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News Helicopter


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Some chopper info....

News 5 forced 4 into getting a chopper. News five is the onlly station in town that operates in the black and has been operating in the black for some time, Although I don't know what the High def moved did to them... As a member of the production industry here in Nashville I can tell you that High Def equipment prices are uber crazy. I was with some friends testing a field camera about two years ago in Percy Warner park. We had an 85k high def camera mounted in the back of a pickup and a 25k 9in high def engineering monitor in the passenger seat. We were given one instruction, at all cost save the camera if it started to fall out the truck....now imagine what a station would cost.... mind boggling........back to the choppers.... News five doesn't actually own a chopper. The chopper is owned by the pilot who is paid to fly them (which he loves doing) and is paid to carry the 5 logo on the side. News five also pays part of the operating cost. Great deal for both parties involved.

News 4 has had finiancial problems for a long time and were not prepared or willing to get a chopper, even if they worked out a similar deal with another pilot. The cost was still something they didn't and couldn't handle, but.... you have to keep up with the Jone's and 5 has now forced 4 to do something they really didn't want to do. Notice 5 was the first to broadcast from ontop the city when they dumped money into mounting a camera on a skyscraper, first to get the chopper, first to go high def. 5 sets the standard because they can financially, 4 follows behind becasue they have to when they don't want to and that brings us to New 2.....

Dead...... News 2 ain't getting a chopper anytime soon. It's more likely that news 2 folds, sells, or poops gold before they get a chopper. News 2 is hurting bigtime. They fired basically everyone over there over the past two years, eliminating the last of the key behind the scene personel at the end of last year - All the engineers and news directors are gone as man have noticed a good deal of reporters are gone as well. Reporters/Video Journalist have to drive, shoot, report, write, edit, make coffee, clean out the garbage, rake the leaves, fix the roof and change their own oil..... okay thats a little much but you get the idea... and guess what... all their cost cutting isn't getting them anywhere. Last report I got from there about a month ago (from multiple sources including ex-employees and people close to others in the industry) puts them in pretty bad shape. Dont expect a chopper from them anytime soon unless they win the lottery or sell all their Video Journalism trucks and ax a few more employees. If they do so it would be advised that they use the money to pay some bills rather than get a chopper.

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I have two friends that are WSMV employees. Both have said, with pretty good proof, that the chooper is only leased for the sweeps and it will return to regular service after that time period has passed.

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I too am curious about Fox 17. How do they match up to 2,4, and 5? They only have one actual news broadcast which is at night, so I'm sure their staff costs are lower.

Also, I do'nt understand why the ABC affiliate here is doing so bad when ABC primetime programming is #1 across the board (excluding Idol competition)? I for one think their logo, studio, and anchors are still in the 80's.

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It's all about flash and pazzaz. Trust me the more glamor your station has the more viewers you tend to attract. Having a news chopper is one of the biggest things you can do. A chopper gives you footage you can not get through any other means and makes your responce that much faster. New's 5 grabbed my attention when there were some apt. fires a few months back. News 4 was reporting from the street while News 5 was shooting live from above. News 4 had no fire in their shots while 5 was an infurno. Needless to say I put the remote down and kept the channel tuned to 5.

Excitment and drama equals ratings and the camera in the sky allows you to fly over a crash site, fire, police chase, backed up traffic, and most importantly a murder scene...anything and everything that you would normally not be able to cover or get shots of.

There's a saying in the business, "If it bleeds it leads."

The news is all about show and all about ratings. A chopper gives you that extra edge

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if they wanted the pictures at a fraction of a cost, they'd get a uav. you know, like the army has to spy on terrorists? cheap, can be flown from the station and no pilot necessary. and they could really get some good inside scoops on investigative stories. haha.

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  • 1 month later...

OK... now that NewsChannel 5 has gone HD what about all the other news channels? My friend is is an anchor for NewsChannel5 and they where telling me that News2 will eventually go bankrupt.

