Continuing its move toward consolidation, KSL will combine its television and radio news operations and its sales departments.
Within a matter of months, both staffs will be working out of a single newsroom in KSL's Broadcast House at the Triad Center.TV news director Lee Roderick and radio news director Rod Arquette will divide management responsibilities between them.
Viewers and listeners won't see or hear much difference in the news on KSL-Ch. 5 of KSL-AM 1160, although they'll probably see and hear more reporters crossing over from television to radio and vice versa.
And, reportedly, no jobs will be lost in the reconfiguration.
The moves come as no surprise. And, in fact, the announcement of these mergers merely continues a process that has been ongoing at KSL for quite some time.
And it's only smart for KSL to be moving in this direction. The days when advertising dollars rolled in in great abundance are long gone, so streamlining operations - particularly duplicative operations - makes a great deal of sense.
BYU ON TV: Cougar fans can breath a sigh of relief - they'll be able to see this Saturday's BYU at Wyoming football game on live TV.
However, the folks at KSL (and your local television editor) are sort of shaking their heads in disbelief about where those fans will be tuning to see the game.
KBYU-Ch. 11. Not KSL-Ch. 5.
KSL very much wanted to carry the Cougars-vs.-Cowboys contest. They offered to pay Wyoming a nice little chunk of cash to do so.
But Wyoming athletic director (and former football coach) Paul Roach held true to form. As in many past years, Roach declined KSL's kind offer, fearing that Ch. 5's penetration in to western Wyoming would adversely affect the Cowboys' gate receipts.
Now, the case could be made that Roach's reasoning is short-sighted, if not downright foolish. Television exposure - as long as its not overexposure - often brings more prominence to a program and increases the demand for tickets.
But, at any rate, Roach didn't take the money.
Instead, he's giving the game to KBYU for free.
That's right. BYU's Blue and White Network, which syndicates BYU and Air Force football games to stations across the country, was going to be in Laramie for the game anyway. And Roach is allowing the Blue and White broadcast to be fed - live - to KBYU.
Now, KBYU also broadcasts into western Wyoming. But not as much as KSL. And, apparently, not enough to bother Roach.
(And the folks at KBYU are plenty pleased about that.)
Oh, well. As odd as all of this is, the bottom line is that the game will be seen on live, local TV.
BASEBALL BOONDOGGLE: Much has been made of CBS' disastrous, money-losing, four-year, billion-dollar baseball deal.
But CBS' reasoning was to improve it's then-disastrous, third-place ratings.
However, CBS, which had handily won the first couple of weeks of the new season, finished second last week to ABC - dragged down by baseball ratings.
Don't expect to see baseball get a billion dollars when it signs its next television contract.