123-632: Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia . The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired The Richmond Daily Times , which later became The Richmond Times-Dispatch . Joseph Bryan's son, John Stewart Bryan succeeded his father as owner and publisher of the Times-Dispatch , which merged with The Richmond News Leader in 1940 to form Richmond Newspapers, Inc. After John Stewart Bryan's death in 1944, his son, D. Tennant Bryan led
246-430: A soft cover . Magazines fall into two broad categories: consumer magazines and business magazines. In practice, magazines are a subset of periodicals , distinct from those periodicals produced by scientific, artistic, academic or special interest publishers which are subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in circulation, and often have little or no advertising. Magazines can be classified as: A newspaper
369-679: A 15-year veteran of WVTM and sports talk radio host. The station also hired other longtime news presenters in Birmingham, including Ken Lass, Mark Prater, and David Neal. WIAT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 42, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30, using virtual channel 42. On May 7, 2012, LIN Media announced that it would purchase
492-539: A UHF channel was of note given that UHF television had proved mostly an economic failure due to lack of transmitter power and the inability of many sets to tune UHF stations. WSGN's owners, the Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company, withdrew their application for channel 42 on November 28, 1956. The withdrawal was part of a consolidation with the Balaban application, which was approved. Of the prospects for
615-484: A book resembling a photo album. The first collection of records to be called an "album" was Tchaikovsky 's Nutcracker Suite , release in April 1909 as a four-disc set by Odeon Records . It retailed for 16 shillings —about £ 15 in modern currency. A music video (also promo) is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song . Modern music videos were primarily made and used as
738-438: A catchall phrase that encompasses the aforementioned along with any game made for any other device, including, but not limited to, advanced calculators, mobile phones, PDAs , etc. Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanical re-creation or amplification of sound , often as music . This involves the use of audio equipment such as microphones, recording devices and loudspeakers. From early beginnings with
861-693: A company focused on media holdings in the Southeast. The company assumed ownership of WBMG in January 1997 and fired 17-year general manager Hoyle Broome in March. His replacement was Eric Land, who arrived from WGRZ in Buffalo, New York . Among Land's first moves was simulcasting WBMG's newscasts on WNAL in Gadsden , which had replaced WJSU as the CBS affiliate in the eastern portion of
984-622: A deal announced in August and completed in October 2006. After the sale, WIAT cemented itself as the number-three station in ratings. It debuted a full-fledged morning newscast in September 2007, and it began attracting noted news personalities under general manager Bill Ballard, who ran the station from 2003 to 2013. Herb Winches, a veteran Birmingham sportscaster for WBRC and WVTM, worked at channel 42 from 2007 to 2008 before being replaced by Jim Dunaway,
1107-465: A deal backed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension fund. The sale of Park led to the end of Herrod's Action News format and combative approach in favor of a more mainstream news presentation with the same amount of crime news as other local stations. A new news director was hired in late 1995; the station initiated new weekend, morning, and 5 p.m. newscasts in 1996; and the newsroom
1230-465: A definitive agreement to be acquired by Nexstar in a deal valued at $ 17.14 per-share, valuing the company at $ 4.6 billion plus the assumption of $ 2.3 billion debt. The combined company will be known as Nexstar Media Group, and own 171 stations, serving an estimated 39% of households. The company will pay Meredith a termination fee of $ 60 million, and give Meredith right of first refusal to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested during
1353-487: A device used to access a mass medium (the Internet). Video games may also be evolving into a mass medium. Video games (for example, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), such as RuneScape ) provide a common gaming experience to millions of users across the globe and convey the same messages and ideologies to all their users. Users sometimes share the experience with one another by playing online. Excluding
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#17328523247701476-678: A marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when Music Television 's format was based on them. In the 1980s, the term "rock video" was often used to describe this form of entertainment, although the term has fallen into disuse. Music videos can accommodate all styles of filmmaking, including animation , live-action films, documentaries , and non-narrative, abstract film . The Internet (also known simply as "the Net" or less precisely as "the Web")
1599-424: A more powerful media than either TV or the internet, starting with mobile being permanently carried and always connected. Mobile has the best audience accuracy and is the only mass media with a built-in payment channel available to every user without any credit cards or PayPal accounts or even an age limit. Mobile is often called the 7th Mass Medium and either the fourth screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens) or
1722-508: A morning newscast, which WBMG had debuted prior to 1997. The station did not begin airing a local morning show until 2000, when it began simulcasting an hour of the morning show hosted by Russ and Dee Fine on WYDE radio. The station added a 6 p.m. evening newscast the next year. Land departed in 2001 when Media General tapped him to run WFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida , the company's flagship television property; he reunited with Cate, who had joined
1845-499: A new Birmingham TV station pushed channel 42 into fourth place in news. When Media General acquired the Park group in 1997, it planned a major overhaul of the long-struggling station. General manager Eric Land fired all of WBMG's on-air presenters as well as other news employees in December 1997. For a month, channel 42 aired a countdown clock at 5 and 10 p.m. while the news department
1968-644: A new company formed by Revolution Capital Group. Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license . Media company Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication . Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films , radio , recorded music, or television . Digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email , social media sites, websites , and Internet-based radio and television. Many other mass media outlets have an additional presence on
