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WMTW launches weekend morning news

They aren't as homespun as WCSH or as flashy as WGME but I like it overall. I must be in the minority. A big problem is that they have nothing news-wise from 5-6 pm weekdays. If they really produced a news program for that time (as opposed to WGME and its constant teasers for "the complete story at 6") they could take the time slot. Would it be worth it to lose Dr. Phil then? Not sure. Is Dr. Phil beating the other locals at 5/5:30?

On another note, the station could focus more on coastal Maine (they beat the other two on this count already but not by much). It appears that it is still interested in chasing those big money demos found in Lewiston/Auburn with the rest of the locals. ;-) If the other stations are going to focus on the interior of Maine then MTW would be best served by looking into the areas that are skipped by those guys. My guess is that those folks inland have already settled on CSH or GME and that you aren't gonna bring them over. Might as well focus on the rest of us.
 
Word has it (via TVSpy) that the weekday 12pm newscast was cut to make room in the budget for the new weekend shows. I'll certainly miss the midday Bloomberg Market Updates, but progress at Channel 8 ALWAYS comes with a cost, doesn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Phil gets dumped in favor of a 5p-6p newscast, as his show is no longer providing a solid lead-in to the 6pm (this is also true nationally.) I think if WMTW wants to be a go-to station for any subsection of the market they would do well to focus on York County, as WGME and WCSH have returned to staffing their Lewiston-Auburn bureaus, and Don Carrigan on WCSH owns the Midcoast franchise lock, stock and barrel.
 
I forgot to mention that WGME doesn't have any weekend morning coverage (infomercials mostly). It's WCSH only right now, which means its a good way for WMTW to make a splash- only one other competitor. Caught it this morning and it was a good newscast covering the storm.
 
Here's what I think they could do on weekdays for WMTW if they do drop the noon newscast.

5:00am News
7:00am Good Morning America
9:00am Live with Regis and Kelly
10:00am Martha
11:00am The View
12:00pm Dr. Phil (new time slot)
1:00pm All My Children
2:00pm One Life to Live
3:00pm General Hospital
4:00pm Ellen
5:00pm News (or Access Hollywood if they air it overnight)
5:30pm News
6:00pm News
6:30pm ABC News
7:00pm Wheel of Fortune
7:30pm Jeopardy!

What do you think?
 
I'd like to see a local program following the format of WMUR's New Hampshire Chronicle with Fritz Wetherbee (WMUR is a sister station of WMTW in NH). WCVB Boston also carries such a program. 207 is getting a bit tired on WCSH and could use some competition. Otherwise, your schedule looks good. Nothing really shocking in it though, and that could be a good or bad thing I suppose....
 
Yeah I've seen Chronicle before and a maine edition could be good.

Updated schedule:

5:00am- 5:00pm Same as before
5:00pm News
5:30pm News
6:00pm ABC News
6:30pm Jeopardy!
7:00pm Maine Chronicle (Competition for 207 on WCSH)
7:30pm Wheel of Fortune
11:00pm News
11:35pm Nightline
12:05am Jimmy Kimmel
1:05am Access H ollywood
 
I agree with WPXT's original sked with Dr. Phil at noon and news from 5P-6:30P; I imagine Access would move to 1:05A after Kimmel or be dropped altogether. The latest word is that Tory Ryden is probably leaving in the spring; can't say I blame her, as WMTW have been working her like a dog since they declined to renew Jon Camp's contract. This of course means rebuilding the weekday 6 and 11 from the ground up. Nothing new for Channel 8, but unlikely to improve their situation one iota.
 
I looked at WMTW's schedule for this week and at 12:00pm every day is Paid Programming. I guess they dropped the noon newscast.
 
They dropped the noon as I noted in the third post in this thread. WMTW's ND insists that fewer people are watching TV in daytime and are increasingly turning to the web for news during work hours. That's all very well and good, but the facts are that few people are bothering with WMTW's news content in any medium. For example, WCSH and WGME are neck-and-neck in Facebook friends with roughly 8,000 each, while WMTW has less than 1,500. And it has to be killing morale at Channel 8 for WMTW to be completely absent during daytime snowstorms on successive weekdays.
 
What WMTW needs to do is strengthen the main anchor desk once Tory leaves and bring back Doug Cook and bring Shannon Moss over from the morning show. Maybe hire Lee Goldberg to be the sports director, he is better then Travis and that other guy (Dave whats his name) combined! I would change the channel from WGME for sure if they team those 3 up. Love Shannon and miss Doug. Think they would make a great team!
 
AlGarcia said:
What WMTW needs to do is strengthen the main anchor desk once Tory leaves and bring back Doug Cook and bring Shannon Moss over from the morning show. Maybe hire Lee Goldberg to be the sports director, he is better then Travis and that other guy (Dave whats his name) combined! I would change the channel from WGME for sure if they team those 3 up. Love Shannon and miss Doug. Think they would make a great team!
Click to expand...

Doug is firmly ensconced at Bowdoin and I'm sure he's quite happy to have broadcasting in the rear view mirror. And I doubt Shannon would take the weeknight gig as a key reason cited in her move from WCSH to WMTW was that she could work mornings and take care of her young children. I agree that sports is very weak at WMTW; maybe they can talk Norm Karkos into shifting back to sports (I don't think news is his forte.) But the main problem at Channel 8, as always, is the constant turnover and shifting news strategy; you don't get out of last place by always changing things around. It looks like desperation...
 
I generally like WMTW news.....I dont need 90 minutes like the 2 others stations but they have had too many anchor changes in the past 10 years....Daniel Plante, John Dougherty, Jeff Peterson, John Camp, Jannine Lauber, Neila Smith, Denise Keniston and Tory Ryden. Plus they have a revolving door with reporters as well. Where did Will Lewis go? We barely knew ya!
 
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