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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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Hey Glenn, I thought I remembered reading that Calkins Media (who owns WTXL) recently bought WAAY in Huntsville. I "googled" it and here's what I found from Wiki:

WWSB is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WTXL-TV in Tallahassee (which Calkins acquired in December 2005) and WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama (acquired in February 2007).

Only reason I remembered that is b/c as a small lad from rural Alabama, I'd be shipped off to thriving metropolis of Huntsville to spend the week w/my chain-smoking widowed aunt in Huntsville who worked at Redstone Arsenal. I remember many a smokey room nights watching WAAY w/her.

Did they at least put a false facade on the front of their warehouse (brick, siding, tile etc) which you often see. This helps make the bldg. more appealing from the curb and less industrial.

lol!

We should all meet out there and laugh!

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Glenn Hamlet

Glenn

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Hey Glenn, I thought I remembered reading that Calkins Media (who owns WTXL) recently bought WAAY in Huntsville. I "googled" it and here's what I found from Wiki:

WWSB is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WTXL-TV in Tallahassee (which Calkins acquired in December 2005) and WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama (acquired in February 2007).

Only reason I remembered that is b/c as a small lad from rural Alabama, I'd be shipped off to thriving metropolis of Huntsville to spend the week w/my chain-smoking widowed aunt in Huntsville who worked at Redstone Arsenal. I remember many a smokey room nights watching WAAY w/her.

Did they at least put a false facade on the front of their warehouse (brick, siding, tile etc) which you often see. This helps make the bldg. more appealing from the curb and less industrial.

Good find there, Poonther! Thanks for researching & posting the correct ownership info about WAAY...now it makes more sense as to why their satellite trucked is parked out back at WTXL. All I did was search the FCC database for an owners name & came up with Piedmont Television of Huntsville, LLC. Maybe the license transfer to Calkins Media hasn't been completed yet or else the FCC database isn't updated. At any rate...Thanks for the information!

As far as the building...I kid you not! Right now it's a tan colored metal building in an industrial park. It does have a few small sections of reddish brick facade strips up front & around the main entrance area but the 2 story section in the rear is all metal. It would look much better if they did the most visible areas in an all brick facade similar to the FOX 49 building & several other buildings out there. Granted, there is still a lot of construction type activity going on so maybe they're not through with the buildings exterior just yet. Also, once they get signage up & landscaping in it should help the overall look. And we can all hold out hope for great things as far as the quality of their broadcasts because surely it can't get any worse than it currently is.

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Pistol Pete Crossroads

Pistol Pete

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There's been a lot of discussion about the new building for WTXL, but has anyone noticed they have yet to replace Robert Burns. They still don't have a male news anchor. They had an ad that ran for a few months on their Web site looking for a main anchor, but it's gone now.

Anyone know what's going on? I imagine they probably don't pay enough to find a good experienced person and we/they will probably have to settle for a young kid breaking into the business.

They really need someone to work with that young staff if they want to compete.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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:yahoo: Welcome to UrbanPlanet Tallahassee PistolPete! :yahoo:

Great to have you here, and I agree completely with what you said.

... Ran into Burns in the store a few months ago and he seems to be doing some consulting work. Meanwhile, you're right, the teenagers running the news are a major work in progress. Nancy can't do it alone, she needs more veteran help.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's probably a part-time gig for her. Isn't she still a professor at TCC?

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Glenn Hamlet

Glenn

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WTXL had a new male co-anchor paired up with Lauren Elise (sp) on Thursday at 6 & 11. She was introducing him as her new co-anchor & welcoming him to Tallahassee. Sorry....I don't remember his name. I didn't catch their news on Friday but I'll watch them again on Monday to get his name. They don't show or list him on their website yet.

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Glenn Hamlet

Glenn

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^ His name is Rex Hodge & he appears to be older. He did really well with his pronunciation of local people, places & things for his segments. Found this bit of info below online today:

WYOU-TV "News 22" 6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor Rex Hodge is looking for a new job. His contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year. Station insiders said Mr. Hodge recently told colleagues that he was not interested in a new contract. He could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Hodge, 40, of Sherman, Conn., joined "News 22" some 18 months ago. Previously, he anchored in Jacksonville, Fla., Columbia/Jefferson City, Mo., and Charlottesville, Va. In order to help his family in Connecticut, Mr. Hodge left the television industry for more than a year until he joined Channel 22 in January 2000.