2091-547: A new station, which would likely have been an ABC affiliate at that point in time, Roger Thames of The Birmingham News wrote, Personally, I don't believe anybody's going to establish a UHF station in Birmingham. I don't believe there are very many sets in use here which will bring in the UHF signal. And UHF operators elsewhere have had little luck in persuading folks to spend money to gear their sets to get UHF. But ... it costs money to keep an application alive, and something must be in
2214-544: A newscast] that I have ever seen in my life". Land responded to Primo's scathing remarks by comparing the format to the Al Schottelkotte News , a longtime staple of WCPO-TV in Cincinnati from the 1960s until 1990, for which he had been a reporter: "[The Al Schottelkotte News] was very nontraditional, but jam-packed with information." 42 Daily News represented an immediate ratings improvement over its predecessor;
2337-452: A newspaper, or watching the 10 o'clock news, people can log onto the internet to get the news they want, when they want it. For example, many workers listen to the radio through the Internet while sitting at their desk. Even the education system relies on the Internet. Teachers can contact the entire class by sending one e-mail. They may have web pages on which students can get another copy of
2460-607: A number of technologies combined to produce podcasting . Podcasting is an asynchronous broadcast/narrowcast medium. Adam Curry and his associates, the Podshow , are principal proponents of podcasting. The term ' film ' encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. The name comes from the photographic film (also called film stock ), historically the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms for film exist, such as motion pictures (or just pictures and "picture"),
2583-583: A package of four smaller-market NBC affiliates owned by the NBC network, which included WVTM. Media General opted to keep WVTM because its signal reached more households; it also was third in the market in revenue compared to WIAT in fourth. The company put four of its stations up for the sale, including WIAT, to finance the purchase and meet ownership limits in the Birmingham market. WIAT and KIMT in Mason City, Iowa , were sold to Atlanta-based New Vision Television in
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#17328523247702706-462: A particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images and other graphics, and links to other blogs, web pages, and related media. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog) and audio (podcasting), are part of
2829-445: A return to local news production, prompting Tuscaloosa-based WDBB to cancel its low-rated 9 p.m. local newscast. Park invested $ 1.5 million to start WBMG Action News Birmingham , which debuted on January 12, 1987. The news department, with weeknight 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts as well as weekend editions, focused on news in the five-county Birmingham metro area, rather than the much larger news coverage areas of WBRC and WVTM;
2952-443: A shareholder revolt in the wake of an unsolicited offer from Nexstar Broadcasting Group , which agreed to acquire the company in 2016. Several of the veteran personalities hired under Ballard departed in the late 2010s. Prater abruptly left WIAT in April 2018, later pleading guilty to harassing a woman he had dated. Dunaway moved to the news desk in 2015, co-anchoring the evening newscasts with Jackson, before leaving in 2018. He
3075-565: A sister company of its other newspaper holdings under the Omaha World-Herald . The deal closed June 25, 2012. Media General's chairman and former CEO, J. Stewart Bryan III said the company faced a choice: either sell its newspaper division or file for bankruptcy protection. The latter, he said, was "unacceptable." At the end of 2011, Media General had $ 658 million in debt. In October 2012, The Tampa Tribune and its associated print and digital products were acquired by Tampa Media Group, Inc.,
3198-539: A spokeswoman for the Birmingham Zoo , WBMG produced a news special openly asking whether WBRC could be considered a reliable source for reporting on the troubled facility. Doors being slammed in WBMG reporters' faces became a common sight on channel 42's newscasts, and the station did a series of reports on why Birmingham city officials were not talking to WBMG. Even though WBMG's news audience consisted of one to two percent of
3321-461: A theme, which can be exampled with The Wall Street Journal as they offer news on finance and business related-topics. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605, and the form has thrived even in the face of competition from technologies such as radio and television. Recent developments on the Internet are posing major threats to its business model, however. Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and advertising revenue, which makes up
3444-469: A traditional newscast. That's already being done in this market." The station's employees had expected Land to make significant changes. While lead weeknight anchorman Chris Schauble told the Birmingham Post-Herald that he had known as early as Thanksgiving that he was going to be fired, many other staffers did not know exactly what would take place until the firings were announced. A day before
3567-463: A wider network of social media. Microblogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts. RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired , news-oriented community sites like Slashdot , and personal blogs. It is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. An RSS document (which
3690-486: A worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of dubbing or subtitles that translate the original language. A video game is a computer-controlled game in which a video display, such as a monitor or television set, is the primary feedback device. The term "computer game" also includes games which display only text or which use other methods, such as sound or vibration, as their primary feedback device. There always must also be some sort of input device , usually in
3813-436: Is a publication containing news and information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint . It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly. The most important function of newspapers is to inform the public of significant events. Local newspapers inform local communities and include advertisements from local businesses and services, while national newspapers tend to focus on
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3936-607: Is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama , United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group . The station's studios are on Golden Crest Drive atop Red Mountain , where its tower is also located. Channel 42 in Birmingham went on the air as WBMG on October 17, 1965, nearly nine years after its construction was approved. It was the city's third commercial station after channels 6 and 13 (now WBRC and WVTM-TV ), whose very high frequency (VHF) signals carried further than WBMG's ultra high frequency (UHF) signal;
