Here's our update of what's happening around the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center:
We're Back!
First of, we are back from a few weeks of vacation and ready to take on a new year which will be just as challenging as 2008. Hopefully, a better economy and a new direction for the nation will allow us to recover from what can only be described as a miserable local and national economy - especially with TV being so tied to the fate of the automotive industry and their large advertising budgets. Plus, we have to deal with the huge costs of the digital tv transition and a never ending need to upgrade equipment with the new technology - a challenge WKYC is ready to tackle head on in '09.
Director's Cut Reaches Another Milestone
As we approach our 2nd year on the web in January, the Director's Cut Blog has once again surpassed our expectations as your source for local news and information about WKYC. Over the holidays, we hit a quarter million page views. So, again thank you for your continued readership.
More Delays On Our New Broadcast Tower
Thanks to the crazy weather both here and where our contractors have been working on another tower raising, we are a little behind now in getting our new broadcast tower up in Parma. Once the construction begins in earnest, we need about 4 to 6 weeks to get the work finished...which puts us periously close to the transition deadline of February 17th. As Ohio Media Watch first pointed out, the station has had to request a possible extension with the FCC out of "an abudance of caution" should construction not be finished in time. In that case, we would continue broadcasting on digital channel 2 until we can make the move to digital channel 17 as soon as possible.
NBC Weather Plus Ends Its Broadcast
As we mentioned in early fall, NBC is pulling the curtain down on NBC Weather Plus this week as the channel shuts down. However, there is some good news for Weather Plus trekkies in that WKYC will continue a local version of the channel featuring a local "L" bar for your area temperatures and forecast conditions. However, this service will now be mainly seen on just our digital subchannel 3.2 instead of on your local cable company channels which will not carry the channel after this week. This feed will also be available on wkyc.com on the main weather page.
"Meet the Press" Holds Its Own
NBC has announced that "Meet the Press" with new host David Gregory continues to do well after its second week. This Sunday's broadcast led the Sunday morning news pack with 4.78 million viewers. ABC's "This Week" ranked second with 3.67 million viewers, followed by CBS' "Face the Nation" with 3.12 million viewers and "Fox News Sunday" with 1.57 million viewers. Gregory continues to impress viewers with his knowledge of politics and smoothness in presentation. "Meet the Press" airs Sunday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on WKYC.
