TV Q&A: Why does a KDKA-TV forecaster skip some broadcasts?

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: Why does Mary Ours or Kristine Emery only do the 4 p.m. weather, then Ray Petelin starts at 5? He does the 5 and 6 p.m. Why then does he skip the 7:30 news and the 8-9 p.m. on KDKA+, then come back for the 10:30 and 11 p.m. news? If it is his turn, why does he not do all the broadcasts?

— Kimerle, via email

Rob: People who work in TV get meal breaks, too.

My understanding is that Petelin skips the 7:30 and 8 p.m. newscasts (when 8 p.m. was live and not a rerun of the 6 p.m. news as it is now), so he gets a break before the late newscasts.

Q: With Kristin Emery’s Aug. 28 retirement, is KDKA going to go with four meteorologists or replace her?

— Liz, via email

Rob: Of course, the configuration of rotating evening meteorologists cited in the first question may change with Emery’s retirement, as the station will be down from five to four meteorologists.

My understanding is that the station intends to fill the position Emery vacates, but there is no timetable for doing so.

Q: How are they saving money when they let go of the younger, cheaper talent and keep the older, higher-paid talent?

— Ken, via email

Rob: It’s unclear who Ken is referring to, but presumably it’s KDKA-TV’s layoffs of Kym Gable and Lindsay Ward. While Ward is relatively early in her career, Gable has worked in Pittsburgh TV news for at least two decades.

As for why they were chosen to be laid off, Gable worked without a contract (by her choice), which made it easier for the station to cut her. Ward said her contract was up in September, which also gave KDKA a window to show her the door with limited financial downside for the station.

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Q: I was wondering if you knew when the new seasons of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” would begin. It seems they’re playing the same episode week after week for the last couple of weeks.

— Josh, via email

Rob: Reruns are the normal course of business in the summer. Both shows return with new episodes Sept. 8 on WPXI. And for the first time ever, episodes will stream on Hulu the day after their linear premieres beginning Sept. 9.

Q: On Aug. 16, I woke up to a message on my TV that stated the following: HBO Family (Channels 406, 407, 906, 907), MovieMAX (Channels 428, 928), Outer Max (Channels 431, 931) and Thriller Max (Channels 426, 926, 427) are no longer available due to a partner driven change.

Could you please explain what this means? Is Verizon going to replace any of these channels with other comparable ones?

This is very distressing to me as I watched all these channels on the HD tier.

— Joe, Pittsburgh

Rob: This wasn’t a Verizon decision. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owned those channels, opted to shutter all those channels.

In June Variety reported WBD opted to pare does its collection of “multiplex channels” due to linear premium channel viewership declines as audiences shift to streaming.

Remaining multiplex channels include HBO2, HBO Signature, HBO Comedy, HBO Zone, HBO Latino, MoreMax, ActionMax, 5 Star Max and Cinemáx.

A Verizon spokeswoman said there are no plans to replace these dropped channels since they were cut by WBD, not by Verizon.