I believe that FOX 17, because they only have a primetime newscast, which by the way i think is very stupid. That FOX will give up on FOX 17 and ABC will try to nogociate with FOX and then FOX17 Will become ABC 17 and FOX will just be a regular channel like UPN and TNT. Because ABC wants stations and FOX17 already had a studio so when NEWS2 go's FOX17 will step in. and take their place. Maybe... but all i know is that NEWS2 is doing REAL REAL BAAAD.... and their stuck. NOW channel 4 and NewsChannel 5 are competing real close and Channel 4 tries to do whatever channel5 does if you haven't noticed for instance. ( NC5 gets a chopper called sky5 then 2 months later Channel4 gets AIR 4) WTH that makes channel 4 look like it can't Lead in anything. i mean channel 5 sets all the standards for real and channel 4 follows. ME i think channel 4 does not have the income to be able to take the big HD financial blow. And if news2 went HD now. heck they would be so bankrupt the whole ABC corp would go down with them LOL.ABC17%20copy.jpg

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I have no idea how TV affiliates work, but I assume via some arrangement or another ABC would find a new group to form and/or help create a new affiliate for Nashville if the current affiliate went under.

Its too big a market not to have a ABC affiliate, I mean otherwise are they going to relay signal from Bowling Green (WBKO) or Jackson (WBBJ) to give ABC a presence in the market? LOL I can see and hear the new call sign now, "WBBJ ABC CH 7 Jackson/Nashville"! :silly:

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Yes news 2 is doing bad, currently after the last sweeps they came in last behind Fox, but....... I've talked to someone over at news 2 and it looks like they might survive this. They went through and cut all the old employees from managers, senior staff, directors, etc and went to the VJ format as we all know. Now it looks like they are giving up on a few of those not so brilliant ventures and have begun to hire back the people they let go and are reviving a few things that made them decent money.

ABC isn't going anywhere anytime soon in Nashville, yes, News 5 is number one, Channel 4 is decent but still following in the shadows, and to my knowledge they don't have chopper. I believe someone mentioned that they rented one for sweeps, but even so, News 5 forces them to keep up and blow money they really don't have to blow. Fox 17 is content with their position and know they will never be number one and that isn't their goal. They are content grabbing prime time advertising dollars since there is no other local news competions at the 9:00 slot.

News 2 started their downfall when they tried to move from number 3 to number 2. They figured if they trimmed the fat and tried to cut cost with a VJ format along with bloggers on payroll and stunts like the "Thats Messed Up" guy they thought they could capture a younger audience and build a loyal viewship... Problem is studies show young folks, (not all but most) don't watch the news and theirs a reason why News 5 and 4 are a lot more successful, They follow a format that is proven and works.

I think news 2 will eventualy hire back or re-build all the team they had in place before they decided to smoke crack (it's a process that has already begun) and will be content with the number three slot but it will take time to regain those viewers who they lost. They inflicted a lot of damage on themselves

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Although I'm outside of the Nashville market, I do know a couple of things of the TV biz. One WSMV, "Channel 4" is owned by el cheap Meredith, outside of WGCL-TV Atlanta, KPHO-TV Phoenix, and KPTV Portland (Oregon), all their stations are total crap. However, I am very surprised considering how fast Middle Tennessee is growing that they have continued to half-a** WSMV. I've seen WSMV go through more makeovers than probably Madonna and Cher combined. :lol: Also combined with the fact that the NBC network is in the tank, their only hope is to beg corporate to help them out or Meredith sells them to somebody that has some real dough. Meredith ain't nowhere near being broke because the amount of money they have thrown over the years at WGCL-TV (formerly WGNX) in Atlanta, you know they got the money, but they just don't care about WSMV. However I doubt the NBC network will buy WSMV as they recently sold most of their below Top 30 market affiliates including my local station here in Birmingham (WVTM-TV). That will probably be the only way that Channel 4 will be able to afford a news helicopter

Now on to WKRN-TV aka "News2", that is station is really broke. I know all about its owner Young Broadcasting. They were trying to milk NBC for money with their San Francisco station KRON-TV, but it fell through and NBC bought another station in that market. Young is hurting very bad, and I highly doubt the company with keep itself a float much longer. So as you guys see with WKRN will continue, and the likelihood of them getting a news chopper, ZERO.

BTW, I highly doubt ABC will allow WZTV-TV (Channel 17 aka "Fox 17") ever get their affiliation. ABC and Sinclair, WZTV's owner, are not exactly on great terms. Sinclair has ownership of a lot of ABC affiliates and in St. Louis their station doesn't even produce local news. ABC doesn't want to get into bed anymore with that company, so you'll likely continue to see WKRN as the ABC affiliate.

