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GA Review

[edit]
Passed. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 23:59, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Nominator: Sammi Brie (talk · contribs) 17:33, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer: Vigilantcosmicpenguin (talk · contribs) 21:48, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'll take this one. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 21:48, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for taking this beast on. This is very much an article that is FAC-bound someday. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 22:50, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you as well! To distinguish between Sammi and myself on any comments, I will use "🦝" Nathan Obral • he/him • t • c • 16:15, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Rate Attribute Review Comment
1. Well-written:
1a. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct. Prose is good.
1b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Lead section summarizes the article without editorializing. Layout makes sense and sections are arranged chronologically. No WTW issues. List is organized correctly.
2. Verifiable with no original research, as shown by a source spot-check:
2a. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline. References are listed.
2b. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose). Article cites reliable sources, using various newspapers as well as industry publications and a subject-matter expert source.
2c. it contains no original research. Article reflects what is in sources.
2d. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. Earwig says 8.3%. No close paraphrasing.
3. Broad in its coverage:
3a. it addresses the main aspects of the topic. Article is a solid overview of the station's ownership, programming, and popularity throughout its history. It includes what RSes consider the most important developments.
3b. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Article provides just enough background information to understand the context of the radio station's history.
4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. Article objectively explains the station's reputation by citing ratings and describing conflicts.
5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Article is stable.
6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
6a. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content. All images are free to use, as confirmed by image sources.
6b. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions. Images depict WTVJ and people associated with it.
7. Overall assessment. A solid article that clearly involved a lot of work. Well done.

General comments

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  • I don't think the photo of the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse is really relevant. Even if WTVJ used to be located there, readers won't gain any information from the photo.
  • Saying "South Florida affiliation drama" in a section title seems afoul of Wikivoice. Perhaps just say "South Florida affiliation switch" as that's what the article on the topic says.
  • The section "Prehistory and construction": that is not what the word prehistory usually means. Perhaps change it to "Background".

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 22:29, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lead section

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  • a head-start in local programming that endured for three decades. It looks like the "three decades" refers to the sentence quoting the Miami Herald, but that's more of an opinion.
  • The phrases a local favorite for more than 20 years and the station pioneered in are not really supported. The sentence could be changed to something like The station's programming included Ralph Renick's newscast, which was Miami's highest-rated for 34 years; Chuck Zink's children's show Skipper Chuck, which ran for more than 20 years; as well as sports coverage and local Spanish-language programming.
  • I'll be doing some minor copyedits myself.
  • WTVJ produced a series of reporters and anchors that went on to prominent network positions is not supported in the article. Just say WTVJ's reporters and anchors have included...
  • The last sentence of the third paragraph is just very long. I think listing it all in one sentence is original synthesis, as the article does not specifically say that all of these things are connected to the third-place ranking. Furthermore, I think the word "flashy" is not supported, and "left the station without its own news identity" is an opinion.
  • WTVJ and its NBC and local programming moved to channel 6, while WCIX and its CBS and local programming moved to channel 4 as WFOR-TV. to be more concise.
  • The "solid, old-fashioned journalism" quote is not noteworthy enough to be in the lead.
  • to its present Miramar studios per WP:RELTIME

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 22:29, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Wometco years

[edit]
  • I guess "Construction" could be split into two sections, for before and after the station started airing.
  • There is too much detail about Wolfson's career; it is not relevant to WTVJ that Wolfson was a mayor and a veteran.
  • Under the law, the revocation order was to be stayed if a hearing was requested; this followed in mid-August. → A hearing was requested in mid-August, which legally required the revocation order to be stayed. The current phrasing reads as if there's some chronological order here.
  • co-owned WQAM radio is confusing, who co-owns it?
    • Reworded for clarity
  • Do we not have the exact year Weaver joined the station?
    • "Charter WTVJ employee" means he joined in 1949, when the station began.
  • The ability for WTVJ to get on air and not be revoked proved invaluable. Vague
  • Construction of the tower was marred by a tragedy is a WTW
  • WCKT-TV on channel 7, now WSVN feels like too much detail—I think it'd be more clear to readers to just pipe the link, as it's not super important that this is the same station as the one later in the article. The whole sentence is already pretty long anyway.
    • 🦝 I shortened it to The early UHF stations were supplanted by VHF outlets: WCKT-TV started in July 1956 on channel 7, and WPST-TV debuted in August 1957 on channel 10.
  • Several new programming concepts proved groundbreaking during this time. Vague
  • The newscast proved a lifeline Unnecessary idiom
  • she remained with the station for nearly a decade before leaving for a network job in 1976. Readers can subtract 1967 from 1976 themselves.
  • The name "Louis Wolfson III" is mentioned without explaining who he is.
    • Added an intro.
  • The majority of the latter's assets were sold to a Wometco executive, while the bottling operations were sold separately. This sentence can be removed; bottling is not relevant to WTVJ.
    • Fair point. There's a lot of detail from which the Wometco article could be improved that might not belong here. Comments to here and fixes in this header: Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 05:18, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    • 🦝 Improving the main article for Wometco is on my "to-do" list (I'm currently working on the article for Storer Communications, the other company broken up) but the dismantling of the company should already be covered in there.
  • a job for which she would eventually become famous feels like editorializing.

