KEYE-TV Kills Early Morning News Program, Broadcasting JB and Sandy Show Instead

Fred Cantu and Michelle Valles' early morning news program on KEYE-TV is being canceled, the station announced today. In its place, KEYE will begin broadcasting a live feed from Mix 94.7's JB and Sandy in the Morning radio show.

Amy Villarreal, President and General Manager of the local CBS affiliate, rationalized the decision by stating that since Austin has four competing morning television news programs that are "all essentially the same," replacing theirs with the radio program was a way of offering "early morning Central Texas viewers and advertisers an innovative, entertaining approach to morning television."

JB and Sandy will begin broadcasting on October 5, running from 6 to 7 a.m. According to Austin Business Journal, Valles will co-anchor the 4 p.m. newscast, while Cantu is switching to the network's new Telemundo channel.

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By Allen Y Chen in News on September 2, 2009 4:05 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Bababooey

Wow ... what a total implosion. When working from home I used to be able to put on KEYE in the morning and leave it on.

BJ and Sandy? Radio on TV. Radio on radio is awful to begin with. I could see this format working overnight in place of an infomercial, but other than that ... no. Radio itself has been all but decimated in the face of Satellite. There's an automated weather station out of Killeen that's more entertaining.

I switch back for the CBS early show, which I prefer, but Pat Robertson and the 700 Nazi club at 9? OMG, I want to put a shovel through my TV when this obnoxious hypocrite comes on. CBS gets switched off until evening programming comes on.

And what's with this 4pm show? Great time of day to put something like this on ... every grade schooler in the region must be glued to this while doing homework, while everyone else is stuck in traffic. This is the show that belongs in the 6-7am hour.

42.2 used to be a great alternative to all of the $#!+ TV on throughout the day, but it now appears we have our 4th Telemundo signal in the area. Wow, how original. Let's take Fred (who was a primary draw on morning cable) and hide him on the rabbit-ear network.

Is your program director employed by KXAN?

mike

What a load of CRAP! I have been watching Fred and company since he was at KTBC before the advent of KVUE. Fred is AWESOME and will be truly missed. I agree with those of you that think that the REAL change should have been the immediate firing of Amy Villarreal along with the rest of the management at KVUE. They arerunning the station into the ground. Anybody at Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. listening? I think that everyone who posted a comment here should write a letter to the president of Cerberus Capital Management and express to them how poor of a choice this was.

Maybe I can brush up on my Spanish so I can see him on TELEMUNDO. Miss you Uncle Fred. God Bless.

indian57

Way to go!!! Take a program that a whole lot of people started their day with and replace it with CRAP nobody will watch. I think the changes should start at the top starting with Amy Villarreal. If you agree respond to this reply.

Robin

I was so disappointed this morning when I turned on the TV. I so enjoy Fred Cantu every morning while getting dressed for work.I could not find any other station that I liked... I liked eveything about that morning show!

What news station do I watch for the local morning news? Nothing will compare to Fred Cantu!

stateoftheheart

this sucks. I like Fred Cantu, he's like Austin's version of that cool grandpa we all know.

BarbaraM

Ya'll are kidding, right? YOUR NUTS!!! I'm with whooo.

Just like the people that took the local weather channel to premium status. Where has logic gone? Out the window with the pot smoke?

whooo

Gotcha. KLBJ is the more annoying one than 94.7

If you are student in training for a DJ or newsanchor job... SWITCH MAJORS! I highly recommend a career that's not dying.

MIGGO

JB and Sandy are the easy listening morning show on Mix 94.7. Dudley and Bob are the morning show on KLBJ FM with Mark, Ed, and Sgt Sam on the KLBJ AM side.

I, for one, love this news as I'm always at work whenever Michelle Valles was on. She's a looker, that one is.

whooo

So he plans to make KEYE different by airing the exact same thing heard on KLBJ? He just went from essentially the same to exactly the same.

jmax

jb and sandy are terrible. jb once went on this rant about how awful pit bulls are and how they should be banned. can't believe someone so narrow-minded (this being only one example) is going to be on tv and represent austin. thumbs down keye.