Omaha Local TV News Channels

[Omaha Cowboy]

I see that KETV 7 has a new on air meteorologist- Luke Vickery. Young dude. I think he presents pretty well…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Busguy2010]

I see that KETV 7 has a new on air meteorologist- Luke Vickery. Young dude. I think he presents pretty well…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

His first day was August 1st as far as I know. And I agree, he presents well. My guess is he's so young that KETV is his first big gig, and that is very impressive. Guessing he's under 25, if not well under. KETV doesn't have a profile for him yet.

[ChadJK]

I see that KETV 7 has a new on air meteorologist- Luke Vickery. Young dude. I think he presents pretty well…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

His first day was August 1st as far as I know. And I agree, he presents well. My guess is he's so young that KETV is his first big gig, and that is very impressive. Guessing he's under 25, if not well under. KETV doesn't have a profile for him yet.

Jim Flowers should introduce the new guy around at the local massage parlors. Different channel, but a massage is a massage.

[Omaha Cowboy]

I see that KETV 7 has a new on air meteorologist- Luke Vickery. Young dude. I think he presents pretty well…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

His first day was August 1st as far as I know. And I agree, he presents well. My guess is he's so young that KETV is his first big gig, and that is very impressive. Guessing he's under 25, if not well under. KETV doesn't have a profile for him yet.

Yeah, I’d say he definitely came up from a small market. He doesn’t look a day over 25. I’m guessing he’s mid 20’s. I like the weather team Bill Randby has put together at KETV…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Omaha Cowboy]

I see that KETV 7 has a new on air meteorologist- Luke Vickery. Young dude. I think he presents pretty well…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

His first day was August 1st as far as I know. And I agree, he presents well. My guess is he's so young that KETV is his first big gig, and that is very impressive. Guessing he's under 25, if not well under. KETV doesn't have a profile for him yet.

Jim Flowers should introduce the new guy around at the local massage parlors. Different channel, but a massage is a massage.

I actually wouldn’t mind seeing Jim make an on air meteorologist come back someplace within the Omaha TV market. Even part time…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[thenewguy]

Jim Flowers is actually pretty good. His FB page amassed quite a following in a short amount of time until he had to back off because of the time he was spending doing weather in his retirement. He does a great job explaining weather, and whether or not things will happen a certain way. Too often we take a forecast as gospel and then say "I wish I could still keep my job if I were wrong half the time"; he really does do a good job explaining the science, and then go back and say why a forecast busted after the fact.

[damonhynes]

Caitlin Connell is leaving Channel Third. Don't know whose idea it was, but it's a bummer nonetheless.

[ajwees41]

KETV lost Joey Safchik Ellie French and Josh Kristianto

[Omaha Cowboy]

KETV lost Joey Safchik Ellie French and Josh Kristianto

That’s a trio of folks I don’t think were here very long..

Time for Channel 7 to go on a hiring spree…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Cermak]

KETV lost Joey Safchik Ellie French and Josh Kristianto

That’s a trio of folks I don’t think were here very long..

Time for Channel 7 to go on a hiring spree…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

Looks like Joey Safchik took a job in San Diego. She was from California. She's smart, leaving Omaha right before winter starts . But will have a huge increase in cost of living moving to San Diego. She was in Omaha for about 2 years,

[damonhynes]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

[Brad]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

[damonhynes]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

That makes sense, thanks!

[Omaha Cowboy]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

That makes sense, thanks!

It’s a move. Don’t know how lateral it is as Green Bay is a smaller metro than even Lincoln, but the TV market silliness is what it is..

Her wanting to cover an NFL team as reasoning for the move makes sense at least…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Garrett]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

That makes sense, thanks!

It’s a move. Don’t know how lateral it is as Green Bay is a smaller metro than even Lincoln, but the TV market silliness is what it is..

Her wanting to cover an NFL team as reasoning for the move makes sense at least…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

According to the very official Wikipedia rankings, Green Bay is 69, Omaha is 73 and Lincoln is 106

[Omaha Cowboy]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

That makes sense, thanks!

It’s a move. Don’t know how lateral it is as Green Bay is a smaller metro than even Lincoln, but the TV market silliness is what it is..

Her wanting to cover an NFL team as reasoning for the move makes sense at least…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

According to the very official Wikipedia rankings, Green Bay is 69, Omaha is 73 and Lincoln is 106

Hence my TV market silliness comment..

The Omaha metro population is more than 3 times larger than Green Bay Wisconsin..

The Omaha metro is ranked 58th largest, Lincoln- 158th..and Green Bay? 161st.. Go figure..

As the over used Clique goes, it is what it is lol…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Garrett]

Ellie's in Green Bay now. Lateral move at best, unless she's a Pack fan.

She was on 1620 before she left, one of her career goals was to cover an NFL team.

That makes sense, thanks!

It’s a move. Don’t know how lateral it is as Green Bay is a smaller metro than even Lincoln, but the TV market silliness is what it is..

Her wanting to cover an NFL team as reasoning for the move makes sense at least…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

According to the very official Wikipedia rankings, Green Bay is 69, Omaha is 73 and Lincoln is 106

Hence my TV market silliness comment..

