What would you do to fix the country's worst television stations?

[Sammi Brie]

Most all of us have a TV station in our market that either has seen better days a long time ago or has never seen them in its history. What stations do you think qualify for "worst in your market", and what would you do to fix them if you were the GM or ND?

I'll start. Here there are really two contenders for the title in Phoenix.

KNXV is a poor excuse for an ABC affiliate. That's what I think. It only exists because Scripps happened to own a station and it happened to really get in bed with ABC. Part of the reason ABC fell from #1 after the big switches, I think, is because ABC was forced in several markets to lesser stations by virtue of affiliating with other co-owned stations (WFTS comes to mind) in station groups (not because of direct impact from the New World switches). KNXV should really try a new approach to news...and if they continue to be Arizona's own barren desert, they should just cough up ABC.

KTVK, since it lost said ABC affiliation, also has had its day in the sun. After it lost ABC it just became desolate...and Belo picked it up at a bargain basement price. KTVK should pull a WIAT: cancel news for 30-40 days then reinstate a new news department. A new image and perhaps a return to something like the NewsChannel 3 days would help. (Could you imagine one of KTVK's aerial background opens redone in HD?) Patti Kirkpatrick is bland, they have too many women, and they have a rather fluffy image. Keep Royal Norman but everything else (including the station's logo and image) could use a COMPLETE overhaul. KTVK should put its resources into news, not syndication shows. (I also have an idea: move CW to 8-10pm on KASW and put in a 7pm newscast.)

KPNX also is fading, but I think that's partly due to Gannett's standardization efforts and the fall of NBC.

 

[gregg75]

I would banish the CW, MY NETWORK TV and UPN to Cuba. They take up way too much TV space for what little they give back in return.

 

[gregg75]

Just found out UPN died in 2006. I guess that was about the last time I viewed it.

 

[Sammi Brie]

I would banish the CW, MY NETWORK TV and UPN to Cuba. They take up way too much TV space for what little they give back in return.

Agreed. The country can only support 4.5 networks, and only barely. The CW goes over that line.

 

[dgendvil]

I think that KRON in San Francisco can do just that to fix their news department so badly, since they've also lost their NBC affiliation as well. It has been going downhill ever since they lost the affiliation to KNTV almost nine years ago & their news ratings are still suffering badly because of that. So that goes to show you!

 

[Sammi Brie]

I think that KRON in San Francisco can do just that to fix their news department so badly, since they've also lost their NBC affiliation as well. It has been going downhill ever since they lost the affiliation to KNTV almost nine years ago & their news ratings are still suffering badly because of that. So that goes to show you!

KRON and KTVK are mirror images of each other – both lost affiliations (and their top-rated news) and have been in a hole ever since. (And both have red circles in their logos!)

 

[landtuna]

Most all of us have a TV station in our market that either has seen better days a long time ago or has never seen them in its history. What stations do you think qualify for "worst in your market", and what would you do to fix them if you were the GM or ND?

I'll start. Here there are really two contenders for the title in Phoenix<snip>

The tsunami that engulfed Phoenix TV some years ago damaged most of the stations in the market. KNXV (15) and KTVK (3) were probably the worst as you mention. Prior to the shuffle 3 was an excellent ABC affiliate and 15 was a pretty good indie. Neither are outstanding today although 3.2's thisTV is the only continuous movie service available OTA.

KPNX (12) remained the NBC affiliate and continued very strong for awhile based upon NBC's dominance in the 90's but has shown weakness both in its network programming and in it's local programming lately. I can't think of anything on 12 being watched in my house now except for the very occasional 'Leno'.

KSAZ (10) went into the shuffle as the CBS affiliate and came out as Fox. Although Fox has some programming attracting the younger (desired) demo's most of 10's programming is substandard. Except for a strong local morning show nobody watches 10 here.

KPHO (5) - the former very strong indie became the CBS affiliate once the dust died down and has remained perhaps the strongest TV station in Phoenix. CBS' programming has helped but for many years their local programming also attracted a very loyal audience. That loyalty may now be aging and certainly the recent inane news promotions haven't helped but it remains the best of a less-than-strong field. The CBS network news fiasco certainly didn't help though.

KAET (8) the PBS affiliate continues to be a standard PBS station which I find occasionally very good and at other times irrelevant. The addition of PBS World (8.3) was a godsend when I dumped cable and missed my documentaries.

The other major English-language stations (45, 51 and 61) offer only reruns, infomercials and garbage syndicated programming and aside from one rerun on 61 none are watched in my house.

KAZT (7) offers local shows geared mostly to Prescott (COL) seniors, religious programming and reruns. 7.2 (RTV) shows mostly old TV shows but with lousy and out-of-sync audio. Wallace & Ladmo reruns are about the only worthwhile offering.

I didn't critique the Spanish-language or LPTV stations here because I never watch them - or I should say not since the World Cup. It is interesting that two of these stations showed the only live OTA World Cup soccer games in the Phoenix area although, of course, they were in Spanish.

