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Local News in E. WA is in a sad state

Pandemic/lockdown economic effects I see...how long before KIMA and KEPR quit weekend news altogether like pre-Y2K? Through just about all of the '80s and '90s there was no news on Sundays (they took the CBS Sunday Night News at the network's 11PM timeslot which by the '90s was a rarity for a CBS affiliate. Many didn't clear it or aired it in the middle of the night.) On Saturdays they had local news up until 1990 or so and then went to syndicated programs (like Baywatch Nights) for about a decade.
 
Yeah noticed tonight. Much better look, new open music. Now just hire former anchor Mike Gonzales back who has moved back to the market and is currently spokesman for Franklin pud.
 
KNDU (NBC Rightnow) is apparently not on the air "right now". They have been showing a black screen on Spectrum cable for well over 90 minutes this evening. Every other Spectrum channel is fine. Too bad on a big news day. Does it seem that KNDU has more of these issues the past couple of years than the other stations combined?
 
High winds probably and possibly due to smoke. It was very smoky earlier tonight here. Unhealthy air quality.
 
Major pixelization problems on KIMA this afternoon during the first quarter of the Super Bowl (on DirecTV). Thank goodness KEPR is available as well, as ch 19 was perfect.
A few nights ago KIMA failed to go to the 5PM Action News after Judge Judy, and someone piped in KEPR mid-news until Jake Taylor could get back on the air...
A TV operation that still needs help, even with the economic/pandemic issues.
 
The local news? I don't think it's pre-recorded...albeit the 11 pm Yakima insert is and I don't think I have seen a bumper on the screen stating otherwise. The KEPR anchors do an 11 pm insert for Yakima and then go back to the KEPR simulcast. At KEPR, they are live.
 
I noticed that KLEW rLewiston, ID \ Clarkston, WA removed their channel number from their logo by watching online.
 
Here's the thing folks: Local TV news in rural communities is no longer a viable business. You are complaining about examples of where the rural broadcast business is headed as it unwinds. It isn't because someone is lazy. Nor is it because they don't care about you. It's because, especially with the pandemic, regional advertisers can't afford to advertise on these stations and the stations, with declining revenue, can't afford the expense of staffing even an 8 hour news operation.

This is playing out in a very similar fashion to when radio was king in rural markets. Stations had scheduled newscasts which included local news, and more importantly, ag-news for the farmers. Since the Internet came around, there is no need for farmers to listen to a radio broadcast. Bushel and hog pricing are sent to their phone 24/7. Same with weather reports. Why should you need to watch for weather on TV, when it's on your phone 24/7?
 
This is why I've kept saying...one of these days Sinclair will try and sell that KIMA building. Why bother continuing to pay the salaries for an anchor, a sports guy, about five reporters, a director, a producer, and a couple of cameramen for 10 hours of newscasts a week? The glory days are long gone for Yakima television. Tri-Cities is 'where it's at' for the big wigs and Sinclair would love to save $$$ just like KNDO and KAPP. Eventually, that will become Spokane.
My point is to not ask how they will do it...it will be when.
 
I agree with you and Kelly. The economics didn’t add up before the pandemic and they won’t as we move forward. I, too think Sinclair will run everything out of Tri Cities at some point, and Tri Cities will slowly get more and more content from Spokane. KNDU/KNDO have been running KHQ weekend evenings since last Fall.
 
It's expensive to do local TV news. REALLY expensive. When you consider having to maintain even regional facilities and offices, news equipment, news crews, news vehicles (including microwave and satellite trucks), anchors, control room crews, producers, editors, management, etc. All these things that the viewer never sees, costs so much more more than that reporter standing in front of the camera. And even in smaller communities, since news happens 24/7, can you even afford to staff reporters and crews 24/7?

In Eastern/Central Washington, as an example; auto and furniture dealers were the main revenue generators keeping local news viable. As you've probably seen, many have closed-up, or have moved their advertising dollars on-line because it's simply less expensive than TV or radio. Retail has also taken a huge hit in rural areas, with Amazon taking a huge chunk out of that space. Now throw in a pandemic, and that was the death blow.
 
And Yakima/TriCities is DMA #118. What will happen to the the markets that are ranked 150 and beyond? It seems that a lot of these will become what we once considered unwieldy messes like Lincoln/greater Nebraska. It seems hard to envision an independent future for the smallest fifty DMAs, maybe more.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
And Yakima/TriCities is DMA #118. What will happen to the the markets that are ranked 150 and beyond? It seems that a lot of these will become what we once considered unwieldy messes like Lincoln/greater Nebraska. It seems hard to envision an independent future for the smallest fifty DMAs, maybe more.
Click to expand...
Several have either abandoned ship, or done similar shared content agreements with larger markets. Same has happened with rural community newspapers. If you take a look at NY State stations in communities like Utica, Binghamton, Elmira, and Watertown, whose economies were already struggling well before the pandemic. The newscast they all air are a combined effort run out of Syracuse and Buffalo, neither of which are able to focus purely on those individual communities, but more news across the state.
 
I was in Yakima last night and got to watch a little bit of KIMA news. Spotlight on America and James Rosen took up a good 8 minutes of the 'local' news.
They have slightly changed their logo and have added the current time to the lower right of the screen.
I swear Alan Sillence's sports segment took less than two minutes.
Many national commercials during the local news, including Liberty Mutual and Prevagen. Fewer local advertisers I notice. Covid recession effects + slowly losing viewership.

Hanging by a few threads...for now.
 
To add on this, Sinclair just fired five integral employees at KOMO tv in Seattle. Keeping separate newscasts in Tricities and Yakima is likely the next budget cut.
 


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