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Isn't this every major industry, though? Everyone tries to appeal to the younger crowd, and they always have. That's been the target demographic for everything since the beginning of time. How many faces can you find in the Coca-Cola Hilltop ad that don't appear to be under 35? That wasn't a coincidence. There are quite a few retail chain CEOs out there that now regret "appealing to the people you know". Didn't work out too well for Sears, K-Mart, or about a dozen other large retail establishments in just the past couple years. Times changed, they did not, and instead of being a leader, they trailed behind, struggling to catch up until they couldn't go on any more. Nothing was stopping Sears from being the first to offer online ordering. In fact, they dismantled their catalog operation the year before Amazon was founded, in the process destroying the infrastructure that could have easily ported over to online orders. They could have cornered the market in online retail if some people in their corporate office just went "What about the internet? What if we let people submit orders through the internet? What if we put the entire catalog on the internet and made it searchable?" Would it have been a crazy idea at the time? Yes. Would it have cost a fortune at the time? Yes. But today, we'd be saying "I just ordered new shoes off Sears, my groceries are being delivered by Sears Fresh, and tonight I'm going to sit down and watch some stuff on Sears Prime." "Amazon" would just be a rainforest in South America. TV executives are well aware that people of all ages are turning from linear TV. Many TV companies are starting to admit this with the "Digital First" concept. They are creating content with the express purpose of said content being posted online. The TV product is NOT their primary focus. The TV product essentially serves as a compilation of the things that have been posted online. This is the transitional period. This is where Sears should have been in 1994: Grandma could still get the Catalog (the TV broadcast), but Junior has the power of the Internet (the Internet) to find exactly what they want, without wasting time thumbing through the entire damn catalog (a traditional linear TV news broadcast). What is yet to be seen is whether or not it will work. If it does? Good. If the only way to keep people informed about the happenings in their world is through clips that last less than a minute, at least they're staying informed. If it doesn't? Well, some of the most recent TV facility builds already look enough like a tech startup office that selling them shouldn't be too hard.

Darla Miles is subbing on World News Now.

This should've been the lineup. Not to knock on Jeanette, because she is a great anchor and fantastic reporter. But Sarah deserves her promotion and this would've been it.

All I've got to say is BRAVO. I hereby nominate you for the "Post of the Year." And I agree, it's an insult for Tegna to assume we want junk food for news programming. I want intelligent and serious newscasts--not trendy, overhyped, and ingenuine low IQ shows. I thank you @MarkBRollins88_v2 for perfectly articulating my thoughts of Tegna.

I'm still here. But if the company gives me my walking papers someday, I'll be fine for a while.

In the Tampa Bay area, there were rumors circulating that WLCY would lose its ABC affiliation and WFLA was in talks to pick it up. That was about the time Rahall sold the station.

In the early days of television, in many markets, CBS & NBC had the stronger and well funded stations with ABC & DuMont having to make due with either secondary clearances, weaker VHF stations, or unenviable UHF stations. As television become more viable and profitable, ABC won the battle with DuMont to be the nation's third network, stations became stronger, and more signed on the air. By the late 1970s, many markets had grown large enough to support three or more stations. ABC, with the assistance of Monday Night Football, became the top rated network, as the expense of NBC, necessitating upgrades in many markets across the nation. In addition to the markets above, other switches included: San Diego-ABC swapped from KCST to KGTV losing NBC Three Station swaps in Charlotte and Minneapolis CHA-ABC swapped from WCCB to WSOC losing NBC, who went to WRET MSP-ABC swapped from KMSP to KSTP losing NBC, who went to WTCN

Actually, next year will be the 40th anniversary of many stations swapping NBC for ABC in 1980 due to ABC's massive ratings at that time and the network seeking stronger affiliates. Atlanta-ABC swapped from WXIA to WSB losing NBC Dayton-ABC swapped from WKEF to WDTN losing NBC (reversed August 2004) Jacksonville-ABC swapped from WJKS (now WCWJ) to WTLV losing NBC (reversed April 1988) Not 1980 but 1979 for the same reason Indianapolis-ABC swapped from WTHR to WRTV losing NBC

In hindsight, it was pretty stupid of WATL to reject the idea of affiliating with CBS. Yeah, I know CBS was falling during that time, but its original choice of UPN wound up being a total bomb of a network, and the WB didn't fare that much better (outside of Kids WB and the teen stuff perhaps), all things considered.

Erin O'Hearn returned during the Noon newscast the tease the 4pm. I repeat: Erin O'Hearn returned

It looks like the 11pm show is being rebroadcast again, this time at midnight on the zombie LiveWell 6.2. Previous rebroadcasts included the 10pm hour for WPHL being rebroadcast at midnight on 17.2, and the long-running 2am "encore presentation as a service for our late-night viewers" on 6. Glad to see it back!

All the monitors are now seamless. In addition to the backdrop, the anchor desk panels and stand up/interview area monitors are now seamless. The interview/stand up area also received a set of three vertical monitors to add to its background.

Looks pretty good. Are they still using Overture with this gfx update?

New station. WTOC. Looks like they got the same package their sister station up the road got (WCSC).

do you have any evidence to support those claims??? seems to me like a lot of tegna stations are doing fine... even winning awards for their work!!! there is no evidence whatsoever that the graphics and the music have impacted viewership... just a tvnt conspiracy theory... the format??? maybe... but the graphics??? who cares??? one person on facebook??? if you all had your way and brought the industry back to the roarin' 90's that you all consider the golden age... the industry would be dead by 2021. tegna made $552 million last quarter... 2% more than last year... sounds to me like they're doing fine...

