Fox and WOLF

Gnax the Fox furry and Wolfhard the red WOLF furry

 It turns out there are two stations called WOLF affiliated with Fox; one being Fox Sports Radio right here in Syracuse where I am, and the other being a TV station in Northeast Pennsylvania, which is why the post is based there. With Fox Sports Syracuse 92.5 FM and AM 1490, the latter original station used to be Top 40, hip hop/R&B/urban contemporary, and Radio Disney. Fox 56 is in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. The two are unrelated, and the FCC can allow a radio station in one market and a TV station in another to have the same callsign. While I've known about both for a long time (the local one longer, of course), I only recently learned that the one in my hometown are now part of Fox Sports. Terrestrial network radio hasn't been as much of a thing in the US since TV became more dominant in the '50s. Stiff competition from Spotify, Sirius XM and podcasts make it obsolete. Network TV also has less relevance today because of streaming, and Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys are a "UHF island" because of VHF cross-signal interference with the tri-state, Philadelphia quad-state, and NYs Southern Tier (mainly just CBS 12 WBNG in Binghamton now, while analogue channels 6, 8, and 10 were retired, even after 2009s DTV mandate and LP/CD [not that kind] exemption). To boot, Craig Fox owns the WOLF in CNY (he is likely not related to the late William Fox, founder of the original Fox studio). He is a presenter who owns several radio stations in the region. Now that's irony. It takes a Fox to know Fox, or one Canidae to another.

Merit Street TV from Dr Phil

Dr Phil McGraw in Jackson County on 9 October 2008. Courtesy Craig O'Neal. CC-by-NC-ND-2.0

 Dr Phil McGraw is Americas therapist. Since Oprah Winfreys beef with beef in 1998 in Amarillo, TX, his tough love tactics have made him a household name. Dr Phil aired in first-run syndication from 2002-23 for twenty-one series (on NBC 3 and CW 6 in CNY). Now he and his wife Robyn have returned to their North Texas/South Oklahoma roots and moved back to the DFW area and started Merit Street Media. While there have been bumps along the road, Merit Street has taken the brand to a new place. However, less than half the country can get it on terrestrial or even cable if they don't want to get the app or their streaming service doesn't provide it yet either. Dish and DirecTV have it coast to coast, as do some streamers. RabbitEars have an affiliate list with some major markets and smaller cities. On Merit Streets own site, you just put in your zip code as would with the old guard to see how to watch in your area (this is how you "Check your local listings" in todays world). In mine, all three major station groups have room on their tiers, while the flagship in the tri-state carry Merit Street on two smaller stations, one being frontline and the other with two more upstart networks that need their own articles, which will have to wait for another day, since I've focused more on the sister blog lately and other other one on occasion. It'd take forever to canvas roughly 200 markets to see who has room, but even the lowest rated ones (population-wise by the Nielsens standards) could somehow squeeze it in somewhere.
    Dr Phil is as much a quotefest as Yogi Berra or any classic film, and his southern wisdom guides me to this day, and I could use him with my own personal issues, even though his Primetime show is not quite the same as its predecessor. He is now independent from CBS/Paramount, which is about to change hands again, which may have been a factor in breaking out of LA and the post-postwar studio system (the infancy of television was a catalyst for the studios' spinoff of cinemas, but not right now).

UPDATE (3 July 2025): Merit TV have entered administration, so there may not be much expansion at this time, since they're showing reruns for now. The partnership with TBN has also soured, with pending litigation. Dr Phil and Steve Harvey have launched the content-driven app Envoy Media Co.

CNY Hall of Fame

Jerry Stiller (SU) at a book signing, 2005

Daniel Krieger (Smoothdude), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 Link

Cable 13

Edited screenshot of logo. Courtesy Syracuse Nostalgia.

 I was given several items to sell (anything pertaining to this business is now sold) by a former presenter/employee of Cable 13, which was on Syracuse CableSystems/Cooke CableVision/Adelphia Cable in the City of Syracuse (covered earlier) and NewChannels in the Suburbs (both absorbed by Time Warner Cable in the mid-to-late '90s and the rest of Adelphia in 2006). Not to be confused with the local public access channel, which I think was on channel 7 in those days (before there was even an internet, let alone a YouTube or TikTok). This couldn't be over the air back then because of ABC 13 WOKR in Rochester (now WHAM), NewsChannel 13 WNYT (NBC) in Albany, and possibly (even though it's further away than PBS flagship WNET in New York) CTV 13 CJOH in Ottawa, ONT (with a repeater of CTV 6 in Cornwall or Deseronto under CRTC regulations and closer to the North Country on US soil), although an unrelated, short-lived low-power station, WNNY-LP 13.1, was registered with the FCC in more recent memory, but the licence was cancelled since the station never even went on the air. I found the logo by screenshot-ting an embarrassing, low-budget promo on YouTube, and later cut out the crawl. From what I can remember, there would be sports, kids shows, teen shows, local sports (high school and college), technology, and public affairs. As cable became more diversified, the scope of channel 13 changed, and would become TWC Sports for CNY (becoming Spectrum by 2016). There was one show called Life Without Shame, which came up on Facebook. Much else has faded into obscurity, but Cable 13 has a unique place in Syracuse TV history.

