Welcome to The Chronicles of Trevor: the only blog where you're never barking up the wrong tree anyway.
Today, I will show you guys how I'd fix "BoSToN 25", WFXT, and how it would help the struggling station return to watchability.
1. Rebrand back to Fox 25.
I know a lot of people that still call WFXT by the former Fox 25 name. My aunt, my Mom, ME, my stepdad Tom, my uncle, my grandpa, my grandma, EVERYONE! It's because the branding "Fox 25" was used by the station ever since it switched to Fox back in 1987, after being sold to Fox Television Stations by the Christian Broadcasting Network, the same CBN that brought you The 700 Club. And to top it off, Fox owned the station TWICE in its history. the first time it was sold by Fox, it was owned by the Boston Celtics. Yes, THE Boston Celtics.
Under the ownership of the C's, Channel 25 went all out with the promotion of its new owners and the Fox affiliation. They had a fox mascot wearing a Celtics jersey numbered 25. Below is an animation cel from the station's identification from 1990 to 1994.
But in 1995, WFXT was sold again to Fox Television Stations, who would own the station for another 19 years, before the era-ending trade happened. If you don't know. Fox has the rights to air the NFC conference of the National Football League, and they've wanted to buy their affiliates in markets with NFC teams.
Fox has wanted a station in San Francisco for a long time, since it has become a bigger market, and also because it has the 49ers, an NFC team. They've wanted to purchase KTVU channel 2 in Oakland, but its then owners, Cox Broadcasting was never interested. Fox must've given them big bucks in 2014, when they traded WFXT and WHBQ (Memphis, TN) to Cox, who gave them KTVU and KICU, a duopoly (partnering stations, usually licensed to different cities, owned by a common company) serving San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Cox has been gutting WFXT by changing the station's branding and logos. This example, from 2015, makes the station look like one from a low-budget TV station in a smaller market. 
Larry Potash, of the WGN Morning News, called it a blatant attempt to attract more viewers, especially after the departure of beloved evening anchor Maria Stephanos (who later moved to WCVB-TV Channel 5, an ABC affiliate). In 2018, Cox pulled a Disney before it was cool, by rebranding the station once more to:
,which sounds more like an independent station (a station that has no network affiliation) rather than a Fox affiliate.
Heck, in the '80s, when CBN owned them, they used the Boston 25 brand when they were an independent station, before the Fox network acquisition.
But back to 2018, This rebrand is horrible, considering that Fox owned the station TWICE!
Also, most of the greatest milestones that happened on the station happened under the old name. Where did the 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series in which the Red Sox won air? FOX 25! Where did the Patriots get 2 of their 6 Super Bowl rings? FOX 25! Who was the first station to find photos of the Tsarnaev brothers after the Boston Marathon bombings? FOX! 25! Just saying.
If "bOsTOn 25" wanted to change for the better, I'd bring back the Fox 25 brand, and resurrect the 2006 logo, but with a few tweaks.
I'd do this, since the sign on their studios in Dedham still has the 1997 "FOX 25" logo, which the 2006 logo contains the elements from, just stacked to fit the "box-kite" layout.
2. News
In the broadcasting industry, newscasts are one of the most important programs on any television station. It is one of the ways that stations serve the public, and inform people of current events. In my opinion, the Fox 25 Morning News, back under Fox ownership, was the best morning show there ever was. Everyone seemed like they were having a lot of fun producing the Morning News at that time, since they would always joke around and pull little pranks, like one time, somebody threw a pie in a guest's face.
After Cox took over, their morning newscast became conventional (news stories jammed into your face one after the other), and lost all of the fun. I guess the robot that put up this sign works at Cox.
Back in the day, you could say "I watch Fox 25 in the morning" and everyone would be after you like bees on a flower.
Nowadays, if you say "I watch the Boston 25 Morning News" in front of someone, you're liable to be jumped or beaten up.
Also, the news music has gotten worse over time. After Cox got Fox 25 from Fox, they changed their music to Impact, which was originally composed by 615 Music for former sister station WTVT in Tampa, who later commissioned the Fox Affiliate News Theme, so I guess they went full circle there. After that, WFXT commissioned a new theme from Stephen Arnold (remember them?), called Stream, which sounds like a cheap knockoff BBC News theme from Temu. And finally, with Cox's new standardized graphics, that I thought look close to the Fox-owned stations' standardized graphics, comes another Stephen Arnold Track, Guardian.
