Leaderboard

Gray has an "agreement in principle" to renew its affiliation deal with NBC in all 56 markets.

New WRC/T44 newsroom looks nice.

There are actually cases where an existing competitor would serve the market BETTER by picking up another affiliation than letting it be run by another party. Case in point, Mobile & Pensacola. Since WPMI has been gutted by Sinclair, both WEAR and WPMI have suffered. Mobile is having to pad out their newscasts with Pensacola stories, and on the weekends, WEAR produces and simulcasts their weekend shows. Deflating the argument that Mobile and Pensacola are better served by separate stations, even WEAR is watering down their shows to air Mobile stories on a regular basis. Now if WALA is granted the NBC affiliation as a subchannel, Mobile viewers would have a more-local option, plus the option of having a dedicated 6pm newscast since Jeopardy! is on at 6 on WALA's main feed.

Maybe it’s a figment of my imagination, but it seems like I always hear so-and-so is joining us today, or some variation thereof, when someone is there. But that said, it also wouldn’t phase me if/when they don’t.

I’m not an expert on affiliation renewals or the processes involved with them, but I really don’t think logo removals are an indicator of much. I feel like if 81 stations were suddenly going to change affiliation, we’d know about it by now. If I had to guess, perhaps Gray wants to push local branding to distinguish local stations from the networks. Keep in mind that many of Gray’s CBS affiliates have also dropped the network logo, and former O&O WTVG has dropped their network logo as well. Unless proven otherwise, I don’t really think there are any immediate implications surrounding those branding changes.

GMA3 straddles the line between a news broadcast and a talk show. Most of the other late morning / early afternoon talk shows also go on holiday hiatus, so it's not really much different. It gives the production staff time off.

I’m sure I’m annoying but I wish ABC would consider bringing GMA3 a live element. Most days the news “updates” they provide at the top of the show are hours old with new critical updates not included in the story. Today they’re rebroadcasting a show from November that included nearly two month old developments and updates on the Israel-Hamas conflict and wildfires out west. Not trying to be hyperbolic about it but it’s a sloppy product.

I feel fortunate that I've only ever worked for bygone-era small station groups that no longer exist and O&Os. I think the likes of Scripps, Tegna, Nexstar, Gray et al are in for a perilous financial future as they have far fewer alternate revenue streams. The O&Os at least will be able to rely on live sports in major markets and the backing of the network to stay relevant to some degree. For a rural market ~120 station with no major national or college sports team, what is the roadmap? Advertising is way down everywhere. Retrans fees will likely go away. The networks don't really need partnerships with affiliates much longer now that they have their own streaming platforms (not that those are making any money either.) Syndicated programming is going away, and these kinds of stations can't really replace it with more news as it's near-impossible to find more 22-year-olds willing to endure the grueling quality of life of working in small market TV. I think what's happening at Scripps, particularly in the small markets, is a telltale sign of just how rocky the industry will become in the next 5-10 years at the lower end. I'm not sure if the other station groups will go to the same extreme lengths that Scripps is currently taking, but I think we will see more small market stations shut down news departments and farm out their news to regional and national divisions within their station groups. I don't think these problems are confined to OTA television either. I think the economics of the entire entertainment industry are fundamentally broken. The only thing that still makes money is advertising on conventional distribution platforms, but that audience has been shrinking for decades. Nobody other than Netflix has been able to figure out how to monetize online media in a meaningful way. Streaming has become so saturated that I'm not fully convinced it'll work out for any of the media conglomerates.

The only local TV news broadcaster that might be “good” is the Disney O&O group. Those stations are typically number one in the ratings and have a Disney-backed budget to make things happen. But, as we learned this year from CEO Bob Iger, Disney may eventually get out of linear television. And I’m sure the likes of Perry Sook and Byron Allen will be ready to make an offer. TV news has always been about the money, especially local TV news, regardless of the owners. It’s just that some companies are more open about it, like Nexstar and Sinclair. The other companies — like Gray, Scripps, Tegna, Cox, Graham, Allen, etc. — are all watching the bottom line just as much.

My only issue with the "stripping" of affiliate logos from these stations is that these affiliations lend a form of credibility to them. Bad actors have been lifting and creating fake logos for use on illegitimate "news" sites for the sole purpose of spreading disinformation. Even with FOX affiliates, despite any link to their affiliates and "news" channel. The link between them is minimal and any well-educated person should know that. Being a heritage station and Raycom's idea to use their highly visible longtime neon sign as their main brand is a brilliant branding move. Same with WAVE in Louisville resurrecting their "WAVE" logo from years past.

The blue is a little overpowering. Wouldn't mind seeing some warmer hues in it.