4059-490: Is a more interactive medium of mass media, and can be briefly described as "a network of networks". Specifically, it is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business and governmental networks, which together carry various information and services, such as email , online chat , file transfer, and
4182-499: Is accessible through the Internet, along with many other services including e-mail, file sharing and others described below. Toward the end of the 20th century, the advent of the World Wide Web marked the first era in which most individuals could have a means of exposure on a scale comparable to that of mass media. Anyone with a web site has the potential to address a global audience, although serving to high levels of web traffic
4305-494: Is called a "feed" or "web feed" or "channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays. A podcast is a series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to
4428-403: Is not seen because of an effect known as persistence of vision , whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Also of relevance is what causes the perception of motion: a psychological effect identified as beta movement . Film has emerged as an important art form. They entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. Any film can become
4551-433: Is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for " mainstream media ". Mainstream media are distinguished from alternative media by their content and point of view. Alternative media are also "mass media" outlets in the sense that they use technology capable of reaching many people, even if the audience is often smaller than the mainstream. In common usage, the term "mass" denotes not that a given number of individuals receives
4674-836: Is sometimes misunderstood in this way. It can be used for various purposes: Journalism is the discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying and presenting information regarding current events , trends , issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists . News -oriented journalism is sometimes described as the "first rough draft of history" (attributed to Phil Graham ), because journalists often record important events, producing news articles on short deadlines. While under pressure to be first with their stories, news media organisations usually edit and proofread their reports prior to publication, adhering to each organisation's standards of accuracy, quality and style. Many news organisation claim proud traditions of holding government officials and institutions accountable to
4797-422: Is still relatively expensive. It is possible that the rise of peer-to-peer technologies may have begun the process of making the cost of bandwidth manageable. Although a vast amount of information, imagery, and commentary (i.e. "content") has been made available, it is often difficult to determine the authenticity and reliability of information contained in web pages (in many cases, self-published). The invention of
4920-645: The New York Post speculated that the deal had been called off, believing that the deal was unlikely to receive further shareholder support due to these objections. Both companies have denied that this was the case, and reported that other major shareholders were backing the merger. Media General hired additional firms to evaluate the Nexstar bid. On November 16, Media General rejected the offer but agreed to negotiate after concluding its merger with Meredith. On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into
5043-503: The 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game . On July 30, 2015, Mediacom and Media General reached a new agreement, thereby restoring Media General owned stations to Mediacom subscribers in the affected areas. On July 13, 2016, the FCC issued a $ 700,000 fine against Media General for using a shared services agreement with WAGT to prevent its new owner Gray Television from divesting it in the spectrum incentive auction. On September 8, 2015, it
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5166-481: The Birmingham Post-Herald . One anchor manned the news desk, while the other read stories from various places on the new set. The 2-Minute Drill sportscast was provided by Paul Finebaum , a Post-Herald columnist and radio show host on WERC ; the sportscast in the 5 p.m. newscast aired live on TV and radio. The other weeknight news presenters, like Cate, came from out of the market: Sherri Jackson
5289-565: The United States due to a carriage dispute over retransmission consent fees. This carriage dispute saw Media General stations disappear from Mediacom lineups in 14 television markets across the United States and even three of the Fox affiliates owned by Media General were lost to Mediacom subscribers in Hampton Roads, Virginia , Terre Haute, Indiana , and Topeka, Kansas just before the start of
5412-584: The 10 p.m. newscast, in particular, had increased from a paltry 3% share in February 1997 to a 7% share in February 1998, partly due to having the Winter Olympics as a lead-in. This was not enough to overtake any competitors, but it was higher than the last newscasts as WBMG. Ratings also increased once Birmingham became a metered market, moving to 3 and 4 shares on most nights early in the fall of 1998, and continued their steady climb in early 1999. Some of
5535-532: The Birmingham Television Corporation, which built channel 42, had been unsuccessful in efforts to allocate a third VHF TV channel to Birmingham. The station initially aired the CBS and NBC programs not aired by channel 13 until the two stations each took full-time network affiliations in 1970. It was hemmed in by its weaker signal, the existence of CBS affiliates in Tuscaloosa and Anniston , and
5658-580: The Birmingham Television Corporation—formed by Harry and Elmer Balaban —was incorporated in Alabama and proceeded to file for Birmingham's unused ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 42. That same month, Birmingham radio station WSGN filed for channel 42 as well. It was the second application for television made by WSGN, which had previously sought channel 48 and was an ABC affiliate in radio. The fact that two applicants were seeking
5781-647: The Birmingham ratings, pushing channel 42 to fourth place. Nielsen Media Research , which measures television ratings, proceeded to announce that it would fold Tuscaloosa and Anniston into the Birmingham Designated Market Area as a result of their local stations being merged with WBMA; in addition, it would introduce meters instead of diaries to the enlarged market. Media General , a broadcaster and publisher based in Richmond, Virginia , announced it would purchase Park Communications in July 1996, creating