WFXT's current graphics
Fox O&O Graphics, taken from WTVT's Good Day Tampa
Cox did do something good in 2016 though. They added a 4:00 newscast. This was a good addition, even though the station was in the beginning of its dark age. BUT 5 years later, they cancelled the 4:00 newscast and fired multiple people, such as sports director Tom Leyden. This was supposedly due to a certain world health event, and a cyberattack against Cox Media Group that happened a month before the announcement. Way to be a taker-backer, Cox! You yoinked away the only good thing you've EVER done for the station!
If I were to change anything newswise, I'd change the morning news back to a fun show, bring back the Fox Affiliate News Theme, bring back the Fox 25 News at 4:00, and the 2006-2015 voiceover, Russ Harris.
3: Stop the Cash-Grabbing
As you know by now, WFXT 25 has this shopping interstitial called "Local Steals & Deals", which is usually played during morning newscasts! These segments take up time that should be spent on news, not on some moron shilling some shawty Sharper Image-like products that you could probably get for cheaper at Walmart! (which makes sense, since Cox's parent company, Apollo Global Management, also owns Walmart.) I hate this because it cheapens an already-average newscast.
If I were to fix this, I'd get rid of Local Steals & Deals, and replace it with a showcase of actual local businesses, called "Small Biz Showcase". That seems like it would be a better way to advertise on a newscast, and some good promotion for ANY small business; they could put up a sign saying "As Seen On Fox 25".
4: Random
I'd have a Sunday block of syndicated episodes of The Simpsons, time-permitting. (since the episodes are syndicated, the bottom corner would contain the updated 2006-era Fox 25 logo/screen bug, instead of the main Fox one.) This block would be called "Sunday with The Simpsons", and would have original animated bumpers made by fans of the series. It would usually be aired before Fox's Animation Domination block, as a kind of segue into it.
I'd even bring back a show from the early days of the station, Candlepins for Cash, as a Saturday-afternoon show. It would travel to various bowling alleys across New England. This would be a good way to add some extra programming to a day normally filled to the brim with paid programming.
5: Schedule
Fox 25 Schedule Concept: Weekday
12AM-4:30AM Paid Programming
4:30AM-10AM Fox 25 Morning News
10AM-4PM Syndicated Shows
4PM-7PM Fox 25 News
7PM-8PM: Syndicated Programming
8PM-10PM: Fox National Programming
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
Saturday
12AM-5AM: Paid Programming
5AM-9AM: Fox 25 Weekend Morning News
9AM-12PM: E/I Programming (Xploration Station)
12PM-2PM: Candlepins for Cash
2PM-4PM: Syndicated Programming
4PM-7PM Fox 25 News
7PM-8PM Syndicated Programming
8PM-10PM Fox National Programming
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
Sunday (with NFL Single game)
12AM-5AM: Paid Programming
5AM-9AM: Fox 25 Weekend Morning News
10AM-11AM: Fox News Sunday
11AM-12PM: Fox 25 In Depth
12PM-4:30PM: NFL on Fox
4:30PM-7PM Sunday with The Simpsons
7PM-10PM Animation Domination
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
Sunday (with NFL Doubleheader)
12AM-5AM: Paid Programming
5AM-9AM: Fox 25 Weekend Morning News
10AM-11AM: Fox News Sunday
11AM-12PM: Fox 25 In Depth
12PM-7PM?: NFL on Fox
7PM?-10PM Animation Domination
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
Sunday (with NASCAR race)
12AM-5AM: Paid Programming
5AM-9AM: Fox 25 Weekend Morning News
10AM-11AM: Fox News Sunday
11AM-12PM: Fox 25 In Depth
12PM-1PM Sunday with The Simpsons
1PM-6PM NASCAR on FOX
6PM-7PM Fox 25 News at 6:00
7PM-10PM Animation Domination
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
Sunday (with no sports)
12AM-5AM: Paid Programming
5AM-9AM: Fox 25 Weekend Morning News
10AM-11AM: Fox News Sunday
11AM-12PM: Fox 25 In Depth
12PM-2PM: Movie
2PM-4PM: Encore Presentation of Candlepins for Cash
4PM: Fox 25 News at 4:00
5PM-7PM: Sunday with The Simpsons
7PM-10PM Animation Domination
10PM-12AM Fox 25 News at 10:00 and 11:00
These are the ways I'd fix Fox 25, and return it to its rightful glory.
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