Layoffs at high profile TV stations

[upstate29651]

WCSC: http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/dec/10/channel_cut_positionsby_noah_haglundthe_64544/

WIS: http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/616026.html

G

 

[Lhsh]

I had seen the story earlier about WIS and was frankly surprised that David Stanton is no longer with them as the story stated. I am surprised that they let go one of their best anchors and most talented individuals there. I have been less than pleased with many of the people that they ahve hired of late because they just have not been good and would have thought that many of these people would ahve been the first to go.

 

[Al Timiter]

Actually recent hire for WIS TV have done very well... Craig Melvin recently moved to the NBC affiliate in Washington DC. Alicia Roman went from weekend weather at WIS to full time at the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis. Those are HUGE jumps that would not have gone to mediocre talent.

 

[fortmill]

None of this is surprising. Raycom has a TERRIBLE reputation as a TV station operator and most expected further cuts to be made. In addition, WIS recently handed off about a third of it's viewership to WMBF in Myrtle Beach, also a Raycom station. You cannot lose that number of viewers and not expect cuts to be made. WIS has now positioned itself as purely a local Cola station, not the statewide station it used to be. Cola is only DMA #82 and with WIS/Raycom, is now getting local TV news to match that sized market. Yes David Stanton was a pro and the last of the old guard--he will be missed. If I was Rockin Rick Henry, I think I'd be concerned. I wouldn't be surprised to see WLTX/19 number one in TV news in Cola in the near future.....

 

[Lhsh]

Personally I would rather watch WLTX for their local news and in many respects it has caught up with WIS.

 

[Al Timiter]

I wouldn't be surprised to see WLTX become #1 either but I think it will still take more time. Their set is by far the best. Their lighting is excellent. The pace is much slower than WIS but I guess that's by design to match their CBS affiliation. Andrea Mock is excellent. Darcy Strickland is also pretty good. And man oh man, has WACH's quality (IMHO) has taken a real nose dive ever since their agreement with WIS ended. Yikes....

 

[Lhsh]

I have to agree with you on all counts there. I remember when Darcie first started doing the weather years ago and how bad she really was when she first started, but has turned into a first rate anchor and love the lay-off between she, Andrea and J.R. Berry.

 

[89]

I agree about David Stanton. He is not only professional, he is a non-egotistical nice guy...very rare these days for television. I am not a JR Berry fan but respect his position. I do like WLTX's news delivery over WIS...mainly because you can see the tension on the WIS set...must be peer competition. Mike Wolfolk at WACH is good as well. My respect for anyone still employed in broadcasting....

 

[fortmill]

In the old days (really up to just a few years ago) WIS didn't so much compete with WLTX/WOLO as it competed with WCSC, WYFF/WSPA, WBTV, and even WECT. Now, WCSC, WBTV, and WECT are all owned by Raycom, along with upstart WMBF. Thanks FCC! Likewise, Columbia's State newspaper engaged in a spirited competition with the Charlotte Observer. Now The State and Observer, along with the MB Sun News and RH Herald are all owned by the same company--bye-bye competition. But it doesn't end there--in Florence, the market's biggest TV station, WBTW and the only daily newspaper are also co-owned by Media General, who also owns WSPA in Greenville/Spartanburg and WCBD in Charleston. Oh, and doesn't Media General and Raycom own WJBF and WRDW in Augusta? Such media concentration would have been unthinkable, and illegal, not long ago, and has serious implications on the conduct of civic affairs in SC.

 

[w00t]

Please elaborate on how a Columbia station competed in every market but its own. I understand that WIS was the de facto Florence/MYB NBC affiliate for years, but none of those stations you listed are even carried on cable in Cola.

 

[DudeFan]

Until Gannett took over WLTX and heavily invested in it, WIS, for all intents and purposes, had the game to themselves. That's how far and above WIS was in the ratings. All the other TV stations bottom fed the market. The old joke was that WIS would get ratings even when it was off the air. Today, it is a lot different. The more Raycom cuts, the more of an advantage Gannett has.