5904-452: The Internet has also allowed breaking news stories to reach around the globe within minutes. This rapid growth of instantaneous, decentralised communication is often deemed likely to change mass media and its relationship to society. "Cross-media" means the idea of distributing the same message through different media channels. A similar idea is expressed in the news industry as "convergence". Many authors understand cross-media publishing to be
6027-516: The Internet, however, it is questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience when they play the game individually. It is possible to discuss in great detail the events of a video game with a friend one has never played with, because the experience is identical to each. The question, then, is whether this is a form of mass communication. Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by sociologist John Thompson of Cambridge University : The term "mass media"
6150-670: The Master Settlement Agreement between the US and the tobacco industries prohibited the billboard advertising of cigarettes. In a 1994 Chicago-based study, Diana Hackbarth and her colleagues revealed how tobacco- and alcohol-based billboards were concentrated in poor neighbourhoods. In other urban centers, alcohol and tobacco billboards were much more concentrated in African-American neighbourhoods than in white neighbourhoods. Mass media encompasses much more than just news, although it
6273-631: The New Vision Television stations, including WIAT, for $ 330.4 million and the assumption of $ 12 million in New Vision corporate debt. LIN was acquired two years later by Media General, which opted to keep WIAT and divest WVTM, along with WJCL in Savannah, Georgia , to Hearst Television . After purchasing LIN, Media General initially agreed to merge with the Meredith Corporation but faced
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#17328523247706396-494: The WFLA news staff the year before. Finebaum left in May 2002 after a run of more than four years with channel 42; WIAT began broadcasting a digital signal, including high-definition programming, on November 20 of that year. Ratings growth leveled off after several years of the 42 Daily News format, and viewing figures remained flat between 2000 and 2003. While the reporter-less format cost
6519-475: The WHTM sale was discussed two months earlier, it was completed in September 2014, the rest of the transactions would not come into effect until the deal was completed. Hearst Television acquired WVTM and WJCL , and Meredith Corporation acquired WALA . On October 6, the two companies' shareholders approved the deal, and the FCC approved the deal on December 12. The merger was completed on December 19. A condition of
6642-399: The ability to publish in both print and on the web without manual conversion effort. An increasing number of wireless devices with mutually incompatible data and screen formats make it even more difficult to achieve the objective "create once, publish many". The Internet is quickly becoming the center of mass media. Everything is becoming accessible via the internet. Rather than picking up
6765-452: The activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers . With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet , the scope of publishing has expanded to include websites , blogs and the like. WIAT WIAT (channel 42)
6888-425: The air. The Birmingham Television Corporation spent years trying to move a third commercial channel in the more established very high frequency (VHF) band to Birmingham. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the FCC considered adding such a channel to Birmingham on multiple occasions. In 1959, it considered moving channel 8 into Birmingham; WBMG favored a proposal to relocate channel 4 from Columbus, Mississippi , which
7011-583: The bulk of a newspaper's income, is shifting from print to online; some commentators, nevertheless, point out that historically new media such as radio and television did not entirely supplant existing. The internet has challenged the press as an alternative source of information and opinion but has also provided a new platform for newspaper organisations to reach new audiences. According to the World Trends Report , between 2012 and 2016, print newspaper circulation continued to fall in almost all regions, with
7134-517: The class outline or assignments. Some classes have class blogs in which students are required to post weekly, with students graded on their contributions. Blogging , too, has become a pervasive form of media. A blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or interactive media such as images or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order, with most recent posts shown on top. Many blogs provide commentary or news on
7257-471: The company into a period of expansion into television, changing the company's name to Media General in 1969. Media General, Inc. began trading on the American Stock Exchange in 1970. In 1990, J. Stewart Bryan III, great-grandson of Joseph Bryan, became chairman, president and chief executive officer of Media General. The fourth-generation Bryan oversaw the company's expansion into digital media and
7380-587: The company's dissolution in 2017. On January 11, 2017, the FCC approved the sale of Media General to Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $ 4.6 billion. The conglomeration of newspapers was founded in 1940 when owners of Richmond, Virginia 's two newspapers, the Times-Dispatch and News Leader , merged them to form Richmond Newspapers, Inc . In 1966, it purchased a majority interest in the Tampa Tribune , which included WFLA-AM - FM - TV in Tampa , making that
7503-580: The company's first ever foray into television, a strategy that was later used by such acquisition practices. In 1969, as the company's media properties grew and diversified, it was renamed Media General. In 1981, the company began its expansion practice of television stations under the Media General Telecommunications subsidiary. It first purchased WJKS-TV in Jacksonville from Ziff-Davis Broadcasting on December 7, 1981, for $ 18 million,
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#17328523247707626-466: The company, with Meredith shareholders holding 35%. On September 28, it was revealed that Nexstar Broadcasting Group had made an unsolicited cash-and-stock offer for Media General, valued at $ 14.50 per-share. Following the announcement, Media General shareholders Oppenheimer Holdings (7% stake) and Starboard Capital (4.5% stake) opposed the Meredith merger in favor of selling to Nexstar. On October 6, 2015,
7749-465: The conflict, WBRC-TV was sold directly to the Fox network. This deal set off a slow-motion affiliation shuffle in Birmingham as ABC sought a replacement affiliate. ABC negotiated with WBMG and was even reported to be near a deal. Instead, Park Communications signed a long-term renewal with CBS, owing to its upcoming deal to carry Southeastern Conference college sports and the company's lengthy relationship with
7872-504: The deal requires Media General to end the joint sales and shared services agreements it has with stations in Youngstown, Ohio , Dayton, Ohio , and Topeka, Kansas , due to tighter scrutiny such deals are getting by the FCC. Media General received a two-year waiver in those markets to end the JSAs and SSAs. On July 14, 2015, Media General pulled its stations off of Mediacom cable systems across
