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Denver's KDVR & KWGN to Merge Operations
- Thread starter JeeperOne
- Start date
I think The CW might have something to say about that. They'd rather fold as a network before they let FOX get its hands on KWGN.jal41 said:
Don't think ABC isn't drooling over this one. They'll land on one of those two stations AND they'll have KTVI's news department to boot just it was in the good ol' days.
I think it's more like the house of The CW than anything.
Besides, hasn't Tribune been trying to get OUT of the broadcasting business to begin with?
Cheers
Pat
jal41 said:
Well, actually...it's not a sale/merger, technically.
Local TV and Tribune came to a deal last year, roughly around the time Randy Michaels went from the first to the second, where they're creating a third-party company (dubbed at the time "The Other Company", though that was apparently just a placeholder name) to actually operate both Tribune and Local TV's stations.
The Denver and St. Louis agreements are just the first sign of that deal.
Well, maybe the second, as former KOVR/13 Sacramento news director Steve Charlier, named as corporate news VP for Local TV, is now overseeing news for both Local TV and Tribune.
The upshot - for operational purposes, Local TV and Tribune's TV stations are essentially under the same umbrella now. And in Denver and St. Louis, where both companies own stations, they're taking advantage of that.
oops, duplicate to above
I hope to see ABC land back on 2 or on 11. KDNL is without a doubt, the absolute worst large market major network affiliate in the US. No news department, and the Master Control isn't even being handled locally. I'd like to see KDNL get knocked back down to what it used to be in the 80s before FOX - a second rate, UHF independent station playing all the crap nobody else wanted. Sinclair Blows! I wish they would have sold KDNL when they dumped all their radio stations in town back in Y2K.
Even though I live in Virginia I do a LOT of business in Denver and have a lot of friends there. While I think a merger between KDVR and KWGN is a good idea and it wouldnt surprise me at all if those two stations would merge...however when I told my friends out in Denver about this I got two responses....
1. It aint happening
or
2. The story is full of sh*t
I know the link in the OP is to a story that appeared in The Denver Post and names were mentioned in that, but then again this same paper reported last year that what is now 107.1 ONE FM, the owners had filed bankruptcy, however according to many of their employees ( one of my best friends in Denver does business with 107.1 and their sister 101.5 FM ) according to them they never did filed.
Also the story in question was written by Joanne Ostrow and not Dusty Saunders ( the media guy for both The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News ), I find that very interesting.
I am NOT saying this story is false but didn't the Denver radio & TV stations over the years had problems with the Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News as well as "internet rumors" over stories that turned out to be..well false ???????
1. It aint happening
or
2. The story is full of sh*t
I know the link in the OP is to a story that appeared in The Denver Post and names were mentioned in that, but then again this same paper reported last year that what is now 107.1 ONE FM, the owners had filed bankruptcy, however according to many of their employees ( one of my best friends in Denver does business with 107.1 and their sister 101.5 FM ) according to them they never did filed.
Also the story in question was written by Joanne Ostrow and not Dusty Saunders ( the media guy for both The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News ), I find that very interesting.
I am NOT saying this story is false but didn't the Denver radio & TV stations over the years had problems with the Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News as well as "internet rumors" over stories that turned out to be..well false ???????
I'm glad you aren't saying the story is false because the Denver Post is quoting KDVR's GM:
"General manager Dennis Leonard hopes for a "respectful" merger of opposing cultures when KDVR and KWGN consolidate under their new local marketing agreement."
And this:
"Leonard hasn't made staffing (ie. layoff) decisions yet but says viewers won't see much difference in October, once the deal is done. He'll stress "a lot of brand separation" for Fox31 and KWGN2."
"General manager Dennis Leonard hopes for a "respectful" merger of opposing cultures when KDVR and KWGN consolidate under their new local marketing agreement."
And this:
"Leonard hasn't made staffing (ie. layoff) decisions yet but says viewers won't see much difference in October, once the deal is done. He'll stress "a lot of brand separation" for Fox31 and KWGN2."
fussbudget said:
One of my biggest clients is the Denver-based King Soopers supermarket chain. The other day I was talking to the woman with the chain who I do most of my business with. Her husband also works for King Soopers in their advertising department. After the usual business I mentioned to them about the KDVR-KWGN merger and what is King Soopers take on it. Ah..she went on and on about how "this ain't happening.....do people have better things to do with their time than to start stupid rumors..." I told them the whole story was in the Post and for them to check it out. She claimed it was wasn't but of course it was, the story was/is on their website. Anyway to make a long story short King Soopers was not happy I brought this topic up to them even through in the past we would often discuss the local media out there without any problems such as the recent format change of AM 950 going to oldies and KOSI 101 recently beginning to use some female computer voice as a "dj" on weekends. Just for some very odd reason this story ( KWGN-KDVR ) seems to be ..well taboo with King Soopers. Then again why would they care in the first place? Merger or not their ads will still run on both stations. That part seems odd to me. Maybe its a Kroger thing. Who knows !!
Since this story was in the Denver Post, wonder if it was in the Rocky Mountain News as well? I know both papers are under the same ownership now however the many of times I have been in Colorado usually if a story appears in the Post, the same story ( often written by someone else ) would appear in the News as well. I did a search on this and all I got was the Post story.
mleach said:
Huh?
Here's another article on it by TVNewsday, an online trade site:
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/09/16/daily.9/
Why don't you believe this? Tribune and Local TV have an established relationship, and even a third-party stations services company has been set up to run their stations. It was all over the media news back when Randy Michaels moved from Local TV to Tribune.
It's not like people are making this up.
mleach said:
Oh, I get it now. I was confused as to why this was even a question/issue, but I hadn't talked with supermarket companies.
azumanga said:
Do you think it would've been better for KPLR to have joined the Fox network back in 1986 instead of deciding to remain an independent? IIRC, some cynics think that ABC's lousy relationship with KDNL and the shared services agreement between KTVI and KPLR could've been avoided if 11 became the St. Louis region's Fox affiliate.
What do you think?
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