 

[Lhsh]

Very well stated and the facts bear this out. I can remember when the news on WLTX and WOLO especially were also rans and WLTX especially has done a good bit to make their news department first rate, but I wish I could say the same about WOLO.

 

[fortmill]

Until Gannett took over WLTX and heavily invested in it, WIS, for all intents and purposes, had the game to themselves. That's how far and above WIS was in the ratings. All the other TV stations bottom fed the market. The old joke was that WIS would get ratings even when it was off the air. Today, it is a lot different. The more Raycom cuts, the more of an advantage Gannett has.

The old joke that WIS could get ratings even when it was off the air was no joke--it actually happened back in the early 80s, just before cable became dominate in the Cola metro area. Right in the middle of the winter ratings period WIS's transmitter exploded, leaving the station off the air for about 5 days. I'm sure WNOK (now WLTX) and WOLO licked their chops expecting to finally beat big WIS. It didn't happen--WIS continued to outdraw 19 and 25, even on the days WIS was completely dead in the water!!! You would have had to have been in SC at the time to fully understand how this could happen. True, 19 and 25 have always performed decently with network and syndicated programs in RICHLAND and LEXINGTON counties, but for news, forget it. Up into the 80s, WIS used to average over 400,000 viewers for their 7 o'clock news (they had no 6 o'clock news) far more than the total number of people who lived in metro Columbia at that time. If you lived in Sumter, Kershaw, Orangeburg, Fairfield, or Newberry County you could recieve 10 clearly with rabbit ears---it took a large outdoor antenna or cable to recieve 19 and 25, and with an antenna reception was still subpar, but that same antenna or cable also brought in statons such as WCSC, WJBF, WBTW, WSPA etc. And probably a majority of people were using rabbit ears---WIS was the only game in town! Outside of the DMA (ranked around 98 at thetime). WIS was a big deal and very recievable, even with rabbit ears, and was on cable, in counties such as Florence, York, Aiken, Chesterfield, and Greenwood, and many in those counties most certainly chose WIS news over news programs from their own DMAs. Even today, that tradition still prevails in some of those areas, so yes, WIS has been in competition with the stations I cited above until VERY recently. The earliest cable systems in Greenville and Charleston even carried WIS! Meanwhile, in Richland and Lexington both Wometco and TCI (now Time Warner) carried WJBF and WRDW, which were also easily available OTA. There is another reason I believe WIS has occupied a special place in the heart of many South Carolinians, but I'll save that for my next post.

 

[w00t]

There are some things about SC that never cease to blow my mind. Gotta love it though.

Thank you for the detailed response... it does begin to make sense now.

 

[MarkL]

That's terrible to hear about the layoffs. It's surprising that David Stanton would be one of the ones let go, since so many long-time people have left recently. The changes have been very noticeable since Raycom bought the station, they just aren't hiring the same kind of talent they used to.

Hate to say it, because I'm a WIS viewer and fan, but these moves will continue to help WLTX. They've already beat WIS in some key demos, and this staff reduction won't help.

Now if Joe Pinner was ever laid off... I don't think viewers would ever forgive them.

 

[Lhsh]

I do not even want to think about what would happen if Joe Pinner got laid off, now mind you, I am no Joe Pinner fan, but he is really good at what he does, and he has also been there as long as I can remember.

 

[vchimpanzee]

None of this is surprising. Raycom has a TERRIBLE reputation as a TV station operator and most expected further cuts to be made. In addition, WIS recently handed off about a third of it's viewership to WMBF in Myrtle Beach, also a Raycom station. You cannot lose that number of viewers and not expect cuts to be made. WIS has now positioned itself as purely a local Cola station, not the statewide station it used to be. Cola is only DMA #82 and with WIS/Raycom, is now getting local TV news to match that sized market. Yes David Stanton was a pro and the last of the old guard--he will be missed. If I was Rockin Rick Henry, I think I'd be concerned. I wouldn't be surprised to see WLTX/19 number one in TV news in Cola in the near future.....

