TVSpy has confirmed Jeff Cash, GM of Bowling Green NBC and CBS affiliate WNKY is out after 7 years at the station.
The quirky station, which features Radar the Weather Dog as one of its biggest stars, was recently dropped by Glasgow Electric Plant Board cable. Max Media COO John Trinder told TVSpy Cash’s departure had nothing to do with EPB.
Glasgow EPB CEO Billy Ray said in a blog post, WNKY was looking for a 1000 percent increase in retrans fees. Glasgow has replaced WNKY with Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV and CBS affiliate WTVF. Trinder said the cable company is “paying substantially more for the Nashville stations than they would have to pay to carry WNKY.”
While WSMV airs a local morning show from 4:00 to 7:00 a.m., a Noon show, and evening news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m, the sole WNKY news program “Bowling Green Today” airs from 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. On CBS affiliate ENKY, the newscast runs from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.
“Bowling Green Today” is a mix of weather updates and one camera interviews with community leaders. A quick check of TVeyes, showed Radar’s involvement amounted to one minute of him being walked on a leash.
“Currently, we believe south central Kentucky is best served by our putting our resources into state-of-the-art weather systems and programming, which we have done,” said Tinder, who added, “By carrying the Nashville stations instead of WNKY, EPB loses our local weather and news coverage; all they gain is the Nashville local news.”