Lilly Broadcasting

WSEE, and its sister station, WICU, branded together as Erie News Now, took the top two spots in the news ratings for the 11 p.m. news. Scott MacDowell, Erie News Now’s news director, says it’s been more than 10 years since either station has been the top-rated news station at that time.

Two local TV journalists from Lilly Broadcasting stations cross into Ukraine dodging missiles and eating in the dark at a cat café. The team reported live from locations in London, Poland and Ukraine and sent back stories about life there.

WZMQ, Lilly Broadcasting’s new CBS affiliate in Marquette, Mich., spent almost a year turning a 150-year-old building into a 21st century television studio. On Oct. 3, the station started airing nightly newscasts at 6 and 11. “We had to build this whole thing from the ground up,” says Brian Trauring, the EVP at Lilly.

A reporter and videographer from WSEE Erie, Pa.,  are in Poland filing reports for Lilly Broadcasting’s TV properties in Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan and the Caribbean. In the five days they’ve been in Poland, it’s been nonstop, working around the clock, they say.

Now, more than ever before, people are turning to local TV news for information they can trust about the changing conditions in their town, their city, county and state due to the coronavirus. And local TV marketers are responding with messages of hope and optimism, togetherness and kindness. Not the usual themes of local TV news promotion, but maybe the ones we need to hear right now.

Trauring will focus on news and marketing with added responsibilities to oversee strategic planning, recruiting and retention, quality control, digital platforms and enhanced synergies between the company’s television and radio stations.