Lincoln Financial Group...Seems like we hardly knew you!

[jtudor]

Bruton Smith? Are you kidding!!! Nothing but a big bully who always has to get his way---the Concord city council should be ashamed for bowing to him. I'd truly hate to see him get a hold of WBTV, or WLNK---WBT, I couldn't care less about, there're already about as bad as they could get.

Personally, I think Bruton would be a good owner for the stations for one reason: Bruton Smith knows how to find and hire good people to manage the properties he owns, and once he has hired someone good, he lets them do the job they were hired to do. Just the opposite of micromanaging. Just look at the speedway and Humpy Wheeler as an example. Bruton has done much the same with his other properties.

 

[hballard_HB]

John, I would just love it if Jim Goodmon would add WBTV to the Capitol Broadcasting family. I don't know if that is even a possibility, but WRAL-TV and WBTV would be quite a combination. I'm hearing that Raycom might possibly be the eventual new owners of One Julian Price Place. Stay tuned.

 

[jtudor]

John, I would just love it if Jim Goodmon would add WBTV to the Capitol Broadcasting family. I don't know if that is even a possibility, but WRAL-TV and WBTV would be quite a combination. I'm hearing that Raycom might possibly be the eventual new owners of One Julian Price Place. Stay tuned.

That would be good, but would there not have to be some juggling of properties for that to happen? Doesn't Capitol already have interest in one or more stations in Charlotte?

I just hope that:

1. The Charlotte trio does not get broken up.
2. The great talent on staff does not get run off by the new owners.

 

[fortmill]

Capitol owns WJZY and WMYT in Charlotte---they could spin off WMYT. WJZY already airs WBTV's news at 10PM which would be a good fit. I'd hate to see Capitol lose MY12,since they do a good job with that station. I wonder if Belo would/could take MY12--it would be a good outlet for their news department. They have duopolies in other markets. I'd certainly rather see Capitol get WBTV than Raycom or Media General.

 

[wncc]

I'd love to see Capitol get WBTV. I could stomach a split with WBT in that case. I would rather see Media General than Raycom as owners of WBTV.

 

[tothedj]

I'm not sure if "Capitol Broadcasting" would be interested in WBTV, but i agree
between them and WRAL-TV in Raleigh, you would have a winning combination,
especially when it comes to their news operations, it could make the Charlotte
Television News race "very interesting!".
As for selling WMYT, if it went to A.H. Belo, it would benefit WCNC, there are
two Belo stations in Seattle/Tacoma, KING and KONG, and programs from KING
do appear off and on their sister station, and do produce a "prime time"
newscast for them at 10 P.M.
As for the radio properties, WBT & WLNK would fit fine with Capitol, although
WLNK might change formats with a ownership change.
Overall, The Goodman Family would benefit from acquiring WBT, WBTV and
WLNK.

 

[jtudor]

I'd love to see Capitol get WBTV. I could stomach a split with WBT in that case. I would rather see Media General than Raycom as owners of WBTV.

My only problem with Media General is that if they get WBTV, they would certainly spin off the radio because they have no radio holdings and don't want any so I am told by fellow employees.

 

[hballard_HB]

As hard as it will be to accept among those of us who grew up in broadcasting believing in Jeffeson-Pilot Broadcasting set the standards for excellence, I fear that TV, WBT-AM and WLNK will not remain together once WBTV is sold. If somehow in the ultimate dream scenario Capitol Broadcasting would buy WBTV, a new chapter in Charlotte television would be written. I know from my years at the palace at 2619 Western Boulevrd, Raleigh, that Capitol is one company that knows how to do television news. If nothing else, the speculation and imagining what could be are quite interesting.

 

[jtudor]

Unfortunately under the current ownership the standards of excellence and leadership over at One Julian Price Place are no longer there.

I remember when WBTV was the market leader in every innovation:

First TV Station
First TV Station in color
First local news in color
First with ENG (microwave on location)
First Satellite Truck
and maybe First News Helicopter.

(I can't remember if they got Sky 3 before Chopper 9 came along or not)

WBTV never let anyone beat them to an innovation, and they always set the standard.

Now however, WSOC was the first to broadcast local news in HDTV, and so far as I can tell WBTV has no plans in motion to make the change anytime soon.

I am sure that if Lincoln Financial had not bought JP that the HD would probably be in place now, but I can see that Lincoln would not make that investment when they intended to sell the broadcast properties from the outset.

I just hope that whomever wins in this lottery will make the move to HD soon after they take over.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

when I worked at WBT there was always talk about moving radio to it's own building to be built on part of the parking lot. it never happened of course.

Here is a question. If radio and TV go to separate owners as I believe they will where would you put WBT/WLNK. What part of town and what kind of building? The engineering staff might end up being very busy!

It will be a sad day. AM-FM-TV combos are getting scarce. It's an interesting atmosphere since there is always something going on in an operation like that. I had the good fortune to work for two of them in Charlotte.