The Omaha metro population is more than 3 times larger than Green Bay Wisconsin..

The Omaha metro is ranked 58th largest, Lincoln- 158th..and Green Bay? 161st.. Go figure..

As the over used Clique goes, it is what it is lol…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

So here is the very official map. From what I can see, the Green Bay media market is big in part because it has a bunch of mid sized cities. So it’s just not the Green Bay MSA, it’s also Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond Du Lac, and other metros in the 100k -400k range in a tight area in Northeast Wisconsin that push it above Omaha. Plus their rural counties simply have higher populations than ours

[damonhynes]

Good job of digging, Garrett!

[Omaha Cowboy]

Omaha is a larger MSA (Metro) in terms of population (and in most cases, significantly larger) than 17 metros which have a higher TV market ranking (hmm, that’s a beard scratcher..those crazy kids at Nielsen ) ..

In terms of media market vs actual population/regional influence/importance, they are two entirely different things..

Look at Wichita Kansas. Omaha is a metro and CSA more than 325,000 larger in actual population, but because the Wichita TV market spans about 85% of the state of Kansas, they’re ranked higher than Omaha..

If Nielsen combined the Omaha television market with Lincoln, like they cobble together Green Bay, Des Moines and Wichita with other significant cities/metros, Omaha’s TV market ranking would land them in the top 50..and pretty easily…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Cermak]

It's Really unfortunate how some of these TV market boundaries are drawn up, I'm sure it's all about money. Some cities come out well like Wichita, Des Moines and Green Bay, others not so much like us. Frustrating.

[Omaha Cowboy]

It's Really unfortunate how some of these TV market boundaries are drawn up, I'm sure it's all about money. Some cities come out well like Wichita, Des Moines and Green Bay, others not so much like us. Frustrating.

Agreed..

I just roll my eyes at Nielsen and deal with it..

It is what it is…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Louie]

What benefits would a larger tv market bring? I know its thrown around for pro sports teams, but are there any more tangible benefits?

[nativeomahan]

I think that a lot depends on the demographics of the market, as much as the overall size. A market skewering to smaller towns and cities will attract more advertisers interested in selling their products to people living in such places. Dog food and laundry detergent sell everywhere, but maybe not Mercedes Benz cars or farm chemicals. Some products have a narrow niche of potential customers. That’s why if you watch TV in Central Nebraska you see lots of ads targeted toward farmers and truckers. Hybrid cars and gyms, not so much.

[GenX]

Lincoln should be moved out of the Hastings market and put in the Omaha market instead. When I lived in Lincoln and watched the news, it was 95% about things near Hastings. The weather was irrelevant as well.

[Garrett]

Lincoln should be moved out of the Hastings market and put in the Omaha market instead. When I lived in Lincoln and watched the news, it was 95% about things near Hastings. The weather was irrelevant as well.

Isn’t that only the case for the nbc outlet though? If Lincoln moves into the Omaha market, it would also involve combining our ABC and CBS affiliates. Would Lincoln lose theirs? Would Omaha lose one? That’s why they’re separate TV markets.

[Cermak]

Lincoln should be moved out of the Hastings market and put in the Omaha market instead. When I lived in Lincoln and watched the news, it was 95% about things near Hastings. The weather was irrelevant as well.

Isn’t that only the case for the nbc outlet though? If Lincoln moves into the Omaha market, it would also involve combining our ABC and CBS affiliates. Would Lincoln lose theirs? Would Omaha lose one? That’s why they’re separate TV markets.

Lincoln would lose all its affiliates. Resulting in job losses and no more local news from Lincoln. But maybe the Omaha stations could have a Lincoln bureau and hire a full time reporter to be based in Lincoln. The result would be bigger budgets for the Omaha stations and would help with retention of on air talent and we wouldn't be a revolving door as much as we are now. Anchors and reporters tend to stick around larger markets more, not always looking for greener pastures. Mainly because they are making more money. This would be the ideal set up for Omaha.

[damonhynes]

Caitlin Connell, late of Channel Third, posted on Insta that she got a position at Weathernation in Denver. Good for her!

[nativeomahan]

Lincoln should be moved out of the Hastings market and put in the Omaha market instead. When I lived in Lincoln and watched the news, it was 95% about things near Hastings. The weather was irrelevant as well.

Isn’t that only the case for the nbc outlet though? If Lincoln moves into the Omaha market, it would also involve combining our ABC and CBS affiliates. Would Lincoln lose theirs? Would Omaha lose one? That’s why they’re separate TV markets.

Lincoln would lose all its affiliates. Resulting in job losses and no more local news from Lincoln. But maybe the Omaha stations could have a Lincoln bureau and hire a full time reporter to be based in Lincoln. The result would be bigger budgets for the Omaha stations and would help with retention of on air talent and we wouldn't be a revolving door as much as we are now. Anchors and reporters tend to stick around larger markets more, not always looking for greener pastures. Mainly because they are making more money. This would be the ideal set up for Omaha.

