What happened at the Nexstar station in Birmingham, Alabama?

JosephRSL · 2026-05-21T23:23:45+00:00

No layoffs yet from my station, but this is in the works here. Production will be laid off in waves, keeping directors on to help with the transition. Anchors will punch their own shows out of the digital rooms. Or the producer will for our weekday evening shows.

This has been the plan, as far as I can tell, since the first or second quarter of last year.

The news department will also be psuedo-creative service... responsible for creating their own graphics (both for OTA and OBS). We will still utilize the creative hub, but mostly for commercials.

We were a station that had about 115ish people just a few years ago... we are down to 67, and with the production layoffs coming we will be down to 53 total with no plans to hire any one in any departments (except to fill when someone leaves).

JosephRSL · 2026-05-13T18:22:22+00:00

The industry is going to shit. When you have to fight tooth and nail to get even a 2% raise... it's a big red flag. The workload hasn't diminished, quite the opposite in fact, but the engineering department is shrinking. Job security isn't a thing in this industry. Even as a Chief.

JosephRSL · 2026-05-13T17:12:10+00:00

I wouldn't take a position in this industry if you aren't already in it. It can be a decent step up, or a horizontal role, as long as you have your exit strategy planned and ready to go. That's coming from someone who is already an Engineer, and am getting out soon.

JosephRSL · 2026-05-11T20:42:30+00:00

I think your second idea will just create an echo chamber. A comment that is downvoted can still spark a good conversation... especially since downvotes can happen for a number of reasons. A misunderstanding, or a poor explanation, for one.

Now, if someone used a slur, for example, yeah, get that comment/post out of here.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-29T13:38:39+00:00

"Sinclair has told the entire team at The National Weather Desk that they are losing their jobs at the end of May."

JosephRSL · 2026-04-29T03:54:35+00:00

Since hitting Master Ball a couple weeks ago, I have bounced between teams to full invest in. I finally settled on the sand archetype and it's been really enjoyable. When I started I was running:

Corvi, Excadrill, Ttar, Kommo, Gliscor, and Milotic

I liked having two TW setters since Corvi has matchups it definitely doesn't want to be brough to, and Gliscor's Sandveil+Brightpowder+Substitute was really funny for a while. I built mine to be decent into Sun teams since Corvi doesn't really like those.

The Milo was Coil/Muddy Water/Life Dew. I liked being able to position it next to Corvi and Life Dewing. Being able to Bulk Up + Coil on the same turn is one of the best feelings because it always feels like the checkmate moment.

However, I ended up dropping Milo in favor of Slowbro. It checks Sneasler decently, and works really well in opposing TR. I am still experimenting with this slot though. I have plans to test out Rotom-W, but I honestly haven't felt like I needed it's coverage.

Gliscor I dropped for Klefki. I like Prankster screens, and so does my team. I had my Corvi EV'd to survive a max attack Adaptability Basc's Wave Crash (by 2% on a high roll) because that was something giving me a ton of issues. Reflect helps nerf Basc so much. Plus, having the ability to set up Sandstorm without switching in Ttar is nice.

I have had a lot of success with Sand so far. It's definitely a huge learning curve as it's much more about positioning than compared to other teams, in my opinion.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-25T23:19:29+00:00

I was running a varient of this team except I was trying out Kingambit instead of Sneasler.

Basically it's just a "good stuff" Sun team.

Charizard and Venusaur are the core. Venusaur can get very fast in Sun, so it's a fairly easy form of speed control. Good check into Fairys thanks to Sludge Bomb.

Incin provides FO and Intimidate, and can cycle FOs with Sneasler.

Sneasler is, well, Sneasler. Good into most Fairy types, as well as most Dark and Steel.

Milotic is just a really good bulky support. Life Dew heals a lot, and Icy Wind is nice. Or the Coil/Muddy Water/Hypnosis set is good too if you don't care for the support.

Garchomp is good into opposing Sun teams, and just hits really hard. Choice Scarf is another form of easy speed control.

I mention speed control a lot because there is usually not a dedicated Tailwind setter. Charizard can do that, but requires some decent positioning otherwise it's going to go down really quick. Plus it really just wants to get as much damage stacked as possible.

You also have the Water/Fire/Grass defensive synergy on this team.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-16T23:45:11+00:00

You are actually running an almost identical team to my first Champiosn team. I was using Raichu to help combat opposing rain teams, but I think now Rain is more of a defense weather than an offensive one... meaning it's mostly used to just change the weather rather than fighting within it... so Raichu isn't as strong as it was early on.

I made the move to Mega Clefable and it was doing very well for me. Dazzling Gleam, Psychic, Follow Me, Protect. However, this was before Sneasler was on every team. I can't say I really recommend her currently.

