WLNE (was WBZ-TV Anniversary)

[Maureen Carney]

I'm guessing that ABC requires a newsroom of its affiliates, but can't dictate how much news is scheduled. I remember for years that WLNE did not have moring news - they ran "The Flintstones" at 6AM instead and didn't have local updates during whatever morning show CBS was running at the time. (This is going back to the late 70s - they were a CBS affiate from 1977 to 1995.) During the 80s they ran "Guiding Light" at 10AM so they could clear time for the "Dialing for Dollars" movie from 3-5PM. I'm not sure what would turn them around. An affiation switch (unless it was to MyTV or the CW) isn't in the cards - NBC, CBS or Fox wouldn't want to go to a lower rated station unless forced to.

Are they still sharing newscasts with Cox Cable for News Channel 5? That may also a reason that they're not throwing in the towel yet. Contracting out for news won't happen - 64 is LMAed to 12, and 10 is having a hard enough time with their 10 @ 10 news on 10.2.  Given that NECN is being bought by Comcast and WLNE deals with Cox that scenerio seems unlikely.