News for Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 (amended)

 (notes: all times listed in this report reflect the Central time zone for this Wednesday)

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. ("WKRG News 5 This Morning") had one of its regular news presenters (Jessica Taloney) talking about her visiting a group of students of journalism and broadcasting at a high school in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama (Baker High School) earlier this calendar week along with video of her and the students.

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. ("Local 15 Today") had a report about the main broadcast channel for their companion station (WJTC-TV) being set to have a special program about collegiate football with their sports reporter (Lance Crawford) and two radio hosts for a radio station in their local broadcast area specialized in football and other sports (Randy Kennedy and Creg Stephenson of WNSP-FM)) later this Wednesday (between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.). 

• The local program dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. ("Studio 10") had an image of a "bobblehead" figurine that one of its hosts (Joe Emer) said was a "spitting image" of a producer for WALA-TV (Linda Jones) in honor of her birthday this Wednesday (the one named Joe Emer said the producer did not want an image of her actual self on the program while the one named Chasity Byrd said she (her self) had nothing to do with the image of the figurine).  

(amendment note: the time period for the special program was added to the report)

News for Tuesday, August 30th, 2016

• The sports reporter for the local news operation at WPMI-TV (Lance Crawford) was one of the news presenters for the local news program that appeared on their main broadcast channel between 10:00 p.m. and 10:31 p.m. this Tuesday ("Local 15 News at 10 p.m.").

News for Monday, August 29th, 2016

• According to a Facebook page named "Gulf Coast Today", a new local TV program with the same name was set to appear on a TV channel for the first time on the Monday of the twelfth day of this September (WALA-TV had a local TV program named "Gulf Coast Today" years ago; specifically between the years 1973 and 1979. As for the new program, it was set to be a program for both WPMI-TV and WJTC-TV).

• One of the news presenters for the local news operation at WALA-TV (Bob Grip) appeared to be expressing his personal feelings about a famous professional actor named Gene Wilder while presenting a report about the actor having died last Sunday on the twenty-eighth day of this August in their local news programing this Monday (he said the words, "Some very sad news" at the beginning of the report before saying his favorite movie with the actor was a theatrical movie named "Blazing Saddles"). 

• Between 10:00 p.m. and 10:31 p.m. this Monday, one of the news presenters on the local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV during that time period (Mel Showers on "WKRG News 5 at 10") had referred to their companion station (WFNA-TV ("the CW55")) while promoting their resources for gathering and disseminating news and information with each other (this is what he said while doing so: "Remember that News 5 (brand name for WKRG-TV) and the CW55 has election coverage you can count on. Join us tomorrow night for important election results that matter to you").

News for Sunday, August 28th, 2016

• Earlier this Sunday, the main broadcast channel for WEAR-TV had some special news programming of theirs (about an explosion in a part of their local broadcast area outside of southwest Alabama (the city of Cantonment in the state of Florida) between segments of some special sports programming (a baseball game between members of the Little League from the city of Seoul in the nation of South Korea and the city of Endwell in the North American state of New York) from their main provider of network programming (the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)) between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (it also had a ticker with information about the explosion). 

• Two weather reporters for the local news operation at WALA-TV and one weather reporter for the local news operation at WKRG-TV who usually only appeared in local news programs for their respective broadcast operations from Monday through Friday in recent times were part of at least one of their respective broadcast operations' local news programs for this Sunday (the one for WALA-TV named Chasity Byrd was part of their local news program for Saturday and Sunday mornings (it was named after their local news program for Monday through Friday mornings ("FOX 10 News in the Morning")); the one for WALA-TV named Jason Smith was part of their local news program for Sunday evenings (it was named after one of their local news programs for Monday through Friday evenings ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m."); the one for WKRG-TV named Alan Sealls was part of their local news program for the first half of 10:00 p.m. ("WKRG News 5 at 10")). 

News for Saturday, August 27th, 2016

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. this past Friday on the twenty-seventh day of this August ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") had videos of live high-school football games from different parts of their local broadcast area (the phrase "live look-in" was used to describe the videos on the program).

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. this past Friday on the twenty-sixth day of this August ("WKRG News 5 at 10") had audio of a news presenter for their local news operation (Mel Showers) making an announcement about a special feature it had about a second afterwards (he said it was the "News 5 Player of the Week" feature before saying it was "brought to you by Gulf Coast Office Products"). 

News for Friday, August 26th, 2016

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. this Friday ("Local 15 Today") had an image of its director (Chris Fillingham) with a logo and slogan for a radio station that used to exist in their local broadcast area (WABB-FM in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama) on display in honor of his birthday in a segment dedicated to acknowledging birthdays of residents in their local broadcast area.

