WB57 News R.I.P.

[Darrel]

As of this week, it appears that WBUW/WB57 in Madison has quietly dropped its 9PM newscast. A second rerun of "Yes Dear" now occupies the 9PM slot, even though the Titan-powered listings on the station website show the news is still airing (though the Zap2It listings show "To Be Announced").

Personal Commentary: Though it is disappointing to some that a station discontinues its news, I am not really losing sleep over this particular move. For starters, the news was produced by crosstown WMTV/NBC15 since it started in September 2003, so no real loss of an additional voice there. Also, WB57's news was nothing more than a glossy, cheesy, light on context, low on intelligence, rip-and-read-from-the-video-news-release type of newscast meant only for the young/female WB target audience. It was very low on actual intelligent content, as evidenced by the 10 minutes or so of entertainment fluff on the newscast's 2nd segment every night.

 

[RockManAC]

> As of this week, it appears that WBUW/WB57 in Madison has
> quietly dropped its 9PM newscast. A second rerun of "Yes
> Dear" now occupies the 9PM slot, even though the
> Titan-powered listings on the station website show the news
> is still airing (though the Zap2It listings show "To Be
> Announced").

So this leaves Fox 47's news (produced by WKOW 27) as the only 9pm show up there?

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[Darrel]

> > As of this week, it appears that WBUW/WB57 in Madison has
> > quietly dropped its 9PM newscast. A second rerun of "Yes
> > Dear" now occupies the 9PM slot, even though the
> > Titan-powered listings on the station website show the
> news
> > is still airing (though the Zap2It listings show "To Be
> > Announced").

> So this leaves Fox 47's news (produced by WKOW 27) as the
> only 9pm show up there?
>
> -A

Actually, FOX 47 still has some competition at 9PM. WISC/TV3 airs a 9PM newscast on its cable offshoot, UPN14; it started as a 5-minute broadcast a couple years ago, then expanded to a full 30 minutes last September.

 

[wernerradio]

> > > As of this week, it appears that WBUW/WB57 in Madison
> has
> > > quietly dropped its 9PM newscast. A second rerun of
> "Yes
> > > Dear" now occupies the 9PM slot, even though the
> > > Titan-powered listings on the station website show the
> > news
> > > is still airing (though the Zap2It listings show "To Be
> > > Announced").
>
> > So this leaves Fox 47's news (produced by WKOW 27) as the
> > only 9pm show up there?
> >
> > -A
>
> Actually, FOX 47 still has some competition at 9PM.
> WISC/TV3 airs a 9PM newscast on its cable offshoot, UPN14;
> it started as a 5-minute broadcast a couple years ago, then
> expanded to a full 30 minutes last September.
>

In addition isn't WISC's 9pm newscast also seen on WISC-DT 50-2? <P ID="signature">______________
Joshua Werner
http://www.wisconsinbroadcasting.com
90.3 WRST-FM Oshkosh
Station Manager & Webmaster
http://www.uwosh.edu/wrst
[email protected]</P>

 

[Darrel]

> > > > As of this week, it appears that WBUW/WB57 in Madison has quietly
> > > > dropped its 9PM newscast. A second rerun of "Yes Dear" now occupies
> > > > the 9PM slot, even though the Titan-powered listings on the station
> > > > website show the news is still airing (though the Zap2It listings
> > > > show "To Be Announced").

> > > So this leaves Fox 47's news (produced by WKOW 27) as the only 9pm show
> > > up there?
> > >
> > > -A

> > Actually, FOX 47 still has some competition at 9PM. WISC/TV3 airs a 9PM
> > newscast on its cable offshoot, UPN14; it started as a 5-minute broadcast a
> > couple years ago, then expanded to a full 30 minutes last September.

> In addition isn't WISC's 9pm newscast also seen on WISC-DT 50-2?

Yes, all of UPN 14 (including the 9PM news) is simulcast over the air on digital 50-2 (or Channel 3-2, if your DT turner has it that way). They're also on DirecTV channel 14.

But back to the original subject of the thread... WB57 cancelling their newscast came as, er, news to me. I hadn't heard or read anything else about it aside from the talk on this thread, so I went as far as e-mailing the station to confirm. The station's Creative Services Director was courteous enough to reply and confirm that, yes, the newscast was cancelled; it was a decision that was, in his words, "a tough one and out of our control." (He did not elaborate further.)