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Watching the new CBS News Detroit premiere. I can imagine that things will be tweaked after this premiere and they see what works and what doesnt work. Im sure they will throw everything at the wall tonight. -Clunky version of the open -I like the open to the jib shot, but it was too long and it hovered too high instead of moving toward the center and transitioning to the centre presenter camera. -The camera blocking is strange for the right presenter. You get the strange white wall and part of window mullions. -Strange sound in the background - A/C noise is VERY VERY LOUD! VERY distracting. They need to sorta that out immediately. Seems like the noisy problem that occurs when all the presenter mics are hot. -Odd use of jib over to weather. Kinda of a plain looking weather corner, washed out graphics. Seems like the big CBS logo been seen all the way on the right wall behind the weather computers. Weather is done from a rolling screen against a white wall. You can see the screen cords plugged into the wall. (Looks messy) The sports anchor uses the screen in the greenroom as sort of an OTS. They turn on blue lights in the green room for the 6pm. - The centre camera shot is really nice. -The story selection is strange and nothing ground breaking so far. Lots of national stories off the top. A local story about football coach and then a Narcan vending machine story was presented live from a local university. The reporter had on a boat load CBS Detroit gear. -They did highlight the reporter that will cover a specific beat/region. Which i like. But then going into each break they keep telling you they are watching a specific community and they can watch CBS Detroit streaming. (gotcha) So far going into the first advert break....its kinda ehhh. -The transitions seem choppy. -Umm not getting the point of the sports stories sprinkled thru instead of the main sports bulletin usually toward the end of the broadcast. So far the "Detroit" stories is very very thin. Kinda expected them to have reporters live all over the place for the first outing. I know the they are still hiring but eek. They dont seem to have a full staff yet. - The presenters seem to be a capable bunch, they seem to fit a large diverse market such as Detroit. It has the largest Arabic/Muslim population in the US and a large black population amongst others. I have to say it could be an interesting enterprise. I was expecting a bit more newsroom movement, but it seems CBS didnt throw millions at the wall for this. I feel like this is more of down and dirty operation rather than being ultra flashy.

Is it too small? Or are we just looking at small screenshots of weather graphics that aren't full screen?

These are all good points. I’ve learned to forgive the technical stuff; yes, one could argue that they should clear these things up before broadcast, given that they’ve been preparing behind the scenes for a while, but first day jitters are normal. I’m not really a fan of how they put the logo in a white box, but that might be temporary for all we know. As someone who can be unreasonably pedantic about sets and presentation, I actually don’t mind that it doesn’t look “ultra flashy.” Having the newscast done in the newsroom is rather refreshing, and they did a good job freshening up the WKBD newsroom. What I didn’t like was the awkward story selection. I get that they want to have exclusives, but the top story on your first newscast really shouldn’t be about a fired basketball coach. I also agree on the lack of local reporters. If they wanted to make a good first impression, they should’ve had field reporters on day 1. Still, it’s a hell of a lot better than no news at all.

CBS News Detroit wasn’t the only thing that premiered today. The new O&O weather graphics premiered along with them.

He’s also the father of CBS Weekend News anchor/senior correspondent Jericka Duncan.

I like that second photo; I think they might have to make a rule that the standing desks in the background need to be in the seated position for air. The computer monitors block some of the background. They've alluded to it in the articles, but they're struggling to hire enough people to put more news on the air.

Other than the weather icons, they look great. Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday look like there's nothing there!

KWWL Mark Woodley, the sequel.

With all the talk about KCBS & KCAL these recent weeks, let's not forget how it started. Twenty years ago today (1/20/03), the on-air consolidation of these two stations at Columbia Square began...... Videos are from Sloan's YT Page.

Okay... now I feel like we're just throwing crap at a wall to see what sticks... and I don't like it.

Well that's a way to get up to ah, 150,000 viewers maybe? Throw in Bozo for 25K more. Tom Skilling for another 25K. Ah to heck with it, Pat Harvey would bring another 10,000...

If Jerry Springer teamed up with a wrestling company to put on a news discussion show, I give you.... BEAT THE PRESS!

I've only watch News Nation once. It seemed like a decent product and it looked very professional, but there was no kind of a hook to get me to tune back in. At the end of the day, I need something a little over the top to keep my attention and there was nothing there to get me to tune back in again. My ideal news channel would be a Jerry Springer News Channel. That is, Jerry Springer with the fighting, not the new and improved Jerry Springer when they toned it down. I'm only half kidding here.

I can see WOIO/WUAB carrying that show. Having Robin with Gray makes more sense than with Nexstar/NN.

Would Nexstar be able to accommodate her with an Atlanta facility? tbh I wouldn’t be surprised Gray hired her for WANF-WPCH once her noncompete ends. She’d be ideal for an old-school lifestyle talk show that can be syndicated throughout the chain and they’d have the facilities for it.

I wonder if they've been considering getting Robin Meade?

They're partying like they just won that crisp $50 bill on Bozo's Grand Prize Game, that's for sure!!!

They put up a SIGN too for this "win"? From everyone's favorite site:

This probably explains why WITI or KCPQ hasn't switched weather graphics from their Trib packages; why do it when the Fox Weather package would be coming after a few months anyways?

Butchering local town & landmark names while a tornado bears down on the viewing public. Anybody wanna take a crack at pronouncing "Schuylkill River"? Yes, 3000 miles away they will still be able to harness the technology to pinpoint the path of a storm and give viewers pertinent information, but when they can't pronounce your town, I get the feeling that some folks will turn the channel. And this is even IF they actually start hubbing weather. I see it more from the angle of "well, there's CBSN, ABC News Live, NBC News Now... what news-y angle ISN'T someone taking a stab at?"

NewsCentral was before its time. Technology has changed so much that it's impossible to compare with what we can do today. We have meteorologists working from home covering severe weather. What's the difference if they're 30 miles from the station or 3000?

I'll summarize my thoughts from the Discord: I don't think this is an attempt at a new OTA weather channel or anything close to WeatherPlus. I think this is a vehicle to enable the hubbing of weather. The press release says "Fox Weather will feature local, regional and national updates... [Drawing] on more than 75 meteorologists across 17 stations and Fox News Channel’s news gathering teams." and makes no mention of affiliate stations. This is a project that involves only the O&O group. Rebrand all the local weather departments under the "Fox Weather" banner (Which would be similar to WeatherPlus) and now you have a unified brand that anyone can appear in front of. Do you really need weekend meteorologists at both WITI and WFLD? Or can you just "regionalize" these markets and do both out of one station from time to time? Oh no! A Tornado warning has been issued on a Sunday morning, and nobody's at the station! Not to worry, the Mothership in NYC has somebody on duty, and they were going to cover the Tornado warning anyways, so they might as well just simulcast Fox Weather on the local FOX O&O. I would not be the least bit surprised if midway through next year, they announce they're "streamlining" the O&O's and are taking advantage of "operational efficiencies" presented with a network of meteorologists and suddenly some stations lose their weekend/fill in mets. I've said for some time now that Weather and Sports were ripe for hubbing, and I think this might be the start of that.