By default, picking a local television news team will get a bit easier next week.
Local 10 p.m. newscasts will drop from three to two Monday as KVLY and KXJB begin broadcasting identical news reports, said Charley Johnson, general manager of the affiliates of NBC and CBS, respectively.
Johnson announced the plans to simulcast the night-time news shows on channels 11 and 4 after Friday's 6 p.m. broadcast on KVLY.
KXJB will also begin broadcasting "Valley Today," KVLY's morning show, starting Monday.
Shared newsroom,
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10 p.m. simulcasts
The stations has shared a newsroom and had simulcast at 10 p.m. on weekends since April.
Going to a single nightly news report during the week should improve the quality, Johnson said, eliminating the need to parse reporting between the two.
"It's really hard to do two newscasts at once," he said. "Especially at 10 o'clock, we're going to be able to do one newscast and do it really well."
Dallas-based Hoak Media Corp. owns KVLY and runs KXJB, which is owned by Parker Broadcasting, also of Dallas.
Analyst's commentIt is not unusual for one company to own or operate two stations in one city, said Al Tompkins, a faculty member at The Poynter Institute, a journalism school in St. Petersburg, Fla. But it is unusual for both stations to feature the same newscast, Tompkins said.
"Typically, they're run as separate entities," he said.
No personnel will be let go as a result of the move, Johnson said.
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A mix of anchors from both stations will helm the on-air slots, and the noon newscasts and 5:30 p.m. newscasts on KXJB and the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. programs on KVLY will run on only one station.
Johnson leaves airAs for Johnson, the shuffle moves him off-air for the first time in 32 years.
"Your on-air career has been nothing short of extraordinary," co-anchor Robin Huebner told him during Friday's broadcast.
"I can finally stop putting on makeup every night. Maybe my complexion will clear up," Johnson joked.
A new weathermanFriday's announcement also confirmed that Hutch Johnson, formerly of KXMB in Bismarck, will replace fired meteorologist Tom Szymanski on KVLY and KXJB. He will make his first on-air appearance Monday.
Szymanski has been hired to replace Johnson at KXMB and begins Wednesday.
The Forum and the Herald are both Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