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 02:19, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Attempted sale to Lorimar

[edit]
  • A revision to the Herald story revealed said that NBC also made an inquiry about the station, but that network's executives were not available for comment. Whether or not someone commented is not important to us.
  • Lorimar-Telepictures was not a stranger to broadcast station ownership, already owning owned five television stations inherited from predecessor Telepictures
  • You mention that the owners of Lorimar were criticized by The Wall Street Journal, but it's not clear that this is directly tied to WTVJ. If the newspaper was specifically opposed to the acquisition, say that.
    • Honestly, that might be a bit off-topic, reading it. (This was the part Nathan worked on more)
    • 🦝 Correct, that should have been excised.
  • The June 7, 1986, edition of The Palm Beach Post added another wrinkle Unnecessary idiom
  • 12.4 percent of its audience was said to come came from there.
  • The quotation "embarrassing No. 3 in a two-station market" must be attributed.

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 05:10, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

🦝 @Vigilantcosmicpenguin and Sammi Brie: for my comments! Nathan Obral • he/him • t • c • 17:03, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sale to NBC and the South Florida affiliation switch

[edit]
  • The statement Even though a GE holding company was credited as the buyer, it was universally accepted in the media and the industry that NBC was the pending owner. doesn't really seem supported by the source.
  • WTVJ's program director claimed said that...
  • Remove the sentence about the promotional tape; it's undue as the only source is the tape itself. This primary source certainly cannot be used for the claim WTVJ's sales department poked fun of the situation.
  • ...and claimed to be deeply distressed at having to did not want to affiliate with an NBC-owned station.
  • with a blaze of promotion Unnecessary idiom
  • The campaign was remembered years later as "grating", "annoying", and "over as soon as it started". All of these quotes should be attributed.

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 21:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Changes made in this section. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 21:47, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Under NBC management

[edit]
  • before being lured to WTVJ Unclear
  • NBC replaced Lobo with a longtime NBC employee familiar with Miami, Don Browne, who had just left his post as second-in-command at NBC News and previously ran its Miami bureau since you don't need to mention Miami twice in the same sentence.
  • for its coverage of events the crisis in Haiti, and link to Operation Uphold Democracy

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 21:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Vigilantcosmicpenguin Changes made in this section. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 21:47, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Move to Channel 6

[edit]
  • The first paragraphs have too much detail about stations; it doesn't even get to WTVJ until the end of the second paragraph. It's not relevant to list WMAR-TV, KDKA-TV, KPIX, WJZ-TV, WBZ-TV, KYW-TV, KCNC-TV, KUTV, etc. when you could just say "multiple stations" or something like that.
    • The whole problem is that this whole thing only happened because of Philadelphia, which happened because of Baltimore, which happened because of New World. I've tried to slim down some of the mentions to avoid serving too much alphabet soup. But it's unavoidable.
  • Delete a remark that was covered on the front page of Variety
  • In the immediate aftermath, NBC's ratings fell on the weaker channel 6 since the part about channel 6 being weaker is already clear.
  • by relinquishing weeknight sports anchoring in 1997 to concentrate full-time on news

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 01:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Move to Miramar, digitalization, and combination with WSCV

