Weeters

Probably because the target audience doesn't watch traditional TV.

They've had it for weather graphics for a long time (At least May 2017!). It happened during the rollout of WSI weather graphics systems to the Journal stations. KGUN got theirs after the merger, and WSI apparently decided to give them the Scripps package instead of the Journal package, and nobody bothered to get that fixed.

On mobile, the "Unread Content" link is in the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) under "activity". Meant to remove those and completely forgot. They have been removed!

The PM issue should be fixed!

The Discord server link is here. I'll see what's going on with the PM thing.

It's been a rough road getting here, but we're excited to reveal the new site. Let's get to it! Outside of visual changes, there aren't a whole lot of functional changes. Notable changes include: Mobile support is improved, especially when composing a message. Emoticons are OUT and the full suite of emojis are IN. BBCode has been removed completely in favor of a more robust WYSIWYG editor. The logo has been refreshed. Coming soon: We will be restoring the ability to register and sign in with popular web services like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. And there is much more to come in the days and weeks ahead! Stay tuned for more updates. Regrettably, the old Shoutbox was not able to be carried over to the new site. We are looking into our options when it comes to real-time discussion, including integration with services like Discord, which many of you already use. This will also be addressed within the coming days. Please reach out if you encounter any issues, either by PM or by emailing [email protected].

Judging by the shakycam cell phone video in that promo, my guess is they're hooking up with one of those stringer apps where "anybody can be a video journalist!" and you make $10 for sending in low quality video of police cars.

Why? To unnecessarily scare viewers? To throw more fuel on the "Fake News" fire? WEWS did the right thing by waiting to see how the story played out. The other stations that didn't bother to wait and went wall-to-wall for a hoax are one reason people are turning away from TV news.

Ignite was the automation system they were using and has nothing to do with Xpression. I believe they're standardizing the group onto Xpression for graphics and OverDrive for automation (so yes, there will probably be subtle changes at the other O&Os too.) I couldn't say what the draw is for ABC to get Xpression, but I can say I often hear that users of Xpression elsewhere like it. As I understand it, they actually switched over a month ago, when that new backdrop debut...

WABC recently switched their CG playout over to Ross Xpression (They actually transitioned to a brand new control room as I understand it) I believe other O&O's are going to make the transition to Xpression as well. Yes, the graphics have to be rebuilt in it.

That's not really how that works. First off, NXT is not the brand, it's a graphic that's a stylized shortening of the word "next". Second, whatever trademark WWE has for "NXT" would be limited to wrestling. In fact, since I found it, the registrations WWE has for "NXT" are essentially limited to merchandise related to the league and wrestling broadcasts on TV and online. A quick search of the US Trademark database lists 200+ trademarks using "NXT" (including at least six that are exclusively the letters "NXT") as trademarks for things like Artificial turf Sports drinks enhanced with minerals; Sports drinks, namely, performance drinks; Sports drinks, namely, recovery drinks Retail store services featuring manufactured homes management of multi-tenant living facilities Vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner parts Semiconductor lithographic machines, namely, lithographic machines used to manufacture semiconductors, and structural parts therefor Water treatment equipment, namely, water filtration units. Electric battery fast chargers TL;DR There's nothing stopping them from using a graphic that says "NXT" in promos.

