News for Sunday, May 31st, 2015

• According to the programming guides for the main broadcast channel of WEAR-TV from Zap2it, TitanTV, and TV Guide, the channel was set to have a special local TV program between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. today and have a recording of the network program it usually had during that time period on Sunday later the next day (Monday, June 1st) between 1:06 a.m. and 2:06 a.m. (the name of the special local program was "Stormwatch 2015"; the name of the network program was "America's Funniest Home Videos").

News for Saturday, May 30th, 2015

• This past Saturday's edition of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.) had their sports reporter (Michael Brannon) present a picture of one of their news and weather reporters (Chasity Byrd) in a cheerleader outfit from the time she was a student of Baldwin County High School in Bay Minette, Alabama as part of a segment about the school's football program.

News for Friday, May 29th, 2015

• Today's edition of WALA-TV's local entertainment and lifestyle program ("Studio 10") had segments about their broadcast facility in Mobile being used to screen members of the general for possible signs of epidermal cancer free of charge.   

• Today's edition of WKRG-TV's local 9:00 a.m. news program ("WKRG News 5 at 9") had one of the weather reporters for their local news programming (John Nodar) demonstrating a computer program for streaming videos from computerized cellular telephones as part of a segment about the World Wide Web and the Internet in general (the name of the computer program was "Periscope"; the name of the segment was "Around the Web and Around the World").

• The last segment of today's edition of WKRG-TV's local midday news program ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") was pre-empted by a different program a few seconds after a commercial break (the interruption occurred when the news presenter for the midday news program was about to explain the results of a certain "food drive" called "Stamp Out Hunger"; as for the program that interrupted it; it was a local programming segment less than five minutes in length titled "Marketplace 5").

News for Thursday, May 28th, 2015

• The correction made to the Alabama Public Television licensed to serve Mobile (WEIQ-TV) by this past Monday, May 25th, only applied to one of its digital sub-channels: radio frequency channel 41-3 (virtual channel 42-3).

• Today's edition of WPMI-TV's local midday news program ("Local 15 News at Noon") had a report about their local morning news program ("Local 15 Today") being used to help a relative of a member of their sales department give birth while watching today's edition of it.

• The weather reporter for today's edition of WPMI-TV's local midday news program presented information about plans for special events expected to happen in their local broadcast area between this Friday, May 29th, and this Sunday, May 31st, instead of a radio announcer who usually did as part of their local morning news program on a weekly basis during the past year (the name of the weather reporter was Kelly Foster; the name of the radio announcer was Colton Bradford). 

Commentary: News broadcasters commenting on national holiday

• I had noticed some local TV news presenters and news reporters expressing what may or may not have been their own personal feelings about this past Monday, May 25th, being a national holiday in the United States for honoring past members of its military who died in wars involving the states (Memorial Day). I wish they had kept those feelings to their selves and stayed focused on providing just news and information; I'm sure many of their viewers and/or listeners at the time were more about getting news and information and did not care how they and/or their bosses felt about the holiday. They really should not be expressing personal feelings about anything at all when they should only be giving news and information. 

News for Tuesday, May 26th, 2015

• The way the Alabama Public Television station licensed to serve Mobile (WEIQ-TV) usually had 4:3 TV programs appear on its digital sub-channels* since the week of the Wednesday of this past May 13th was corrected by this past Monday, May 25th (the pictures for the programs usually appeared wider than they were in their correct format). 

(*radio frequency channels 41-2 and 41-3/virtual channels 42-2 and 42-3)

News for Monday, May 25th, 2015

• The director of the news department at WKRG-TV (Michial (Mike) Rausch) demonstrated a recipe for strawberry pie on today's edition of their local midday news program ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") as part of a regular feature of the program that usually only involved guests of the program demonstrating a recipe with either its news presenter or weather reporter (the weather reporter for today's edition of the program was with the news director at the time; his name was John Nodar).

• The TV programming guide in the cable TV system for Comcast Cablevision of Mobile was updated with the name of the program that the main broadcast channel for WFNA-TV usually had between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. from Monday through Friday since the Monday of last April 20th ("WKRG News 5 This Morning"), but only for this calendar week since it still had the name of the program the channel usually had on that basis before then (it was cancelled by then) listed for the next calendar week ("The Daily Buzz").

