha area. Also Suddenlink carries the WSAZ Charleston feed in HD. Suddenlink carries wsaz Charleston feed in Beckley.

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I can't imagine that many people are watching via W16CE anyway. It's been 6 years since the "digital switch". So, I can't imagine there are that many people watching an analog broadcast anymore.

 

But it helps to those who want Charleston-based news. If I lived in that market in Charleston, I wouldn't want Huntington-based news. WSAZ is a really rare exception that does this and possibly one of the few, if not the only, TV stations in America to do this.

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Here's another question: are there any other stations that do this in any way (whether it's just separate anchors all the way to separate feeds)?

 

I want to say KHBS/KHOG did this at one point and so did KTBS (Shreveport/Texarkana) maybe? Other than that I can't think of who else might have done this.

 

In the late 80s there was that short-lived(?) WTVJ newscast with an anchor in Miami and one in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I can see why this format never really caught on in many places...cost for one. Plus it doesn't seem like the anchors would be able to build much chemistry from a distance.

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In the late 80s there was that short-lived(?) WTVJ newscast with an anchor in Miami and one in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Channel 4 News at 5:30 with Steve Abrams in Ft. Lauderdale and Teresa Rodriguez (now at Univision) in Miami. However, this was not like the Charleston Split. This was all done on one station as the anchors would switch back and forth for news stories.

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Here's another question: are there any other stations that do this in any way (whether it's just separate anchors all the way to separate feeds)?

 

I want to say KHBS/KHOG did this at one point and so did KTBS (Shreveport/Texarkana) maybe? Other than that I can't think of who else might have done this.

 

In the late 80s there was that short-lived(?) WTVJ newscast with an anchor in Miami and one in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I can see why this format never really caught on in many places...cost for one. Plus it doesn't seem like the anchors would be able to build much chemistry from a distance.

 

Channel 4 News at 5:30 with Steve Abrams in Ft. Lauderdale and Teresa Rodriguez (now at Univision) in Miami. However, this was not like the Charleston Split. This was all done on one station as the anchors would switch back and forth for news stories.

 

Yeah, that's not all that uncommon. WTKR (

), WSET (
), and WBTW (
) have all done this in years past.
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Yeah, that's not all that uncommon. WTKR (
), WSET (
), and WBTW (
) have all done this in years past.

 

But its not broadcast through two separate stations, unlike WSAZ's. All of those were under one station and he was asking if another station has two stations that broadcast two separate newscasts at the same time for two different areas and in reality, you don't see it that much anymore in the industry. However, WSAZ has found a way to make it work and that's why WSAZ has been #1 for a very long time.

 

In terms of 2 anchors from 2 different areas on one newscast on one station, yeah there's been plenty but WSAZ invented that concept of a dual-city newscast and that's where The Huntley-Brinkley Report was born.

 

Charleston has always been a part of WSAZ' date=' as was demonstrated with the opening of studio facilities, completely equipped for production and live programming. This made it possible in August of '54 for WSAZ to complete another national first -- telecasting a dual-city newscast, with Bos Johnson anchoring in Charleston and Nick Basso in Huntington.[/quote']

(WSAZ.com)

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I actually live in the Charleston-Huntington market, (Huntington to be precise) and have a very good friend who works at WSAZ. The 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts are the only ones with split format. The 10 o'clock on WQCW is Huntington based, with live reports from Charleston when warranted. All other newscasts are broadcast from the main WSAZ studios in Huntington, but do contain live reports from the scene of breaking news in Charleston when warranted.

 

Another unique thing about WSAZ, their First Look @ 4 hour long newscast has a definite female focus, and is co-anchored by 2 females anchors and also with a female meteorologist.

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I actually live in the Charleston-Huntington market, (Huntington to be precise) and have a very good friend who works at WSAZ. The 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts are the only ones with split format. The 10 o'clock on WQCW is Huntington based, with live reports from Charleston when warranted. All other newscasts are broadcast from the main WSAZ studios in Huntington, but do contain live reports from the scene of breaking news in Charleston when warranted.

