It's been announced WHAM-13 has been sold to Sinclair. This has to be very disturbing news to everyone at 13. Sinclair has been in Rochester before. They owned WUHF FOX 31 and their legacy there is well known. It will be interesting to see what such a bottom feeding company will do with such a prestigious property. Who will still be in the employment a year from now?
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WHAM-TV sold
- Thread starter therealjm12
- Start date
WHAM TV employees get those resumes ready because despite being number #1 in the Rochester market, Sinclair is notorious for being a bottom-line operation, which means there will be job cuts.
Look at what the station did to WUHF when Donna Dedee tried to build a local news operation. Sinclair's management came in and dismantled it. Not that they would dismantle Channel 13, but they sure as hell won't be as supportive as previous owners of the station.
Look at what the station did to WUHF when Donna Dedee tried to build a local news operation. Sinclair's management came in and dismantled it. Not that they would dismantle Channel 13, but they sure as hell won't be as supportive as previous owners of the station.
Don Alhart's contract still has a few more years to go so he will stay. As for the rest of the on-air anchors and reporters, God only knows!therealjm12 said:
I would highly doubt that Sinclair would come in a "clean house" when it comes to Rochester's number one local TV news operation. 13 is a far cry from what Channel 31 was. Yet one never knows what these "suits" at corporate will do to save a few bucks.
Here is the story as reported in the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper
http://www.democratandchronicle.com.../WHAM-TV-partially-sold-to-Sinclair-Broadcast
I love the wording " partially-sold." So does that means Sinclair "partially owns" Channel 13? :
http://www.democratandchronicle.com.../WHAM-TV-partially-sold-to-Sinclair-Broadcast
I love the wording " partially-sold." So does that means Sinclair "partially owns" Channel 13? :
Mark_Giardina said:
Oh Alhart won't be touched, but that doesn't mean some anchors and veteran reporters are safe.
If I were to guess who might stay and go, my guess would be Patrice Walsh and Jane Flasch only because they've been with the station so many years and are paid much more than some of the new talent recently hired. Another person who might be shown the door is Ginny Ryan. Sinclair may just replace her with Jennifer Johnson. As for the weather team, my guess is that Sinclair will get rid of one of their meteorologists just to save a few bucks.
Remember this is a company that is notorious when it comes to laying off people and 13 would be no exception. I hope that I am wrong.
Okay call me confused but according to the article in today’s (12-4-12) D&C Sinclair owns WHAM TV’s building and equipment. So someone enlighten me please. Does this so-called sale impact any of the employees? Why would Sinclair spend over 50 million just for just the building and equipment?
Mark_Giardina said:
They're skirting around FCC regulations in a rather sly way. Sinclair is buying everything except the control of the FCC broadcast license for WHAM-TV. That's because FCC regs forbid the same company from owning two top-performing stations in the same market.
I think tripinva is on the money with guessing "Deerfield" will eventually come in as the "official" owner on paper to placate the FCC, while the rest of the real world knows Sinclair will really be the ones running the show.
The Voice of Reason said:
I don't remember any major layoffs when they bought the Four Points or Freedom stations and if anything all I could see gone is some redundancies being eliminated if anything.
What I'd be really worried about is if there is a tipping point for Sinclair's growth down the road. They've grown 50% in size in only a year and they can only grow so much more before they run out of stations to buy. Am I the only person here who fears a semi-inevitable Sinclair/Nexstar merger where they could own most of a market with multiple shell companies to keep it kosher? Or would even then the FCC take a look?
Mark_Giardina said:
As several other posters have mentioned, Sinclair is buying all the non-FCC assets of WHAM-TV. They have an option to buy WHAM-TV, though they've said they have no intention of selling their existing station. So, that means someone of Sinclair's choosing (possibly Deerfield) will be assigned the rights to buy the station.
As for the employees of WHAM-TV, I would assume the majority of them will either become Sinclair employees or be cut loose.
J
jfc40ts
Guest
Why not? The number one stations in Buffalo (WKBW) and Syracuse (WTVH) were gutted like deer on the opening day of shotgun season by Granite...
Anything is possible, especially in broadcasting. While no offense to either Buffalo or Syracuse residents who post on here, Rochester's economy, I believe, is far better off than those two cities; especially Syracuse. So that means if 13's revenue starts to suffer because some "Jack the Ripper" consultant comes to town and starts tossing bodies out the front door, then corporate ( in this case Sinclair) revenue starts to suffer. Then again Sinclair already owns one TV station in Rochester already so maybe it would not matter to the "suits".jfc40ts said:
This whole deal in my opinion SUCKS!
For once I would like to see Senator Schumer come to Rochester and voice his concern over one company (even if it hides under a shell company) owning two televisions stations in one market. But he won't because he wants to get his mug on as many TV stations as possible.
Mark_Giardina said:
Well, in order for one to "get his mug on as many TV stations as possible," you need to make sure "as many TV stations as possible" still offer newscasts for one to get his mug onto. If Sinclair expects to operate WHAM (which has a 10pm on CW), but remain in cahoots with Nexstar on the 10pm on WUHF (as a Sinclair corporate-level head told the D&C), it wouldn't surprise me to see one 10pm newscast or the other disappear.
So actually, it might make sense for Schumer to put on his "consumer avenger" hat and make something happen (or prevent things from happening, depending on your viewpoint).
tripinva said:
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Give that young man a prize!
Application filed on Friday: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1533073
Click on Public Notice Comment.
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