Changes Coming to Noon News for Local Nexstar Stations
Source: KARK Viewers of KARK News at Noon may notice a couple changes when they tune in beginning Monday, April 2. That's because the first 30 minutes of the show will be shown across the state of Arkansas.
"Arkansas Today," featuring Mallory Hardin and meteorologist Greg Dee, will launch Monday and be seen on KARK in Little Rock, KNWA in Fayetteville, KTVE in El Dorado and KTAL in Texarkana. The broadcast will be available in 1.4 million households.
In addition to news from across the state, Arkansas Today will feature a daily Razorback Nation report, valuable health reports from renowned doctors, weekly fishing reports from Big Sarge, and a chance to connect and discuss news topics with other Arkansans through the Arkansas Today Facebook page and Twitter account.
"We know that Arkansas pride goes beyond just the town or city that people live in. Arkansans are passionate and want to be informed about what's happening throughout the state." said Nexstar Broadcasting Director of Local Content Development Jerry Walsh, "Arkansas Today is unique in the fact that four stations are being given equal ownership of a product with one goal; to provide complete coverage of news and weather relevant to people in every county of Arkansas."
With the change in programming, the popular "Dialing for Dollars" segment will now move to the 12:30 p.m. portion of the program. Dr. David will continue to be featured in the second half hour on both Wednesdays and Fridays.
posted by ATN @ 3:40 PM
110 comments
110 Comments:
do the people in louisiana and texas that will be wanting their local stuff give a hoot about arkansas today...nope!
Exactly. That's not going to pull any of the long time Shreveport-Bossier CIty viewers away from watching KSLA News at Noon.
I agree with the comment about this on another thread. If KTAL is having an 30 Arkansas newscast then do a 30 minute Texas newscast right after.
That makes a lot of sense. KTAL already does so much local and Louisiana coverage during the morning show and 5, 6, and 10, that would open up the entire 3 state region for us.
If KTAL does add a Texas newscast to the Arkansas newscast, KTBS and KSLA will be foaming at the mouth to get in on that action.
There is not enough news for each state to have their own 30 minute slot. That's why it's called the ArkLaTex. You get all the area's news in 30 minutes. This Arkansas crap won't fly. I bet the News Directors at 12 and 3 are applauding this decision!
I agree with you 100%. Judging from the description it sounds like the Arkansas deal is going be kind of like that horrible 9:00 PM newscast KMSS gets from their sister station in Tyler. That crap is to painful to watch.
It's just another way for Nexstar to sell a "statewide news cast" in an attempt to appeal to advertisers. Betcha National Sales in Irving is pitching this as much as Regional.
Just another example of their bad case of corporate consolidatis...
Wow. What a poor decision. Even viewers in Texarkana will get bored with news out of Little Rock.
I bet. I'm in Shreveport and I get bored with Little Rock news every time I'm in Arkansas. Thankfully my Arkansas relatives have been coming to Shreveport a lot more so we don't have to go there as much.
OMG, is this for reals??? This is one of the worst ideas I've heard in a long time.
HA, I've heard it all now. What a waste of time, money, and effort.
This is extremely stupid!!
How do the 4 stations own the product. It is coming out of little rock and the other stations contribute nothing. Are things really this bad at nexstar? At this rate shut down all the newsrooms and have Kark do all the news weather and sports for all the channels.
Yes. Nexstar is that stupid. Haven't you noticed the changes at KARK?
Is this why the change in KARK news management? Hmmm.
Wonder if Blake had any hand in this?
Shoot...you should go run a check on Nexstar's stock reviews. Analysts have given it an "F". Nexstar is betting on a revenue spike from politicals...they're betting on it.
This idea is a big steaming pile that reeks of desperation. Wonder how close Nexstar is to collapsing even with the political revs?
I totally agree with 6:02. Just let KARK run all the news weather and sport to further alienate all of the Non-Arkansas viewers. 9:05 I'm 100% sure Blake was in on this.
It's not replacing local news on the additional markets because none of those stations have a noon news.
There may not be noon newscasts in the Fayetteville and Monroe markets, but there are two noon newscasts in the Shreveport market. Both of those stations, KSLA and KTBS tied for #1 place in the February.
Not sure why they are expanding coverage with Mallory. Wendy Suares is better on camera not to mention that she is smoking hot and silky smooth.
Good luck Nexstar, just don't be the Death Star.
To late! They've been know as Death Star since before I started working for them.
What program is the Arkansas TV News at noon replacing on KTAL?