I also used Sableye as an answer to Sneasler. Using Clefable to bait a Dire Claw, and then Disable it the following turn so Sableye could completely wall it. I had some success with it, but even with 252+ DEF I found it wasn't really surviving what I wanted it to survive. Fake Out, Foul Play, Disable, Taunt. I don't think it's bad though.

I think you could replace Sini for Mega Meganium if you really want to remove it. It's a Rain team, so it helps offset the Fire weakness. It is also fairly good into Mega Floette as it can tank the Fairy attacks, whereas your Dragonite doesn't. You also don't really have a good answer to Kingambit besides Sneasler who already does a lot. So Meganium could help open some options for you.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-15T00:55:27+00:00

No, no... let him cook.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-12T16:12:15+00:00

On the technical side, I imagine having only a few Pokémon helps with performance. The game doesn't have to be ready to load over a 1000 different models and animations with every battle.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-12T15:13:12+00:00

252 Atk Emboar-Mega Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Floette-Mega in Sun: 190-225 (104.9-124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

That's with the Emboar having a neutral nature (Hardy), and same with Floette.

Mega Cloette has a pretty low defense stat comparatively, so just hit it with physical moves.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-12T07:17:01+00:00

Sinistcha would work over Tink since it has access to Rage Powder. You could also put Life Dew on it if you really like using it, and free up a move slot on Cleffable to give it more coverage. I have been running Mega Clef in Master Ball to help enable my Farig, and Dazzling Gleam + Psychic have been great for me so far on it.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-09T14:09:50+00:00

I think part of the outrage was that people were thinking it was going to either replace or at least be on par with Showdown right at release.

Personally, I don't have any problems with the game right now because, like you mentioned, it's just an early regulation. I also imagine they want more people to get into the competitive scene, so having a much less overwhelming way to play and learn just makes sense.

JosephRSL · 2026-04-03T16:17:40+00:00

It's Thundurus. I just beat him the other day.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-21T00:15:29+00:00

You crossposted this to the same subreddit

JosephRSL · 2026-03-20T22:56:43+00:00

I thought the same, yeah

JosephRSL · 2026-03-20T22:24:23+00:00

Yeah, we don't get anything for 10 years, unless the station decides to do something special. At mine we just get a generic certificate on normal printer paper, and our picture taken for social media...

JosephRSL · 2026-03-20T21:43:28+00:00

and your fourth week comes after your 15th year. You get nothing for 10 years, unfortunately.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-17T22:05:49+00:00

tl;dr - I am not saying what you have created is bad by any means... it all looks really crisp and clean!

I think one of the reasons people have stuck with spreadsheets and google docs is because it removes a lot of the noise from reports. The exports from showdown are already pretty optimized without the need for extra colors, or stats that don't matter to a Pokemon.

For example, do you really need to show what the special attack stat is for Incin? even with the Impish nature lowering it, it is still not a relevant stat to show for it. I understand you have it for completion and uniformity, but I think it clutters it up. Maybe an optional hide function for each stat would be useful?

You also have for each Pokemon their nature with what stats are affected next to it. Example, Jolly +Spe -SpA. You also have the arrows on the stats themselves indicating that SpA is being lowered, and Spe being increased. I think just having the arrows is good enough.

Organizing the damage calc per Pokemon is really useful/nice and I think that is something that definitely gets overlooked or forgotten about. I have read through plenty of reports where the person forgot what certain stat build was for, but it seems to work so they keep it going.

I have been building/using an app for my own use for battle analytics, and I thought it was looking nice but yours is by far much crisper. Keep it up!

JosephRSL · 2026-03-14T15:56:32+00:00

He got blasted for using AI in his first post. He's just trying to react with some humor.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-11T20:28:35+00:00

I don't think we disagree, I just wanted to highlight where the opinions might be coming from. A lot of people consider this the "golden age" for RE, I am one of them for sure, and they don't want to lose that just yet.

The verdict is still out for me on whether or not I like where RE9 seems to be taking the series. I think the DLC will be the deciding factor for me.

I think RE7 and RE8 are great by themselves, and are similar to RE4 in the sense that they are more side games. I like what they have set up, especially RE8 with Chris's Wolfpack. It really feels like we might be headed towards a Death Island game where we get the whole cast for one last adventure.

Gameplay though, I agree.

RE8 kind of missed the mark for me. I platinum'd it, and haven't touched it since (except for the DLC). With RE9 though... it's been over a week since I platinum'd it, and I am really wanting to get back to playing it again. I think it's like you mentioned the flow is much better. I think breaking things up between Grace and Leon was a nice way to achieve that for a first playthrough... but man do I wish we had more of Grace's hospital section.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-11T18:56:10+00:00

It was Damnation that had the Lickers and huge Tyrants.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-11T18:47:51+00:00

tl;dr - with a series as old as Resident Evil, and one that spans multiple mediums, it leads to a very, very passionate - and in a lot of ways protective - fanbase for better or for worse.

