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Not to solution it here - but they could have leaned into the “3 as a B” thing and done something like this…

IIRC it was a dog right? That’s at least better than an actual mascot.

Agreed. Fix the "M" and I could tolerate the font. It just has that Nexstar vibe to it based on that one package (that WSPA also uses). I really wish Gray would have sprung for a better font.

Apparently WBTV got the GrayOne graphics today along with the new logo.

People often ask and speculate about on-air talent compensation. NYC passed a law that took effect a year or two ago requiring employers to publicize a role's salary range in job descriptions. WABC is currently hiring on-air roles, providing some relevant data. The current hiring range for a General Assignment Reporter is 150-200k, and the current hiring range for an Anchor/Reporter (replacing Mike Marza on the weekends) is 250k-400k. Other elements of compensation factor in, of course, as does negotiation.

Interesting move. Wouldn't that be viewed as a demotion for Rick or does WANF value mornings more than evenings?

And WBTV has debuted GrayONE, with the new logo.

KCTV is now using First Warn 5 Weather branding as of yesterday

There's a pretty good op-ed piece that came out last week from Next TV's Alan Wolk about how Thompson's work should start with CNN.com. As someone who visits the website multiple times a day, I'm paying attention here. YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES! Outbrain and its ilk need to go far, far away from all serious news sites.

13 WMAZ Eyewitness News Nightwatch (January 10, 1995) 13 WMAZ Eyewitness News Nightwatch (December 5, 1997) WSB Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat (August 21, 1998; starts at 3:42) 13 WMAZ Eyewitness News at 11:00 (October 28, 2001)

Not "always" on most by any stretch of the imagination. It's been fluid for years.

Nexstar has a real challenge on its hands with KUSI, and it's not just an integration and construction challenge. KUSI was the most unabashedly conservative TV newsroom in a major market anywhere. Embarrassingly so. And they will be dealing with angry viewers of that persuasion. But anyone external to the McKinnons and right-wing politics probably looks at KUSI and goes "yikes". Heck, I think even someone who came to KUSI from a Sinclair station would be shocked. There is a difference between a conservative lean, justifiable in San Diego, and just being a peddler of conservative disinformation. KUSI was frequently the latter. And Nexstar is only a "left-wing" operation if you're so far off to the right that NewsNation is radically left.

Due to the 11th hour-nature of the pickup, it's probably going to be this way for this year. Sinclair is basically having to create a new channel to build the CW programming around. By next year, it may resemble more of a CW-like station lineup once deals are secured. I"m assuming that the ex-CW stations owned by CBS are still going to be carried by YouTube TV? They've traditionally carried their existing independents like WLNY, KCAL and WTXA. KOCB may be dropped unless Sinclair elects to keep them on. It would be their only independent station on YouTube TV. And Nexstar should be running with all of their new affiliates, sans WADL since that deal hasn't closed yet?

Comet is essentially syndicated programming. It's as watchable as any other station's lineup. I'll take reruns of The X-Files over a Byron Allen court show. It wouldn't be out of place on an independent station in another era. I'm surprised we don't see more stations fill non-network/news hours with programming from their in-house diginet rather than spending money on dwindling syndicated fare. If Nexstar wants to cut CW's programming costs, why not nuke the syndicated CW+ shows and fill the time with a mix of programming from their diginets?

Adding a 10AM newscast is purely a business decision. Adding another hour of news will cost less than any syndication, which carries heavy fees and ad time splits in major markets. Stations will likely add only a couple of people, who will probably be freelancers. And since there’s no advertising split with syndicators, all the commercial time belongs to the station. That’s a very big deal headed into 2024. Election year campaign spending will be off the charts. Because campaigns love to buy time in news shows, that extra hour of news a day will be a bonanza in political ad sales. There’s no brain surgery or overthinking required in understanding the 10AM show. It’s dollars. Pure and simple.

Here's more of the new college football scorebug, including the indicator of how many points a team has scored in a play (+6, +3, etc.), and the specific penalty a team will have committed. The more I study this, the more I become inclined to believe that the graphics were designed with a sticker theme in mind, which explains the tilted logos, tilted placement of the exact penalty committed (complete with exclamation warning marks, as if the black and yellow wasn't enough to let you know already), and even the slightly tilted bar containing the quarter, time, and down and distance. They've well and truly accomplished the style, but where's the readability, especially in the team names below the logos (not helped by them also being handwritten and sometimes in colors that clash with each other)?

