Autumn Upstate TV Update

[dustintv]

Across the Upstate: All former Clear Channel stations are now under new owner Providence Equity Partners' new TV division Newport Television.

Binghamton: WICZ, the Fox station, has announced they will start broadcasting its newscast everynight beginning December 1st. They fell after losing NBC but they're getting back up on their feet.

Plattsburgh: WCWF channel 40 finally signed on, but it doesn't seem to broadcasting CW as previously speculated(the call signs seemed to indicate WCW Forty) as they are simucasting WWBI-LP. Speaking of which, they now have their full-time time CW station; WFFF, the Fox station which carried the WB/CW shows in the past following the Fox line-up moved all CW programs to a digital subchannel. WFFF has a 10pm news in the works, and rumor has it news might come to WVNY : Also, WCFE completed building their new tower following the collapse of the old one last April(http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,69362.0.html)

Albany: As previously posted the ION(formerly i, formerly Pax) station WYPX went to a digital only signal. WTEN began carrying the Retro Television Network on one of their subchannels.

Rochester: Lots of hires were made with stations in October. As reported here at Radio-Info sports reporter Kevin Carroll went from R News to WROC, meteorologist Jim Lytle also left R News for WHEC, and WHAM hired a new weather persons, Stacey Pensgen and were able to find a replacement for the medical reporter position in Jen Markham. It was speculated here that WHAM might have the resources to replace former medical reporter Christine Webb.

If anyone else has updates or stories from other upstate markets please contribute!

 

[BobRoss]

Across the Upstate: All former Clear Channel stations are now under new owner Providence Equity Partners' new TV division Newport Television.

No they aren't. The FCC still hasn't completely signed off on the deal. Even though yes, it's definitely going to happen, it hasn't officially happened yet. It's expected to be another 3-6 weeks before all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. (This is kinda like like saying it's already 2008, when we still have nearly 2 months left in 2007.)

Here: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6496148.html
They quote December 1st as the official "target" date for the takeover.

 

[dustintv]

No they aren't. The FCC still hasn't completely signed off on the deal. Even though yes, it's definitely going to happen, it hasn't officially happened yet. It's expected to be another 3-6 weeks before all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. (This is kinda like like saying it's already 2008, when we still have nearly 2 months left in 2007.)

Here: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6496148.html
They quote December 1st as the official "target" date for the takeover.

Ah, thanks for the correction. Does Clear Channel still run the show during the transitional stage as well?

 

[BobRoss]

Since I'm not really privy to what's going on inside the stations (just hearing from the trades, and from friends on the inside), I don't know exactly when CC is out and Newport is in. But as of right now, I do know CC is still in charge, and local newscasts I've seen still say Clear Channel Communications in the copyright notice in the credits.

As far as transitional stuff goes, who knows. Obviously it's not as simple as just flipping a switch. Not only do station licenses have to be changed, but so do internet domain registrations, e-mail addresses, contracts for services like network affiliations, news wires, real estate deeds, vehicle registrations, and so on... and I don't think they would all immediately change at the same time. There will likely be a few days or weeks where both companies are involved, but I think the biggie is the station licenses. As soon as the FCC completes its approval of the sale, you'll see Newport's name on the credits and anywhere else it needs to be, even if ClearChannel is still technically providing payroll for the next 2-3 weeks afterwards, or something else obscure like that.

 

[dustintv]

Snowing over there in Syracuse Bob?

Funny about the websites. If one types in www.wsyr.com you get the site that takes you either to 570AM or Channel 9. I wonder what will happen once WSYR goes fully under Newport's control. I wonder if Clear Channel regrets the flipping of the WIXT and WOKR call signs to match the radio stations and shipping the calls off to the Utica area.

 

[BobRoss]

Snowing over there in Syracuse Bob?

Not yet, but we're expecting it anytime!

I wonder what will happen once WSYR goes fully under Newport's control. I wonder if Clear Channel regrets the flipping of the WIXT and WOKR call signs to match the radio stations and shipping the calls off to the Utica area.

It would seem to me that the call letters won't be changing. I first thought that I had read you can't use the same call letters for both radio and TV if the stations are owned by two different companies. But, Disney owns WABC-TV while Citadel owns WABC-AM and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I also found there's a WSTM-FM out in Wisconsin, definitely not owned by the same folks who own WSTM-TV.

Obviously, WSYR-AM has held those call letters for decades, so they won't be budging. I suppose it's a matter of whether Newport wants to change anything around. Keeping the WSYR-TV and WHAM-TV calls would be the simplest, least expensive option. But then you continue the illusion of being "associated" with each other, even after both stations have technically gone their separate ways. That may be a good thing. It may be a bad thing. Depends on how you look at it. If the new owners of CC turn the radio stations into a joke, you wonder if that reputation will spill over to the TV side, simply because of the shared call letters.

On the other hand, if Newport decides to change the call letters again, they'll have to pay to revise station vehicles, business cards, letterhead, studio sets, billboards and anything else with the old call letters on it. (I won't count on-air graphics, because the stations likely have staff on-hand who are capable of making those adjustments without incurring any additional costs.)