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. this Friday ("FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") had a report about an engineer for their broadcast operation (Joey Norris (their "employee of the month")) raffling a "special parking spot" of his to raise money to buy food to donate to the Salvation Army in Mobile (he was said to had raised $400 from the raffle). 

• This past Wednesday on the twenty-fourth day of this August, the news presenter for the local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that day (Bob Grip on "FOX 10 News at 10:00 p.m.) used its broadcast to compare two scales used to measure earthquakes after a report it had about an earthquake that occurred in the nation of Italy earlier that day (this is how he started comparing them: "Let me get you in on a little secret, though, the U. S. Geological Survey says the Richter scale isn't commonly used by scientists anymore. It'd been replaced by another scale called the moment magnitude scale, which is a more accurate measure of earthquake size and that's what's used today". 

News for Thursday, August 25th, 2016

(note: the report titled "News for Wednesday, August 24th, 2016" was amended)

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV between 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. this past Wednesday on the twenty-fourth day of this August ("Local 15 News at Noon") had a report from outside their news department with content attributed to an organization said to had sponsored it (the name of the organization was the Youth Sports of the Americas; the name of the report was "Your Winning Ways"). 

• According to the guides to the main broadcast channel for WFNA-TV provided by Zap2it and TitanTV, the channel was set to have special regionally-syndicated football programming this Friday on the twenty-sixth day of this August during a time period when it usually had various national network programs (from the CW), a local news program ("CW55 News at 9"), and a nationally-syndicated news program ("Access Hollywood") from Monday through Friday in recent times (the football programming was expected to involve two professional football teams: the Saints of the city of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana and the Steelers of the city of Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania).
 

• According to the TV programming guides mentioned in the previous paragraph of this report, the broadcast channel mentioned in that paragraph was set to have the programs it usually had on Friday evenings in recent times later than usual between the last few hours of this Friday on the twenty-sixth day of this August and this Saturday on the twenty-seventh day of this August (it would have the local news program and syndicated news program mentioned in that paragraph later this Friday between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and the network programs this Saturday between 7:00 p.m and 9:00 p.m. (it usually had syndicated programs during that time period on Saturday in recent times)). 

News for Wednesday, August 24th, 2016 (amended)

 (amendment note: the letter "s" was added to the word "providers" in the last paragraph of this report)

• A message attributed to an administrator for the official Facebook page for WAVH-FM about recordings of recent editions of two of their local radio programs ("Mobile Mornings" and "Midday Mobile") being uploaded onto a World Wide Web site specialized in audio and video recordings named iTunes was posted onto the page this past Tuesday on the twenty-third day of this August  (note: the same recordings of the same editions were also uploaded onto a site named SoundCloud). 

• Earlier this Wednesday, WKRG-TV had video of a member of a law firm based in their local broadcast area (David Greene of Greene & Phillips in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama) saying they were proud to sponsor an initiative of theirs at the beginning of a report related to the initiative ("The Greene and Phillips News 5 Player of the Week") on the local news programs that appeared on their main broadcast channel between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (under the name "WKRG News 5 at 6") and between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (under the name "WKRG News 5 at 10").

• According to guides to the main broadcast channel for WFGX-TV provided by TitanTV and Zap2it, the channel was set to have a special local program ("Your Voice Your Future") in place of a national one (a dramatic program named "The Mentalist") from one of its regular providers of national TV programming (MyNetworkTV) this Thursday on the twenty-fifth day of this August and have the national program in place of another one (a syndicated news program named "Extra") later that same day at the expense of some of its regular programs for Thursday beginning 30 minutes later than usual (according to the guides to the main broadcast channel for WFGX-TV's companion station (WEAR-TV) from the providers mentioned earlier, the edition of "Extra" for this Thursday may appear on that channel this Friday on the twenty-sixth day of this August). 

News for Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016

• This past Monday on the twenty-second day of this August, the local news programs that appeared on the main broadcast channels for WALA-TV and WKRG-TV between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that day ("FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m." and "WKRG News 5 at 5") had live video of members of their respective news operations along with a member of the local news operation for WPMI-TV following and questioning a person under arrest for a series of crimes he was suspected of committing (murder and kidnapping) within their respective local broadcast areas last Saturday on the twentieth day of this August (note: the local news program that appeared on the main broadcast video for WPMI-TV at the time ("Local 15 News at 5 p.m.") had different videos). 