I don't like the animated background mixed with the animated icons.. should be one or the other.. although I do like that they didn't put the icons tiny in the corner like they do at the other updated stations

Put baseball back on local broadcast stations again & add a streaming partner. Broadcast worked for years before the RSN's, it can work again.

As much of a let down Licht's tenure was, I agreed with his vision. Cable news is a cesspool of opinions and people need a source that gives them fact-based information. The notion that because MSNBC and Fox News are winning with partisan formatting, CNN should pick a side too, is disappointing. A third, middle of the line cable option is a solid idea. CNN as a legacy network is in a good position to accomplish that, rather than startup NewsNation. I agree with Licht here (The Atlantic via The Daily Beast): "We are not an advocacy network. And if you want to work for an advocacy network, there are other places to go,” Licht said. “You can find any flavor of advocacy in a news organization that suits your need. We are providing something different. And when the s**t hits the fan in this world, you’re not gonna have time for that advocacy anymore. You need an unbiased source of truth.” And I find this line from CNN's article after his firing to be troublesome: [Licht's] approach resulted in programs that were reminiscent of the old Headline News, with shows throwing everything but the kitchen sink at viewers. Viral trending stories and weather forecasts were weaved into show rundowns, put on par with the actual, consequential stories of the day. ...Under Licht, many CNN journalists simply felt restrained as they delivered the news, unsure whether stating the truth on the contentious, politically charged issues that saturate the daily news cycle might land them in hot water. ...Without Licht at the helm, CNN has gone back to its roots, choosing instead to focus on the biggest stories of the day. In the last few weeks, CNN has provided viewers with critical wall-to-wall coverage of Donald Trump’s arraignment on federal charges in Florida, the Titan submersible tragedy, and the abandoned insurrection in Russia. In summary, CNN hosts hated that they couldn't blab their opinions during political segments and they couldn't hyper focus on one story all day long. It's ironic that they say CNN is "going back to their roots" which for them is the Jeff Zucker version that caused their decline to begin with.

As part of a daily change series until the 11th, we got another change list, this time from the city of Norfolk, Virginia. Let’s do this! WTKR: Nothing changes. WVEC: Nothing changes. WAVY-TV: Nothing changes. WGNT: Both 30-minute periods of The Drew Barrymore Show (at 4:00pm), along with the Dr. Phil rerun (at 5:00pm), will be replaced by Mathis Court and Equal Justice respectively. The Drew Barrymore Show will move to 3:00pm (replacing first Dr. Phil rerun- wait a minute, they air 2 episodes of Dr. Phil right now AND they’re both the same episode? That’s crazy!) , and Dr. Phil (surprisingly) will stay on the station and move to 1:00pm (replacing Judge Mathis, which moves to 9:00am). The 2:00am run of Black-ish will be replaced by Tamron Hall, which will actually take up the whole 2:00am hour, which causes one of the moves that will be described in this section. At 7:30pm, the other run of Black-ish will be replaced by Last Man Standing (which right now, airs at 10:30pm and 1:30am, and the 10:30pm run will stay the same actually). Funny You Should Ask (at 1:00am) will be replaced by Comics Unleashed. The 1:30am run of Last Man Standing will be replaced by Just For Laughs Gags (previously at 2:30am). WSKY: Justice with Judge Mablean at 1:30pm will be replaced by Dish Nation (the latter will go to playing back to back episodes in the 12:00pm hour, replacing Relative Justice.) A 30-minute slot of paid programming at 3:00am will go to Bob’s Burgers for one day, apparently. WVBT: The hour of Rachael Ray (at 10:00am) will be replaced by Person, Place, or Thing and People Puzzler, respectively. The hour of You Bet Your Life (at 1:00pm) will be replaced by back-to-back episodes of Court Cam. WTVZ: Couples Court with the Cutlers (at 1:30pm and 2:00pm) will be replaced by Cutlers Court and Justice for The People (which will also go to 2:30pm, replacing the second rerun of Paternity Court, and yes, they air Paternity Court at 1:00pm AND 2:30pm right now).

KDKA has the new ticker but only for CBS News Pittsburgh though; as the old ticker still shows up on the tv broadcasts.