News for Sunday, May 24th, 2015

• Between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. today, the main broadcast channel for WFGX-TV* had a movie in which everything appeared wider than they were meant to be due to its picture format (or aspect ratio) being manipulated (the name of the movie was "Afghan Luke").

• The main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV recently had a promotional advertisement about a special local program about tropical cyclones being part of its programming plan for the Monday of June 1st 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (the channel usually had the newest edition of a syndicated entertainment news program during this time period from Monday through Friday titled "Entertainment Tonight" and usually had each of those editions again the next day between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.).

• According to the official Facebook page for WKSJ-FM, one of their radio announcers (Colton Bradford***) was set to leave their local broadcast area after appearing on their morning radio program for Monday through Friday ("The Breakfast Club") one more time this past Thursday, May 21st, due to a position he got at a radio station in the radio market for Boston, Massachusetts (WBWL-FM) with the same owners as their station (iHeartMedia Inc.), and that he would still be broadcasting for them while in the market for Boston as part of their nighttime program for Monday through Friday ("Up at Night").

(*radio frequency channel 50-1/virtual channel 35-1)

(**radio frequency channel/virtual channel 15-1)

(***Colton Bradford was also a regular contributor to a weekly feature of WPMI-TV's local morning news program ("Local 15 Today") in which he usually presented information about plans for weekend activities in their local broadcast area and a regular contributor to a weekly feature of their local midday news program ("Local 15 News at Noon") in which he usually presented reviews about recent theatrical movies)

News for Saturday, May 23rd, 2015

• A member of WPMI-TV who usually only presented news for their local news programming  did a live news report for their local midday news program ("Local 15 News at Noon") this past Friday, May 22nd, about a person he had interviewed earlier that day having announced his plan to leave his position of superintendent of the public school system in Baldwin County, Alabama this June shortly before the interview (the name of this member of WPMI-TV was Greg Peterson).  

• WPMI-TV had two different local TV programs broadcast simultaneously this past Thursday, May 21st (between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.); one for their main broadcast channel* and one for the main broadcast channel** of the companion station (WJTC-TV) (the one for WPMI-TV's main broadcast channel was about a festival held in Orange Beach, Alabama named the Sunset Festival, while the one for WJTC-TV's main broadcast channel was a local news program normally broadcast on the channel from Monday through Friday ("Local 15 News at 6:30 p.m."). 

• One of the guests of a convention held in Mobile under the name Mobicon XVIII (or Mobicon 18) today was not identified by name (Richard Epcar) in a video recording of an interview with him about the convention on today's edition of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.), even though the same program had the name of another guest of the convention (Rando Dixon) displayed with video of an interview with him at the convention (the news presenter for the program (Steve Alexander Ozenovich) only referred to Richard Epcar as a voice actor and Rando Dixon as a local artist while introducing the videos of theirs interviews on the program).

(*radio frequency channel/virtual channel 15-1)
(**radio frequency channel 45-1/virtual channel 44-1) 

News for Friday, May 22nd, 2015

• WKRG-TV, WPMI-TV, and WALA-TV had different ways of referring to one of the sons of the mayor of Mobile in their local news broadcasts after 12:00 p.m. today (his proper name was Sandys Miller Stimpson):   

• WKRG-TV's way: His first name was usually spelled S-A-N-D-S and usually pronounced the way most folks usually pronounced the word "sands".
• WALA-TV's way: His first name was usually spelled S-A-N-D-Y-S and usually pronounced the way most folks usually pronounced the word "sands".
• WPMI-TV's way: He was usually referenced as having the same first and last names as the mayor of Mobile: "Sandy Stimpson" (the mayor's proper name was William Sandys Stimpson).