7995-491: The definition. In the early 2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" came into use. In order of introduction, they are: Each mass medium has its own content types, creative artists, technicians and business models. For example, the Internet includes blogs , podcasts , web sites and various other technologies built atop the general distribution network. The sixth and seventh media, Internet and mobile phones, are often referred to collectively as digital media ; and
8118-539: The dominance of the VHF stations in the ratings. Roy H. Park Broadcasting acquired WBMG in 1973, but WBMG never moved above third in the market. In response to low ratings, the station dropped local news in 1982 and restored it in 1987; the newscasts, titled Action News Birmingham , became known for a combative style and emphasis on metro-area news, but they were never highly viewed. By 1997, syndicated reruns of Sanford and Son attracted more viewers than WBMG's evening news, and
8241-456: The early 2000s, the station moved to a more conventional format and brought in veteran Birmingham news personalities, which made channel 42 more competitive in the market. Media General acquired WVTM-TV in 2006 and sold WIAT to New Vision Television to make the purchase. LIN Media acquired New Vision in 2012, and Media General acquired LIN in 2014—this time, keeping WIAT and selling WVTM. Nexstar purchased Media General in 2017. In March 1956,
8364-527: The east to Tuscaloosa in the west. By this time, Tuscaloosa and Anniston each had their own stations: Tuscaloosa's WCFT (channel 33) debuted in October 1965, while Anniston's WHMA-TV (channel 40) started in October 1969. This situation persisted until May 31, 1970, when WAPI-TV became the sole NBC affiliate under a new agreement with NBC and WBMG the sole CBS affiliate. Likewise, WCFT and WHMA-TV became full-time CBS affiliates. In 1971, WBMG moved into larger studios on Red Mountain. Park Broadcasting,
8487-827: The exception of Asia and the Pacific , where the dramatic increase in sales in a few select countries has offset falls in historically strong Asian markets such as Japan and the Republic of Korea . Most notably, between 2012 and 2016, India 's print circulation grew by 89 per cent. Outdoor media is a form of mass media which comprises billboards, signs, placards placed inside and outside commercial buildings/objects like shops/buses, flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, skywriting, AR advertising. Many commercial advertisers use this form of mass media when advertising in sports stadiums. Tobacco and alcohol manufacturers used billboards and other outdoor media extensively. However, in 1998,
8610-526: The final newscast, on December 31, Land announced that it would be replaced with a clock counting down to the debut of a new newscast on February 5, coinciding with the start of the 1998 Winter Olympics , which aired on CBS; he joked, "More people will probably watch the clock than watched the news broadcast anyway." The story attracted attention well beyond Birmingham; Mark Lorando in the New Orleans Times-Picayune compared Land's mass firing to
8733-469: The firings resulted in legal action against channel 42. Seven Black former employees sued the station for racial discrimination in 1999, alleging they had been fired for their race and that White employees had been treated better; Media General prevailed in multiple state and federal cases. Doug Bell , the station's sports director since 1988, and former general manager Broome each sued Media General for breach of contract. The WIAT relaunch did not include
8856-476: The first programs produced by Mother Angelica , founder of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN); she severed her relationship with WBMG in 1981 when it aired a CBS miniseries based on the 1972 novel The Word , which she believed presented Jesus as a fake. While WBMG debuted a local newscast when it signed on in 1965, its news efforts were generally minimal. One of its first employees
8979-710: The first time in over a century, the Bryan Family would not have a controlling interest in the company. On March 21, 2014, Media General and LIN Media announced that the two companies would merge. The deal, worth an estimated $ 1.6 billion, would create an entity of 71 stations with a combined reach of 24% of U.S. television households. 45 Media General staff members were laid off; CEO George Mahoney stepped down in favor of his LIN counterpart Vincent Sadusky. In order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit future joint sales agreements , some of
9102-412: The form of button/joystick combinations (on arcade games), a keyboard and mouse/ trackball combination (computer games), a controller ( console games), or a combination of any of the above. Also, more esoteric devices have been used for input, e.g., the player's motion. Usually there are rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of
9225-412: The fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast media . Some argue that video games have developed into a distinct mass form of media. While a telephone is a two-way communication device, mass media communicates to a large group. In addition, the telephone has transformed into a cell phone which is equipped with Internet access. A question arises whether this makes cell phones a mass medium or simply
9348-417: The goal was not to be number one but merely to occupy a niche. News director Frank Morock believed the expanding focuses of the other stations left Birmingham and its environs relatively underserved. News viewership for Action News Birmingham hovered between five and nine percent of the audience, a far cry from the shares of 30 percent or above commanded by each of WBRC and WVTM. The newscasts were losing in
9471-401: The hilly Central Alabama terrain. The station produced a number of local programs; these included a public affairs series ( Spectrum ), live studio wrestling, a weekly church service, and annual coverage of Birmingham's Veterans Day parade. In the late 1960s and 1970s, channel 42 offered Sgt. Jack , a children's show hosted by Birmingham disc jockey Neal Miller. Its studios were the home to
9594-474: The interlinked web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web . Contrary to some common usage, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is the system of interconnected computer networks , linked by copper wires, fibre-optic cables, wireless connections etc.; the Web is the contents, or the interconnected documents , linked by hyperlinks and URLs . The World Wide Web
9717-414: The invention of digital recording and the compact disc in 1983 brought massive improvements in ruggedness and quality. The most recent developments have been in digital audio players . An album is a collection of related audio recordings, released together to the public, usually commercially. The term record album originated from the fact that 78 RPM phonograph disc records were kept together in
