Counties served by 2 or more DMA markets news teams

[ding12]

I sometimes watch WFMZ news from Allentown. Since Carbon County is in Allentown's MSA, WFMZ covers Carbon County news. However, Carbon County is in Wilkes Barre-Scranton (Hazleton) DMA, so that DMA likely is covering Carbon County news as well, although I can't verify for sure. The population of Carbon County is a mere 64k residents so if so, it's benefiting in a rather unique way, that it's getting news coverage from more than 1 DMA market. However, I don't think satelitte customers in Carbon County are receiving WFMZ from DirecTV or Dish Network.

Philly and NYC DMA news teams sometimes cover Ocean County, NJ news but generally it's just weather.

Which other counties in the country get served by 2 DMA news teams on a regular basis?

However, when heading to Harrisburg DMA, I see no coverage of Berks County news, not even weather, on the Harrisburg stations even though WGAL is on their cable. I also don't see DC stations providing much coverage into Baltimore DMA counties unless it's a major news event (e.g. Columbia Mall deaths or something that breaks into national news coverage as well).

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

There are more than a few, mostly in areas where there are state lines to deal with.

For example, Hillsdale County, Michigan, where I live, is technically at the very southern end of the Lansing DMA, which is over 100 miles in distance north-to-south but is only one to three counties wide at any given point. We're one of the one-county-width portions. But given our location and the easy OTA reception of WTOL and WTVG from Toledo, those stations cover Hillsdale County news about as much as the Lansing stations, which isn't much, but we're clearly in their extended viewing area. We're also shown in the coverage area on both of those Toledo stations' weather maps.

To our west, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass and Berrien Counties are all technically in the Grand Rapids market, but WILX and WSYM (which share staff and facilities) covers Branch County in their weather, along with Lenawee County to our east. Nothing, really, in terms of news, however. At least not since WLNS took over WLAJ and replaced the Kalamazoo-centric newscast from WWMT with their own. All those western Michigan counties along the border with Indiana are also covered by South Bend stations to much greater extent than even the Grand Rapids stations, because those counties are, in fact, closer to South Bend than the primary city in their own market. Berrien county, being just around the bend in the lake from Chicago, even gets some local coverage from the Windy City from time to time.

The eastern counties along the border with Ohio, Lenawee and Monroe, present an interesting case. Lenawee is the only county in Michigan that is in the Toledo DMA, this despite the fact that it is to the northwest of metro Toledo, while Monroe County directly borders the Toledo city limits, is very clearly part of metro Toledo, and yet is technically in the Detroit market. Both counties get the majority of their news coverage from Toledo stations, as the population centers are closer to Toledo than Detroit, but Monroe does actually get some coverage from Detroit stations in their newscasts. It's an odd arrangement.

And, of course, this isn't even beginning to delve into the network exclusivity messes that this all causes on the various local cable systems...

 

[ftballfan]

North of Grand Rapids is an interesting place.

WWTV from Cadillac covers news and weather in several out-of-market counties (Oceana, Newaygo, Montcalm, Isabella, Midland, Ogemaw, Gladwin). WPBN from Traverse City covers news from Oceana and Newaygo counties.

WZZM from Grand Rapids covers news and weather in Lake, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, and Osceola counties, despite not being on cable in Manistee County (likely due to the very weak ABC affiliate in Traverse City which for years had no cable carriage south of M-55).

Speaking of network exclusivity, it seems like some networks and stations don't really care outside of market core cities.

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

Speaking of network exclusivity, it seems like some networks and stations don't really care outside of market core cities.

Most seem not to these days, though that hasn't always been the case. I recall that for several years after WLAJ first signed on, well into the mid-to-late 90's, most of the cable companies around here had been carrying WTVG, WOTV, and even WXYZ (which is ironic, given the newscast history between those two), and WLAJ was, as I recall, even getting exclusivity for certain syndicated programming like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune... which they aired in that order just to be different. These days, I don't believe Comcast in Hillsdale carries anything outside of the Lansing market anymore except for WPXD instead of WZPX (which makes no sense, since you can't receive WPXD over the air here anymore, anyway), so there's nothing to worry about, but twenty years ago, there was some interesting stuff going on.

 

[ftballfan]

Most seem not to these days, though that hasn't always been the case. I recall that for several years after WLAJ first signed on, well into the mid-to-late 90's, most of the cable companies around here had been carrying WTVG, WOTV, and even WXYZ (which is ironic, given the newscast history between those two), and WLAJ was, as I recall, even getting exclusivity for certain syndicated programming like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune... which they aired in that order just to be different. These days, I don't believe Comcast in Hillsdale carries anything outside of the Lansing market anymore except for WPXD instead of WZPX (which makes no sense, since you can't receive WPXD over the air here anymore, anyway), so there's nothing to worry about, but twenty years ago, there was some interesting stuff going on.

WTOL and WTVG are still carried on Comcast Hillsdale. So is WKBD, apparently. http://www.zap2it.com/tvlistings/hillsdale?zip=49242&mso=08010&store=1&lineupid=USA-MI56409-X
Over in Litchfield and Reading, Charter carries WWMT, WOTV, WOOD, WXSP, WXMI, WTLJ, and WLLA from Grand Rapids. The Ion national feed is seen on this system in lieu of WZPX. http://www.zap2it.com/tvlistings/litchfield?zip=49274&mso=13890&store=1&lineupid=USA-MI21621-L
WOW in Marshall, Albion, and Homer carries only WLNS and WKAR from Lansing and doesn't even carry WOTV within its own market. WOW in Olivet and Bellevue carries only Lansing stations (and WZPX, whose stick is technically in the Lansing market), despite most of the GR stations having strong OTA signals in that area.