[edit]
  • The move was seen as an acknowledgement... By whom?
  • Should be more clear what the "problem with WXEL-TV" was.
  • his lengthy but discontinuous two runs at WTVJ was such that obituaries for Weaver in 2006 erroneously noted his "fifty-four years of service to the same station". is OR
    🦝 Yeah, this is something where the sources (not just the Herald obit, but Variety as well) incorrectly stated he spent his entire career at the station. Which is completely wrong. His own article on here had the same wrong detail, which I just corrected. Is it better to address this via a postscript or note within the reference used, which is otherwise reliable? Can that be done with the cite news template? Nathan Obral • he/him • t • c • 16:10, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think it's important to note something a few sources got wrong. If the statement involved opinion or bias, then it'd be important to state that sources disagree, but since this is a clear and simple inaccuracy, it's not relevant. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 17:47, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
🦝 Fair enough. I rewrote it to Weaver died in 2006 and was recognized for both his lengthy tenure at the station and ties to the Renick era. but can shorten it if needed. Nathan Obral • he/him • t • c • 18:48, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 01:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Attempted sale to Post-Newsweek Stations and digital era

[edit]
  • I think there's too much detail about Cozi TV. Just say WTVJ launched NBC Nonstop (relaunched as Cozi TV in 2013) or something like that.
  • ...though it found some momentum in the early 2010s after a change in station group management, moving into second place. → ...though it moved into second place in the early 2010s after a change in station group management.
  • The station reduced its sports coverage at the same time. In a three-month span in 2013, it cut the length of its 11 p.m. sportscast; the next year, it bought out Joe Rose's contract, eliminated sports in the 6 p.m. news, and canceled its longtime Sunday night sports show, Sports Final, all in the span of three months. Roy Firestone, who had worked as a sportscaster at the station until 1975, went as far as to write wrote a letter to the general manager criticizing him for letting news director Migdalia Figueroa make such deep cuts to sports coverage.

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 01:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The rest of the article

[edit]
  • Not that it matters, but surely Larry King should be listed under "Notable former on-air staff". The section is good though.
  • The "Technical information" section is also good.

— Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 01:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The notable section is designed in articles I write to contain additional staff not already mentioned in prose. That is a departure from how most of these were structured, but in my opinion it reduces redundancy. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 02:32, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, that makes sense. Not how I would have done it, but doesn't matter at all to the GAN. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 05:44, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Source spotcheck

[edit]

Sources look reliable; article is mostly sourced to local newspapers and industry publications. The only source that I'm not sure about is Fybush.com, which appears to be a blog. Can you explain what makes this source reliable; is Fybush a reputed subject-matter expert?

  • I'm surprised I don't have an existing defense of Fybush, one of very few SMEs I'd cite in an article. He's been blogging about radio and TV since the 1990s. The Tower Site of the Week series has gone on for most of that time and is pretty technical in nature. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 23:47, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Doing a spotcheck of 25 randomly selected sources. As of this revision: — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 21:09, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  1. checkY
  2. ☒N You say the first two UHF stations were in Fort Lauderdale, but this one is in Tampa Bay. This article also doesn't directly mention that the station would compete with WTVJ.
  3. checkY The source the series "may be unique", so it might be more accurate to say what may have been the nation's first regular TV editorials. The 1999 Herald source does say that Renick gave the first TV editorial, so you could cite that too.
  4. checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY
    This source also makes the point that the network had a decrease in local programming after live national television was introduced. I think you should include this as necessary context about the station's history.
  5. ☒N Doesn't include the quote "secret plan" checkY
  6. checkY Except I don't think your phrasing really supports the source. You imply that Renick's lower ratings led to the network wanting to get rid of him, but the source says Renick left because he grew tired of the position after Wolfson died.
  7. checkY checkY
  8. checkY
  9. checkY checkY
  10. checkY Though I'm now thinking the exact date isn't relevant.
  11. checkY checkY checkY
  12. checkY
  13. checkY
  14. checkY
  15. checkY checkY Except technically it says he lived in South Florida, not Miami specifically checkY
  16. checkY
  17. checkY
  18. checkY
  19. checkY
  20. checkY
  21. checkY
  22. checkY
  23. checkY
  24. checkY
  25. checkY

@Sammi Brie: @Nathan Obral: I've noticed a few minor errors in the source spotcheck. Just a few things to address in what is otherwise a very good article. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 21:09, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  • 45: St. Pete doesn't fall in the definition of South Florida. The point that reference is making is that WFTL-TV was first after the freeze in Florida. You might wnat to look at 46 and 47 for the material you're seeking.
  • 64: Added a cite invoke.
  • 69: This is actually already somewhere in this article—with the 1973 source. With more intense ratings competition from the new stations and increased network offerings from CBS, the "friendly, disjointed" local programming on WTVJ waned.
  • I removed the quote at 84.
  • 96, 178: I've reworded this to be a bit more faithful to the source.

@Vigilantcosmicpenguin: Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 23:47, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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