9840-414: The invention of the phonograph using purely mechanical techniques, the field has advanced with the invention of electrical recording, the mass production of the 78 record , the magnetic wire recorder followed by the tape recorder , the vinyl LP record . The invention of the compact cassette in the 1960s, followed by Sony's Walkman , gave a major boost to the mass distribution of music recordings, and
9963-443: The late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings and television. The explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries made prominent the question: what forms of media should be classified as "mass media"? For example, it is controversial whether to include mobile phones and video games in
10086-421: The latter would purchase the four NBC O&O's as part of a $ 600 million four-station deal between the two companies. On July 28, 2006, Media General announced that they would sell KWCH-TV and its satellites to a Schurz Communications-affiliated company Sunflower Broadcasting for $ 73 million. On August 2, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell WIAT and KIMT to New Vision Television for $ 35 million;
10209-483: The market, a study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that WBMG's Action News aired more local news stories and longer stories than its higher-rated competitors in one week in April 1994, concluding, "Channel 42 was guilty of some editorializing but clearly offered more substance than the other two stations." In 1994, Park Communications sold itself to Donald R. Tomlin and Gary B. Knapp in
10332-597: The merger (a clause that Meredith did not exercise). The deal also includes contingent value rights for Media General shareholders if it sells spectrum from its stations during the FCC's spectrum incentive auction. The transaction was approved on January 11, 2017, with the sale consummated six days later, on January 17. On May 17, 2012, it was announced that investment company Berkshire Hathaway would be acquiring Media General's newspaper division (excluding The Tampa Tribune ). The newspapers were planned to be merged into Berkshire Hathaway's World Media Enterprises division,
10455-599: The network. As a replacement, ABC persuaded the CBS affiliates in Tuscaloosa and Anniston, WCFT and WJSU, to switch affiliations. They would act as full-power satellites of a low-power station in Birmingham, WBMA-LP , with a new combined news operation in Birmingham. The new station, which debuted in September 1996 under the moniker "ABC 33/40", featured veteran Alabama news personalities including WBRC's James Spann and Brenda Ladun, later poaching anchor Pam Huff from WVTM. The newscasts on WBMA immediately rose to third place in
10578-402: The networks' programs, series moved between the stations, sometimes in the middle of the television season. The station broadcast with an effective radiated power of 479,000 watts until 1969, when it activated a new, 894-foot (272 m) tower and increased its power to over a million watts. The new tower was boasted to increase the station's signal in areas from Anniston and Gadsden in
10701-401: The newscast was replaced with short news updates during daytime and evening programming, and the news staff was reduced from five employees to two. The station did not air local newscasts for the next several years; Park instead invested in a new, taller tower and higher-power transmitter facility for WBMG, which were activated in 1983 and 1984, respectively. In late 1986, WBMG began readying
10824-474: The other hand, two or more organisations may share a channel and each use it during a fixed part of the day, such as the Cartoon Network / Adult Swim . Digital radio and digital television may also transmit multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble . When broadcasting is done via the Internet the term webcasting is often used. In 2004, a new phenomenon occurred when
10947-420: The products, but rather that the products are available in principle to a plurality of recipients. The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule . With all technological endeavours a number of technical terms and slang have developed. Radio and television programs are distributed over frequency bands which are highly regulated in the United States. Such regulation includes determination of
11070-418: The public, while media critics have raised questions about holding the press itself accountable to the standards of professional journalism. Public relations is the art and science of managing communication between an organisation and its key publics to build, manage and sustain its positive image. Examples include: Publishing is the industry concerned with the production of literature or information –
11193-411: The radio and television enterprise of Roy H. Park , acquired WBMG in 1973, bringing its station group up to the then-limit of seven outlets. Park continued to make capital investments in channel 42 in spite of its reduced coverage area, including new video tape equipment, electronic news gathering , and a new antenna. However, these changes did not fully help WBMG, whose signal could not fully penetrate
11316-548: The ratings to syndicated reruns on Birmingham's independent station , WTTO , though station management contended and a coincidental telephone survey found that viewership was higher than reflected in ratings diaries. John Herrod left KTXS-TV in Sweetwater, Texas , to become WBMG's news director in 1990. He sought to give the station a defined news image by airing longer, more in-depth stories. Channel 42 also became known for aggressive reporting. When WBRC anchor Janet Hall became
11439-451: The ratings, and they were so poor that not even the anchors' parents watched, Land later recalled. Speculation of a major shakeup was fed by a major research project as well as the resignations of several senior managers over the course of 1997. On December 11, 1997, WBMG fired all of its on-air anchors and reporters as well as other news staffers, a total of 21 people, effective December 31. Land declared, "We just cannot continue to offer
11562-452: The recently renamed WVTM-TV, and the station had no newscast at 10 p.m. General manager Hoyle Broome touted the straightforward format of his newscast as an alternative. The newscast, known as Metro News , was then moved to 5 p.m. in hopes of attracting an audience as the first newscast of the evening; WVTM dashed those hopes by debuting a 5 p.m. newscast of its own, prompting station officials to reevaluate. In March 1982,
11685-590: The sale of Media General's newspaper division to Berkshire Hathaway in 2012. J. Stewart Bryan III remained chairman of Media General until his death on January 23, 2016. In 2013 and 2014, Media General expanded significantly through mergers with Young Broadcasting and LIN Media . After the latter merger, LIN Media CEO Vincent L. Sadusky became chief executive officer of Media General while former Young Broadcasting CEO Deborah A. McDermott led station operations as Chief Operating Officer. Long-time Media General CFO James F. Woodward remained as Chief Financial Officer until
