The further demise of the local news

Last year, as folks who stop by here know, the Casper Star Tribune decided to quit printing their paper in Casper.  It prints now in Cheyenne.

Or, rather, it contracts to have it printed in Cheyenne.  And from its Cheyenne printed newspaper it recently related this bit of local news:

Casper’s KCWY will combine with Cheyenne’s KGWN station, rebranding under a new name, drastically cutting back the number of newscasts here and leaving just four of its reporters in the Oil City, the station and its parent company confirmed Thursday. 

In separate emails, KCWY general manager Jim Beck and Gray Television Executive Vice President Kevin Latek confirmed the “significant change.” By April 9, the two stations will rebrand as “Wyoming News Now” and will run out of Cheyenne. Casper will maintain four employees who will produce a unique newscast at 5 p.m. The other productions — morning, noon, late and weekend — will be simulcast for both Cheyenne and Casper, Beck said in a statement. 

The 6 p.m. newscast will be eliminated and “Jeopardy!” will replace it. It’s unclear if any Casper reporters or staff will move to Cheyenne. Beck wrote that the station “will make every effort to offer impacted employees new positions in Gray stations in larger markets across the country.”

This means that two of Casper's major media outlets are now centered in Cheyenne in some fashion, with the shift in television being more radical than that made in the print media.  The Tribune still writes from Casper, but prints, via a contractor, in Cheyenne.  KCWY, however broadcasts from Cheyenne.

What a radical shift from not even all that long ago.  The other television channel, KTWO, was for some time the only local television station and its news department was a big deal when I was a kid.  Locals, for whatever reason, welcomed it when they got competition, but now they're back to being the only local broadcast station.  Both stations, for some time, have had the feeling to them of being training grounds for television news folks who are moving on to elsewhere, however, with those younger broadcasters being of varying qualities, sometimes great (like sportscaster Taylor McGregor who is now back in her native Denver and broadcasts particularly for the Rockies, at which she is excellent) and sometimes not so much.

The company that owns KCWY has stations all over the United States, and so this can't be regarded as really surprising.  Quite a change, however, from the infancy of television, which isn't really all that old, when television stations were very local, but affiliated with national broadcasters.  Indeed, at one time, KTWO, as it was the only local station, was affiliated with more than one national broadcaster.

Oh well.  I like Jeopardy.