New Network Newscast by Nexstar

[Sendir 64]

Nexstar Media to Launch Prime-Time National Newscast on WGN America, Cable Network Reaching 75 Million U.S. Households

Nexstar Media Group’s cable network, WGN America will launch a live daily national newscast.  Beginning this summer, “News Nation,” will air in prime-time and will draw on the expertise of Nexstar’s 5,400 local journalists in 110 local newsrooms across the country.

 

https://www.nexstar.tv/press-releases/

Edited January 20 by Sendir

[Yankees4life 150]

Just simulcast WGN9 News again and be done with it...

[ScottJ 15]

That's not happening. WGN9's status with national programming is done. Which is why I don't understand why Nexstar doesn't rebrand WGN America.

[Georgie56 1,928]

2 hours ago, ScottJ said:

That's not happening. WGN9's status with national programming is done. Which is why I don't understand why Nexstar doesn't rebrand WGN America.

 

They probably will. Like I said, I have a theory that Nexstar wants to turn WGNA into a cable news network (which is also what Sinclair wanted to do) and News Nation will serve as a test.

[detroiter313 137]

10 hours ago, Sendir said:

Nexstar Media Group’s cable network, WGN America will launch a live daily national newscast.  Beginning this summer, “News Nation,” will air in prime-time and will draw on the expertise of Nexstar’s 5,400 local journalists in 110 local newsrooms across the country.

 

 

I thought Nexstar said they have no aspirations to be national, but focused on being local, hence their philosophy. I'm getting confused... 

[channel2 696]

My guess is that this could be a way to raise WGNA’s value in case some deeper-pocketed company decides to show up with the Brinks trucks, or, barring that, turn WGNA into more of a money machine for Nexstar.

[tyrannical bastard 1,738]

I hope Tom Freakin' Skilling is somehow involved....

 

Had WKRG not let Alan Sealls walk across the street to Sinclair and WPMI, he could have been a contributor.   

 

In fact, he actually worked at WGN in the 90s before spending a few years at WMAQ.

[Conrad 113]

5 hours ago, detroiter313 said:

I thought Nexstar said they have no aspirations to be national, but focused on being local, hence their philosophy. I'm getting confused... 

I agree; so much for "Keeping It Local". 

 

Nexstar is now national, so no matter where you are in the U.S., you're in Nexstar territory whether you like it or not.

[24994J 3,357]

On 1/21/2020 at 11:21 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

I hope Tom Freakin' Skilling is somehow involved....

 

That's gonna be a no.

 

https://nexstar.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/nexstar/job/IL-Chicago2501-W-Bradley-Place-WGN-TV/Meteorologist_REQ-2732

[Megatron81 36]

I think that News Nation is going to be like Newsy from Scripps what Headline News use to be on a loop.

[alex979 112]

Nexstar has released a new website with more info on "News Nation" for advertisers, including some extended promos and renderings of the set, weather center, and newsroom. Looks quite impressive. Hope everything is still on track for a summer launch, but there is no start date given. Also no on-air talent identified yet.

https://wgnamericaupfront.com/ 

[Georgie56 1,928]

1 hour ago, alex979 said:

Nexstar has released a new website with more info on "News Nation" for advertisers, including some extended promos and renderings of the set, weather center, and newsroom. Looks quite impressive. Hope everything is still on track for a summer launch, but there is no start date given. Also no on-air talent identified yet.

https://wgnamericaupfront.com/ 

 

Amazing how we thought COVID-19 would delay the launch, but with CBSN Chicago launching yesterday and News Nation still on track for an on-time launch, appears that's not the case.

[TheGuru 81]

It may be to soon to tell, but it looks like Nexstar is pulling out all the stops getting this show going. It'd be interested to know how much COVID-19 has set them back, if it has at all. I'll be interested to see a talent lineup when the time comes.

 

--

 

Different thought: I know i'm treading into speculation territory here... but what if Nexstar is playing the long game with WGN? If News Nation is a success, and advertisers and consumers buy into the network, what are the odds we might be looking into a future where your local affiliates include NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and... WGN?

 

 

[Nelson R. 126]

34 minutes ago, TheGuru said:

It may be to soon to tell, but it looks like Nexstar is pulling out all the stops getting this show going. It'd be interested to know how much COVID-19 has set them back, if it has at all. I'll be interested to see a talent lineup when the time comes.

 

--

 

Different thought: I know i'm treading into speculation territory here... but what if Nexstar is playing the long game with WGN? If News Nation is a success, and advertisers and consumers buy into the network, what are the odds we might be looking into a future where your local affiliates include NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and... WGN?

 

 

So you’re saying “News Nation” would be the network programming? That just might work...except it wouldn’t be live outside the Eastern and Central time zones. I would love for it to replace MyNet though.

Edited April 22 by Nelson R.

[jase 397]

13 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Amazing how we thought COVID-19 would delay the launch, but with CBSN Chicago launching yesterday and News Nation still on track for an on-time launch, appears that's not the case.

 

I'm not surprised they're moving full steam ahead. I imagine the only major change is a redesigned newsroom layout. Not sure they can get away with people sitting that close to each other. They're going to have to either space people out, have some work from home, throw up some dividers, etc... That said, I like the studio and newsroom designs. Can't wait to see this in action.

 

[newsteam13 106]

I think the News Nation idea can work just for Nexstar's CW, FOX and MNTV affiliates; all of which don't have a network evening newscast like ABC, CBS and NBC does.

 

Just think of the days of INN Independent Network News. That national primetime newscast was produced by WPIX New York, and it was syndicated nationally to independent stations nationwide, even some indies that became affiliates of the then-new FOX network. It was for indie stations to compete with the CBS Evening News, ABC's World News Tonight and the NBC Nightly News. 

