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Spot on especially the points on WABC and WCBS. WABC is so tabloid, it’s bad in so many ways but they manage to still have the most authentic and solid product. There’s not a single weak personality on WABC, every single one of them is solid. Even Michelle Charlesworth whose presenting style is odd but still uniquely strong. WCBS to me feels like something you could pick up and drop in any market around the country without even noticing a difference. Their newscasts are the definition of “corporate.”

I do like the corporate, polished look of the WCBS news. I like Maurice Dubois and Kristine Johnson together. I find it very professional. I like WABC Eyewitness News too, but I find the blue lower third a little too big. I prefer the Chicago ABC 7 look. Thinner and sleeker. One thing that bugs me from the WNBC News is the see through table. A desk would be nicer. I am not a fan of seeing the anchors' knees when they are sitting.

It’s a shame they relegated John Elliott to weekends. He actually brought some gravitas to the morning show that was (and is) sort of lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Chris, Mary, and Elise, but they would be just as serviceable in any other time slot given how generic WCBS is these days. As for “CBS News New York Now,” WLNY isn’t even acknowledged in the title, and the bulk of the newscast is just called “Now.” Keep in mind, this is a cheap revenue generator disguised as a local newscast, and it’s not meant to be competitive or local. The title’s a mouthful, but it’s not like anyone’s watching. Finally, a set and video wall do not a good newscast make. In general, CBS stations in their comparatively smaller markets (Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Baltimore) tend to perform better than their larger sister stations due to having consistency, personality, and recognizable faces. Their larger stations have slick presentation, but there is absolutely nothing notable or original about their newscasts. And the ratings prove it. Here’s hoping the new 9am hour with Cindy changes that perception. She’s well-deserving of the promotion given what she’s been through, and it looks like she’ll be bringing some originality to the 9am hour.

Watching her debut right now and she’s incredibly solid. Some technical difficulties with her mic falling off during the forecast but she handled it flawlessly. Fits right in. SIAP but is she just going to be a fill in? I’d like to see WABC follow the model that other O&Os take with 3 mets splitting morning, afternoon, evening forecasts. Brittany could easily move to 12/4pm while Lee handles 5/6/11pm. Sam keeps the morning and network stuff, Jeff and Dani handle Sat/Sun.

“Banished” is an interesting word, implying that putting a game on streaming is negative. On college game days last year, people at my university would clamor to find someone whose parents pay for cable, just so they can use their credentials to stream it. By putting it on a more affordable service, it’ll be accessible to a wider audience who can’t afford a $60 monthly bill. And in turn, gives the broadcasters some extra revenue

I love Cindy on weekends against Pat Battle and Michelle Charlesworth. I dont necessarily think a 9am newscast is the best thing for WCBS, but I think the most sensible option would be to have Cindy do 9 AM and Noon, to relieve some of the hours off of Chris and Mary (working pre 4am to about 1pm). What happens now, Drew Barrymore sliced to a half hour or Hot Bench at 9:30? Elise is more suited for a serious nighttime newscast. John Elliot has the personality of an essentric/lively morning weather person a la Al Roker, Bill Evans, Linda Church, Willard Scott, Ira Joe Fisher, etc.. it was literally nonsensical to remove him from the newscast. What was the reasoning, to follow the mostly female anchor trend in the mornings? CBS has the look, all they need is just some more lively talent and locally authentic newscasts. Fox 5 and Pix 11 are really good at feeling like really local NYC stations.

As much as as I like Elise Finch, John Elliott definitely brought something to the morning show pre-2019 that is currently lacking. Not to mention that John seems to have quite a following (remember all the random people who suddenly asked what happened to him and sounded off about it). Removing him likely decreased their ratings in the AM (i'd be curious to see ratings before 2019 and after). Dropping traffic was also a cheap move that although not absolutely necessary makes them not a great contender compared to literally every other station that provides that info. Hearing that Katie McGee filled in on WABC recently was interesting, it would be cool for WCBS to get her back to do traffic. Even Jill Nicolini seems to be no longer with PIX even on a fill in basis, so she might be another option if they really wanted to go that route. I find that the evenings with Kristine/Maurice/Dana/Lonnie/Otis are much more solid and stable.

I grew up watching Cindy every morning before school. She is an incredible talent and is loved by viewers. I'm very excited to see CBS 2 moving her back to weekday mornings. (I will say that Cindy, while excellent, is even better with a co-anchor. She hasn't had one on the weekends since Covid, but she's been great paired with John Elliott, even though he's often on location. It would be great to see them move John with her back to weekdays but I doubt that will happen.)

