Leaderboard

WBBM-TV also does not have anything close to a reputation or heritage that WGN-TV or WLS-TV have… or even WMAQ-TV, certainly not since Bill Applegate left in 1993. They’ve had the negative connotations of being a laggard or bottom-dweller. It’d be insane to think of WLS-TV becoming “ABC News Chicago” and stripping themselves of the circle 7, but WBBM-TV literally has nothing to lose. And it speaks volumes about how much of a project this actually is for CBS, we’re not talking about just mere brand architecture, but systemic changes in multiple news operations (or in the case of Detroit, literally building up from nothing).

Which this makes me think WBBM will be last to change. KOVR and WJZ will probably switch before WBBM since we've seen some subtle changes with them already. There's been nothing with WBBM. With Jennifer Lyons, there could be a decent change to WBBM. This is the perfect time to do it and be bold.

If it had been Derek Dalton on the wheel, I would agree that they would play it safe. But Jennifer Lyons is now the GM of the station, she's bold. We saw her work at WGN and when NewsNation launched. And interestingly enough, I haven't seen any leaked graphics of CBS 2 at all online, when most of the graphics were leaked or showcased before the rebranding on other stations.

I’m thinking CBS News Chicago is in the future for WBBM, as “CBS 2 News” doesn’t have much history in Chicago. I also think they’ll dump channel number and do the call-letter box.

WMAQ Channel 5 News at 5:00 (March 10, 1985)

That and 780/105.9 has all the news tradition; best to leave the calls with them and just try to get away from any call/numerical branding and wipe the slate; don't forget there the channel number and reception issues have been a curse, along with there being a UHF WMEU simulcast, since the 2000's management and NY decided to stick them digitally on miserable VHF 12 (and even worse 3 pre-2009).

The current GM of WJZ, Kathy Hostetter (former news director of KDKA), knows what she’s doing. And the former GM of WJZ (from 2017 until last year), Audra Swain knew what she was doing.

After years of having the same logo (as well as weather god James Spann), ABC 33/40 has decided to modify its logo. The new tagline is one that many are familiar with in Central Alabama...."Respect the Polygon!" And Happy April Fools' everyone!

Pac-12 games would get higher ratings than LIV Golf on The CW if The CW does sign on for The CW and also ION.

It intrigues me that as late as 1985, WMAQ was still using news opens from the late NewsCenter 5 era (which ended in 1982), with "Channel 5 News" awkwardly overlaid on top of the original "NewsCenter 5" title:

Correct... reportedly, an additional weather center is being built. However, given the space (nearly 3,500 sq. feet), building only a weather center seems like a waste. Plus, it's been nearly 10 months since this was announced; so I think (or hope) something much grander is in the works.

Good. Finally! And after so long too. Shirley is a (near-)perfect, talented and well-deserved replacement, and I find her rapport with Kori professional yet refreshing and enjoyable. I wish her a tenure in the evenings as long as (if not longer than) Tamsen.

A lot of the station's history/legacy was tied to the historic McClurg Court building which they left some 25 yrs ago. Plus, they lost nearly all their veteran anchors and reporters over the years. Dorothy has been with WBBM for nearly 40 yrs, Suzanne is next with 28 yrs and then Ed, Jim and Dana follow with just over 20 yrs. I do hope that they really take advantage of the new graphics/branding. Had they stuck with what they started during the 'CBS 2 Works for You' era; who knows what position they would be in today. From what I could make out when I walked past the studio the other day; no 'substantial' work had begun. Unless the new weather center is going to be really bare bones; it could be some time before the streetside studio is complete.

They might be wanting to debut them with the rechristened streetside studio, whenever it debuts.

Applegate destroyed much of WBBM's hard-won journalistic reputation. After a short uptick because of the curiosity factor, viewers deserted the station in droves because its blood-and-guts, in-your-face style was simply not suited to the market--and WBBM never really recovered image-wise, its reputation as a serious news outlet in tatters. It's even more poignant that this was once the station of Jacobson and Kurtis, whose relatively sober, hard news approach was admired around the country. (Walter Jacobson ultimately condemned Applegate's approach and bolted to WFLD.) Applegate is one of the people who ensured that WBBM no longer has anything close to the reputation that WGN or WLS have.