11808-740: The sale was approved on November 8, 1982. On July 5, 1982, the company bought out WCBD-TV in Charleston from the State Telecasting Company for $ 8 million, the deal was approved on January 24, 1983. In 1982 the company acquired The William B. Tanner Company (previously known as Pepper-Tanner), a commercial radio jingle production company headquartered in Memphis . It was divested in 1988. In 1987, Media General, which included its Media General Broadcast Group comprising three television stations at that time, as well as its cable systems in various areas
11931-401: The sale was finalized on October 12, 2006. Between 2006 and 2008, Morris Network, a division of Morris Multimedia bought out two station properties, WDEF and WTVQ , the former's price for WDEF cost $ 22 million, and the latter's price for WTVQ-TV cost $ 16.5 million, totaling up a $ 38.5 million budget for the combined two stations. On October 29, 2007, Media General announced that the company
12054-532: The series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which nearly every news staffer was fired. During this time, the news department was reconstructed with input from focus groups and market research. The newsroom also kept functioning; the station sent coverage of the January 29 bombing of the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham's Southside neighborhood by Eric Rudolph to CBS Newspath , CNN , and stations in neighboring markets, even though it
12177-543: The series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. Mobile phones were introduced in Japan in 1979 but became a mass media only in 1998 when the first downloadable ringing tones were introduced in Finland. Soon most forms of media content were introduced on mobile phones, tablets and other portable devices, and today
12300-404: The silver screen , photoplays , the cinema , picture shows , flicks and, most commonly, movies . Films are produced by recording people and objects with cameras , or by creating them using animation techniques or special effects . Films comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown in rapid succession, an illusion of motion is created. Flickering between frames
12423-456: The slogan of the station's new 42 Daily News newscasts, which aired at 5 and 10 p.m. The Daily News format eschewed on-camera reporters; stories were packaged into topical minute segments such as "Alabama Minute" and "Education Minute". The format earned comparisons to CNN Headline News from Keith Cate , who came from WMAR-TV in Baltimore to serve as lead co-anchor, and an article in
12546-525: The sole owner of the Birmingham Television Corporation when it bought out the Balabans' stake. In November 1964, Winston-Salem Broadcasting filed to sell a two-thirds stake to four investors: William P. Dubois, Enterprise Funds Inc., Northwest Growth Fund Inc., and Exchange Capitol Corporation. The FCC approved this transaction in March 1965. With the new ownership, plans were set in motion to construct WBMG, with Dubois as general manager. Even at this juncture,
12669-470: The state. The station also ended its longtime relationship with UAB athletics; Broome, a noted booster, was known for preempting CBS prime time programming for sports. Land's priority was to fix the news department; he had previously overseen major overhauls at WGRZ and at WEYI-TV in Saginaw, Michigan . The station's newscasts had sunk below The Andy Griffith Show on WTTO and Sanford and Son on WABM in
12792-453: The station attempted to improve its position by filing for the lower channel 21. WBMG began broadcasting on October 17, 1965. The quarters it occupied on Red Mountain had belonged to radio station WJLD and were designed to accommodate a television operation. WBMG did not hold a primary network affiliation at launch. WAPI-TV (channel 13) held the primary affiliations with CBS and NBC in central Alabama, and not all of their programming
12915-539: The station less—the WIAT news department had 25 employees in 2003, compared to 70 at WBRC—it was not prospering against more traditional news competition and with a lack of recognizable faces. Beginning in 2005, WIAT produced a 9 p.m. newscast for WTTO, at that time the market's affiliate of The WB . The new WIAT production replaced WTTO's News Central hybrid newscast and required the expansion of channel 42's news staff. In 2006, Media General announced it would acquire
13038-475: The stations would be sold to several other companies in five markets ( Birmingham , Green Bay , Mobile , Providence and Savannah ) where both groups already own stations. On August 20, 2014, Media General and LIN Media announced several sales. Media General sold WJAR , WLUK , WTGS and WCWF to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in exchange for Sinclair's KXRM , KXTU , WHTM and WTTA . Although
13161-665: The ten best-selling printed books were originally released as mobile phone books. Similar to the internet, mobile is also an interactive media , but has far wider reach, with 3.3 billion mobile phone users at the end of 2007 to 1.3 billion internet users (source ITU). Like email on the internet, the top application on mobile is also a personal messaging service, but SMS text messaging is used by over 2.4 billion people. Practically all internet services and applications exist or have similar cousins on mobile, from search to multiplayer games to virtual worlds to blogs. Mobile has several unique benefits which many mobile media pundits claim make mobile
13284-434: The third screen (counting only TV and PC). A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising or purchase by readers. Magazines are typically published weekly , biweekly , monthly , bimonthly or quarterly , with a date on the cover that is in advance of the date it is actually published. They are often printed in colour on coated paper , and are bound with
13407-477: The total value of media consumed on mobile vastly exceeds that of internet content, and was worth over $ 31 billion in 2007 (source Informa). The mobile media content includes over $ 8 billion worth of mobile music (ringing tones, ringback tones, truetones, MP3 files, karaoke, music videos, music streaming services, etc.); over $ 5 billion worth of mobile gaming; and various news, entertainment and advertising services. In Japan mobile phone books are so popular that five of
13530-458: The virtual universe. In common usage, an " arcade game " refers to a game designed to be played in an establishment in which patrons pay to play on a per-use basis. A "computer game" or " PC game " refers to a game that is played on a personal computer. A " Console game " refers to one that is played on a device specifically designed for the use of such, while interfacing with a standard television set. A "video game" (or "videogame") has evolved into
