Leaderboard

Can we get back to talking about the current ABC logo and the new O&O graphics package please? I swear we get carried away by the smallest things in these threads. All I can say about the new O&O package now that we've seen the full package on WLS is... I don't really like the look of the graphics. It's too cluttered for a (somewhat) simple package. Very few packages have successfully shown the 3D look with simple gradients (both the current CBS O&O look and NBC O&O look). The only thing I can give the look credit for is the time, temperature, and current weather conditions ticker in the opens.

I happen to disagree; I still think that overall, the new graphics look great. These things are subjective, so while I somewhat disagree with you, I’ll try to see where you’re coming from. There are even people out there who like the latest WRIC graphics, and if that isn’t proof that appearance is subjective, I don’t know what is. I understand the criticism of it being cluttered if we’re strictly talking about the use of 3D in the intros and transitions. These elements would’ve looked better 5 years ago, and they still look ok today imo, but I can see how those transitions may not age well as years go by. Still, I’d argue that these elements still look better than anything coming out of most of the major station owning groups out there. You could easily make the same criticism of the new Gray graphics, but the consensus around here seems to be that those look pretty good. When it comes to the ticker and L3s, which is what people see most of the time, I don’t see any issues there. Those look more than fine; they’re clean, easy to read, and they’re simple enough. Who gives a damn if there’s a slight gradient? The ABC L3s are far less cluttered than anything coming from the non-O&Os. That even includes Tegna, which recently updated their L3s to take up a third of the screen for some reason. IMO, the new L3s are a massive improvement over what most of the O&Os have at the moment (looking at WABC, especially).

WCBS will stream Elise Finch’s funeral service on CBS News New York tomorrow morning beginning at 10:30.

I agree -- there aren't that many newsworthy things happening... Each half-hour is the same boring thing unless there is "breaking news or weather"

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.

Viewers in the comments aren't very fond of the new faces, I have to tell them that the station is in need of a helping hand.

ABC13 in Houston has gotten the new weather graphics on the air.

Just wondering, is anyone seeing any pushback on early local morning news times? I've noticed that KXAS has given up on 4:30am starts recently (they're doing 2 runs of Early Today instead, strangely). I'm not trying to encourage the dreaded list thread, just asking if this might be a trend.

I'm working on tossing old CDs and DVDs I've had laying around and I came across these work sample images taken from Giant Octopus' website in 2003. Probably the peak of their design trendyness. It's amazing how much things have changed in 20 years!

When are live field reports actually necessary? The obvious answer is breaking news and quickly developing situations. Background: In watching smaller markets like Albany, NY I've noticed most field reports are packaged. Stations there often only go live if the story warrants it. In bigger markets like Atlanta, reporters often introduce stories live rather than packaged, despite a lack of new developments. Example, WAGA's Eric Perry did a great live report about a homeowner who fought off two carjackers with his gun. As much as I love the theatrics of him being live in front of the bullet written car, because there were no new developments, the story could have been packaged. Especially in an era where people consume the news on their various mobile devices after the fact, are live field shots overused and do they only be done when needed?

New Petition. Weigel wants to move that new signal closer to the big city. They're keeping the UHF 31 allotment in Wisconsin. But want to move the Community of License east from Wittenberg to Shawano. That's about 38 miles away NW of Green Bay.

WRAL is the dominant #1 in the Triangle, WTVD is a strong #2. As for Houston, KPRC, KTRK and I think the Univision station are the major players.

It's about consistency that why ABC O&O WTVD is number #1. Because if that we use tools like the data tracker, the crime spoter, and talk and focus on issues like crime in Downtown Raleigh and Durham. We also split coverage between the 2 areas unlike the competition. It's about listening, and going in-depth and that what maybe sister-station, KTRK is missing there still ratings leader of course Houston’s Best Station imo but while yes KPRC is giving them and run for their money, they are trying. I think the group-wide package might be a dumpster fire if there is no input.

I know that was already announced, but I'm still glad to hear it. March Madness just isn't the same without him in studio. At least IMO...

What puzzles me is still beginning the news at 4/4:30 a.m. on major holidays holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas where people aren't going to work. I would assume this is for continuity sake or ad dollars?

In West Michigan I don't believe they need a 4:30AM newscast in my opinion 5AM is when it should start.

This should also be mentioned that this will be the first time since 1990 that Greg Gumbel will not be a part of the NFL coverage. This was announced back in the spring. He'll remain the studio host of the NCAA March Madness coverage.

Maybe Chuck Scarborough and Bill Rittet and Maurice Dubios. I can't see myself being a journalist in New York unless it national. It's too expensive.

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/

Who is making millions in local TV these days, even in market #1?

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.

So I am guessing PHL morning news is done when The CW takes over?

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.

I mean we can tell it looks virtual and kudos for them for making the reflections on the anchor desk. The few changes I’d make is that it appears the larger desk that is rarely used was either scanned in or added in virtually. Second, in lieu JDB sitting at what I assume is the small desk of 1A which may be keyed in, I’d remove it and ad a physical desk where they could zoom out from. Then maybe make it where the desk in front of the wall can be removed, and maybe add some dynamic lighting. I did find it interesting that for the most part they kept the studio as is as opposed to cleaning it up. One example is the video wall that’s used for OTS and on Today weather. They kept the seams in the metal that are there in real life.