That's a question for a whole other thread on if/when non O&O affiliates jump on this wagon. Not that I'm opposed to such a thread...

On the flip side, it’s some of the same viewers who have issues in embracing change when it’s needed I think they will just go with CBS Chicago/CBS News Chicago. WBBM doesn’t seem to be as traditional as WCCO, KDKA, or WBZ.

When trying to be trendy comes off as contrived. Glad WXIA scaled this back from their newscasts. I can understand journalists wanting to build a social media following. It gives them the opportunity to build a brand for their work without the intercessor of a news organization. Building an individual following may also be good résumé points when navigating through news jobs and markets. The rise of journalists trying to become social media celebrities is concerning however, in that they're obsessed with being the story rather than telling the story.

I'm looking forward on seeing what WBBM has in store for their rebranding. I did think, a few days ago, what if WBBM rebrands the newscasts as WBBM News, streaming on CBS News Chicago, like BZ and CCO are doing? It would give a fresh opportunity to reintroduce the brand to the viewers while moving forward.

They kept their old, dated look for far too long solely because of their longtime GM Jay Newman, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he refused to work with Dunn and Friend on much of anything. As soon as Newman retired, they got a new set and everything.

This was done for technical reasons to prevent co-channel interference on cable systems between the cable frequency and over-the-air frequency. It's not that it was irrelevant, but for overall picture quality.

Ellis' arrival comes as Brittney Bryant is leaving the station and news altogether. Her last on-air appearance was this morning.

Not only that, but it seems in general people don't refer to KDKA as Channel 2, yet Channel 4 and Channel 11 are commonplace references for WTAE and WPXI, respectively.

In Pittsburgh, on the largest cable provider (Comcast), the channel number branding has never aligned with the actual channel numbers on tv. For example, KDKA2 was channel 6, WTAE4 was channel 8, and WPXI11 was channel 12. And when HD came along, those stations are now on channel 8xx. Not to mention on streaming (the major focus), channel numbers are 100% irrelevant.

TEGNA paid $325 million for the KFMBs (TV, FM, AM). They turned around and got $5 million for the radio stations.

Exactly. That's probably a big reason why the price is over $200M as well. If it was only WBBH and not the LMA as well, it would likely have been around $125M to $150M I would think. I know the market is over twice the size, but what was the purchase price when Tegna acquired KFMB in San Diego? That was the last large market standalone station sold that I can think of.

I suggested earlier on here that maybe Fox handle production of the People's Court as Harvey Levin has been involved since the current version debuted in 1997. Even though it's not OTA syndication, Amazon has been making progress with real live cases with Judy Justice and the upcoming Tribunal, with former Hot Bench Judges Tanya Acker and Patricia DiMango and Judge Judy's son, and the return of Bailiff Byrd. Other than that, no one seems to want to start a show with real people and cases with no script. And I think Byron started the trend of scripted court shows when America's Court with Judge Ross debuted back in 2011. I hope Mathis's and Millian's personalities are at least the same on the new shows.

The scripted part is what kills Allen's court shows. Is there not a production company out there willing to do a real cases?

Nice to see they're both getting new shows. I think it will be weirder to me not seeing Marilyn on the People's Court. I'll miss so much of the elements People's Court had, such as the music, the iconic logo, the typewriter and gavel sound effects, and Curt Chaplin's deadpan introductions. Now I'm waiting to see if Byron brings back judges Joe Brown, Alex Ferrer or Lynn Toler back to Daytime TV. I just feel Byron's new shows won't be the same compared to WB's longrunners.

A homebound reporter at KCRA's partner has given a new meaning to "Out and About" here. (no embed of the tweet or the videos of it below it because I'd like to continue posting here ) And yes, like the auto show guy from KOVR/KMAX a few months back, Hearst/KCRA are pulling all mention of it/the report from every social media channel they have and praying to the FCC gods Ajit is distracted.

All of this begs the question though, will WDJT rebrand as "CBS (News) Milwaukee" real soon

That's a bad thing?