User blog:MatthewBerfield/WLIZ's Shutdown

Good evening, dearest friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, as many of you have speculated over the past month, it is my unfortunate duty to confirm that one of Berfield/Willis’ top stations, WLIZ, has been voluntarily put up for auction by both the Federal Communications Commission and Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation. Once a date has been set up to auction off the non-license assets of the station, we shall expect 3 turn outs. The first of which is that WLIZ’s programming will continue to broadcast on a secondary channel, such as WRBL-DT5 or WFTO-DT11. The second of which is that we broadcast on a lower VHF position. Finally, the third and most tragic of all these possibilities is that WLIZ will sign off permanently. I have talked with the general manager of WLIZ, Mr. Jackson Grainger, as well as the co-CEO of Berfield/Willis, Mr. Victor Willis IV, and we’ve all mutually decided that the third option was the absolute best financial option for all of us. WLIZ’s on-air staff and management will continue to work at WLIZ through at least June 2nd.

The shutdown of WLIZ will occur in three phases.

1) The first phase will be the shutdown of QTV and the removal of its respective programming on WLIZ. Programs such as Good Day USA, InuYasha, QTVision.com, the Kids WB lineup and the QTV primetime lineup will all be replaced by paid advertisements in their respective timeslots.

2) The second phase of the shutdown of WLIZ will be the gradual shutdown of our news department. Starting May 8, WLIZ’s weekend 11pm newscast will cut. On May 15, WLIZ’s noon newscast will be cut. On May 22, WLIZ’s 5pm and 6pm early evening newscasts will be cut. On May 29, WLIZ’s morning newscast will be cut. And finally on June 2, WLIZ will air its final broadcast- the final edition of the 11pm newscast.

3) The third and final phase will occur on June 2nd, 2017. WLIZ will air a 4 hour remembrance special beginning at 8pm and lasting until 12am midnight. The special will be hosted by WLIZ’s current and former on-air staff and management, as well as the on-air staff of WFTO/WRBL/WTEE. The special will end with a montage of clips of the employees at WLIZ as well as credits scrolling at the bottom of the WLIZ staff and management (both on-air and behind the scenes) with Kenny G’s “Auld Lang Syne” playing in the background. A slow, zooming out of WLIZ’s former studios will follow the montage with Michael Martin Murphey’s “Happy Trails” playing in the background. At 11:55 pm EDT on June 2nd, Berfield/Willis CEO Matthew Berfield will join Co-CEO Victor Willis IV and WLIZ GM Jackson Grainger in the countdown of the official shutdown of WLIZ’s transmitter and will shut it down forever at the stroke of midnight on June 3rd.

One final note, we are very sorry to have to come to these terms, but we felt it was fiscally irresponsible to operate 5 television stations in Liberty City. Thank you for your time and appreciation of us for the past 25 years and of our news department for the past 18 years. And now, we say goodbye and in the words of the late great Ralph Renick, “May the good news be yours”.