The Enquirer and WXIX-TV are close to finalizing a partnership agreement to share news content.
TV viewers saw the first evidence of the co-operation on Channel 19's 10 p.m. news Tuesday, when Fox 19 reporter Frankie Jupiter did an update on the Piketon murders and thanked "our partners at the Cincinnati Enquirer."
"We are discussing a potential partnership with Fox-19, but there is nothing official yet to share," Enquirer Publisher Rick Green tells me in an email.
That could change very soon.
Fox 19 News/Content Director Steve Hyvonen says: "We are finalizing our partnership this week. We’ll give you the scoop as soon as the ink dries."
The deal won't be the first in Enquirer history. The paper shared the Cincinnati.com website with WCPO-TV 15 years ago, and allowed Channel 9 reporter Deb Silverman, then covering Butler County, and a photographer to work in the paper's West Chester Township news office on Cox Road. The bureau reporters would share breaking news information and contacts, but not necessarily stories, says former Enquirer reporter Janice Morse.
"Sometimes Channel 9 would promote our exclusive stories that they didn't have on the 11 p.m. news, so they'd get a slice of the story," says Morse, an insurance agent in Butler County.
Through the years, TV stations have partnered with each other, radio stations and Cox's Hamilton and Middletown newspapers printed by the Dayton Daily News.
About 10 years ago, Channels 9 and 19 shared a camera covering Hamilton County court arraignments. When Channels 19 or 5 had agreements with WLW-AM/WEBN-FM to provide weather and telecast the Riverfest fireworks, the station sometimes provided TV news audio to WLW-AM.
Channel 9 currently has an agreement with my station, WVXU-FM, and with the Hamilton Journal-News and Cox, which owns Dayton's WHIO-TV (Channel 7). Previously WKRC-TV had partnered with Cox, until Channel 12 was bought by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owned Dayton's Channels 22 and 45.
WVXU-FM's deal with Channel 9 allows the radio station to use Channel 9's weather and news feed on WVXU.org and WGUC.org, and some TV sound in radio newscasts. WVXU-FM and WGUC-FM broadcast from Channel 9's tower in Walnut Hills.
Green, a former Enquirer reporter and editor, said that he has "told our team here since my arrival last year we need to weigh partnerships that provide new audience and marketing possibilities. Some may be formal; others a bit less. We have the region's biggest and best newsroom, but I'm always seeking ways to extend the reach and influence of (Editor) Peter Bhatia's newsroom."
Stay tuned.
