NC News Anchor Out

[MORE RADIO TRUTH]

NBC-17 WNCN news director leaves
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/06/616628/nbc-17-news-director-leaves.html

 

[kilamanjero]

I wonder how long will it be before WVTM's news director is out as well...

 

[RadioDaze]

WNCN-TV has been NBC and operated a news department for 15 years now and they've never made much of an impact in the Raleigh-Durham market. Thirteen of those 15 years were as an NBC O&O, too.

The former NBC affiliate, WRDC, did even worse and canceled their news operation a few years before losing the affiliation to WNCN. Like WNCN, it was a UHF going up against two VHF powerhouses (back when the VHF/UHF distinction mattered)

TV news-wise, this is basically a two-horse town, with CBS affiliate WRAL-TV usually in the lead with ABC O&O WTVD a close second. WRAL owns the FOX affiliate, WRAZ, so there's no fourth news operation in the market, as might be found in similar-sized markets. The CW affiliate, Sinclair-owned WLFL, which was formerly FOX, then WB, once had a news operation, but News Central kind of killed it and it has been airing a WTVD produced 10pm news for the past several years now.

 

[bpatrick]

I wonder how long will it be before WVTM's news director is out as well...

Especially since WIAT has become a real factor in Birmingham. That market,
unlike Raleigh/Durham, is no longer the two-horse town (WBRC and WVTM)
it once was; ABC 33/40 and WIAT have seen to that.

 

[DToTheJ]

The former NBC affiliate, WRDC, did even worse and canceled their news operation a few years before losing the affiliation to WNCN...

The former WPTF would eventually become a UPN affiliate. I would say "how the mighty have fallen," but from what I understand, Channel 28 never really thrived in RDU...

 

[RadioDaze]

I'm curious to know, from those who are familiar with the Birmingham market, how WIAT and ABC 33/40 came to catch up with the seemingly more-established WBRC and WVTM. Was it a matter of ownership, good hires or some sort of market dynamic?

Here in the Raleigh/Durham market, for instance, the NBC brand has not only been tarnished by poorly performing affiliates, but nearby, out-of-market affiliates compete for a piece of the pie. For example, Fayetteville, a large city 75 miles south of Raleigh, is included in our market, but, until September 8, 2008 (Wilmington', NC's early DTV switch), NBC affiliate WECT-TV 6, broadcast from a tower next door to Fayetteville in Bladen County and got a city grade signal into much of the market's southern portion. Similarly, Greenville-New Bern-Washington NBC affiliate WITN-TV 7 gets a strong signal into the eastern reaches of the Raleigh market. Both WECT and WITN have been around as long as WRAL and WTVD. Add to that the Raleigh-Durham market's third VHF signal, WUNC-TV 4 in Chapel Hill, was reserved for public broadcasting early on. IN the beginning, WRAL was an NBC affiliate, but shortly thereafter went ABC, with WTVD sharing CBS and NBC before channel 28, then-WRDU (now WRDC) signed on in 1968.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

I'm curious to know, from those who are familiar with the Birmingham market, how WIAT and ABC 33/40 came to catch up with the seemingly more-established WBRC and WVTM. Was it a matter of ownership, good hires or some sort of market dynamic?

ABC 33/40 won with weather. They hired a strong and respected meteorologist, James Spann, and made the committment to go wall-to-wall with severe weather coverage. I think that carries over well to their regular news programming.

I can't begin to guess how WIAT has recently surged. Perhaps just getting Media General out of the picture helped.

 

[kilamanjero]

I wonder how long will it be before WVTM's news director is out as well...

Especially since WIAT has become a real factor in Birmingham. That market,
unlike Raleigh/Durham, is no longer the two-horse town (WBRC and WVTM)
it once was; ABC 33/40 and WIAT have seen to that.

