Weekend of December 6-7 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Sunday December 7

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- New York Giants vs. Tennessee 1:00PM (Thom Brennaman, David Diehl)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Seattle vs. Philadelphia  4:25PM (Joe Buck, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

Todd Wallace Staying at WPRI

Viewers will recognize Todd Wallace on WPRI, he has been a freelance reporter with the station since May of 2013. However with the recent hiring of Perry Russom and Tatevik Aprikyan it seemed unclear if WPRI would still need Wallace's services.

That question appeared to be answered on Monday when Wallace was added to the news team section of WPRI.com and once again began appearing on newscasts. According to his bio which can be read here Todd, his wife, and his dogs have settled in East Providence.

Todd is a great asset to WPRI, he has been an anchor in several major television markets including Dallas, and Indianapolis. When he started as an anchor in Indiana the station was so excited about there new team, they sent Todd and his co-anchor on a bus tour around the state. Check out the 2007 promo below.

While the pairing did not last, Wallace found his way to Boston as a freelance reporter for WCVB before coming to Providence.

Channel 12 has always had great freelance reporters over the years. Freelancers at the station are not usually required to shoot and edit, meaning more experienced reporters will take the jobs, as opposed to younger inexperienced reporters who take the full time VJ positions.

NBC 10 With A Clean Sweep in November 2014 Ratings Period

WJAR has been the overall winner in the Providence market for decades now. The most recent ratings period was no different. The station won every time slot. The station even won in sizable margins in all morning half hour time periods. In recent ratings periods WPRI had won the 4:30 and sometimes the 5:00AM hour. The ratings numbers determine how valuable commercial time is on the local stations.

This is the entire news release from WJAR today.

"NBC 10 was once again the most watched television news station in Southern New England during the recently completed November ratings period, according to preliminary data from the Nielsen Company*. In all head-to-head newscasts, more Southern New England homes were tuned to NBC 10 News than any other newscast in the Providence-New Bedford market.

NBC 10 News Sunrise at 4:30am - #1

NBC 10 News Sunrise at 5:00am - #1

NBC 10 News Sunrise at 5:30am - #1

NBC 10 News Sunrise at 6:00am - #1

NBC 10 News at Noon - #1

NBC 10 News at 5:00pm - #1

NBC 10 News at 5:30pm - #1

NBC 10 News at 6:00pm - #1

NBC 10 News at 11:00pm - #1

NBC 10 News Weekend Sunrise - #1

NBC 10 News at 6:00 (Sat/Sun) - #1

NBC 10 News at 11:00 (Sat/Sun) - #1

NBC 10 News Conference - #1

With a 9.4 rating, NBC 10 News at 6:00pm remains the highest rated newscast in the market and beats the competition combined. In fact, NBC 10 News Sunrise, Noon, 5:00pm, 5:30pm, 6:00pm and 11:00pm all beat the competitions' newscasts combined. With a 5.7 rating, NBC 10 News at 7:00pm remains one of the most-watched 7pm newscasts in the country.

Unlike its nearest competitor, NBC 10 experienced ratings growth in all evening newscasts. NBC 10 News at 7:00pm and 11:00pm experienced the biggest increases, with 10% and 8% year-to-year ratings surges respectively.

Once again, the competition simulcast its morning newscasts on two different networks at the same time and combined the two audiences into a single ratings number. Despite this strategy, NBC 10 News

Sunrise remains #1, beating the competition by 40% in the 6am hour alone.

NBC 10 Weekend Sunrise and the Saturday/Sunday editions of NBC 10 News at 6:00 and 11:00 perform equally as well, remaining number one in their time periods and also beating the competition combined. NBC 10 also has the most watched Sunday morning political affairs program. Viewed in an average of 13,000 households each Sunday morning, 10 News Conference has twice the audience as the nearest competitor. “We are thankful to our loyal viewers for once again turning to 10 for all of their news and weather needs,” said Chris Lanni, NBC 10 News Director. “As always, the NBC 10 I-Team worked tirelessly throughout the month to earn our viewers' trust and investigate stories that make a difference in our viewers' lives.”

