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1 hour ago, TexasTVNews said:

Would you believe on this leap year, it's been four years since Raleigh-Durham's WNCN and WRAL switched network affiliations. 'RAL to NBC and 'NCN to CBS. What a difference four years makes.

Can you elaborate? Just out of curiosity. I'm not familiar with the market. 

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3 minutes ago, Kyle R said:

Can you elaborate? Just out of curiosity. I'm not familiar with the market. 

He's talking about the affiliation switch involving WRAL and WNCN that took place on this date 4 years ago.

 

That's as far as I can elaborate for you.

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8 hours ago, TexasTVNews said:

Would you believe on this leap year, it's been four years since Raleigh-Durham's WNCN and WRAL switched network affiliations. 'RAL to NBC and 'NCN to CBS. What a difference four years makes.

I live in the Charlotte market but I think it has helped both stations.

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The change-averse Portland, Maine TV market has experienced quite a bit of it lately on Tegna's dominant WCSH. The latest change has veteran evening anchor Pat Callaghan shifting to 5PM and 6PM weekdays, giving up the 11PM newscast to Clay Gordon, who previously worked weekend mornings. Gordon is married to fellow WCSH anchor Lindsey Mills (who anchors at 5PM weekdays) and they have a young child.

 

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On 2/29/2020 at 9:49 PM, Kyle R said:

Can you elaborate? Just out of curiosity. I'm not familiar with the market. 

Aside from the affiliation swap, there have been many changes within both stations. 

 

WNCN went from being "WNCN" to CBS North Carolina and now is CBS 17.   The latter was a change by Nexstar as they merged with Media General.

 

WRAL moving to NBC probably played a role with sister station WILM ceding CBS to WWAY's DT2 since NBC was firmly aligned with longtime affiliate WECT.   And WRAL has kept their ownership and dominance despite a large number of key anchor departures, most notably, the exit of longtime chief meteorologist Greg Fishel due to a "personnel matter." 

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NGL, the Triangle has had one of the most convoluted TV station histories in the country. The only stations that haven't really changed affiliations at all are the UNC stations (not counting the NET to PBS transition). Even WTVD used to be the local CBS station before Capital Cities bought ABC. It's kinda like what happened in Boston, but even there it was mostly just the Big 3 stations, and WCVB hasn't left ABC since it replaced WHDH (the original one that aired on channel 5).

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5 hours ago, MadMan400096 said:

NGL, the Triangle has had one of the most convoluted TV station histories in the country. The only stations that haven't really changed affiliations at all are the UNC stations (not counting the NET to PBS transition). Even WTVD used to be the local CBS station before Capital Cities bought ABC. It's kinda like what happened in Boston, but even there it was mostly just the Big 3 stations, and WCVB hasn't left ABC since it replaced WHDH (the original one that aired on channel 5).

WRAL and WTVD are some of the few stations that have affiliated with all 3 major networks at one time or another.   

 

I believe the record stands with WTTV in Indianapolis, having not only affiliated with ABC, NBC and CBS, but also with UPN, WB, CW, as well as their time as an independent.

(They were actually owned by WRAL's parent company from the late 80s to early 90s, before being sold to River City Broadcasting)

Edited by tyrannical bastard
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58 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

WRAL and WTVD are some of the few stations that have affiliated with all 3 major networks at one time or another.   

 

I believe the record stands with WTTV in Indianapolis, having not only affiliated with ABC, NBC and CBS, but also with UPN, WB, CW, as well as their time as an independent.

(They were actually owned by WRAL's parent company from the late 80s to early 90s, before being sold to River City Broadcasting)

Fun Fact: WTTV is now reunited with former sister WJZY. Both former Capitol stations that ended up triggering affiliation swaps in the 2010s.

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5 hours ago, ttvn2000 said:

WKRC names Paula Toti and Kyle Inskeep main anchors.

 

https://local12.com/news/local/local-12-announces-new-station-anchor-team

 

Bewildering.  Apparently all the data pointed in this direction...but still....bewildering.

 

I'm a complete outsider to the moves in this market. But I do wonder why this move is bewildering, if you don't mind elaborating please...

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10 hours ago, KRAP-TV said:

 

I'm a complete outsider to the moves in this market. But I do wonder why this move is bewildering, if you don't mind elaborating please...

 

Be careful what you ask for....here's my essay on why this is "bewildering" 😀

 

Here's some context: these two are replacing longtime anchor team Cammy Dierking and Rob Braun.  Both are considered "Cincinnati royalty" as they're the children of well-known Cincinnati figures.  Things were going well for them until they were forced to read Sinclair-mandated copy and they both opted to leave when their contracts were up.

 

For me, the Toti/Inskeep pairing one of those "huh?" kind of moves - similar to the original trio of Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill for CBS This Morning back in 2012....  So maybe it will work out for them in the long run. 