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

Huh. I must have missed 'TOL and 'TVG being carried last time I had checked. I don't have cable, myself, just OTA.

 

[bpatrick]

My own county is served by all the Raleigh/Durham DMA stations, plus WFMY (CBS) and WGHP (Fox) Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, so we have news from two markets.

Cleburne and Randolph counties, AL, both bordering Georgia, have the Atlanta and Birmingham/Anniston newscasts. That proved to be a problem a couple of years ago when a tornado came through Randolph County. Both counties are in the Atlanta DMA, yet only WGCL, of all the Atlanta affiliates, gave spotty coverage at best to the storm. Viewers in that area had to turn to ABC affiliate WJSU in Anniston for the most detailed information, after which they petitioned their representative in Washington to have the two counties moved into the Birmingham DMA. I don't think he was successful, since a county's DMA is determined by the market to which most of its viewing goes, although, frankly, I don't know why Cleburne and Randolph counties would care about Georgia news (I suppose it goes back to the earliest days of television, when WSB and WAGA could be picked up easily in that area).

Florence/Myrtle Beach was once served by news teams from three DMAs: WBTW (CBS) and WPDE (ABC) Florence, WIS (NBC) Columbia, SC, and WECT (NBC) Wilmington, NC. Since NBC affiliate WMBF went on the air in 2008, Columbia and Wilmington have been taken off cable (all three NBC affiliates, for whatever it's worth, are owned by Raycom).

 

[mvcg66b3r]

My own county is served by all the Raleigh/Durham DMA stations, plus WFMY (CBS) and WGHP (Fox) Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, so we have news from two markets.

Cleburne and Randolph counties, AL, both bordering Georgia, have the Atlanta and Birmingham/Anniston newscasts. That proved to be a problem a couple of years ago when a tornado came through Randolph County. Both counties are in the Atlanta DMA, yet only WGCL, of all the Atlanta affiliates, gave spotty coverage at best to the storm. Viewers in that area had to turn to ABC affiliate WJSU in Anniston for the most detailed information, after which they petitioned their representative in Washington to have the two counties moved into the Birmingham DMA. I don't think he was successful, since a county's DMA is determined by the market to which most of its viewing goes, although, frankly, I don't know why Cleburne and Randolph counties would care about Georgia news (I suppose it goes back to the earliest days of television, when WSB and WAGA could be picked up easily in that area).

Florence/Myrtle Beach was once served by news teams from three DMAs: WBTW (CBS) and WPDE (ABC) Florence, WIS (NBC) Columbia, SC, and WECT (NBC) Wilmington, NC. Since NBC affiliate WMBF went on the air in 2008, Columbia and Wilmington have been taken off cable (all three NBC affiliates, for whatever it's worth, are owned by Raycom).

What county are you in? What provider do you have?

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

What county are you in? What provider do you have?

I could be wrong, but my guess would be Alamance. It's right smack-dab between the two markets. I used to live in High Point, myself.

 

[mvcg66b3r]

I could be wrong, but my guess would be Alamance. It's right smack-dab between the two markets. I used to live in High Point, myself.

Isn't Alamance County in the Greensboro DMA? Then you should be getting all of the Greensboro stations and one or two of the Raleigh stations.

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

Isn't Alamance County in the Greensboro DMA? Then you should be getting all of the Greensboro stations and one or two of the Raleigh stations.

Yes, it is. Could be Orange County, too. They're both kind of in no-man's land even though they are technically separated between the two DMA's.

 

[bpatrick]

Time Warner Cable in Burlington (Alamance County) carries WUNC and WTVD from the Raleigh/Durham DMA; everything else is from Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point. Orange County is in the Raleigh/Durham DMA; WFMY was carried on cable in Carrboro at one time but I think it was dropped.

 

[bpatrick]

I'm in Chatham County and I have DirecTV, although Charter Communications is the local cable provider. I'm in the Raleigh/Durham DMA; Wake, Durham, Orange, Lee, and Harnett counties border Chatham and are also in Raleigh/Durham. Alamance and Randolph border Chatham and are in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point DMA. Even in pre-cable days, WFMY and WGHP were easily picked up in Chatham; WFMY largely because it is on Channel 2 (analog); WGHP, analog 8, has a transmitter near Randleman, NC (Randolph County) that's close enough to give at least the western end of Chatham a grade-A signal. WXII, analog 12, was always more problematical, being a Winston-Salem station with a transmitter north of the city; I could get a snowy picture at best. Few people in Chatham could pick up 12 at all, and it's not included on cable or satellite; WNCN is our NBC affiliate.

A note about Cleburne/Randolph counties in Alabama. The subject of the coverage of the Randolph County, AL, tornado came up once before on another thread; seems WSB and WXIA did have some coverage of the storm. However, someone made the argument (and I don't disagree, especially since Anniston is now part of the Birmingham DMA) that Cleburne should be in the Birmingham DMA (Heflin and Anniston are only 15 miles apart), but that Randolph should stay in Atlanta, as the county is more oriented toward the Atlanta area. Oddly, the cable company that serves Heflin chooses to carry WAAY Huntsville rather than WSB as a second ABC affiliate.

 

[ftballfan]

Time Warner Cable in Burlington (Alamance County) carries WUNC and WTVD from the Raleigh/Durham DMA; everything else is from Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point. Orange County is in the Raleigh/Durham DMA; WFMY was carried on cable in Carrboro at one time but I think it was dropped.

Mebane, which is mostly in Alamance County but goes into Orange County, receives WUNC, WTVD, and WRAL (WRAL is on channel 1210!). Hillsborough doesn't receive anything from Greensboro. Seems like there is usually a buffer zone along market boundaries of at least a few communities wide that get stations from both markets (at minimum those that were on VHF during the analog days)