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What happens when Media General owns a station?

B

bpatrick

I was trying to get WNCT's fall schedule on the Web yesterday,
and noticed in the Wikipedia article on the station that its news
ratings have fallen to third in every timeslot except noon (it's a
CBS affiliate so the noon news is on between "The Price Is Right"
and "The Young And The Restless"); that station had pretty much
dominated in eastern North Carolina for years. Who's in first? NBC
affiliate WITN...and NBC is fourth nationally.

At the other end of the state, WSPA Spartanburg, SC (which serves
Asheville) has also fallen to third; it was always a perennial second to
NBC affiliate WYFF. It, too, is a CBS affiliate.

And in Birmingham, NBC affiliate WVTM, traditionally second to WBRC,
has fallen to fourth. And who's number one? Traditional also-ran
WIAT (CBS), formerly owned by Media General.

Why, when Media General gets hold of a station, does the station always
seem to fall in the ratings? I could argue that NBC's in fourth, so it's no
surprise to have a fourth-place NBC affiliate, but there's no reason that
I can see why the affiliates of first-place CBS would be doing so poorly
in their markets.
 
One word: cost-cutting.

Plus MG's stations look God-awful: WSPA looked better 15 years ago when they had TVbD's Balls and Walls!
 
When Media General took over WNCN-NBC 17 in Raleigh from the network, their ratings didn't change much...they're still last place :D
 
Two words: Tahoma font.

I loathe how MG overuses that font. It's perfect on a computer for readability concerns. For a professional television station group though it just suggests that they're so cheap that they'd rather just pay as little as possible for one Windows license to 'license' Tahoma to use on-air rather than pay good money for excellent fonts. Heck, I'd be happy if they paid for a $10 "10,000 fonts!" disc at Best Buy and used one of those.
 
Media General must not be too cheap, apparently they just got a news chopper for WKRG in Mobile... but on the other hand they haven't even added HD newscast yet.
Does anyone know where WKRG's newscasts fall in the Mobile ratings? WEAR kinda messes up the curve in the Mobile DMA by grabbing all the viewers from Pensacola and Fort Walton, leaving WKRG, WPMI and WALA to battle it out for Mobile viewers.
 
poledo said:
Media General must not be too cheap, apparently they just got a news chopper for WKRG in Mobile... but on the other hand they haven't even added HD newscast yet.
Click to expand...

Did they buy it, or are they leasing it?
 
How about WJAR?

They used to be great under the NBC ownership, but then they were purchased by MG, and were quickly automated. Now they can't go a minute without some sort of technical problem, and coverage of big local stories is absolutely horrible.

However, viewer loyalty, which drives the ratings in the Providence market, is still pretty high, because people see the same talent and tune in. However, it has fallen since the NBC days, and now WPRI is closer to them then they have been in 15 years...they're now winning at 11 PM.
 
That chopper might also just be an intern GoogleEarthing with Photoshop and thumping his chest while s/he tells the news story.
The idea of a Media General newscopter sounds like it has all the makings of a top-40 AM prize van [tradeout] or a unicorn [fictional altogether]. ;D
 
I don't think Les Nessman works for WKRG... but I did hear that they were looking to buy a bunch of turkeys for a Thanksgiving promotion. :D

quadraphonic said:
That chopper might also just be an intern GoogleEarthing with Photoshop and thumping his chest while s/he tells the news story.
The idea of a Media General newscopter sounds like it has all the makings of a top-40 AM prize van [tradeout] or a unicorn [fictional altogether]. ;D
Click to expand...
 
mrschimpf said:
Two words: Tahoma font.

I loathe how MG overuses that font. It's perfect on a computer for readability concerns. For a professional television station group though it just suggests that they're so cheap that they'd rather just pay as little as possible for one Windows license to 'license' Tahoma to use on-air rather than pay good money for excellent fonts. Heck, I'd be happy if they paid for a $10 "10,000 fonts!" disc at Best Buy and used one of those.
Click to expand...

Amen! I could design something nicer.
 
poledo said:
Media General must not be too cheap, apparently they just got a news chopper for WKRG in Mobile... but on the other hand they haven't even added HD newscast yet.
Does anyone know where WKRG's newscasts fall in the Mobile ratings? WEAR kinda messes up the curve in the Mobile DMA by grabbing all the viewers from Pensacola and Fort Walton, leaving WKRG, WPMI and WALA to battle it out for Mobile viewers.
Click to expand...