@12:08
Days of Our Lives that played at 12 was pushed to 1 and Rachel Ray that aired at 1 was pushed to 2. We The People court show which aired at 2 has been canceled. Judge Joe and Judge Judy have not changed.
With that lineup, no wonder they are number 3 in Shreveport.
What I don't understand is why KARK is #3 in Little Rock? The talent is solid. Is it fallout from the Brett Cummins fiasco?
No, it the curse of being a Nexstar station.
Yeah, they do have a history of buying the worst stations in various markets.
It wasn't just losing Brett. Lost Mike Francis and Melissa Simas too. Not sure how the change in news directors will help. They seemed to be doing fine. There has been some improvement for quite sometime despite the changes.
"What I don't understand is why KARK is #3 in Little Rock? The talent is solid. Is it fallout from the Brett Cummins fiasco?"
KARK is #3 because KETS does not have a news show.
Also, maybe the Nexstar gurus will buy KLRT since it is up for sale again.
The only difference between Shreveport and a bucket of $hit is the bucket.
That was a very insulting comment. Now you go apologize to all of the buckets.
KARK was #3 long before Mike Francis left. They have decent talent but their stories have to be overly long and boring because they don't use the wire. The number of stories they have in their A block is always lower than 11 and 7. I also feel like they hurt themselves by calling everything INVESTIGATIVE.
Whoever does the marketing for KARK sucks at their job. Have you ever heard of a billboard? If you are #3 and you only market on your station, how will you ever grow?
Put Keri and a razorback on a billboard or in a newspaper ad in the sports section and see what happens.
Put Bob and Jessica on a billboard in a high traffic area.
What you are doing now is NOT working!!!
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=130836.54928.142974&cID=e
Ouch!
This is a stupid idea. They must be down to drinking the Kool-Aid at KTAL.
during the show, they will be doing segments with each of those stations in nwa and Louisiana. its not just going to be news from little rock
9:08,
Do you really think it's by choice they they don't have billboards? Honestly?!!! It's called...Money, and you need it for that stuff.
No money for marketing? Really?
Consider it a return on investment or get out of the business.
How about this novel idea? Instead of tooting your own horn for 30 seconds, why not sell that 30 second spot to an advertiser?
What 10:14 is saying is... KARK would love to have outside marketing but Nexstar doesn't give them the money to do so. KARK is fully aware they need more outside marketing. They are not stupid. Nexstar and their puppet GM is stupid.
Are they Republicans?
Of course they are.
ROFL @ 11:43 love it.. +1
I'm watching the show now. I LOVE their graphics but thats it. Could care less about any of the content. Are lose local cut-ins live or recorded before everyone leaves during The Today Show?
Dito 12:29. KTAL should get the same graphics.
Well that was different. Not enough for me to watch it again, but the viewers in Southwest Arkansas will love it.
I'm sure they will. Now I want them to do a statewide news cast for Texas too. KTAL is a Texas station after all.
Since we already watch the other two states news, commercials, and political ads, we need to have a statewide newscast for Louisiana and Texas. That way we can keep everything "fair and balanced."
Texas has TXCN on cable systems, which rotates a 15-minute segment from each of the major markets. Not just one city giving the news.
(red)Neckstar should have used that idea for AR. But who cares what viewers want, as long as it saves the corporate bean-counters some money this quarter.
Not everyone has cable. Most of us in East Texas have DirecTV and Dish Network so we would not get TXCN any way.
It looks like I will be able to watch KTHV at noon for the local news and weather and then switch to Kark at 12:30 when they start their local news. I couldn't care less for Big Sarge and all the other crap that's on the first 30 minutes
Jessica Dean is hot. Too bad y'all in Texas don't get to see the evening news.
We don't need too. Everything is bigger and better in Texas.
Howboutdemcowboys?
Not everyone in Texas is a Cowboy's fan.
My favorite team is anyone who can beat the Ark-La Cowboys.
If you remember KARK and KNWA already tried this and it failed....
That's right, I forgot about that. Let see how Statewide 2.0 goes.
Aha! I knew it had Blake Russell remnants somehow!!
Yep, it does have Blake's stink all over it.
It sho' dew !!
This change will be a dismal failure.
Thats the Nexstar way.
After seeing the Ark Noon News, I was wondering if KTAL Channel 6 is no longer going to do local news anymore? Sure seems like this is the path they're headed down.
Yes,
I'm still puzzled at why a large corporation like Nexstar doesn't have the resources to get KTAL's local newscasts televised in HD. It speaks volumes for a company that is in the business of broadcasting when they aren't willing or able to get their on-air product up to snuff. It looks cheap and that's what viewers think. It's like broadcasting in Black & White 10 years after everyone else has gone Color.
