Interesting tidbits from the world of broadcast TV: – New Jersey residents aren’t happy with New York area WWOR-TV and accuse the Fox-owned station of backpeddling on its commitment of public service and giving the residents of the state the short shrift. WWOR is the only commercial VHF station in New Jersey. The FCC will hold a hearing tonight in […]
A melancholy happy trails to John Drury. The former WBBM-TV, WLS-TV and WGN-TV news anchor who retired in 2002, lost his battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died last night at the age of 80. Drury got his started in television at Milwaukee’s WTMJ, where he was a staff announcer. He began anchoring the news at the station […]
Still on holiday, but this news is important since this involves FCC action against a local TV station: WMAQ-TV, owned by NBC Universal, was hit with a $10,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to publicize the “existence and location” of its children’s TV programming reports. Click here for more details. Also on the FCC beat, former CBS […]
With the Pumpkin Pie Awards for Excellence Welcome to the second annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards. Once again, we’re here to serve up the disasters in media in 2007. I have nineteen turkeys to hand out… so let’s get gobbling! And this year’s awards go to… – The Chicago Bears. A Super Bowl hangover this year. And especially Rex […]
New York’s WWOR is borrowing a page from its old WOR days – by signing a deal to bring the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers back to the station – though for two games each. The Rangers games that are scheduled to be televised are at the home against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 25, and Dec. […]
The new version of local TV – you know, the one in which advertisers pay money to have their product or service plugged on the show – has taken a hit with the dissolvement of Kansas City Live, KSHB-TV’s low-rated one-hour infotainment program. The Hour Magazine clone, which airs at 10 a.m. on the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate, is being replaced […]
New weekend off-network hours that are making the rounds for syndication in 2008 have cleared Chicago stations. Boston Legal, the Emmy-award series from Twentieth Television, has cleared WLS-TV in Chicago for weekend runs next fall, as well as fellow ABC O&O’s in Los Angeles (KABC), San Francisco (KGO), and Houston (KTRK). Other stations clearing the hour include Scripps’ WXYZ-TV in […]
To: Our Readers Over the last fourteen months, I have had the pleasure of writing about TV and radio to you, and we’ve had some fun along the way. But let me tell you something. When people – notably those who hate the media business (radio and TV) and say I’m wasting my time writing this blog, I say to […]
Rich Pegram has resigned from NBC affiliate WTHR-TV in Indianapolis after 13 years. The move comes as WTHR is trying to fend off rival CBS affiliate WISH-TV for the number one slot. During his tenure, WTHR went from a fourth-place laughingstock (a stigma it had since it signed on in 1957) to a top-rated news leader, a move that was […]
The current writer’s strike in Hollywood may further hurt TV stations’ bottom lines, which are already reeling from a soft ad market and tight spot ad inventory. Stations, especially network affiliates, need fresh programming in the last hour of prime time to lead into their late local newscasts. With network programming likely to go into reruns the longer the strike […]
Hearst-Argyle (and probably a lot of station groups) aren’t happy with NBC’s primetime performance. David Barrett, the CEO of the station group, says he’s “disappointed” in the performance of the network, and its been a earnings drag on the company’s ten NBC affiliates. But don’t look too much into this. It’s not likely Hearst-Argyle will break with NBC anytime soon. […]
Let’s see what’s going on in local markets around the country: -According to Nielsen, KETC-TV in St. Louis was the nation’s highest-rated public TV station in October, even outperforming WTTW in Chicago. The station’s total-day ratings were up 8 percent from a year ago and up 39 percent in primetime. It’s same to assume that this station outdraws Sinclair’s weak-kneed […]
Note: The link provided may require registration. ACME Television has sold CW affiliate WBUI-TV to GOCOM Media for a cool $4 million dollars (and that’s a steal!) The deal closed today. WBUI serves the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur market.
After years of crummy programming (infomercials, home shopping, etc.), Adelll-owned WADL-TV in Detroit is making a serious bid to compete for those TV advertising dollars with the other stations in town – by targeting the market’s African-American population. The station, which signed on in 1985, had been airing mostly paid religious fare and infomericals. At one time, the station was […]
The first station to make a move in the new fall season is NBC-owned WNBC-TV in New York, which is dropping its soft news-oriented News4You, and replacing it with a traditional newscast at 5:30 p.m. Ratings for the show were behind ABC-owned WABC-TV, which ranks number one at 5 and 5:30 p.m. WNBC has also removed the second half-hour of […]
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