What is happening at NBC10 regarding their local programming and technical improvements? I recognize that NBCU and its properties are belt tightening. Over recent times NBC10 has gone from a premier local network O&O affiliate in this market to a mediocre station. Such examples are their extremely lagging effort of going High Definition, airing increased paid infomercial programming at 12 Noon daily and Sunday at 11:30AM, and their lack of purchasing syndicated programming for their daytime schedule. Does anyone have any opinions of their improvements to these areas? I recognize that infomercials are are a quick and cheap source of revenue for the station. This would be OK for a second class station, but not for a major network O&O affiliate.
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NBC10
- Thread starter trolleyk
- Start date
J
Jul
Guest
I agree. The station should have a noon newscast daily instead of infomercials. Channel 10 has become a minor station in this market and its sad.trolleyk said:
Weaknesses of NBC programming have resulted in cost cutting moves at the owned affiliates. They used to be a lot stronger with Friends on their lineup. And, I'd say the writer's strike this year probably hurt them (NBC) the most. They could have moved Martha to noon, and done news at 11:30am or 11am with an Access Hollywood rerun. 3 noon newscasts would be overkill, esp. for those, and those having TV sets with only OTA. They should try to grab more syndicated shows for next year.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Despite Julius' obessions, a midday newscast is not the be-all and end-all of being a major station.
NBC in general has been weak on the daytime lineup for years, save for Today, and when your parent company forces you to take i-Village Live (or whatever it ended up being called), then yanks it halfway through the season, it doesn't help matters. Understandably, there probably wasn't much syndicated content of any value left open once the Village shut down, though repeats of Access Hollywood and Extra could have been an option.
Like it or dislike it, NBC does have one of the stronger prospects for syndication coming this fall in the form of Deal or No Deal. No guarantees, but at least it's based on a show that's performed solidly in primetime (and for a longer period of time to "prove" itself than Weakest Link). I haven't read if NBC 10 is one of the stations pairing Deal with a second game show or double running it, but either way, they should have an hour of games somewhere in daytime to start the fall.
NBC in general has been weak on the daytime lineup for years, save for Today, and when your parent company forces you to take i-Village Live (or whatever it ended up being called), then yanks it halfway through the season, it doesn't help matters. Understandably, there probably wasn't much syndicated content of any value left open once the Village shut down, though repeats of Access Hollywood and Extra could have been an option.
Like it or dislike it, NBC does have one of the stronger prospects for syndication coming this fall in the form of Deal or No Deal. No guarantees, but at least it's based on a show that's performed solidly in primetime (and for a longer period of time to "prove" itself than Weakest Link). I haven't read if NBC 10 is one of the stations pairing Deal with a second game show or double running it, but either way, they should have an hour of games somewhere in daytime to start the fall.
I thought in the beginning of the season (or maybe last season), my17 was running the Access Hollywood rerun at 10:30pm - their schedule doesn't show it though now, but maybe they still hold the right or something.
BTW, remember when NBC traded a few stations (in Salt Lake City, I think Denver maybe also) in the mid 90's so that they could have a VHF station in Philadelphia, so Fox wouldn't get it?
Look now, it's as if NBC is running the UHF station, not Fox.
If NBC WCAU doesn't want to compete competitively in Philly like they used to, they might as well move the COL to Trenton to market themselves as a NJ state NBC station like WMUR is for NH. (not serious with that statement, but they should shape up).
BTW, remember when NBC traded a few stations (in Salt Lake City, I think Denver maybe also) in the mid 90's so that they could have a VHF station in Philadelphia, so Fox wouldn't get it?
Look now, it's as if NBC is running the UHF station, not Fox.
If NBC WCAU doesn't want to compete competitively in Philly like they used to, they might as well move the COL to Trenton to market themselves as a NJ state NBC station like WMUR is for NH. (not serious with that statement, but they should shape up).
WMGM only reaches the small portion of SE NJ.
Trenton is a more central location, the capitol, a NJ Transit hub, with proximity to the North/Central part of the state, Southern, and still close to most of the Philly metro. The way it is it'd make most sense to keep the signal at Roxborough, and run a digital signal feed on WNJU-DT 2 or 3, if the idea of a NJ NBC ever came through, with the NJ state NBC as a second signal on cable and DirecTV for North and Central NJ, similar to how NH gets both WCVB and WMUR. Sometimes having a market niche/exclusive can be more profitable and make more sense if done right, than being a #4 in a declining market (local TV as a whole). Of course, once you shift cities and states like that, even if marketed as Trenton-Philadelphia, the Trenton COL and moving of offices and shift in news focus, would sever the PA viewership and interest in CH.10.
But then Philly has 3 strong news stations, Comcast, and number of outlets already. I think NJ is more densely populated and underserved. And, if 10 is already on the path of being #3 or #4 by running cheap, you have to wonder. I believe the CBS in Detroit, WWJ, is without news completely, which came out as a result of the station being number #4 in the market for years. And Detroit is a top 10 DMA. But, I think NBC won't run 10 to the ground to that point, and WWJ was a distant fourth for a longer period of time.