YR contract ends in 2024 & Bold contract ends in 2023. The Bell Family that started both shows- the eldest son was responsible of selling the shows overseas. Where their $$$ comes from. Lee Philip Bell was very popular in Chicago back in the day at WBBM. Idk if the Family has some type of blood deal with CBS. Who knows both shows could get a year renewal before morphing into Paramount. I could see Bold either on Paramount or even take a dip to Pop ( at one time Bold was airing reruns on there) as for YR- it run by Sony Television Pictures. The Bells' own Bold outright. As for the ratings in the soap world they're looking at the demos18-49 & 18-25 arena and Bold has been beating big sister YR for several cycles. YR still #1 in HH. They could it cost 50 million dollars to produce a soap. When ABC dumped their two soaps; Madison Ave came out and said they were still invested in soap opera viewing, because the audience is there and stable. Do we really want to see more news in the afternoon? The soap audience hating seeing Talk Shows, or another news program replaced their soap. They've watched with their grandmothers, then their mothers and etc. They want the escapism, and they want to be entertained. They don't want to see GMA or Today on for the whole day. The executives at the network is looking at the bottom line of course, and today's executives seem to be more concern about cheaper program vs. the entertainment value. Anything is possible.

There’s a bit of personality at WCBS to be fair - Marcia Kramer certainly adds a local flavor but overall I tend to agree with you. - WABC’s vibe is an unusual combo of familial and tabloid. As much as I dislike the increased opinion segments, visual mess, and Disney corporate synergy, it still feels like the default for me. Coverage all across the Tri-State - they go all out, highest use of copters too. -WNBC is straight to the point but has the appeal of local-born talent and 30 Rock gravitas. Coverage is a little more focused on the boroughs, with a strong Jersey presence. Collaboration with WNJU reporters has been great, providing coverage into communities overlooked by everyone else. -WPIX targets straphangers and the NY1 demo. Used to have the Daily News connection which though diminished still feels present. -WNYW is a bit dull but I think has been targeting a tone similar to WABC’s tabloid/human interest take. At least they’re coming up with interesting branding like “The Noon” -WCBS is just…there. It’s visually polished but the tone is wooden and really feels cookie-cutter. Editorially there’s an overemphasis on Westchester and Long Island. I feel like they were stronger when they could lean on the Always-On WCBS 880 / 1010 WINS synergy, but that’s faded. The reporters and anchors are all…fine? But the overall vibe is just generic and not targeted to the market.

With the return of J-P Dice to WBRC, they will now have SEVEN meteorologists on staff. Likely the most out of any station in the southeast region. https://marketshare.tvnewscheck.com/2022/08/08/wbrc-birmingham-adds-familiar-face-increasing-meteorologists-to-7/ IMHO, they should have stayed at 6, it would matched their channel number. And lest we forget down at 33/40, where one reigns supreme over all...

According to social media posts, News 12 Long Island will begin broadcasting from Bethpage on Monday. They've been at the same building in Woodbury since the December 1986 launch.

I still remember the late 80s until BTN launched that trying to actually find a Big Ten game that wasn't the big ABC game of the week or on ESPN (and it took awhile for the Badgers to get there)...that meant you had to deal with syndication and ESPN+/Creative Sports and so many different presentations of the team from just game to game, or station to station (or just gave up and waited for the public television student broadcast replay in late night); there was pain when WMLW was still low-power in Milwaukee and you prayed your cable system picked it up because they had some games on that station and you couldn't get it at all. At least now you get to see the game on a streaming service nationwide (and every game period; anyone born in 1980 like me doesn't know how much it used to suck to watch anyone but the big programs when the Badgers were literal football roadkill) with quality announcers and conference-minimum presentation requirements, not just whoever responded on the sports announcer/cameraman equivalent of Fivrr in 1995.

I actually didn’t realize that about the combined cost, so I stand corrected. And I completely agree that those games aren’t being “banished” at all, even though (at least until those streaming services see further growth) the ratings for those games will be lower than those on, say, ESPN, it still beats being tied to cable for all of it. Live sports should substantially increase subscriptions to those services, and a relatively small player like Peacock could definitely use the boost.

Peacock Premium and Paramount+ combined are $10 a month ($8.75 with Paramount’s student discount). In fact, all five services you mentioned in your post come out to around $45, still far less than the average cable subscription of over $100. People tend to be mindful of their money and choose to not overspend on entertainment. So for many, including myself, that amount is even lower. The point is moving a game online isn’t a “banishment,” it’s putting it where an increasing number of viewers are. Not to mention the broadcasters future proofing themselves as cable continues to decrease, and keeping the entire subscription fee instead of sharing with the cable companies. Plus getting free marketing for the rest of the shows on the services. Come for the football, stay for The Office or the iCarly revival or something.

From what I can tell 7/15

Love Cindy, but feel Chris and Mary would’ve been better choices and better use of resources. They could’ve handed off the noon to Dana Tyler.

I’m guessing they’re bringing in either students or grads from Mississippi State’s program - I know in the past it’s been one of the best broadcast meteorology programs in the country. Jim

Just my opinion but I'm expecting these sets to be similar to the NBC Boston and Telemundo Boston sets, small but versatile, heavy use of video walls/big tech. If either of them need a bigger set (debates, special events, whatever) they can use one of the other sets at 30 Rock or even CNBC if needed, my guess is they'll have a permanent newsroom flash cam & desk similar to set up NBC Boston and NBC Philadelphia use. Anyone else thinking Nightly News to Studio 3K? It would be a good use of soon to be empty space, plus 1A's recent update feels temporary and it could really use full redo again, 3C is being used by MSNBC but is thrown together, 4E is used by News Now which is working but won't as they expand coverage. Seems NBC is in the same situation it was in 2017 when they switched studios around.