You guys weren't lying about "Fox 17" they aren't trying to compete. I'm surprised that their news department is still up considering how cheap Sinclair is. Sinclair is extremely cheaply ran company. They will outsource their stations newscast in a blink of an eye. None of their stations have news helicopters including their flagship, WBFF-TV Baltimore. There are better chances for hell to freeze over before WZTV gets a news helicopter under the ownership of Sinclair.

When WTVF, "News Channel 5", got a news helicopter, I wasn't surprised. As a matter of fact, it was just a matter of time. Its parent company, Landmark Communications, owns the Weather Channel, and they are doing pretty damn good. There are only like 25 stations in the country at the moment that broadcast in HD, so you guys are very lucky. The fact that they parent company isn't bogged down with financial issues, that allows NC5 to be more indepth, engaging reporting, and its own cable channel compared to WSMV. Also they are the only station I know of in the Deep South that has regularly programmed local GLBT show. NC5 reminds me a lot of WRAL-TV Raleigh because both are CBS affiliates, have news helicopters, their own cable channels, and are market leaders. Unless something happens to Landmark or they sale the station, NC5 will continue to be the market leader.

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Although I'm outside of the Nashville market, I do know a couple of things of the TV biz. One WSMV, "Channel 4" is owned by el cheap Meredith, outside of WGCL-TV Atlanta, KPHO-TV Phoenix, and KPTV Portland (Oregon), all their stations are total crap. However, I am very surprised considering how fast Middle Tennessee is growing that they have continued to half-a** WSMV. I've seen WSMV go through more makeovers than probably Madonna and Cher combined. :lol: Also combined with the fact that the NBC network is in the tank, their only hope is to beg corporate to help them out or Meredith sells them to somebody that has some real dough. Meredith ain't nowhere near being broke because the amount of money they have thrown over the years at WGCL-TV (formerly WGNX) in Atlanta, you know they got the money, but they just don't care about WSMV. However I doubt the NBC network will buy WSMV as they recently sold most of their below Top 30 market affiliates including my local station here in Birmingham (WVTM-TV). That will probably be the only way that Channel 4 will be able to afford a news helicopter

Now on to WKRN-TV aka "News2", that is station is really broke. I know all about its owner Young Broadcasting. They were trying to milk NBC for money with their San Francisco station KRON-TV, but it fell through and NBC bought another station in that market. Young is hurting very bad, and I highly doubt the company with keep itself a float much longer. So as you guys see with WKRN will continue, and the likelihood of them getting a news chopper, ZERO.

BTW, I highly doubt ABC will allow WZTV-TV (Channel 17 aka "Fox 17") ever get their affiliation. ABC and Sinclair, WZTV's owner, are not exactly on great terms. Sinclair has ownership of a lot of ABC affiliates and in St. Louis their station doesn't even produce local news. ABC doesn't want to get into bed anymore with that company, so you'll likely continue to see WKRN as the ABC affiliate.

You guys weren't lying about "Fox 17" they aren't trying to compete. I'm surprised that their news department is still up considering how cheap Sinclair is. Sinclair is extremely cheaply ran company. They will outsource their stations newscast in a blink of an eye. None of their stations have news helicopters including their flagship, WBFF-TV Baltimore. There are better chances for hell to freeze over before WZTV gets a news helicopter under the ownership of Sinclair.

When WTVF, "News Channel 5", got a news helicopter, I wasn't surprised. As a matter of fact, it was just a matter of time. Its parent company, Landmark Communications, owns the Weather Channel, and they are doing pretty damn good. There are only like 25 stations in the country at the moment that broadcast in HD, so you guys are very lucky. The fact that they parent company isn't bogged down with financial issues, that allows NC5 to be more indepth, engaging reporting, and its own cable channel compared to WSMV. Also they are the only station I know of in the Deep South that has regularly programmed local GLBT show. NC5 reminds me a lot of WRAL-TV Raleigh because both are CBS affiliates, have news helicopters, their own cable channels, and are market leaders. Unless something happens to Landmark or they sale the station, NC5 will continue to be the market leader.

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