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Cleveland TV Revolving Door

MediaLover said:
Could the launch of NBC News Now pave the way for WKYC to once again bring local news back in the Noon hour, even replacing Good Company? I don't see the 12:30 infomercial very compatible.
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Actually, everything from 11a-3p on WKYC come fall is a jumble.

Ellen's gone, so you need something at 2p to replace her - do you slide Kelly Clarkson down from 11a to fill that slot?

Do you poach something from another station (like Drew Barrymore)?

Do you make a "news" block around the new 1p show, or do you just do what you intended to do all along.

Maybe something like the infomercial at 11a, the sponsored Good Company at 11:30, perhaps a news hour at noon, NBC Daily at 1p, and Kelly Clarkson at 2p?

All kinds of moving parts to consider.
 
I'm sure it's probably nothing, but I drove home past the Fox 8 studio building on Sunday night, and I noticed that the dish out front had been completely repainted as well as the building, and all Fox 8 insignias were covered or removed (the "WJW Television" on the front of the building was the only thing left up). Is it strictly cosmetic, or are there changes coming to Cleveland's Own?
 
MegaBlue said:
I'm sure it's probably nothing, but I drove home past the Fox 8 studio building on Sunday night, and I noticed that the dish out front had been completely repainted as well as the building, and all Fox 8 insignias were covered or removed (the "WJW Television" on the front of the building was the only thing left up). Is it strictly cosmetic, or are there changes coming to Cleveland's Own?
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Probably were all covered up during the repainting process so that they wouldn't get damaged by the over spray. Paint was probably sprayed on the building with an air compressor, but wouldn't they cover up the windows as well?

Most of the Fox 8 signage on the building dates back to when the station was owned & operated by Fox themselves. They do need to be replaced, as well as the one in front of their transmitter, which goes all the way back to 1997 when the Fox branding was first incorporated in their logo. Surprised it has held up as long as it has.

Then there's Nexstar's recent acquisition of The CW. Very doubtful that The CW will move to WJW and replace Fox, even though the station is owned by Nexstar. If signage is potentially being replaced, it could signal a new identity without the Fox branding.
 
If Nexstar was to move The CW, it would go on 8.2. There's also the possibility of maybe Nexstar buying WBNX (or either WQHS or even WUAB) to get The CW there.

Then again, a lot of people didn't see the switch to Fox coming back in 1994. Stranger things have happened.
 
MediaLover said:
If Nexstar was to move The CW, it would go on 8.2. There's also the possibility of maybe Nexstar buying WBNX (or either WQHS or even WUAB) to get The CW there.

Then again, a lot of people didn't see the switch to Fox coming back in 1994. Stranger things have happened.
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I would think that they would want to keep The CW on the main channel, as that's a must-carry for cable/satellite viewers. Subchannels are optional, but I wouldn't rule 8.2 out completely. WTVG in Toledo carries The CW on 13.2, with ABC being its primary affiliate.

WUAB currently carries The CW, and I think their contract is good until 2024. WBNX was originally affiliated with The CW, until it was dropped in 2018. I don't see Gray parting with WUAB, or Univision parting with WQHS. WBNX probably won't sell unless Nexstar offered them a truck full of money. In either case, Nexstar wouldn't be able to own more than 1 station in the same market, so if they really wanted the other, say WQHS or WBNX for their UHF frequency, they would have to sell off WJW.
 
snowdog88 said:
Probably were all covered up during the repainting process so that they wouldn't get damaged by the over spray. Paint was probably sprayed on the building with an air compressor, but wouldn't they cover up the windows as well?

Most of the Fox 8 signage on the building dates back to when the station was owned & operated by Fox themselves. They do need to be replaced, as well as the one in front of their transmitter, which goes all the way back to 1997 when the Fox branding was first incorporated in their logo. Surprised it has held up as long as it has.

