CBS Detroit WWJ-TV

[genius]

Well, don't feel too bad, I brought it up in a seperate thread, recently.
I'll say this, I don't care who's on here, I don't believe for a minute that CBS will keep a company station without a newscast. Either one of two things will happen: Either they will eventually try news again, or, they will sell the station. From what I've read, CBS only owns the station so as to ensure that CBS is carried in Detroit. But the minute they can free that dawg, I bet they will.

I apologize again for being my rudeness in the thread from a few months ago but it should be noted WWJ(nor WKBD for that matter) hasn't had a newscast since 2002. And like kenhawk1160 said Detroit is a very lucrative market, so I doubt they'll be selling it anytime soon with or without a newscast. But I wouldn't place a future attempt at another newscast out of the picture though. Already they produce a local program called Michigan Matters on Sundays.

Then again, you're right about them showing no shame about not having news. Perhaps this "No News Is Good News!" slogan has been successful lol...

[Morgan Wick]

I recently noticed they're showing Dr. Phil now.

That just sounds so bizarre.

[kenhawk1160]

I apologize again for being my rudeness in the thread from a few months ago but it should be noted WWJ(nor WKBD for that matter) hasn't had a newscast since 2002. And like kenhawk1160 said Detroit is a very lucrative market, so I doubt they'll be selling it anytime soon with or without a newscast. But I wouldn't place a future attempt at another newscast out of the picture though. Already they produce a local program called Michigan Matters on Sundays.

Then again, you're right about them showing no shame about not having news. Perhaps this "No News Is Good News!" slogan has been successful lol...

I stand by that post.  Any television station in a market of Detroit's size can be a license to print money if it's properly managed.

[Al Johnson]

When Fox took over channel 2, they took over the audience for the station's strong and very popular news broadcast, and apparently they have kept the audience.  Network affiliation is a minor consideration in why people watch a particular news broadcast (especially at dinner-time when the network does not provide a lead-in).  Audiences are often loyal to a news broadcast.  They are not going to leave an established program with known and liked air talent to follow CBS to UHF.  And Katie is not going to help establish a news presence for WWJ-TV.  The WWJ call letters are a stronger news brand but few people in the audience associate those calls with CBS62.  Probably those call letters are still more associated in the public's mind with NBC and channel 4.

A start up newscast would cost a ton of money (to be competitive) and it would take a long time to show results (if it ever did show results).  CBS has enough money problems already.

[Garrett]

I don't know when it happened since I don't live or watch TV in Detroit, but I just noticed that on their website they are now identifying themselves as WWJTV instead of CBS Detroit, and they are showing a weather forcast.

So perhaps news is on its way back?

[Wthom100]

The Detroit TV (and Radio) market has been in a steady decline since the early 1980's. The Detroit DMA is no longer a top 10 market as of last year (Detroit radio market also dropped out of the top ten late last year). Someone mentioned in a previous post that Detroit was the 6th largest TV market - that may have been true back in the early-mid 1970's.

I do not think the Detroit market can really support a 4th newscast. I remember when this saga was happening back in the mid 1990's.  I remember Henry Baskin (the prominent Detroit media lawyer who was involved heavily in many Detroit related media deals) stating that CBS's decision to not field a news operation on the new channel 62 station was essentially a vote of no confidence in the Detroit market.  CBS realized that the Detroit market was contracting and decided not to spend the money.  This I believe was the same rationale why ABC chose the to drop ownership of it's Detroit O&O channel 7 as part of the Cap Cities / Disney deal (ABC chose to hold on to LA, Chicago, New York and San Francisico stations - they ejected the Detroit station which was sold to Scripps Howard).

If CBS did not have the stomach to launch a news operation in Detroit in the mid 1990's (when Detroit was DMA #8) why would they do so now with a rapidly sinking and even less important Detroit market today (at DMA #11 and likely to drop further as the population continues to move south)? But then again stranger things have happened.  I personally think they could perhaps set-up a bare-bones news operation - perhaps a 15-20 minute newscast - something like that.

The Detroit market loses revenue by dropping from the top ten market category as many new product introduction media spending programs focus on "top ten markets. Also just today I was reading where the Atlanta metro just knocked out Detroit metro from top ten metro area population ranking (although these are census defined areas not DMA's).

Detroit has basically joined the ranks of the 2nd tier cities in media importance (joining such cities as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Denver, etc.). Thats what happens when you have a single industry economy and cold weather - everyone starts to move out of the markets.  Cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston are where people are moving to now days.

[kenhawk1160]

If CBS did not have the stomach to launch a news operation in Detroit in the mid 1990's (when Detroit was DMA #8) why would they do so now with a rapidly sinking and even less important Detroit market today (at DMA #11 and likely to drop further as the population continues to move south)? But then again stranger things have happened.  I personally think they could perhaps set-up a bare-bones news operation - perhaps a 15-20 minute newscast - something like that.

The Detroit market loses revenue by dropping from the top ten market category as many new product introduction media spending programs focus on "top ten markets. Also just today I was reading where the Atlanta metro just knocked out Detroit metro from top ten metro area population ranking (although these are census defined areas not DMA's).

I don't disagree with this.  However, notwithstanding the economy, there is, like you said, potential for setting up a bare-bones news operation.  A behind the scenes writer or intern can write the local content, and then out-of-market anchors in another market can record it in advance. 

What I have been seeing happening in smaller markets is that some less successful network stations have been cutting out their local news departments and farming out news responsibilities to their competitors.  While you don't see this trend in the bigger markets, it could eventually happen.

We also have what's called news exchange partnerships...TV exchanges with radio and print, and radio with print and TV.  However, this trend has been slow to develop because a lot of broadcasters don't want their listeners to know they have to "share" with other sources to get information.  That trend needs to change.

[M.J.]

I don't think WWJ-TV can support local news. However, Detroit is one of the few large markets that has only one 10 PM newscast. WKBD 50 had one years ago that was still being produced when CBS first bought them and WWJ still had news. WXYZ later produced a 10 PM newscast for WKBD but it got canned. I think CBS should at least produce something for the old Kaiser station again, just 30 minutes long and only on weeknights.

[kenhawk1160]

At this point, I think CBS has resigned itself to "if we can't do it right, we're not gonna do it at all".  They don't have enough confidence in this market anymore, and with the automakers trimming jobs left and right, I can't say I blame them.