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I think we've gone over the weather graphics debate enough. People love to claim on here that viewers will switch away from Channel X in droves because they adopted the Tegna music, or because the weather graphics aren't "weathery" enough, and are almost always proven wrong. It's not even worth my time to rebut the absurd claims being made.

Yes somewhat related...when Dennis Swanson took over WLS and turned it around in 83/84 one of his initiatives was daily reports of on-air production mistakes. When Gannett turned around WTCN/KARE around the same time, they added a position in-house to oversee the aesthetic / readability of daily on-air news graphics (more specific and tactical than a creative director). Details add up. Turn on a WPVI 11pm newscast these days and it feels more polished than the network nightly news.

Not quite over 50 years. I think you'd like this old article from 1974...KPRC was top dog then, KHOU was a few years earlier with Ron Stone and was unabashedly cheap https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/houston-tv-ratings-war/

Funny how the caption mentions Michael and Craig, but the picture is of Stephen….

I can tell you that here in Tulsa KJRH doesn’t do a 4:30 anymore they show their web streaming news, KOTV still does a 4:30, KTUL does a 4:30 and KOKI does a 4:30 instead of a 4am. As for OKC KWTV has a 4am, KOCO does a 4:30, KFOR does a 4am and KOKH doesn’t do a 4 or 4:30am.

I would think an 11pm rebroadcast at 4/4:30 would work - the only thing I would consider would be to record a toss to morning weather for a little more current info. West coast is weird, in that a 4am would work better, as some folks out there work work east coast times, so are more likely to be up earlier. Also being in DC, a 4am newscast didn’t help one of my coworkers: he left home at 3:30am to beat the traffic from Culpeper (70+ miles away). He did stream the 6am news from WDAY (his hometown station…) at the office…

After the pandemic started and people stayed home, we saw the biggest drop in audience at 4:00 a.m.. The midday news had the biggest increase. If remote work truly sticks, I would redirect 4:00 a.m. resources to middle-of-the-day content. And while it is not the desired demographic, the biggest TV watchers, the baby boomers, are mostly retired. My parents were early risers when I was a kid. Now my mom doesn't wake up before 7:30.

The “Fox 5 San Diego and “NBC 7 San Diego” monikers are derived from those stations’ channel slots on the cable systems in that market. The “branding by cable channel” thing is also a trend in other markets, such as Palm Springs, CA, and Ft. Myers, FL. I’d provide examples of stations from each market that engage in this practice, but I don’t want to turn this into the dreaded list thread.

Persoanlly, I honestly don't mind local morning newscasts in most markets going back to starting later. Most reports (outside of breaking news) that air at the 4am hour typically would be repeated during the rest of the broadcast anyway. And just because a lot of people wake up before 4am, that doesn't mean everyone does.

I would agree in most areas of the country a 4am or 4:30a newscast isn’t worth the resources used to produce the content. In top 5 Markets; NYC, LA, Chicago, Philly it’s ok as many people start work at 5am or 6am. A market like Washington DC definitely has an audience for a 4am newscast as it’s one of those places with commuters traveling long long distances to get into the city. As a result people wake up extremely early. Same with the SF/Bay Area.

I noticed WFOR quietly dropped the 4:30am half hour too. I think stations are finally realizing that, at least in much of the country, there really isn’t much of an audience/advertiser draw at 4 in the morning.

Definitely doesn't make sense to start at 4/4:30 in most markets as is the trend now. I can accept a 4am start time in top 5 or even top 10 markets. Anything else is just a $$ grab for advertising dollars. I get it, you have to make money somehow, but I feel resources could be better allocated elsewhere.

PRESQUE ISLE!! From 1984!! but wait there's more from WAGM! One of the rarest markets in the United States to find on tape.

I figured the P was for Pittsburgh.

I imagine they went with WPKD because WDKA was already taken. Or maybe the P stands for Paramount and any future call changes for the other stations will follow this pattern. Or maybe someone there is a Philip K. Dick fan.

KPYX is obvious...WPKD sounds like "Pittsburgh KDKA". A little disappointed that they didn't go back to KBHK, but with these stations basically becoming 'plus' appendages of the main station, I really have no problems with these changes. Also just reminds us that boats also hold FCC calls...thank you for whatever service you did, Sliver Lark and Sealand Archiver.

Byron Allen be like...

It could be worse, like a religious network masquerading as a news network....or vice versa.... But maybe it's time to revisit the must-carry rules, since 99.9% of the stations that opt for them are worthless garbage programming of little benefit to the local viewer....

I somewhat understand this opinion, and also acknowledge that it’s possible for some shows to use swearing as a bit of a crutch, but to me, that’s a problem of bad writing, not the existence of swear words. You could also argue that a complete ban on swear words makes certain shows unrealistic. Can you really suspend your disbelief about the average CBS police procedural when you don’t hear the occasional F-bomb flying around? I understand having no explicit content before, say, 9pm, but I still think a complete ban is unrealistic in 2023. Although, given the fact that we’re about to experience a drought of scripted shows, this is probably a moot point. Oh well, get ready for Deal or No Deal: Electric Boogaloo.

I never worked with her, but I universally always heard that she was great to work with.

Thread cleaned up and unlocked. The user that initiated the disruption has been banned. In the future, I humbly ask members to use the "report post" function and the block tools built into the forum over "backseat modding" users disrupting a thread. -Weeters

I don't know why he left? I don't understand why native NY journalists hate national news and weather channels despite the good pay and the luxuries, local news can go so far with budgets to make millions it takes time and longevity, national news is great pay. Matt Lauer and Al Roker have shown it can be done.

Tenga finishes last place in our market most of the time, so they don't have as much to lose here. But KTRK-TV has already lost viewers for a lot of other reasons than graphics. In the May 2022 sweeps, KPRC Ch 2 became the #1 station in the market for the very first time in over 5 decades. That's the very same station that has been trying to copy Channel 13 for that very same 50-year period. When you loose to an imitator, you've must have stopped being an innovator.

The Patreon story doesn't really have much in the way of details, but there is this: "Longtime employees at KYW say morale and abuse at the station are at its worst in decades."

Channel 13 used to welcome people calling their newsroom for comments, complaints, and criticisms. I really do care about Channel 13, but like many Eyewitness News viewers in Houston, feel betrayed by a station that stopped caring about us. I just want to say that that station probably gets more hate mail/negative comments these days than any other Owned station. You probably won't believe the kind of hate they've gotten recently. A few days ago, someone just told them that they should "dig" Channel 13's "grave". A year ago this month, which marked the 15-year anniversary of Marvin Zinder's death, someone else said that KTRK has desecrated the legacy of Zindler and Eyewitness News. He went on to say something like this: When there are more people in need of help than ever, you help fewer people than ever. I believe the viewer noted that Action 13 only helped one person in all of June and July of last year, or something like that. Sadly, it's pretty much the same this year too. You don't know how much it breaks my heart to see a station I grew up with be trashed like that, and even more so for Channel 13 to not listen and understand that the viewer was right. (They used to have a number used to just go to the newsroom, and there was a different number for the breaking news tipline. They replaced it with just that one phone number.) Well, a lot of people in this market will turn off Channel 13 for good if they downgrade their graphics. They have already gotten dozens of complaints telling them such, and it hasn't even happened yet. I'm am sorry to cause a stir, but the people who made this package--and the people who are pushing it--should want to hear all feedback: good, bad, and ugly. That's the only way you can improve. I know Tracy Butler at WLS was nice enough to give many complaints to Vivid Zero, but the company hasn't listened to any of the constructive criticism. Good for her for caring. Again, I'm sorry. Maybe now you'll better understand where I'm coming from.