New carriage agreements with 12 cable operators cover more than 2.3 million subs in over 30 markets.
Lec Coble, Jamie Sawyer and Henry Yates receive vice president stripes. They will focus on expanding the station group’s multi-platform content and marketing operations.
With their investments in websites aimed at people looking to buy cars, broadcasters Cox Media (KKB.com and autotrader.com) and Tegna Media (Cars.com) have been able to grab some of the […]
The station group paid $160 million for the collection of TV and radio stations in Texas and Oklahoma. “This is a group of market leaders; each with a strong presence not only on the broadcast side of the business but also in digital and Spanish-language platforms,” says Raycom CEO Paul McTear.
The FCC has approved the sale of six Texas stations in a deal that will quadruple the number of stations Raycom Media has in Texas. The $160 million purchase will likely be completed Dec. 1.
Raycom Media announced today that it will begin publishing content from Scripps-owned Newsy, the video news service targeting millennials, across its owned-and-operated news channel websites. “Newsy provides a fresh perspective […]
Exclusives
The $14.5 million deal for the Idaho, Fox affiliate was necessitated by the Scripps-Journal merger in the spring.
Fox Looking To Swap WOFL For WVUE
Sources say that Fox wants to trade its WOFL Orlando, Fla., to get WVUE in New Orleans, which is owned by Louisiana Media Co., but run by Raycom. Fox wants to own the Fox station in the Big Easy, home to the NFL New Orleans Saints, a strategy it’s followed before.
The deal comprises six stations in Texas in Waco (KXXV), Amarillo (KFDA-KEYU), Odessa-Midland (KWAB-KWES) and Wichita Falls (KSWO), plus a second station in Wichita Falls (KAUZ) that Raycom is buying from Hoak Media and then spinning off to American Spirit, which will enter into a shared services agreement with Raycom, under which KSWO will provide news, production services, administrative support and equipment and building space to KAUZ.
NewsON Could Be ON To Something Big
NewsON is additional evidence that broadcasters have matured and recognized the wisdom of cooperation in the digital sphere. Founded by five major station groups, it plans to aggregate local newscasts from around the country and offer them on an ad-supported basis to consumers so they can watch on mobile devices or connected TVs. It could be another good opportunity for stations to deliver their news programming to the hard-to-reach viewers.
ABC O&Os, Hearst Television, Cox Media Group, Media General and Raycom Media have formed NewsON, an advertiser-supported service that beginning this fall will let viewers watch their local TV news on smartphones and tablets no matter where they are.
With the addition, the online news channel now reaches 46 of the top 50 local television markets and is deployed at more than 200 stations.
Localism Recap – March 20
Selma: A March to Remember focuses on the personal accounts of people who were there. Leaders, participants and witnesses recount their experiences, in their own words and talk about the challenges that still persist. It will air on 42 Raycom Media owned or managed stations starting Friday, Feb. 27, and on the African-American diginet Bounce TV on March 4.
A week ago yesterday at about 7:30 p.m., a single-engine plane hit the guy-wire on the TV tower outside Raycom’s NBC affiliate in Lubbock, Texas, bringing down most of the tower and cutting all power to the station. Even though power wasn’t restored for a day, the station was producing news and back on the air within three hours with the help of the local Fox affiliate and others. Photo by Butch Adair.
The station group’s new tech vice president succeeds the just-retired Dave Folsom. Burke’s IT background helps him carry on Folsom’s mission to integrate IT with traditional TV technology at Raycom’s 33 news-producing stations. Among the efforts Burke’s worked on are centralizing the group’s traffic operations, creating its LiveLink streaming video system and adopting bonded cellular newsgathering tech.
Raycom: Succeeding By Evolving, Innovating
Paul McTear’s company invests in tech and home-grown programming to stay on top and continue engaging audiences as consumption patterns evolve at an ever-quickening pace.This story originally appeared in the winter edition of TVNewsCheck’s Executive Outlook.
