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I’m not mad at Terry for keeping it real.

I genuinely don't understand the angst regarding Nightly broadcasting from Studio 1A. Is it just sentimental longing for a dedicated space? From a business perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to build a standalone studio for a show with a 22-minute runtime where the studio itself is on camera for a few minutes. The economic realities make Nightly's use of 1A completely reasonable. Heck, Nightly started switching the show from the 1A control back room during Brian Williams' tenure. I don't see the practical need for a big production space for a solo-anchored newscast like this. ABC World News Tonight uses a shared studio space, but outside of a bump shot, the show is mostly a static shot of David seated in front of an LED wall. And this is the top-rated evening newscast, and on occasion, has been the most watched show on television. So while the set in Studio 1A might be a little long in the tooth, it seems perfectly serviceable. Lester's ratings didn't drop when they moved to 1A. And I doubt Tom's would spike if they had their own space. When budgets are being slashed, the priority should be to keep investing in newsgathering resources. Building a new set to say you have a dedicated space doesn't seem like a good use of shrinking resources. But I might be missing something here.

Broadcast graphic design has trended alongside popular web app/mobile phone UI for a while now, and that's also stagnated quite a bit from where it was 15 or so years ago. Remember how news graphics always had to be "shiny" when that was the Apple iOS look? That slowly died off as Apple and Google shifted away from that design language. The Apple design language itself has become a broadcast graphics package. The corporate design world has a lot of weird stuff going on right now, the kind of abstract 3D ribbon-y stuff and flowing photorealistic materials is popular, along with funky fonts (more the design in the article than what it's talking about), but I'm not sure how any of that actually translates into the apps that these companies using them make, let alone local news. There is a lot of reasons why news graphics have trended this way, and I think we're more or less stuck here for the time being. Money and talent are two major factors at the local level. You can't have the talent without money, and you don't make money if your expensive talented designers are constantly making news graphics, so templates it is! Go find an agency to develops a template-driven "design system," then keep it for a long time because it was expensive, and nobody's doing anything wildly different anyways. TL;DR: The era of "unique" broadcast design died when motion graphics stopped being almost exclusively broadcast-related. It shouldn't be surprising this happened as video ads on the internet became commonplace.

The new set looks great! It's a bit of a shame that they can no longer interact with a live audience anymore. I guess the rival Today Show will be the sole show that has this card now at 30 Rock. Nonetheless, it's a significant improvement; the studios at 7 Hudson are quite nice. Maybe without the distraction of the street audience and fanfare, it will be a more polished and focused product and environment for employees and stakeholders. The only gripe so far, is that, the show is supposed to represent America, not New York City, and lately ABC's national news shows have been too New York Centric, while I agree that New York is America's largest city and is arguably the crown jewel city for the country, I think they should try to do a dynamic backdrop that shows every city or perhaps do a blend of the skylines of different cities like CNN does for their Morning Show or even Good Morning Britain which does something of that sort to represent America as a whole not just New York. But overall, the studio is incredible, kudos to ABC for fitting all of this into this building it's hard to believe they have all of these large studios in such a small footprint.

Some screenshots from the new GMA studio:

You read that right. KWQC commissioned it (thanks to Cyle Dickens' help nonetheless) and will debut on June 10th.

Apologies for hijacking this post, but @bennettmonk, please stop with your irritating reactions; there was nothing funny about this post. You make no comments here. I don't know how else to bring sunlight to this, but these inappropriate reactions must stop, and I have all interactions with them blocked, but for some reason, their reactions cannot be blocked from view no matter what I try, and it's needless notification junk/noise if you're never going to do more than react and not contribute.

Nice bowing down to the Convict-in-chief, ABC. This just put the rest of the news division and the O&Os on notice about criticizing this petulant man-child and the cult members in his administration.

For anyone who remembers or is still interested in the work of TVbD (Television by Design), I can probably answer most questions. I was one of the original members that started the company after leaving WTBS. I've only just noticed your incoming links to the TVbD Vimeo page, so apologies for the late response. I'm recently retired and have been exploring the idea of producing a feature length documentary about the work of TVbD in particular, and/or the history of motion graphic design in general. I'd be curious to know what this community thinks of the idea, and if there might be potential collaborators here. Thanks for the mentions and the memories.

