Dave Lampstein

You’ll know they’re in trouble when they launch the “fastest growing station!!” promos. No station that’s ever done that was ever in good place.

Yeah, but that’s not the case here. Sad thing is, we’ll likely never know. Local news content and branding hasn’t really evolved much in the last 40 years.

Rabid fans, yes. People, the general public, no. All of these stations have had secondary brands for decades.

It’s also an incredibly tired, dated brand. Would be insane to launch it in 2026. Fine for other markets for the sake of nostalgia I guess… but nostalgia does nothing for revenue. Would love to see it and “Action News” go away.

This kinda feels like winning the FIFA Peace Prize.

My wish for 2026 is for a station to build a set and not stick a desk 5 feet in front of a LED wall with a static city skyline background. Just one station. Please. I beg you.

I’ll admit it feels a little uncomfortable to say, but I don’t actually have a problem with AI voices for local news intros and promos. So many voices today are already interchangeable… generic reads with little real connection to the station or the market anyway. In most places, it’s the same four or five voices on rotation, and it’s all pretty bland. Playing devil’s advocate: what if AI were used to restore stronger, more iconic voices? Could it be a way for the estates of legendary announcers like Ernie Anderson or Don LaFontaine to generate revenue while reintroducing some real personality and weight back into on-air presentation? Or do those voices sound dated by today’s standards? Can a voiceover style even sound dated?

Another new look coming on Monday…

A couple misc updates... I hear TEGNA is working on a new group package. Also, not sure if anyone is following the Reddit threads on the company bonus drama, thought it was interesting to see who their "top performing" stations were... and notably which ones didn't make the list.

Does this mean the peacock logos come back?

Tens of people will be so disappointed.

A general history overview of news music that most people on this board probably already know about.

I hate that I'm always so negative on here (but enough years in the local TV business will do this to you). I mean... it's barely an upgrade and they all look exactly the same. I don't think anyone really stands out here. I also don't know that it is a bad thing. They seem to rule with an iron fist when it comes to standardization, something that some of the other station groups aren't great at. Also, not to go off on a tangent, but does anyone else think it's weird that WCVB still has an old, very dated looking set? They're supposedly a Hearst "flagship".

Oof.

Works great for cooking/recipe videos too. That said, if you find the time, the full video was definitely worth the watch!

Copy/paste the link into Google Gemini... This is great, really well done. And yeah, Joel Cheatwood is kind of a slimeball. Glad to see that get some attention too.

WETA has canceled PBS News Weekend and 34 staffers laid off The bureau at ASU will also be closed New weekend programs will be spun up, but pre-recorded during the week

One of my favorite Reddit posts lately while following this week’s elections…

CBS LA makes sense. It's not going to change a single thing for them... But it makes sense.

Jerry Taff, who anchored at WISN from 1979 to 2005, passed away last night. He was 85. Had the opportunity to meet him once (my time at WISN was long after he had retired), but he was kind and gracious to me.

There also needs to be time before the launch for producers to update their master rundowns with the new templates and the directors having to make adjustments in whatever automation systems the control room uses as well. There was probably a rehearsal or two that week (maybe). Lots of prep work involved to launch beyond the graphics team rendering out new opens.

Lots of these bug implementations are sloppy and poorly executed. Can we talk about this? If you drop the unnecessary additional boxes behind the logo and just float the calls/number/peacock over the existing noggi, it's a little less terrible and the channel branding could even be slightly larger.

The updated graphics look okay. Some of the v/o reads in these opens feel so cold and robotic though...

Several stories this week of layoffs, including WETA's announcement today. I've been trying to track best I can and here's what I have come up with from the past year or so. Big asterisk as I used ChatGPT to build a table, hoping it kept the integrity of the data. I know I am missing some as well. WETA (DC) — $17.5M CPB (12% of $140M revenue) → 21 staff (12 layoffs + 9 vacant) KQED (San Francisco) — $7.6M CPB (6.6% of revenue) → ~86 positions (45 layoffs, 12 buyouts, 10 vacancies, plus earlier 19+11) GBH (Boston) — ~7–8% of revenue from CPB → ~67–71 positions (45 + 13 + 9 across rounds) PBS North Carolina — $4.8M CPB (10.2% of $41.1M revenue) → ~25% staff reduction target (~14 vacancies + buyouts) Kentucky Educational Television (KET) — $4.2M CPB (19% of $21.7M revenue) → 36 positions (15 layoffs + 21 vacant) TPT (Minnesota) — $4.3M CPB (8.3% of revenue) → layoffs unspecified South Dakota PB — $2.2M CPB (20% of $11.1M revenue) → 20 positions (15 layoffs + 5 vacant) Houston Public Media — $2.2M CPB → 9 staff Vermont Public — $2M CPB (10% of revenue) → 15 positions WKAR (Michigan) — $2M risk (23% of budget) → 9 staff Alabama Public TV — $2.5M CPB (10% of $24M revenue) → 11 staff WQED (Pittsburgh) — $1.8M CPB + $62k RTL → 19 staff (35% workforce) NJ PBS (WNET) — $1.69M CPB (15% of revenue) + state $1M→$250k → ~18 staff across two rounds PBS Michiana – WNIT (Indiana) — $1M CPB (25% of $4M revenue) + $438k state → 5 layoffs + 2 reduced hours Illinois Public Media — $1.4M CPB (15% of $9.1M revenue) → 2 staff + 3 vacancies Rhode Island PBS / The Public’s Radio — $1.1M CPB (10% budget) → voluntary buyouts (unspecified) WFUV (New York) — $447k CPB CSG (7% of revenue) → 5 staff WFIT (Florida) — $240k CPB + state → 3 staff (50% workforce) PBS (national HQ) — CPB rescission (cut station dues by $35M) → ~100 staff (34 recent) APM/APMG (Minnesota) — ~$6M deficit tied to CPB + state cut ($4M→$2M) → ~45 staff (15 + 30 across rounds) NEPM (Massachusetts) — N/A CPB specifics → 7 staff Sesame Workshop (National) — 4% of budget (~$5.3M deficit) → layoffs unspecified Louisville Public Media (Kentucky) — deficit >$750k, CPB not broken out → 8 staff (prior) + new buyouts (unspecified)

I feel like @TheRolyPoly does a better job than TV Spy.