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WKYC-TEGNA News Director Out After One Month

MediaLover said:
Could Sinclair make a play for WKYC, WJW or WBNX?
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As much as I despise Sinclair, I'd rather see them take ownership of WKYC instead of Nexstar. Other than them, who else would be interested in buying a full power station with a major network affiliation? Cleveland has just about every major broadcaster now, aside from the station groups owned by the major networks.

I don't see Nexstar letting go of WBNX, not after they just bought the station for The CW, which Nexstar also owns. They are most likely not going to let go of WJW either. If Nexstar is required to divest a Cleveland station due to the buyout of Tegna, it's most likely going to be WKYC.
 
snowdog88 said:
As much as I despise Sinclair, I'd rather see them take ownership of WKYC instead of Nexstar. Other than them, who else would be interested in buying a full power station with a major network affiliation? Cleveland has just about every major broadcaster now, aside from the station groups owned by the major networks.

I don't see Nexstar letting go of WBNX, not after they just bought the station for The CW, which Nexstar also owns. They are most likely not going to let go of WJW either. If Nexstar is required to divest a Cleveland station due to the buyout of Tegna, it's most likely going to be WKYC.
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Nexstar is a company that solely exists to buy up companies and stations and little else. They aren't going to willingly sell anything and with a toothless FTC and DOJ, they assuredly won't.

Fox made a prior repurchase offer for WJW in 2018 during the Sinclair-Tribune merger fiasco which was voided after that collapsed (and that happened after publicly floating a possible partnership with Ion Media in protest); they also played hardball with Nexstar in 2019 and tried to get it back along with WITI and KCPQ, the latter Fox lusted over for decades. It is not infeasible that Fox attempts to strongarm Nexstar into giving up WJW and a few other Fox affiliates.
 
My concern is, with WKYC possibly merging with WJW/WBNX, is staffing will be set, especially with management and the newsroom.

I would not be surprised if 8/55's management team ends up running 3.
 
MediaLover said:
My concern is, with WKYC possibly merging with WJW/WBNX, is staffing will be set, especially with management and the newsroom.

I would not be surprised if 8/55's management team ends up running 3.
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Or all three stations being run out of the same studio, with WJW/WBNX being merged into WKYC's current studio?
 
snowdog88 said:
I would think it would be the other way around. WKYC's studio is much newer and more modern, perhaps a bit bigger as well.
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If WJW is the surviving entity in this newsroom merger—and all accounts say it is—it's a lot more hassle for them to move.

Plus Gray needs a new home for their stations and, suddenly with WKYC soon to be leaving Lakeside, they have a readymade option available.
 
Megatron said:
The fastest hire/firing in TV history next to Inside Edition who fired the host after 1 week and hired Bill O'Reilly and yelling at the behind the scense person when he was anchor from 89-95.
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You missed Mike Richards, who resigned a month into his tenure at Jeopardy!

Also a CBS special presentation of "W*A*L*T*E*R" a bad idea pilot for the M*A*S*H franchise. Only made it to the Central Time Zone.
 
While speculating on what studio arrangements Nexstar may make in Cleveland, there could be some technical changes also.
If Nexstar has control over WBNX and WKYC and their strong UHF signals, why not take WJW and move it from their pitiful VHF 8 to a sub channel of 3 or 55? Additionally, they could divest the TV 8 license, tower and transmitter site for even more efficiency.
 
This all winds up becoming a moot point if Fox muscles their way into the picture and pursues a repurchase of WJW. The deal was already lined up for Fox to buy back WJW had the Sinclair-Tribune deal closed, and Fox included WJW in their trade negotiations with Nexstar for KCPQ.

Given the obvious political climate and the companies involved (which is itself the biggest elephant in the room), I'd be shocked if WJW isn't spun off back to Fox while Nexstar keeps WKYC and WBNX.
 
I wonder if Fox is as gung-ho today to re-acquire WJW. It's an aging market and not as lucrative as it was even a few years ago.
And given the current political climate and friction between the WSJ and the administration, I might expect them to throw up any roadblocks they could to make it tough for Fox to get WJW.
The traditional TV broadcast industry is contracting at an alarming rate, and Fox itself may actually be looking to sell or merge.
 
Santa fe said:
And given the current political climate and friction between the WSJ and the administration, I might expect them to throw up any roadblocks they could to make it tough for Fox to get WJW.
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Without desiring to get into specifics, a lot of that is Kabuki theatre. Or can be solved by doing exactly what David Ellison did a few weeks ago.
Santa fe said:
The traditional TV broadcast industry is contracting at an alarming rate, and Fox itself may actually be looking to sell or merge.
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CBS imo will be the first to bail as its new owner (Ellison) has no emotional attachment to it and didn't even want it in the first place when they bought Paramount. At least Fox has enough clout in their owned-stations division, along with being sports-centric in programming, to stick around longer than the others.

Tbh the networks as you and I knew them may not even be in existence by 2030. Or possibly even by 2027.
 
I'm sure the staff at WKYC is not happy with the news regarding TEGNA and Nexstar. Plus, it came right after news of another new news director came out.
 
VintageMac said:
But Fox 8 has that "lovely" outdoor garden space as well as room for the Stuff the Bus collections!!!
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They can move Stuff the Bus to either of their two go-to "in the field" reporting spots for snow coverage: somewhere near Pinecrest out by Chagrin Blvd off of 271, or SouthPark Mall out in Strongsville. They could also do an Akron-based StB, now that they're partners with WBNX, and hang out down in Fairlawn.
 


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