13653-1171: The web, by such means as linking to or running TV ads online, or distributing QR codes in outdoor or print media to direct mobile users to a website. In this way, they can use the easy accessibility and outreach capabilities the Internet affords, as thereby easily broadcast information throughout many different regions of the world simultaneously and cost-efficiently. Outdoor media transmits information via such media as augmented reality (AR) advertising ; billboards ; blimps ; flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes); placards or kiosks placed inside and outside buses, commercial buildings, shops, sports stadiums, subway cars, or trains; signs; or skywriting . Print media transmit information via physical objects, such as books , comics , magazines , newspapers , or pamphlets . Event organising and public speaking can also be considered forms of mass media. Mass media organisations or mass media companies that control these technologies include movie studios, publishing companies, and radio and television stations (the latter are also sometimes known as mass media networks ); they often form media conglomerates . In
13776-570: The width of the bands, range, licensing, types of receivers and transmitters used, and acceptable content. Cable television programs are often broadcast simultaneously with radio and television programs, but have a more limited audience. By coding signals and requiring a cable converter box at individual recipients' locations, cable also enables subscription -based channels and pay-per-view services. A broadcasting organisation may broadcast several programs simultaneously, through several channels ( frequencies ), for example BBC One and Two . On
13899-405: Was Bill Bolen, who had worked at WSGN radio and later left to spend 41 years at WBRC; he recalled channel 42 as "primitive". By 1977, the news staff numbered four people, while WBRC and WAPI-TV each had 20 or more employees in their news departments. Few people watched. In 1981, WBMG's 6 p.m. newscast attracted six percent of the audience at that hour to 49 percent for WBRC and 33 percent for
14022-499: Was also denied. In 1963, it opted to deny the addition of channel 3. The pending proceedings spared the unbuilt station, with the call sign WBMG, from deletion. In 1960, the FCC sent letters to the permittees of 54 unused or unbuilt UHF stations, including WBMG, ordering them to resume or lose the permit. WBMG and a permit in Grand Rapids, Michigan , were spared due to the pending proposals. In 1963, Winston-Salem Broadcasting became
14145-815: Was announced that Media General would acquire Meredith Corporation in a cash and stock deal valued at $ 2.4 billion. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be consummated in June 2016. The combined company was to be known as Meredith Media General, and become the third-largest owner of television stations in the United States—serving an estimated 30% of households. In order to comply with FCC regulations, some stations would have been sold to other companies in six markets where both groups already own stations (Greenville-Spartanburg, Hartford-New Haven, Mobile, Nashville, Portland (OR) and Springfield (MA)). Media General shareholders would have controlled 65% of
14268-468: Was expanded from 1,500 square feet (140 m ) to 3,900 square feet (360 m ). Meanwhile, a major realignment of television station affiliations and ownership was brewing in the market. In May 1994, New World Communications agreed to affiliate 12 stations with Fox , including ABC affiliate WBRC-TV, which it had just agreed to buy from Citicasters . At the same time, New World agreed to buy Argyle Television, owner of NBC affiliate WVTM-TV; to resolve
14391-404: Was exploring the sale of WCWJ , KALB-TV , WMBB , and WNEG-TV . On March 14, 2008, the company reached an agreement to sell KALB and WMBB to Hoak Media . The deal was closed on July 16. On June 25, 2008, Media General announced the sale of WNEG-TV to the University of Georgia . On January 28, 2009, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase WCWJ. The deal
14514-510: Was finalized on May 1, 2009. On June 6, 2013, Young Broadcasting announced that it would merge with Media General. On November 8, the FCC approved the merger. The merger closed on November 12. Following the merger, the new company was owned 67.5 percent by Young shareholders and 32.5 percent by Media General shareholders. The combined company owned 30 stations, reaching 14% of the United States. and continued to operate as Media General. Headquarters would remain in Richmond, Virginia , however, for
14637-581: Was hired from WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia , while Declan Cannon had worked at The Weather Channel . Al Primo , who created the Eyewitness News format at KYW-TV in Philadelphia in 1965, delivered sharp criticism of what he felt was "a product that was generated solely by research and implemented by people who don't know anything about the news business" and "the most disjointed presentation [of
14760-474: Was not airing a newscast. The reason we did [the call sign change] was because the perception of WBMG was so bad and the news produced was so bad. We had to make a clear break. ... That included changing the call letters. Micah Johnson, WIAT news manager On that date, at 5 p.m., viewers saw Land push a plunger to blow up the WBMG logo before an audience of Birmingham community leaders. The station changed its call sign to WIAT, for It's About Time,
14883-448: Was rebuilt from scratch, a tactic that attracted national attention. On February 5, 1998, the station changed its call letters to WIAT—for its new slogan, "It's About Time"—and relaunched its newscasts as 42 Daily News . The news programs featured short stories, no on-camera reporters, and a high story count; while still in fourth place, they were a marked improvement in quality and ratings over their predecessors. After ratings plateaued in
15006-590: Was seen in Birmingham as a result; channel 42 filled this gap by airing the network shows not aired on channel 13. This was illustrated in its first day of programming: the inaugural program was an NBC News special, but later in the evening the station aired The Ed Sullivan Show from CBS. Likewise, WBMG aired the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on weeknights. Carson had gone unseen in Birmingham in several years. Because WAPI-TV had first-call rights on
15129-659: Was sold off to a group led by The Giant Group, a firm owned by Burt Sugarman , which purchased a stake for $ 103.8 million, with backing also held by television production company Barris Industries . In 1996, Media General acquired Park Acquisitions, the holding company for Park Communications, formerly owned by the media entrepreneur Roy H. Park . In 1999, Media General bought Spartanburg-based Spartan Communications , which increased Media General's station portfolio from 14 to 27. Four NBC-owned stations in smaller markets were put up for sale on January 9, 2006. On April 6, NBC Owned Television Stations and Media General announced that
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