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What strikes me the most about all of this is how traditional it all looks. Solid royal blue everywhere, restrained design elements, and an orchestral theme that's refreshed but still light on contemporary touches. The newscast itself is pretty sober with an offering of all the meat and potatoes news of the day. This show feels more in line with what it was like during the later Rather or early Pelley eras. Funny how every time CBS tries to shake up the Evening News, they always eventually go back to a pretty traditional presentation and newscast format. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

That’s the point. One company is controlled by private equity. The other is not. They still have the offices but Cox ceased being a “local company” with the Apollo buyout, it merely became the equivalent of a subsidiary.

On the contrary, I think this new branding is exactly what Hilton Howell meant by “firing CBS.” It fits with the overall strategy of giving the station its own identity, which it’s never really been able to find all these years. It’s not like they’re planning on dumping the affiliation or anything.

Because WGCL’s ratings have been in the toilet since time immemorial. The only constant at CBS 46 has been an absurd level of instability. Also, I’m not sure how branding by “channel 46” makes you relevant in today’s world. Gray doesn’t want its largest station to be a perennial basement dweller. They needed to end the instability plaguing the station, enhance the newsroom with new hires, and blow up the branding. They’ve done a decent job with the first two so far, and now they’re about to do the third.

It’s such a great theme and they’ve now brought the great 1988 theme back twice that the news buff in me wishes they’d resurrect the 91-06 theme at some point. It’s one of the best news pieces ever. Side point but man has Rather managed to rehabilitate his image from the time at the end of his CBS run.

NOT me. I love PIX 11, KTLA 5, etc. Local branding works.

Big News. Gray's largest TV station could be changing its callsign this fall. Its CBS station in Atlanta, WGCL-TV has filed an app to change its callsign to WANF. If approved, the change would go in effect on October 3.

WSB has already seemed to falter with Apollo, only standing on their laurels as a legacy station with pseudo-local ownership. WAGA is catching up in ratings? I agree WXIA is the big loser.

You literally owned this story. Why are you not taking credit for helping to break it?

Channel 46 doesn’t need to have “46” in their branding, either, and why would they? They could easily brand outside of news as “WANF CBS”, “ANF CBS” or … hear me out … “WANF”. It’s intentional and I love it. Cox ceased being a local company when Apollo bought them out (blame the Cox family losing hundreds of millions on Theranos).

Well, It's About Time. (Oops, wrong station!) But a long overdue move. Kill the old call letters with fire after what Meredith did to the place.... As long as CBS Atlanta doesn't resurface on an O&O in the market, although I doubt Gra wants to "fire" CBS any time soon or vice versa...

It's nice to see them make some drastic changes. WGCL and WXIA have been slowly limping along with drastically lower ratings than market leaders WSB & WAGS making only minor changes that lack traction. It'll be interesting to see if WSB loses ground as Apollo is more bottom line focused while Gray is throwing money at WGCL. Sounds like the biggest loser here will be WXIA.

They also bought a station in Summerville/Triton, WKSY-LD, which was a subchannel dead zone for the extreme western part of the market (though it did offer local public access like coverage of local meetings and events); Gray certainly isn't planning for it to forever carry Real America's Voice (that's what's on the schedule; gotta assume the ownership before and not Gray made that deal) and Circle has no affiliate in Atlanta to speak of. It's definitely a move-in and tower move-up target, because it's doing bupkis in Rome and Ft. Payne. As for this station call change, good on them for finally killing calls that should've died when "Georgia's Clear News" did; if only WATL wasn't being wasted on Tegna/MyNet.

Here's the reason for the change. Spotted on VUit.

I’m not sure that’s what’s happening here though. We will have to see if “What’s Now” has a different vibe than “What’s New.” The 6pm show and “Front Row” at 7 are different from one another. But having so many “What’s” names doesn’t really differentiate these newscasts. I’d almost rather have something like “Friends at Four (or Five)” - like sister station WLTX…

While there are potential problems, it may be worth the risk given that the more successful O&Os are exceptions, not the rule. Also, CBS has changed significantly since the Killian fiasco. CBS and Dan Rather have had nothing to do with each other for nearly 20 years. If CBS News gets into hot water again on the national level, there will always be people who harass their local CBS affiliate over something the national network did, regardless of station branding. Also as you alluded to, KCNC’s identity has been that of a standard CBS O&O since 2003, and they no longer have any real local identity to speak of anyway. This really isn’t much of a change on their end. IIRC, that had more to do with KRON’s habit of preempting shows than a branding issue. I mentioned this in the “WBZ Rebranding Newscasts” thread, but that’s a big component of this. Even if some of CBS’ more successful stations in medium-size markets (ex: Baltimore, Pittsburgh) lose their local identities, they will make the national network more relevant in those markets. You mentioned the difference in viewer trust between CBS News and the local affiliates, and CBS is well aware of this. Unifying national and local brands can be a small step in remedying that issue. The CBS O&Os can add value to the national news operation, and if the CBS News brand is more ubiquitous, more viewers might begin to trust the national network in the same way they trust their local station. It should be noted that WCCO appears to be launching the new look with their own local branding, although that’s more than likely a transitional thing.

