Longtime broadcaster and former radio station owner Joanne Cary has died at 86. Her obituary notes a long career at stations in the Twin Cities, Mason City, and Fargo, before she and her husband Ed Cary (who she met while working in Tomah, Wis.) founded WLKX-FM/95.9 (Forest Lake) in 1978. They owned the station until 2000.
St. Cloud State University’s KVSC/88.1 (St. Cloud) announced that longtime volunteer host “Uncle Frank” has died unexpectedly. He hosted his last edition of the weekly show “Diversions” on Sept. 15.
After a decade at 6:30 p.m., Tegna NBC affiliate KARE 11 (Minneapolis) is converting “Breaking the News” to streaming-only program and moving it to 5:30 p.m. Listings show “KARE 11 News at 6:30” on the broadcast channel. The new streaming version of “Breaking the News” will debut in early October, according to an on-air announcement by host Jana Shortal. The change will give KARE’s free streaming channel a two-hour block of local content from 5 to 7 p.m. while the broadcast channel goes to national news at 5:30.
Scripps NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV/4 (Milwaukee) has promoted Nicole Buckley to senior director of news.
Hearst ABC affiliate WISN-TV/12 (Milwaukee) has hired Kayland Hagwood as 4 and 5 p.m. co-anchor. Hagwood will also report for the 10 p.m. newscast.
Daniel Zons announced he is leaving Allen Media ABC affiliate WQOW/18 (Eau Claire) for a new multimedia journalist/producer role at Hubbard ABC affiliate KAAL/6 (Austin-Rochester).
The Radio Television Digital News Association and Newhouse School at Syracuse University have released several findings from their annual survey: Local TV news employment dropped 2.2% in 2025 (prior to consolidations in several markets this year) and 30.8% of TV newsrooms were profitable in 2025, according to information provided by news directors. The survey also found “small but notable gains” in radio staffing.
The Manitoba government has announced that the province is switching to permanent Daylight Saving Time starting Nov. 1. The change means that Manitoba will be an hour ahead of northwestern Ontario, Minnesota, and North Dakota during the winter months, but then be back to being the same time as those locations when they resume DST next spring. Manitoba joins several other locations in Canada that have dropped the twice-yearly clock changes, though they have gone about it in different ways, creating extra confusion for TV viewers since cable and satellite providers in Canada carry stations from multiple Canadian and U.S. markets.
Chantal Desjardins has joined Evanov Communications’ “Energy 106” (CHWE-FM/106.1 Winnipeg) as afternoon host.
Of note just outside this site’s usual coverage area, RadioInsight reports that Audacy’s WSCR/670 (Chicago) and WBBM/780 (Chicago) have moved to the tower site of Salem’s WYLL/1160 (Chicago).
In case you missed it here:
- Civic Media Expands to Iowa with Purchase of NRG Stations
- St. Cloud’s WMIN Shifts from Standards to Classic Hits
- FCC Monitor: LPTV Applicant Alleges Other Stations Are Off Air
News tips? Press releases? If you don’t see yours here, I probably didn’t receive it! Please send them to jonellis@northpine.com!
Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.