TV Q&A: Why are meteorologists on the move?

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

Q: I have heard several announcements from KDKA-TV and WTAE that the weather forecasters’ schedules are changing.

Jeff Verszyla on WTAE is now on weekends, and there is no mention of who will replace him in the 4 p.m. weekday slot.

KDKA’s Mary Ours will now be the weekend morning forecaster, with no mention of who will take her place during the week. Perhaps you can shed some light on this change in personnel and whether some are leaving the stations.

— Karl, McCandless

Rob: WTAE announced in July that Brian Hutton Jr. would move to noon and 4 p.m. weekdays and Verszyla would shift to weekend evenings. It’s unclear why WTAE made this change, with station executives declining to comment beyond a statement in a station press release: “Brian has been a steady voice for our viewers during severe weather, sharing critical updates with expertise and compassion. His commitment to delivering clear, impactful weather information through innovative forecasting has truly set him apart. We are confident his new role will allow him to connect with even more of Western Pennsylvania on TV and digital platforms,” said WTAE news director Baylor Long.

As for Ours, she’s on the move following the August retirement of Kristin Emery.

Ours, who most recently offered forecasts during the noon and 4 p.m. newscasts weekdays, was hired at KDKA to work weekend mornings and she’s now back on that shift as well as appearing on the noon and 4 p.m. newscasts Monday-Wednesday. The rest of the weather team, including weekend evening forecaster Trey Fulbright, are covering the remaining noon and 4 p.m. weekday shifts as the station looks to hire to fill Emery’s position.

Q: At least 23% of the American TV market is blocking Jimmy Kimmel’s return to ABC, plus millions of individuals tuning him out, so how did you get to his return having the highest ratings ever?

— David, via email

Rob: I may not know much about much, but I do know TV. And I know American viewers’ insatiable appetite to tune in to controversy. It was not going out on a limb to suggest in advance of Kimmel’s return that his first episode back would be his “highest-rated episode in years.”

If anything, I sold Kimmel short: That Sept. 23 episode drew 6.2 million linear viewers, three times the average audience of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this year. Among the adults 18-49 demo, the episode earned a 0.87 rating, the highest ratings for a regularly scheduled Kimmel episode in more than 10 years.

Q: With federal funding eliminated and talk of WQED possibly shutting down altogether, what are the chances that a national broadcaster might buy them and other PBS stations, with the FCC looking to eliminate national ownership caps? A company like Nexstar could snatch them up and convert WQED into a commercial broadcaster, likely as an OO of Nexstar-owned The CW.

It’d be sad if Yinzers become acquainted with the ubiquitous Nexstar trademark shown at the end of their newscasts through the home of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

— Joseph, via email

Rob: Such a scenario seems unlikely given that WQED-TV is licensed as a noncommercial/educational television station by the Federal Communications Commission. Any commercial broadcaster would want to sell ads, which would require a significant change in WQED’s license.

Q: It seems strange to me and unfair to contestants that the “America’s Got Talent” judge controlling the Golden Buzzer automatically sends the chosen act to the next round and doesn’t have to wait until he/she has seen all the acts to choose.

How many times do the judges select one and later say to an act that follows something like, “Wow! I’m sorry, if I hadn’t used my Golden Buzzer, I’d give it to you.”

What is “AGT’s” reasoning?

— Dave, Pittsburgh

Rob: Fairness in game play is not the primary concern of reality show competition producers. Producers come up with the rules and do so in a way that will create the most dramatic moments (e.g. “make good TV”). The scenario Dave describes creates exactly the drama producers want. That’s my read on the situation anyway. Representatives for “AGT” did not respond to Dave’s question.