 

If Nexstar is going with the News Nation idea, think of that WPIX INN model, and have News Nation syndicated to CW, FOX and MNTV affiliates that DON'T HAVE  a national newscast

Edited April 22 by newsteam13

[GoldenShine9 1,015]

I wonder if any non-Nexstar stations will pick it up?

[jase 397]

4 hours ago, newsteam13 said:

I think the News Nation idea can work just for Nexstar's CW, FOX and MNTV affiliates; all of which don't have a network evening newscast like ABC, CBS and NBC does.

 

Just think of the days of INN Independent Network News. That national primetime newscast was produced by WPIX New York, and it was syndicated nationally to independent stations nationwide, even some indies that became affiliates of the then-new FOX network. It was for indie stations to compete with the CBS Evening News, ABC's World News Tonight and the NBC Nightly News. 

 

If Nexstar is going with the News Nation idea, think of that WPIX INN model, and have News Nation syndicated to CW, FOX and MNTV affiliates that DON'T HAVE  a national newscast

 

2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I wonder if any non-Nexstar stations will pick it up?

 

 

I think you guys may be getting a little too ahead of things. I believe the idea is to rebrand/rebuild WGN America around News Nation and to draw viewers to the network. You really couldn't effectively do that if the program is available on others stations (regardless of if it's a Nexstar-owned station or not). Maybe offering up an hour of News Nation to Nexstar-owned stations in the future is possible; but beyond that, seem highly unlikely imo.

[DirtyHarry 277]

Any national based news operation is the pits. You might as well read press releases--it's quicker than watching propaganda hour on any of the networks.

 

Maybe having a news operation based in Chicago  and getting decision-makers outside the Washington and New York bubble is what the doctor ordered. Didn't work in Atlanta, but if at first you don't succeed ...

 

Edited April 28 by DirtyHarry

[TheRyan 442]

31 minutes ago, DirtyHarry said:

Any national based news operation is the pits. You might as well read press releases--it's quicker than watching propaganda hour on any of the networks.

 

Maybe having a news operation based in Chicago  and getting decision-makers outside the Washington and New York bubble is what the doctor ordered. Didn't work in Atlanta, but if at first you don't succeed ...

 

 

My assumption is that the newscast will draw news content from other Nexstar stations.  If that's indeed the case, then they may have a chance of succeeding because Nexstar has a large number of large and small markets to draw content from.  I don't get the impression it's going to just be a rehash of news wires and such.   But time will tell.

Edited April 28 by TheRyan

[TheGuru 81]

35 minutes ago, DirtyHarry said:

Any national based news operation is the pits. You might as well read press releases--it's quicker than watching propaganda hour on any of the networks.

 

Maybe having a news operation based in Chicago  and getting decision-makers outside the Washington and New York bubble is what the doctor ordered. Didn't work in Atlanta, but if at first you don't succeed ...

 

 

Perhaps the difference of (roughly) 1 million people might help. Also, the new network seems to be aiming to be the "mid-america" network, focusing on the Midwest. It could get them more views, but i'm not 100% sold. 

 

The idea of them leveraging all of their local stations on the national level might be the key here, but I've yet to see how they plan to do that. Is it reverse correspondence style? Time will tell. I think they have a winning idea, they just need winning execution. 

[DirtyHarry 277]

43 minutes ago, TheGuru said:

 

Perhaps the difference of (roughly) 1 million people might help. Also, the new network seems to be aiming to be the "mid-america" network, focusing on the Midwest. It could get them more views, but i'm not 100% sold. 

 

The idea of them leveraging all of their local stations on the national level might be the key here, but I've yet to see how they plan to do that. Is it reverse correspondence style? Time will tell. I think they have a winning idea, they just need winning execution. 

 

 I like the idea of a contrarian newscast with kind of a Paul Harvey sensibility.

 

If I were designing such a newscast, I would take propaganda from all the usual suspects and poke holes in it. Skewer the Democrats, the left, the neocons, Republicans, the banksters, the globalists, etc. Skewer anybody trying to push obvious BS.

 

It would be a breath of fresh air.

 

 

[J1975am 109]

8 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

Any national based news operation is the pits. You might as well read press releases--it's quicker than watching propaganda hour on any of the networks.

 

Maybe having a news operation based in Chicago  and getting decision-makers outside the Washington and New York bubble is what the doctor ordered. Didn't work in Atlanta, but if at first you don't succeed ...

 

On the contrary, I’ve been turning increasingly to Newsy throughout the pandemic. They live up to their motto, “Be informed. Not influenced.” They do so in that they present news without having to be loud, aggressive, in-your-face, or by letting emotions get the best of them.

 

Now on the subject of “News Nation,” is it my understanding (at least from what I’m inferring from the posts on this site) that there are some reports throughout the broadcast that may be presented by anchors/reporters from Nexstar stations throughout the country? Let’s hope this is the case; Newsy does the same with Scripps-owned stations throughout the country during one segment of their 7p ET show, “The Why” (as Scripps is Newsy’s parent company).

[DirtyHarry 277]

Local media does a much better job than the national  in terms of being balanced and not trying to push baldface propaganda, so I agree.

 

But then again, I don't know that local media is any better than the national at pushing local politicians, either. Maybe it's just that the politicians at the local and state level are inferior at the art of propaganda compared to the people at the federal level.

Edited April 29 by DirtyHarry

[mouseboy33 1]

11 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

Any national based news operation is the pits.... Didn't work in Atlanta, but if at first you don't succeed ...

 

Well it actually worked perfectly fine in Atlanta for decades. The problem happened when all the anchors and management was shifted from Atlanta to NYC and DC. That is when the major problems and slide massively started. The domestic channel and Headline News are shadows of their former selves and the International channel is sadly a hollowed out shell.