Nexstar acquires KUSI

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

In the last hours of McKinnon ownership, KUSI put out a tribute to Mike McKinnon that would make North Korean state television blush with envy.

[SFTV 484]

1 hour ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

In the last hours of McKinnon ownership, KUSI put out a tribute to Mike McKinnon that would make North Korean state television blush with envy.

Now all we wait is for a new studio/set which has been in place since 1995!!!

[FiveNews 327]

2 hours ago, SFTV said:

Now all we wait is for a new studio/set which has been in place since 1995!!!

...and we wait for the "A McKinnon Broadcasting Company" header to be taken off of the website. It's still up as of 9/1/23 at 2:20pm PST.

[GodfreyGR 493]

22 minutes ago, FiveNews said:

...and we wait for the "A McKinnon Broadcasting Company" header to be taken off of the website. It's still up as of 9/1/23 at 2:20pm PST.

 

It'll be up until Nexstar changed the website over to their platform. Who knows when that will be- probably bigger fish to fry.

[mre29 1340]

23 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

 

It'll be up until Nexstar changed the website over to their platform. Who knows when that will be- probably bigger fish to fry.

 

I wonder if they'll keep the mid-2000s Fox News color scheme the site has had for many years.

 

[A3N 996]

Kinda curious to see what will happen editorially with KUSI. Will the current mgmt from KSWB allow them to continue with their slanted perspective & the reporters/anchors making themselves part of the story with opinions (i.e. Dan Plante), or have them tone it down?

 

Seems like KUSI is already operating with a bare-bones on-air staff, so I doubt they'll make cuts there.

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

3 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

I wonder if they'll keep the mid-2000s Fox News color scheme the site has had for many years.

 

 

1.  They will merge KSWB and KUSI newsrooms and buildings. Be prepared for layoffs.

 

2. They'll probably use the Nexstar ABC package.

 

3. This is the end of The One and Only. The second to last station to use it and they'll switch to SAM.

[sfomspphl 453]

With Steve Cohen not retiring my guess is a good deal of the KUSI story and personality style will remain intact while he’s there.

 

Political slant who knows — probably the more outlandish guests and extended Trump coverage I get the sense Mike Jr was asking for could come out of the rotation but the healthy skepticism and coverage of more local events / issues and longer interviews probably remain.

 

That’s a good thing to me but hard to get over the fact it won’t be locally owned anymore. When guys like Hank and Paul retire will be hard to fill their style for better or worse. 

 

Unfortunately the pending merger spooked Hunter and Francella out the door. And looks like Matt Prichard was released just before forcing him to Boston and ultimately bigger fish. 

 

Rafer decent but Lindsay a face palm at times in the recent hire front.

 

San Diego is a unique market and having media historically (SD Tribune included) that didn’t follow lock step with LA and SF views was part of it.

 

Interesting the KUSI building will be retained - “home turf.” 

 

If KCBS/KCAL is the analogy KUSI feels more like the KCAL. 

 

Fact is 5 has been trying to be a toned down KUSI with the red white blue, “So San Diego,” fireworks coverage, happy talk. But it feels forced / contrived while KUSI has that beach bar vibe. 

 

I wonder what the actual news ratings are. Only the total station numbers come out in the press and sure KUSI without prime time network / sports is last there.

 

But when I met a KUSI anchor last year he said they were regularly #1 in the late night and did well in the mornings. Rafer posted in the spring a night he anchored they were number one all evening.

 

My guess is 5 struggles some day parts as well. 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by sfomspphl

[tyrannical bastard 3443]

I have a feeling KUSI is being groomed to become San Diego's CW station, as soon as the contract expires with KFMB.

Despite the slant that KUSI and McKinnnon put out for years, the news-intensive format is probably toast.

 

The ancient graphics and set are likely toast, but if KUSI had some dominance in some ways, they'll keep the stronger parts and merge those into KSWB's operation.

 

 

[sfomspphl 453]

13 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I have a feeling KUSI is being groomed to become San Diego's CW station, as soon as the contract expires with KFMB.

Despite the slant that KUSI and McKinnnon put out for years, the news-intensive format is probably toast.

 

The ancient graphics and set are likely toast, but if KUSI had some dominance in some ways, they'll keep the stronger parts and merge those into KSWB's operation.

 

 

 

Set is definitively going, the article referenced upthread says they told staff a new KUSI set is coming but the twist being Fox 5 moves into unoccupied space in the KUSI building. Which sounds like dual sets though seems tight quarters for that so we will see. Was expecting the Fox 5 location or a brand new facility would be the arrangement so that was a surprise to me and an interesting bone for the KUSI crew being on “home turf.”

 

CW is a near given yes though wouldn’t change the news footprint much. They only do 4-7 and 10-1130 in the PM hours as it is. 

 

 

[TheRob 919]

I do not believe Cohen is being retained. KSWB's news director will oversee both.

[sfomspphl 453]

1 hour ago, TheRob said:

I do not believe Cohen is being retained. KSWB's news director will oversee both.

 

Interesting, so much for that. The Times article from earlier in the year said Steve ''has no intenion of retiring" I guess that wasn't necessarily a word from Nexstar.  Although the only official word I've seen from Nexstar is the KSWB GM will oversee both, he's been in San Diego his whole adult life. 