• One of the hosts of a local TV program dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles (Chasity Byrd of "Studio 10" for WALA-TV) had erroneously said, "So it's an all-Disney year" in response to its other host (Joe Emer) connecting a tropical cyclone named "Fiona" to a fictional character with the same name in a series of movies unrelated to the Walt Disney Company (each of which had the name "Shrek" in its title) while on the program this Tuesday since the same host had connected a tropical cyclone named "Gaston" to a fictional character with the same name in a movie that was actually related to that company (named "Beauty and the Beast") on the same edition of the program (the name of the company related to the movies with the fictional "Fiona" was DreamWorks Animation).

News for Monday, August 22nd, 2016

• One of the hosts of a local TV program for WALA-TV dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles (Joe Emer of "Studio 10") said they were "working toward" a new set for another local TV program of theirs while hosting the one dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles this Monday (the other one was a program dedicated to high-school football teams in their local broadcast area named "First and 10").

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between  9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. last Thursday on the eighteenth day of this August had a report about a candidate for the presidency of the United States rarely mentioned in their local news programming since the day he became one during the past year (the name of the candidate was Gary Johnson; the name of the program with the report about him was "FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.").

• One of the news presenters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (Mel Showers) had referred to two other candidates for the presidency of the United States from the past year as if they were the only candidates for the presidency while promoting some reports they had about them on one of their local news programs last Thursday (the names of the candidates were Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; the name of the program upon which the reports about them were promoted (and eventually shown after a break in its broadcast for that Thursday) was "WKRG News 5 at 10 [p.m.]").

News for Sunday, August 21st, 2016 (amended)

 (amendment note: the second paragraph of this report was amended with additional details, an additional hyperlink, and a typographical correction)

• A new TV program for WALA-TV about politics in the state of Alabama ("The V: The Voice of Alabama") was set to begin appearing on their main broadcast channel on a weekly basis earlier this summer, specifically on Sunday mornings between 9:00 and 9:30 (WALA-TV was mentioned in the edition of the program that appeared on the channel this Sunday within the first two minutes of its broadcast along with other TV stations set to have the program on one of their respective broadcast channels).* 

• According to the guides to the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV provided by Zap2it, TitanTV, and TV Guide, the channel was set to have network programs it did not have in its programming this past Saturday on the twentieth day of this August later next Monday on the twenty-second day of this August (between 12:35 a.m. and 2:35 a.m.) due to their plan to have special regional programming about a professional football game (involving the Saints of the city of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana and the Texans of the city of Houston in the state of Texas) in place of them that Saturday (between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.). 

• One of the news reporters and news presenters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (Joseph Blake (J. B.) Biunno) had quoted what one of the other news reporters and news presenters for the operation (Chad Petri) usually said at the very beginning of new editions of their local news programs for Saturday and Sunday mornings ("WKRG News 5 This Morning: Saturday" and "WKRG News 5 This Morning: Sunday") while substituting for him on the edition of the program for Sunday mornings this Sunday (he said, "As Chad Petri would say, 'I don't know who's watching, but I'm glad you are' " after a commercial break for the program).

(*the edition of the program that appeared on the channel for WALA-TV this Sunday had a disclaimer about it being a "paid program" and not being a reflection of the views of WALA-TV ("this station")).

News for Saturday, August 20th, 2016

• The main broadcast channels for WJTC-TV and WFGX-TV each had a different programming feed about a particular football game this Saturday (the game involved two professional football teams from two cities in the state of Florida (the Buccaneers of the city of Tampa and the Jaguars of the city of Jacksonville); as for how the programming feeds differed from each other, each of them was provided by one of the TV stations in one of those cities (the one for WJTC-TV was provided by WFLA-TV in Tampa while the one for WFGX-TV was provided by WJXT-TV in Jacksonville)). 

• This past Thursday on the eighteenth day of this August, the local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that day ("FOX 10 News at 10:00 p.m.") had a report by a camera operator for their local news operation who usually did not appear in their local news programming in recent times (the name of the camera operator was Ronald (Ron) Gaines; as for what the report was about, it was about a football game involving two high-school football teams from their local broadcast area (the Lions of Lillie Williamson High School and the Rattlers of John LeFlore Magnate High School in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama)). 

• This past Friday on the nineteenth day of this August, the local news programming WALA-TV had on their main broadcast channel between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. that day had a superimposed digital "count-down clock" with the time they had until the start of a special TV program of theirs about two other high-school football teams from their local broadcast area (it began at about 5:30 p.m. that day) and the time upon which the teams were set to start playing football that day (7:00 p.m.) (the names of the teams were the Toros of Spanish Fort High School in the city of Spanish Fort and the Yellow Jackets of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama).  