Commentary: How cases of hoarsed voices should be handled in broadcasting

• I wish someone in charge at WKRG-TV would not allow one of their weather reporters to keep appearing in certain segments of their local news programming requiring his voice if he is unable to use his regular tone of voice for their local news programming due to an illness preventing him from doing so (his voice sounded very hoarse in their local news programming both this past Wednesday, May 20th, and this past Thursday, May 21st). He or she should tell him to rest his voice if he were to have this illness (again) or else he would be risking his reputation and his self-esteem (even though this message refers to one specific TV station and a reporter for that station; its ideas should be considered by other broadcasters).

News for Wednesday, May 20th, 2015

• The main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV* recently had a local programming segment about a minute a length with a radio announcer for WBLX-FM named Ariel Thomas (she identified herself by her professional named in the segment: "Arielle Monae") presenting news related to entertainment and a deal offered by a business in the local broadcast area for WPMI-TV (she referred to the deal as a "16 Weeks of Summer" deal).

• According to today's edition of WALA-TV's local entertainment and lifestyle program ("Studio 10"), one of their regular guests for the program was set to take a break from it after the next time she appears on it (next Wednesday, May 27th) due to her expecting to give birth to two children between that time and the Sunday of July 5th (she usually appeared on the program on Wednesday as part of its cooking segments; as for who she was, it was Lucy Greer of Greer's Markets, a company based in Prichard, Alabama).

• The TV programming guide in the cable TV system operated by Comcast Cablevision of Mobile had listings for a program that used to be part of WFNA-TV's regular programming plans for Monday through Friday until its cancellation on the Friday of last April 17th instead of listings for a local news program from their companion station (WKRG-TV) that took its place afterwards (the name of the cancelled program was "The Daily Buzz"; the name of the local news program that took its place was  "WKRG News 5 This Morning"). 

(*radio frequency channel/virtual channel 15-1)

News for Tuesday, May 19th, 2015

• Today's edition of WKRG-TV's local midday news program ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") had a report about their broadcast facility in Mobile holding a banquet this morning for a group of people described as "Junior Achievement volunteers".

• A news reporter for WKRG-TV demonstrated a recipe for pancakes on their local midday news program this past Monday, May 18th, as part of a regular feature of the program that usually only had recipes being demonstrated by guests of the program (the name of the reporter was Chad Petri; the name of the feature was "Take 5").

• Today's edition of WKRG-TV's local 10:00 p.m. news program ("WKRG News 5 at 10") had a live report from New York, New York, about one of their regular network TV programs for Monday through Friday ("The Late Show with David Letterman") ending this Wednesday, May 20th (the report took place outside the building where the network program was usually produced: the Ed Sullivan Theater)

• The person who did the aforementioned report for WKRG-TV's local 10:00 p.m. news program and the person who introduced her and the report while on the set of the news program in Mobile interacted with each other as part of the report's broadcast (the name of the reporter was Suzanne Marques of CBS Newspath; the name of the news presenter was Rose Ann Haven of WKRG-TV). 

News for Monday, May 18th, 2015

• The news presenter on today's editions of WKRG-TV's local 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. news programs ("WKRG News 5 at 9" and "WKRG News 5 at Noon") presented an old promotion for a series of reports set to be part of their local news programming between today and this Thursday, May 21st, before realizing it was an old promotion and correcting herself.  

• One of the hosts on today's editions of WALA-TV'S local entertainment and lifestyle program ("Studio 10") said lightning struck their broadcast facility in Mobile last, Friday, May 15th, while explaining some of the technical problems they had in their programming since then (one of those problems was cited as the reason for the hosts having printed scripts on the set of the program today).  

(note: in case your browser has an active Adblock Plus program or a program with a different name similar to it, you may deactivate for this site since I believe the advertisements you may see here should not bother you or any other person)

News for Sunday, May 17th, 2015

• The main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV recently had an advertisement for a series of reports set to be part of their local 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. news programs ("WKRG News 5 at 5:00" and "WKRG News 5 at 10:00") next Monday (May 17th), Tuesday (May 18th), and Wednesday (May 19th) in which its reporter (Bill Riales) promoted both the reports and a national TV program set to end this Wednesday since its final edition was expected to be part of their main programming shortly after their local 10:00 p.m. news program (the name of the series of reports was "Mobile By Air"; the name of the network program was "The Late Show with David Letterman").