You're referring to the 1991-2006 version composed by Patterson, Walz and Fox. That was a DAMN GOOD version. I hope they bring back that version with a twist.

I'd say it depends on the station. "PIX 11" and "KTLA 5" work better than "The CW 11" and "The CW 5" because those stations were much more established independent of the network. The same would be true of WGN should it regain the affiliation. But it mid-tier or low-tier markets where the affiliate never had an identity outside of their affiliation? Probably not. Of course, it's entirely possible that Nexstar could up and change the network's name...

There is mounting evidence that this has been in the works for the better part of a year. On November 1, 2021, Gray parked the WANF call sign by changing an LPTV in Tennessee to WANF-LD. On April 25, 2022, Rick Folbaum welcomed a new employee with this tweet: "Welcome to the team! Let's get to work. @cbs46 @GrayTelevision #Atlanta #News #First"

You’re talking about a station that used to be a NBC O&O. The O&O glory days (before the TEGNAization) are on the backroads…

Yet...

At least there's not a newscast titled "What Sucks."

CBS owns the "Eyewitness News" name.

KCNC has been calling itself "CBS 4" since 2003 (and switched from "News 4" to "CBS 4 News" in 2005), so it's not that big a leap. It wouldn't be the first time they had to adapt to a longstanding part of their identity being dropped (they had to drop the KOA calls because GE let Belo keep them for the radio station). But I do think trying to force the major affiliate groups to drop, in some cases, decades' worth of brand recognition and give up at least the appearance of an autonomous newsroom potentially problematic. There are a lot of people who are still, almost 20 years later, distrustful towards CBS News (rightly or not) over their handling of the Killian documents. Plus if CBS News gets into hot water again, why make it harder to distance yourself from the network? The O&Os have every reason to align themselves with the network, being owned by them and aggressively branded with the Eyemark and "CBS" visually or verbally. But if your newsroom is independent from the network, why act like it's not? Wasn't the longstanding "A CBS AFFILIATE" marker meant to indicate exactly that? Also, it sounds eerily similar to NBC's failed gambit to make Young sell KRON to them at a loss. "Call yourself 'NBC 4' and pay us $10 million a year or we're pulling our affiliation." The alignment of the O&Os with the network also serves another purpose I haven't seen theorized: It helps CBS News look like it's "in touch" with large swathes of the country. Over the last decade or so, the national news media seems to have retrenched into a handful of large metropolitan strongholds: New York, LA, San Francisco, Washington, maybe Chicago. Touting a presence in places like Detroit or Pittsburgh or Baltimore or Denver is huge, especially considering the national media's disinvestment in the Rust Belt and general ignorance of the Intermountain West.

Big improvement! Love the return to it's roots theme, taking a great page from ABC! Hopefully the late era Rather theme makes a comeback one day. The L3's are horrendus but the dark theme for the video walls is great, especially considering how bright and washed out newscasts and daytime tv looks with HD these days.

Likely WCCO. They’re debuting a new 4pm newscast on Monday and it looks like it’s using the prospective new graphics.

CMG's HQ is based out of Atlanta, despite being owned by a private equity that's based out of New York.

Okay the Atlanta News First talk is in this thread.

WGCL made announcement on their website https://www.cbs46.com/2022/08/31/atlanta-news-first-coming-north-georgia/ I like how they claim they are the only locally owned station in the market (throwing shade at wsb and Cox)

That's wild, they must loan it out to other stations. WWL (which is a Tegna CBS affiliate) has used eyewitness news for decades.

Truth be told, if much of its range is in Alabama, they should shoehorn WBRC onto there too to enhance its coverage in the far eastern part of that market.

Why would a station want to do this?

Wale Aliyu from Boston 25 is moving to San Diego and joining 10News as a main anchor: https://twitter.com/WaleAliyu/status/1559753769516154881?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1559753769516154881|twgr^7a1c9827975882976378593b2955aadee4e15eff|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FWaleAliyu2Fstatus2F1559753769516154881widget%3DTweet

Sara Shookman is on maternity leave. The station even covered the birth of her second child. I don’t think anyone’s getting pushed out here. Also, I don’t like WKYC’s format either, but it’s not like Dave Lougee and Tegna issued an edict that WKYC must change their newscasts. While Tegna management certainly encouraged this stuff, these moves were made entirely by local management.

Tell that to the networks/cable.... I think having different names, so long as the content and presentation is different, is a good thing. It shows differentiation and gives viewers a chance to latch on to a show that they like. If everything is just "x news"....then most people will think, seen it once, seen them all.

I have seen Betsy and Laura each co-anchor at 11pm, but not Sara in recent years.