News for Friday, August 19th, 2016

• This past Thursday on the eighteenth day of this August, WABF-AM was involved in hosting a forum for members of the public to meet some folks interested in the mayoral and councilor positions in the government of the city of Fairhope in southwest Alabama (they were also set to have live audio of such an event on their broadcast frequency that day).  

• Earlier this Friday between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., one of the news reporters for the local news operation at WALA-TV (Kati Weis) had called the news presenter for the local news program they had on their main broadcast channel during that time period (Renee Dials on "FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") by the forename (or first name) of one of the persons who usually presented news for the program in recent times ("Lenise" Ligon).* 

• One of the digital sub-channels for WKRG-TV had programming from a local TV programming service provided by the Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS TV)** instead of the type of programming it usually had in recent times (programming from a national TV programming service named Memorable Entertainment Television (Me-TV)) this past Thursday between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (the programming it had at the time was mainly about a live football game involving two high-school football teams from within the system (the Lions of Lillie Williamson High School and the Rattlers of John LeFlore Magnet High School in the city of Mobile)).

(*the reporter was looking toward one of the TV cameras for the program when she said it (such cameras usually had monitors with scripts for news presenters and news reporters such as her to read while reporting or presenting certain news items for their local news programs in recent times)

(**the same programming was on a cable TV channel dedicated entirely to such programming in the cable TV system for Comcast Cablevision of Mobile) 

News for Thursday, August 18th, 2016

• One of the hosts for a local entertainment and lifestyle program for WALA-TV (Joe Emer of "Studio 10") had identified the wife of a former news reporter for their local news operation in some video for the program during its broadcast this Thursday (the name of the former reporter was Adam Ghassemi; the name of the wife of the former reporter was Crystal Ghassemi).

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. this Thursday ("Local 15 Today") had a sudden announcement about the sponsor for one of its segments (a "Salute to First Responders" segment) immediately before one of its news presenters (Darwin Singleton) presented the segment itself (this was the announcement itself: "The following segment is brought to you by Eastern Shore Toyota" (it was delivered by an announcer named Max McGill)). 

• The other host for the local TV program mentioned in the first paragraph of this report (Chasity Byrd) said this while presenting an image of the general manager of WALA-TV (Gary Yoder) and his wife (Susan (Sue) Verbosky-Yoder) on the program in honor of his birthday this Thursday: "I mentioned before how much our general manager hates for me to put up a picture and talk about him on television, so naturally I'm putting him back on television" (this is what she said afterwards on the program a few seconds later: "Yes, we love them and love putting them on television and--and talking about Gary, Gary, Gary all the time. I had to take advantage of that."

News for Wednesday, August 17th, 2016

• An article about about a plan for WJTC-TV to have special programming about football games involving football teams for some of the high schools in their local broadcast area during the rest of this calendar year was posted onto their official World Wide Web site. 

• One of the local news programs that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV this Wednesday ("WKRG News 5 at 6 [p.m.]") had a promotional video with an announcer for their broadcast operation (Jay Garder) saying, "If you are looking for the best Web site, check out WKRG.com. Voted best TV news Web site in the state again."  

• One of the news presenters for the local news operation at WALA-TV (Bob Grip) made an unannounced appearance on a TV program of theirs dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles ("Studio 10") this Wednesday (according to one of the hosts for the program (Chasity Byrd), the reason for his being in their broadcast facility at the time of the program was to teach members of their broadcast operation a course in journalism called "FOX 10 [News] University").

News for Tuesday, August 16th, 2016

 (correction notice concerning this weblog: all previous references to the location of WIAT-TV had been corrected (including one posted here during the previous calendar week along with the one in the second paragraph of this report) since they were actually located in the city of Birmingham in the central part of the state of Alabama rather than another city located in the same part of the state)

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. this Tuesday ("FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") had a weather report and a traffic report by a member of their local news operation who mainly did weather reports for their local news program for Saturday and Sunday mornings ("FOX 10 News in the Morning") and their official Facebook page in recent times (the name of this member was Adam Olivier). 

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. this past Monday on the fifteenth day of this August ("WKRG News 5 at 6") had a news report attributed to a member of a TV station located in the city of Birmingham in the central part of the state of Alabama that had the same owners as WKRG-TV since their respective broadcast operations were within the same holding (or "parent") company (the name of the member was Michael Oder; the name of the station was WIAT-TV; the name of the holding company was Media General). 

