Latest / Chuck Douglas / Nexstar and Tegna merger

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Nexstar and Tegna merger · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Obviously big news around here today around Central Ohio, and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I suppose around broadcasting in general. The proposed merger between
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Nextstar and Tegna six point two billion dollars for these
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: two entities to come together still has to still has
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  Speaker 1: to go through federal approval, and I'm not sure what
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  Speaker 1: the decision will be at the government level. And as
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  Speaker 1: I was saying earlier to Mark, I know, it's kind
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  Speaker 1: of odd, you know, being I work for this, this
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  Speaker 1: monolith broadcasting company. But while the company owns many many
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  Speaker 1: stations around this country, we do not own the majority
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  Speaker 1: of stations any one place. I don't believe. When television
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  Speaker 1: went to digital a few years ago, all three of
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  Speaker 1: the four, six, and ten all picked up additional stations.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty eight, which was a standalone at that time, also
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  Speaker 1: picked up digital stations. Then the company e Stinclair Broadcasting
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  Speaker 1: that owned six picked up twenty eight. So Channel six
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  Speaker 1: now has six point one. This is broadcast frequency is
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily available on your cable or satellite system. But
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  Speaker 1: over the year broadcast Channel six WSYX and Clair has
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  Speaker 1: six point one, six point two, six point three, and
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  Speaker 1: six point four. They have twenty eight point one twenty
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  Speaker 1: eight point two. That's what a total six. The people
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  Speaker 1: at next Star WCMH channel four have four point one,
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  Speaker 1: four point two, four point three and four point four,
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  Speaker 1: and I think I'm not sure they may. I think
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  Speaker 1: they may have sold their interest in wus WHO Channel
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  Speaker 1: fifty three to Sinclair as well, which means Sinclair would
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  Speaker 1: then have fifty three to one fifty two to fifty
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  Speaker 1: three to two as well, So that'd be two more
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  Speaker 1: a total of eight for them. Merging TEGNA Channel ten
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  Speaker 1: and merging next Star Channel four, that would give you
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  Speaker 1: twelve broadcast television frequencies, all owned by the same company
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  Speaker 1: in this city. I I'm not taking a definitive stand.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just telling you my gut at this point, and
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  Speaker 1: I want to know what you think too, because I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you're the consumer. You're the person who takes in the product.
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  Speaker 1: You're the one who watches the news, You're the one
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  Speaker 1: who watches the entertainment programming, the public service programming they
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  Speaker 1: offer as as a viewer, are any red flags for you?
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  Speaker 1: Are you okay with it? What do you think? Do
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  Speaker 1: you have an opinion? Maybe you figure, hey, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: even affect me, but twelve television frequencies in one city
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  Speaker 1: owned by one company is a little bothersome to me.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know who would be in charge, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: if it will be a conglomeration of the uh, the
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  Speaker 1: big wigs of both companies coming together and uh, you know,
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  Speaker 1: balancing out people from Tegna and people from next door.
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  Speaker 1: One of them seems to be uh farther in one
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  Speaker 1: direction than the other, although they both are left of
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  Speaker 1: center in many ways. Too many that that could conceivably
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  Speaker 1: get even more so. That is a lot of frequencies
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  Speaker 1: owned by just one company, and I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: it's good for us. We haven't had anything major in
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  Speaker 1: media happen in this town that we stagnated. Man, Back
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  Speaker 1: when I started, there was stuff every day. The Columbus
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  Speaker 1: Dispatch actually had a guy that wrote about nothing but
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  Speaker 1: radio and television, Tim Fahren. He's still around, but he's
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  Speaker 1: not doing that anymore. But I looked forward to every
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  Speaker 1: time Tim's name was in the page I'm reading. Man.
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  Speaker 1: There was always something happening. People were moving from one
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  Speaker 1: station to another, or you know, the management changes, or
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  Speaker 1: people leaving the market or new people coming into the market.
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  Speaker 1: There was always something happening with Columbus Media. And it's
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  Speaker 1: been a long time since we've had any story. Do
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  Speaker 1: you recall, Zach the last time. I can't even think
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  Speaker 1: of it. Last time there was a big story. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm sad about that because I think that lack of
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  Speaker 1: activity reflects a complacency. When you do not have that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, neck and neck competition, then we've got to
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  Speaker 1: outdo the other station, where things get kind of boring.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't know that that's good for you know,
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  Speaker 1: the business aspect or for the audience aspect. When you
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  Speaker 1: are the only game in town doing something, it's it's
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  Speaker 1: difficult to convince the troops or the generals to do
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  Speaker 1: anything bigger or better than whatever they're doing, because, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we're here, we rule the roost. We got it.
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  Speaker 1: And when you own twelve television frequencies plus two radio
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  Speaker 1: frequencies because the two radio stations owned by Tegna, I
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  Speaker 1: guess are also part of the deal, that's an awful
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  Speaker 1: lot of power for one company to wield in one city.
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  Speaker 1: And I just don't know, As I said, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: making a stand here, I just I'm it's just one
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  Speaker 1: of those gut things instinct, things where I just well,
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  Speaker 1: I just don't know that I'm comfortable with it. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of research, a lot of questions need to be
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  Speaker 1: asked and answered. If anything, I would love to see
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  Speaker 1: companies come into this market, bring in new stations. I
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  Speaker 1: know it's been so long. I mean Channel twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: came on the air, and you know, the Fox Network
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  Speaker 1: was fledgling at the time. They were innovative, they were new.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: They started off with Sunday Nights, brought us sub sequest DSV.
