WDBJ Roanoke

The Roanoke, Va., station says the FCC made a number of errors in applying the maximum penalty for just 2.7 seconds of video covering a small portion of the screen.

The massive $325,000 indecency fine levied on the Schurz Communications CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va., puzzles an NAB Show panel. The infraction was fleeting, it was a fraction of the screen, it was news and most importantly, it was a mistake,” said attorney Dennis Corbett. In addition, the ruling did nothing to clarify the commission’s stated goal of going after only “egregious” indecency cases.

The FCC’s fine of WDBJ Roanoke, Va., for inadvertently including three seconds of a Web promo for a porno in a news story once again demonstrates the second-class status of broadcasting. It is absurd that broadcasting is still subject to such rules when the nearly equally pervasive Web is absolutely loaded with all manner of explicit sexual content that goes far, far further. Cable, too, is much worse than broadcasting in spewing out programming offensive to many Americans.

After an investigation, the FCC says the CBS Roanoke, Va., affiliate during a July 2012 newscast apparently aired “extremely graphic and explicit sexual content, specifically a video image of a hand stroking an erect penis.”

Negotiations between Schurz-owned CBS affiliate WDBJ Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va., and the cable MSO have not produced a new retransmission consent agreement. Without one, WDBJ could drop from the Cox lineup at the end of the year.

She succeeds Dan Dennison as head of news at the Schurz Communications CBS affiliate in Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va. The station is merging its digital and news operations under one manager. Zuber will oversee a staff of about 50 news and online reporters.

Schurz Communications has forged an unprecedented, multi-year, multiplatform deal with two CMS providers — Internet Broacasting and TownNews.com — while also tipping a new “content federation” forged with Hearst Corp., Post Newsweek and The News Press & Gazette. The move could signal a directional shift in the legacy-bound world of CMS providers.

In DMA 56, Little Rock, Ark., spending on election campaigns is sparse. The presidential candidates are ignoring the state because Mitt Romney has a lock on its six electoral votes, and there are no major state offices up for grabs. But it’s a much different story in DMA 69 — Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va. — where stations are having trouble coping with the enormous demand for time.

Like a lot of other swing state markets, Roanoke, Va., is enjoying a windfall in poltical advertising this election season, even as viewers complain about the incessant spots. Jeffrey Marks, GM of CBS affiliate WDBJ, says the market is now expecting to get more than double the $5 million originally forecast from the presidential contest alone.

Nearly a third of Roanoke, Va., residents aren’t online, but it isn’t for a lack of first-rate digital offerings, including some of the slickest multimedia production to be found on any newspaper website, plus apps, blogs mobile sites and more. WSET-TV, The Roanoke Times and other local players are gearing up for a predicted 89% boost in digital revenue in this sleepy southern town.

Schurz Television’s CBS affiliate WDBJ Roanoke, Va. (DMA 66), has installed a new full-featured, real-time BXF interface between Crispin master control automation and WideOrbit traffic systems. The BXF interface provides […]

The Schurz Communications CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va., has named the former news chief at KHNL Honolulu to lead its news department beginning June 20.

Roanoke’s two television stations confirmed key management changes. Schurz’s CBS affiliate WDBJ’s News Director Amy Morris will be leaving, and Media General NBC affil WSLS will be getting a new GM as Leesa Wilcher succeeds Warren Filhr.