• Some of the syndicated TV programs that usually appeared on the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV on a regular basis in recent times were set to appear on the channel in time periods not normally used for their appearances on the channel since the previous calendar week due to some special programming from the main provider of network programming for WPMI-TV (Olympic programming from the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)) for WPMI-TV appearing on the channel during the time periods normally used for those appearances before then (for example, the program named "Live with Kelly" was set to appear on the channel between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. from Tuesday through Saturday instead of its regular time period of 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. from Monday through Friday). 

News for Monday, August 15th, 2016

• Some video of a local TV program for WFGX-TV dated for the year 1988 was uploaded onto a YouTube channel for a person mentioned in it named Dean Minton (according to the site, the video was uploaded there last May).

• Some videos of some persons under the age of 18 waving in weather reports for one of the local news programs for WALA-TV ("FOX 10 News in the Morning" ("weekday" version)) were uploaded onto the official World Wide Web site for WALA-TV (according to the site, the videos were uploaded there earlier this August)

• The local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. this Monday ("FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m.") had a live interview with a person in the city of Montgomery in the central part of the state of Alabama commenting about politics in the state (the person who did the commentary was identified as a "political commentator" named Steve Flowers).

News for Sunday, August 14th, 2016

• This past Saturday on the thirteenth day of this August, the programming feed for WAVH-FM had an advertisement about their plan to sponsor a summit about security that may occur next Saturday on the twentieth day of this August.

• WALA-TV had animated graphics normally used for announcing "breaking news" (or news that occurred earlier) on their local news programs in recent times precede such announcements at the very beginnings of both of their local news programs for this Sunday ("FOX 10 News in the Morning" and "FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m."). 

• A few seconds before one of the breaks for the local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. this Sunday ("WKRG News 5 at 5"), one of its presenters (Ashley Knight) had referred to one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States from the past year (Donald Trump) by only his last name (or surname) while describing a report they had about him that was set to appear on the program after the break.

News for Saturday, August 13th, 2016

• One of the local radio programs for WAVH-FM was given another hour in their weekly programming plans this past July (the name of the program was "Armed Alabama"; the hour it was given was the hour of 6:00 p.m. in addition to its hour of 7:00 p.m.; as for its calendar day in their weekly programming plans, it was Tuesday).  

• The local news program WALA-TV had on their main broadcast channel this Saturday evening ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.") had a report about their plan to have special programming about two high-school football teams from their local local broadcast area (the Toros of Spanish Fort High School in the city of Spanish Fort and the Yellow Jackets of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in the city of Mobile in southwest Alabama) on the channel next Friday in the nineteenth day of this August during a time period when it usually had another local news program of theirs from Monday through Friday (5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for "FOX 10 News at 5:00 p.m."). 

News for Friday, August 12th, 2016

• One of the news presenters for their local news operation at WALA-TV (Bob Grip) was eating fried peanuts on one of their local news programs for this Friday (specifically the one that appeared on their main broadcast channel between 10:13 p.m. and 11:11 p.m. this Friday (it was simply called "FOX 10 News")*) a few seconds after it had a report about other fried peanuts in their local broadcast area.

• One of the news presenters for the local news operation at WPMI-TV (Darwin Singleton) was referring to a reporter for a TV station outside of the TV market for southwest Alabama (Reed Cowan of KSNV-TV in the city of Las Vegas in the state of Nevada) by the name of the company of which their respective broadcast operations were members (the Sinclair Broadcast Group) while presenting a report attributed to that reporter on one of their local news programs for this past Tuesday on the ninth day of this August (specifically the one that usually appeared on their main broadcast channel between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m from Monday through Friday in recent times (it was usually titled "Local 15 Today")).

• One of the weather reporters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (John Nodar) was using the brand name for their companion station ("CW55" for WFNA-TV) while referring to characters for certain programs that usually appeared on the main broadcast channel for the companion station in recent times while interviewing a person about plans for an event in their local broadcast area where members of the public could appear like those characters (this is what he said in reference to those characters: "CW55 characters") while part of a local news program that appeared on their own main broadcast channel this past Tuesday between parts of its presentation of a national TV program from their main provider of network programming ("CBS This Morning" from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)) that day (specifically between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. that day).  

(*the program appeared on their main broadcast channel after it had some special programming from their main provider of network programming (the FOX Broadcasting Company) about a live baseball game involving two professional baseball teams named the Yankees (of the city of New York in the state of New York) and the Rays (of the city of Tampa in the state of Florida)

Commentary: "Super soakers" and promotions for hunting on local TV news programs

• Some of the local news programs for WKRG-TV had reports about hunting crocodiles that sounded more like promotions for the very idea of hunting itself, as if they were meant to encourage certain members of their audience to do some hunting. It made me wonder whether someone in charge of the news department at WKRG-TV had wanted to use their local news programs to promote the idea of hunting wild animals since they have had many reports about folks hunting for crocodiles with videos of their doing so in recent times. Whether this is true or not, I wish they would not have any more reports like those and have more objective reports about hunting in the future.