The NBC 10 I-Team focused on how millions of dollars in taxpayer money is being spent and, in some cases, wasted. NBC10 I-Team reporter Parker Gavigan exposed questionable spending, salaries, and employee perks at the RI Convention Center Authority, a quasi-public business that continues to lose money annually. As a result of our investigation, state lawmakers promise to take a closer look at the authority's financial records. Responding to complaints from viewers, NBC 10 I-Team reporter Katie

Davis asked state officials to justify Rhode Island's controversial vehicle valuation system. Owners are taxed on values that can be two or three times a car or truck's actual worth, and the overwhelming

majority of appeals were rejected. The I-Team obtained public records revealing that in the few cases where a value was changed, it was actually adjusted to be higher.

NBC 10 News also dominated the market's political coverage in November as the election season came to a conclusion. NBC 10 hosted a total of seven debates during the political season, more than any other local TV station. Viewed in 50,000 households, NBC 10's final gubernatorial face-off was the highest-rated debate of the season on any station. NBC 10's election night coverage also dominated the airwaves. With the exclusive NBC 10 Election Call Center, WJAR was able to predict the results of nearly every race before the competition. In addition, only NBC 10 News provided non-stop election night coverage from 7:00pm – 11:30pm. At the peak of the evening's coverage, 75,000 households were tuned into NBC 10 News, an audience 38% larger than the nearest competitor.

WJAR's main web page, www.turnto10.com, continues to be an informative force in the market. According to the latest available statistics, NBC 10's news site had 6.4 million page views and 722,000 unique visitors in November.

WJAR's social media pages continue to be the largest among all media outlets in the TV market. NBC 10's Facebook approached 119,000 fans in November, while the news department's main Twitter page just surpassed 30,000 followers."

Weekend of November 29-30 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Saturday November 29

College Football
ABC6/WLNE-Michigan vs. Penn State 3:30PM (Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham)
*NOTE: Baylor vs. Texas Tech  can be seen on ESPN2

Sunday November 30

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- San Diego vs. Baltimore 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- New England vs. Green Bay  4:25PM (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- New Orleans vs. Pittsburgh (Thom Brennaman, Donovan McNabb)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

Julie Tremmel Settles with WJAR

By now just about everyone knows the tale of Julie Tremmel. She is the NBC10 reporter who was fired after doing a handstand during a Friday night live-shot during a story about Americas Got Talent. She originally gained international fame for doing a theatrical performance of how to avoid being attacked by a bear.

Tremmel who was fired just days after the handstand story announced on Tuesday that she had reached a settlement with the station and could now look for other jobs.  Tremmel like all on air WJAR employees was represented by the IBEW union. No details of her settlement were released and WJAR did not make any comments to the Providence Journal.

While Tremmel worked in Providence for a year and a half, she spent several years working in Albany N.Y at WXXA-TV-FOX 23 (now defunct) and WWLP-TV-22 in Springfield Mass. Following her firing she appeared on the John DePetro show on WPRO-AM to discuss the incident. Listen to the full interview here.

Click here to view all of Julie Tremmel's videos (bear attack, handstand, etc) 

November 23 NFL ON CBS Replacement Game Determined

CBS is the television network for this weeks NFL doubleheader. The early game for the PVD-NB market was scheduled to be the New York Jets vs. the Buffalo Bills. Of course the massive lake effect snowstorm in Buffalo caused the game to be postponed and will now be played Monday night in Detroit.

AIRING SUNDAY AT 1PM ON CBS:

WPRI-12 will replace the New York Jets vs. Buffalo game in this market with the primary time slot distribution game of  the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Houston Texans.