• This past Saturday's edition of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") on May 16th had reports about members of their local news department making ceremonial baseball pitches before the starts of baseball games involving the professional baseball team from Mobile (the BayBears) during the current season for the team (Renee Dials on Sunday, April 26th, Lenise Ligon on Friday, May 8th, and Bob Grip this past Saturday) and a list of other members of the department expected to do so later in the season (Jason Smith on Monday, May 25th and Saturday, July 4th, Candace Murphy on Monday, June 2nd , Sarah Wall on Friday, June 12th, Matt Barrentine on Sunday, July 19th, Eric Reynolds on Friday, July 31st, Chasity Byrd on Saturday, August 15th, and Michael White on Friday, August 28th). 

Commentary: Unprofessional tones by local broadcasters

• I was surprised and disappointed to see an expletive in a message attributed to one of the local radio announcers for WAVH-FM on his Twitter page since I found it very rude, unnecessary, and unprofessional (the name of the announcer was Sean Sullivan). If it was really his message, I wish he would resist using such language in the future for the sake of his reputation and his welfare (or well-being). 

• I wish one of the news presenters for WALA-TV's local morning news program would not say "bye bye" to end its broadcasts, especially in the tone of voice she normally used for it in recent editions of the program (the name of the news presenter was Sarah Wall; as for her tone of voice, it sounded higher than the tone of voice she normally used for presenting news reports on the program). If I were her, I would have said, "Thank you for watching and/or listening to us" and "good bye" instead and used the same tone voice of I used to present news reports for the program.

News for Friday, May 15th, 2015

• WALA-TV had technical problems in their programming during commercial breaks for their local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") today: some of the commercial and promotional advertisements for their programming appeared out of alignment.

• This past Wednesday's editions of WALA-TV's local 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. news programs ("FOX 10 News at 4:00 p.m." and "FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") on May 13th  had interviews with a resident of Foley, Alabama who was a contestant for the most recent series of editions of the national TV program titled "American Idol'' (the name of the resident was Glennellen Anderson).

News for Thursday, May 14th, 2015

• The main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV* recently had an promotional advertisement about a plan for WPMI-TV to have special local programming on the channel next Thursday, May 21st, about a music festival expected to take place in Orange Beach, Alabama that day (the festival would be called the Sunset Festival). 

• According to the advertisement described in the previous paragraph and the local TV programming guides for WPMI-TV from Zap2it, TitanTV, and TV Guide, the special programming WPMI-TV would have on their main broadcast channel next Thursday would be during the time period in which it usually had the latest edition of a syndicated entertainment news program from Monday through Friday (the name of the program was "Entertainment Tonight"; the time period was from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.). Even if it were to have this special programming next Thursday, it may still have the edition of the syndicated program on the channel later the next day during the time period in which it usually had a rebroadcast of the latest edition of the program a few hours after having it initially (3:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. from Tuesday through Saturday).

• Today's edition of WPMI-TV's local morning news program ("Local 15 Today") had a report about a new section of their official Facebook page where members of the public may help choose songs for future editions of the program (recent editions of the programs usually had portions of different songs immediately after certain commercials along with videos of different parts of the local broadcast area for WPMI-TV).

(*radio frequency channel/virtual channel 15-1)

News for Wednesday, May 13th, 2015

• The Alabama Public Television station licensed to serve Mobile (WEIQ-TV) recently began having 16:9 TV programs for its digital sub-channels* broadcast without areas of black on their left and right sides (pillarboxing) and 4:3 TV programs broadcast with vertical manipulation, meaning the programs would appear as if they had been squeezed from their left and right sides.   

• Around the time of the changes described in the first paragraph, the cable TV system operated by Comcast Cablevision of Mobile began having 16:9 TV programs from the digital sub-channels mentioned in that paragraph appear in the entire display areas of 16:9 TV sets connected to it without areas of black surrounding them and appear magnified in the entire display areas of 4:3 TV sets also connected to it. 

• WKRG-TV, WALA-TV, and WPMI-TV each had a report about an Amtrak train that had crashed in Bayou Sara near Mobile County back in the calendar year 1993 in their local news programing today in conjunction with a report about another accident involving an Amtrak train that occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this past Tuesday, May 12th.

