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WNWO-TV, channel 24, is pictured in 2017, on South Byrne Road in Toledo.
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Channel 24, WNWO-TV to end newscasts in May

THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY

Channel 24, WNWO-TV to end newscasts in May

Local newscasts will be eliminated from programming in May at Toledo’s Channel 24, WNWO-TV, its employees were told on Thursday.

“Came out of the blue!” a station employee posted on Facebook. “No clue this was going to happen. Corporate came in this morning and announced that they will be cancelling all newscasts due to money issues.”

WNWO is a distant third in the local newscast ratings to Channel 13, WTVG-TV and Channel 11, WTOL-TV.

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The station posted this explanation on its website Thursday afternoon: “NBC 24 is changing the way we produce news in Toledo to ensure our long-term success.

John Ostapkovich had this photo taken of him in 1982, when Channel 24, WNWO-TV had the trailer reporters worked out of repossessed as part of a bankruptcy order. He had his desk, electric typewriter and coffee cup taken next to where the trailer had been. ''But the typewriter no longer was working without a plug,'' he joked.
Steve Kornacki
Signing off: WNWO-TV played the underdog while cultivating top talent in half-century run

“Beginning May 15, The National Desk, which provides real-time national and regional news from Sinclair's television stations across the U.S. will air during our regularly scheduled news time periods.

“TND, which offers an alternative choice for news and provides an opportunity for local news cut-ins, has grown exponentially over the last year, reaching nearly three million viewers per week across all dayparts.”

Jim Hanning, general manager and vice president of Toledo’s NBC affiliate station since 2017, did not return phone messages left by The Blade requesting comment.

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WNWO has studios on South Byrne Road in Toledo, and a small staff in town. However, its actual newscasts have originated since 2017 from its sister TV station in South Bend, Ind., which is a CBS/FOX affiliate.

When that change occurred in 2017, the first new WNWO broadcast debuted on Toledo televisions at 6 p.m. on a Monday with Ryan Cummings and Dayne Marae, co-anchors who didn’t work or live in the market.

The newscast featured a handful of truly local and sometimes live reports by what then remained of WNWO’s on-air reporters, along with several weather segments.

Ken Garland, a now-retired journalism instructor at Bowling Green State University and a former broadcast reporter and anchor for two decades, said in 2017 when the change occurred that while there are no FCC mandates or even network requirements forcing a station such as WNWO to continue producing newscasts, the news product is typically a source of revenue, even for a station struggling in the ratings, Mr. Garland said.

“[Station owners] can do whatever they want,” he said, “so it’s got to be for the money.”

The current WNWO employee also posted on Thursday that: “Sad to see the little station that could go out like this. We tried our damnedest to stay up there with the big boys, and we did give them hell but as they say...it is what it is.”

WNWO was founded in 1966 as WDHO, and took on its current station identification call letters in 1986. It became an NBC affiliate in 1995.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group in Maryland, which owns WNWO, also did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment. It also owns TV stations in Columbus and Cincinnati, and according to WNWO’s website, Sinclair owns and operates 163 TV stations in 77 markets.

It noted that Sinclair reaches 38.7 percent of U.S. households with those broadcasts, but WNWO’s local news viewers will soon be gone from that fold. 

First Published April 27, 2023, 6:26 p.m.

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WNWO-TV, channel 24, is pictured in 2017, on South Byrne Road in Toledo.  (THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY)  Buy Image
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