Nexstar loses money again
In case you missed it, Nexstar Broadcasting recently posted an $8.9 million third quarter loss. What's that mean? Don't ask me, I'm no financial expert. But the news is fueling rumors that Nexstar will sell five of its stations to save money.
I doubt WBRE/WYOU is at risk, since this is the second-highest market with a Nexstar presence. But you can bet corporate will come down on the duopoly with their latest "SAVE MONEY NOW" mandate.
Because everyone needs a chuckle on Mondays, I give you the top ten signs Nexstar Broadcasting is trying to save money at WBRE/WYOU.
10. Williamsport and Stroudsburg bureaus converted into McDonalds
9. Photographers given VHS tapes and clunky JVC camcorders made in 1989
8. Gasoline credit cards cancelled in favor of siphoning gas from employee vehicles in WNEP parking lot
7. One word: newsbots
6. Wardrobes now courtesy of the Salvation Army
5. Meteorologists resort to drawing temperatures and maps on giant whiteboard
4. Station vehicle fleet replaced with four Geo Metros
3. Anchors now just read headlines from News Alliance newspapers
2. Shared-services agreement signed with WYLN-TV
1. "Pennsylvania Evening"
I doubt WBRE/WYOU is at risk, since this is the second-highest market with a Nexstar presence. But you can bet corporate will come down on the duopoly with their latest "SAVE MONEY NOW" mandate.
Because everyone needs a chuckle on Mondays, I give you the top ten signs Nexstar Broadcasting is trying to save money at WBRE/WYOU.
10. Williamsport and Stroudsburg bureaus converted into McDonalds
9. Photographers given VHS tapes and clunky JVC camcorders made in 1989
8. Gasoline credit cards cancelled in favor of siphoning gas from employee vehicles in WNEP parking lot
7. One word: newsbots
6. Wardrobes now courtesy of the Salvation Army
5. Meteorologists resort to drawing temperatures and maps on giant whiteboard
4. Station vehicle fleet replaced with four Geo Metros
3. Anchors now just read headlines from News Alliance newspapers
2. Shared-services agreement signed with WYLN-TV
1. "Pennsylvania Evening"
posted by Howard Beale at 10:41 AM
11 Comments:
WYOU used to use a Geo Metro out in Williamsport... that was pre-merger of course.
Love the top ten, but what is sad, is that none of that would surprise me...especially the "PA Evening." Check out Yahoo Stock, and put in NXST, and click the graph that shows the past 2 years, and Nexstar Stock keeps getting lower and lower. Just discovered that you can do that.
Number 3 happens already.
I continually get upset that BRE isn't doing enough to give people the news that matters in their community. It just seems that script writing, camera work is second rate. Nearly every day, the live shots are blue or orange, the writing isn't conversational. I mean, Steuber's at the helm, right? Straighten up! Seems like a fire needs to be lit under BRE and YOU's collective bottoms.
I think all three stations are guilty of writing in pure journalese. WNEP seems to be the worst offender, continually harping about "blazes" and "flames" that "break out." Broken sentences, such as "Skycam 16 over [PLACE] today," are just as annoying.
What every newsroom should have is a booklet containing a glossary of "Phrases From Hell (which are to be avoided)." Such as:
Senseless Tragedy
Grinding Collision
Blazing Inferno
(add your own here)
We need to write clear, sparkling copy that avoids the obvious words we use before Tragedy, Collision, Inferno, Death, etc. Maybe we need to replace those words, as well, if they are obvious in context.
We also need to shoot video that advances the story. Shots of a building or a roadway that don't really say anything aren't any good (except to prove to the Assignment Editor that you were there). It's especially bad when you run those shots over and over just to fill out the time on a B-roll. If you didn't get there in time to make a package, or only the camera op could make it, get something that moves and feeds your story.
Don't know that this falls to "journalese", but I'm annoyed by the pregnant pause before the last two or three words of...the story.
I get the impression that the presenter thinks this so-called dramatic pause effectively masks the fact that what we are really seeing is he or she thinking (or listening to whoever's in their earpiece) about what they're going to say after the pause and after that particular story's...final words.
It's particularly noticeable when the newsperson does it after...every story.
Why does 16 allows have to mention the county or town name at the beginning and end of each story, not to mention the chyron flash....
Police on the scene of a nasty crash in Luzerne County....roll vo...two people taken the hosptial after that crash on route 115 in Luzerne County...
we get it, you are everywhere....
That's something I first noticed on ABC radio many years ago ("...the bridge collapse in northern Vermont"). I suspect it's because people often aren't "tuned in" at the start of a story. They see/hear the "Horrific grinding crash on 115 in Luzerne County...(etc)..." and, since they live elsewhere, quickly lose interest but, at the end, have forgotten where it was and need that memory jogger, "...at that horrific grinding crash on 115 in Luzerne County."
People don't listen closely. Watch how Jay Leno starts his jokes two or three times before getting into the narrative part. In our case, we have to tell people the essential points of what we just said.
I think the mention and repeat of a town in a story is probably a throw-back to Bob Absher days. He wrote the style book for his 16 slaves.
It's all about proving to the viewer 16 has the resources to report on news in most every county... Just listen to the end of their VOs....
No word on what caused that Lycoming County Fire...
Clean-up crews on still on the scene of that Luzerne County accident.
Like the other poster said... yeah 16 we get it, you are everywhere.
And yes, Absher has a lot to do with it. Laziness is also a part. Who doesn't like using templates?
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