Spring Rubber

and on an unrelated note, I can't believe how much non-HD video WMAQ still uses. What really surprises me is that the in-house graphics like the NBC 5 Storm Team full-screen graphic at the end of the weather segment and the NBC 5 News Today full-screen promo that airs at the end of the 10pm news are both in SD, and both graphics look really terrible on an HD TV. You wouldn't expect this from a station that's battling for the #1 spot in the market, especially when WLS and WGN have ALL of their assets in HD.

Wait, what are you predicting is going to happen to Ravi? Did I miss an announcement of him leaving or something?

I always thought he grew the beard after he knew he wasn't getting the job. Maybe I'm mistaken...

WMAQ's trend of dragging in meteorologists who are normally off continues. It's tag-team coverage with Andy Avalos and Pete Sack on a Saturday night! (Alicia is off tonight.)

I saw WBBM's newscast for the first time in ages a few nights ago. It looks like they've finally decided to replace the burned-out lights...compared to a few years ago when it looked like they were just gonna let the set fall apart. I guess it's still a nice set, but it's bizarre that it's spent like 6 years being used in this unintended format compared to the, what, 5 months under Ahern where the set was used according to its original design. Is there still talk of them ever moving out of that streetside studio, or is that talk dead in the water?

I think Phil and Larry have handled it well enough on their own.

They also dragged Byron in, too. None of the other stations dragged their weekday meteorologists into the mix; just WMAQ.

Here I was thinking that a thicker font would be better...

For the morning updates during the Today show, they use the evening music for the opens and the morning music for the closes. What music is being used for the normal morning opens?

Yeah, looks like Bryon had planned time off. He's been gone since Tuesday.

WMAQ outlasted everyone with the severe weather coverage, staying on the air until 12:10 A.M. They were in a shootout with WLS for who would end first, with WLS wrapping up 5 minutes earlier at 12:05 A.M. WGN wrapped up at 11 P.M. WFLD wrapped up at 10:45-ish WBBM ended at the usual 10:34 P.M. because they needed time to re-air the entire CBS primetime lineup with the season premiere of Big Brother. WMAQ was a little short-handed tonight with no Byron Miranda, no Alicia Roman, and no Rob Stafford. They had Dick and Allison anchoring, with Brant and Pete doing the weather. Since Byron was off today, they had Trina Orlando on the road in Storm Chaser 5. I was a little disappointed to see no Byron today. I hope this was just scheduled time off rather than a sign of things to come. I enjoy his style; in fact, seeing him on the 11 A.M. news while at work is a highlight of my day.

WGN waited for Rich to retire to bring back the talent opens. They just aired a brand new 10pm talent open with Lauren Magiera. Did the 10pm ever even have a talent open since day one? I never remember seeing them.

Oh, they have Dan and Rich there tonight. Dan did the 9pm report, and Rich is gonna do the 10pm report. That's certainly "different"...

So wait, is Rich not actually present tonight?

Wow, I was amazed to see that, too! I'm glad they got the whole team together tonight.

Based on the teaser, it looks like it's gonna be Demetrius doing the weather rather than Jim. That's a shame that the entire crew won't be together. I started watching WGN in 1995 when I was 5 years old. Little did I know at the time that it was the first year of that weekend news team. It's been nice of WGN to keep them together for so many years.

Looks like WMAQ eliminated the standard closing to the 5pm news in favor of a full-screen teaser for NBC Nightly News and the NBC 5 News at 6. The WMAQ anchors talk about what's coming up next on Nightly News and on the NBC 5 News at 6 before tossing directly into Nightly News with no actual closing to the newscast.

They used one during the 4 AM hour of the morning news on Memorial Day. I think they maybe still use them on weekends, too? Not completely sure.

Did WGN drop the weekday 9pm talent open? Haven't seen it in a long time.

Does Pete currently work full-time behind the scenes, or is he just part-time or per diem?

A couple parts of it look cool, namely the cold front with the transparent effect, but the rest of it looks clunky and silly. It looks like Larry is being overtaken by the graphics surrounding him.

Any chance they give the 4 PM to Byron Miranda and have Brant start at 5? Always seemed weird to me that Byron is only on the air for an hour every day except for when Brant is off.

Something seems a little different in the Weather Center...

In one last hurrah, Troy is filling in for Phil tonight.

Aw man, I'm gonna miss Stefan. All the best to him in New York.