Between here and the Discord, we've seen multiple people confirm that this is a new package for the group, so there's been a thread title change.

No one’s gonna terminate their CBS affiliation because they chose to put an out-of-production Byron Allen show at 12:37 a.m. ET, BFFR. Considering the state of syndication these days, the current American network/affiliate programming model actually looks increasingly out of place, given that in most countries (as well as our Spanish-language networks and diginets), OTA broadcast networks handle most of their daily program output, fillling timeslots not occupied by first-run programs (e.g., dramas, sitcoms, reality series, lifestyle shows), news (local or national) and sports with acquired programming and repeats of current and past network shows. It kinda makes less sense now for networks here in the States to give lower-rated timeslots back to affiliates (the most recent occurrence being in 2021, when NBC gave up the 1:37 slot after A Little Late with Lilly Singh ended), given the downturn in the syndication market and stations’ tendency to just expand local news usually using an already stretched staff, rather than invest in other types of programming. Plus, CBS’s affiliates probably aren’t clamoring to take back the 12:37 a.m. slot. It’s too late for live news (outside of the occasional overrun during March Madness), and Big Three stations don’t run syndicated sitcoms and dramas in late night like they did through the 2000s (thanks largely to CBS and ABC making valiant challenges to NBC’s once-powerhouse late-night lineup with the Late Show, The Late Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live!). If CBS had turned over the timeslot, it’d probably be filled by lower-rated first-run syndies (as was often the case until the 1990s), newsmagazines (either second runs of shows like Inside Edition and ET or lower-rated shows like Extra that the station might already air in a later slot), second runs of daytime talk shows (KOCO, for example, has done this since the early 2000s starting with Oprah and now Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson), or late news rebroadcasts. You’re likely not going to see the types of suited-for-late-night first-run syndies like Arsenio, Love Connection or Blind Date that did well in the past.

Probably for the same reason restaurants and casinos don't have clocks: so you can't see how late it is.

What we’ve seen so far looks great. The new on-air package borrows a lot from the GMA3 look. I never thought the lighting in TSS was particularly bad but the lighting at 7 Hudson Square is a significant improvement.

The point of this website is for people to offer their personal opinions and critiques on news matters. Notice how I said "I wish" they would change the sets not "they should". Whether or not the corporations who actually make decisions implement them is their business. But you don't have to dismiss peoples opinions by saying their just "armchair critiques" and "whatever decision the company makes is the right one." Otherwise we might as well just close every thread because "whatever decision the network makes is the right decision."

I may not live in Oklahoma, but man losing a weather legend like Gary England sucks. My condolences are with his family and everyone at KWTV.

Update Abilene Christian University (ACU) has allowed KTXS to utilize its facilities to help set up a temporary newsroom on campus. https://ktxs.com/news/abilene/abilene-christian-university-opens-doors-to-ktxs-after-severe-storm-damages-station

There may have been some personal issues behind it, or a negotiation with ABC. Neither of which need to become public. Whatever, I'd just accept the decision.

Day 1 of the then-new WTHR Channel 13 Eyewitness News. New set (developed by Devlin Design Group), new music, new graphics, new name (the second stint), new logo, new everything. The first 90 minutes of WTHR's then-new era are here from Monday, May 8th, 1995:

Having been to that area, like you said, police shoe people away from that view of the window (W 49th Street) and everyone is told to stand behind the barricades on the side of studio (Rockefeller Plaza), so it's comparatively empty today. Having gone to the Plaza myself, the audience experience is pretty lackluster. The anchors barely come out onto the plaza except for the 8 AM introduction and an occasional weather hit from Al. I think an outdoor audience presence is still cool if utilized properly which Today doesn't really do anymore.

Honestly, it would not surprise me in the least if this hypothetical new 3A set ended up being for Nightly, NBC News Now, and Today. Not only is a bunch of studio space and newsroom space about to open up, but technical spaces as well. It would not shock me at all if NBC chose to consolidate everything inside 30 Rock. The streetside studio thing has to be becoming more trouble than it's worth, and they're about to have at least two full control rooms open up.

