Big Rollo Smokes 61 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) The seven-year-old, TMZ on TV-inspired news analysis show anchored by Bill Spadea, which aired on WWOR-TV/WNYW in NYC and WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, has quietly been cancelled. Its final airing was last Thursday (June 18). The show's social media pages are also no more. From what I could find from a Reddit forum, apparently Spadea has been using the show as his bully pulpit to spread COVID-19 misinformation. Maybe that was more than Fox Television was willing to handle. As a result, WWOR-TV has made a couple of changes in its late evening lineup as of Monday (6-22): The Book of Sean and Out Loud with Claudia Jordan from the Fox Soul streaming service now run between 11:00p and 1:00a. WNYW has placed a Dish Nation rerun in the 1:00a half-hour formerly filled by Chasing News, and WTXF-TV has replaced its 3:00a airing with a rerun of Extra. EDIT -- Politico has a story on the end of the show: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-jersey-playbook/2020/06/23/chasing-news-runs-out-of-breath-489605 Edited June 24, 2020 by Big Rollo Smokes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scrabbleship 415 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 I've brought this up on the Discord before but it's relevant here: At this point, what is keeping WNYW from giving WWOR the WDCA treatment and starting up news in prime time? I know the dynamic in DC is different with WTTG doing significantly more news than WNYW, but I think and 8:00 and a 9:00 with MyNet on overnights would be a good idea. It works in DC, why wouldn't it in NYC? 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TSSZNews 1006 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 WTXF had bumped Chasing News out of 12.30 for some time - it had been running at 3AM for the past year or two. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DMA 98 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Not that Chasing News was watchable or fulfilling any semblance of a public service mandate, but it's absolutely wild that WWOR is able to get away with completely reneging on the conditions of their license, and that the FCC is just going to let it slide. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Rollo Smokes 61 Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 5 hours ago, DMA said: Not that Chasing News was watchable or fulfilling any semblance of a public service mandate, but it's absolutely wild that WWOR is able to get away with completely reneging on the conditions of their license, and that the FCC is just going to let it slide. The FCC just doesn't care anymore. Neither do the corporate broadcasters. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NowBergen 264 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, DMA said: Not that Chasing News was watchable or fulfilling any semblance of a public service mandate, but it's absolutely wild that WWOR is able to get away with completely reneging on the conditions of their license, and that the FCC is just going to let it slide. Anyone know if it even registered on the ratings scale? Let's see if things change in January with the FCC and enforcement of the agreements between WWOR which Fox pledged to keep. Pai(d off) probably won't be the head anymore. Edited June 24, 2020 by NowBergen 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nickp 168 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 it would be nice for WWOR to actually provide a newscast again 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sfomspphl 270 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 (edited) I got a kick out of the early days of it - when he was fashioning himself as a Harvey Levin - big egos can be entertaining Hadn't watched in a long while so don't know how it devolved. Hard to believe it's been 7 years - not bad of a run for an upstart format in news. Edited June 25, 2020 by sfomspphl 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyWatch 131 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 19 hours ago, nickp said: it would be nice for WWOR to actually provide a newscast again You would think in this era of expanding newscasts (and with political ad dollars at stake this year) WNYW would think about launching a NJ-centered newscast on WWOR somewhere in the 7-10pm block. Rake in the ad $$$, expand the news brand, and actually serve the community the station is licensed to serve (what a concept!) 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NowBergen 264 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 Clearly Fox feels they make money having a low cost operation with no news, lots of Family Feud, and the rerun package from MNT. This station is a shell of itself from before the purchase by Fox. Not sure how much any of their programs register in terms of ratings. It's a waste of a channel IMO. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrschimpf 814 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 1 hour ago, NowBergen said: Clearly Fox feels they make money having a low cost operation with no news, lots of Family Feud, and the rerun package from MNT. This station is a shell of itself from before the purchase by Fox. Not sure how much any of their programs register in terms of ratings. It's a waste of a channel IMO. The WRNN channel sharing deal (another example of a New York station that has no real reason to exist now that their FiOS deal is dead) probably makes them enough to justify not changing the schedule either. If not for the Buzzr and H&I subchannels or hospitals needing non-news content for their waiting rooms, WWOR is a non-entity in the entire Tri-State...a fall from where it was a superstation in the 80s. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KrocKing 1 Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 On 6/24/2020 at 6:52 AM, scrabbleship said: I've brought this up on the Discord before but it's relevant here: At this point, what is keeping WNYW from giving WWOR the WDCA treatment and starting up news in prime time? I know the dynamic in DC is different with WTTG doing significantly more news than WNYW, but I think and 8:00 and a 9:00 with MyNet on overnights would be a good idea. It works in DC, why wouldn't it in NYC? Could be due to the fact WLNY already has a 9pm newscast. Even though its just the CBSN New York livestream, for some reason it still gets listed as WLNY News. But that could be why it hasn’t happened. If they did it in the way WDCA did it, I’d say it could work. Certainly has more worth than airing the same exact Family Feud reruns from 7pm, again at 11pm. The whole schedule is a mess Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrschimpf 814 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 6/25/2020 at 5:45 PM, mrschimpf said: The WRNN channel sharing deal (another example of a New York station that has no real reason to exist now that their FiOS deal is dead) probably makes them enough to justify not changing the schedule either. If not for the Buzzr and H&I subchannels or hospitals needing non-news content for their waiting rooms, WWOR is a non-entity in the entire Tri-State...a fall from where it was a superstation in the 80s. Re-bumping up the subject of WRNN...they've canclled Richard French Live, thus RNN officially doesn't mean anything any longer. Richard claims he doesn't have the time to "give the time that this program and the viewer deserve"...because he assumes that his viewers prefer to watch ShopHQ 24/7, as all the main channels of the RNN stations now carry that shopping network full-time outside of E/I time as of the start of July. What a true waste of precious broadcast bandwidth...you have to figure their channel share partners are pissed that precious bits are being wasted on a channel which buys six channel positions per cable/satellite system already. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Yankees4life 366 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 55 minutes ago, mrschimpf said: Re-bumping up the subject of WRNN...they've canclled Richard French Live, thus RNN officially doesn't mean anything any longer. Richard claims he doesn't have the time to "give the time that this program and the viewer deserve"...because he assumes that his viewers prefer to watch ShopHQ 24/7, as all the main channels of the RNN stations now carry that shopping network full-time outside of E/I time as of the start of July. What a true waste of precious broadcast bandwidth...you have to figure their channel share partners are pissed that precious bits are being wasted on a channel which buys six channel positions per cable/satellite system already. Yeah...WRNN is a joke of a station. Always has been. They barely show anything non-informerical wise 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Rollo Smokes 61 Posted October 14 Author Share Posted October 14 On 7/4/2021 at 6:56 PM, mrschimpf said: Re-bumping up the subject of WRNN...they've canclled Richard French Live, thus RNN officially doesn't mean anything any longer. Richard claims he doesn't have the time to "give the time that this program and the viewer deserve"...because he assumes that his viewers prefer to watch ShopHQ 24/7, as all the main channels of the RNN stations now carry that shopping network full-time outside of E/I time as of the start of July. Well, it appears that Richard French Live has gained a second life. It now airs weekdays at 7:00 AM, and consists of clips from other liberal/progressive commentators and hosts, such as Thom Hartmann; Richard appears in pre-taped wrap-around segments and offers a brief commentary of his own. The program is now produced under the aegis of Political Voices Network, which features Hartmann, Stephanie Miller, and other like-minded personalities. I suppose this is being done solely to satisfy the FCC mandate for public affairs programming. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
detroiter313 158 Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 On 6/24/2020 at 5:00 PM, Big Rollo Smokes said: The FCC just doesn't care anymore. Neither do the corporate broadcasters. Curious question, can the FCC actually force a television station (like WWOR) to air locally-produced programming that is detrimental to their community of license? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NowBergen 264 Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 19 hours ago, detroiter313 said: Curious question, can the FCC actually force a television station (like WWOR) to air locally-produced programming that is detrimental to their community of license? In this case, yes. When RKO lost the Channel 9 license, Congress passed a bill that resulted in Channel 9 moving to NJ and covering NJ news (it was written as any state without a VHF station, which limits it basically to NJ). Once Fox purchased the station they moved most operations into NY and then reduced NJ coverage in the news, and, eventually cancelled the news. It was replaced as that awful Chasing NJ that became Chasing News before being cancelled. With license renewals up, that Congressional bill is being brought up again. Under Fox, Ch. 9 is a shadow of its former self. Not sure what the strategy is other than keeping out a competitor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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