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Cincinnati vs. Houston 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

FOR THOSE WHO WANTED TO SEE JETS VS. BILLS:

If you were really looking forward to the Jets and the Bills on your television you are probably out of luck in Rhode Island. Monday nights 7PM telecast is only being aired on CBS, and only in the following markets: New York City, Buffalo, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Binghamton, Elmira, Watertown.

The only legal way around this is if you have Direct TV Sunday NFL Ticket, the CBS telecast will air on that package nationwide to subscribers. If not, you can drive to Detroit, tickets are free.

Short Timer: General Sales Manager Steve Eaton Done at ABC6

Steve Eaton is no longer the General Sales Manager at ABC6. He parted ways with WLNE on or around November 10. Eaton had been named the sales manager at channel 6 in May of this year.

He had most recently been the local sales manager at KOAA -TV the ABC affilaite in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A longtime TV sales manager Eaton had also worked at WYFF-TV (Greenville, South Carolina) and WKCF (Orlando, Florida).

No word on how the departure came about, although station insiders report ABC6 General Manager Chis Tzianabos had spent the week before in Florida at corporate meetings with other Citadel big wigs. Tzianabos returned from the meetings round the time Eaton left the affiliate.

THE REPLACEMENT:

National Sales Manager Cindy Walsh has been named the General Sales Manager at ABC6. She had started at the station as a Account Executive in 2011, and was promoted to the National Sales Manager job after just a few months.

HELP WANTED:

ABC6 is now looking for a National Sales Manager, and an account executive to join the station.

 

Regional Sports TV Listings for November 22-23

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Saturday November 22

College Football
ABC6/WLNE-Boston College vs. Florida State 3:30PM (Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham)
*NOTE: Wisconsin vs. Iowa  can be seen on ESPN2

Sunday November 23

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- New York Jets vs. Buffalo  1:00PM (Spero Dedes, Solomon Wilcots)
NOTE: GAME POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER, REPLACEMENT GAME LISTING TO BE ANNOUNCED

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Miami vs. Denver 4:25PM (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Detroit vs. New England 1:00PM (Joe Buck, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

Adam Bagni moving from Sports to News at WJAR

According to TVSPY WJAR sports reporter and producer Adam Bagni is moving to the news department.

From: Turnto10.com

Bagni joined WJAR in December of 2011. While his primary duties were producing and reporting sports, Bagni also filled in anchoring sports several times. He will work out of NBC10's newly opened Bay State Bureau in downtown New Bedford Massachusetts. Bagni will work as a Digital Journalist, he will write, shoot and edit his own stories.

FOR SPORTS:

There was no word on who if anyone will replace Bagni in the sports department. WJAR sometimes uses Jeff Kolb in sports. Kolb is a part time assignment editor who also has also filled in shooting, reporting, and anchoring sports. Kolb spent five months as a sports anchor at WBKB in Alpena Michigan in late 2013 and early 2014.

FOR NEWS:

It will be interesting to see how Bagni transitions into news. He has been a vocal member of the WJAR staff. In 2012 Bagni took to the WJAR Facebook page to chastise viewers criticizing the station during a carriage dispute with COX Communications. In July of 2014 Bagni tweeted a criticism about upstate New York Meteorologist Joe Veres from WENY-TV. Veres had famously interrupted the final minutes of the World Cup to report on a tornado that had touched down in the area.  Veres received support for many viewers and industry insiders for his commitment to safety.

FOR WJAR:

WJAR had posted the opening for a reporter (Digital Journalist) back in August. At the time it seemed surprising since no one had departed the station and the announcement of the station being sold to Sinclair had just been made. While Sinclair has been trying to invest in resources at local stations, it seemed odd that Media General would okay a contract hire before closing. Perhaps the move is a way to add to news without a new hire. WJAR already has Jeff Kolb to fill in sports when needed. Of course that is all just conjecture.

Weekend of November 15-16 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.

Sunday November 16

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI-  Denver vs. St. Louis 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- San Francisco vs. New York Giants 1:00PM (Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Philadelphia vs. Green Bay 4:25PM (Joe Buck, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

Weekend of November 8-9 Regional TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.