• I had noticed one of the weather reporters for the local news operation at WPMI-TV (Kelly Foster) using the phrase "super soakers" in reference to rain on one of their local news programs on a regular basis this calendar week, specifically their local news program for Monday through Friday mornings ("Local 15 Today"), and wondered whether she was doing it in honor of the water guns named "Super Soakers" and their creator's (Lonnie Johnson) connection to Mobile (he was born in Mobile) or just for the sake of appearing like a playful sort of person (she was probably told to act that way by a person in charge of the news operation). She should be more serious on her job or else she and the rest of the news department lose members of their audience who simply want information from them and nothing else.

News for Wednesday, August 10th, 2016

 (update note: the report titled "News for Tuesday, August 9th, 2016" was updated)

• A professional voice performer originally from the city of Mobile (named Jeff Davis) did a tribute to it in an audio recording (named "The Azalea City") for operators of radio stations and World Wide Web sites to distribute through their respective stations and sites free of charge (it was uploaded onto a site attributed to him named "The Thought Zone").

• The local news programs that usually appeared on the main broadcast channels for WPMI-TV and WKRG-TV between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. from Monday through Friday in recent times ("Local 15 Today" and "WKRG News 5 This Morning") each had a member of their respective news operations refer to their selves "your back to school station" this past Tuesday on the ninth day of this August (the same words were used in a promotional video for WKRG-TV that started appearing on their main broadcast channel on a regular basis by the previous calendar week).  

• WPMI-TV had an animated duck (named the "puddle duck" and "puddle ducky") that usually only appeared in weather reports for a local news program that usually appeared on the main broadcast channel for WALA-TV from Monday through Friday mornings in recent times ("FOX 10 News in the Morning") appear in weather reports for the one that usually appeared on their own main broadcast channel from Monday through Friday mornings in recent times ("Local 15 Today") both this Wednesday and this past Tuesday (WKRG-TV occasionally had it in some of the weather reports for their own broadcast operation, too).

News for Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 (updated)

• According to the guides to the main broadcast channels for WKRG-TV from Zap2it, Titan TV, and TV Guide, the channel was set to have special regional programming about a live professional football game (involving the Saints of the city of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana and the Patriots of the city of Foxborough in the state of Massachusetts) expected to occur this Thursday on the eleventh day of this August between 6:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. instead of the types of programming it usually had during that time period from Monday through Saturday in recent times (it usually had a syndicated episode of a comedic TV program named "The Andy Griffith Show" between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and a live programming feed from its main provider of network programming (the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)) for the rest of the time period) and that it would have a recording of the type of programming it usually had between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. a few hours later between 12:37 a.m. and 3:37 a.m. (it usually had promotional videos nearly 30 minutes in length between 12:37 a.m. and 2:37 a.m. from Tuesday through Friday in recent times and a news program from its main provider of network programming named "The CBS Overnight News" between 2:37 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. from Tuesday through Friday in recent times). 

(update for Thursday, August 11th: the words "a few hours later between 12:37 a.m. and 3:37 a.m." were linked to an article on the official World Wide Web site for WKRG-TV with the names of the programs set to appear on the live programming feed for their main provider of network programming between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. this Thursday and the order in which they would appear on their main broadcast channel between 12:37 a.m. and 3:37 a.m. this Friday).

News for Monday, August 8th, 2016

• One of the local news programs for WKRG-TV ("WKRG News 5 at Noon" between 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 p.m.) had a live report by a member of a TV station located outside of southwest Alabama (WIAT-TV in the city of Birmingham in the state of Alabama) this Monday (the news presenter for the program (Devon Walsh of WKRG-TV) did not refer to the station by their call letters while introducing the report; she had only used the brand name for their broadcast operation while doing so ("CBS42")).*

• Last Thursday on the fourth day of this August, one of the local news programs for WPMI-TV ("Local 15 Today") had a report about their companion station (WJTC-TV) being set to have programming about football games involving members of the football team for the University of South Alabama in Mobile expected to occur on the Saturday of September 10th (beginning at 6:00 p.m.) and the Saturday of September 17th (beginning at 2:30 p.m.) (the first game was set to be a "home" game for the team for the university in Mobile involving the team for Georgia Southern University in the city of Statesboro in the state of Georgia; the second one was set to be an "away" game for the team for the university in Mobile involving the team for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the city of Lafayette in the state of Louisiana).

