No Local News ON ABC12 First At 4

[Soundchaser]

Not a blurp of local stuff in the first half hour of ABC12 First At 4. Robot bartenders (I saw that story on 12 last week). Roe vs Wade. Protests. Nothing local. Are they unable to cover local news anymore? I know for a fact that there are a lot of big local stories today.

[whitebalance]

Weekends are small market newscasts. Meteorologist Brad Sugden anchors Sat at 6 and also does sports. Angie does Sundays, what a demeaning shift for someone like her. Just national news you will see within 20 minutes on World News Tonight. The owners are turning ot into small market TV. A far cry from the days of Bill Harris and Audrey Barnes.

[Under New Management]

Be careful whitebalance… or Soundchaser will start calling you “Stinkliar” for daring to criticize ABC12.

The problem that WJRT has is exacerbated by decisions made more than a decade ago. When Oprah left, 12’s managers decided to launch a new 4pm newscast. It wasn’t a bad idea. Costs to produce local news was lower than what Oprah was charging in syndicated costs.

However as the quality of reporting decreased, more being asked of line producers, and inattentiveness of news managers, ratings and revenue decreased while costs increased. More layoffs only worsened the quality.

I don’t think Flint needs as many daily newscast hours as we currently have. We are on par with what Detroit is producing. There’s just not the same level of actual news.

So, a note to 12’s management… start investing in quality — hire more people or scale back the number of newscasts so you don’t dilute the quality.

[Luke]

Be careful whitebalance… or Soundchaser will start calling you “Stinkliar” for daring to criticize ABC12.

The problem that WJRT has is exacerbated by decisions made more than a decade ago. When Oprah left, 12’s managers decided to launch a new 4pm newscast. It wasn’t a bad idea. Costs to produce local news was lower than what Oprah was charging in syndicated costs.

However as the quality of reporting decreased, more being asked of line producers, and inattentiveness of news managers, ratings and revenue decreased while costs increased. More layoffs only worsened the quality.

I don’t think Flint needs as many daily newscast hours as we currently have. We are on par with what Detroit is producing. There’s just not the same level of actual news.

So, a note to 12’s management… start investing in quality — hire more people or scale back the number of newscasts so you don’t dilute the quality.

The 4pm newscast was launched years after Oprah left 12 for 5. Rosie O’Donnell, Jenny Jones and Maureen O’Boule were a few talk shows they aired after Oprah.

[Soundchaser]

Be careful whitebalance… or Soundchaser will start calling you “Stinkliar” for daring to criticize ABC12.

The problem that WJRT has is exacerbated by decisions made more than a decade ago. When Oprah left, 12’s managers decided to launch a new 4pm newscast. It wasn’t a bad idea. Costs to produce local news was lower than what Oprah was charging in syndicated costs.

However as the quality of reporting decreased, more being asked of line producers, and inattentiveness of news managers, ratings and revenue decreased while costs increased. More layoffs only worsened the quality.

I don’t think Flint needs as many daily newscast hours as we currently have. We are on par with what Detroit is producing. There’s just not the same level of actual news.

So, a note to 12’s management… start investing in quality — hire more people or scale back the number of newscasts so you don’t dilute the quality.

Stink, why would I call anyone else but you Stink? There is only one... You.

[MasterB]

Byron Allen ditching 4PM newscast and airing low-rate Byron Allen programs now? Flint can't do 4PM newscast isn't big enough for it in my opinion. The water crisis still big news in Flint or has the locals moved on to other things in Flint.

[organman95]

I always thought the 4 pm newscast was a bit odd. Few of the top markets have anything between 1pm and 5 pm.

[Under New Management]

It’s all about reducing programming costs. Bryon Allen has lots of low budget/low cost programs that are cheaper for WJRT to air than it would be to purchase new shows. Sinclair has programming like The National Desk it can use to fill. Gray is building its own movie and production facility in Georgia.

[Soundchaser]

Byron Allen ditching 4PM newscast and airing low-rate Byron Allen programs now? Flint can't do 4PM newscast isn't big enough for it in my opinion. The water crisis still big news in Flint or has the locals moved on to other things in Flint.

Is that the case, or is this BS? There has been no word of them dropping the 4pm news.

[Under New Management]

Another reason why Allen Media isn’t investing in its stations… Byron is rumored to want to purchase the now shuttered Black News Channel