That WNBC set was the one in 6B before Fallon took it over. 3K is something like 3/4 to 2/3 the size of 6B. There's going to be a glut of extra space on the 3rd floor once MSNBC moves out. I'd suspect they'll refresh/replace the set in 3A once that happens and hand it over to Nightly.

Hello, everyone. I have an update regarding LocalNewsTalk and our partner Discord server The NewsCenter. On Monday, The NewsCenter announced that it will be merging with the Broadcast Plaza Discord server. Emma's announcement to The NewsCenter follows. There have been a few questions as to what is happening to LocalNewsTalk following this merger. The answer is: not much! LocalNewsTalk will continue to exist, and we are working with Broadcast Plaza to continue the partnership we started with The NewsCenter. We will be updating our Discord page and adopting some Broadcast Plaza co-branding in the coming days and weeks. While the best place for questions about this merger remains the #repack channel mentioned above, I will do my best to answer any questions that this side of things may have below.

I don’t love it. I don’t hate it. It’s just there. Kind of like Scripps as a company.

ABC News needs MANY new things...

So he was suspended... for being right? If calling a Trump official a hater (the most lenient yet still accurate term to call them) is grounds for suspension, then that is embarrassing and disappointing. Well... ABC showed their hand. And you know Trump is going to force it any way he can/will.

This is precisely what the problem is. They took the lazy route and copied WNT's format, especially with the excessive use of breaking news for stories that are sometimes days old. Feeling the need to make changes is fine and necessary, but directly copying your competition is the easy way out, especially if you aren't taking their ideas and trying to improve upon them.

CBS is not in a buying mood. Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration. Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were. CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O. Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market? I doubt it. CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox. As for WANF becoming a "WHDH-like juggernaut?" History would say otherwise. WHDH already had good ratings when it went independent. WANF and its predecessors never had good ratings, and the overall trend of fewer people watching TV in general doesn't bode well for the future -- no matter how much money Gray shovels into WANF.

The thing is, CBS doesn't need to run WUPA well as a CBS O&O for it to be a financial success to stockholders, which is all that matters. It just needs a better balance sheet than WUPA as an independent. This paragraph is speculation, but the retransmission deal CBS has with pay TV providers likely is structured that so CBS gets more per subscriber for a station running CBS programming than an independent station. Plus, they get to keep all of it as opposed to negotiating a reverse compensation affiliation deal with WANF where Gray was paying CBS some percentage of the retransmission fees Gray collected. Syndicated programming costs will go down in the long-run since CBS network programming covers 11 hours per weekday in the time between CBS Mornings and Colbert. (Plus however many hours of CBS News roundup and CBS News Mornings they air overnight) There will be CBS programming where they can charge more for ads than they could with existing syndicated programming. They don't need to go big or expensive building a news department. That cost can be managed along with the expectations for it, and there is far more space to sell in a local newscast than in syndicated programming. Even if they attract lower quality advertisers, that revenue, ideally, gets made up in added availability to sell.

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF? Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money. CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

Gray has really put a lot of work into WANF to make it into a valuable station. Why CBS did not acquire WANF I do not know. Then again, I don't even know the logic behind taking the CBS affiliation and putting it on WUPA in the first place. I get that they own the station but they have to put money into WUPA to bring it to at least the bare minimum for a CBS affiliate like say... news department and such.

The moderators have recently had to hide several posts from less-seasoned users, asking about individual stations' launches. Gray has like a thousand stations, we don't need to see inquiries about all of them. Please try and show some restraint, from this point on.

Yeah, it’s the end of an era indeed. This is exactly how it played out for Bill Beutel in the late 90s until he left the station in 2003. And most of the veteran anchors stayed on the 6 p.m. show till their final days. Bill Ritter, now his replacement from 2003, is now 75, so it’s understandable that he's slowly beginning his departure from the career. Hopefully, he stays till 2030! What a solid anchor and face he has been for WABC.

