More news for Atlanta FOFCers

[kcchief19]

You're getting some really crappy TV newscasts!

KCTV's general manager leaving to run Atlanta station - Kansas City Star

The GM of the CBS affiliate is being promoted by Meredith to WGCLto take over the station. Kirk Black turned KCTV from the No. 3 station in the market to challenging for No. 1, winning a few news books against the ABC affiliate, which is pretty amazing because the ABC affiliate here is one of that network's top-rated stations.

He did it with "live, late-breaking, investigative" news and "Tornado Sally," our local nickname for the "meterologist" who tells everyone to get in their bathtub with their bicycle helmets everytime it rains.

I'm sure you think "if it bleeds, it leads" is par for the course already in ATL but Black will take it to a new level. My favorite story about the CBS station here: when Walter Cronkite died, they led with a couple of live shots of shootings and whatnot. Cronkite is from around here (and buried here) so he's pretty well worshipped here. They didn't cover Cronkite until the after the first commercial break. On the CBS affiliate. Every other station in town lead with Cronkite.

Frankly it's good riddance for me but I doubt our CBS affiliate will change much, they probably just won't be as good at the crap their doing now. I'll be interested to see what JIMG thinks of the changes Black will make.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting move (and description), especially interesting since the local affiliate has been making inroads in the past year or so and has finally reached the point of not being the consistent cellar-dweller in local news (that mantle is falling to the local NBC affiliate which borders on invisible once the Today block ends). They also picked up the most recent Southeast Regional Emmy for Best Newscast for their 11pm show.

I have to think this would mean on-air talent changes since an aggressive form of the bleed/lead style wouldn't have been a good fit for the recently exited co-anchor who was dry to the point of being bland. Might work with the blond chick holdover though. He does have one significant asset in weather hottie Dagmar Midcap whose billboards tend to cause traffic jams (or at least are considered good diversions during those delays).

One thing I'll say for Black, he's definitely a busy guy who apparently is someone that Meredith is very comfortable with "... who spent eight years in Kansas City, will also continue to serve as a senior vice president of Meredith’s Local Media Group. His group-wide responsibilities include oversight of Meredith’s national sales operations in Chicago and Los Angeles and oversight of the hub in Atlanta.