The St. Joseph News-Press & Gazette Company has announced it will launch a new FOX TV station this spring tentatively called “KSJO,” according to a story by assistant city editor Greg Kozol in the News-Press.
The family-owned NPG company, which publishes the St. Joseph News-Press newspaper, received an over-the-air license allowing it to broadcast the signals for three network stations — FOX, Telemundo and The CW — within a 30-mile radius of an existing tower on 16th Street.
The programming from the three stations will be available to area viewers with a digital antenna and a television or set-top box with digital capability. Plans also call for NPG to offer the stations to cable television providers in the region.
Eric Bradley, newly appointed general manager for the local broadcast properties, said the goal is to build on the news offerings of the News-Press daily newspaper as well as its website and smart phone and tablet platforms.
He noted FOX is popular with young and older adults and offers a mix of prime-time programming and sports, including NFL Football, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, “American Idol,” “The Simpsons” and “Glee.” He also said FOX offers flexibility for affiliates, including a 9 p.m. local news slot and large windows for syndicated programming.
Bradley said Spanish-language Telemundo is popular with the country’s growing Hispanic population, and The CW is an entertainment network that targets women between the ages of 18 and 34.
The FOX and News-Press 3 NOW stations will operate out of the studios in the News-Press newsroom in Downtown St. Joseph. The company says it will add jobs and make a significant investment to get the new stations off the ground.
ST. JOE WILL LAUNCH FOX STATION
7 Responses
Leave a Reply
Featured Clients
With WDAF already on cable in St Joe, who needs a redundant service? All the News-Press is trying to do here is to transition out of the newspaper business into one no one needs or wants. I can’t imagine anyone in St Joe being happy when they can’t watch Channel 4 anymore. And Telemundo? No habla espanol en St Joe.
WDAF won’t be carried in St. Joe due to DMA restrictions.
It will be kind of like it is already with ABC. They carry KQ2 and KMBC on the local cable and you can get both on your antenna too.
Actually, you’re wrong. WDAF is significantly viewed which allows it to be on cable. WDAF can’t be dropped because it is so heavily viewed. Plus the crap that the News-Press has in mind doesn’t exactly qualify for must carry either. Its more like Must NOT see TV.
But Topeka,KS already has one. Maybe parts of KC could picked them up.
It could be successful. Does anybody know which affiliate KQ2 is, anyway? I’ve always thought the newspaper reporting in St. Joseph leaves the other media outlets behind, so if they can transition that into television, it would be great. Most of the Kansas City news stations don’t really cover the northwest Missouri area + Atchison, KS. NPGCO does. And, I think St. Joseph is easily large enough and isolated enough of a market to have two television news offerings. Like most news organizations, they will have to hit the ground running with some hard, investigative news to establish a good reputation.
With Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas’ blue collar communities, many young adults are dependent on older news consumption habits, such as newspaper and television. That kind of thing really interests advertisers, especially small business owners like my family in Atchison.
KQ2 is an ABC affiliate, but I’m still sure KMBC trumps them in the overall ratings.