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We've got the entire Fox 13 Seattle news expansion plan and staff promotions, submitted for your approval




1. Bavisha Patel, promoted to Senior Executive Producer.
2. Brett Doolittle, producer of booking and long-form content, helps produce content for livestreams between newscasts.
3. Austin Lane, producer of station partnerships, new media and daily Fox 13 en Espanol, w/Mireya Garcia 
4. Matthew Smith, first ever streaming news anchor at Fox LOCAL live desk,  in 4/5 p.m.plus appearances on the 4 and/or 5 p.m. newscasts.
5. Judy Oehling, promoted to Assignment Desk Manager

Effective June 16:   Studio 13 Live cut to 30 minutes.   The KCPQ 4 p.m. newscast will be a fully produced hour, with live A blocks at 5 on KCPQ, at 8 & 9 on KJZO and 10 on KCPQ.   I presume the A blocks fo 8-9-10 will fall to Rose, Hana Kim and Rayford.    

The 6p.m.Washington News Wrap is fully fresh live half-hour with lots of state news, I am told.

Washington Sports Wrap to 6:30 from 7:30, so away from Jeopardy on KOMO and a counter to 630  newscasts elsewhere.

The daily live stream feed begins on KJZO (13+) 1-4 weekdays and 12-2 weekends (while college and pro football are on 13).

Current 4:30 a.m. news remains until week of Aug 4 when news will air from 5-11 a.m. and Studio 13 Live will officially move from 10 to 11 a.m.

Again, lots to digest.   I do think it is a good idea to re-cast Matt Smith from a main primetime linear co-anchor to a live desk streamer.   He will be stronger in that role but still needs more voice urgency and delivery.   

If I am reading this right, the back half of the full 4 p.m. base newscast will run the rest of the day.  That a lonnnnng replay -- 5-8-9-10 and they are calling it 'news magazine.'   

Finally, I have no idea how advertisers will react to all of this.  Summertime is a good time to try it (especially the heavy replays), but we shall see what holds up saleswise.    This also gives the other stations a promotional differentiator, as in "Our news is fresh, not recycled).

This is going to take a lot of hands-on management to get everybody coordinated during a great deal of change.  Buckle up on Westlake.   (I reserve the right to update info!)

Comments

  1. IDC9June 7, 2025 at 4:22 AM

    First, thank you for continuing to uncover new details about Fox 13's sweeping changes. This is increasingly looking like a complete relaunch of the entire Fox 13 news product, which may or may not work. We'll have to see.

    Second, congrats to everyone who is being promoted as part of these changes.

    Third, the live streaming desk sounds like a good idea in our 24/7 news world. However, I'm having trouble fathoming the idea of having regularly scheduled streams from Noon to 2 on weekends. Are they really expecting people to tune into those, outside of major breaking news? Most viewers will be watching sports or entertainment programming at that time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. IDC9June 7, 2025 at 4:31 AM

    Also, a few additional questions that have come up.

    1. Do we know time does Fox 13 en Espanol get recorded each day? It seems like Miyera already has a long day between that, Good Day Seattle, and Studio 13. Will these changes make it even longer?

    2. Do we know what the Good Day Seattle on air talent roster will look like once its air time is adjusted?

    3. The overwhelming majority of what has been revealed about these changes has been about weekdays. Are there also going to be changes on weekends (aside from the Noon to 2 streaming block on Fox 13 plus)?

    Thank you again for all the coverage you have been providing about these changes, and an even bigger thank you for taking the time and effort to answer our questions. It is greatly appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wayne LJune 7, 2025 at 8:47 AM

    There were no specific details on the Spanish newscast that I could find, but since the 430 will be canceled, I would guess Mireya ends up free from that show so that she can not only anchor the en Espanol but also solo host an hour-long Studio 13 when it also moves to 11 a.m. on Aug 4. In the meantime, she will anchor the half-hour version starting next week. No personnel changes that I am aware of for GDS, but there is a two-month gap before it expands, so who knows. They didn't want to expand the mornings and Studio show any sooner than Aug. 4 because the July rating sweeps period is July 3-30. And finally, I have seen nothing about weekend personnel. I will keep checking and I appreciate your kind words.

    ReplyDelete

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