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Boston 25?

J

JoeLouis

Guest
Why did the FOX TV affiliate in Boston change the name from FOX 25 to Boston 25, other cities didn't seem to do that FOX 61 in Hartford, FOX 5 in NYC, FOX 45 Baltimore just to name a few didn't do that, I suppose it has something to do with liberal Boston.
 
Are the other FOX’s all owned by Fox? Boston 25 is owned by Cox, and they probably wanted to promote their own brand.

Also, some people confuse Fox News and local Fox News…I’m sure there was sone discussions about that when Cox took over the Boston station.
 
FOX 5 in NY is an owned station, I know FOX 61 in Hartford is not, not sure about Baltimore.
 
Cox traded 25 to Apollo Global but they kept the Cox name.
They wanted to avoid using Fox name because of Fox News image, even though they are a full affiliate of Fox broadcast network. Cultivating a "local" image.

Wiki under WFXT:"General manager Tom Raponi told The Boston Globe that the change was made to eliminate a perception that WFXT's newscasts leaned conservative... WFXT's only association with Fox News is through a compulsory content arrangement with Fox News Edge, which supplies national and international news footage... In February 2018, the station dropped the "Fox 25" branding entirely and began referring to itself as "Boston 25" full time, including in promotions for syndicated and Fox network programming, making WFXT one of only a handful of Fox affiliates that does not use "Fox" in its branding."

Btw there is a Boston-Manchester TV section...
 
JoeLouis said:
Why did the FOX TV affiliate in Boston change the name from FOX 25 to Boston 25, other cities didn't seem to do that FOX 61 in Hartford, FOX 5 in NYC, FOX 45 Baltimore just to name a few didn't do that, I suppose it has something to do with liberal Boston.
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Yes. We all know using a city name in a brand is clearly a political statement. 😂🤣
 
JoeLouis said:
FOX 5 in NY is an owned station, I know FOX 61 in Hartford is not, not sure about Baltimore.
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WBFF in Baltimore is owned by Sinclair & that's their home base. In regards to the station branding of WFXT, this is similar to KTVU in San Francisco back when they were owned by Cox calling themselves KTVU Channel 2 before becoming an O&O & calling themselves KTVU FOX 2.
 
They actually "added" the FOX banner to KTVU in the most liberal city in the U.S. that's kind of surprising to me.
 
JoeLouis said:
Not the point, they did it to distance themselves from the FOX name, actually when I hear Boston or S.F. I think of a liberal lean, not just TV stations.
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That's not the issue. Stations owned by Fox don't run away from their corporate name. They promote the brand.
 
JoeLouis said:
Not the point, they did it to distance themselves from the FOX name, actually when I hear Boston or S.F. I think of a liberal lean, not just TV stations.
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Or they did it to market the station in a way that works for their needs that has nothing to do with some perceived liberal silliness.
 
You can believe that's not true all you want, but did you read the quote from WFXT's GM at the time the rebrand occurred?
 
You can believe that's not the case all you want, but did you read the quote from WFXT's GM at the time the rebrand occurred? He clearly was concerned that the FOX name would be associated with a conservative newscast lean, an image he wanted to avoid.

JoeLouis and raccoonradio correct about the Boston situation. No amount of LOL emoticons will change that fact.
 
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WFXT is not the first to prefix "Boston" to the channel number. If memory serves me correctly, WNAC branded itself as "Boston 7" in the 1970s.
 
MarkW said:
You can believe that's not the case all you want, but did you read the quote from WFXT's GM at the time the rebrand occurred? He clearly was concerned that the FOX name would be associated with a conservative newscast lean, an image he wanted to avoid.
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I will rephrase and clarify my comment. As I stated in comment #2...yes, they want to stay away from the confusion of Fox Broadcast and FoxNews. I took your comment to mean a generic: "they wanted to get away from big bad fox, who we know everyone hates". Which I inferred as an over generalized statement.
 
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