Recruiting

America’s Local TV Industry Has a Newspaper Problem

For decades, local television executives looked at newspapers the way a healthy person looks at someone else’s diagnosis: unfortunate, but not contagious. Print publishers got flattened by Craigslist, Google, Facebook, and the internet’s dismantling of classified advertising. Television stations, meanwhile, sat behind a protected moat of retransmission fees, political advertising, cable bundles, and weather coverage […]

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Tell Me Your Story. Just Not All of It.

There is one question I ask almost every candidate I talk to. “Tell me your story.” It sounds casual. It is not. I’m not asking because I need you to read your résumé to me. I already have it. I’m not particularly interested in where you went to high school, the first job you had

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When an Outside Hire Becomes a Leadership Signal

The BBC recently hired a 26-year-old entrepreneur, Brandon Relph, to help shape strategy around younger audiences. He did not come up through a traditional newsroom. He built businesses, worked in technology and youth-focused media, and understands audience behavior from a different side of the business. Before we go any further, let’s meet the “kid.” Relph

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The FCC Can Remove the Cap. It Cannot Remove the Excuses.

Nexstar’s message is straightforward: local television needs room to compete. Fair enough. The rules governing broadcast ownership were written for another era. Before streaming. Before smartphones. Before Google and Meta took an enormous share of local advertising dollars without having to cover one city council meeting, one school closing, one hurricane or one breaking-news event

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Everybody Wants Consolidation. Nobody Wants to Talk About the Hangover.

The FCC voted to eliminate the national television ownership cap. Broadcasters celebrated. Wall Street started doing math. And now Newsmax says it is preparing to sue. Welcome to the next chapter of local television. The FCC’s vote removed the long-standing 39% national audience-reach cap and replaced it with case-by-case review of broadcast transactions. Newsmax CEO

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The Most Valuable Person in Local Television May Soon Be the One Who Knows What NOT to Automate

There’s a question being asked inside television companies everywhere right now: What can we automate? Fair question. AI is moving incredibly fast, and local television would be foolish to ignore it. Broadcasters are already using AI and automation to streamline workflows, repurpose content, create clips, generate captions, analyze information and distribute content across multiple platforms.

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The TV Talent Shortage: What Station Managers Can Control

CARVER CORNER: What station managers can do now to attract, develop, and keep the people who will determine what local television becomes next. Let’s be honest: most television stations do not have a talent shortage. They have a talent-retention problem, a compensation problem, a leadership problem, or a reputation problem. In some cases, they have

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Is It Time to Rethink the Television Talent Agent Business Model?

Carver Corner By Ty Carver Every industry has business models that make perfect sense, and then there are a few that leave you wondering how they’ve survived for decades without anyone seriously questioning them. One that has always fascinated me is the traditional television talent agent model. Before anyone misunderstands where I’m going with this,

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The FCC Just Changed the Rules. Here’s What I Think It Means for Television.

The FCC Just Changed the Rules. Here’s What I Think It Means for Television. Today’s FCC vote to eliminate the 39% national television ownership cap is one of the most significant regulatory changes our industry has seen in years. While opinions will vary on whether it’s the right decision, I don’t think there’s much debate

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Scripps Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud

The layoffs at Scripps are not just another corporate restructuring story. They are a signal. A blunt one. And if you work in local television, you should pay attention. For years, local broadcast executives have comforted themselves with the idea that their business is different. And in some ways, it is. But that argument starts

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