Weeters

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]

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.

WTMJ and WGBA got it (Well, the weird 30 minute version at least). I heard KTNV was supposed to get it eventually but it doesn't look like they have (yet). The WTMJ version at least has adopted the new graphics and virtual set

They'll probably all get it now that they're cutting back on the local angle, which is the only thing the local stations could have fought corporate about. Can't really argue "we don't have the resources to produce this" when all you're doing is inserting cut-ins. I get the hunch this is a response to "Daily Blast Live".

I doubt "Launch a standalone newscast on our Tuscon FOX affiliate" is very high on TEGNA's to-do list. Just being honest here. I wouldn't expect it to happen any time soon, if ever.

All discussion about the set update has been moved here: https://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?threads/rock-studio-1a-and-cocktail-hour-studio.16639/

Heard this a while ago. The speculation was mostly that the smaller market stations (i.e. the ex-Journal stations that got virtual sets) were being upgraded in a fashion that would make them appealing to buyers while as little time and money as possible was spent upgrading them (hence the virtual sets). The latest news of job cuts may also be an attempt to slim down some stations enough that other companies that already have hubbed operations like Master Control, Traffic, and Graphics can come in and take control of a station without worrying about having to lay off employees or go through that whole thing.

Glad someone finally brought up the elephant in the room. It sure has been a long time since Scripps rolled out new graphics!!!! How haven't we had this conversation yet?? Don't hold your breath. When Scripps gets new graphics they will more than likely appear on WFTS first since that's where their hub is.

I know WTMJ retained their graphics department when the merger went through, and kept the arrangement where one of their artists did stuff for KTNV. It looks like that is about to come to an end, because WTMJ and WTVF were the only two real "graphics departments" left in the company (most of the other Journal stations had an art director and maybe some production people who could make an OTS or monitor graphic).

Good luck firing a computer in Colorado...

Janet Hundley has “resigned” from her position as News Director at WTMJ. http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2017/12/29/nd-out-in-milwaukee This comes not long after the station dropped back to 4th place at 10pm. Janet was hired by Journal prior to the Scripps merger when the station was having similar ratings issues. I have a suspicion that the fall from grace after she managed to turn the ratings around have more to do with Scripps corporate and not decisions she was making. Their content has suffered a lot lately. Who wants to bet the "digital" guy gets the bump up like at other Scripps properties?

I'm sitting here scratching my head as to why they'd change the callsign to begin with (who cares??) and why Eric (who's clearly a huge TV news nerd) would try to grab the -LD variant of an existing -TV.

New graphics discussion is going on here. Also, it's a completely different new package, not the KXTV/WTSP package.

Certain parts, yes. The dynamic lower thirds and the designs of the fullscreens, but the backgrounds and animations are definitely "inspired" by the Scripps graphics The first scene of the weather open is a dead giveaway.