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Sinclair Does It Again: This Time, A Hat Trick

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
Sinclair Broadcasting is eliminating three more local newsrooms.

They are WNYO-49 Buffalo (This is a link to a Buffalo Business First report on WNYO), whose last local newscast will be on March 31st; WVTV-18 Milwaukee (This is a link to a Milwaukee Business Journal story written before the announcement became official; Sinclair has confirmed that WVTV's local news operation is shutting down), also scheduled to air it's last newscast on the 31st; and WTTA-38 Tampa Bay (the headline was on the homepage of FTV Live.com Wednesday (March 8th). I am not a subscriber to FTV Live, so I can't access the story on that website and thus far, I have not seen any other news articles on the Internet about WTTA's news shutdown or whether WTTA's last newscast will be the 31st (like WNYO and WVTV) or on another date.

With these three "News Central" affiliates closing their local news operations, how soon will it be until "News Central" itself is disbanded??
 
> ...thus far, I
> have not seen any other news articles on the Internet about
> WTTA's news shutdown or whether WTTA's last newscast will be
> the 31st (like WNYO and WVTV) or on another date.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, WTTA's last news date will also be 3/31. It was originally mentioned to close in May, but, apparently, Sinclair wants to end it sooner.
 
News Central - who's left?

If I'm counting right, these three unsurprising shutdowns leave only the mothership in Baltimore (WBFF 45), WSMH in Flint and KOKH in Oklahoma City doing News Central, as well as Las Vegas (KVWB/KFBT), which is also widely rumored to be heading for a shutdown.

Sinclair still has standalone local newsrooms in Portland ME (WGME 13/CBS), Springfield MA (WGGB 40/ABC), Columbus OH (WSYX 6/ABC-WTTE 28/Fox), Dayton OH (WKEF 22/ABC-WRGT 45/Fox), Asheville NC (WLOS 13/ABC), San Antonio (KABB 29/Fox), Nashville (WZTV 17/Fox), Pensacola (WEAR 3/ABC), Charleston WV (WCHS 8/ABC-WVAH 11/Fox), Champaign/Springfield (WICD/WICS-ABC) and Cedar Rapids (KGAN 2/CBS). I think some of these stations were using some News Central content, but not the fully produced anchored segments with Morris Jones.

A few other markets - Syracuse, Peoria, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Madison - outsource their news to other local stations.

It's hard to imagine News Central will still be around in another few months...<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
The Vegas stations dropped news last week. Friday was the last day. M*A*S*H now airs in those time slots.

> > ...thus far, I
> > have not seen any other news articles on the Internet
> about
> > WTTA's news shutdown or whether WTTA's last newscast will
> be
> > the 31st (like WNYO and WVTV) or on another date.
>
> According to the St. Petersburg Times, WTTA's last news date
> will also be 3/31. It was originally mentioned to close in
> May, but, apparently, Sinclair wants to end it sooner.
>
 
WZTV

WZTV-Nashville (FOX) does 90 minutes of news every night from 9p to 10:30p. 9p to 10p is all locally-produced. 10p-10:30p is a hybrid of News Central and local coverage.

I don't think they'll be eliminating news here anytime soon. FOX won't let it happen.<P ID="signature">______________
Bob
Moderator, Nashville board
Radio-Info.com--Always Tuned In

"I don't spread rumors, but I sometimes make outrageous speculations with no factual basis."</P>
 
Re: WZTV

> WZTV-Nashville (FOX) does 90 minutes of news every night
> from 9p to 10:30p. 9p to 10p is all locally-produced.
> 10p-10:30p is a hybrid of News Central and local coverage.
>
> I don't think they'll be eliminating news here anytime soon.
> FOX won't let it happen.
>

I think the same thing with KABB/San Antonio. The last time I went down there, they didn't carry News Central.<P ID="signature">______________
FCC=Freakin' Clear Channel. Also known as sluggmunki_tx on tv.com</P>
 
Re: News Central - who's left?

NewsCentral is flat out gone-as a live broadcast that is, on March 31st, 2006.

The official story is here:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/busines...5,0,7711484.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

Sinclair owned or controlled stations that will continue local news are:

WTTO/Birmingham, AL (outsourced to WIAT)
WEAR/Pensacola, FL
WFGX/Fort Walton, FL (repeats of WEAR news, at least they used to)
WYZZ/Bloomington, IL (outsourced to WMBD-TV)
WICD/Champaign, IL
WICS/Springfield, IL
KGAN/Cedar Rapids, IA
KFXA/Cedar Rapids, IA (KGAN)
KDSM/Des Moines, IA (KGAN)
WDKY/Lexington, KY (outsourced to WKYT)
WGME/Portland, ME
WBFF/Baltimore, MD
WGGB/Springfield, MA
KVWB/Las Vegas, NV (premieres April 6th-outsourced to KVBC)
WSYT/Syracuse, NY (outsourced to WTVH-about to get axed)
WUHF/Rochester, NY (outsourced to WROC)
WKEF/Dayton, OH
WRGT/Dayton, OH (WKEF)
WSYX/Columbus, OH
WTTE/Columbus, OH (WSYX)
WPGH/Pittsburgh (outsourced to WPXI)
WTAT/Charleston, SC (outsourced to WCSC)
WZTV/Nashville
KABB/San Antonio
WRLH/Richmond, VA (outsourced to WWBT)
WCHS/Charleston, WV
WVAH/Huntington, WV (WCHS)
WMSN/Madison, WI (outsourced to WKOW)

No word on NewsCentral shutdown 'replacements' at:

KOKH/Oklahoma City, OK
WSMH/Flint, MI (the very first NewsCentral operation)
WLFL/Raleigh, NC
WTTA/Tampa, FL
WVTV/Milwaukee, WI
WNYO/Buffalo, NY
 
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