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Consultants working 'around the clock' in desperate bid to save Channel 25 news

New England One reports conditions and ratings at WFXT are so dire its new corporate overlords are bringing in non-stop consulting to figure out what else to do besides changing the colors of the news studio.

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Merge with the Globe and then fold into WGBH?

Seems to work for all the other failed media ventures in Massachusetts.

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I prefer their news over the other two stations at 10. One news story after another without the goofiness. Maybe people like a dose of goofiness mixed in with the animal stories that pervade the evening news. That old South Park episode was prophetic. And I don't get the popularity of Maria Stephanos, she is the queen of goof.

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Jack Hynes.

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This was MY station for 8-9 years every morning before I left for work at 7. Gene, VB, Kim C/Shannon, Cindy F., Anquanette....I loved the chemistry, "Let it Rip", Mail Time segments, Zip Trips. Now only Gene is left and it's become a generic news show. Haven't watched in a few years and can understand why their news is on life support.

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Are you serious!?? VB and Gene used to talk about how hot the underage high school cheerleaders were whenever they would talk about the high school football segments. Vile. I'm so glad they fired VB and toned down that nasty banter. It made my skin crawl to hear grown adult men say things like 'va-va-voom' about young girls. Just awful. And yes, I would change the channel each time they did that. The ONLY reason I would sometimes tune in was because they covered more local news stories than any other morning show. Anquanette was the only decent one out of the whole bunch.

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C'mon, a news broadcast should only have just enough character in its production & staff to make the station unique. With that said, the focus should be on the reported news...not on the anchors, not on viewers' opinions, not on extracurricular segments, on NEWS. Non-teaser, LOCAL, non-repetitive news.

Any glitz and glamour can be saved for the multitude of trash shown on many other program formats.

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Channel 5 does the complete opposite and it's tops in the ratings.

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and completely agree about Channel 5's executing the opposite & earning high ratings.

It also speaks volumes about what low-quality trash, passed off as "news", that people will eat right up. Most news organizations today are nothing more than salacious tabloid promoters who sprinkle in a few facts here & there...but even that occasionally takes a back seat to selling you the over-gelled & body-hugging dress wearing reporters/anchors who get to deliver such repetitious junk. I'm not that simple-minded to buy into any of the filth, nor will I ever be (no matter how dumbed-down society currently is).

For those reasons, I think Channel 25 has done a great job getting back to what matters most for the newscasts...NEWS.

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Oh boy, a Zip Trip to Pepperell! WHOOOO!!! When's the Zip Trip to Mattapan?

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You shouldn't make such blanket generalizations. Yes, this year's zip trip locations are fairly, uh, vanilla, but in past years that have been to Hyde Park and Roxbury. I cannot recall them camping out at the Ryan Playground or at Almont, but I don't think they'd be adverse to driving up there.

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beg Maria Stephanos to come back? How are media companies so powerful and rich yet so very, very dumb? I am no fan of Fox News but will say that for a very long time, FOX 25 had Boston's most well-produced news broadcast. Clearest picture, audio, best studio, really good on-air talent, and snapping up that property that used to be Curious Liquids across from the Statehouse was also very smart of them. I dunno how you just flush all that down the toilet in a matter of months.

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Same reason we don't get to have Don Orsillo anymore. I hope San Diego truly cherishes him.

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Improve the live stream and they'll pick up more viewers. Why? Well, think about how many people have TVs now. I can only think of a handful. Broadcast companies need to start migrating towards supporting computer users and mobile device users. The current streaming assumes you have a blazingly fast connection and stops-every-other--word--- to catch up. HD steaming on a mobile plan can absolutely kill a users data cap.

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I literally don't know anyone who doesn't have a TV.

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I have in the back of my head that he didn't have a TV, back in the day.

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Bulger is the one who used to claim that he didn't own a tv. Too busy reading Thucydides in the original Greek, remember?

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Wasn't a big fan of Black Mass and some of the Billy scenarios seemed a bit far-fetched but I thought Cumberbatch was great in the role.

And I lived thru the Bulger 80's.

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          ( and I don't feel like I'm missing anything )

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About 12 years for me since I've owned a working tv. Never got around to setting one up when I moved into my current place, and then everything converted to HD, so we needed either a converter box which I never got around to picking up, or a whole new tv, which I never got around to either.

My (now grown-up at 21) kidlet and I watch tv shows and movies on our computer.

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- for over 5 years now. Just don't need it.

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Over 20 years without owning one and zero regrets though I do watch occasionally when I'm out or visiting. Wendy's has two - one showing FOX, the other CNN. Interestingly, the FOX TV is on what I would consider to be the left side of the restaurant. I always sit in the CNN section, which I refer to as the "non-smoking" section (as in pants, not cigarettes).

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I have a TV with no reception - no reason to install an antenna or digital converter when it's 90% for video games and 10% for Netflix. If it's important, it'll be on Youtube the next day.

I suspect this is what many people mean by "no TV." I have a large monitor for my digital entertainment but it has never been useful for local broadcast channels.

TiVO came out when I was in high school - I'm over 30. Commercials have only gotten more egregious since then, and I see no reason to start subjecting myself to them now. I know literally no-one under 80 who still sits through live broadcasts. (Nana is 88, bless her heart.)

