Latest / Chuck Douglas / Nexstar and Tegna merger with your calls

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Nexstar and Tegna merger with your calls · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: The merger between those that own Channel four WCMHTV, those
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  Speaker 1: that own Channel ten WBNSTV and all of their digital frequencies,
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  Speaker 1: and a couple of radio stations owned by the WBNS
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  Speaker 1: Techna corporation six point two billion dollars still has to
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  Speaker 1: have FCC approval. That's not guaranteed, but also not unlikely.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not positive. I'm not sure. I'm not steadfast in
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  Speaker 1: my distaste for the concept, but I'm telling you that
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  Speaker 1: just instinctively, I worry about that many frequencies being controlled
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  Speaker 1: by one one company in this the capital city of
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  Speaker 1: the state of Ohio. That would mean essentially we have
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  Speaker 1: two major players in town when it comes to television,
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  Speaker 1: this group whatever they end up calling themselves and Sinclair,
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  Speaker 1: and that's it. If any thing I'd like to see
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  Speaker 1: Viacom or Comcast or what's Byron Allen's company, what's it called,
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  Speaker 1: they just want to a lawsuit. Maybe they can buy something.
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  Speaker 1: See some other stations come in and with digital, there's
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  Speaker 1: no reason why we can't have Channel five and Channel
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  Speaker 1: seven and Channel nine in Columbus. That's the beauty of
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  Speaker 1: having digital television. You don't have that widespread anymore, which
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  Speaker 1: is why you can have ten point one and ten
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  Speaker 1: point two and ten point three. The digital spectrum is
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  Speaker 1: completely different. But I would love to see more companies
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  Speaker 1: coming in here, more options coming in here, not fewer.
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  Speaker 1: And it does worry me. Maybe I'm alone in that though.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I'm soliciting your thoughts, your opinions, you're your
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  Speaker 1: concerns tonight at eight two one nine eight eight six
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  Speaker 1: eight two one WTV and Mary, thanks for hanging on
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  Speaker 1: you on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone lines.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, Chuck, I'm not very knowledgeable and the frequency thing,
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  Speaker 2: but I agree with you. I don't have a very
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  Speaker 2: good feeling about it. For one, they'll just put out
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  Speaker 2: the content that they want you to know. You know.
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  Speaker 2: And and what happened to the monopoly laws, you know
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  Speaker 2: where they can't have monopolies on Well, those.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of went away during the Reagan years when they
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  Speaker 1: deregulated a lot of stuff. And I mean that was
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  Speaker 1: the birth of this company. When Randy Michaels formed Jcore
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  Speaker 1: back in the eighties. That is the that's the company
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  Speaker 1: that became the monolith that is now iHeart and it
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  Speaker 1: allowed it allowed single entities to own multiple broadcast outlets
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  Speaker 1: around the country, and they just kept growing and growing
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  Speaker 1: and growing. I think at our prime, I think we
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  Speaker 1: had around twelve hundred radio.
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  Speaker 3: Stages, if I'm not mistaken.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So yeah, that's that's one of the things that
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  Speaker 1: I guess we can either blame or credit Reagan for.
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  Speaker 3: It depends on your point of view.
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  Speaker 2: I'm blaming, yeah, because that's not a good thing. You know.
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  Speaker 2: They shouldn't have a monopoly on all, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: to give us just content that they feel that we
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  Speaker 2: want to hear we should hear, or you know.
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  Speaker 3: Or know you know, well, just when the reporting standards
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  Speaker 3: kind of worried me.
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  Speaker 2: Mary.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you were listening yesterday, but I
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  Speaker 1: was kind of upset about the story regarding this guy
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  Speaker 1: convicted of murder gets twenty three years. He'll be doing
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  Speaker 1: twenty three to twenty eight I believe is what the
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  Speaker 1: sentence was. But I was reading the story from the
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  Speaker 1: Channel ten website and nowhere in there did they mention
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  Speaker 1: the judges name, which I found really odd. They referred
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  Speaker 1: to him as the judge and as a Franklin County judge,
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  Speaker 1: but never gave the name. In this age when everybody's
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  Speaker 1: getting community control. We got a judge that actually sent
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  Speaker 1: somebody to jail, and they don't name the judge. So
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  Speaker 1: then I'm watching Channel six last night, our channel twenty eight.
