Huntsville Media

[jmanhsv]

What do you guys think about media (TV, radio, newspapers) here in North Alabama? What would you like to see in the future?

Here's what I think:

WAFF-TV (NBC) was a good station until they decided to devote their whole newscasts to useless "Investigators" stories. It is a surprise to me that they are still #1 according to Nielsen. When they begin to investigate things that might actually affect the majority of their viewers, I might watch again.

It surprises me that WAAY was #1 at one time. It has become a horrible production; the only thing that is saving it is their great news personalities. I really hope that their new owners make it great again.

WHNT is the last "good" station in Huntsville. It's not perfect, but its a bit better than the other two. But what is wrong with their new morning traffic reporter?

WZDX needs to start a News at 9. I hope they realize that Huntsville is one of the last Top 100 markets without a primetime newscast. I would like one because I'm tired of the other three stations.

One of the stations needs to make their news broadcasts digital, but I have heard it can be very expensive, so it might be awhile before we see that here.

The Huntsville Times needs to become a regional paper. It makes the Huntsville area seem like its just Madison County. It is much bigger than that. Also, they need to have a "Growth and Development" section once a week.

With the radio stations, I have no problem with them except for their bogus traffic reports. Clear Channel and Cumulus Media both pipe in their traffic reports from Birmingham, so they really have no idea what is going on in Huntsville. They just name off a bunch of highways or make up some accidents.

[Alabadrock]

"And also, watch out for an accident on Highway 20 in Decatur. It's really slowin up traffic."

Yea, there was no accident.

[kayman]

One of things I found out is Metro Traffic Birmingham network handles the traffic for all of North Alabama including Huntsville. I've seen numerous times where an accident from the Huntsville area would pop up on their website. I think your metro area has to be 500k before an official network is setup in a region.

[Alabadrock]

One of things I found out is Metro Traffic Birmingham network handles the traffic for all of North Alabama including Huntsville. I've seen numerous times where an accident from the Huntsville area would pop up on their website. I think your metro area has to be 500k before an official network is setup in a region.

[Sherlock]

One of the stations needs to make their news broadcasts digital, but I have heard it can be very expensive, so it might be awhile before we see that here.

[HSVTiger]

Well, you'd think that there would already be one then for Huntsville-Decatur. Cause, traffic from the Decatur Metro going into Huntsville, and the other way around, causes a lot of traffic problems in other towns. It just seems like they'd naturally put the two metros together since they live in symbiance (sp?)

[Sherlock]

"Commander Dave" used to do a pretty good job. He could see things from his helicopter, whereas Kim Albright just drives around and misses a lot. Plus, sometimes when he mentions a traffic-snarling accident, it's already been cleared out of the way.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard a traffice report (apparently from the group mentioned above) and they were talking about something happening on McFarlane Blvd. Apparently someone pushed a wrong button and we were getting a Tuscaloosa traffic report ....

[Rocket256]

What is everyone's opinion is the changes seen on the local news channels?

I watched the debut of channel 31's new look, i'm not too impressed but it's good the see that the currents owners are investing money in the station.. It's also good to see Gary Dobbs back, brings back old times..

I thought it was funny have 19 was off the air the first 10 mins on the day 31 debuted their new look.. I'm sure they didn't find it too funny.. Apparently they lost power at the station and because of this they had scramble to get their newscast on the air with the help of their sat truck, they were able to do the newscast from their parking lot.. I wish someone had video of that on youtube. Dan did weather on a marker board (much like in old days).. Have to give them credit for effort..

48 is still on top.. Nothing much is different with them.. I noticed that Will Kennedy isn't on there anymore, wonder what happened with him..

[jmanhsv]

^Yeah, I thought it was an odd coincidence that WHNT went off the air the day the "new" WAAY debuted. Sabotage maybe?

I really hope that people give WAAY a chance. I am giving them a chance even though I have been a WHNT viewer since WAFF made their newscast one useless "investigation" after another. I thought it was funny that Gary Dobbs came back- he looks nothing like how I remember him back in the day.

But if FOX 54 ever starts a News @ 9 like almost every other Fox affiliate in the top 100 DMAs, I might be tempted to start watching....

[Rocket256]

^Yeah, I thought it was an odd coincidence that WHNT went off the air the day the "new" WAAY debuted. Sabotage maybe?

I really hope that people give WAAY a chance. I am giving them a chance even though I have been a WHNT viewer since WAFF made their newscast one useless "investigation" after another. I thought it was funny that Gary Dobbs came back- he looks nothing like how I remember him back in the day.

But if FOX 54 ever starts a News @ 9 like almost every other Fox affiliate in the top 100 DMAs, I might be tempted to start watching....

[kayman]

I'm sure that went through everyones minds including mines.. Or they decide to give up and not bother with a newscast anticipating they weren't going to be able to compete with 31.. I'm thinking "wow, did 31 go all out and paid someone to sabotage 19 or did they just give up".. It turns out workers were upgrading their power supply at the station (wrong timing to do the kind of work).. Gregg explained how it was a WHNT problem..

I honestly think the day this market will see a local FOX newscast will be if or when a network switch happens.. 31 could have benefited from this but it would porbably mean you'll get a much different 31 product than what's curently on air, something like FOX 6 in Birmingham or FOX 10 in Mobile..

15 would also make a good FOX affiliate as well as 19

[Rocket256]

WZDX won't be dropping their FOX affiliation anytime soon. The late Milton Grant had FOX by their balls literally with affiliation agreements across the nation, so if FOX drops WZDX then FOX will have to shop for 3 new affilates in other markets as well. However, as Huntsville-Decatur region continues to grow the likelihood the WDZX getting at least a primetime newscast will become more a possibility.

[HSVTiger]

If nothing else atleast enter into some sorta LMA and have one of the other stations produce a primetime newscast, both stations could benefit from..

[Rocket256]

It seems they used to have a morning or maybe it was an evening newscast that was amateurish but not too bad. Don't they have some type of weathercast?

[jmanhsv]

Just saw a commercial on FOX 54- they're debuting a 9PM newscast sometime in the near future (at the end of this month maybe?). The newscast will be produced by a Davenport, IA-based company called "Independent News Network" which produces newscasts for stations around the country, including a Grant Broadcasting-owned station in the Quad Cities. They might be testing the market to see if it is ready for a true local primetime newscast.

I'm going to try it out. It's great that there's going to be something different I can watch instead of the crap that Huntsville local news is now. Granted, there's no guarantee this is going to be different.

[HSVTiger]

Just saw a commercial on FOX 54- they're debuting a 9PM newscast sometime in the near future (at the end of this month maybe?). The newscast will be produced by a Davenport, IA-based company called "Independent News Network" which produces newscasts for stations around the country, including a Grant Broadcasting-owned station in the Quad Cities. They might be testing the market to see if it is ready for a true local primetime newscast.

I'm going to try it out. It's great that there's going to be something different I can watch instead of the crap that Huntsville local news is now. Granted, there's no guarantee this is going to be different.

[jmanhsv]

^You're right, and it's going to be tough for them to do "wall-to-wall" coverage for severe weather like the other stations. And they're debuting on a night when the forecast calls for wintry weather- always the toughest thing to forecast around here.