All major stations in the market could benefit from more mature promotions. Embedding network programming promotions as 'news' should be embarrassing to station execs. Juvenile slogans touting local news shows should also be embarrassing. Too many news shows is a waste of talent and time either duplicating network stories or airing fluff pieces. Lack of local sports coverage should cause PD's to be shot. Note to 3 and 12 - your high school football wrap up shows don't do justice to the game or high schools. Better than nothing though. And why aren't any ASU or community college sports covered?

Note to all - want to save money without firing talent? Dump the unnecessary mobile segments. We don't need to see static shots of the 4th Street Jail (again) or the State Capitol Building (again) or the front of the last Circle K store or Wal-Mart which was robbed. Same for shots of rain puddling at the curb or "breaking news" about a horse rescue. And we can easily understand it's snowing in Flagstaff without a mobile unit reporter standing in the pines with snowflakes in her hair.

When I was growing up it used to be the TV stations which were the professional broadcasters and the radio stations the juvenile ones. Seems times have turned.

 

[MattParker]

I would banish the CW, MY NETWORK TV and UPN to Cuba. They take up way too much TV space for what little they give back in return.

I wouldn't wish the CW on the Cubans. although I suppose it's better than Fidel's eight hour speeches. You have a point. The stations that carry CW, MY and even Fox in many markets used to be indies. And those indies were very local. Local bowling for dollars. Local kids talent shows. Local kids shows. Movies with a local host. Local game shows. Scary movies with a local host made up by a local make-up person. These shows were usually cheesy but they were fun. People watched. And local businesses advertised on them and got results. So, I'd take a page from Weird Al's "UHF."

 

[stdjsb25]

I would banish the CW, MY NETWORK TV and UPN to Cuba. They take up way too much TV space for what little they give back in return.

CBS and Time Warner will finally throw in the towel and make the CW the next "Dumont", except this time it won't raise from the grave in some other fashion.

And I believe My Network TV has pretty much gone away aside from showing nothing but repeats....

I wouldn't be surprised if we have a bigger resurgence of the independent station within the next few years.

 

[ajc_trw]

Most all of us have a TV station in our market that either has seen better days a long time ago or has never seen them in its history. What stations do you think qualify for "worst in your market", and what would you do to fix them if you were the GM or ND?

I'll start. Here there are really two contenders for the title in Phoenix<snip>

The tsunami that engulfed Phoenix TV some years ago damaged most of the stations in the market. KNXV (15) and KTVK (3) were probably the worst as you mention. Prior to the shuffle 3 was an excellent ABC affiliate and 15 was a pretty good indie.

KNXV wasn't independent, it was a FOX affiliate. I remember watching FOX 15 from Wickenburg along with UPN 45 and WB 61. The big deal with FOX in Phoenix was it was being moved to a stronger signal on channel 10, which was the case for me.

 

[KeithE4]

Semi-random thoughts on the state of TV in Phoenix:

Belo made a conscious decision to market KTVK/3 exclusively to women several years ago, dumping the Diamondbacks and Coyotes and adding claptrap like Dr. Oz to go with Oprah and Dr. Phil. Now that Oprah's flying the coop next year, maybe they'll return to a more balanced lineup. At least their newscasts seem to be improving, and they still carry the Cardinals when they're on MNF. Hopefully they'll try to get some of those baseball & hockey games back from FSN-AZ.

Promoting Fox network shows on their O&O (KSAZ/10) local newscasts is probably a directive from Ruppert Murdoch himself, although KPHO/5 (not a CBS O&O) is equally guilty of doing the same thing on its newscasts.

If it wasn't for the Suns, there would be little need for KUTP/45 to even exist.

There is little need for either KPPX/51 or KASW/61 to exist. If the CW survives (50-50 chance in the short term, zero chance in the long-term), it could be moved to KTVK. I'm surprised Daystar hasn't made an offer to buy one of them (51 would be more likely), with the other going to one of the Spanish-language networks.

AZ-TV (KAZT/7) is OK, but it seems to me like they're going downhill some. They dropped the Coyotes after last season and they have little to offer right now.

Network affiliations won't matter much in 10 years. I can see the English-language networks cutting way back or eliminating entertainment programming completely, with the surviving networks just doing news and sports. The Spanish-language networks will survive longer.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Most all of us have a TV station in our market that either has seen better days a long time ago or has never seen them in its history. What stations do you think qualify for "worst in your market", and what would you do to fix them if you were the GM or ND?

I'll start. Here there are really two contenders for the title in Phoenix<snip>

The tsunami that engulfed Phoenix TV some years ago damaged most of the stations in the market...

AMEN! I could run a local station better than the jokes of Arizona's Big 5...and I'm not even voting age (I admit, sadly, though it might not sound like it)! Give me a station and I could turn it around. Horrible design, horrible programs, and mostly horrible news departments. And we're inching on market 11 (Detroit is only a few thousand households larger now) and WILL reach it next season at the current rate.