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  Speaker 1: Is your watch sequest DSV? I have no idea Roy
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  Speaker 1: Scheider was the captain of a submarine. It was a
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  Speaker 1: bio a biomechanical submarine. Is he still hot in Jaels? No,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: he wasn't hunting jewels. But it was a pretty good show.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty one Jump Street, which was Johnny Depp and Peter
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  Speaker 1: de Lais and oh, Holly Robinson and Dustin Gwyn. I
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  Speaker 1: feel like I'm forgetting somebody can't remember who else there was.
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  Speaker 1: I remember the show, but they were Yeah, they've remade
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  Speaker 1: it into a movie, which you know, faltered. But twenty
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  Speaker 1: one Jump Street was part of that first first year
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  Speaker 1: or two of the Fox Network. They brought us to
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  Speaker 1: Tracy Almond Show, which spawned the Simpsons. They brought us
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  Speaker 1: King of the Hill from the people who brought us
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  Speaker 1: Beavis and butt Head. But they were doing something completely
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  Speaker 1: unique and people responded. I think that's the last big
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  Speaker 1: change to the Columbus media landscape many many many years ago,
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  Speaker 1: probably forty years thirty five years up in Mansfield, w
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  Speaker 1: Com signed on com TV. You may have watched it.
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  Speaker 1: I watched it a lot, You and me and Come
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  Speaker 1: TV where the great times begin. Former Channel six news
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: anchor Tom Burris, I believe, was the general manager. If
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  Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken. They had a great signal. You could
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  Speaker 1: pull them in in Columbus with no problem, beautiful picture.
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  Speaker 1: They went off the air pretty quickly after that, after
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  Speaker 1: they debuted, and I don't know what that situation was,
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  Speaker 1: but we really haven't had much movement, much activity when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to the comings and goings of media in
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  Speaker 1: this city. So this is obviously big news, but again
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's good news. Again, I want
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  Speaker 1: to know what you're thinking. A two one ninety eight
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  Speaker 1: six eight two one WUTV and let's try to get
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  Speaker 1: a couple in before the break Bob. You were on
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  Speaker 1: six to ten double UTV at Hi Hi Jack.
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  Speaker 2: I heard you earlier in the broadcast before this one,
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  Speaker 2: But you mentioned that you find that your station is
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  Speaker 2: kind of independent of say, the stations in uh Cincinnati
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  Speaker 2: and elsewhere that are under the iHeart umbrella. But you
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  Speaker 2: know iHeart has influence over your programming. They do. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you know the way commercial that they run.
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  Speaker 1: Well of what I hearts, what the salespeople sell. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that's that's got nothing to do with me as far
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  Speaker 1: as content, what I talk about or how I choose
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  Speaker 1: to talk about it. No, iHeart has nothing to do
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  Speaker 1: with any of that.
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  Speaker 2: But somebody like our heart, don't they give you less
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  Speaker 2: time to talk about it? I mean, have you ever
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  Speaker 2: measured your power hour? It's like twenty seven minutes. It's
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  Speaker 2: not it's not an hour. It's a lot of commercial.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if you own a station, more time work for you, Bob.
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  Speaker 2: I repeat it, over it, Bob, Bob Bour.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, but if you hate it so much, Bob,
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  Speaker 1: how are you here listening?
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  Speaker 2: I have been listening less, Chuck. I mean, I do
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  Speaker 2: like you a whole lot, but you're the only stand
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  Speaker 2: out uh uh personality on WTVN that I can listen
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  Speaker 2: to anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Really, we'll get everybody else, get everybody you meet to
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  Speaker 1: listen to me. That's what you want to build my stock.
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  Speaker 1: You want to get me on the air more. You
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  Speaker 1: want to get fewer commercials, more time for me to
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  Speaker 1: put content on the build my stock that come with ratings.
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  Speaker 1: So is the audience if it grows.
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  Speaker 2: I think you have enough time where you are with
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  Speaker 2: your afternoon drive, sharing that chour that you have and
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  Speaker 2: chuck you do. When everybody goes on vacation, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, you're the cleanup batter. If without you,
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  Speaker 2: who else would they have? Well, yeah, when everybody goes
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  Speaker 2: on vacation.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of the things I've been most proud of
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  Speaker 1: all these years is there's nothing you can put in
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  Speaker 1: front of me when it comes to this business that
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  Speaker 1: I can't do. And I'm very proud of that. And
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  Speaker 1: I've been that way since day one. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: it served me well because wherever I am needed, I
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  Speaker 1: can go and I can be relatively sure I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to do a good job with it. And that's not
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  Speaker 1: everybody can say that I've done all. I've worked all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of music formautes everything except alternative and what you
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  Speaker 1: call your ao R, your album oriented rock. Haven't done
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  Speaker 1: either one of those album oriented Yeah, the station that
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  Speaker 1: might play some deep cuts, it's not just the hits.
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  Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, gotcha. And I've never done alternative, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I've never been a fan of that kind of music.
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  Speaker 1: But I've worked about every musical format there is. I've
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  Speaker 1: been a traffic reporter, I've been a traffic driver, I've
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  Speaker 1: been a talk show host, I've been a morning guy,
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  Speaker 1: I've been a night guy, and I'm proud of that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm very utilitarian, and it serves me well in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of ways. It served me not so well in
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  Speaker 1: other ways. Sometimes, when you are one trick pony, but
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  Speaker 1: you're really good at that one trick, you get a
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  Speaker 1: chance to do that one trick all the time. But
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  Speaker 1: when you are easily movable, it's a little hard to
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  Speaker 1: settle in one place and just kind of hone your
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  Speaker 1: skills in that. Yeah, I appreciate the call, Bob. Thanks