Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Obviously big news around here today around Central Ohio, and
I suppose around broadcasting in general. The proposed merger between
Nextstar and Tegna six point two billion dollars for these
two entities to come together still has to still has
(00:21):
to go through federal approval, and I'm not sure what
the decision will be at the government level. And as
I was saying earlier to Mark, I know, it's kind
of odd, you know, being I work for this, this
monolith broadcasting company. But while the company owns many many
(00:42):
stations around this country, we do not own the majority
of stations any one place. I don't believe. When television
went to digital a few years ago, all three of
the four, six, and ten all picked up additional stations.
(01:06):
Twenty eight, which was a standalone at that time, also
picked up digital stations. Then the company e Stinclair Broadcasting
that owned six picked up twenty eight. So Channel six
now has six point one. This is broadcast frequency is
not necessarily available on your cable or satellite system. But
over the year broadcast Channel six WSYX and Clair has
(01:30):
six point one, six point two, six point three, and
six point four. They have twenty eight point one twenty
eight point two. That's what a total six. The people
at next Star WCMH channel four have four point one,
(01:50):
four point two, four point three and four point four,
and I think I'm not sure they may. I think
they may have sold their interest in wus WHO Channel
fifty three to Sinclair as well, which means Sinclair would
then have fifty three to one fifty two to fifty
three to two as well, So that'd be two more
(02:13):
a total of eight for them. Merging TEGNA Channel ten
and merging next Star Channel four, that would give you
twelve broadcast television frequencies, all owned by the same company
(02:35):
in this city. I I'm not taking a definitive stand.
I'm just telling you my gut at this point, and
I want to know what you think too, because I mean,
you're the consumer. You're the person who takes in the product.
You're the one who watches the news, You're the one
who watches the entertainment programming, the public service programming they
(02:58):
offer as as a viewer, are any red flags for you?
Are you okay with it? What do you think? Do
you have an opinion? Maybe you figure, hey, it doesn't
even affect me, but twelve television frequencies in one city
owned by one company is a little bothersome to me.
(03:24):
I don't know who would be in charge, if you will,
if it will be a conglomeration of the uh, the
big wigs of both companies coming together and uh, you know,
balancing out people from Tegna and people from next door.
(03:46):
One of them seems to be uh farther in one
direction than the other, although they both are left of
center in many ways. Too many that that could conceivably
get even more so. That is a lot of frequencies
(04:14):
owned by just one company, and I don't know if
it's good for us. We haven't had anything major in
media happen in this town that we stagnated. Man, Back
when I started, there was stuff every day. The Columbus
Dispatch actually had a guy that wrote about nothing but
radio and television, Tim Fahren. He's still around, but he's
not doing that anymore. But I looked forward to every
(04:38):
time Tim's name was in the page I'm reading. Man.
There was always something happening. People were moving from one
station to another, or you know, the management changes, or
people leaving the market or new people coming into the market.
There was always something happening with Columbus Media. And it's
(05:01):
been a long time since we've had any story. Do
you recall, Zach the last time. I can't even think
of it. Last time there was a big story. And
I'm sad about that because I think that lack of
activity reflects a complacency. When you do not have that,
(05:28):
you know, neck and neck competition, then we've got to
outdo the other station, where things get kind of boring.
And I don't know that that's good for you know,
the business aspect or for the audience aspect. When you
are the only game in town doing something, it's it's
(05:52):
difficult to convince the troops or the generals to do
anything bigger or better than whatever they're doing, because, hey,
you know, we're here, we rule the roost. We got it.
And when you own twelve television frequencies plus two radio
(06:16):
frequencies because the two radio stations owned by Tegna, I
guess are also part of the deal, that's an awful
lot of power for one company to wield in one city.
And I just don't know, As I said, I'm not
making a stand here, I just I'm it's just one
(06:38):
of those gut things instinct, things where I just well,
I just don't know that I'm comfortable with it. A
lot of research, a lot of questions need to be
asked and answered. If anything, I would love to see
companies come into this market, bring in new stations. I
(07:00):
know it's been so long. I mean Channel twenty eight
came on the air, and you know, the Fox Network
was fledgling at the time. They were innovative, they were new.
They started off with Sunday Nights, brought us sub sequest DSV.