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  Speaker 1: I guess it was the ten o'clock news, and they
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  Speaker 1: did the story on it, and they didn't mention the
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  Speaker 1: judge's name, which I found again really odd. I would
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  Speaker 1: think you either want to credit God credit or blame
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  Speaker 1: this judge one or the other, depending upon again your
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  Speaker 1: point of view. But it just yeah, I mean, it's
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  Speaker 1: a public record, it's a court proceeding, and the judge's
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  Speaker 1: name was omitted from so much in that story. Now
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  Speaker 1: that's with two companies involved. What if there are only
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  Speaker 1: two companies period? I mean, does that mean that nobody
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  Speaker 1: ever anywhere stuff?
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  Speaker 2: Right? And they already have their talking points where all
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  Speaker 2: the stations have the same little talking points of why
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  Speaker 2: you want to hear or what they want you to hear.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's just ridiculous. And they need
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  Speaker 2: to bring back those laws where they can't have anopolies
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  Speaker 2: on things.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially when it comes to political issues. Mary, I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate the call, thank you very much. I you know,
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  Speaker 1: I always thought that was kind of just bogus lip
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  Speaker 1: trap when people will talk about the talking points, marching
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  Speaker 1: orders and all that kind of stuff until until Dick Cheney.
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  Speaker 3: Are you old enough to remember that, Zach? What do
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  Speaker 3: you mean went Dick Cheney?
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  Speaker 1: When Dick Cheney was selected to be George W. Bush's
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  Speaker 1: vice president, Yes, yeah, I remember that. And Rush Limbaugh
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  Speaker 1: the Great One, managed to put together or his people
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  Speaker 1: put together a collage of Sunday morning programs after Cheney
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  Speaker 1: was announced as the vice president. The Sunday Morning every
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  Speaker 1: single Sunday morning program, whether they had a guest on
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  Speaker 1: from the DNC or whether it was their anchors Meet
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  Speaker 1: the Press or or Face the Nation or news or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: every single one of them use the word gravitas.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody in America.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody had used the word gravitas in fifty years, but
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  Speaker 1: that was the talking point word. And it was that event,
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  Speaker 1: that moment in time in our history that I finally
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  Speaker 1: figured out, My gosh, that stuff's for real, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: There really are talking points, there really are marching orders
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  Speaker 1: for these people. And as I said, it wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: mouthpieces for the DNC. It was the network news show
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  Speaker 1: hosts and alleged reporters that were also using the word gravitas.
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  Speaker 1: It was orchestrated, it was planned, it was pathetic, and
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  Speaker 1: it took rush to bring it to our.
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  Speaker 3: Attention, at least to mine.
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  Speaker 1: So, yeah, there is a coordinated effort out there, buy
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  Speaker 1: some with some through some to make sure you only
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  Speaker 1: get what somebody wants you to get in the way
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  Speaker 1: they want you to get it when they want you
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  Speaker 1: to get it, and if they don't want you to
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  Speaker 1: get it, you never get it. And when you were
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  Speaker 1: distribution channels are narrowed, there's even less of a chance
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  Speaker 1: of you getting it.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not comfortable with it.
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  Speaker 1: A two one ninety eight six A two to one
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  Speaker 1: WTV and Ron you're on the Legacy Retirement Group dot
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  Speaker 1: com phone line.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, Hey, Chuck.