 

Another unique thing about WSAZ, their First Look @ 4 hour long newscast has a definite female focus, and is co-anchored by 2 females anchors and also with a female meteorologist.

 

Why does WSAZ use the word First for First Look at 4:00 and First at 5:00. Because the 4pm newscast comes first, I'd say WSAZ should rebrand their 5pm newscast to WSAZ NewsChannel 3 - LIVE at 5:00.

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Why does WSAZ use the word First for First Look at 4:00 and First at 5:00. Because the 4pm newscast comes first, I'd say WSAZ should rebrand their 5pm newscast to WSAZ NewsChannel 3 - LIVE at 5:00.

According to my friend at WSAZ, they couldn't think of a title for the 4:00 news before it premiered and that is what they came up with on the fly. As to why they didn't change the 5:00 title, I'd have to ask him.

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I have an even better question. How does WSAZ handle severe weather coverage? Do they have both feeds cover it whether its in Kentucky or Ohio, or does one or the other break in only it affects coverage area (i.e. W16CE covers a tornado warning in Kanawha County while WSAZ viewers are watching The Voice)?

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According to my friend at WSAZ, they couldn't think of a title for the 4:00 news before it premiered and that is what they came up with on the fly. As to why they didn't change the 5:00 title, I'd have to ask him.

 

I mean, it doesn't make sense to call their 5pm newscast, First at 5:00 because they are second in the early evening newscast lineup now to First Look at 4:00.

 

If you ask me, once WSAZ rebrands their 5pm newscast to LIVE at 5:00, then they can call their 4pm newscast as First at 4:00.

 

Oh and if WSAZ goes to 7-9am on WQCW, the 7am hour should be Daybreak and the 8am hour should be This Morning. IIRC, WSAZ is one of the few stations in America (KOKH being another that I can recall) that uses different titles for each newscast.

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  • 3 weeks later...

WGBA used to have anchors Bob Healy & Valerie Lego in Green Bay and Stacy Engebretson in the Appleton newsroom during their 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts in the early 2000s. This was during their "Going Places" days (IMO, they had a great newscast back then, even if the ratings would indicate otherwise). The station returned to the traditional two anchor format when it was acquired by Journal in 2004.

 

Fast forward to 2015 and the Appleton newsroom has been closed (WBAY, WLUK, and WFRV still have theirs) and Stacy Engebretson is anchoring those newscasts solo (Bob Healy is now the station's ND and Valerie Lego is at WZZM-Grand Rapids). My how times have changed!

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WGBA used to have anchors Bob Healy & Valerie Lego in Green Bay and Stacy Engebretson in the Appleton newsroom during their 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts in the early 2000s. This was during their "Going Places" days (IMO, they had a great newscast back then, even if the ratings would indicate otherwise). The station returned to the traditional two anchor format when it was acquired by Journal in 2004.

 

In fact... here's an example of that era:

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KXXV in Waco/Temple/Killeen used to do a separate 10 PM newscast for its Bryan/College Station repeater. I'm not sure if KWTX/KBTX or KCEN/KAGS ever did anything similar before branding and operating as, essentially, two separate stations within the same market.

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KXXV in Waco/Temple/Killeen used to do a separate 10 PM newscast for its Bryan/College Station repeater. I'm not sure if KWTX/KBTX or KCEN/KAGS ever did anything similar before branding and operating as, essentially, two separate stations within the same market.

 

Used to until January 5th, 2015 when they stopped doing it. Now, its just a simulcast of KXXV 25's morning (4:30-7:00am), midday (11:00-11:30am) and 5:00pm newscasts on weekdays.

 

I think KWTX 10/KBTX 3 has always been separate but actually (DISCLAMER - following information from Wikipedia), KCEN 6/KAGS 23 was like one from 2003-2011 when KAGS was KMAY-LP and simulcasted KCEN with no local programming. London then relaunched KMAY as KAGS-LD in 2011 with a small scale news department.

 

So to answer your question... KWTX/KBTX? No. KCEN/KAGS? Yes.

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  • 1 year later...

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