 

https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2023/05/11/kusi-tv-to-stay-separate-news-station-from-fox5-san-diego-staffers-are-told/

 

And now I see Rafer on his social saying he's sad to see Steve go

Edited September 3, 2023 by sfomspphl

[FiveNews 327]

Is KSWBs ND still Rich Goldner? Former KTLA Morning News EP....

[Samantha 2878]

Nexstar has a real challenge on its hands with KUSI, and it's not just an integration and construction challenge.

 

KUSI was the most unabashedly conservative TV newsroom in a major market anywhere. Embarrassingly so. And they will be dealing with angry viewers of that persuasion. But anyone external to the McKinnons and right-wing politics probably looks at KUSI and goes "yikes". Heck, I think even someone who came to KUSI from a Sinclair station would be shocked.

 

There is a difference between a conservative lean, justifiable in San Diego, and just being a peddler of conservative disinformation. KUSI was frequently the latter. And Nexstar is only a "left-wing" operation if you're so far off to the right that NewsNation is radically left.

[Bsean 138]

This article says Cohen has already been relieved of his duties.

 

https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2023/09/04/marketink-nexstar-now-controls-san-diegos-kusi-news-director-steve-cohen-is-out/

[mrschimpf 2051]

And the social person too; last post was on Saturday on both Twitter and Facebook, and they seemed to be one of the few TV stations that took EM-era Blue seriously with bolding and extended posts (all very editorialized). The Herrings are probably getting HR ready for a few OAN interviews as we speak.

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

30 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

And the social person too; last post was on Saturday on both Twitter and Facebook, and they seemed to be one of the few TV stations that took EM-era Blue seriously with bolding and extended posts (all very editorialized). The Herrings are probably getting HR ready for a few OAN interviews as we speak.

I was about to say, their social media person needed to go. That person wouldn’t know the difference between reporting and editorializing if it slapped em in the face.

[A3N 996]

Clearly they never bothered to fix the Twitter feed on the right side as it has tweets from 2019 embedded on there...

 

Hmm, the two former anchors suing the station, front and center...

[LTSC1980 96]

5 hours ago, A3N said:

Clearly they never bothered to fix the Twitter feed on the right side as it has tweets from 2019 embedded on there...

 

Hmm, the two former anchors suing the station, front and center...

They’ve changed the like order in embed Twitter/X feed, and now sort on like counts. One of reason why I hate Elon Musk.

[sfomspphl 453]

15 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

I was about to say, their social media person needed to go. That person wouldn’t know the difference between reporting and editorializing if it slapped em in the face.

 

It was one of the McKinnon grandchildren (edit: might still be based on today's twitter posts)

 

My guess is the son of the elder McKinnon (GM) and his son (head of social) were the “alt right” political manipulators in the building. 

 

That said many newsrooms have the opposing alt left? equivalent individuals making editorial judgement they just don’t own the station outright and are less clumsy about executing their particular bias. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by sfomspphl

[NotInTV 63]

The McKinnon name is off of the website. Well, the bottom at least. Still up top.

Edited September 7, 2023 by NotInTV

[sfomspphl 453]

Watching the evening news today…

 

They changed the anchor positions on the set…now seated in the middle as originally designed on the circa 1998 set with the original big “9” logo in blue. Tosses to sports now have a 3 shot. My guess is this is the pre temporary set look while they redesign the rest of the space; the set already has plenty of blue for the traditional temp look. 

 

The pre show tease no longer has live previews by the field reporters like Dan Plante. Just the anchors reading the teases.

 

A lot less chit chat into breaks and between stories. 

 

Bit of a somber feel if you ask me and not just for the appropriate 9/11 segments. 

 

Story selection and guests are similar to before (still showing the alternative local political voices) although they’re inserting more brief general voiceover stories like public health messages. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

1 hour ago, sfomspphl said:

Watching the evening news today…

 

They changed the anchor positions on the set…now seated in the middle as originally designed on the circa 1998 set with the original big “9” logo in blue. Tosses to sports now have a 3 shot. My guess is this is the pre temporary set look while they redesign the rest of the space; the set already has plenty of blue for the traditional temp look. 

 

The pre show tease no longer has live previews by the field reporters like Dan Plante. Just the anchors reading the teases.

 

A lot less chit chat into breaks and between stories. 

 

Bit of a somber feel if you ask me and not just for the appropriate 9/11 segments. 

 

Story selection and guests are similar to before (still showing the alternative local political voices) although they’re inserting more brief general voiceover stories like public health messages. 

 

This tickles me a little bit. - Is it Nexstar? Is it McKinnon!?

 

[sfomspphl 453]

14 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

This tickles me a little bit. - Is it Nexstar? Is it McKinnon!?

 

 

Yeah and the text up there is raw text, not a graphic that needs the creative team so no real excuse. Maybe someone is doing only doing exactly what they were told and nothing more. 

 

The social/web lead (was a McKinnon, maybe still is) appears to be continuing as if little to nothing has changed, based on the social feed text. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by sfomspphl

[sfomspphl 453]

Moving onto a temp set 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2f4n5Cyu6q/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==