Then there's Nexstar's recent acquisition of The CW. Very doubtful that The CW will move to WJW and replace Fox, even though the station is owned by Nexstar. If signage is potentially being replaced, it could signal a new identity without the Fox branding.
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I can't see The CW getting a low-number station (although, these days, numbers don't really mean that much) and getting ported to 8, especially if the rumors that The CW is going to be shifted away from teens/superhero dramas to cost-effective programming (read: reality shows) because Nexstar wants it to be profitable come to fruition. What appeal would it have to advertisers? (Although, The CW's network presence is so minimal that WJW's news setup would be perfect for it to just slide on in in place of Fox's programming.)

As far as the signage goes, if it was just a paint job on the building, wouldn't they just have covered up the lightbox signs on both sides of the building? It seems really peculiar to totally remove them, unless they're getting new signage to reflect the blue/red modern day look for Fox 8, instead of the nearly-30-year-old lightbox signs with the old blue/white logo inserts. The same goes for the dish: It was looking pretty old, and you could see that "WJW Television" dated back to the original days and everything around it had been painted over at least once.

As I said, it's probably nothing, but it just seemed peculiar. Then again, the La-Z-Boy store in North Olmsted had its signage removed only to be replaced with almost the exact same thing with their remodel, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Fox 8 is doing something similar.

If - and, this is a BIG if - Fox does move from 8 to, say, 43, do you think they'd stand for the news production being shared with CBS? I'd be willing to bet they'd want a separate "Fox 43 News" setup to be built, so you'd either get something like it was in the "Hometeam 19/43" days - where it's the same team on different sets - or something akin to how Channel 3 would produce newscasts for Channel 23 when it was in the PAX days (I think), but I think those two are almost the same thing.

Is it wrong that I'd love it if that happened, and they rebranded everything like it was when the Fox branding started creeping in? "EIGHT! IS! NEWS!" :LOL:
 
If - and, this is a BIG if - Fox does move from 8 to, say, 43.

The only reason they'd do that is to get around their signal limitations that in some areas make it a challenge to pick up. I remember they can't increase power because they'd cause interference with some station out in the Toledo area or maybe it was Canada.....I can't remember. I know it's sometimes hit or miss for me in southeast Akron area even though I upgraded my antenna.

Also why couldn't Nexstar buy WBNX and move CW to it and keep FOX 8? Unless it's changed, I think Akron/Canton is considered a separate market from Cleveland. I do remember the old days when WAKR was an ABC affiliate and WEWS wasn't too happy about it because of the duplication of programming and the competition with their local news.
 
I thought ABC forced WEWS's hand in carrying their programming as intended - which WAKR was doing - when Scripps renegotiated their contract after Disney bought the network. That's when WAKR lost its ABC license and Akron-Canton, in terms of TV coverage at least, became a subset of the greater Cleveland market. I know Channel 3 ran a separate news department for 23 when it was in its PAX days (I think, or the early Ion days), and Fox 8 let WBNX rerun their 10pm newscasts for a brief time after the big 1994 switch (maybe '96?), but both didn't last too long. (Personally, as a kid, I enjoyed seeing ABC's Saturday morning things as intended on 23 instead of seeing them moved around/split apart on 5.)

I know that, in radio terms, Akron/Canton is separate from Cleveland because radio waves are picked up differently than television signals (and cable helped to basically eliminate Akron/Canton as its own market, because Cablevision can transmit the Cleveland stations to Akron/Canton, but nothing could really bridge the radio gap prior to smartphones and the rise of streaming), and it's annoying because I absolutely love 98.1 WKDD and can't pick it up in my car very clearly most of the time out here by Lorain.

If things do move around, we know that 55 is set with their schedule, so who are the wild cards? I mentioned Scripps/ABC having a contract, so a move with 5 is off the table. Perhaps 3? NBC does have a very heavy network presence, so EIGHT IS NEWS wouldn't nearly be as prevalent, unless they just program everything non-NBC as news.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
An update on WOIO and WUAB regarding Independence: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cl...tial-move-to-independence.html?outputType=amp

Maybe they're getting tired of their TV reporters being held up live on-air outside of their downtown studios.
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I think more than anything they are outgrowing Reserve Square and want more real estate to play with.

You have expanded news (12 full hours between 19 and 43), you have the WTCL Telemundo staff, all the streaming stuff (19 News Now), and it sounds simply like a case of cramped quarters.
 