You want to write a letter with me to the TV stations? I want to fix TV in this state. And I will, no matter how I have to do it.

 

[DToTheJ]

As far as stations in the New York City DMA, I would have to say WRNN in Kingston, NY. First task: change the call letters. You're running infomercials and home shopping shows all day long, you're not fooling anyone anymore by insisting you're a legitimate news channel.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I would ban the practice of wall-to-wall TV shopping over broadcast channels.
What was once a very interesting and unusual station, WQEX in Pittsburgh, is now
merely a high-wattage barker channel for whatever home shopping network is struggling
to stay out of bankruptcy this week. Take the license away and give it to someone who
will do something useful and interesting with it. If nothing else, stop the hideous waste
of perfectly good electricity.

 

[landtuna]

KNXV wasn't independent, it was a FOX affiliate.

I stand corrected. You can obviously tell Fox isn't/wasn't anywhere near the top of my viewing habits.

And, am I dreaming, or wasn't 51 an all-movie channel when it first signed on? Not sure if they dropped that format before or at the time of affiliation (with UPN?). Hard to tell the players without a scorecard.

 

[Sammi Brie]

KNXV wasn't independent, it was a FOX affiliate.

I stand corrected. You can obviously tell Fox isn't/wasn't anywhere near the top of my viewing habits.

And, am I dreaming, or wasn't 51 an all-movie channel when it first signed on? Not sure if they dropped that format before or at the time of affiliation (with UPN?). Hard to tell the players without a scorecard.

KUTP was owned by Chris-Craft, owners of UPN (the only station they completely built, actually), so nobody else could have been UPN. KPPX only went on the air in 1999, so it would have been immediately Pax.

 

[EricStein]

Belo made a conscious decision to market KTVK/3 exclusively to women several years ago, dumping the Diamondbacks and Coyotes and adding claptrap like Dr. Oz to go with Oprah and Dr. Phil. Now that Oprah's flying the coop next year, maybe they'll return to a more balanced lineup. At least their newscasts seem to be improving, and they still carry the Cardinals when they're on MNF. Hopefully they'll try to get some of those baseball & hockey games back from FSN-AZ.

KTVK did not purchase anything new for their M-F schedule, other than the very-low-budget Recipe TV from Byron Allen's company to replace Family Feud during the mid-day. They might as well be better off airing two infomercials between Noon-1pm!

Promoting Fox network shows on their O&O (KSAZ/10) local newscasts is probably a directive from Ruppert Murdoch himself, although KPHO/5 (not a CBS O&O) is equally guilty of doing the same thing on its newscasts.

KSAZ used to be a respectable news station. When they added the UGLY standardized FOX O&O graphics package last year, that's when they lost me completely. Whenever I want to watch news at 9pm now, I tune it to KTVK.

There is little need for either KPPX/51 or KASW/61 to exist. If the CW survives (50-50 chance in the short term, zero chance in the long-term), it could be moved to KTVK. I'm surprised Daystar hasn't made an offer to buy one of them (51 would be more likely), with the other going to one of the Spanish-language networks.

KASW (which signed on approximately 15 years ago yesterday) is there to air whatever off-network sitcoms and dramas KTVK doesn't have room for on its schedule. Ditto for KUTP in relation to KSAZ.

AZ-TV (KAZT/7) is OK, but it seems to me like they're going downhill some. They dropped the Coyotes after last season and they have little to offer right now.

I give KAZT credit for adding more real programming (even if it's "trash TV" talk like Maury and Jerry Springer) instead of airing hours of infomercials like they used to do. Now, why they can't program any entertainment shows on Sundays is beyond me (unless it's a mandate from ownership to air only religious programming on Sunday).

 

[WPPCProductions]

Like said on a earlier post,dump these so called networks on once indi.stations.Two channels here in Connecticut Channel 18 Hartford
and Channel 26 from New London were real bad on quility with video and sound back in the 1980's.The on air broadcast tapes look like they were prerecorded in EP on a reused cheap store brand VHS tape or Beta3 speed for you beta fans.They got alittle better but not much.The others are great.If it ain't broken,Don't fix it.

 

[Markxxx]

If you banned the CW and MyNetworkTV etc, all you'd get is more infomercials.

We need to go back to the days where you couldn't do a half hour commercial. This would force TV to provide some sort of programs. I mean there are tons of old shows now, that aren't rerun.

I would try to seek out some deals somehow, but too many owners of these old shows would rather they sit and do nothing rather than allow some sort of barter on the oldies

 

[MarcB]

If you banned the CW and MyNetworkTV etc, all you'd get is more infomercials.

Really? Both are only programming stations 10 hours/week. And it's from 8PM-10PM during primetime. I'm not counting the 1 hour TYRA block at 3PM on the CW because CW is giving that hour back to the affiliates in 2011. And obviously I'm not counting the cartoons CW airs on Saturday Mornings.