Why would anyone in Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas or Louisiana want to see all the killings, shootings, bank robberies, wrecks and other crime reruns on the Noon news from the night before that happen in LR and NLR?
Your right. We don't want to see it.
Nexstar is just hoping advertisers will buy it since it's a "State-Wide Newscast". It will sound great for about a year to national & regional buys but unless they have numbers to back it up, the spot rates will sputter.
And yeah... nobody in E.Tex or NW La. gives a rat's ass about what's happening in Little Rock or Fayetteville or Hot Springs. So I doubt there will be significant audience coming out of Shreveport-Bossier or Texarkana.
It's not working so far. I've asked about 40-50 people here in Shreveport and Bossier City if they've seen Arkansas Today and all of them said no. Most of them said they never watch KTAL's news any way.
It seems that KTAL is just snake-bit. Nexstar has had the station for almost 12 years and it still keeps dragging on the bottom of the ratings. It's funny because news-wise their not doing anything really all that different than the other guys. But in all honesty if they expect to improve, doing the same thing as everyone else isn't going to bring much audience. Why change viewing habits when you're doing the same as everyone else in in Standard Def to boot. Can't believe anyone in market research thinks anyone really cares for Michelle. There's nothing appealing about her, just another snooty local - tv diva who reads prompter for a living. Whoever hired her needs their head examined.
No mater who owns KTAL they will always be 3rd in this market. The biggest problem is the fact that KTAL has a 50+ year history of having a bad product under two separate ownerships. Most people in this market are very station loyal and will not change over from KSLA or KTBS who are much stronger stations with much stronger owners. Nexstar has put millions of dollars into the station and had hundreds of people come and go with no results. There are several very popular former anchors who were run off that viewers still ask about to this day.
You can thank former KTAL VP/GM Mark Cummings, who was fired a few months ago, for that. He personally hired Michelle behind the News Directors back without her knowledge or input.
Michelle was hired because she was doing TV commercials for Ivan Smith furniture because Ivan Smith misguidedly thought that hiring ex-KSLA news personalities would help brand his business. Cummings & Ivan Smith went to the same church and being the ad-suck up, Cummings thought it would be good for biz to hire Michelle to anchor the news. They even ran TV commercials during the evening news, spots with Michelle as talent. Talk about a major no-no in TV news credibility.
Michelle has no street-cred with black viewers as she was waay too tied up with Ed Bradley, former VP / GM of KSLA. Remember she left KSLA to be Bradley's PR flack for his failed bid at mayor back in 2006; something viewers still remember.
Cummings was a dope and Nexstar was stupid in letting things go as long as they have. KTAL was an earner for years because they never spent a dime on the place. Now that Nexstar has to suck on a ton of debt in bringing KTAL into the mid-1990's technically speaking, it's tougher to get a decent ROI; especially with other stations sucking away advertisers (like KMSS, KSHV & KPXJ) which have come into their own as far as revenue generators. Add that to dominant market forces like KTBS, KSLA and the better cable-ad sales efforts, you can't make money by pinching pennies like you could in the old days under WHECO media.
Nexstar would do well to unload this sick puppy and quit trying to run everything the same way in all markets. It's a recipe for failure...and they've been failing at it for almost 12 years.
So just how much WHECO debt does Nexstar have? If its as bad as it sounds they shouldn't have bought KTAL in the first place.
WHECO media (synonymous for WHACKO) tried to sell their KTAL station for a mixture of cash & stock. They had a couple failed sales attempts as such prior to NEXSTAR buying it. I think WHECO finally sold because they were facing a big cash outlay to upgrade the facility with the FCC digital mandates looming, so they sold. Thing is Nexstar was faced with either scrapping the property or renovation. So they spent a ton renovating just to get the physical property up to some basic standard. They didn't even have remote (access) control to the transmitter, they were that far behind the technical times. They really gutted the studio and stirred up so much dried ratshit from decades that the place was a biohazard. No telling if there was any asbestos testing as the bldg. was built in the early 60's.
KTAL cost (and continually costs) NEXSTAR a lot. And if you were to read what the financial analysts have to say about their stock (NXST) performance, you'd see the level of debt they have. It's staggering.
Saw an online stock report, they gave Nexstar (NXST) D's & F's for corporate disclosures and stock performances.
This explains a lot. I have a relative who works on Wall Street that will not touch Nexstar stock. Their rep and debt ratio is some of the worst they've seen so the firm they work for has Nexstar as no buy.
