TV Q&A: Who will replace David Johnson on WPXI?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions weekly at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Who replaces David Johnson as the main anchor at WPXI?

— Mike, Beaver

Rob: I noted in the story about Johnson’s retirement last month that Channel 11 executives did not respond to questions about who will sit in Johnson’s anchor chair after he retires following his Dec. 13 broadcasts. Nor has the station done much to cultivate a successor. While local TV stations once managed for ratings success, declining viewership means stations are managing more aggressively for the bottom line.

Gordon Loesch is Channel 11’s only other male anchor working five days per week, so perhaps it will be Loesch. Or the station could opt for a two-female anchor format, maybe upping the airtime for Susan Koeppen or another woman on staff.

Whatever the station decides, an announcement is likely later this month.

Q: What happened to the Scripps News live feed that used to be broadcast over the air, free, on Channel 16.5? Is it broadcast over the air free on some other channel and, if so, where can I find it?

— Jim, Sharpsburg

Rob: Earlier this fall Scripps announced it would shut down its 24-hour news channel on Nov. 15, another victim of the TV news downturn.

Q: How much money do the local TV stations make with all of the political ads they were running this election? Are they required to report it anywhere? How do they spend that extra money?

— T.J., Mt. Lebanon

Rob: Federally qualified candidates are entitled to buy advertising on broadcast channels and cable systems at the lowest available ad rate, so while viewers may see a lot of ads during a campaign, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a windfall for local stations if candidate ads bump other advertisers who could be charged more money for than the candidates. (Political ads by third-party groups can be charged at a higher rate than candidate ads.)

Former WPGH-TV news director John Poister notes that “most TV stations view political money as ‘found money.’ In other words they don’t really have to make a sales pitch — the money for the commercials just comes in over the transom. They are also obligated to run political spots. … In many cases this fall, political spots were the ONLY spots running in some local newscasts and other local shows. While this seems like a windfall, remember that many regular advertisers were pushed off the air or decided to put their commercials on hiatus until after Election Day. So, the stations lost that revenue.”

While the FCC requires that TV stations maintain a public file of requests for the purchase of broadcast time by or on behalf of legally qualified candidates, an FCC fact sheet does not suggest commercial TV stations are obligated to report how much money they take in from political ads.

Poister notes that while it may seem like political ads accrue “extra money” to TV stations, broadcast stations, particularly in shrinking markets like Pittsburgh, welcome vigorous political campaigns because “they make up for times when not every commercial availability is filled, which many times is the case in Pittsburgh. As for what the stations do with the political money, they pay salaries, benefits, commissions and taxes with some left over for the bottom line.”

Q: When will new episodes of “Virgin River” stream?

— Eveline, via Facebook

Rob: “Virgin River” streams its sixth season on Dec. 19 on Netflix and has already been renewed for a seventh season.