I recall back in the 1980s and 1990s (and maybe beyond that timeframe) when the Omaha TV stations each had a Capitol/Lincoln Bureau. What those bureaus typically covered was the Unicameral, governor and state agencies.
I miss those days.

[damonhynes]

Lincoln should be moved out of the Hastings market and put in the Omaha market instead. When I lived in Lincoln and watched the news, it was 95% about things near Hastings. The weather was irrelevant as well.

Isn’t that only the case for the nbc outlet though? If Lincoln moves into the Omaha market, it would also involve combining our ABC and CBS affiliates. Would Lincoln lose theirs? Would Omaha lose one? That’s why they’re separate TV markets.

Lincoln would lose all its affiliates. Resulting in job losses and no more local news from Lincoln. But maybe the Omaha stations could have a Lincoln bureau and hire a full time reporter to be based in Lincoln. The result would be bigger budgets for the Omaha stations and would help with retention of on air talent and we wouldn't be a revolving door as much as we are now. Anchors and reporters tend to stick around larger markets more, not always looking for greener pastures. Mainly because they are making more money. This would be the ideal set up for Omaha.

I recall back in the 1980s and 1990s (and maybe beyond that timeframe) when the Omaha TV stations each had a Capitol/Lincoln Bureau. What those bureaus typically covered was the Unicameral, governor and state agencies.
I miss those days.

7 has Andrew Ozaki at their Lincoln bureau, which on the face of it seems strange because there's an ABC affiliate (8) in Lincoln. 10/11 is owned by Gray, the same as 6 so they cross-pollinate.

Channel Third is lucky to even cover Gretna and Glenwood, let alone Lincoln.

[Mr.Nuke]

7 has Andrew Ozaki at their Lincoln bureau, which on the face of it seems strange because there's an ABC affiliate (8) in Lincoln. 10/11 is owned by Gray, the same as 6 so they cross-pollinate.

KETV is on basic cable in Lincoln. Historically there have been a fair number of people that watched the news out of Omaha instead of Lincoln.

[damonhynes]

7 has Andrew Ozaki at their Lincoln bureau, which on the face of it seems strange because there's an ABC affiliate (8) in Lincoln. 10/11 is owned by Gray, the same as 6 so they cross-pollinate.

KETV is on basic cable in Lincoln. Historically there have been a fair number of people that watched the news out of Omaha instead of Lincoln.

When I had Charter/Spectrum in Springfield, I could get 8 and 10, which came in handy when severe WX was popping.

[Cermak]

John Knicley, might be some sort of longevity record for Omaha Anchors.

[Garrett]

I swear he’s looked the same as long as I’ve been alive

[nebugeater]

I swear he’s looked the same as long as I’ve been alive

maybe he is an AI Bot.

[Louie]

Exactly, I remember him looking practically identical in like 1994.

[ChadJK]

I was part of an "I Challenge John" back in like 1991 when he was the sports anchor at KETV before becoming the news anchor at WOWT. Heck, that was 32 years ago.

[almighty_tuna]

I was part of an "I Challenge John" back in like 1991 when he was the sports anchor at KETV before becoming the news anchor at WOWT. Heck, that was 32 years ago.

Well, what was the challenge and did you prevail?? Inquiring minds want to know!

[ChadJK]

I was part of an "I Challenge John" back in like 1991 when he was the sports anchor at KETV before becoming the news anchor at WOWT. Heck, that was 32 years ago.

Well, what was the challenge and did you prevail?? Inquiring minds want to know!

I was in some business club in high school and we had to conceive of a product, make it, sell it, and also sell shares in our "company" and all that. I think it was Junior Achievement, but it was nothing like Junior Achievement is today. Anyway, higher-ups from local business were the advisors and so we had two from US West helping us. We made these little wooden basketball games you could play. One of our US West advisors got one of their coworkers who was a former NBA player (Bob Boozer?) to play the game against John Knicely for an "I Challenge John" segment. It was odd because it wasn't really physical/athletic at all.

I was responsible for keeping score and, shamefully, I got distracted and so when the time limit was up I totally made up a score that had Bob Boozer win it. John flinched for a second when I stated the fabricated score, but then rolled with it. I guess that's why he's a professional news personality. lol I still cringe thinking about it.

[nebugeater]

Does anyone listen to the afternoon radio on KFAB with Emery Songer as host? He has been on for a while now. For years, I have listed at least twice a week to the afternoon guy for a while on those days. At first, I chalked it up to having to get used to the "new guy." Don't think that is it, though. I cannot get into his show or style at all. I find myself tuning in in the afternoon less and less all the time.

Does anyone else listen to him and have an opinion?

[Ankeny Husker Freak]

Does anyone listen to the afternoon radio on KFAB with Emery Songer as host? He has been on for a while now. For years, I have listed at least twice a week to the afternoon guy for a while on those days. At first, I chalked it up to having to get used to the "new guy." Don't think that is it, though. I cannot get into his show or style at all. I find myself tuning in in the afternoon less and less all the time.

Does anyone else listen to him and have an opinion?

Emery was that way in Des Moines, nails on a chalk board annoying.