Is your watch sequest DSV? I have no idea Roy
(07:21):
Scheider was the captain of a submarine. It was a
bio a biomechanical submarine. Is he still hot in Jaels? No,
he wasn't hunting jewels. But it was a pretty good show.
Twenty one Jump Street, which was Johnny Depp and Peter
de Lais and oh, Holly Robinson and Dustin Gwyn. I
(07:46):
feel like I'm forgetting somebody can't remember who else there was.
I remember the show, but they were Yeah, they've remade
it into a movie, which you know, faltered. But twenty
one Jump Street was part of that first first year
or two of the Fox Network. They brought us to
Tracy Almond Show, which spawned the Simpsons. They brought us
(08:09):
King of the Hill from the people who brought us
Beavis and butt Head. But they were doing something completely
unique and people responded. I think that's the last big
change to the Columbus media landscape many many many years ago,
(08:31):
probably forty years thirty five years up in Mansfield, w
Com signed on com TV. You may have watched it.
I watched it a lot, You and me and Come
TV where the great times begin. Former Channel six news
anchor Tom Burris, I believe, was the general manager. If
(08:52):
I'm not mistaken. They had a great signal. You could
pull them in in Columbus with no problem, beautiful picture.
They went off the air pretty quickly after that, after
they debuted, and I don't know what that situation was,
(09:12):
but we really haven't had much movement, much activity when
it comes to the comings and goings of media in
this city. So this is obviously big news, but again
I don't know if it's good news. Again, I want
to know what you're thinking. A two one ninety eight
six eight two one WUTV and let's try to get
a couple in before the break Bob. You were on
six to ten double UTV at Hi Hi Jack.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I heard you earlier in the broadcast before this one,
But you mentioned that you find that your station is
kind of independent of say, the stations in uh Cincinnati
and elsewhere that are under the iHeart umbrella. But you
know iHeart has influence over your programming. They do. I mean,
(09:57):
you know the way commercial that they run.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Well of what I hearts, what the salespeople sell. Yes,
that's that's got nothing to do with me as far
as content, what I talk about or how I choose
to talk about it. No, iHeart has nothing to do
with any of that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
But somebody like our heart, don't they give you less
time to talk about it? I mean, have you ever
measured your power hour? It's like twenty seven minutes. It's
not it's not an hour. It's a lot of commercial.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Well, if you own a station, more time work for you, Bob.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I repeat it, over it, Bob, Bob Bour.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Okay, Well, but if you hate it so much, Bob,
how are you here listening?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I have been listening less, Chuck. I mean, I do
like you a whole lot, but you're the only stand
out uh uh personality on WTVN that I can listen
to anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Really, we'll get everybody else, get everybody you meet to
listen to me. That's what you want to build my stock.
You want to get me on the air more. You
want to get fewer commercials, more time for me to
put content on the build my stock that come with ratings.
So is the audience if it grows.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I think you have enough time where you are with
your afternoon drive, sharing that chour that you have and
chuck you do. When everybody goes on vacation, I mean,
I don't know, you're the cleanup batter. If without you,
who else would they have? Well, yeah, when everybody goes
(11:24):
on vacation.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's one of the things I've been most proud of
all these years is there's nothing you can put in
front of me when it comes to this business that
I can't do. And I'm very proud of that. And
I've been that way since day one. And you know,
it served me well because wherever I am needed, I
can go and I can be relatively sure I'm going
to do a good job with it. And that's not
everybody can say that I've done all. I've worked all
(11:47):
kinds of music formautes everything except alternative and what you
call your ao R, your album oriented rock. Haven't done
either one of those album oriented Yeah, the station that
might play some deep cuts, it's not just the hits.
Oh okay, okay, gotcha. And I've never done alternative, you know,
I've never been a fan of that kind of music.
(12:09):
But I've worked about every musical format there is. I've
been a traffic reporter, I've been a traffic driver, I've
been a talk show host, I've been a morning guy,
I've been a night guy, and I'm proud of that.