A previous post mentioned former KTAL VP & GM Mark Cummings. Word on the grapevine is Mark's having a hard time finding another job. He can't work in broadcasting in any market with a Nexstar station. Must be using their no compete clause. He's not working for Ivan Smith either. Don't think Lil' Joey will allow that to happen.
Well Cummings could always try his luck at selling cars. He'll probably land somewhere in Slingshit, Oklahoma or Bearfart, Alaska as GSM for some former PAX indy on life support.
As for Nexstar, they've had an investment bank group take a look at them to help them market their group as they would love to see an investment group buy them out. Abry Partners is a private equity investment firm which specializes in media and already has a stake in Nexstar. This is probably the future for Nexstar.
There are plenty of Nexstar free markets Mark could work in but they all require relocating. He could always go back to the #5 Dallas market he worked in years ago. That is if he hasn't burned his bridges there.
This Abry Partners-Nexstar deal has been speculated on for almost a year. Looking at some of the old threads I find it interesting that Nexstar announced they were looking to sell out on Thursday July 21, 2011, which was 5 days after the guys in Master Control were officially laid off.
I think Abry has been with Nexstar since '97
Then Abry has known what they were getting into the entire time Nexstar has been in existence.
FROM: MOTLEY FOOL
Will Nexstar Broadcasting Group Disappoint Analysts Next Quarter?
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/04/09/will-nexstar-broadcasting-group-disappoint-analys.aspx
Seth Jayson
April 9, 2012
There's no foolproof way to know the future for Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nasdaq: NXST ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.
A cloudy crystal ball
In this series, we use accounts receivable and days sales outstanding to judge a company's current health and future prospects. It's an important step in separating the pretenders from the market's best stocks. Alone, AR -- the amount of money owed the company -- and DSO -- the number of days' worth of sales owed to the company -- don't tell you much. However, by considering the trends in AR and DSO, you can sometimes get a window onto the future.
Sometimes, problems with AR or DSO simply indicate a change in the business (like an acquisition), or lax collections. However, AR that grows more quickly than revenue, or ballooning DSO, can also suggest a desperate company that's trying to boost sales by giving its customers overly generous payment terms. Alternately, it can indicate that the company sprinted to book a load of sales at the end of the quarter, like used-car dealers on the 29th of the month. (Sometimes, companies do both.)
Why might an upstanding firm like Nexstar Broadcasting Group do this? For the same reason any other company might: to make the numbers. Investors don't like revenue shortfalls, and employees don't like reporting them to their superiors.
Is Nexstar Broadcasting Group sending any potential warning signs? Take a look at the chart below, which plots revenue growth against AR growth, and DSO:
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. FQ = fiscal quarter.
The standard way to calculate DSO uses average accounts receivable. I prefer to look at end-of-quarter receivables, but I've plotted both above.
Watching the trends
When that red line (AR growth) crosses above the green line (revenue growth), I know I need to consult the filings. Similarly, a spike in the blue bars indicates a trend worth worrying about. Nexstar Broadcasting Group's latest average DSO stands at 70.4 days, and the end-of-quarter figure is 76.1 days. Differences in business models can generate variations in DSO, and business needs can require occasional fluctuations, but all things being equal, I like to see this figure stay steady. So, let's get back to our original question: Based on DSO and sales, does Nexstar Broadcasting Group look like it might miss it numbers in the next quarter or two?
The numbers don't paint a clear picture. For the last fully reported fiscal quarter, Nexstar Broadcasting Group's year-over-year revenue shrank 11.2%, and its AR grew 12.2%. That's a yellow flag. End-of-quarter DSO increased 26.4% over the prior-year quarter. It was up 2.0% versus the prior quarter. That demands a good explanation. Still, I'm no fortuneteller, and these are just numbers. Investors putting their money on the line always need to dig into the filings for the root causes and draw their own conclusions.
What now?
I use this kind of analysis to figure out which investments I need to watch more closely as I hunt the market's best returns. However, some investors actively seek out companies on the wrong side of AR trends in order to sell them short, profiting when they eventually fall. Which way would you play this one? Let us know in the comments below, or keep up with the stocks mentioned in this article by tracking them in our free watchlist service, My Watchlist.
Long story short, Nexstar is a hot mess.
A short-sell in the making if there ever was one.
Maybe Oprah will buy Nexstar. You get a tv station! You get a tv station! Everyone gets a tv statioooon!
LoL! 12:05pm...that IS funny!
HA, good one 12:05. You just made my day. LMAO!
I don't care who you are. That's funny right there.