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 swear some people here are never impressed lol I like it a lot. It's different and has some confidence to it. Some elements could use work. The wooden element feels out of place, and that top bar sticks out of place as it doesn't seem to do much to connect the wings.

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.

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.

They did an excellent job with those news graphics packages, especially with the graphics for WBBM and WREG.

Perfect idea for a filler on CBS.....6o Minutes II... oh wait...

They really did some great work.

Just learned that Harold Crump, longtime general manager of WTVF Nashville, has passed away at age 91. If I'm reading the obituary correctly Crump instituted the NewsChannel 5 ID; he did change the station's call letters from WLAC-TV to WTVF. During Crump's years at NewsChannel 5 a few nationally syndicated shows were produced there: "Hee Haw," "Candid Camera," and "The Jimmy Dean Show." WTVF is unique in that it is a CBS affiliate which is stronger in Nashville and its suburbs while NBC affiliate WSMV does better in the rural areas; this is the reverse of most markets where NBC tends to do better in the city and suburbs, while CBS does better in the countryside. And frankly, NewsChannel 5 does seem more "big city" than does Channel 4. An R.I.P. to Mr. Crump.

I believe only WJZ uses a live shot of the Inner Harbor for their 7-day which is considerably better than the plain white background.

The Battle for CNN… ‘Over 18 months, a battle of backstabbing has been raging within CNN that involved Jeff Zucker, David Zaslav and Chris Licht.’ A very interesting piece from Variety.

Even a 2 am or 3 am start could be argued for in those markets.

I don’t think the morning news is going away when WPHL gets The CW. They have no reason to cancel it.

Great article! Yeah, I was off by a couple years. How ironic, because KHOU still has the reputation for being cheap, especially ever since Tenga bought the station. I was going to say "Some things never change," but I swear that was in old line in one KTRK's promos that said they were number one for decades! Dave Ward, and as the article noted, Marvin Zindler's Action 13 helped that station make that station what it was. For those that don't know, Dave was the reason Channel 13 hired Marvin, and Marvin is the reason why fighting-for-the-little-guy became a thing on TV news. Shortly thereafter, they became number one in this market for around 25-30 straight. They used to care so much about presentation and content, but boy have things have changed now. If I remember correctly, Eyewitness News Tonight (at 10pm) finished third place in the November(?) sweeps a year or two ago. That's where they started before Dave and Marvin--last place. From the article: LOL! Someone literately said that KTRK needs better reporters because their new ones like what you'd find in a "high school film class." How many people does it take to spell "Eyewitness News" correctly? Well, it depends on who is working. Is it "Eyewitrness News", "Eyewiness News", or "Eyewtiness News" today? Someone put up a "BACK TO SCHOOL" tab on the lower-third for a warehouse fire, and never took the chyron off the screen for the entire live shot. They make so many mistakes now that it makes me sad to watch a broadcast that used to be nearly perfect.

No they will move all programming to WPHL-TV since Nexstar owes CW/WPHL-TV. They are currently constructing a new news set as well set to debut in Oct/Nov

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.

They're not using Gotham like they used to.

I saw it on air, and it's worse than I thought it would be. It is easier to read these graphics when they show this package on the greenscreen at WLS than on 13's weather screen. But regardless of where you show it, the fonts are still smaller on most graphics. The 10-forecast is much, much harder to read on this screen than the 7-day on a greenscreen. This is taken from their website, and hopefully, will post as the same size. It's TINY. I thought the 7-day looked bad, this is so much worse because everything is too small and too spread out. WLS' version looks a lot better than this.

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."

They should ditch the desk from the wide shot. Looks like something from 90s CAD home decorating software. Some weird audio garbling of his voice at the end.

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.

And then there's Sinclair....case in point WPMI. Had a long-standing morning news program that even pre-dated their switch from FOX to NBC. Over the years, it expanded to 2 hours, and under Sinclair, even expanded to 4:30am. Because of their arrangement with Deerfield and cross-ownership of WEAR, they had to cancel the 4:30am due to going over the 15% programming limit that an operator can produce on a JSA/SSA station. The competition responded by expanding to 4:30am since they were freely able to. Fast forward to Sinclair creating The National Desk, their hot, new national broadcast that's sweeping the nation! This past April, bye-bye went the local news in the morning, and was replaced by TND. In the carnage, other Sinclair markets were severely cut back, and even had local newscasts eliminated altogether, replaced largely by TND. Now with Scripps cutting back at their stations, nationalization of local newscasts could slowly be turning into a thing....

I’ve been a weather watcher on CBS 2 for 9 years and she did so much for me with getting me on tv more than I should have. She was such a nice woman and I’ll never forget her. Mornings will not be the same without her presence. Such a shock—so young and had so much more to give. I’m devastated.