(*WKRG-TV and WIAT-TV were members of the same company: Media General). 

News for Sunday, August 7th, 2016

• WKRG-TV had a member of a national TV program based in Mobile (Chelsea Lipford of "Today's Homeowner with Danny Lipford") on the set of their local news programs for a segment of the local news program they had on their main broadcast channel between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. this Sunday ("WKRG News 5 This Morning: Sunday"). 

• Last Monday on the first day of this August, one of the news presenters one on local news program that appeared on the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. that day (Chad Petri on "WKRG News 5 This Morning") was imitating the way one of its regular news presenters (Bill Riales) usually said in response to segments it had about dogs available for adoption seconds after the appearance of such a segment (both of them had lowered the tones of their voices while referring to the dogs in the segments to which they had responded as "big sweet[ies]").*

(*the one named Chad Petri was substituting for the one named Bill Riales that day) 

News for Saturday, August 6th, 2016

• Some of the news presenters for the local news operation at WPMI-TV had used some of their local news programming for this calendar week to solicit questions for only two of the candidates for the presidency of the United States (the names of the candidates were Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump).

• One of the hosts of a local TV program dedicated to entertainment and lifestyles (Michael White of "Studio 10" for WALA-TV) said its other host (Asha Staples) was hosting it for the very first time while introducing her on the program this past Friday on the fifth day of this August (both of them were substituting for the regular hosts of the program (Joe Emer and Chasity Byrd); as for what they mainly did for WALA-TV by then, the one named Michael White mainly did reports about weather for their local news program for Monday through Friday mornings ("FOX 10 News in the Morning") whereas the one named Asha Staples mainly did reports about traffic conditions in their local broadcast area for the same program).

• According to WKRG-TV, technical problems caused their local news program for Saturday mornings ("WKRG News 5 This Morning: Saturday") to have two false starts in its broadcast for this Saturday between 5:00 a.m. and 5:12 a.m. (the first start involved the program being broadcast without audio for only a few seconds before being replaced by a series of promotional videos for a few minutes; the second one involved the program being broadcast for only another few seconds before being replaced by another series of promotional videos for a few minutes in spite of it having audio that time; afterwards it had been replaced by blackness for a few seconds before being replaced by an silent animated sequence with the words "technical difficulties" and a logo for WKRG-TV (with the names of two of the cities in their local broadcast area (Mobile in the state of Alabama and Pensacola in the state of Florida) and their radio frequency (RF) channel (27) below it), for a few minutes before its last start).

News for Friday, August 5th, 2016

(note: all times on this weblog reflect the Central time zone)

• Between 6:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. this Friday, the main broadcast channel for WPMI-TV had a promotional video involving members of their local news operation, various persons from outside their broadcast operation performing different sports, and the words "Go Team USA" during certain breaks in its presentation of a special network program about a special "opening ceremony" for a series of sporting competitions (the Olympic games for the year 2016) from their main provider of network programming (the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)) this Friday.

• According to WPMI-TV, one of the local TV programs that usually appeared on their main broadcast channel on Sunday evenings in recent times ("Local 15 LawCall") was set to begin appearing on the channel on Saturday evenings (between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.) on a temporary basis on the sixth day of this August due to their plan to have special programming about the series of sporting competitions mentioned in the previous paragraph of this report that may come from their main provider of network programming during its regular time period for Sunday nights (between 10:35 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.) after this Saturday.

• Between 7:00 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. this Friday, the main broadcast channel for WFNA-TV had the same programming that appeared on the main broadcast channel for their companion station (WKRG-TV) instead of the one it usually had from Monday through Friday evenings (between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.) in recent times before having no programming of any kind for several minutes each before having the programming feed it usually had from Monday through Friday evenings (the programming that appeared on both broadcast channels was from the main provider of network programming for WKRG-TV (the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)); the programming that later appeared on the main broadcast channel from WFNA-TV was from their own main provider of network programming (the CW).  

News for Thursday, August 4th, 2016

 (one of the paragraphs in the report titled "News for Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016" was amended (one of the amendments made was a correction))

• WFNA-TV had video of some members of their broadcast operation (including members of the news department for their companion station (WKRG-TV)) giving away lemonade in the city of Pensacola in the state of Florida on their local news program ("CW55 News at 9 [p.m.]"*) this past Wednesday on the third day of this August.    

• The main broadcast channel for WALA-TV had a promotional video about their plan to have certain students in their local broadcast area present weather reports on one of their local news programs (the one for Monday through Friday mornings named "FOX 10 News in the Morning"**) every "school day" beginning with the Wednesday on the tenth day of this August.