Sunday November 9

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI-  Pittsburgh vs. New York Jets 1:00PM (Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- San Francisco vs. New Orleans  1:00PM (Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- New York Giants vs. Seattle 4:25PM (Joe Buck, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

WJAR alum heading to DC FOX

Credit: FOX25

Paul McGonagle who was most recently the news director at the then FOX owned WFXT, is being transferred to the FOX owned station in Washington D.C, WTTG where he will become the stations news director.

McGonagle had worked in New England for nearly his entire career. He began his career at WNNE in White River Junction Vermont where he was a reporter. He then worked in Iowa for just over a year.

McGonagle has his notoriety in the Providence TV market for his several years spent at NBC10. He joined the station in 1995 as a reporter, and was promoted to being the stations dedicated Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau reporter in 1999. In 2002 he was named the stations assistant news director, a position he held until 2004 when he moved up to FOX25 to be their assistant news director.

He was named FOX 25's news director in 2011. Hopefully he will be happy in his venture out of New England.

Mark Zinni debuted on WFSB

Mark Zinni debuted as the new 5:30PM co-anchor on WFSB the CBS affiliate in Hartford Connecticut last week. Zinni is a former anchor at WPRI here in Providence.

Zinni and meteorologist Michelle Muscatello  launched channel 12's weekend morning show back in the early 2000's. The pair was promoted to anchoring the weekday morning show with Pamela Watts later that decade.

Zinni left WPRI in 2009 to return home to Cleveland where he started another weekend morning show for FOX8 news. Zinni made national headlines at WJW when Today Show anchor Matt Lauer tweeted at him after hearing Zinni may not have found him friendly during Zinni's internship with the Today Show.

Zinni also battled Thyroid Cancer while working at FOX8. WFSB welcomed Zinni last week with a packaged story highlighting Zinni's career, charity work, and his personal life. FLTV reported that it was a history making story because it introduced Zinni as gay. However many chastised the article pointing out that several stations have openly discussed gay anchors personal lives including WFSB.

Click here to see a weekend evening newscast Zinni anchored in 2003, it is a pretty cool look back and even uses video from WPRI's old helicopter.

Weekend of November 1-2 Regional TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Saturday November 1

College Football
ABC6/WLNE-TCU vs. West Virginia 3:30PM (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit)
*NOTE: Purdue vs. Nebraska can be seen on ESPN2

Sunday November 2

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- San Diego vs. Miami 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Denver vs. New England 4:25PM (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Arizona vs. Dallas 1:00PM (Joe Buck, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

Weekend of October 25-26 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.

Sunday October 26

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Detroit vs. Atlanta  9:30AM (Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikmen)- National Distribution (but not part of a technical doubleheader)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Chicago vs New England 1:00PM (Sam Rosen, John Lynch)

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Baltimore vs. Cincinnati 1:00PM (Greg Gumbel, Trent Green)

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Indianapolis vs. Pittsburgh 4:25PM (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

WPRI and WNAC Off The Air for an Hour During Storm

Even as this post is being written the wind is whipping and the rain coming down in sheets on the Providence-New Bedford TV market. Like the rain WPRI (CBS) and WNAC (FOX) both saw their signal go down during the storm. At about 11PM Wednesday WPRI/WNAC posted this message to Facebook. Signal was lost during the 10PM hour.

"Due to technical difficulties related to the weather, WPRI 12 and FOX Providence are currently off the air. Our staff is working feverishly to resolve the problem and hope to be back online within the hour. We apologize for the inconvenience."

This loss of signal comes at a most unfortunate time, WNAC was in the middle of airing game 2 of the World Series, and WPRI 12 had a newscast scheduled to start at 11. Losing the world series signal is bad for the obvious reason, it is a live sporting event, and when or if it comes back there will be a whole chunk of the game missed.

