'Mobile' Media
I checked in with Mobile-Pensacola for my Market Eye profile in the new issue, where the optimism is similar to what I’m hearing from a lot of markets nationwide. The giant German manufacturing outfit ThyssenKrup is hiring at all levels; between that and the heavy military presence in DMA No. 60, station GMs say the employment picture should look pretty darn stable for the foreseeable future.
WEAR does local news in HD.
The stations are planning for that future. Sinclair’s MyNet outlet WFGX is putting up a new transmitter to help the station, formerly a low-power outlet, cover the whole of the vast market. Media General’s WKRG is hiring for some of the positions that were reduced in the last few years.
There are good economic signs all around. “Business is picking up–it’s certainly better than last year,” WKRG boss Joe Goleniowski told me. “Auto has come back, retail has come back…Pretty much all the categories have come back.”
Mario500 commented:
The Mobile-Pensacola TV market is a very interesting one due to the history of the stations, the broadcasters, the ownership of the stations, the programming, and the communities that make up the market in three states (Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi). The stations here may not be perfect or any different than most TV stations, but they are very interesting to me. Hopefully they will get better once the next generation of broadcasters come in and provide viewers with the best service in local, network, and syndicated programming after learning from the mistakes of the past and present.