I think KTAL should hire back former KSLA VP/GM Ed Bradley just so he could do commentary. His editorials on KSLA were so strangely entertaining & bizarre at times, you'd need a crack-head to interpret his diatribe for you. In fact they could get a crack-head cam and do a Picture-in-a-Picture of the interpreter while Mr. Ed would spew his nonsense. People would watch if not for the novelty. Heck KTAL could get Kirby Kelly or the Waskom Drug Rehab Clinic to sponsor it.
This would be great local TV.
Oh god no! Ed Bradley has a new life in Dallas and we don't want him back here EVER. He totally ruined those KSLA "Ed"itoials forever. Even to this day I instantly change the channel when their editorial comes on.
Years ago KTAL had a paid program called "You and the Law with Kirby Kelly." It was horrible! Actually saying it was horrible is being very generous.
That Kirby Kelly program was actually a paid-for infomercial. He had one series of these infomercials produced at First Methodist Church TV studios when they had a teleproduction facility & satellite uplink service.
Kirby Kelly ran a series of these Q&A's on personal law topics on KMSS and KSHV too. KTAL always had dogshit production because of equipment being so old and never fixed or replaced. If you think things are bad at 6 now, you should've seen it before Nexstar. It was a bigger joke than it is now.
I did see KTAL before Nexstar took over. I've seen every station in Shreveport and stations in many other markets, but KTAL is by far the worst station I've ever seen. The last time I toured KTAL 4 or 5 years ago it was in much better condition then it used to be, but even with all the improvements its still the worst station i've ever seen.
KTAL may be bad but KMSS & KSHV aren't much better. It's too bad too because in the early days when KMSS was FOX, it could've tried but instead had owners & mngmnt that were a bunch of sucking thieves. One of the former head engineers who left in disgust said the place is held together with spit & paste and will collapse under its own weight one of these days. KMSS/KSHV is a shell of a station with crap-casts out of Tyler and not even local HD, just like KTAL.
That's not surprising. Most of us never think about KMSS/KSHV since they're just a broadcast station, not news station. Back in the 90's KMSS was off air for several months when the transmitter was struck by lightning. It's been jacked up ever since. Plus Comm Corp is a bankrupt company and KMSS/KSHV is located in the worst area of all local stations.
12:05 That's funny right there. You needs to get down to the club and do that professional. I laughed so hard I shot Grapette out my nose.
KMSS/KSHV...aren't these stations run by radio rednecks out of Lafayette?
Yes, sort of. They are more like a bunch of bros.
Its strange if you Goggle media companies like Belo, Nexstar, Raycom, Tribune, ect..., it will take you right to their website. Not with ComCorp. They don't have one. That's VERY sketchy.
ComCorp & White Knight are the owners of KMSS & KSHV respectively. A low-ball operation run by low-rent radio rednecks out of Lafayette. They couldn't care less about running a broadcast business, they only care about spreadsheets & qtrly profit. That's why their properties are such dumps.
Has ComCorp and White Knight finally admitted they are actually a Louisiana corporation based out of Lafayette, not a Texas corporation based out of Beaumont? They were getting away with that lie for years.
I think the "official" owner or CEO of White Knight is actually the son of one of the principals in ComCorp.
Could be wrong but that's what I heard sometime back.
Are you talking about Sheldon's kid?
What's going on with the audio levels at 6? It's blasting now. I was flipping from 3 to 6 to 12 last night during the 10:00 and when I got to 6 I thought my speakers were going to blow.
That's KTAL's version of broadcasting for the "Hearing Impaired".
They should have Brandon doing the "hearing impaired" audio. He's naturally loud so he would be perfect for it.
Seriously though, there is something up with 6's audio levels. I have noticed it myself. Not sure if its the new equipment they have been talking about or what. Whatever the reason the audio level is hot as hell now.
KTAL had serious audio issues between network & local news promo cut-ins. Network would be fine and then local would be muted or hot. It was just one of the reasons I would switch during the news...got irritating as hell to keep adjusting the volume.
You'd think that volume consistency would be a priority there, guess no one at KTAL watches their own stuff either.
Evidently not. If they did they'd know there was a problem. I set my tv to the same audio levels. 3 and 12 will be the same between local and network. Not 6. I can be on the other side of the house from the tv and when they switch from network to local I can hear the audio change and exactly what's being said. 3 and 12 are not like that. Now 33 has very low audio. When they switch from network to local their audio level is way to low.
KTAL must have corrected the audio problem. They were extremely loud the past several weeks to extremely low Sunday. Even the audio on the lottery was extremely low.
So instead of being "too loud" now KTAL is "too low"? LoL!
WTH? Sound like KTAL is all over the place, or should I say all over the sound the sound board. LOL!
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