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"Relevant News"

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prompter

Okay, I am a tech geek like the next hardcore journalist....but enough about WKTV's new CG alright? There are some legit topics
we can be grappling over on these boards, so let's have at it. There was a massive transaction in the tv business recently and it received scant mention here. ClearChannel washed its hands of its tv group and sold it to a Providence-based private equity firm. There are ClearChannel stations in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Elmira and Binghamton---give us the skinny--what are you hearing? For better or worse, this is a fascinating time in the local tv business. Let's begin talking about "relevant news" and not what Joe Sixpack is watching in the metropolis otherwise known as Ilion, NY.
 
All of these stations WERE under one regional VP in Syracuse. From what I've read and heard, he's out, and the stations you mentioned are being handled by at least 3 new VP's. Instead of going by geographical regions, they seem to be going by market size.

Rochester and Syracuse are under one VP, there's a different one covering the three small markets hooked up to Syracuse, and I think Albany is under yet another VP. (To clarify, each VP also has stations elsewhere in the country -- this is just the breakdown for NY state.)

Not a bad plan when you think about it. When your VP's are based on geographical terms (as CC did with TV, and still does with radio), it often seems like the VP's home market gets the most attention. The smaller markets in the cluster can wind up being overlooked or neglected.

The way Newport's doing things, it seems like each VP will be working with several stations of similar market size. So each VP will be working with a bunch of stations that have a lot more in common with each other than simply being within a 2-hour drive of home base. And that can be helpful, since small market TV is different than major market TV in many ways.

My sources haven't heard any rumors about any job cuts or other major changes, but I'd be surprised if there aren't any. New owners always seem to change something, if for no other reason, at least for the sake of making an impression.
 
I'm expecting an announcement of call letter changes for WHAM and WSYR any time now :). Maybe seeming WWTI is under what has to be the smallest market VP, they'll actually get "some" attention. Maybe come back into the news and actually try to make a run at WWNY?
 
I doubt we'll see WWTI make a comeback... at least in the short term. I don't know how much money these people have up their sleeves -- and considering they were sued to follow-through with the sale, I don't think they're looking to throw lots of money all over the place.

If Providence does stage any revivals, my money would be on Binghamton first, simply because Binghamton already has full newscasts at 6:30am, 5:30pm and 6:00pm. It shouldn't take very much for them to get back into the game at 5:00pm, and then get the morning show started earlier. (Even if it's the exact same rundown every 1/2 hour, at least it's something... and who sits through an entire morning show anyway?) And seriously, get the heck out of that shopping mall. Why are they live there EVERY day? The few times I've seen it, I laugh because there's never anyone standing around to watch it... not even the usual boneheads you expect to see at liveshots, making weird faces in the background. But I'm getting off-topic...

As for Watertown, they don't have any full newscasts on the air. Just a few quick cut-ins here and there. To be honest, I don't know how a 5 minute cut-in that doubles as a webcast generates enough money to pay these people's salaries. I'm surprised they even exist, considering most owners would have just cut the news department entirely. How many stations out there have a news department, when the station doesn't even have any real newscasts? I wouldn't be surprised to see Providence shut down WWTI's newsroom, rather than expanding it. As much as I hate to see newsrooms get shut down, especially when it means only one survivor remains... it's nearly impossible for the underdog in a small market to stage an upset against the long-time leader. At least Binghamton has something of a fighting chance. The money for WWTI's news salaries could probably go a lot farther to help Binghamton's product than it ever could in Watertown.

The fact that they have a VP that specializes in small markets doesn't mean he's gonna come into town and drop a million dollars to hire more talent and revive the newsroom. Being a specialist in small markets, he's probably MORE aware of the fact that underdogs in small markets usually don't stand a chance in unseating a long-time leader. Then again, if it's a simple matter of VHF vs. UHF with many diaries going to non-cable households, we could see some changes when the playing field is leveled by the DTV conversion next February.
 
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