(*radio frequency channels 41-2 and 41-3/virtual channels 42-2 and 42-3)

News for Tuesday, May 12th, 2015

• As of this writing, there are some available positions in weather reporting at WALA-TV and WKRG-TV and two available positions at news presenting at WEAR-TV (one of the available positions at WEAR-TV would require its holder to appear primarily on local evening news programs while the other one would require its holder to work primarily on weekends and to make his or her own news reports in addition to presenting news reports made by other folks).

• According to Alabama Public Radio, they are in the process of getting a new audio provider for one of their HD Radio programming streams, specifically the one that used to have programming from XPoNential Radio (note: the Alabama Public Radio station licensed to Mobile did not have programming from XPoNential Radio broadcast locally due its inability to broadcast HD Radio signals, but it was still accessible to folks in the broadcast area of the station through the official World Wide Web site for Alabama Public Radio and the one for XPoNential Radio itself).

Commentary: Brand names for local TV news operations being misued

• I wish Lenise Ligon of WALA-TV would not occasionally refer to their local news operation as "FOX News" instead of the proper name for it ("FOX 10 News") while presenting news reports for their local news programming.. She had been doing since the day she first appeared in a local news program for WALA-TV back in the year 2008 (this makes me wonder whether someone in charge of WALA-TV had forced her to refer to their local news operation as "FOX News" or simply allowed her to do so out of carelessness).

• I wish WKRG-TV would no longer have the brand name for their local news operation ("WKRG News 5") used in reference to their main programming stream in promotions for programs other than their own local news programs. For example, their main broadcast channel and their digital sub-channel for broadcasting programming from the national TV programming service Memorable Entertainment Television (also known as Me-TV) recently had an advertisement for a local TV program about nature titled "Gary Finch Outdoors" with an announcer using the brand name in reference to their main programming stream while telling its listeners how they could access this program about nature (she said "on WKRG News 5") 

 (note: in case your browser has an active Adblock Plus program or a program with a different name similar to it, you may deactivate for this site since I believe the advertisements you may see here should not bother you or any other person)

News for Sunday, May 10th, 2015

• WALA-TV had a new edition of a local TV program for discussing public affairs that was usually set to be part of their programming only once a week on Sunday titled "Rise and Shine" was part of their programming both this Sunday (between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.) and this past Saturday, May 9th (between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.). 

• The news presenters and weather reporter for Sunday editions of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") presented images of their mothers on this Sunday's edition of the program since this Sunday was designated a national holiday for celebrating mothers (the names of the news presenters were Renee Dials and Michael Brannon; the name of the weather reporter was Matt Barrentine). 

• According to the official World Wide Web site for a local TV program about nature titled "Gary Finch Outdoors", WKRG-TV and their companion station WFNA-TV were set to take the place of having the program broadcast locally on a weekly basis by this weekend (WEAR-TV was usually set to have it broadcast on Saturday between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. and between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. while their companion station WFGX-TV was usually set to have it broadcast on Sunday between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. by this weekend). 

News for Saturday, May 9th, 2015

• On Friday, May 8th, an administrator for the official Facebook page for WALA-TV posted a message there about the regular pair of news presenters for WALA-TV's local 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. news programs ("FOX 10 News at 4:00 p.m" and "FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") and Monday through Friday editions of their local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.) practicing to make ceremonial baseball pitches before the starts of baseball games involving a professional baseball team from Mobile (the names of the news presenters were Bob Grip and Lenise Ligon; the name of the baseball team from Mobile was the BayBears)

• A video recording of this past Friday's edition of WALA-TV's local 5:00 p.m. news program with the news presenters mentioned in the first paragraph talking about the practices mentioned in that paragraph was posted with the message for which that paragraph was about.

• A report about one of the aforementioned news presenters making a ceremonial baseball pitch before the start of a baseball game at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile this past Friday with the professional baseball team from Mobile was broadcast as part of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program that day and uploaded onto their official World Wide Web site afterwards.