• Even though the main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV occasionally had a promotional video in which a member of their local news department told their audience they were their "back to school station" this Thursday, the one for WPMI-TV had at least one member of their local news operation referring to their selves as their audience's "back to school headquarters" while presenting a report related to schooling on one of their local news programs this Thursday.  

(*the program was produced by the news department for WKRG-TV) 

(**the same name was used for their local news program for Saturday and Sunday mornings in recent times (one of the weather reporters for the program for Saturday and Sunday mornings (Matt Barrentine) occasionally said "FOX 10 News weekend morning edition" during some of its broadcasts to distinguish it from the news program for Monday through Friday mornings).

News for Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016 (amended and corrected)

 (note: the quotation in the second paragraph in this report was corrected in addition to a hyperlink to the video mentioned in that paragraph being added) 

• WKRG-TV had live videos about some members of their broadcast operation giving away lemonade in the city of Pensacola in the state of Florida on one of their local news programs ("WKRG News 5 at Noon") and official Facebook page this Wednesday.*   

• The main broadcast channel for WKRG-TV had a promotional video for their local news operation with static images of young versions of some members of the operation and audio of a member of the operation (a news presenter and news reporter named Devon Walsh) saying, "Good luck on your first day from WKRG News 5: your back to school station". 

• A group of digital graphics normally used on local news programs for WPMI-TV in recent times (including a scrolling news ticker, some temperatures predicted for certain cities in their local broadcast area, and logos for their broadcast operation and their main provider of network programming (the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)) appeared over some promotional videos they had on their main broadcast channel at a time when one of their local news programs for the channel ("Local 15 Today") usually started appearing on the channel on a daily basis from Monday through Friday in recent times (the segment appeared with the graphics about a minute later (5:01 a.m.)).   

(*the video on the local news program froze while one of the aforementioned members spoke during its broadcast)

News for Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016

• The Alabama Public Radio station in southwest Alabama (WHIL-FM) was broadcasting promotions for programs from National Public Radio ("Morning Edition") and American Public Media ("Marketplace") instead of promotions for programs for the BBC World Service between its broadcasts of some of the programs for the service this Tuesday and this past Monday on the first day of this August.     

• One of the news presenters and news reporters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (Chad Petri) had elaborated on a promotional video for a national TV program from their main provider of network programming ("CBS This Morning" from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)) that appeared on their main broadcast channel during one of the breaks in its presentation of their local news program for the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. ("WKRG News 5 This Morning") this Tuesday while part of the last segment of its broadcast for this Tuesday (he said the "special announcement" mentioned in the video was about a "book club" for the guest of the program mentioned in the video (a broadcaster named Oprah Winfrey).

News for Monday, August 1st, 2016

• WALA-TV had a report about a former member of their broadcast operation having died recently in some of their local news programming for this Monday (his name was said to had been Lee Robinson).

• WKRG-TV had a report about a member of the Senate of the United States from southwest Alabama (Jefferson (Jeff) Sessions) using the studio for their local news programs for a national TV program for the Cable News Network (CNN) this past Sunday on the thirty-first day of this past July in their local news programming for that day and this Monday.

• According to WPMI-TV, the local news program they usually appeared on the main broadcast channel for their companion station between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. from Monday through Friday in recent times ("Local 15 News at 6:30 p.m." for WJTC-TV) was cancelled last Friday on the twenty-ninth day of this past July (they channel had a syndicated news program named "Inside Edition" in place of it this Monday).*

(*the local news program was usually produced by the local news operation for WPMI-TV)

News for Sunday, July 31st, 2016

• Earlier this Sunday, one of the news presenters and news reporters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (Chad Petri) had used part of their local news program for Sunday mornings ("WKRG News 5 This Morning: Sunday") to talk about some flooding that occurred in his former "hometown" in the state of Maryland (Ellicott City) this past Saturday on their thirtieth day of this July.

• One of the news presenters for the local news operation at WKRG-TV (Mel Showers) had erroneously called a former candidate for the presidency of the United States from the past year (Marco Rubio) as "former presidential nominee" while presenting a report about him on one of their local news programs for this past Friday on the twenty-ninth day of this July ("WKRG News 5 at 10 [p.m.]"), 

• Two of the news presenters for the local news operation at WALA-TV (Bob Grip and Lenise Ligon) had initially referred to two of the candidates for the presidency of the United States from the past year (Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton) by only their surnames (or last names) before referring to them by both their forenames (first names) and surnames on one of local news programs they had in their programming this past Friday ("FOX 10 News at 9:00 p.m.").