I'm very utilitarian, and it serves me well in a
lot of ways. It served me not so well in
other ways. Sometimes, when you are one trick pony, but
you're really good at that one trick, you get a
(12:32):
chance to do that one trick all the time. But
when you are easily movable, it's a little hard to
settle in one place and just kind of hone your
skills in that. Yeah, I appreciate the call, Bob. Thanks
Obviously big news around here today around Central Ohio, and
I suppose around broadcasting in general. The proposed merger between
Nextstar and Tegna six point two billion dollars for these
two entities to come together still has to still has
(00:21):
to go through federal approval, and I'm not sure what
the decision will be at the government level. And as
I was saying earlier to Mark, I know, it's kind
of odd, you know, being I work for this, this
monolith broadcasting company. But while the company owns many many
(00:42):
stations around this country, we do not own the majority
of stations any one place. I don't believe. When television
went to digital a few years ago, all three of
the four, six, and ten all picked up additional stations.
(01:06):
Twenty eight, which was a standalone at that time, also
picked up digital stations. Then the company e Stinclair Broadcasting
that owned six picked up twenty eight. So Channel six
now has six point one. This is broadcast frequency is
not necessarily available on your cable or satellite system. But
over the year broadcast Channel six WSYX and Clair has
(01:30):
six point one, six point two, six point three, and
six point four. They have twenty eight point one twenty
eight point two. That's what a total six. The people
at next Star WCMH channel four have four point one,
(01:50):
four point two, four point three and four point four,
and I think I'm not sure they may. I think
they may have sold their interest in wus WHO Channel
fifty three to Sinclair as well, which means Sinclair would
then have fifty three to one fifty two to fifty
three to two as well, So that'd be two more
(02:13):
a total of eight for them. Merging TEGNA Channel ten
and merging next Star Channel four, that would give you
twelve broadcast television frequencies, all owned by the same company
(02:35):
in this city. I I'm not taking a definitive stand.
I'm just telling you my gut at this point, and
I want to know what you think too, because I mean,
you're the consumer. You're the person who takes in the product.
You're the one who watches the news, You're the one
who watches the entertainment programming, the public service programming they
(02:58):
offer as as a viewer, are any red flags for you?
Are you okay with it? What do you think? Do
you have an opinion? Maybe you figure, hey, it doesn't
even affect me, but twelve television frequencies in one city
owned by one company is a little bothersome to me.
(03:24):
I don't know who would be in charge, if you will,
if it will be a conglomeration of the uh, the
big wigs of both companies coming together and uh, you know,
balancing out people from Tegna and people from next door.
(03:46):
One of them seems to be uh farther in one
direction than the other, although they both are left of
center in many ways. Too many that that could conceivably
get even more so. That is a lot of frequencies
(04:14):
owned by just one company, and I don't know if
it's good for us. We haven't had anything major in
media happen in this town that we stagnated. Man, Back
when I started, there was stuff every day. The Columbus
Dispatch actually had a guy that wrote about nothing but
radio and television, Tim Fahren. He's still around, but he's
not doing that anymore. But I looked forward to every
(04:38):
time Tim's name was in the page I'm reading. Man.
There was always something happening. People were moving from one
station to another, or you know, the management changes, or
people leaving the market or new people coming into the market.
There was always something happening with Columbus Media. And it's
(05:01):
been a long time since we've had any story. Do
you recall, Zach the last time. I can't even think
of it. Last time there was a big story. And
I'm sad about that because I think that lack of
activity reflects a complacency. When you do not have that,
(05:28):
you know, neck and neck competition, then we've got to
outdo the other station, where things get kind of boring.
And I don't know that that's good for you know,
the business aspect or for the audience aspect. When you
are the only game in town doing something, it's it's
(05:52):
difficult to convince the troops or the generals to do
anything bigger or better than whatever they're doing, because, hey,
you know, we're here, we rule the roost. We got it.
And when you own twelve television frequencies plus two radio
(06:16):
frequencies because the two radio stations owned by Tegna, I
guess are also part of the deal, that's an awful
lot of power for one company to wield in one city.
And I just don't know, As I said, I'm not
making a stand here, I just I'm it's just one
(06:38):
of those gut things instinct, things where I just well,
I just don't know that I'm comfortable with it. A
lot of research, a lot of questions need to be
asked and answered. If anything, I would love to see
companies come into this market, bring in new stations. I
(07:00):
know it's been so long. I mean Channel twenty eight
came on the air, and you know, the Fox Network
was fledgling at the time. They were innovative, they were new.
They started off with Sunday Nights, brought us sub sequest DSV.
