Spring Rubber

Do we know why they're launching the new evening news schedule on Tuesday April 4th instead of Monday April 3rd? I'm guessing it's just so that they can have rehearsals on Monday? Unless there's something special about that Tuesday that I'm not noticing. There's no sports on that Monday or anything. Actually, that Tuesday will be a non-normal schedule, as there's a late Blackhawks game at 8 pm, meaning that Mark and Micah will do the 5-7pm news, followed by the late night news whenever the game wraps up. After the news concludes at 7 pm, they're going to be a half hour of Two and a Half Men, followed by the Blackhawks Extra pregame show at 7:30 PM. Maybe that's their strategy; launching the new evening newscast on a night that has very little syndicated programming and a LOT of live news and sports programming.

Did WGN get rid of the live transition from the 9pm into the 10pm news? They went to break at the end of the 9pm and came back from break with the 10pm tonight. I will miss Micah's enthusiastic finger point before the 10pm teaser if so.

WGN has rolled out new traffic graphics. Not sure if it's a sign of an overall graphics refresh (Coming April 3rd or sooner?) or if it's just a traffic-specific thing.

Is there an occasion for the pink bug tonight? Also, surprised to see the weather on the bug. EDIT: Looks like there's major tech problems. After the A-block, the LIVE bug remained on the screen during the first two commercials before being removed. Now the bug has been completely gone for the B-block and the C-block. There's also been prompter issues. Lauren had to read from the papers on the desk for the last few minutes of the A-block. Perhaps the pink bug was the result of these many technical issues? EDIT 2: The Sports Sunday teaser froze. The audio was playing, but the video was completely frozen. They immediately bailed out and played the show open. After that, the bug finally came back, this time in standard colors. The weather was gone, but the time and temp were still top-aligned with a large blank area below it. Going into the first commercial break, the bug remained on the screen for a while during the first commercial before they finally pulled it down.

I'm going to predict either Gaynor or Cortney Hall to get the 4-6 AM anchor slot. Gaynor has been used as a fill-in anchor quite a bit as of late, and Cortney has been a 9 AM newsreader for a while now. As for weather during the 4-6 AM news, maybe it'll be someone from CLTV like Tim McGill on a semi-permanent basis. I don't picture Paul starting at 4 AM, and I don't picture them hiring someone new, at least not right away.

I knew this was happening as soon as Ben Bradley signed on with WGN. I didn't picture him jumping ship unless WGN told him right up front that they had a lucrative weekday anchor job for him. Also, any chance they might anchor this 4 P.M. newscast from the newsroom like the old WGN News at Five? I like that concept and wouldn't mind them doing that again.

I feared the worst when I noticed Rob Stafford taking most of January and February off. He was basically only around for the inauguration and for sweeps. The first thing that came to mind was a medical issue, and it's scary to have those fears confirmed. All the best to Rob. I hope all goes well.

Somebody needs to inform the control room that there's a map being inserted upstream and that they need to restrict their lower third text to a smaller area. (Yes, this issue is continuing to happen as of right now. Basically every lower third is getting cut off.)

Congratulations!

Oh wow, I didn't realize Karen was that close to giving birth. I thought we still had at least a month or two. All the best to her and family. Also, if there's new talent opens...Could there also be a whole new graphics package? Or at least a new design for the opens? The current ones have been so over-compressed; they look horrible.

inb4 Dan and Lourdes launch WGN 9: The Ocho y Uno

I think it brings back the nostalgia because it's the last set before the standardized O&O sets. It's the last set unique to Chicago. Thanks for the nostalgia bomb! (Edit: were the keyboards removed by the final years on that set, or were they always present?)

Are you referring to the set that they used up until 2006? I have so much nostalgia for that set.

Speaking of the newsroom... Remember when they built that newsroom set for the morning news? How long did that even last, and what year(s) was that? I don't even remember it that clearly.

A temp set during sweeps? What?!

Maybe somebody misunderstood what "sweeps" meant and thought you're supposed to wait for the logo to fall on the floor and then sweep it up with a broom and dustpan.

Today, Dick is back, but Rob is now off. It never ends!

I don't remember the last time I saw the "Dick Johnson at 4pm, Rob Stafford at 5, 6, and 10pm" format. Ever since the holidays, it seems that either Dick or Rob has been off every weekday, whoever is present that particular day will anchor all of the day's newscasts. Today, Rob is in, but it's been mostly Dick Johnson for the past two weeks, and I think it was mostly Rob for the two weeks before that. Maybe someday they'll both be back together on Monday-Wednesday.

Maybe they could have placed a bench there and had Phil sit on the graphic.

Cute graphic, but now to work on the spelling...

Bulls have a rare 8pm game on WGN tonight, so we'll be seeing the latest WGN newscast that we've seen in a while.

I have never seen the 4 AM news in my life, but today's show is being anchored by Susan Carlson solo in the Weather Center. I wonder if there's a reason she's not at the anchor desk, or if they're just trying to be creative with the solo anchor format on today's (observed) holiday show. Unless this is actually the norm for the 4 AM show...? EDIT: I guess it's the norm. Apparently Alex Maragos doesn't join the show until 4:30 AM, at which point they move over to the anchor desk.

Ah ok, but there were some years on the old set where they didn't decorate it, right?

Also, I noticed that ABC 7 is using poinsettias on set this year. Is this their first year doing it, or did they start it last year when this set debuted? I can't recall them using poinsettias on the previous set, but I might be wrong...

We've got Hosea Sanders on this morning alongside Stacey Baca. I almost feel like I'm watching a pre-Terrell weekday morning newscast.