Whoever calling the shots at Tegna is a prime example of someone who lacks common sense to learn from their mistakes. Forcing "C Clarity" and those gfx on WTHR and WBNS will not end well for those stations, sadly. It hasn't worked well on any station, and it will not work on those stations either. If someone wants to "dislike" my comment, go ahead. But it won't change my opinions on that one inch.

What a sad sing along. Half the employees don’t even look happy to be there... and how did not one person notice Dave Price being confused by the lyrics?? A kosher deli is a deli where you get specialty sandwiches and food from. A bodega is like a small mini-market where you get chips, soda, lotto tickets, cigarettes, cat food, milk, eggs, and change for a $20.

Good to hear that your position didn't get axed

Close, but not quite. These packages are the result of the two founders of GO breaking off to do their own thing. Ruth Dial (Who freelanced during the time, but is now back at GO) did the WLS package, and Rey Rodriguez (now "Linear Drift") did most of the current WABC package until he (allegedly) decided to prioritize work on the current-gen CBS O&O graphics, and dumped the remaining WABC work onto Ruth. Ever notice how the WABC lower third looks a lot like the CBS O&O lower third? The previous WABC package referenced was their combined work under GO. The rumor around the industry has been that WABC wasn't happy with the current package since day one, and who can fault them for that, since day one included running opens with "NEWS YORK'S #1 NEWS" plastered all over them. There is a very good chance they will get new graphics before they move. Speaking of the move: The first renderings of the new building were released a few weeks ago. Current plans call for the ground floor to be all retail, so don't expect another streetside studio. In fact, The View and Live! studios will apparently be below-grade. Maybe the long standing rumors of the SUPERSET(!!!) will finally come to fruition.

I never understand reasoning like this. Graphics packages in the 21st century involve little more than new software and perhaps swapping out a server and a keyboard (plus training and replacing the library of stock elements). It’s not like you need a whole floor of printing presses and diesel generators. If WABC or anybody else wanted to make radical graphic changes at any point, they could and would. The thing to remember is, when you make a colossal overhaul of your graphic look, it affects more than lower thirds. If your whole look changes radically overnight, suddenly your whole libraries of full screens, banners, over the shoulders and franchise opens are dead. Add in promotion graphics and the rest of the station on air look (because it’s always tied to News), and you are literally reinventing the wheel. That means rebuilding everything before launch, or on the fly. Graphic looks are not like re-painting the living room. It’s building a whole new house. But a subtle change might give your lower thirds and banners a refreshed look, while preserving the possibly thousands of images in your library. Graphics created with the updated look will still blend in. And over time, everything will change. Until the next time. You might not like graphic updates that are only subtle changes. But from a practical point of view, they are the only kind that work and preserve sanity.

Hosea Sanders is filling in at the desk at 4 today for the first time since the WCIU broadcast was canceled. I was beginning to think that they phased him out of anchoring for good, though this could be a last resort type thing, as holiday schedules get wacky. Either way, nice to see him back in the role, especially with Judy.

And guess who's leading the massacre at WXIN/WTTV? DOMINIC MANCUSO! The same GM that brought the beauty that was "Cleveland 19" to WOIO. All I have to say is: Good luck!

Do not hold out hope for Move Closer To Your World sticking around. Tegna (then Gannet) shattered my dreams when it ripped the Spirit Of Texas out from under WFAA for no good reason at all. This company’s main goal in life is to take away anything that made a station unique, watchable and likable and replace it with cheaply designed, grossly underpaid, non-focus grouped cow manure. Thus, they will take great pleasure in sending MCTYW down the Lougee Loo and replacing it with their new age scat-snap-and-clap-fest as the viewers of NE PA light their torches and call for some heads—that I can assure you. They will spit in the faces of their valued viewers and laugh as they smash WNEP under their boots. As an aside, can someone please bring back Belo? I will buy you lunch! (For context: I’m not some old fart reminiscing about the good old days. I’m in my early-mid twenties, you know, the demographic Tegna is trying to reach with their crap. Just sayin’.) Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Like a major news story, I thought this deserved a SPECIAL GRAPHIC, but in light of recent debuts, this is all we're gonna get...

Because calling it "The Five" was already taken.

As far as WATN goes, it's not really like getting bought by Tegna could make things much worse. But stations like KFSM have a lot to lose by being under Tegna ownership. For example, KFSM has been a reliable news station for years in NW Arkansas. Now, Tegna might change that. And as for WNEP, Tegna would be incredibly foolish if they dumped MCTYW as their theme. The viewers will not be happy if they did, and I wouldn't blame them. It's a great theme and a great asset to the station. At the least, I'd expect the station to get standardized with graphics. We'll see what Tegna does about the music, but I'm not holding my breath much that Tegna makes the wise call

These changes must be permanent. Sarah was mentioned in the 4pm Close even though Alicia was doing the feature stories today. They also referred to Jeanette as an anchor when they tossed to her for a story during the 5pm. Must say I’m not a fan of the changes and feel like they came out of nowhere (usually they test pairs on air). Rick and Sharrie have little chemistry. There’s really no room on the 5pm show for soft feature stories that Alicia now does. Jeanette jumped from reporter to 4pm anchor. Christie was the main reporter subbing as an anchor and she got nothing (so far). Sarah was subbing at 5pm since May and all she get’s is the 4pm feature role, definitely a slap in the face. And they need to get Walter a full time co-anchor.

I heard Nexstar is shutting down CLTV in Chicago. Hopefully some of those folks will be able to transfer seamlessly into WGN.