• According to a message attributed to the partner of the news presenter described in the third paragraph that was posted on the partner's professional Facebook page this past Thursday, May 7th, the partner would make his own ceremonial baseball pitch for the professional baseball team from Mobile like the one described in the third paragraph next Saturday, May 16th.

News for Friday, May 8th, 2015

• The news reporter for WPMI-TV's local morning news program ("Local 15 Today") admitted to having been an Azalea Trail Maid years ago while appearing on today's edition of the program to talk about other folks who were Azalea Trail Maids (the name of the reporter was Katie Herrera). 

• According to the TV programming guides for WJTC-TV from Zap2it, TitanTV, and TV Guide, WJTC-TV was set to have a syndicated theatrical movie based on one of their regular syndicated TV programs for Monday through Friday appear on their main broadcast channel* this Saturday, May 9th (between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.): "The Simpsons Movie". 

• WKRG-TV had audio abnormalities on their local midday news program ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") this past Thursday, May 7th, specifically during its cooking segment titled  "Grillin' with Greers" (the voices of the segment's presenter, John Nodar of WKRG-TV's weather department, and its guest, Lucy Greer of Greer's Markets, were overwhelmed by music normally used immediately before and after commercial breaks in WKRG-TV's local news programming, and echoing for a short time time afterwards).

(*radio frequency channel 45-1/virtual channel 44-1)

Commentary: A vague reference

• This past Wednesday's edition of WKRG-TV's local midday news program ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") on May 6th had a a report in which a person suspected of robbing a restaurant in Mobile earlier that day was described as having a "Gilligan-style hat" while text of other descriptions of the person was being displayed (the person who presented the report did not use the graphic's description of the hat: "floppy"). I wish the person who presented the report had explained what she meant by "Gilligan-style hat" since it's not a very common description of a hat and there was no image of the hat on display during the news program (I cannot help but to assume that the description was a reference to a type of hat that an actor named Bob Denver usually wore on a TV program titled "Gilligan's Island" while playing the character for whom the program was named after).

News for Thursday, May 7th, 2015 (corrected)

• Today's edition of WPMI-TV's local morning news program ("Local 15 Today") had a video recording of a weather reporter for Saturday and Sunday editions of their local news programming making a ceremonial baseball pitch at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile shortly before the start of a baseball game between two professional baseball teams from Mobile, Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida this past Wednesday, May 6th (the names of the team from Mobile was the BayBears; the name of the one from Jacksonville was the Suns; as for the name of the weather reporter, it was Kelly Foster). 

(correction notice: the date for this past Wednesday was corrected) 

News for Wednesday, May 6th, 2015

• Today's edition of WALA-TV's local entertainment and lifestyle program ("Studio 10") had a segment about an effort to support a new radio station in Mobile named WHEX-LP.

• Earlier today, an administrator for the official Facebook page for WPMI-TV had posted a message there about two satellite dishes being delivered to the broadcast facility for WPMI-TV in Mobile along with a video recording of one of the dishes being installed near the facility (according to WPMI-TV, the reason for their getting new satellite dishes was to replace older ones near the facility; as for what purpose they would serve, they would provide syndicated TV programs for their main broadcast channel).

News for Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

• WPMI-TV had video of lawyers providing legal advice free of charge to members of the public live from their broadcast facility in Mobile in their local news programming today.

• Today's edition of WPMI-TV's local 6:30 p.m. news program for their companion station WJTC-TV* ("Local 15 News at 6:30") had a report about WJTC-TV being set have programming about a public meeting that they, WPMI-TV, were expected to host at the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile this Thursday, May 7th.  

• According to the TV programming guide for WJTC-TV from a World Wide Web site named Zap2it, if WPMI-TV were to host a public meeting this Thursday, WJTC-TV's main broadcast channel** would have live video of it from 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

(*WPMI-TV and WJTC-TV had the same owners and the same broadcast facility in Mobile)
(**radio frequency 45-1/virtual channel 44-1)

News for Monday, May 4th, 2015

• WPMI-TV was set to have lawyers use their broadcast facility in Mobile to provide free legal advice to members of the public this Tuesday, May 5th, between 6:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

• The regular weather reporter for WKRG-TV's local morning news programs for Monday through Friday ("WKRG News 5 This Morning" and "WKRG News 5 at 9") used today's editions of those programs to joke about having "pay-per-view" access to a boxing match held in Las Vegas, Nevada this past Saturday, May 2nd, by saying he saw it in a newspaper on the day after it occurred since the term "pay-per-view" was usually pronounced like the phrase "paper view" (the name of the weather reporter was John Nodar). 