Pretty much. Ironically, one of the reasons why WIAT couldn't ever make a significant dent was due to its former ownership (Media General), whom is now cursing WVTM to its current pathetic state. While as a NBC O&O, WVTM was very competitive at one point (late 1990s and early 2000s) even considered a strong #2 in the news operations of the Birmingham market.

 

[kilamanjero]

I'm curious to know, from those who are familiar with the Birmingham market, how WIAT and ABC 33/40 came to catch up with the seemingly more-established WBRC and WVTM. Was it a matter of ownership, good hires or some sort of market dynamic?

ABC 33/40 won with weather. They hired a strong and respected meteorologist, James Spann, and made the committment to go wall-to-wall with severe weather coverage. I think that carries over well to their regular news programming.

I can't begin to guess how WIAT has recently surged. Perhaps just getting Media General out of the picture helped.

Partially true. ABC 33/40 hired a number of established personalities in Birmingham from James Spann, Mark Prater (whom is now chief meteorologist of WIAT), Linda Mays, Brenda Ladun, Pam Huff, and Tracy Haynes. All of those help put together a strong news and weather operations of the dual-channel branded station. On WIAT, yeah it was the removal of Media General's cheap asses, thus the growth of the operation. WBRC is still #1, but Raycom has weakened what FOX/NewsCorp built and sustained by trying to integrate the news operation into another member in the "Raycom News Network".

The main reason why WBRC and WVTM were strong as long as they were originally had to do with them both being VHF signals, but in the latter years it was their network owned-and-operated statuses (and expanded access to the network brand and resources that came with it).

 

[bpatrick]

WIAT also spent for programming: "Regis & Kelly," "Inside Edition,"
"Dr. Phil," "Jeopardy!," and "Entertainment Tonight."

Another difference between Birmingham and Raleigh/Durham is
the relative lack of spillover from other markets. Depending on
where you are in Raleigh/Durham you may get WFMY and WGHP
(Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point), WITN and WNCT (Greenville/
New Bern/Washington), WECT (Wilmington), or WBTW (Florence, SC).

In the Birmingham market you may--emphasize may--get WRBL and
WTVM (Columbus, GA), WCBI (Columbus, MS), or WSFA (Montgomery),
but that's about it--unless you're really lucky and can pick up all-UHF
Huntsville, or Atlanta or Chattanooga. (My own experience when I
lived in Birmingham is that I could frequently get WRBL--more often,
however, WEAR Pensacola--both stations on Ch. 3, and WXIA Ch. 11
(not yet 11 Alive) Atlanta.)

 

[kilamanjero]

WIAT also spent for programming: "Regis & Kelly," "Inside Edition,"
"Dr. Phil," "Jeopardy!," and "Entertainment Tonight."

Another difference between Birmingham and Raleigh/Durham is
the relative lack of spillover from other markets. Depending on
where you are in Raleigh/Durham you may get WFMY and WGHP
(Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point), WITN and WNCT (Greenville/
New Bern/Washington), WECT (Wilmington), or WBTW (Florence, SC).

In the Birmingham market you may--emphasize may--get WRBL and
WTVM (Columbus, GA), WCBI (Columbus, MS), or WSFA (Montgomery),
but that's about it--unless you're really lucky and can pick up all-UHF
Huntsville, or Atlanta or Chattanooga. (My own experience when I
lived in Birmingham is that I could frequently get WRBL--more often,
however, WEAR Pensacola--both stations on Ch. 3, and WXIA Ch. 11
(not yet 11 Alive) Atlanta.)

"Regis & Kelly" is back on WBRC. Which is interesting when I figured that ABC 33/40 would have fought to get it since they try to be as close to the network as possible...

 

[EricStein]

I can't begin to guess how WIAT has recently surged. Perhaps just getting Media General out of the picture helped.

New Vision succeeded in turning around WIAT (although the ball started to roll when Media General was still the owner), but they are still struggling in Savannah with WJCL (but you could say that WTOC and WSAV are more solid in their market than WVTM and WBRC are).