When he joined the station, the February ratings were about to start and WYOU was anchorless. In an interview on Jan. 18, 2000, Al Zobel, WYOU-WBRE news director, said, "It was difficult to find someone who could step into WYOU and help us immediately, and Rex, I think, is that guy."

At WYOU, Mr. Hodge functioned largely as a news reader. He did a minimal amount of reporting during his tenure.

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lucky7 Crossroads

lucky7

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Anybody know what's up with the HD content on ABC? I've had Comcast for 8 months now and ABC HD has not worked at all. Comcast says that it's ABC responsibility. Anyone know anything about this? Does anyone else get ABC HD?

Thanks,

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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Anybody know what's up with the HD content on ABC? I've had Comcast for 8 months now and ABC HD has not worked at all. Comcast says that it's ABC responsibility. Anyone know anything about this? Does anyone else get ABC HD?

Thanks,

:yahoo: Welcome to UrbanPlanet {sodEmoji.|} Tallahassee Lucky7 :yahoo:

Glad you joined us! Seem's you haven't been to Lucky with Channel 7! (A little play with your screen name). I don't think they are broadcasting in true HD, and if so, it's not good quality. Like you, I'm supossed to recieve that channel in HD, I believe 232 (don't quote me on this), and it's very bad. I can see digital image pixels, which appear huge on this channel, and it actually looks worse than the regular feed on my wall LCD. I hope this improves for them. It's really hard for me to believe they've won any awards lately the way they're claiming to.

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cityboy05 Hamlet

cityboy05

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Anybody know what's up with the HD content on ABC? I've had Comcast for 8 months now and ABC HD has not worked at all. Comcast says that it's ABC responsibility. Anyone know anything about this? Does anyone else get ABC HD?

Thanks,

I have the Channel 231 and it seems to work fine for me. Sometimes however it does go black, but otherwise to me it's aight. Can't complain.

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lucky7 Crossroads

lucky7

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I have the Channel 231 and it seems to work fine for me. Sometimes however it does go black, but otherwise to me it's aight. Can't complain.

I get the channel, but it's not in HD, no wide screen, and not clear picture, it's regular SD.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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I can safely say, although WTXL 27's picture quality suffers significantly, their special stories lately have been rather interesting. Tomorrow at 6 they'll be doing a piece on I-10 and why Tallahassee doesn't have enough Exits. "No where to Exit". I think they're more in touch with an audience like myself, if only the quality of the broadcast was up-to-par.

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poonther Town

poonther

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I'll have to start watching them again based on what you've said TJ. I really could not watch them w/out embarrassment when they were in their temporary studios. Then when they moved and stated they would continue to use their same cheap boring tired set, I couldn't go back to watching them. Besides the fact that I'm addicted to Mike (shameless plug there.)

They also have one of the worst website I've ever seen for a TV station. For almost 6 months or more they didn't even have a website and now that they do, it's not a very good one at all. The last time I looked you couldn't even see bios or just info on who was who at the station.

Does anyone know the name of their new anchor WITHOUT having to look for that information? IMHO they've not "plugged" the new guy enough especially since he's their main anchor.

Did you guys know that Valerie Lacey from WCTV is now working for WTXL? She's not on air yet b/c of her agreement w/WCTV. Of course I learned this on Wiki, so take it for what it's worth.

Here's the wiki link. It tells you way more about the station than their own website. Scroll to the lower part of the page and you'll see their personality line-ups.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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What a relief to know they aren't in their permanent fix. But my question is... why risk ruining your reputation with sub-quality broadcasts in these temporary locations? Is there a reason they had to leave their original studio, or the WTWC studio? Is NBC planning to use it... again?

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poonther Town

poonther

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If you heard this news via WCTV's radio broadcast, why you would not believe it's true? :dontknow:

But to answer your question, yeah I saw Beau on Wednesday night and he stated that he was moving to Amarillo, TX. I'm sure McCall can tell us more.

It's sad to see him go. Like him or not, he was part of the best news team in local TV and that was WCTV @ 11pm. Their rapport w/each other and personalities created a team w/style and not just your average talking heads. I hope they replace him w/someone that can continue this style.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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I'm not sure I agree with you about him Poonther. I've always felt he had a pomp about him that I didn't particularly care for. I think the other people on the team were true professionals for finding a way to cope with his demeanor, but he really rubbed me the wrong way. The best team in local news in my opinion is the early morning crew on that same Channel. These seem to be the friendliest bunch of people I've ever seen in my life. I guess that's what I love most about them.

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