A previous thread about KNXV (ABC 15) sending Bill Bellis and Jonathan Elias to New Orleans revealed some harsh feelings from some of the posters about the station's news operation.
My question for my fellow posters is how do you feel Scripps has been operating the station overall--not just the news operation but the other parts of the schedule, its website, and from an equipment standpoint?
I've only lived in the market since 1998, so I can't really comment on the station before that time, other than from what I've read about the station's history.
My sense is that Scripps really has had a rough time making the station work in this market. Granted, some of their problems were not of their making, such as ABC's downturn in the ratings. However, other wounds were self-inflicted.
For a few years, KNXV management was less than aggressive in going after top drawer syndicated product. Moldy morning reruns of "In the Heat of the Night" or "The Streets of San Francisco" is not what I call aggressive counter-programming.
Also, who can forget the ill-fated Bob Morford years as news director. It was during that period where Morford fired most of the on-air staff, and turned the news broadcasts into glorified headline services, basically allowing the competition to either grow their leads or, in the case of KPHO (CBS 5), build up their product. It is my suspicion--though I certainly don't have any proof of this--that Morford was allowed to decimate the news division, and the station opted to tread water in the syndication market because they were building their new 44th street facility, and needed to hold down expenses in order to pay for it along with the conversion to digital.
Eventually, Morford was transferred to the Scripps-owned station in Cincinnati, Bob Sullivan was brought in as the new news director, and KNXV management started to try to dig themselves out of the hole they had dug for themselves.
The morning talk/magazine show, "Sonoran Living" was introduced and Sullivan started putting the news division back together with new anchors and reporters.
Management also started to get more aggressive in the syndication field, going after highly touted new product. Unfortunately, few hits have come out of syndication in recent years, and KNXV has not had good luck in this arena, having seen such ratings duds as "The Wayne Brady Show," "Living it Up! with Ali and Jack," and "The Jane Pauley Show" come and go.
They have had better luck with "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel and Fortune," which the station acquired after KTVK (3TV) replaced the duo with a second run of "Dr. Phil". They also have Martha Stewart's new daytime strip starting on September 12 at 11 AM, which may get some curiosity seekers to at least sample it (though they hardly promote it).
However, other parts of the lineup continue to suffer. The 3 to 4 PM hour seems to be a place holder for the station with ABC 15 scheduling "The Insider" and "Access Hollywood" (which flopped at KNXV a few years ago and is now moving back to the station after being axed by KPNX/channel 12) for that hour. Since "The Insider" got downgraded from its original 4 PM slot to 3 PM for a second run of "Jeopardy!," I'm guessing "The Insider" was not exactly a ratings barn-burner, though it undoubtedly did better than "Jane Pauley", which it replaced at 3 PM.
Meanwhile, "Sonoran Living," retitled "Sonoran Living Live," continues to be a ratings bomb after 3 years on the air, and the news ratings are getting numbers that are lower than some cable outlets.
Unfortunately, this has affected the ABC part of their lineup. Since their locally-produced programming, along with some of their syndicated entries, are doing so poorly, we are seeing a plethora of paid programming (Billy Graham specials, St. Jude infomercials) and old movies (some of them straight-to-video titles) being aired in place of ABC programming. In recent weeks, the displaced network programs haven't even been shown in the overnight hours. They've just been dropped entirely.
They even air so-called prime-time special editions of "Sonoran Living" in place of network programming (as they are doing this Friday, September 2). Most of these specials run without commercial interruption, mainly because the programs generally consist of demonstrations of products and services of local area merchants. Hence, the commercials are actually within the body of the show itself. I don't doubt for a minute that fees are being paid to the station for showing these products and services. In essence, these "Sonoran Living" specials are glorified infomercials.
It is a shame because I do think that they have made some improvements at their station, including their news operation, which is lightyears ahead of where it was. They have even gotten 46 Emmy nominations to show for it. However, they have not been able to connect with the local audience. As a result, the station is having to find other ways to make money while trying to maintain their news operation, which is resulting in them causing major disruption in the ABC portion of their schedule, and diminishing its performance as a local network affiliate.
So that's my take on KNXV. What's yours?
My question for my fellow posters is how do you feel Scripps has been operating the station overall--not just the news operation but the other parts of the schedule, its website, and from an equipment standpoint?
I've only lived in the market since 1998, so I can't really comment on the station before that time, other than from what I've read about the station's history.
My sense is that Scripps really has had a rough time making the station work in this market. Granted, some of their problems were not of their making, such as ABC's downturn in the ratings. However, other wounds were self-inflicted.
For a few years, KNXV management was less than aggressive in going after top drawer syndicated product. Moldy morning reruns of "In the Heat of the Night" or "The Streets of San Francisco" is not what I call aggressive counter-programming.
Also, who can forget the ill-fated Bob Morford years as news director. It was during that period where Morford fired most of the on-air staff, and turned the news broadcasts into glorified headline services, basically allowing the competition to either grow their leads or, in the case of KPHO (CBS 5), build up their product. It is my suspicion--though I certainly don't have any proof of this--that Morford was allowed to decimate the news division, and the station opted to tread water in the syndication market because they were building their new 44th street facility, and needed to hold down expenses in order to pay for it along with the conversion to digital.
Eventually, Morford was transferred to the Scripps-owned station in Cincinnati, Bob Sullivan was brought in as the new news director, and KNXV management started to try to dig themselves out of the hole they had dug for themselves.
The morning talk/magazine show, "Sonoran Living" was introduced and Sullivan started putting the news division back together with new anchors and reporters.
Management also started to get more aggressive in the syndication field, going after highly touted new product. Unfortunately, few hits have come out of syndication in recent years, and KNXV has not had good luck in this arena, having seen such ratings duds as "The Wayne Brady Show," "Living it Up! with Ali and Jack," and "The Jane Pauley Show" come and go.
They have had better luck with "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel and Fortune," which the station acquired after KTVK (3TV) replaced the duo with a second run of "Dr. Phil". They also have Martha Stewart's new daytime strip starting on September 12 at 11 AM, which may get some curiosity seekers to at least sample it (though they hardly promote it).
However, other parts of the lineup continue to suffer. The 3 to 4 PM hour seems to be a place holder for the station with ABC 15 scheduling "The Insider" and "Access Hollywood" (which flopped at KNXV a few years ago and is now moving back to the station after being axed by KPNX/channel 12) for that hour. Since "The Insider" got downgraded from its original 4 PM slot to 3 PM for a second run of "Jeopardy!," I'm guessing "The Insider" was not exactly a ratings barn-burner, though it undoubtedly did better than "Jane Pauley", which it replaced at 3 PM.
Meanwhile, "Sonoran Living," retitled "Sonoran Living Live," continues to be a ratings bomb after 3 years on the air, and the news ratings are getting numbers that are lower than some cable outlets.
Unfortunately, this has affected the ABC part of their lineup. Since their locally-produced programming, along with some of their syndicated entries, are doing so poorly, we are seeing a plethora of paid programming (Billy Graham specials, St. Jude infomercials) and old movies (some of them straight-to-video titles) being aired in place of ABC programming. In recent weeks, the displaced network programs haven't even been shown in the overnight hours. They've just been dropped entirely.
They even air so-called prime-time special editions of "Sonoran Living" in place of network programming (as they are doing this Friday, September 2). Most of these specials run without commercial interruption, mainly because the programs generally consist of demonstrations of products and services of local area merchants. Hence, the commercials are actually within the body of the show itself. I don't doubt for a minute that fees are being paid to the station for showing these products and services. In essence, these "Sonoran Living" specials are glorified infomercials.
It is a shame because I do think that they have made some improvements at their station, including their news operation, which is lightyears ahead of where it was. They have even gotten 46 Emmy nominations to show for it. However, they have not been able to connect with the local audience. As a result, the station is having to find other ways to make money while trying to maintain their news operation, which is resulting in them causing major disruption in the ABC portion of their schedule, and diminishing its performance as a local network affiliate.
So that's my take on KNXV. What's yours?