
For many years, there were a couple of constants in the Columbus, Ohio, TV market: WBNS was a monster, and Dispatch Broadcast Group was its owner.
Dom Tiberi (l.) and Yolanda Harris, anchors at market leader WBNS, cross the Rich Street Bridge over the Scioto River.
Things change. In June, Tegna and Dispatch agreed to a deal that shifted WBNS and WTHR Indianapolis, along with the WBNS radio properties, to Tegna for $535 million.
John Cardenas, president and general manager of WBNS, said he couldn't be happier with the new owner. It means scale and leverage opportunities we may not have had before, he said.
Tegna owns stations in Cleveland and Toledo. Cardenas mentions content-sharing opportunities to cover the state, including election coverage in the swing state.
WBNS is aligned with CBS. Some in the area wonder what being part of a public company, versus WBNS's family-owned past, means for staffing.
WBNS, known as 10TV, has had a few challenges in terms of on-air talent. Anchor Jerry Revish retired in November. My career in journalism has afforded me the opportunity to help write the first drafts of history for 45 years, he said when his retirement was announced.
More Local News: Over the Air Is Over the Top
WBNS chief meteorologist Chris Bradley died of leukemia at 53 in December 2018, and meteorologist Mike Davis was arrested in September for charges related to child pornography.
The market leader gets hearty competition from WCMH, Nexstar Media Group's NBC affiliate. The station is focused on increasing and fine-tuning its local content. We've proven we can create content as compelling, if not more compelling, than syndicators, Ken Freedman, VP and general manager, said.
WCMH is also focused on connecting with younger consumers who may not tune in to scheduled shows. We continue to look at ways we can expand there, Freedman said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has ABC affiliate WSYX and manages Cunningham Broadcasting's Fox outlet WTTE and Manhan Medias CW station WWHO. HC2 owns Telemundo station WDEM. Charter Communications/Spectrum is the primary pay TV operator.
It's a hearty news operation at WSYXWTTE. Tony D'Angelo, VP and general manager, said there's about 70 hours of news a week coming out of the newsroom. We've invested heavily in local news, he said.
WBNS does not subscribe to Nielsen, opting for Comscore. Syndicated programming includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Dr. Oz.
In November, WBNS won the news races and WCMH or WSYX came in second. WBNS did a 5.4 household rating at 11 p.m., according to Comscore, and a 4.6 in viewers 25-54. WCMH had a 4.0 and 3.6.
We're truly connected to the community, Cardenas said. We have a rich history of having the top talent in the marketplace.
Buckeye Banter
Tegna also owns Columbus sports talk radio outlet 97.1 The Fan. Much of what is discussed on The Fan is Ohio State football. The team had its first loss of the season against Clemson in late December. We'll move on, said Freedman, and start thinking about next year.
WWHO does live high school football in the fall.
Columbus is market No. 34, but Freedman notes it is the 14th largest city in the U.S. Being No. 34 belies the sophistication and forward-thinking going on in Columbus, he said.
The Ohio capital, it is home to Nationwide, L Brands, Wendy's and other giant corporations. The economy covers all major areas, D'Angelo said.
This lively market should see a windfall as the presidential election heats up. I think 2020 is poised to be a big political showdown, Cardenas said.
There will be plenty for the newsrooms to cover. Columbus has really good stations and good operators who believe strongly in broadcasting, D'Angelo said.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...