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Morgan Murphy and the former Marks Stations


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Thought I'd check in on the former Marks stations (WBKP/WBUP in Marquette and WBKB in Alpena) now under the management of Morgan Murphy.

 

The Marquette stations are an odd bird in themselves.  Being a larger market than Alpena (which basically is the smallest market in the country with its own functioning news department), this station does some strange things with its newscasts.  The station uses a virtual set and instead of shooting video for their stories (aside from their bureau reporter) they rely on a lot of still pictures, and even obvious stock footage to fill out the VO of local stories.  NewsNet provides their weather and sports coverage.  When the local news runs out, the national packages take over.

 

Down in Alpena, it's a more traditional newscast, They once again have their own meteorologist (after relying on NewsNet to fill in the gap).  At one time, Alpena actually did the weather for Marquette.  Being Alpena, and the third smallest market in existence, This is an obvious starter's market where people don't last long and move on quickly.  Unlike Marquette, WBKB is the only game in town and as of last year, holds every major affiliation (Big 4) for the Alpena market.

 

I wonder if Morgan Murphy (Queen Bees Knees LLC) has any plans to standardize the stations like they have with their others.

 

And the $64,000 question.... How much longer will the Marks estate hold on to the Montana stations, including Glendive?

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22 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

And the $64,000 question.... How much longer will the Marks estate hold on to the Montana stations, including Glendive?

 

Until they find a buyer willing to pay what Marks think the stations are worth.   Unfortunately for Marks though, the two TV stations are practically worthless.

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7 hours ago, jjj said:

 

Until they find a buyer willing to pay what Marks think the stations are worth.   Unfortunately for Marks though, the two TV stations are practically worthless.

Seeing as what's happening with the stations Marquee just picked up, it's a tall order to bring local TV service here.  Could it come to the market just merging into the Billings market?

 

Glendive is a small fraction of households compared to even the Alpena market.

Edited by tyrannical bastard
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