 

Maybe I'm too harsh or judgemental, but to put it simply, these two just don't have the "look" of a primary anchor team in a top 40 market.  But...times are a'changin', apparently.  This was an opportunity to set the course for the next 10-15 years, and in my opinion, this wasn't a decision that was made with the long-term in mind.  It would've been a chance to revamp their newscasts in a more impactful way. 

 

Here are my thoughts on why (IMO) this wasn't the right decision:

  • Timing.  Braun left in June.  Dierking notified management she was leaving in April.  The station had time to find options beyond their "B" team to test on air.
  • Age. He's in his 20s, she's in her 50s or 60s.  They have on-air chemistry, but in a weird aunt-nephew kind of way.  She has worked her way up at WKRC over the last 20+ years...he's been there since 2018 and before that was a morning reporter in Indianapolis.  He has a personality that is a better fit for mornings.  She is very strident and not exactly pleasant to watch.
  • Lack of Foresight.  It feels like these two just "fell into" their positions, due to departures of other talent (and their shrinking bench of anchor talent). 
    • Toti replaced Cincinnati native Sydney Benter in 2017.
    • Inskeep replaced LONGTIME anchor Brad Johansen in 2018. It is even noted here that the primary anchor slot was "out of reach" at that time, which is why he left for WRAL (more on that below). 
  • Availability of Other Talent.  There is plenty of well-seasoned talent to pair up and experiment with, both inside and outside the station:
    • Brad Johansen: Inskeep replaced Brad Johansen, who fizzled at WRAL (due to an anchor who refuses to retire).  Johansen's family never actually moved to Raleigh, so when he left WRAL, he came back to the Cincinnati area. Assuming Johansen wanted a job - WKRC could've (and should've) invited him back.
    • Adam Clements: Clements publicly tried out for Johansen's open position and lost it to Inskeep. As a 'make good' - they moved Clements from morning reporter to "breaking news anchor" - which basically means he reports wire stories from a tiny room, operates his own camera and has multiple "hits" during the morning news. Literally a month after Rob Braun left, Inskeep disappeared (due to personal reasons) for a month. During that 5-week period, they pulled Clements off the morning news and had him anchoring the evening broadcasts. He has been subtly noting that he prefers that slot. Plus, he's from the area.
    • Sheila Gray: In 2013/2014, Sheila Gray made a highly publicized move from WXIX to WKRC to anchor their morning news.  Surely, she was a costly hire, and she has the gravitas to handle the evening slots. I'm sure they wanted to keep that broadcast stable, and she probably prefers the morning slot - but she should have been considered.
    • Tiffany Wilson: Former WKRC anchor (who filled the morning seat before Sheila Gray arrived) had recently returned to the area after a stint at KGO in San Francisco.

This is just a missed opportunity, in my opinion.  BUT - if the ratings are saying something else, then I guess I'm wrong and this was a smart decision.

 

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15 minutes ago, Samantha said:

Curious little partnership here. Charter viewers in the Berkshires — a long-aggrieved orphan county in the Albany DMA — will get news from WWLP, and WWLP will add more features relevant to the Berkshires.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/245389/nexstar-charter-create-wwlp-local-news-deal/

 

 

I know that WTEN picks up some WWLP stories and vice versa but clearly it wasn't enough.

 

If this feed could get the Patriots preseason games, which Albany stations stubbornly refuse to carry, it would be a proper salve.

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3 minutes ago, scrabbleship said:

I know that WTEN picks up some WWLP stories and vice versa but clearly it wasn't enough.

 

If this feed could get the Patriots preseason games, which Albany stations stubbornly refuse to carry, it would be a proper salve.

I see that the congressional delegation got in on this one. It's being noted in local media as a "return" because WWLP was on the system until 2017, when WNYT must have pushed Charter to remove WWLP for network reasons.

 

What remains to be seen, and we won't know until 30 to 60 days from now, is what exactly the feed has besides the station's local output and presumably anything WTEN also has the rights to.

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24 minutes ago, Samantha said:

I see that the congressional delegation got in on this one. It's being noted in local media as a "return" because WWLP was on the system until 2017, when WNYT must have pushed Charter to remove WWLP for network reasons.

 

What remains to be seen, and we won't know until 30 to 60 days from now, is what exactly the feed has besides the station's local output and presumably anything WTEN also has the rights to.

From those I know in the Berkshires, the two parties were fine for years, even when WNYT began signing translators on in the Berkshires and running a (since closed) Pittsfield bureau. WNYT pushed it more out of sour grapes once WWLP and WTEN ended up under common ownership and WTEN began beating them marketwide. Pure Club 13-level spite.

 

I'm more interested in what led Spectrum to drop WCVB there. Their carriage in Pittsfield wasn't that grandfathered - added 1996 - and the "it's the alpha city of the state" angle made it a curio that was tolerated if anything. 

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