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  Speaker 5: Hey. There was a time a few years ago when
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  Speaker 5: I couldn't ford cable, so the only or internet even so,
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  Speaker 5: the only Internet I had was on my phone. And
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  Speaker 5: during that time I went out and I got lows
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  Speaker 5: and Tennis and man. I was amazed at the array
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  Speaker 5: of stuff that I could get, and that's when I
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  Speaker 5: fell in love with me TV and Barnaby Jones and
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  Speaker 5: Manne and Cannon Wow, So.
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  Speaker 3: You're you're a night out.
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  Speaker 1: You're a night out because Mannix is two am, Canon
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  Speaker 1: is three am, and Barnaby Jones.
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  Speaker 3: Is four am.
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  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, I know because I watch them a lot too.
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  Speaker 5: I was. I was also recently unemployed during that time,
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  Speaker 5: so yes, I was a night out.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, you.
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  Speaker 4: Know, I think I think if they if they stay
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  Speaker 4: a limit that stuff, that's that's a shame because yeah,
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  Speaker 4: the broader stuff that we have, that's that's free out there,
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  Speaker 4: that's paid for by advertising, like the good old days.
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  Speaker 5: We need to add more of that.
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  Speaker 3: I agree.
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  Speaker 1: And if they're you know what, if they don't survive,
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  Speaker 1: if there is no advertising dollar coming in, it's because
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  Speaker 1: there's no audience. And if there's no audience, then they
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  Speaker 1: need to go by the wayside and bring in something
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  Speaker 1: that does have an audience. We've you know, I use
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  Speaker 1: Air America as an example. Even with the Janine Garoffalo
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  Speaker 1: and and uh what's his face? Al Franken hosting their
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  Speaker 1: morning show on Air America, they couldn't make it because
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  Speaker 1: they did not have an audience. And that's what that's
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  Speaker 1: what this business is all about, is you know, finding
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  Speaker 1: that audience and serving that audience and keeping them coming
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  Speaker 1: back and spreading the word and building their numbers.
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  Speaker 4: Exactly, you know, like like this, so so you briefly,
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  Speaker 4: I love Delf Frankin when he's sorry lot, but then
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  Speaker 4: he just really whacked out, went way left, and I
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  Speaker 4: can't say anything amore.
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  Speaker 3: I'll tell you.
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  Speaker 1: The funniest thing he ever did was probably the simplest
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  Speaker 1: thing he ever did, and that's when he would he
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  Speaker 1: would do something on the SNL Weekend Update and it's
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  Speaker 1: brought to you, of course by me Al Franken. That
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  Speaker 1: was just that was hilarious to me. I love the
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  Speaker 1: simplicity of that bit. But it worked week after week.
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  Speaker 1: And then yeah, when he got into politics, he just
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  Speaker 1: went way out there. Yep, all right, Ron, I appreciate you, buddy.
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  Speaker 1: Having a great night, yep. Try to stay dry out there.
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  Speaker 1: The skies here were look at a bit threatening a
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  Speaker 1: while ago, but they've kind of calmed down, Zach. I
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  Speaker 1: have not solicited your input here, and I always I
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  Speaker 1: try to do that because as I've grown to not
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  Speaker 1: be quite as annoyed by you on a daily basis,
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  Speaker 1: I've discovered that you do occasionally have a thought. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: is this one of those things where we're again in
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  Speaker 1: agreement or do you think I'm much ado about nothing?
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  Speaker 6: No, well, it's the potential of Again you were talking
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  Speaker 6: about media can go.
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  Speaker 5: It's not you.
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  Speaker 6: If they don't want you to hear something, you won't
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  Speaker 6: hear it. I understand what you're saying, especially when it
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  Speaker 6: comes to TV reporting. Maybe the Internet can negate some
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  Speaker 6: of that, but I don't know because if you only
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  Speaker 6: have two voices in one area and they do send
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  Speaker 6: down orders like you're talking about that Gravi toss thing
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  Speaker 6: with Cheney. That wasn't the only time. There were some
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  Speaker 6: COVID talking points too that were repeated cross country, like
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  Speaker 6: verbatim on some of those news talk shows.
