Leadership changes at WWJ (CBS)

[GS3580]

https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/07/ ... cts-hires/

Looks like the new GM Jennifer Lyons is not playing around. Love these new changes. Lyons did great at WGN and is turning WBBM around. Have faith she can turn CBS News Detroit around as well.

[MWmetalhead]

So, basically, some of Paul's prior duties have been reassigned to someone else, and the station is trying to put a positive spin on everything.

Other than the addition of a sports anchor, which was an overdue and obvious move, and the stale "Top 6 at 6" gimmick, I've seen no discernible change in the on-air product.

Isn't BBM a perennial fourth place news station in the Chicago market? 7, 9, and 5 rule news in the Windy City. Guess I'm not understanding what is so special about the new GM.

[GS3580]

So, basically, some of Paul's prior duties have been reassigned to someone else, and the station is trying to put a positive spin on everything.

Other than the addition of a sports anchor, which was an overdue and obvious move, and the stale "Top 6 at 6" gimmick, I've seen no discernible change in the on-air product.

Isn't BBM a perennial fourth place news station in the Chicago market? 7, 9, and 5 rule news in the Windy City. Guess I'm not understanding what is so special about the new GM.

Evidently she’s turned a regularly bad product in WBBM into a better quality one. In addition, she did a great job at WGN.

As for Paul, he was demoted. Looks like the guy who will replace him has a good resume. Nonetheless, we shall see.

[MWmetalhead]

Here are 10PM household and in-demo results for Chicago from a year ago.

WBBM-TV channel 2 was a colossal disaster in 25-54. SIXTH place, trailing 7, 5, 9, and both Spanish language newscasts by leaps and bounds. That's amazingly awful given the fact CBS's primetime lineup serves as a lead-in.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news- ... 20weekdays.

Anyone have data more recent?

[GS3580]

I believe the Top 6 at 6 segment was there before Jennifer Lyons got there.

According to FTV Live, two executive producers have been let go. Things seem better, at least to me since they left but more changes have to be made. They need more people and just better overall talent.

If anyone can turn this around, it’s Lyons.

[Newsman123]

Here's whats needed in my opinion:

A traditional news set. The station looks like they are broadcasting from an auto body shop. Looks dark, depressing and cheap.

Better talent. Outside of a few decent anchors, there are no standout reporters and frankly, no anchors anyone really knows, aside from Sandra Ali.

Better reporting. They need some investigative, consumer and enterprise reporting. They need to break stories.

Lead on breaking news. Their first attempts at covering breaking news at launch was a disaster. They need to show they can be a leader when it matters.

They had an opportunity to shake up the market, and so far, have failed to give me any reason to watch.

[MWmetalhead]

Extremely well stated; I agree with everything you wrote.

You stated the issues more eloquently than I could have done.

If I had to stack rank the issues by degree of importance, lack of breaking news leadership would be #1, the auto repair shop look-alike studio would be #2, and lack of a consumer / investigative reporting unit would be #3. On-air talent has some bright spots but is "meh" overall, so I'd rank that fourth.

One more problem, in my eyes, is inadequate on-air presence on the weekend.

Edit:
When did their lower thirds become so sloppy looking? The CBS News Detroit logo text is not centered properly, and the font used for the ticker is a mismatch with everything else.

[GS3580]

With the new ND, I am hopeful things are about to improve for the better. Keenan is a proven commodity and is a much better leader. No offense to Paul but things were a disaster under his leadership. His inexperience really did rear its ugly head.

As far as anchor talent, Terrence Friday. Shaina Humphries, and Sandra Ali are the only ones I consider do be major market talent. Kris Laudien is ok. Rachelle Graham is just awful imo. She belongs in Flint, not Detroit. As for the weekends, meh! Bailey is terrible! He’s better as a field reporter. Kelley Vaughn is also horrible!

As for name recognition, CBS needs to have its talent more in the community. I have faith that will actually happen.

I like Ahmad and Troy, but could do without Kylee Miller and Karen Carter.

They also need much better reporters too. I love the new hires and I like Bailey better as a reporter. Alysia Burgio is amazing! If they improve the overall talent and hire more people, they will be on their way.

[tvmusic]

I'm fine with the reporters and anchors they have, they just need to hire more. I was very happy to see them finally hire a sports reporter. Inexcusable to go that long without one. They really however need to hire a second sports person. What happens when Rachel takes a day off? I want a complete sports report every day, not just the days she works, and not just one story.

I'm not sure why they are not running a 10 p.m. newscast on TV50 and on their streaming platforms. 50 has a history of a 10 o'clock news and there's less competition than at 11 p.m. I would also love if CBS Detroit made their last newscast available for download starting at the beginning. That's really news when you want it. Clicking on their stream, you come in the middle of a report and half the time it's the national news feed.

[Ben Zonia]

Given the frequent comments about Chicago Broadcast Media on this board, currently WBBM-TV and WGN-TV, I've often wondered if there should be a separate Chicago Regional Board here. I haven't seen any other board this complete based in Chicago. The discussions on RD are sparse by comparison.

Granted, the days when Chicago Media where listenership and viewership penetrated well into Western Michigan, and even Eastern Michigan with AM Skywave, are pretty much passed. This is due to AM electrical noise, the move to FM, then the crowding out of more distant FM signals, including Chicago, by new stations and translators on cochannel and adjacent channel frequencies. And of course the fragile nature of digital TV station signals, UHF due to the Laws of Physics, VHF due to too low ERP, and DAs with nulls toward Michigan. But coverage is still present and important on the Berrien County Lake Michigan shoreline area, where many influential Chicagoans still vacation and get away for the weekend.

[waynerobertson1]

I am also fine with the anchors and reporters at CBS Detroit. But why oh, why , did they get rid of Ronnie Duncan??

[MWmetalhead]

Is that a serious question?

[Editorcj]

By poaching 7's News Director they have now shown that they do not care about non-compete clauses and Scripps is not prepared to fight for them in court potentially due to the FTC's decision and recent court decision on that ruling. So now the collusion pact the broadcast companies have been following about respecting each other's non-compete clauses is now broken. Could this turn into an open bidding war on talent and key behind the scenes people? Will CBS get serious and try to buy some market share in an industry with declining viewership and revenue?

[Rate This]

By poaching 7's News Director they have now shown that they do not care about non-compete clauses and Scripps is not prepared to fight for them in court potentially due to the FTC's decision and recent court decision on that ruling. So now the collusion pact the broadcast companies have been following about respecting each other's non-compete clauses is now broken. Could this turn into an open bidding war on talent and key behind the scenes people? Will CBS get serious and try to buy some market share in an industry with declining viewership and revenue?

Well that’s fun. Hopefully 7 can replace him with somebody decent.

[MWmetalhead]

Amyre Makupson II does a very good job at the anchor desk on 62.

She is underutilized, in my opinion.