MyNetworkTV in Miami and Boston

 

Bay State Capital Region fantasy logo

MyNetworkTV was founded in 2006 by Fox after the merger of the WB and UPN formed the CW (now owned by Nexstar) in order to fill the vacuum. Today, it's more of a syndication service much like its sister network in early days. Ironically, two of the largest DMAs on the east coast no longer have a MyNetworkTV affiliate of their own. It could be that it never had high ratings to begin with, exacerbated by the rise in streaming services. Even smaller markets still have it. It depends more on reruns now and stopped having original shows such as English-language telenovelas (Latin American style soaps) and wrestling, which moved to cable.

In Boston, WSBK 38 went back to their indie roots once more (formerly on cable well into UPN days when some other areas had yet to get theirs until SyndEx made 38 useless). Non-network rival WHDH 7 could either have their main channel be the affiliate, or put it on .3.

In Miami and Ft Lauderdale, WBFS 33 could make a late switch. It's one the biggest markets in the South, of course. Then, you wonder if any small towns are missing out.

South Florida affiliate logo. A bit simplistic.

UPDATE (27/3/25): Warren Buffetts ABC/Local 10 WPLG will go indie on 4 August 2025 when ABC moves to 7.2 at Sunbeams (not the bread) Fox 7 WSVN of all places (rare for a Top 10 DMA), moving a local subchannel down. My10 would work too, even though either station could add another subchannel for MyNetworkTV. I only found this out just by going direct to WSVNs site when looking up something more suited to our sister blog (had the wrong area), but anyway. Sometimes, you just know when to strike while the iron is hot. I will update again if I learn anything else on the Gold Coast.

Another lazy composite. I did suggest it to them on X.

Carriage Dispute Healing

Part graffiti, part abstract art, part ransom note!

The TV business, like life, is one big Whack-a-Mole! Until Congress stop messing about (don't get me started), laws not upgraded since the Clinton administration will keep cable and satellite providers and broadcasters and networks, as well as the taxpayers to their own devices. Once again, I had to go beyond earthly means as described in the last post.  This time, the list on the left says Dish, DirecTV, Comcast Xfinity (Comcast as both owner of NBC O&OS like NBC 4 in NYC and LA and with the telecom Xfinity), and on the right, Hearst, Nexstar, Mission, Cox and Comcast again. The peace symbol from the previous entry is in the middle. I had to edit out typos and unrelated names on the desktop, which is why it now looks like a mishmash and so I wouldn't have to upload a hard copy all over again. Of course, this will only happen again, and I just can't keep up. Hearst owned many newspapers in the postwar era (I just know the Albany one), and are now a minority owner of ESPN, which is dominated by Disney, yet only have NBC 5 in Clinton County in my state. I took off Dish a while ago due to downsizing and other personal reasons. I drew one of these for the UAW strike too, but they're having less trouble by comparison, as far getting back to the bargaining table instead of another shade trade.

Back to the Table Talk

What the spirits led me to make.

I haven't posted in a period, not necessarily in solidarity with the writer and actors, but rather, there hasn't been much to add here that the established media hasn't already covered, and I've focused more on the sister blogs, as well as my own life. However, in a desperate search for answers, I went to the book shop and bought City Magick by Christopher Penczak. In the chapter Language of the Streets, he talks about Graffiti Sigils (not signals per se). One that stuck out was one that stood for making peace, which is what the studios and unions need to do after months of unending anguish. I'm no expert on wicca myself, mind, but I tried drawing the sigil (as opposed to tag or sign) and even wrote the names of the union and organisation initialisms, studios and a couple key names in sloppy, graffiti-esque font, along with other symbols for divine femininity (for Nanny star turned SAG-AFTRA leader Fran Drescher), health and balance, and removing obstacles, trying to conjure healing. The peace sigil even looks like the word strive, which is what the SAG-AFTRA and WGA-E & W members continue to do each day as they fight for everything they're owed.  I even tried pulling out the late Lew Wasserman, who knew Ronald Reagan when the later US President became head of SAG during the 1960 double strike. The 1988 writers strike was the last major Hollywood one in eithers lifetime and the second in mine. They didn't live to see the 2007-08 one, let alone this. They wouldn't be surprised by this one.

The latter and AMPTP return to the table this coming week. They must sort out the mess by this stage, then the others have their turn and we can move forward. A right fortune has been lost on many fronts.

In my drawing, the list on the left has Netflix, Hulu, Comcast, AMPTP, amazon, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Disney and Paramount. In the centre are the sigils for health and balance, divine  femininity, Fran (Drescher), peace, and higher guidance. On the right are IATSE, WGA-E, WGA-W, SAG-AFTRA, Lew (Wasserman) [typo fixed after upload], Reagan (Nancy might've gotten all this) and my signature. I wouldn't dare buy a tin of spray paint and go Banksy on someones property. MC Hammer said to do it on paper on a show he had in 1991 (that always stuck with me). Some may think shaman is sham and man put together, and I'm not one of those or using any label here, but I do have empath abilities, and it drives what I do. Life is not always like it is on TV, even "reality" TV.