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Mike Caplan to WFLD?


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No, I'm not kidding. The longtime WLS meteorologist is rumored to be on his way to Fox32. No word on where he'd fall on the schedule or who he'd replace, but it's an interesting development, nonetheless. The article also says that they're hiring a new weekend anchor in Cincy-import Scott Schneider. Where does that leave Larry Yellen, or are they looking at a weekend morning newscast that nobody asked for?

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/chicago-fox-station-adding-two/159228

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No, I'm not kidding. The longtime WLS meteorologist is rumored to be on his way to Fox32. No word on where he'd fall on the schedule or who he'd replace, but it's an interesting development, nonetheless. The article also says that they're hiring a new weekend anchor in Cincy-import Scott Schneider. Where does that leave Larry Yellen, or are they looking at a weekend morning newscast that nobody asked for?

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/chicago-fox-station-adding-two/159228

 

According to this so Sylvia Perez may be next!!: http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/10/19/richard-roeper-set-to-join-good-day-chicago/

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Yeah, Fox might get a bit of a bump, but of course this all depends on a time slot. The only time of day ABC 7 and Fox compete is from 4:30 to 7, and that just might the least competitive slot on 'FLD's schedule. No amount of ABC imports would solve that mess. Also, like TVNewsLover said, any noticeable amount of viewers that were going to dump 7 did so months ago. Unlike Mike's departure, which wasn't exactly the most subtle transition, the ratings did not fluctuate when Sylvia was fired.

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Yeah, Fox might get a bit of a bump, but of course this all depends on a time slot. The only time of day ABC 7 and Fox compete is from 4:30 to 7, and that just might the least competitive slot on 'FLD's schedule. No amount of ABC imports would solve that mess. Also, like TVNewsLover said, any noticeable amount of viewers that were going to dump 7 did so months ago. Unlike Mike's departure, which wasn't exactly the most subtle transition, the ratings did not fluctuate when Sylvia was fired.

There's no news anywhere between 4-630pm on 32?

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There's no news anywhere between 4-630pm on 32?

No, but there's been rumors of a 4pm newscast down the line. With the possibility of WMAQ entering that half hour, they'd be DOA. Heck, 3 years ago there were rumors of a 5pm newscast, but leadership changed, and those plans were halted. If Mike does join, they'd be wise to keep everyone else, because as bad as the content and anchors are, their weather team is pretty good...just small. But, if Fox is being Fox, someone will probably be fired to make room. I've been hearing that 4am is inevitable (a race I'm betting WBBM will be last to join), and they might be considering a 2nd meteorologist for that. That said, if they have expansion on their mind, weekend mornings, early evening, and/or even a return to a now-crowded 10pm are all (incredibly stupid) possibilities.

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No, but there's been rumors of a 4pm newscast down the line. With the possibility of WMAQ entering that half hour, they'd be DOA. Heck, 3 years ago there were rumors of a 5pm newscast, but leadership changed, and those plans were halted. If Mike does join, they'd be wise to keep everyone else, because as bad as the content and anchors are, their weather team is pretty good...just small. But, if Fox is being Fox, someone will probably be fired to make room. I've been hearing that 4am is inevitable (a race I'm betting WBBM will be last to join), and they might be considering a 2nd meteorologist for that. That said, if they have expansion on their mind, weekend mornings, early evening, and/or even a return to a now-crowded 10pm are all (incredibly stupid) possibilities.

That's really weird... I can believe they don't have any evening news at all in market 3... Wow.

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That's really weird... I can believe they don't have any evening news at all in market 3... Wow.

Consider that WGN, while an affiliate of a lesser network but a stronger opponent, didn't have an early evening newscast until 2008 (and it was only at 5:30, at debut). Until then, within that rivalry, the noon to nine time gap was always narrow enough to not warrant an entry.

 

By the time expansion blew up industry-wide, WFLD was so far in the shitter (with a revolving door of leadership and talent, to boot) that it became a secondary or tertiary thought. They had so many other problems to solve. In addition, a longtime slate of 'Simpsons' reruns at 5, 6, and 10 did very good numbers, beating WBBM very often. Meanwhile a 4pm entry was also out of the question, not because of a crowded field, but because ABC 7 had all but OWNED the timeslot for a million years. Until recently, even NBC 5 and CBS 2 tried and failed many times at that hour.

 

If there HAD been a good time for them to join the early evening trenches, it would been around 2003. WMAQ was still building back up from the Springer fiasco, WGN was not a player at that hour, WBBM was still in shambles and without a 6pm newscast, and Mark Suppelsa had just come to Fox after leaving NBC.

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Consider that WGN, while an affiliate of a lesser network but a stronger opponent, didn't have an early evening newscast until 2008 (and it was only at 5:30, at debut). Until then, within that rivalry, the noon to nine time gap was always narrow enough to not warrant an entry.

 

By the time expansion blew up industry-wide, WFLD was so far in the shitter (with a revolving door of leadership and talent, to boot) that it became a secondary or tertiary thought. They had so many other problems to solve. In addition, a longtime slate of 'Simpsons' reruns at 5, 6, and 10 did very good numbers, beating WBBM very often. Meanwhile a 4pm entry was also out of the question, not because of a crowded field, but because ABC 7 had all but OWNED the timeslot for a million years. Until recently, even NBC 5 and CBS 2 tried and failed many times at that hour.

 

If there HAD been a good time for them to join the early evening trenches, it would been around 2003. WMAQ was still building back up from the Springer fiasco, WGN was not a player at that hour, WBBM was still in shambles and without a 6pm newscast, and Mark Suppelsa had just come to Fox after leaving NBC.

What an odd situation... WFLD pales in comparison to its little brother here... They win every last demo category by a mile... Apparently 5 news operations even in a big town is tough to support...

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Confirmed by Feder, he will take over for Mark Strehl on the 4:30-10 shift of Good Day Chicago. No word on when he starts, but it'll definitely be soon. As for Strehl, he MIGHT be reassigned within the station. Being Fox, we all know what that means.

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What an odd situation... WFLD pales in comparison to its little brother here... They win every last demo category by a mile... Apparently 5 news operations even in a big town is tough to support...

 

WFLD has made a lot of missteps over the years and alienated viewers so much that it's nearly impossible for them to make rating/demo gains. Caplan is a good pickup and hopefully they will add Perez too. Since we likely won't see the new format for Good Day until December or January, it's unclear how things will pan out, but the outlook seems somewhat brighter.

 

As for weekends, Larry's talents are being wasted anchoring, so taking him off weekends would be great.

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WFLD has made a lot of missteps over the years and alienated viewers so much that it's nearly impossible for them to make rating/demo gains. Caplan is a good pickup and hopefully they will add Perez too. Since we likely won't see the new format for Good Day until December or January, it's unclear how things will pan out, but the outlook seems somewhat brighter.
The Fox News Chicago branding may have alienated Fox 32's viewers to the point where it still reaps the effects of it now because Chicago is a liberal city, whereas FNC is conservative, and I don't think many people in Chicagoland watch Fox News. In other words, the Fox News Chicago branding was the biggest (and most costly) mistake Fox 32 had ever made
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