Pittsburgh looks like this (all changes take effect Monday). KDKA: No changes. WTAE: No changes. WPXI: People Puzzler replaces Ring Nation at 1:30pm and Drew Barrymore moves from WPKD to replace Rachael Ray at 2pm. WPKD: Aside from the obvious changes (Family Feud and 48 Hours in primetime; new 8pm news in November), Dr. Phil moves to 2pm and another hour of Family Feud takes its place at 5pm. WPNT: Again, aside from the obvious changes (CW taking over primetime), Pictionary gets a second airing from sister WPGH at 7:30am, Mathis Court debuts at 4 & 4:30pm and MNT moves to late nights. WPGH: Person, Place or Thing airs at 11 & 11:30am and Justice for the People with Judge Milian airs at 1 & 1:30pm.

A 10am streaming newscast is coming Monday.

An update on Bob Barker.... He passed away from Alzheimer's.

Changes in Boston: WCVB: same thing WLVI: also same thing WHDH: Dr. Phil reruns are moving to the station, airing at 1:00pm, starting on the 11th. WBZ: An hour of Hot Bench replaces Dr. Phil, at 3:00pm starting on the 11th. WBTS: Rachael Ray will be replaced with local show Boston News Daily, which serves a striking resemblance to NBC News Daily, which also airs on the station. The show will air at 2:00pm starting on the 11th. WFXT: The hour of You Bet Your Life will get replaced with.. you guessed it, COURT SHOWS. (Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you? And Person, Place or Thing is NOT coming to the station. We’ll mention that later.) Mathis Court will take the 2:00pm slot and Equal Justice will go to 2:30pm. WSBK: (deep breath) The Balancing Act (at 7:30am) is DONE FOR, as right now, it just says “To Be Announced” on the schedule. An hour of People Puzzler at 8:00am and 8:30am replaces Scene of the Crime with Tony Harris (which moves to 9:00am) and Forensic Justice. The two runs of Supreme Justice at 9:00am get replaced by Scene of the Crime and Top Secret Files: Declassified (which I’ve never heard of, but for some reason, is in syndication), but Supreme Justice moves to the 10am hour. The two runs of Friends move to the 3:00pm hour from 1:00pm, which will now be taken by Cutlers Court. The two runs of Black-ish at 2:00pm are off the lineup, as Justice for The People will take the 2:00pm hour. The 9:30pm rotating local show lineup is New England Living on Monday, Phantom Gourmet on Tuesday, Patriots 1st Down on Wednesday, Patriots Unfiltered on TV on Thursday, and Patriots This Week on Friday (Why all the Patriots stuff?), so it’s about the same. 48 Hours is on at 10:00pm, replacing Daytime Jeopardy! and a 10:30pm rotating show (which apparently right now, is The King of Queens on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and DraftKings Sportsbook Report on Wednesday and Thursday.) The King of Queens have back-to-back runs now, as they both air at 12:30am and 1:00am respectively. Person, Place, or Thing takes the 1:30am slot. (This section took me so long to put together.)

I was about to say, their social media person needed to go. That person wouldn’t know the difference between reporting and editorializing if it slapped em in the face.

alright, the weekend came and went. time to post the stuff we got here in orlando: WESH: no changes unless the 9/9 run of world chase tag is syndication and not NBC getting a contract WKMG: entertainment tonight weekend is gonna, for at least week 1, be on at 12am (12:05?) Saturday nights WFTV: seems heartland is on Saturdays now unless it’s just for that week. the equalizer is gonna be on there and WRDQ - no idea where magnum PI went. WKCF: weekend runs of the newly acquired sitcoms were available. also more byron allen is coming - FAST: home rescue on Sundays WRDQ: for at least 9/16 they have a late night sitcom block running against WKCF’s. other than that everything is changed around college football. also they got chicago PD from WOFL/WRBW WOFL: no changes. after football season tho some of the WRBW shows might get runs there WRBW: the listener is finally cleared here in orlando - Sunday nights for the time being. they lost chicago PD. also livenow from FOX gets a 2 hour run on weekends. forensic factor is back in this market too - moving from WKCF to WRBW. so far this appears to be where we enter a break in the changes - nothing seems to be changing here the week of 9/18. onto next weekend and the week of 9/25

I was recently wondering why I haven't seen him on the air in quite a while; sad to find out he was ill. Condolences to his family and CBS2 colleagues. CBS has a nice tribute here: