KFXK FOX 51 starting a newscast

[BreakingNews08]

They are advertising for Anchors, Producers, Photographers, and Sports Anchors. As we all know, FOX 51 is the sister station of NBC 56. That's all the info I have right now. Didn't they try this before??

 

[C414B]

They are advertising for Anchors, Producers, Photographers, and Sports Anchors. As we all know, FOX 51 is the sister station of NBC 56. That's all the info I have right now. Didn't they try this before??

IIRC, this will be the third incarnation of a newscast on that channel, starting way back when it was KLMG and the original CBS affiliate.

If they're so bent and determined to have a newscast, what they ought to do is used 56's talent and have a 9PM newscast in addition to 56's 10PM news. Seems to be less risky that way. There's a pair of stations (ABC/FOX) in Columbus, OH, that's doing this type arrangement (www.columbusnewscenter.com) and I kinda like it.

Thoughts?

 

[snoman]

Yes they did. Fox made all of their affiliates start at least a half-hour newscast, following their primetime programming. I don't know what happened with that rule. Fox threatened to yank their affiliation from any station that did not do news. I don't know if this was another deal like 51 pulled when they were a CBS affiliate and didn't tell the network that they were yanking their local newscasts and putting in Andy Griffith. But it's quite possible that Fox is making them start a newscast again. I can't remember the male anchor, but the female anchor I believe was Melissa Eichman? I know John Adams did weather for it. I can't remember if Danny Elzner did sports for it or not. The newscast was produced out of the KETK studio in Tyler. I'm actually surprised that they aren't, once again, utilizing the KETK folks. After all, I believe the company is still in bankruptcy protection, and it is very costly to run a news operation.

 

[newsmark]

Someone who was inside KETK back then told me the 9:00 newscast ratings all seemed to come at the expense of the 10:00 show. (The co-anchor was a Longview bureau chief, but I can't remember his name.)

I think a better option would be, instead of starting a 9 p.m. newscast, doing a morning show from 7:00 - 9:00--essentially an extension of KETK's morning show. But again, I don't know if you'd need a whole new crew for that. You could just add a couple of reporter/photog teams, a couple of producers and maybe get another live truck and you're good to go.

 

[C414B]

Yes they did. Fox made all of their affiliates start at least a half-hour newscast, following their primetime programming. I don't know what happened with that rule. Fox threatened to yank their affiliation from any station that did not do news. I don't know if this was another deal like 51 pulled when they were a CBS affiliate and didn't tell the network that they were yanking their local newscasts and putting in Andy Griffith. But it's quite possible that Fox is making them start a newscast again. I can't remember the male anchor, but the female anchor I believe was Melissa Eichman? I know John Adams did weather for it. I can't remember if Danny Elzner did sports for it or not. The newscast was produced out of the KETK studio in Tyler. I'm actually surprised that they aren't, once again, utilizing the KETK folks. After all, I believe the company is still in bankruptcy protection, and it is very costly to run a news operation.

Snoman, you've got a better memory than I do about that. I had forgotten they tried that before. Was the male anchor Kevin Steele or someone else?

 

[snoman]

Yes they did. Fox made all of their affiliates start at least a half-hour newscast, following their primetime programming. I don't know what happened with that rule. Fox threatened to yank their affiliation from any station that did not do news. I don't know if this was another deal like 51 pulled when they were a CBS affiliate and didn't tell the network that they were yanking their local newscasts and putting in Andy Griffith. But it's quite possible that Fox is making them start a newscast again. I can't remember the male anchor, but the female anchor I believe was Melissa Eichman? I know John Adams did weather for it. I can't remember if Danny Elzner did sports for it or not. The newscast was produced out of the KETK studio in Tyler. I'm actually surprised that they aren't, once again, utilizing the KETK folks. After all, I believe the company is still in bankruptcy protection, and it is very costly to run a news operation.

Snoman, you've got a better memory than I do about that. I had forgotten they tried that before. Was the male anchor Kevin Steele or someone else?

I can't remember. I only saw it once (and that was enough). It was a cluster____ of errors. I remember they had John Adams sitting on what looked like a bar stool, quite a ways from the set, and you could see the trim on the backround of the set. It was awful.

The idea of the morning news is good. But, I believe the Fox demand is at least 30 minutes at 10pm Eastern-Pacific/9pm Central-Mountain, because Fox promotes local news "next" on certain shows. But, I do think it would help boost KETK's ratings for their morning and later newscasts. Not to mention, they'd make more money than they are making now, with paid and syndicated programming during that time period.

 

[billdavis]

I think the name you're looking for is Harold McCoo. He also worked nationally at BET and now runs his own multi-media production company. Nice guy, pretty smooth as I recall.

 

[snoman]

I think the name you're looking for is Harold McCoo. He also worked nationally at BET and now runs his own multi-media production company. Nice guy, pretty smooth as I recall.

No more calls please, we have a winner. It was indeed Mr. Coo. I remember saying to someone at that time, if he were to go to work at WFAA, you could pair him up with John McCaa. The promotions and marketing practically write themselves.

 

[C414B]

I can't remember. I only saw it once (and that was enough). It was a cluster____ of errors. I remember they had John Adams sitting on what looked like a bar stool, quite a ways from the set, and you could see the trim on the backround of the set. It was awful.

Yeah, I watched it once or twice and decided that it was too painful to watch. I know what you're saying.

 

[easttxtv]

They are advertising for Anchors, Producers, Photographers, and Sports Anchors. As we all know, FOX 51 is the sister station of NBC 56. That's all the info I have right now. Didn't they try this before??

IIRC, this will be the third incarnation of a newscast on that channel, starting way back when it was KLMG and the original CBS affiliate.

Actually, there were 2 different tries during the CBS affiliation, 3 all together for the station, so this would be #4 if it gets going. KLMG/KFXK has never been very regional in their news focus, so getting viewers conditioned to a 6pm/10pm ritual into trying to watch a 9pm that only looks at Gregg County and immediate surroundings will be tough. If they mean it this time, the bankrupt parent company better be finding some $$ for the long haul, otherwise, why bother watching when there are now 3 choices (more than during the first KFXK news try) already?

 

[stdjsb25]

They are advertising for Anchors, Producers, Photographers, and Sports Anchors. As we all know, FOX 51 is the sister station of NBC 56. That's all the info I have right now. Didn't they try this before??

Same song, second verse (for KFXK)....hopefully they can figure out how to do it correctly.....but I don't think they'll honestly be able to do it. The last time it happened, it was gone a short time later....

 

[nuzguy]

They can always fall back on reruns of "Anchorwoman" if the news itself again fails.

 

[arnoldevns]

Yes they did. Fox made all of their affiliates start at least a half-hour newscast, following their primetime programming. I don't know what happened with that rule. Fox threatened to yank their affiliation from any station that did not do news.

This is wrong. Fox cannot require an affiliate to do local news. That would violate a number of FCC regulations regarding network-affiliate relations.
Fox has certainly made it clear that it want all affiliates doing news. I think the network has also made it clear that when affilation agreements come up for renewal that stations without news could lose their affilation to a competing station in a market if it has news and wants to be with Fox. Such a situation does not exist in the Tyler-Longview market.

KFXK is likely starting a newscast because there's an unfulfilled demand for news at 9pm in the market.

 

[LABreeze]

Let's not forget that KFXK had already tried the 9:00pm edition seven years ago and look how it ended up. If they do start a 9:00pm newscast, that would eventually will at some point give the other two (KLTV and KETK) a run for their money. But with that, it may never happen for them ratings-wise. If only they would follow the example of what KDFW in Dallas did, they can be a more competitive newscast. Sure they can't beat the experiences of KLTV (though they've been #1 for years), but it will get their foot in the door. I just hope that they do not use the KETK facilities like they did when they first signed on on their third or fourth attempt. Their attempt of them doing an early newscast was doomed from the start.

 

[Chuck]

I'll bet that a lot of people would give a 9:00 East Texas newscast a shot. For some reason, I find that at 9:00 the shows on the 200+ channels I get all turn into something that is of little interest to me. YMMV, but I'll bet that I'm not the only person who's just as soon watch local news when there is nothing else on that really appeals to me.