WLNE-TV ABC 6 – the ABC affiliate serving Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts – is back under local ownership as of last week.
Global Broadcasting LLC took control of the station last Monday, completing its purchase from California-based Freedom Communications Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
Global – a Delaware corporation jointly owned and operated by local media veterans Kevin O’Brien and Robinson Ewert – was looking to purchase the station because of the station’s “tremendous potential” within its market, O’Brien said.
WLNE’s strengths include an FM radio frequency at 87.7 and high ratings for ABC’s national programming, including “ABC World News with Charlie Gibson,” O’Brien said.
The new ownership will look to enhance the network’s local news coverage, which is handled by a team led by investigative reporter Jim Hummel. “I think you’re going to see us become a very aggressive and well-run news organization,” O’Brien said.
Steven Doerr, the station’s new general manager, echoed O’Brien’s comments, stating that he expected the station’s news coverage to expand “dramatically and rapidly” in terms of both ratings and quality.
“Our viewers deserve a top-shelf product, and that’s what we’re going to put together,” he said.
(Doerr, most recently of Dallas-based Audience Research and Development, and previously a news executive with NBC TV in New York, replaces station vice president and general manager Roland T. Adeszko and news director Edwin Hart, Global announced last Thursday.)
Asked whether he felt that the station could compete with WJAR-TV NBC 10 – the news station that has topped local ratings for years – O’Brien said that a rejuvenated WLNE is in a good competitive position, especially as NBC is trailing other networks in national ratings. “They certainly are a very strong station,” O’Brien said of rival Channel 10. “But they’re nowhere near as dominant as they once were.”
Freedom first announced it was selling WLNE – its sole Northeastern station – in August 2006, at the time stating that it was “purely a business decision,” and part of an effort to operate more efficiently in regions where it had more than one station. The deal with Global was announced March 12.
The application to transfer the broadcasting license to Global survived a petition to halt the transaction before the Federal Communications Commission that was filed by North Smithfield resident Robert G. Blanchard.
In his petition to the FCC, Blanchard asserted that O’Brien, as president of Iowa-based Meredith Broadcasting, had made numerous racist and anti-Semitic statements, according to the FCC.
O’Brien – who was fired from Meredith in March 2005 – countered through his attorneys that the “number of minority and women senior executives and on-air talent at the company increased dramatically,” due to O’Brien’s recruiting, promotion and mentoring efforts. Additionally, his lawyers said that O’Brien had founded an inner-city charter school in California and, while general manager of an Oakland television station, had developed a program in which the station developed and aired free promotional spots for Dominican University.
The FCC rejected Blanchard’s petition, stating that “no determination of discriminatory conduct was made by a governmental agency or court.”
The move marks the first sale of WLNE in more than two decades. It had stayed firmly in Freedom’s possession since 1983 during a time when several local competitors, including WJAR-TV and WPRI-TV, switched hands several times.
The station, which began broadcasting in New Bedford as WTEV-TV in 1963, switched its call letters to WLNE in 1980. Three years later, it was acquired by Freedom and moved its studios to Providence.
WLNE-TV will be the first venture for Global, O’Brien said, adding that he and Ewert probably will attempt to grow the company into other regions of the country.
But for the time being, the company is focused on growing WLNE.
Although both Doerr and O’Brien spoke of “investing in the product,” neither would say what changes might be in store for the staff or the station. A meeting with all of the station’s staff was held last Monday, but O’Brien described it as a session designed for the new owners and management to outline their “vision.”
Doerr said, however, that any changes made would be to benefit WLNE, and that the new owners were not looking to rebuild the station from scratch.
“We’re not coming in here to blow up the place,” he said. “But we’re going to add resources and add emphasis on the right things. We’ve got a good team, and we’re expecting growth.” •