If Newport was smart, they probably considered this before the sale, and they could have asked Clear Channel to "save" the WIXT and WOKR call letters before selling the radio stations that now have those calls. This is why I'm inclined to think they aren't planning to change the calls.

If Newport was dumb, they just went ahead with the sale figuring "we'll just get brand new call letters, no big deal." But it could be a big deal, because it would be the third set of call letters in less than 3 years for both stations. That means one more round of heavy publicity to make sure viewers are putting the proper call letters in their Nielsen diaries. At least in Syracuse, WSYR has long been known as "News Channel 9," so they can probably get people to write that down, regardless of the actual call letters. In Rochester, the old "News Source 13" moniker was dropped in favor of "13 WHAM News" (With "WHAM" pronounced as a word, not spelled out.) If the call letters change, channel 13 will have to work extra hard to instate both new call letters AND a new logo. I would assume they revert to the recognizeable News Source 13, as opposed to something completely different. You can only make so many "major" changes in a relatively short timespan before both diarykeepers and the folks at Nielsen even get too confused to figure out what the heck people are watching. Stations would be smart not to push the limits of how many different current and previous catchphrases they can get credit for.

In the end, it's a shame Clear Channel took long-time heritage call letters away from both TV stations just for the sake of making them appear "partnered" with radio... only to turn around and sell everything off to different owners a few years later. Kinda seems like a 4-year-old who steals toys away from other kids, yelling "mine, mine, mine" the whole time -- only to get bored and carelessly throw the toys across the room 3 minutes later.

But to answer your original question, no, I don't think Clear Channel regrets anything. Lowry and Mark Mays are already laughing all the way to the bank. It's not their problem to deal with. They collected their check regardless of what call letters those stations will have today, next month or 5 years from now.

 

[Oldies man]

"Binghamton: WICZ, the Fox station, has announced they will start broadcasting its newscast everynight beginning December 1st. They fell after losing NBC but they're getting back up on their feet."
Didn't WICZ prior to the FOX flip in 1996, pre- empt the NBC daytime soaps with
FOX's children programming which ultimately fueled the FOX network change?

 

[dustintv]

"Binghamton: WICZ, the Fox station, has announced they will start broadcasting its newscast everynight beginning December 1st. They fell after losing NBC but they're getting back up on their feet."
Didn't WICZ prior to the FOX flip in 1996, pre- empt the NBC daytime soaps with
FOX's children programming which ultimately fueled the FOX network change?

I don't know the exact reasons for the switch but I do know that the Binghamton area didn't have a Fox station over the air until WICZ changed affiliations. Before that they had to import Fox from other markets, which maybe as to why WICZ would carry some Fox programs. Cable viewers had a Fox station on their line-up, although I don't know which one my best guesses is they got it through either WYDC in Corning or WWLF in Scranton, or perhaps had WSYT or WNYW on cable.

Snowing over there in Syracuse Bob? 

Not yet, but we're expecting it anytime!

Hopefully you guys don't open your front door to find an eight-foot wall of snow like many did back in January this winter season. 

By the way Bob very interesting observation about the call signs. I thought the same thing, but then I remembered here in Rochester WROC-AM and WROC-TV are owned by different people, although the AM station does simulcast channel 8's evening newscast. I don't know what the partnership between WSYR-AM and WSYR-TV is like, but I know here in Rochester on WHAM-AM during their evening newscast they use a meteorologist from 13 to give the weather while Don Alhart gives previews to 13's 6pm newscast so I wonder if they'll still share resources. Still I like your comparing Clear Channel to a tryannical four-year old

 

[fybush]

Binghamton had WNYW on cable until WICZ flipped. Neither WYDC nor WOLF-TV was ever carried on cable there.

 

[BobRoss]

Here's an interesting update:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21698409/

The entire Clear Channel TV deal may wind up falling apart. Providence (Newport) reconsidering pulling out of the deal due to changing economic conditions and other reasons. If they pull the plug, they pay a $45 Million cancellation fee. Some are speculating that it's a ploy for Providence to renegotiate the sale at a lower price.

This could be interesting. What happens to Clear Channel TV if the sale falls through? Would it wind up being included in the CC Radio sale to Bain & partners or would it be left on its own, still a public company? Even if CC buckles and lowers the selling price, I would imagine that could cause some delays. Especially if shareholders have to vote on it again.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Applying the Clear?

Interesting. CC thought that it had hit the jackpot when PEP bid $1.2B. That was a lot more than CC projected for the sale of the stations.

In the article, it says that PEP is concerned about "specific factors such as the departure of several key people at the stations". I wonder what part cuts made by CC corporate played in those departures? It's not unusual for a company like CC to slice expenses into the bone so they can maximize profits while waiting for a sale to go through. Perhaps they sliced off their noses to spite their faces this time.

 

[dustintv]

Didn't Nexstar use the credit crunch as their decision to cancel their sale? The Mays may need a change of pants right now.