WFOR has been a better station than you're giving it credit.

This is from 1994 when CBS originally accounced that they purchased WVEU with the intent of making it the CBS affaliate in Atlanta. This clip was from WAGA, which was in the process of leaving CBS for FOX.

It only took them 30 years.

I wish WTHR was still of this format 30 years later, instead of becoming just 13 News (unfortunately, profit is king apparently, so Eyewitness went out the window in 2022).

Much better than the horseshit of the last package.

Better than the current Scripps package! Would be nice if local markets can customize color though... I've always associated WFTS with reds and whites, not blue.

The streetside studio was an interesting concept when NBC brought it back in 1994. But, it's no longer 1994. It says a lot that everyone else has abandoned/is abandoning their streetside studio concept. It doesn't magically make the show better, or increase ratings. It has become a magnet for weirdos and people with an axe to grind, and that can be seen by how the area outside 1A's home base has been filled with a bunch of giant planter boxes over the last decade. The only way you can end up on TV now (and that seems to be a lot fewer people clamoring for that than before) is by being in the area that their security and/or the NYPD can shoo you away from the window. Look at the stark difference between this pic from a 1999 wild feed and nearly the same anchor position from this morning, and another similar one from this past week. You can't even see across the street anymore. Are they in New York City? Can't tell, it's entirely obscured by plants (and not even an actual plant in half of the second image, it's a screen showing a plant). The shots have all been adjusted too, go back and look at late 90's/early 2000's clips and match them up with the modern look... New York City is hidden from view. So, I ask, what is the point?

IMO it's no issue that they share a set, the problem is that the set sucks.

According to our UK counterparts on Pres Cafe, this picture of the studio was heavily sepia-toned.

GMA essentially phased out its use of Times Square. This was no accident. It's expensive, there are security concerns, and most importantly, they've known since at least 2018 that they'd be moving from Times Square and wanted to gradually make Times Square less central to the broadcast so viewers didn't feel like they were watching a completely different show after the move once this day came. Ten years ago, the anchor desk sat in front of a "window" overlooking Times Square, multiple live segments and weather updates occurred in the Times Square plaza, and Times Square audience interaction was a staple of the show. Today, they could move the studio to Oklahoma and you wouldn't notice a difference.

The news broke during their 10pm newscast, so nothing was planned (but there will be tomorrow). This one hurts badly. The weather community will mourn greatly. He, Tom Skilling, and James Spann have changed the game forever, and Gary will be missed for generations to come.

A reminder for folks when it comes to cbs buying stations. 1. their finances aren’t exactly in the best shape right now. Buying a non appreciating asset like a broadcast station would not be a smart move financially 2. The current administration has a vendetta against Paramount. Even if cbs wanted to it’s likely to be held up by regulators for petty reasons

I also don’t understand the staggered departure from 11pm and then 5pm. Would’ve been more grand to just have it done at once for his and Mike’s sake.

Losing a network affiliate and becoming an independent isn't as hard of a downfall as it used to be... I mean look at the news-intensive independents that have popped up recently. Now we'll have WPLG Miami and WANF Atlanta as the latest such examples.

Side note.. for those in the atlanta market who know.. I am curious.. has the rebrand to WANF and all the investment there made a dent in the ratings? Where do they stand? That news operation still seems to have a lot of turnover for all the money pumped in. The CBS Atlanta of the mid 2000s rocked. The tough questions era.

Well there is the WHDH/WLVI duo as an example of an indie/CW pairing. Since Gray made a big deal over airing some Braves games you might as well go for all of it on the old WTBS.

Before the piecemeal sale to operators who aren't buying speculation posts start, repeat after me: Byron Allen is going to want to sell to a single operator, structure it as a merger, and the buyer will divest assets they can't retain to minimize his tax costs and maximize the money made on the sale.

WFLA Newschannel 8 1994 WPVI Action News 1990 WJZ Eyewitness News 1993 (clip starts at 14:11) WRC News 4 1993 KNBC Channel 4 News 1995 WHBF 4 News closing at the beginning of the clip. 1985 WTSP 10 News 1994