Being off the air for news is equally bad because in the middle of severe weather at 11 at night people are likely to be in bed and looking to get the latest on the weather from the TV. When you are not on viewers will go somewhere else and usually stay there.

WPRI and WNAC were back on around 11:30, and we are not in a ratings period so no true foul for the Providence Lin properties. It is also fair to mention that in two hurricanes (2011 and 2012) WPRI never lost signal. WLNE lost signal during Hurricane Irene in 2011, and was off the air for several hours.

Tatevik Aprikyan Joins WPRI

Tatevik Aprikyan has joined WPRI as a reporter. She will also be required to shoot and edit many of her stories. She most recently worked at KIDK in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Aprikyan certainly has a more unique background than other reporters in Providence. She was born in Armenia and moved to Seattle, Washington when she was five years old. According to KIDK she is able to speak four different languages. She went to broadcasting school in Chicago and interned at KING-TV, the NBC affiliate for the Seattle Market.

Here is a link to one of her stories from Idaho.

Weekend of October 18-19 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Saturday October 11

College Football
ABC6/WLNE-Rutgers vs. Ohio State 3:30PM (Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman)
*NOTE: UCLA vs. California can be seen on ESPN2

Sunday October 12

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- Cincinnati vs. Indianapolis 1:00PM (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Carolina vs. Green Bay 1:00PM (Sam Rosen, John Lynch)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- New York Giants vs. Dallas 4:25PM (Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.

ABC6 adds Rebecca Turco

ABC6/WLNE has added Rebecca Turco as a reporter. Turco comes from fellow ABC affiliate WOAY in Oak Hill West Virginia, (DMA 158), during her time there she wrote, shot, edited, produced, and anchored newscasts.

At ABC6 she will be responsible for writing, shooting, and editing her own night side packages, as well as running her own backpack live shots.

Turco is being added to the roster after a summer full of changes at ABC6. In June 6 and 11PM anchor Karen Meyers was released at the end of her contract. 5 and 5:30 co-anchor Alexandra Cowley moved into Meyers role and weekend anchor Liz Tufts was promoted to 5 and 5:30. Night side reporter Mike Lacrosse moved into the weekend anchor chair which resulted in the need to hire a new reporter.

Jared Pliner Promoted to Weekend Anchor at WPRI

WPRI reporter Jared Pliner has reportedly been promoted to weekend anchor at the CBS/FOX affiliate. Pliner said the anchoring would be a "regular gig" in a tweet to a viewer. 

Pliner will anchor the Saturday 6 and 11 on WPRI-12, the Sunday 6:30 and 11 on WPRI-12, and weekends at 10 on WNAC FOX Providence. Pliner joined eyewitness news earlier this year and already has a reputation as a solid reporter who is very comfortable in front of the camera both live in the field and in the studio.

Before coming to Providence Pliner worked for two years at WVII/WFVX as a weeknight anchor and a reporter.

WJAR Alum Back in New England

Erin Cofiell has returned to New England and has taken a job as sports director at WNVY-WFFF the ABC and FOX affiliate for the state of Vermont.

Cofiell worked as a sports reporter and producer for WJAR from 2010-2011.

After WJAR she worked in Baton Rouge as a sports freelance reporter for several companies, as well as a sports anchor/reporter for WAFB

Weekend October 11/12 Regional Sports TV Listings

The following are the listings for sporting events in the Providence-New Bedford TV market that vary by market such as network regional MLB or NFL broadcasts.


Saturday October 11

College Football
ABC6/WLNE-TCU vs. Baylor 3:30PM (Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge)
*NOTE: Michigan State vs. Purdue can be seen on ESPN2

Sunday October 12

NFL Football
CBS12/WPRI- San Diego vs. Oakland 4:00PM (Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- New England vs. Buffalo 1:00PM (Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa)

NFL Football
FOX64/WNAC- Dallas vs. Seattle 4:25PM (Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikmen)

NOTE: Subject to change, all other sporting events available nation wide.