Trenton is a more central location, the capitol, a NJ Transit hub, with proximity to the North/Central part of the state, Southern, and still close to most of the Philly metro. The way it is it'd make most sense to keep the signal at Roxborough, and run a digital signal feed on WNJU-DT 2 or 3, if the idea of a NJ NBC ever came through, with the NJ state NBC as a second signal on cable and DirecTV for North and Central NJ, similar to how NH gets both WCVB and WMUR. Sometimes having a market niche/exclusive can be more profitable and make more sense if done right, than being a #4 in a declining market (local TV as a whole). Of course, once you shift cities and states like that, even if marketed as Trenton-Philadelphia, the Trenton COL and moving of offices and shift in news focus, would sever the PA viewership and interest in CH.10.
But then Philly has 3 strong news stations, Comcast, and number of outlets already. I think NJ is more densely populated and underserved. And, if 10 is already on the path of being #3 or #4 by running cheap, you have to wonder. I believe the CBS in Detroit, WWJ, is without news completely, which came out as a result of the station being number #4 in the market for years. And Detroit is a top 10 DMA. But, I think NBC won't run 10 to the ground to that point, and WWJ was a distant fourth for a longer period of time.
Ahhhh, where do I begin?
This will never, ever happen. Trenton and points south are part of the Philadelphia market; anything to the northeast is part of the New York market. NBC owns both WCAU-10 and WNBC-4. Same is true for the other 3 major networks. And, the cities are only +/- 90 miles apart. None of the major networks will ever allow a small affiliate to pop up in-between and dilute the value of their big stations in Philly and New York.
And, your analogy with WMUR is faulty. For one thing, that station dates back to the mid-1950s and its network affiliation dates back just as far......to the days when nobody had cable. If it were a new station, it would have a difficult time obtaining a network affiliation without a new market being created. And, even that would be easier than your Trenton idea as WCVB isn't owned by the network (nor is the Boston NBC affiliate, WHDH). Secondly, it serves a state that's on the fringe of three markets; not between two top 10 markets. Different geography is involved.
WWJ is a relatively new UHF station using old radio calls that are owned by CBS. When the big Fox/New World deal happened in 1994, CBS lost the affiliation of it's Detroit affiliate (WJBK-TV) which went to Fox. And, the former Fox station didn't want to go with CBS. So, CBS corporate decided to buy a station in Detroit and the only one available was channel 62; a former religious station. The high-UHF station has never caught on and, despite a large investment by CBS, has not developed sufficient viewership during local programming periods to financially sustain a newscast. That's why they don't have a newscast.
I agree with you that NJ is underserved by local stations. However, the heyday of the local station is long past. You're a lot more likely to get a statewide cable news channel than you are a local network affiliate. And, even that is tough these days. Particularly with the way that different cable companies have split up that market (i.e. News 12 New Jersey which is not on Comcast).
rch66 said:
This will never, ever happen. Trenton and points south are part of the Philadelphia market; anything to the northeast is part of the New York market. NBC owns both WCAU-10 and WNBC-4. Same is true for the other 3 major networks. And, the cities are only +/- 90 miles apart. None of the major networks will ever allow a small affiliate to pop up in-between and dilute the value of their big stations in Philly and New York.
And, your analogy with WMUR is faulty. For one thing, that station dates back to the mid-1950s and its network affiliation dates back just as far......to the days when nobody had cable. If it were a new station, it would have a difficult time obtaining a network affiliation without a new market being created. And, even that would be easier than your Trenton idea as WCVB isn't owned by the network (nor is the Boston NBC affiliate, WHDH). Secondly, it serves a state that's on the fringe of three markets; not between two top 10 markets. Different geography is involved.
rch66 said:
WWJ is a relatively new UHF station using old radio calls that are owned by CBS. When the big Fox/New World deal happened in 1994, CBS lost the affiliation of it's Detroit affiliate (WJBK-TV) which went to Fox. And, the former Fox station didn't want to go with CBS. So, CBS corporate decided to buy a station in Detroit and the only one available was channel 62; a former religious station. The high-UHF station has never caught on and, despite a large investment by CBS, has not developed sufficient viewership during local programming periods to financially sustain a newscast. That's why they don't have a newscast.
I agree with you that NJ is underserved by local stations. However, the heyday of the local station is long past. You're a lot more likely to get a statewide cable news channel than you are a local network affiliate. And, even that is tough these days. Particularly with the way that different cable companies have split up that market (i.e. News 12 New Jersey which is not on Comcast).
BRN's on the mark. WMGM-TV is licensed to Wildwood, Cape May County. It (then WCMC-TV) got the NBC affiliation because of the dreadful signal WRCV/KYW 3 put at the shore. "The story" has it that NBC execs vacationed there and couldn't get a dependable signal. Probably bs, but... It cannot be moved north to protect trading areas and viewership of WCAU.
I remember they did not have a color camera, and had WCMC-AM/FM personnel read the radio news while showing a B&W slide of a logo with a seagull.
The irony today is, WCMC 1230 Kc spun off the FM (now WZXL) and TV, just wanting to keep the moneymaking AM. OOPS!
more at www.mcnally.cc
I remember they did not have a color camera, and had WCMC-AM/FM personnel read the radio news while showing a B&W slide of a logo with a seagull.
The irony today is, WCMC 1230 Kc spun off the FM (now WZXL) and TV, just wanting to keep the moneymaking AM. OOPS!
more at www.mcnally.cc
C
ccuphl
Guest
amfmsw said:
But you can get WMGM-TV on Comcast up into Turnersville.
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