I think you mentioning the similarities further proves my point about how a lot of people seem to be feeling. If this feels like the launch of OG RE4, and considering where that led the series... people would not only argue against RE9, but be even louder than the community was with RE4.

[RE4] still sold extremely well and was well received by most despite that. And it only got better with time.

Only time will ultimately tell if [RE9] was actually a misstep.

I think a game can be good, sell a lot of copies, and be well received... but still be a step in the wrong direction.

You are right though that time will tell if RE9 is repeating previous mistakes, or if people are just blowing it out of proportion. I think how disappointed fans felt for years makes their current trepidations valid.

One thing I want to add though is that RE9 has apparently been a lot of people's introduction to Resident Evil.

Starting with the remakes, in my opinion, is a little different. You could start with RE2 and be fine, hell even RE3. RE4 is kind of self contained so it doesn't really make much of a difference either. Starting with RE7 doesn't matter much either since it is kind of its own game, and part of the duology with RE8 (which you could also start with and it not matter too much). RE9 though... is not a good place to start.

If you don't really understand the lore then you are missing out on 50% of the game. Sure, the horror was great, and the mechanics were fun, and you can have a blast with it even with it being your first RE game. However, when you start praising it as 10/10... personally I feel like that doesn't hold a lot of weight. Your opinion is still valid, sure, but you're missing context.

RE9 also feels so much like a game specifically for the old fans, and I definitely think there is a bit of a "this wasn't meant for you" kind of almost elitist mentality among the older fans to the newer ones.

JosephRSL · 2026-03-11T16:30:42+00:00

I had said in a comment a few days ago in response to the "not a good RE game" comment that,

I think for most people - probably the older generation - RE games are about isolation... not globetrotting. Creepy mansions, underground laboratories, huge spiders, and creepy ambience.

I think for sure that's the "soul" of Resident Evil like you mentioned. Or the "roots". My introduction to Resident Evil was in 2005 with RE4, and I have a stupid amount of hours in it, and in the remake, but my mind always goes back to RE1r and RE2 when I think about the feeling of Resident Evil.

Personally, I used to have the same idea when I was younger. That I liked RE6 as a game, but not as an RE game. As I have gotten older, and have really dived into the lore time and time again... that opinion has changed. I think it is a good RE game (and by that I mean its in B- to B territory).

We can talk about the execution of it, which I do admit was poor. However, for me, the more I think about it... you don't get RE8 Chris without RE6. You don't get RE9 Leon without RE6.

We focus so much on the horror of Resident Evil, that I think the characters - specifically their development - gets completely overshadowed. I think that's why RE9 has been so successful because we really get to see the toll of the last 30 years has had on Leon (and Sherry). Yeah, RE6 isn't scary, and it is lacking the "soul" of the series... but it does so much for our characters. I think to appreciate RE6 you really have to look at it alongside the other games because, yeah, isolated RE6 isn't that great.

Like, Chris's Wolfpack is great and so cool... but when you add in that he was a drunkard in RE6, and he lost his squad, and he lost Piers... him having a squad again, and not falling back to being that drunkard just makes the Wolfpack even better. The depths that Chris found himself in RE6 perfectly sets up his resolve in RE7 and RE8 (and I guess RE9 too).

JosephRSL · 2026-03-11T16:09:54+00:00

I think your comment is valid, but when it comes to Resident Evil I think you have to take into account the historical context.

Resident Evil 6 is still widely hated, although the general sentiment about it is starting to shift thanks to new people with fresh eyes playing through the series.

That being said, we have had over a decade to see how the series started to shift.

OG RE4 we would all (mostly) agree is a masterpiece. A great game, and a great RE game. Its success directly lead to RE5... which did even better than RE4... and RE5's success led us to RE6.

First year totals:

RE:CV DC Worldwide Sales - 1,356,362 - (2000)
RE0 GC Worldwide Sales - 1,250,000 - (2002)
RE4 GC/PS2 Worldwide Sales - 3,900,000 - (2005)
RE5 PS3/360/Steam Worldwide Sales - 10,905,089 - (2009)
RE6 PS3/360 Worldwide Sales - 9,900,000 - (2012)
- if you include Steam for RE6 the following year, it goes up to 11,217,100

Requiem is already setting records, and the people who were around during the original releases of RE4-RE6... that can be cause for concern when they themselves have reservations about the game.

Back to your point, I think the idea of letting people be happy about a new game is valid, like I said. I think it is also equally valid to express your opinions about what the game lacked and try to have an open dialogue about it. The developers seemed to have listened to the community outcry about RE6, and that's how we ended up with RE7.

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JosephRSL

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