The I doubt the logo was changed with the express purpose of attracting the 21-54 demographic, but I'm sure that played a part. "Young people don't watch local television" is exactly the kind of thing they would be trying to change with a "hip" new logo/brand. This isn't the first time this debate has come up about a TV station logo. I'm kind of getting tired of it. I don't think a lot of people on here understand the "usual" process that happens with this kind of change, especially when it comes to large markets and large broadcast companies like Scripps (who LOVES to research and focus group everything they can.) A logo change could stem from dozens of carefully researched problems a station is facing. If ratings are down, maybe it's time to conduct market research. Maybe the market research shows that the ol' reliable "classic" logo from 1973 isn't memorable after all amongst any age group. Maybe only senior citizens can remember what the "circle 5" logo means. Maybe they're even shown the old logo and a new logo next to each other, and asked: "which of these TV channels would you rather watch?" I've seen (older) market research before, and it can even include showing people photos of talent and asking them who they are and what station they're on. It may shock you, but quite often people can't match a name to the face or a name/face to a station. And then comes the focus groups. They might be shown the same news clips with different logos/bugs and, days later, asked which logo they remember seeing. People tend to remember more simple things, which is why most brand logos are pretty simple. Market research is a science. There are big research companies that do this every day. Just because an old logo works on one station, doesn't mean that it's a universal fact that all viewers love classic logos. Changing the logo back to the Circle 5 is not going to make ratings skyrocket, and I doubt anyone tuned out because the logo changed. This is going to sound weird, especially after all I just said, but the vast majority of people don't care about a TV station's logo. The real goal is to make them remember the logo and remember the station and make the gears in their head turn when they're at work the next day, talking about something they saw on TV. I will also argue that WISN has updated their logo several times over the years, changing the fonts and colors (and for a while, the angle) to keep up with the times.

I like how a lot of people on here think this rebrand was a knee-jerk reaction that they just decided to do one afternoon. Believe me, they focus grouped this stuff, and did their research, and it took months to settle on this brand and logo combo. YOU may not like it, but apparently the research and focus groups did.

Pretty sure the last thing they're worried about right now is the news set. This literally has nothing to do with the set. No matter what set was there, this would have happened.

Who wants to bet by "Computers imploded" they mean "We decided that we didn't need a control surface for the switcher when we automated so there's no way to punch a show manually"?

$$$$$$$ My guess is, not enough people wanted to buy ad time during the news. Simple as that. The ad rates on these subchannels are ridiculously low most of the time. Even more so if it's a less mainstream network like Bounce. Eventually, it just isn't worth even trying to sell all the ad time local news gives you, if nobody's buying it.

KRCR in Redding, CA was briefly evacuated last evening due to the wildfire they were in the middle of covering. [MEDIA=twitter]1022866131898511361[/MEDIA]

There is a downward trend, regardless of who's at the helm, across the entire industry. News is going to "evolve" into being short bytes on social media. The target demo has neither the time or attention span to sit through a 30-minute structured news program listening to things they really don't care about for the two things they do.

I'm not sure what the problem is? Are you upset that they simply didn't have it in a TV studio? They bothered to rent truss and light the set well, and those cameras are probably rented (and that isn't cheap). That is far beyond what I've seen many stations do for telethons.

Yes. They're seamless interlocking panels covered in hundreds of small LED diodes. In the past couple years, the technology has advanced dramatically on these screens, allowing the pixels to be closer together (pixel pitch) and smaller, all while the costs have come down like crazy. They are arguably more reliable than LCD monitor walls and provide better contrast and a brighter, more color accurate, and even picture. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1354512-REG This is a Samsung branded panel with 1.5mm pixel pitch, meaning there is 1.5mm between pixels. Not sure what brand they're using (NBC has jumped all over in regards to who they're buying their LED walls from) but the technology is at least similar.

WTMJ was knocked off-air Tuesday afternoon, during their 5PM show, due to a power outage (caused by a fire at a substation) that took out the station's Master Control and Production Control. After 15 minutes or so off-air, they managed to get back on with only the newsroom camera and no graphics (second video) And before anyone asks "how?" Some of my Broadcast Engineering contacts (not at WTMJ, mind you) think the substation fire knocked out one leg of the three-phase power, which some older backup power transfer switches don't detect (they can only detect a complete outage).

Not sure why people are debating what time slots “work” for news. This has nothing to do with ratings or trying to “win”. It’s the midterm elections this fall. That is why they are doing this. After the elections, a lot of these newscasts will likely go away. They will not “fail”, they accomplished their mission to bring in political ad revenue. Previous “failed” newscasts in these time slots? Look closer, they probably happened during an election year. It’s all about the money. It’s always about the money.

Discussion of "the ad" has been moved here.

The big, gaudy black trapezoid bug certainly is new... Looks like someone made it in PowerPoint compared to the old bug. And yeah, the old package used white lower thirds and red ones for breaking news, but it seems like they're always red now. I feel like these are a step backwards. The old package looked a lot more modern.