Studio 31 Media Archive's video: WZMQ-DT2 19 News at 11:00 Full 1 26 2022

Complete 11pm newscast on the new CBS affiliate serving Marquette, Michigan that's owned by Lilly Broadcasting out of Erie, PA. Recorded Wednesday, January 26, 2022. So, at this point, we all know what happened in Marquette. Nexstar, who owns the previous CBS affiliate, WJMN, itself a former O&O, had 13 stations whose affiliations ran out at the end of 2021, and renewal negotiations had come down to the wire. Apparently, Nexstar tried to play hardball with CBS and so CBS pulled the affiliation from WJMN and gave it to Lilly Broadcasting with three days notice (Nexstar quickly renewed their remaining CBS affiliates right after, proving that networks still hold a lot of leverage over local stations in 2022). It's something that is pretty unheard of in TV, and I've seen many bizarre things happen in the industry. I've covered the previous CBS affiliate and its transition to independence (or "MyNetworkTV affiliate" because some of you insist despite that not being a legit network) extensively. But, I haven't posted the other side of the coin, the new CBS affiliate (on 19.2 for now with plans to move to the main channel at some point) and its attempt at local news. That is, until now. I meant to have this up much sooner and apologize for not doing that as I have had a lot going on. Lilly, impressively, was able to have news on the air the day they flipped to CBS (Friday, January 21). It is an attempt, and I'll leave it at that because the people here are trying given the little advance notice and lack of resources in Marquette. It is pretty much done by the same crew that does the 10pm newscast for the Erie, PA CW affiliate, anchor/producer Haley Potter and weather from chief weather anchor John Stehlin. One thing I do not like is that they try to pass Haley off as being in Marquette when she clearly isn't. She will turn packages about Marquette news events from Erie with interviews over Zoom. It's great technology allows this but in my opinion, it is hard to cover local news when you're hundreds of miles away. I believe they are trying to hire a separate Marquette anchor, meteorologist, and reporters for this, so I don't want to be too harsh, but I am calling it like I see it. Adding on to this, a couple of weekends ago, they physically sent Haley Potter to Marquette to cover the dog sled races that were happening, adding on to the illusion that she is based there when she isn't (I wouldn't be surprised if promos were also shot with her while she was physically in the market). Speaking of shooting promos, it appears Lilly quickly got a promo crew to Marquette to shoot some drone and area video of Marquette for use in promos, bumps, and the close. They run the same "This Is Home" image spot in most breaks and the dreariness of the clouds is consistent in all of these shots, a dead giveaway that it was all shot in one day. The station uses a modified version of the same in-house graphics that the Erie News Now cluster uses with the same music ("This Is Home V.2" from Warner-Chappell Production Music) and same voiceover (Josh Goodman) as well. And of course, they use the slogan "This Is Home", which has become a Lilly trademark thanks to Lilly EVP Brian Trauring bringing it over when he came from WTVG (where they used the slogan, music and image campaign for a bit but no longer use it at all). One thing that I do not like is that they are basically pulling a mid-2000s WOIO by using two different logos: one for the station as a whole, and one for news only. The CBS 19 logo used in the newscasts is fine and should be the main station logo. The other one is just unnecessarily clunky and not needed. The station originally launched its CBS-era by filling the holes in its schedule with MeTV programming. To Lilly's credit, they are slowly starting to fill off-network periods with syndicated programming, albeit bottom barrel fare such as "Jerry Springer", "People", and Byron Allen junk like "Comics Unleashed" and "ES.TV", as well as a random 9am simulcast of the CBS News streaming channel. I will give them credit for trying to put something on the schedule given that WJMN got to keep its more high-profile programs. Anchored by Haley Potter, with weather from chief weather anchor John Stehlin. No sports segment is featured. Includes reports from Mandy Gaither (CNN Newsource), Rachel Knapp (Lilly Washington, DC Correspondent), one from Potter, and one from an unidentified CNN reporter. Commercials are edited out, station promos have been retained. CBS Newspath packages were removed due to copyright issues. ©2022 Lilly Broadcasting and WZMQ-TV, no copyright infringement intended. For educational and historical purposes only. We do not profit off of this video. open, news open, news close, close, tease, stinger, promo, promotion, bump, talent rejoin, talent sting, talent open, talent bump, lilly logo, lilly endtag, lilly close, lilly id