WJBF Hello Augusta! 1984 promo

WTOG 44 News at 10 1989

The large video wall in Studio 9, which was made from 16 monitors and was in need of replacing, has been upgraded with a new video wall. I believe they might also be replacing the older smaller video walls made up of mutiple monitors, as they were not using that part of the studio today. The old wall from November. The new video wall from today.

They also replaced the two other video screens, made from four monitors, on the sides of the desk and the video wall behind the desk.

Finally!!!!!! Ive been wondering why they kept using that wall. It looked terrible on air. Its been like that for a very long time it was frankly embarrassing how bad it looked. And it was making me think they are having financial issues. That looks so much better.

We have the greatest news opens of all time thread, how 'bout the worst. It could the music package, talent shots, or the one thing that can ruin a news open. I got a few right here which make me laugh. Bad music package WRCB-WDEF 1994 Opens (What was WRCB thinking at the time?)- Bad talent shots WAPT 10pm News Open - 1990 (Those aren't still pictures)- Both KSAT 12 10pm news open 1994 (I like it but...)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdq7bhVUaQ

Very interesting. They took Studio A, which was an enormous studio, and divided it up into three smaller studios. WRC is in one. WZDC (Telemundo) is in another. And the use for the third studio, which looks like it might be smaller than the other two, has yet to be announced. Jummy Olabanji called it a "secret studio that we can't show you yet." WRC now has a rare luxury of space. In addition to the large column-free space that used to be the network newsroom, there's the studio WRC just vacated and there is the old MSNBC studio upstairs. I don't know that I would count the old Telemundo 44 studio as extra space because that was shoehorned into the building. At first look, I was a bit underwhelmed. But I realized there's a lot of grayish white "blocks" that make up the walls. Obviously, this is a nod to classic DC architecture. Once I realized that detail, I kind of liked it. Even though the effect does leave it looking a bit cold and sparce. There's a really cool DC map but its location in a corner by the door makes it seem like it might not make it on camera all that much. They are still in construction mode - they haven't fully loaded in the weather center yet. So, it will be another couple of weeks before the space is fully utilized. I do wonder if this is a preview of how WNBC will utilize the split Studio 3B. WRC's layout really does a great job of maximizing space and that will be essential in 3B.

Oh good, now a certain user here can stop posting thrice-weekly threads asking if a new set is coming soon. Those will be replaced with thrice-weekly requests for progress updates.

I must say... with Shepherd Smith now off CNBC, perhaps he'd get a call?

It's not an improvement. Classic Nexstar.

Yeah. That is all our faults right there with the “bleed it leads”

Agreed! "Happening Now" works just fine if newscasts need some false urgency. While we're at it, can we stop overusing "breaking overnight", speaking in half sentences, overdramatizing "severe" weather that happens all the time and using the present tense for everything. Don't get me wrong, news always needs a little spice of drama but these days we've just gone over the moon.

Glad to see that CNN will be reducing the use of the "Breaking News" banner. Next I'd like to see them stop leaving the "Live" bug up permanently during live broadcasts. I believe this started in early 2013 shortly after Jeff Zucker took over. Before this, it used to come down when showing taped video, even if the anchor was speaking over it live. MSNBC and Fox News soon followed suit.

I came up with a new word to describe partisan political pundits of any stripe ranting into a camera-- "preachitics." Why did I come up with that word? Two reasons: a. Those who are employed in it preach loud and long and incessantly about whatever political grievance(s) they might have (whether it's masking in COVID, the need for more and more and more guns, the "media" being far too liberal, etc.); b. Those who enjoy such rantings and listen to them for most of the day oftentimes yell "preach it!" at the television, because they love hearing their favorite ranters going on and on and on.

Maybe they should move all the opinionated shows to HLN. It'd be better than 19 hours a day of Forensic Files.

Isn't that where WOIO's current logo is from too?

1998 called. It wants its HDTV back.

This early '90s WJAR open isn't bad, but its "slogan overload" cracks me up. As I posted in YouTube's comments section... Whenever I watch this news open, I imagine a group of station executives sitting behind a big desk trying to pick the best news slogan (out of several proposals) to include in the open. They can't agree on which one to go with, so in the end they just give up: "What the heck! Let's include them all!"

Gray has filed a trademark for the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network. Assuming this is aimed at New Orleans and they’re getting the Pelicans after they end things with Bally. .

The FCC may be about to cut the low power and multicast loopholes regarding Big Four ownership.

Hmmm. Hot take. Kinda tired of the ugly wood set. Its very dark boring. But with them replacing the screens.... Something tells me they arent going to be upgrading sets anytime soon. These sets have been around quite a while. With so many new players on the scene. Especially since FOX Weather has launched, I wonder if this aint a good thing. (The ratings cant be that great of course with the exception of major events. Hurricanes, tornado outbreaks. etc)