Looks like Jennifer Hudson is the new Kelly Clarkson as her show replaced The Real at 1:05 on WTAE-TV. Hopefully Clarkson on WTAE at 3pm won't tank the 5pm news. WPXI had her show at 3am for a reason. I wonder what WPXI will have at 3 instead of Judge Judy? Hopefully not more news.

I like the virtual newsroom looks in the corner. The dark tones give it some versatility. The wooden tones make me think there in a wooden set so did the loop of the newsroom.

It's tegna over tegna-ing. Giving every show a brand eventually disconnects the station from it. You can't expect viewers to remember unique names for multiple different times.

A complete 10 p.m. WBBM newscast from 1983: By the way, was that USA Today commercial produced by Collier Concepts?

Thing is, given the damage David Friend, Peter Dunn, and the old management team at the CBS stations did, and the fact that there is a clear push toward unifying linear and streaming brands, it has to happen. There are also reasons why it can work at CBS, but not at the other networks. I’ll link to a post from @Samantha, who explained it best: As for your point about local brands being more trustworthy than the network’s brand, I totally get it. If you asked me a few months ago, I would’ve agreed with your point and would’ve questioned why dumping local identities was even up for discussion (in fact, I did). Thing is, that trust deficit is a huge problem for the network, especially given its eternal ratings woes. In fact, it’s all the more reason for CBS to do what it’s doing. Having trustworthy local news brands is great, but it means little if it doesn’t translate to success on the national level. By integrating the local stations with CBS News, the national news operation can benefit from the trust people already have in their local stations. It might sound like CBS News is trying to force its way into CBS-owned stations; in reality, it is the stations and their local news operations that are adding value to CBS News. The local station might feel less “local,” but over time, the national operation will feel much less alien to viewers.

There's a negative halo from network newscasts for some portion of the audience (this goes back decades...the whole 'network news doesn't represent my views' thing isn't new among some portion of the audience, just magnified these days). Beyond that the channel number / call letters are a bit of a firewall that also makes it feel more authentically local. Eliminating the local station number / call letters, and using the exact network news name (CBS News) makes it all feel even less local, trusted for that segment of viewers. See in Pittsburgh how KDKA lags WTAE at 6pm but has a massive lead at 11. Some of the core KDKA viewers don't care much for the national CBS News outlet, preferring World News Tonight. I doubt this change would have passed the common sense test of Les Moonves. The press release for KCNC isn't even consistent. It calls it 'CBS News Colorado' upfront, then all the newscast titles are 'CBS Colorado News at XXX.' The former is much more network newscast tied with 'CBS News' as the exact phrase, the latter maintains some more local identity (keeping the 'CBS News' phrase out of the mix).

WKYC is launching a 4pm newscast on September 12. It will have the "What's New" title, while the 5pm news will become "What's Now."

I’m not a fan of the black and gold graphics but when it comes to ratings—compared to WCBS, KCBS, and WBBM—KDKA is special.

I wish I snapped a picture, but I’m in Philly right now and I saw a KYW talent promo w/ Ukee Washington after tonight’s Evening News. It ends with the “CBS3” and “CBS News Philadelphia” logos, with no mention of Eyewitness News. They’re going full send on brand standardization. I didn’t think they’d actually do this at first either, and I’m very much in favor of local identities being kept. That said, on many levels, this makes sense. As many others here have pointed out better than I ever could, most CBS-owned stations in large markets do not stand out. WCBS and KPIX already look bland, KYW and WBBM have been mismanaged into instability, and KCBS… need I say more? I don’t think a unified branding will make those stations ratings powerhouses or anything, but it would at least tie them to the network’s news division. Also, to answer your question, there is no longer any need to differentiate between the network and streaming. That’s the whole point. If CBS wants to really prioritize streaming, a great way to do that is to unify both linear and streaming brands.

No need to be snarky, but yes, CBS or CBS New York will suffice. (If you weren’t being snarky, my apologies for interpreting it that way.)

False. WRAZ simulcasts with WRAL at 4pm. Once again, simulcasting exists in the year 2022. The concept of 2 stations running the same newscast has been in place for at least 20 years. There is no written or unwritten rule that forbids something from happening just because some people don’t like it. There will be no mass affiliation changes if both NBC and Fox stations run 10pm news. There will be no volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or tsunamis as a result of NBC and Fox stations running 10pm news. The state of Hawaii has not sunk into the Pacific Ocean just because KGMB/KHNL already simulcast their late news. Stations are not going to blow up their affiliation agreements just because some of us don’t like the idea of a 10pm simulcast.

I guess I’ll ask this question: Has NBC considered moving Nightly News to 10 instead? From my understanding, the US is really the only country where a major broadcaster doesn’t carry a nightly evening newscast in prime time.

Well, it's true she was forced out to make room for "next year's model." Luckilly NBC was able to give her some projects before Dateline NBC really took off.

As the Just For Men commercial said... No play for Mr. Gray! Gray is OUT of the bidding for Tegna, leaving it to Allen Media and Apollo.... https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/18/gray-pulls-offer-for-tegna