ABC 11 has a fifth Kim Deaner she’s a fill in but her role is mainly traffic.

More retirement news. Gary Shapiro morning Anchor for KUSA will be retiring in December. Longtime 9NEWS anchor Gary Shapiro to retire after 40-year career | 9news.com

Having at least one soap at least led viewers to NBC to see promos for other NBC shows in primetime and late night. Without Days, I won't be viewing anything on the local NBC station during the day anymore (or much at all). I'm sure many others won't be either. I have little interest in news programs and talk shows.

Hopefully it at least looks better than what they have now. The current studio is big, but it has lots of wasted space and it even looked a bit outdated when it was new. The set it replaced was small, but it at least looked better imho.

I think so! GH which will now be the lowest rated soap on tv may be the next to go after it's 60th. Either to Hulu or outright cancelled. CBS has always been more celebratory of it's soaps in recent years, but eventually Y&R and B&B will go to either to Paramount + or off the air totally.

141 miles from WBRC, WTVA in Tupelo has 8. 2-3 years ago, they had only 3.

This is why Hearst is my favorite owner of all the TV News Companies. I'm also glad to have a local Hearst station in my area as well (WTAE).

Hearst is almost debt free for not going on a huge M&A frenzy as the rest of the groups. This means free cash flow. While other groups are in debt in the BILLIONS, Hearst sits back with only MILLIONS in debt and are able to do so much more being a private company.

This is why I do not gamble.

She’ll be their weekend evening anchor. Good for Candace.

She ended up in Atlanta. Her IG now says "@wsbtv Anchor-Reporter "

That's not necessarily a bad thing. News overkill is done to the death on alot of stations with nothing but repeats, fluff and the same stories every other station is doing. Then again I suppose the point of more hours of news is not to get the same audience watching continuously for hours but the ability to have different audiences tune in at multiple points during the day for news at almost any time of day.

WAGA reporter Janice Yu leaves the ATL for NYC.

Funny, I also had Marcia Kramer (and John Elliott) in mind as the exception to the rule. I second your point about the emphasis on 2's Westchester & Long Island whereas PIX 11 & Fox 5 feel more borough oriented. "CBS News New York Now on WLNY" is a mouth full and doesnt roll off the tounge. CBS 2 News really bounced back from 2007 onwards after about 10 years of mess, but it seems like they're just going back down the same rabbit hole again. On the bright side, CBS 2 has the best set and video wall in the market.

Yes, yes, because THAT'S the stations' problems. Not the decades of mismanagement, budget cuts, and subsequent poor ratings. Really, most here need to get a grip. I don't want to say that CBS Local is a downgrade from modern Enforcer (though I think it is), but it DEFINITELY wouldn't be some magical problem-solver, either. More than just about any cosmetic adjustment we've ever discussed here, such a theme change across the board might be the most unnoticeable of all time, to the average viewer. Hell, I have no problem saying that neither Gari nor Stephen Arnold have produced the best adaptations of the WBBM signature. They just happened to be the powerhouse music companies of their eras, therefore most accessible for the average client.

It was revealed a few months ago that Drew Barrymore will be reformatted into two half-hour segments to make room for the 9AM newscasts on CBS O&Os. The first airing would be a lead out from those 9AM newscasts, while the second airing would air later in the day or on duopoly stations.

MSNBC is making some changes to its streaming service, The MSNBC Hub on Peacock. Effective September 15th, Zerlina Maxwell and Ayman Mohyeldin will no longer be hosting shows on the streaming service, Zerlina has been offered an "analyst" role and Ayman will continue to host his show on the weekends. This is the first time MSNBC has canceled a show on its relatively new streaming service. Speaking of weekends... MSNBC is seeing some of the worst weekend ratings since 1998, this started last year and it isn't getting better. Makes me wonder if a bigger change could be coming to the weekends. Go back several pages on this forum and you'll see how much weekends have changed in recent years. Seems like more opinion & less news isn't working out that well and maybe Kendis Gibson, David Gura, Thomas Roberts & Kasie Hunt (honorable mention of Jacob Soboroff & Richard Lui) weren't as replaceable as the network thought they were..... More details on the changes here: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/msnbc-ends-peacock-shows-hosted-by-zerlina-maxwell-and-ayman-mohyeldin/512379/

Former KTVU anchor Leslie Griffith has passed away. https://www.ktvu.com/news/longtime-ktvu-anchor-and-reporter-leslie-griffith-dies?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3831V48LPaLGnrHuRJfrY48BXOL1I8sCNa10iELSuPyQsWHnn15DbL2Zk&fs=e&s=cl