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  Speaker 3: So it's it's worrisome, to put it mildly, if I.
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  Speaker 1: If I, if I had my brothers this, this wouldn't happen.
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  Speaker 3: And that's no offense.
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  Speaker 1: And again, I've got friends working at four, I've got
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  Speaker 1: friends working at ten, and I'd prefer not to see
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  Speaker 1: them unemployed next year.
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  Speaker 6: I just you know, if they're going to merge, isn't
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  Speaker 6: that it's inevitable?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: You only need so many people and uh so many facilities.
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  Speaker 1: Wouldn't surprise me if they, you know, on the Channel
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  Speaker 1: ten added space for the Channel four studios and had
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  Speaker 1: everybody working out of Twinter's Drive. Why have a building
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  Speaker 1: up on all on TANGI if you can do everything
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  Speaker 1: out of one.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, what would they do the other?
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  Speaker 3: Just sell it?
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  Speaker 1: Probably, That's that's decent real estate up there. There's a
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  Speaker 1: guy in town that'll put a hotel on anything, so
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  Speaker 1: they could probably do that.
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  Speaker 3: It's close enough to.
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  Speaker 1: The university that people coming in for football games and
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  Speaker 1: so forth would gladly pay money for a decent hotel
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  Speaker 1: at that location. But I mean, you only need so
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  Speaker 1: many production people, you only need so many camera operators,
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  Speaker 1: so many lighting techs. It's it's a worrisom possibility. It
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  Speaker 1: is a worrisome possibility, and I just I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: think it over and uh, I'll come to an ultimate conclusion,
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  Speaker 1: and that's when I'll come in here and bring my
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  Speaker 1: Moses staff and part the studio and tell you here's
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  Speaker 1: where I land on this thing. But for now, this
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  Speaker 1: moment in time, it's just it's it's uh, it is
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  Speaker 1: an uncomfortable possibility for me, and I just don't this
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: business should be growing, especially with the Internet, and you
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: know podcast podcasts that used to be strictly audio. There's
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: now plenty of video podcasting going on out there, rumbling
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: YouTube and Google and so forth. There's there's the broadband.
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  Speaker 1: Internet changed a great deal as well with all of
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: that coming into play. There should be so many resources,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: so many options when it comes to media consumption, and
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  Speaker 1: there really aren't, and that seems backward to me.
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  Speaker 6: I always thought that you and I should do a
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: like on camera podcast about fashion.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Not about fashion. I wouldn't mind working with you on
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: some stuff, but I'm not about fashion. We used to
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  Speaker 1: have in this town Channel twenty one, and I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if the cab bills still have a fee for
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: itd it not for years after the City of Columbus
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  Speaker 1: demolished Channel twenty one took it off the air. It
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: was and a lot of stuff that was on there,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: by the way, was stupid.
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  Speaker 3: It was a public stupid Yes, it was public ass,
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  Speaker 3: I miss.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: Anybody could go down there access.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Anybody could go down there and do a television show
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  Speaker 1: on public access.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and there was some interesting stuff. There was some stupid, stupid,
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  Speaker 3: stupid stuff.
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  Speaker 6: There are some great if you go on YouTube across
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  Speaker 6: the country. It'll be like Wisconsin. Sheboygan Public Access nineteen
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: ninety nine, Worst show ever, and it's it's endless entertainment.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: There were city.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Three people, two men and a woman that used to
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: They do largely what you and I do, sit around
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: and talk about nothing. But it was like entertainment nothing, yeah, movies,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: television and stuff like that. And she usually had her
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: shoes off and her big old feed up on the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: coffee table. And it was dumb. And I watched it
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: all the time, and it was, you know, city funded
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: public access tell vision. Yeah, it's gone, even though the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: charge stayed on the cable bills for quite a while.
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  Speaker 3: It's gone. We're going backward, which I don't get. Time
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: moves forward and we go backward.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: The palette should be expanding, the option should be expanding,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with this