Does the streaming supercede the TV broadcasts, or is it a case of "we provide 24 hours of news, just catch things here, here, and here at any time"? I'd think the only 'new' staff they'd need to provide for are the Telemundo reporters, but I doubt that there's a lack of news studio space in Reserve Square. If anything, I'd say that they were looking for ways to cut costs, Independence offered them a tax abatement, and they went with it. Isn't the transmitter still out that way?
 
The folks at 19/43 have to be happy about relocating to new, purpose built digs. The move to Reserve Square almost 30 years ago was a compromise at best. When WOIO LMA'd WUAB, the original WOIO facility at Shaker Square was too small and the great network shift about the same time which stripped WOIO of its Fox affiliation and pushed them to CBS certainly increased the needs. While WUAB had a nice building in Parma, the local Malrite WOIO ownership felt strongly the station should be located downtown.
They are in the basement of Reserve Square which has had problems from the get go with water leaks, HVAC troubles and more and is rather cramped. National ownership has less of an interest in supporting downtown Cleveland and is likely getting a better deal in the 'burbs.

Ironic that IHeart has left Independence for downtown Cleveland. Go figure!
 
The old WUAB building was rather small, wasn't it? (I know that OfficeMax/Planet Fitness is currently where the studios used to be, so there couldn't have been that much room there.)
 
MegaBlue said:
The old WUAB building was rather small, wasn't it? (I know that OfficeMax/Planet Fitness is currently where the studios used to be, so there couldn't have been that much room there.)
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It was sufficient for the then new 10 O'Clock News from 1988-1994.

When the big network swap of 94 occurred and WOIO - whose then owner Malrite by that point had absorbed WUAB - was nudged by CBS to have news on their schedule (they actually planned NOT to have news, but the network kinda insisted), the former bowling alley on State Road just wasn't big enough to accommodate the extra bodies and equipment needed, so they got in the U-Haul and set up shop in Reserve Square.

That worked for awhile, but now with a combined 12 hours a day of newscasts between 19 and 43 (which need extra bodies to keep the train moving), the WTCL Telemundo newscasts (and staff), and the 19 News Now streaming newscasts, the quarters are getting cramped again, so off they go to bigger digs in Independence.
 
vjm said:
It was sufficient for the then new 10 O'Clock News from 1988-1994.

When the big network swap of 94 occurred and WOIO - whose then owner Malrite by that point had absorbed WUAB - was nudged by CBS to have news on their schedule (they actually planned NOT to have news, but the network kinda insisted), the former bowling alley on State Road just wasn't big enough to accommodate the extra bodies and equipment needed, so they got in the U-Haul and set up shop in Reserve Square.

That worked for awhile, but now with a combined 12 hours a day of newscasts between 19 and 43 (which need extra bodies to keep the train moving), the WTCL Telemundo newscasts (and staff), and the 19 News Now streaming newscasts, the quarters are getting cramped again, so off they go to bigger digs in Independence.
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The former bowling alley was actually "Parmatown Lanes" on Day Drive. Shortly after WUAB signed on they built their own studios almost directly in front. I think Planet Fitness holds their address today, but a new building further back. Didn't plan it that way, but I recall shopping and seeing the old building being razed. (Wonder the year, but maybe 1995?)

Superhost, The Prize Movie and Newsbreak 43/Wall Street Report/Sportsbreak 43 (All Gary Short) filmed in a shipping area in which sets were easy to move in and out. (Somewhere, there may be a youtube video of Superhost showing this.)

I don't know if an addition was made in order to accommodate the Ten O'Clock News. But prior WUAB had other "Studio Shows" such as Barnaby, The Coffee Shoppe/43 A.M., The Lorain News (Sundays) and Lorain Conversation (Sundays). So they must of have some studio space.
 
It seemed that WOIO and WUAB have both wanted out of Reserve Square for years, even before Telemundo Cleveland arrived. There were renovations to make the station look better and cleaner as there have been flooding and unwanted creatures. I believe UAB Productions used to set up shop in Reserve Square until a few years ago.
 


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