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          ( I just can't imagine sitting through all those horrible commercials! )

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I agree with the other posters. EVERYBODY I knows has a TV. Now cable? That is a different story. An antenna will do you just fine here in densely populated east coast MA.

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I don't even know people with antennae. Why bother?

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that bald guy on My Favorite Martian. Every once in awhile one would emerge from the back of his head.

And also there's Gazoo from the Flintstones. He has antennae.

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I signed up for a week's free trial of CBS streaming to watch Colbert's convention coverage. The signup process was so shady, the commercials so offensive, and the access so limited (I had to go to obnoxious lengths to access my home feed while traveling) that I unsubscribed within minutes of signing up.

These channels still treat online streaming as a nice bonus, instead of the SOLE form of access for an entire generation and more.

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as they are thee most, glaringly racist of the lot of supposed purveyor of news in Boston. I guess attempting to have constant, unwanted replay of the same white washed news has done them in.

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Of Fox25 being racist or are you just making baseless claims like most mouth breathers on the inter-webs.

Those racist Zip-Trips, traffic reports and who cant forget the utter vile weather forecasts. Grow up!

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Oh, thanks! As a millennial cord-never I had no clue what channel 25 was, or whether I should be sad to see it go.

Last time I saw the channel in action, I was in a hotel while insulation was being blown at my house, and Megyn "Santa just IS white!" Kelly was kvetching about the debt ceiling, as if anyone hadn't already made up their own minds by then. But totally not racist. Yup. Santa's totes white, I mean like, duh-oyy, we should put nonwhite kids in their place as early as possible to keep them from getting uppity or what's next, brown Jesus?

Good riddance to bad neighbors, I say.

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She's on fox news. I know because my Dad watches her....and pays complete attention.

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FOX25 =/= Fox News

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He told me "I get paid to be racist."

I recall the black radio host Tom Joyner years ago responding to some bigotry from some retail store by telling his listeners to mail their receipts from purchases at said store to the company. Vote with your wallet, I guess.

Fox 25 is not in the business of tailoring news based on race, it's in the business of selling commercials. Period. And when you're an advertiser who's paying hundreds of thousands for TV spots, you're going to say something about the programming, and you're going to be heard. Maybe take it up with Ernie Boch and Bernie and Phyl.

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I like Fox 25 in the morning, well 15 minutes and then the rest is repetitive. But, how are they racist?

You're the first I've ever heard say that. Am I missing something?

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Mainly because they keep it local. You only need to watch 15 minutes to get everything you need.

Amongst the many smart things News Corp has done over the years, keeping the morning news local is up there. Even when I'm out of town, I can rely on the Fox affiliate to get me weather, traffic, and news when I wake up.

As for the 6, 10, and 11 newscasts, they might be fighting for a shrinking market. Still, much like channel 4, they're learning the hard way that changing for changing sake brings big risks.

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Hey, did you see the video of the guy who did that thing on TV? Yeah, I saw it on the internet twelve hours ago. Hey, let's find out what the weather will be tomorrow, tune in to the TV news show. I have it here on my phone. How did the hometown team do this afternoon? Let's tune into the TV new..... Oh, right...

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I find it surprising this station is in trouble. I wish they would do away with Channels 4, 5, 7, because they are so bias in reporting, as well providing the public with simply way too much news.

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Are you rooting for an arsonist to burn down the studios, or something?

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We don't wan't too much news, right?

Good lord.

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More eye candy would help. Since they are just glorified teleprompter readers, they should select a cross section of anchors that appeal to the viewers they are trying to attract. I watch WHDH because i love Nancy Chen & Jadiann. I do love fox's morning weather woman though.

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TV news, specifically local news, ceased being new long ago. Now it is just women in cocktail dresses that resemble slips badly reading things they don't understand from teleprompters and "bantering" with each other. And endless stories about rescued animals and sick children. I'm sorry people, that's not news. Where is Natalie Jacobson now that we need her?

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So, greased-up shirtless men?

Oh, you mean eye candy for YOU personally.

What you are suggesting is a large part of why I, as a woman, no longer bother with local "
news." I feel grossed out just seeing the way ostensibly professional women get treated. Sex them up! Wait spaghetti straps are offensive for some reason, make her don an ugly cardigan mid-brodcast!

That's gross. You are gross. Have you not found pretty ladies on the internet yet? Spoiler alert: they're not rare!

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How about NO spaghetti strap bottle blondes and NO greased up pretty boys bantering inanities at each other and we go back to professional newscasters reading actual news and cut out all the other crap? Unfortunately, I don't see it happening. By today's standards the old Walter Cronkite model, thoroughly excellent though it was, is "boring TV" . TV news is dying a rapid death so they will continue to get more and more outlandish and show more and more skin in a last ditch attempt to attract viewers and ratings. It's a pity.

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Hey, I'm all about equal opportunity. If greased up men is what you want, good for you. Doesn't work for me though but no judging here. And yes i am aware of the countless eye candy sites on the internet, but i do still want my local news and prefer it be delivered to me by attractive women.

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I don't watch TV news because I get my news here on Universal Hub. Takes 2 minutes.

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