• The main broadcast channel* for WKRG-TV recently had a promotional video with one of the regular news presenters for Monday through Friday editions of their local 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. news programs ("WKRG News 5 at 6" and "WKRG News 5 at 10") saying, "Sixty years. I love this station" in reference to the current calendar year being their 60th calendar year in broadcasting since the 60th anniversary of their first regular broadcast is this September, specifically on the Saturday of September 5th (the name of the news presenter was Rose Ann Haven).

(*radio frequency channel 27-1/virtual channel 5-1)

News for Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

• This past Saturday's edition of WALA-TV's local 9:00 p.m. news program ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") on May 2nd had a report in which the phrase "synthetic poison" was used to describe a drug that was usually described as "synthetic marijuana" in some of their previous reports about it.

• Between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. today, the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV* had a paid commercial program (or "infomercial") instead of a local public affairs program that was usually part of its programming during that time period on Sunday (the name of the program was "Rise and Shine").

• WFGX-TV was set to have two different TV programs with the same person in a leading role broadcast every Sunday between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. through their main broadcast channel** (the names of the programs were "Mike & Molly" and "Monopoly Millionaires' Club"; the name of the person with a leading role in both programs was William (Billy) Gardell). 

(*radio frequency channel 9-1/virtual channel 10-1)
(**radio frequency channel 50-1/virtual channel 35-1)

Commentary: Surprised by a certain word on a local TV news program

• I was surprised to hear a certain word I would consider rude on this past Wednesday's edition of WKRG-TV's local 9:00 a.m. news program ("WKRG News 5 at 9") on April 29th since their local news programs usually did not have words similar to this one before then (the word that surprised me this past Wednesday was a combination of the word "whoop" and a synonym for the word "donkey" consisting of three letters). As for why it had this word, it was part of a video recording of a segment for this past Wednesday's edition of a network news program they had in their programming earlier that day titled "CBS This Morning". I guess someone in charge of WKRG-TV either did not mind the word or someone else managed to get that word broadcast as part of the local news program without the permission of this person (neither one of the regular presenters for the program on the edition with the word made any reference to it on the edition).

News for Friday, May 1st, 2015

• A video advertisement for the Mobile Symphony Orchestra with the voice of the announcer for WKRG-TV's local news programming appeared on WPMI-TV's main broadcast channel (radio frequency/virtual channel 15-1) today (the name of the announcer was Jay Gardner).

• Some members of the news department for WKRG-TV (including news presenters for their local news programming) used their local news programming to tout their official Facebook page for having close to 185,000 followers today (one of the members said their goal for the page was to have 185,000 followers by the end of the day*). 

• The news presenter for today's edition of WPMI-TV's local midday news program ("Local 15 News at Noon") presented a report in which a neurosurgeon, teacher, and, public speaker from Maryland named Benjamin (Ben) Carson was referenced as a "potential presidential candidate", even though he was not an official candidate for any presidency by then.

(*the page did not have this many followers by the time this report was posted).

News for Thursday, April 30th, 2015

• On this Thursday, the "leased-access" cable TV channel in the cable TV system operated by Comcast Cablevision of Mobile (channel 6; also known as "Port City 6") had audio of a meeting of the councilors for the city of Mobile while a graphic unrelated to the meeting appeared instead of video of the meeting.

• The graphic mentioned in the first paragraph had appeared on the cable TV channel referenced in that paragraph on a regular basis since around this past Monday, April 27th, and usually appeared as an area of red with white text consisting of the words, "Due to technical issues, this channel is temporarily off-the-air. Thank You for your Patience".

• Later on this Thursday, the "leased-access" cable TV channel referenced in the last two paragraphs had programming without the graphic described in those paragraphs; some with audio and some without audio.