I look at the Sun News online and people in Georgetown are upset that they CAN'T see WMBF; they've been given WCBD. Some even want WIS back.

 

[fortmill]

None of this is surprising. Raycom has a TERRIBLE reputation as a TV station operator and most expected further cuts to be made. In addition, WIS recently handed off about a third of it's viewership to WMBF in Myrtle Beach, also a Raycom station. You cannot lose that number of viewers and not expect cuts to be made. WIS has now positioned itself as purely a local Cola station, not the statewide station it used to be. Cola is only DMA #82 and with WIS/Raycom, is now getting local TV news to match that sized market. Yes David Stanton was a pro and the last of the old guard--he will be missed. If I was Rockin Rick Henry, I think I'd be concerned. I wouldn't be surprised to see WLTX/19 number one in TV news in Cola in the near future.....

I look at the Sun News online and people in Georgetown are upset that they CAN'T see WMBF; they've been given WCBD. Some even want WIS back.

I'm sure the Charleston stations are playing hardball with Georgetown cable systems. If the Georgetown systems were able to carry all MB-Flo locals, there would be a chance Georgetown might go into the MB-Flo market, which would probably boast that market into a top 100 DMA---at the same time Charleston would surely loose it's recent designation as a top 100 market. WBTW and WPDE have always been on Georgetown cable and the Charleston locals can't do anything about it because they are "significantly viewed." OTOH, WFXB and WWMB (and now WMBF) are not on Georgetown cable. It would seem that WMBF has a very strong signal in Georgetown. Maybe after the digital transition WMBF will gain enough OTA viewership there to be considered "significantly viewed," allowing WMBF to be carried. Of course, availability on satelite will probably never happen, unless G'town goes into the MB-Flo DMA. Another thought---by refusing to allow WMBF to be carried in G'town county, WCBD is in effect protecting their co-owned WBTW, a direct competitor of WMBF. As long as WMBF is not on cable there, they will never be completely competitive with WBTW.

 

[charlestondxman]

Well, those layoffs of Anthony Miller and David Stanton were shockers to me. Stanton was one of my favorite news anchors, as he would tell it like it is, and had lots of experience compared to the other news anchors in town and at WIS.

Charleston stations have always had a big part in the Georgetown area, as they have always been part of their DMA, and from the top of their towers in Awendaw, on clear days you can literally see the smoke stacks in Georgetown, less than 40 miles away.

Georgetown stories do get some attention on local stations, but I think that all the stations from Charleston and Myrtle Beach should be on Georgetown cable.

WCSC, which is co-owned by Raycom (who owns WMBF) frequently shows stories from the Conway, Surfside and Myrtle Beach areas, which come from WMBF. The problem is because WBTW and WPDE's transmitters are so far north, near Dillon, so they can cover the entire Pee Dee, the Georgetown area got a weak OTA signal, being 65-80 miles away, so they have always been part of the Georgetown market.

However, I am amazed that WMBF was dropped even as far north as Murrells Inlet, which is literally part of Myrtle Beach. There should be a drive to re-add them throughout Georgetown County.

 

[fortmill]

I'm sure when the Charleston stations built their tall towers in Awendaw their plan was to claim all of the Grand Strand as part of the Charleston DMA. The problem was, by the time all the FCC permits were obtained and the towers finally built, WBTW and WPDE had already wrapped up Horry County as part of the Florence market. Later, WFXB and WWMB, and finally WMBF, came along and filled out the market. The problem was, Georgetown, which has a much stronger "community of interest" with MYB than Charleston, was left with stronger TV reception from Charleston. Even areas such as Pawley's Island, probably no more than 10 or 15 miles from the WMBF transmitter, but within Georgetown County, are not allowed to carry WMBF on cable, because WMBF is not "significantly viewed." Again, maybe after OTA is all digital, WMBF will become significantly viewed in Georgetown County and can be added to cable, but I think that will be a long drawn-out process. In the mean-time, WMBF, along with WFXB and WWMB, will be significantly impaired because they are denied access to MOST homes in an important part of their own metro area.