The helicopter is called "The News 5 WindCreek Chopper" after the station partnered with the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel in Atmore, Alabama. The link below will take you to a page with the results of the ratings period back in February for the designated market area known as Mobile-Pensacola:

http://www.lagniappemobile.com/articles/3280-wabb-morning-guys-gag-or-gone

Pardon me for mentioning this, but I'm tired of seeing and hearing the word "apparently" used so much to express doubt over what appears to be true.
 
poledo said:
Media General must not be too cheap, apparently they just got a news chopper for WKRG in Mobile... but on the other hand they haven't even added HD newscast yet.
Click to expand...
I'll bet you beer money that chopper is 100% the property of WindCreek Casino & Hotel. Remember years ago when WKRG made use of helicopters featuring the 'News 5' logo? The 'new' chopper is fully decked out in WindCreek orange. Enter the BP oil platform crisis, and WKRG decides it can use chopper coverage as a news gimmick again. You know the bingo-sino can't turn down extra publicity on top of the advertising it already does with WKRG--so its probably good for both sides.

poledo said:
Does anyone know where WKRG's newscasts fall in the Mobile ratings? WEAR kinda messes up the curve in the Mobile DMA by grabbing all the viewers from Pensacola and Fort Walton, leaving WKRG, WPMI and WALA to battle it out for Mobile viewers.
Click to expand...
Assuming WEAR is first thanks to North Florida coverage, then WALA must be best of the Mobile-based news stations--naturally because they're bragging about it in station promos. WKRG runs generic promos about having the most 'experience' (thanks for sticking around, Mel and Randy). And WPMI is using the 'fastest growing' meme--which is a nicer way of saying 'we've got nowhere to go but up'.
 
What about HD -- how is your local media General station treating it? WFLA, a Tampa NBC affiliate that was Media General's first TV station since 1966, shows only live feed programming in HD, such as local news or any network program hot off the NBC feed. Anything that is delayed or pre-recorded, such as syndicated programming, commercials and weather inserts, are SD only, and pillarboxed. I don't understand why Entertainment Tonight proudly mentions in its bug that they are in HD, yet WFLA only show the program in SD only.

Also, it seems that both WFLA and The Tampa Tribune (another MG property) have become more reliant on each other, even though the Trib had owned WFLA-TV since its inception, with MG buying both in 1966.
 
Same deal with WJAR. Everything is SD, except NBC programming (except when they obnoxiously put a ticker up teasing the 11 PM news for a couple of minutes every half an hour).

Apparently they will be getting a new set in the next few months, along with HD news though...
 
Mario-500 said:
Pardon me for mentioning this, but I'm tired of seeing and hearing the word "apparently" used so much to express doubt over what appears to be true.
Click to expand...
I could have chosen better words, I got the wrong message across.

WKRG had a helicopter before, but I do not remember if it was 3 years ago or 13 years ago. WRKG may have a helicopter now, but I do not know if they hope it gets delivered next month or if it's been in the air for a year already. I don't know any more about the story, I just saw one commercial clip with Wind Creek Chopper Five in it. I was hoping you or someone else would fill in the blanks.

Thanks.
 
WKRG-TV stopped using "Live Chopper 5", the previous helicopter, in 2007. "The News 5 WindCreek Chopper" has been in use since July.
 
Off-topic a little, Mobile is interesting because the viewers are territorial. Alabama viewers watch the stations based in Alabama. Florida viewers watch WEAR, based on Pensacola. I know the ND at WEAR, and he says they rarely cover news in Mobile. They stick with Northwest Florida.

As for Media General, the main issue is cost-cutting: layoffs, furloughs, making people do two jobs, chasing the low-hanging fruit for stories (few resources to do investigative pieces), and partially the automation system. Do they use Ignite at Media General stations? I've heard bad things about Ignite. One of my competitors in KC uses Ignite; they rarely finish a newscast without noticeable production mistakes. We're about to start training on Ross Overdrive. We'll see which one screws up less. :D
 
That's what its like here in the Charleston area, too. WCBD doesn't run any of their syndicated shows in HD, and the only things that run in HD are the network shows. WCBD still doesn't have widescreen news, and they are very cheap with it.

Any time there is severe weather in the viewing area, their map goes up and HD goes away, even on the network.

They only do sports three nights a week, and have a lame midday news called "My News 2." They are a distant #2 in the market, and that's only because WCIV is the low end on the totem pole of the Allbritton group.

Media General integrates sports into the news on the other days, but only if it is something major. None of the stations here have choppers (one used to have it about 10 years ago, but they only used it maybe 5 times a year). Instead, for traffic and major news they just use traffic cameras or phone and TV reports.
 
The Media General station (WBTW News 13) here in Myrtle Beach, SC does very well. Just a couple years ago they got a brand new building. All the newscasts in HD and now the synidcated programs are now in HD which happened just recent. Just about two weeks ago they updated their weather program with new maps and weather graphics which looks real good in HD. So for Media General owned News 13 they have done great things.
 
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