Some more details on WPLG letting John Henry Smith go and scraping Sports Sunday show courtesy the Miami Herald
Sports Sunday was replaced by paid programming a.k.a. infomercials. WPLG GM Dave Boylan says he’s not proud of that but the show cost the station more to produce than they took in advertising. The decision not to renew John Henry Smith was economical.
Will Manso will be the only sports guy at WPLG, and Boylan says the sports segment in the newscasts is not going anywhere. John Henry Smith is leaving the station July 1 and before that when he’s off Charles Perez will be filling in for him.
Dave Boylan also told the Herald he’s not ruling out bringing back Sports Sunday sometime in the future.
eat this Steve, your next…
local sports trumped by an infomercial, HA!
I think Steve is code for CBS4 Sports producer.
Call off the hounds, you got me. Case solved. Can’t pull one over the dynamic duo of theDude and peaCOCK, too smart for this guy. Time to go back to my CBS4 Sports Producer cubicle. Stop by and say hello fellas.
I swear I am waiting for the day someone challenges a broadcast license under eminent domain. Boylan has done nothing but sell every available half-hour as an infomercial since he got there. If he can’t figure out how to balance the books without all that ad clutter, time for PNW to find a real broadcaster who can; or, it’s time for the FCC to give the license to someone else. Twerp.
something is REALLY wrong here. If PLG has the first or second highest rated Sunday Sports show (lord knows there are sure enough of them!), how are they not earning enough in advertising.
And only having one sports guy?!? I like Will Manso, but he’s nothing special. I know it’s “just sports” but this is why the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market is not taken seriously in some circles.
What happened at WPLG. Their parent company was going to purchase WTVJ. They were going to do this and that. And then it’s like a flip of a coin. WPLG is cutting, and cutting more and more and WTVJ is hiring… go figure! Maybe they spent money thinking this sale was going to happen.. who knows. One day your at the top then the next your looking back and asking what happened.
The reason these shows don’t make money is that the ratings are so low that there is no demand for buying commercials – hence little revenue to support the cost of Channel 10’s producing the Sunday Night sports show. Even if they are rated #1 or #2, the PPM ratings are barely a 1.0 (if that) and at 11:30p on a Sunday night, the station can’t charge much if anything to the advertisers. Take a look around the dial during primetime and you’ll see it’s everywhere – low-ball advertisers like Rooms To Go running a commercial in the Academy Awards broadcast on WPLG? Massey Yardley dealership in American Idol on WSVN? That’s why shows like Sports Sunday get cancelled – the cost of turning on the lights, paying the production people and airing the show are significantly more than the revenue generated. Not defending the move here, just explaining it.
I thought Manso was switching to news. Did anyone see ‘PLG this past weekend? Manso was solo anchoring the 6 and 11pm casts, doing both news and sports. How can this be in a top 20 market and at the #1 rated station?
Well let’s hope MD gets cured soon, so Jerry Lewis can devote his few remianing years to running telethons to support the poor media companies which can’t figure out how to make a profit. Make no mistake here, there is stupidity at work. And I will say it again, if these clowns can’t figure out a way to provide minimal local coverage and make money at it, turn the license over to someone who can. No bailout needed for Viacom, Disney, News Corp., GE, Post Newsweek, etc. We can survive without them, I assure you.
Chuck,
Hear you loud and clear from the peanut gallery. But here’s a news flash…it ain’t as easy as you think. You can’t force companies to advertise when they don’t want to or can’t afford to. I am certainly not defending Boylan or any specific media company for cutting out news coverage but I understand why. I love how easy some people think it is to make money in this business – just turn on the signal, viewers will come and the advertisers just follow like robots. Right, Chuck?
Watcher, it’s not about market size or ratings, it’s about money. We are seeing cases all over the country of news stations making emplyees do a handful of roles to save cash in a bad economy. I think we’ll see more of this as time goes on. Anchors/reporters doing news and sports. Reporters working as photogs or anchors also producing some. It won’t matter market size. Probably the people that can do those dual roles will save their jobs.
One step was left out–a quality product will draw sufficient eyes to garner sufficient advertiser support. Too many inept people oversee the content, and too many soulless vampires are so obsessed with the bottom line that, instead of investing in the long-term, they grab for the short-term. Same shortsighted nonsense which is bringing down the whole American economy. Start worrying about the content and stop worrying about selling crap; if no one is watching, no one is buying, right?
I appreciate the spirited and friendly back-forth, Chuck. I would just respectfully ask that you step into reality for a moment. Wishing for long-term thinking in the TV business is wishing on a prayer…and espcecially in this economy, that is a pipe dream. I don’t think, however, that even the greatest news/sports content will garner the advertising support needed to produce some ancillary programming like that sunday night sports show on WPLG. I am not defending this, but it just ain’t happening.
I know Roxy…I didn’t think we’d ever get a literate President again, either. I knew I was pushing my luck, but I guess if I want coherence on the air, why waste it in the sports department (aka Toyland)? Love ya babe, don’t go changing.
Will Manso was on again anchoring the Saturday night news……Rob Schmidt was reporting on location….Guess he must be a bit frustrated with all this….I thought he would get the permanent anchor spot
Yeah what is going on with this station? I mean we got Charles Perez the main anchor doing the weekend news again. We will soon have Charles doing the Sports for Will when he is off. I mean why don’t they just fire all the anchors and have Laurie and CHarles Doing the news 24/7. Is the budget that tight that we can’t hire anchors? I have heard alot of people say how cheap 7news is on here. However seems to me Local 10 is the cheap one. I mean come on if a anchor is off put someone in there place. I mean this is the only station I have seen if one anchor is out and they can’t fins someone well its a solo show. HOw come 7news pulls a anchor off the streets to have a 2 person show, but not local 10?
Steve, frustrated are the people who are unemplyyed like me. Nothing is permanent right now and I’d guess Rob is happy to have a good job. Everyone working should be.
Will Manso is one of the best anchors/sports reporter of his time. You all are just jealous that he is such a talent. Go Manso!