Paul McTear’s first job in broadcasting was assistant business manager at WPHL, an independent station in Philadelphia, in 1977. If not for a little luck and good chemistry with broadcast […]
Raycom Stations Unite For Tornado Relief
The 13-year Univision exec will head the new Raycom Centralized Traffic Operation, based in Charlotte, N.C., that will operate traffic for the group’s 51 stations.
Raycom Shares WAVE Message Across Company
Bellum Entertainment and Raycom Media today announced the renewal of their syndicated strips Fix It & Finish It and Flip My Food for seasons two and three. Each series will […]
Collin Gaston Named GM Of WBRC
Raycom Media taps the GM of its NBC affiliate WSFA Montgomery, Ala., to succeed the retiring Lou Kirchen as head of its Birmingham, Ala., Fox affiliate at the end of the month.
The former WVUE New Orleans VP-GM will succeed retiring Leon Long as corporate group vice president. She, in turn, will be succeeded by Tim Ingram, VP-GM of the company’s Cape Girardeau, Mo., duopoly.
Raycom-owned ABC affiliate KAIT has announced plans to begin broadcasting NBC starting Jan. 26.
Raycom’s Want Ads Say ‘Get Thee Into TV’
Raycom Media Sponsors New College Bowl Game
With 53 stations covering more than 13% of U.S. households, Raycom Media Group will be honored by TVNewsCheck as the 2015 Station Group of the Year. “Under the bold direction of CEO Paul McTear for the past 13 years, the group has grown considerably and emerged as an industry leader,” says TVN Editor Harry A. Jessell.
Unscripted programming exec Donna Harrison is working with Ken Reiner and Susana Schuler on developing unscripted weekly and strip series.
Raycom Building Its Future On Originals
Raycom’s VP of Programming Ken Reiner has been in the post since August and is overseeing the station group’s expanding portfolio of original programming. Raycom’s venture into originals has been a mixed bag, but there’s no doubt in his mind that coming up with shows that can be tailored to local audiences is vital, especially in the afternoon. “The 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. daypart is very important to us. We have an established news group around the country, so it is very important that we have strong news lead-ins.”
Raycom Media today acquired RTM Productions Inc., producer of the PowerNation and PowerBlock automotive television programs. RTM Productions will operate as a new division of Raycom Media. In addition, RTM […]
Raycom Looks To Expand Web News Service
In addition to servicing its stations, Raycom’s 14-person digital newsroom provides stories and other content for the websites of other groups using the WorldNow platform. Right now, the clients are Meredith and Media General, but Raycom would like to recruit more.
Raycom Media announced today it has purchased technology and intellectual property assets of LSN Mobile. The financial terms were not disclosed.​ “This acquisition will help Raycom Media continue to expand […]
The group owner’s stations are back on the satellite service after being gone since Sept. 1.
DirecTV subscribers are no longer getting 53 stations owned by Raycom Media. Raycom says it has been negotiating with DirecTV for three months to resolve a carriage dispute. DirecTV says Raycom’s requests would cause its customers’ bills to rise substantially.
The group’s corporate director of programming adds a VP stripe as he oversee programming content, development strategies, syndication acquisitions, scheduling and budgeting.
Veteran television executive and Emmy-winning producer Mary Carole McDonnell today announced that she plans to exit her position as executive vice president, programming for Raycom Media, effective September 2014, to […]
The agreement for the male- and female-targeted classic programming multicast channels set to launch this summer boosts coverage to 45% of the U.S.
Raycom, Auburn Team For Real-Time Training
Auburn University is in the middle of the competitive Columbus, Ga., DMA, which helped inspire a new partnership between its journalism school and Montgomery-based broadcaster Raycom Media, an arrangement that’s helping to turn this historically print-focused J-school into an up-and-coming multiplatform powerhouse.
The TV station group has purchased an additional 165 JVC ProHD camcorders and plans to adopt the new ProHD Broadcaster server for managing live HD field reports. The group began purchasing the cameras last year and now has more than 300.