Is your watch sequest DSV? I have no idea Roy
(07:21):
Scheider was the captain of a submarine. It was a
bio a biomechanical submarine. Is he still hot in Jaels? No,
he wasn't hunting jewels. But it was a pretty good show.
Twenty one Jump Street, which was Johnny Depp and Peter
de Lais and oh, Holly Robinson and Dustin Gwyn. I
(07:46):
feel like I'm forgetting somebody can't remember who else there was.
I remember the show, but they were Yeah, they've remade
it into a movie, which you know, faltered. But twenty
one Jump Street was part of that first first year
or two of the Fox Network. They brought us to
Tracy Almond Show, which spawned the Simpsons. They brought us
(08:09):
King of the Hill from the people who brought us
Beavis and butt Head. But they were doing something completely
unique and people responded. I think that's the last big
change to the Columbus media landscape many many many years ago,
(08:31):
probably forty years thirty five years up in Mansfield, w
Com signed on com TV. You may have watched it.
I watched it a lot, You and me and Come
TV where the great times begin. Former Channel six news
anchor Tom Burris, I believe, was the general manager. If
(08:52):
I'm not mistaken. They had a great signal. You could
pull them in in Columbus with no problem, beautiful picture.
They went off the air pretty quickly after that, after
they debuted, and I don't know what that situation was,
(09:12):
but we really haven't had much movement, much activity when
it comes to the comings and goings of media in
this city. So this is obviously big news, but again
I don't know if it's good news. Again, I want
to know what you're thinking. A two one ninety eight
six eight two one WUTV and let's try to get
a couple in before the break Bob. You were on
six to ten double UTV at Hi Hi Jack.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I heard you earlier in the broadcast before this one,
But you mentioned that you find that your station is
kind of independent of say, the stations in uh Cincinnati
and elsewhere that are under the iHeart umbrella. But you
know iHeart has influence over your programming. They do. I mean,
(09:57):
you know the way commercial that they run.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Well of what I hearts, what the salespeople sell. Yes,
that's that's got nothing to do with me as far
as content, what I talk about or how I choose
to talk about it. No, iHeart has nothing to do
with any of that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
But somebody like our heart, don't they give you less
time to talk about it? I mean, have you ever
measured your power hour? It's like twenty seven minutes. It's
not it's not an hour. It's a lot of commercial.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Well, if you own a station, more time work for you, Bob.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I repeat it, over it, Bob, Bob Bour.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Okay, Well, but if you hate it so much, Bob,
how are you here listening?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I have been listening less, Chuck. I mean, I do
like you a whole lot, but you're the only stand
out uh uh personality on WTVN that I can listen
to anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Really, we'll get everybody else, get everybody you meet to
listen to me. That's what you want to build my stock.
You want to get me on the air more. You
want to get fewer commercials, more time for me to
put content on the build my stock that come with ratings.
So is the audience if it grows.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I think you have enough time where you are with
your afternoon drive, sharing that chour that you have and
chuck you do. When everybody goes on vacation, I mean,
I don't know, you're the cleanup batter. If without you,
who else would they have? Well, yeah, when everybody goes
(11:24):
on vacation.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's one of the things I've been most proud of
all these years is there's nothing you can put in
front of me when it comes to this business that
I can't do. And I'm very proud of that. And
I've been that way since day one. And you know,
it served me well because wherever I am needed, I
can go and I can be relatively sure I'm going
to do a good job with it. And that's not
everybody can say that I've done all. I've worked all
(11:47):
kinds of music formautes everything except alternative and what you
call your ao R, your album oriented rock. Haven't done
either one of those album oriented Yeah, the station that
might play some deep cuts, it's not just the hits.
Oh okay, okay, gotcha. And I've never done alternative, you know,
I've never been a fan of that kind of music.
(12:09):
But I've worked about every musical format there is. I've
been a traffic reporter, I've been a traffic driver, I've
been a talk show host, I've been a morning guy,
I've been a night guy, and I'm proud of that.
I'm very utilitarian, and it serves me well in a
lot of ways. It served me not so well in
other ways. Sometimes, when you are one trick pony, but
you're really good at that one trick, you get a
(12:32):
chance to do that one trick all the time. But
when you are easily movable, it's a little hard to
settle in one place and just kind of hone your
skills in that. Yeah, I appreciate the call, Bob. Thanks
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