wabceyewitness

Yes, at a time when more people are staying home during the day and wanting more news, it makes perfect sense to cut back on your daytime newscasts...... I am amazed at WCBS taking the easy way out of this situation while stations And networks all across the country ramp up news production while being innovative in adhering to social distancing measures. I’m even more amazed at some of the comments here defending the laziness of WCBS during this time when viewers actually will expect more.

Some commentary from FTV Live on WCBS still issues getting on air two weeks after the CBS Broadcast Center was closed. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/25/you-would-expect-better And here is how WBBM Chicago is preparing so they do not become the next WCBS. https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/03/25/remote-control-cbs-2-tests-emergency-newscast-street/?utm_campaign=Political Still Shines Despite Coronavirus&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Listrak&utm_term=WBBM Tests Emergency Newscast From Street

Again, not understanding why they haven’t been anchoring from the sidewalk, another facility, a park, an empty Grand Central, empty studio space elsewhere, their apartments — literally anywhere in Manhattan — all along. I’m still not sure why anchors in Los Angeles need to anchor while WCBS is still able to get local reports on air. Either someone at CBS is stepping in and making this overly complicated, or WCBS is just not prepared for loss of studio.

Sorry folks but this is 2020 and this is New York City. The pandemic and its potential consequences did not suddenly sneak up on us. A news organization of all people could have seen for weeks leading up to this what happened in China, South Korea and Italy. A news organization that has been communicating to the public for weeks the CDC warning that daily life may be interrupted. Did they think they were exempt? This day and age, given everything this city and this country has been through, there is no excuse to not have a back up plan to get your team on the air from the city you broadcast in. I understand needing to miss maybe one or two newscasts to get things together but WCBS does not get a pass on this. This is not about seeing local faces deliver local news (though that should be the goal), this is about being prepared and having a plan that doesn’t involve farming your work out to stations across the country.

I was also curious about that. How is it possible that there was no other way to get local anchors on camera yet it was possible to have local weather and reporters? I understand the studio is unavailable, but improvise! Was there any reach out other local stations, networks, production facilities? What about anchoring outside, in the park... literally anywhere? It was nice to experiment with pushing out a newscast from the west coast but this was not the time.

And, ironically, they both hated the pointless wandering away from the desk to stand up somewhere for 30 seconds only to return to the desk right after that. I believe Diane’s tenure ended the WNT standing shots.

WNT doesn’t really need the large Times Square space. It is a one person show with an occasional in studio reporter. Doesn’t make sense to take on the additional expense of having WNT there (although Disney owns the space, the rental money comes out of ABC News’ budget). With TV3 unavailable, and only a small temporary set available, it makes sense for GMA Weekend to move there since it needs space for 3+ anchors. Same for This Week, which needs space for multiple guests and the round table.

Yes; that set was located in TV2 which is now home to Tamron Hall. I thought the election night set was extremely over the top and unnecessary.

I wonder if new graphics will come with the studio relaunch. I like the current music, but if they do change it, I’m hoping it’s something with a nod back to the Peter Jennings-era music. Not a fan of the direction ABC News music has been going lately.

The Good Morning America road trip desk was repurposed for this weekend’s “This Week” desk as the Sunday morning show broadcasted from New Hampshire.

Correct. NBC originally ordered the pilot from ABC Studios. NBC declined to pick it up as a series. ABC then ordered it as a series from ABC Studios. WABC News has been featured more and more in ABC television shows the last few years. They have sometimes appeared in movies but used to steer clear of television shows up until recently.

WNT actually stuck with it for 15 minutes, and had a quick mention of it coming out of the first break before reporting on the impeachment trial showdown and the state of emergency in Puerto Rico. The final two minutes was a wrap up of the breaking news. Regardless of how long each network covered it, keep in mind that the evening news teams at ABC, CBS and NBC spend hours each day building the thirty minute newscast. For them to throw out all that work just minutes before air time and reshape the entire program on the fly, based on actual breaking news, is no small feat. Kudos to all of them.

they are still in TV3.

It is a renovation of the entire space that houses TV3. The space — which is much larger than the small studio area you see on air — has been a construction zone the last few weeks. This isn’t just a set redesign where pieces are moved out and new pieces moved in.

I imagine they have planned for that. The West End studio (former home of The View and current home of Dr. Oz) is also part of the sale of Disney’s Upper West Side properties. One thing to note, is that Disney will keep ownership of the armory it renovated on West 66th Street that currently houses ESPN offices.

Good Morning America is staying in Times Square. Disney/ABC noted that in the initial announcement about the move downtown. WABC and the rest of ABC News are moving downtown along with Disney/ABC offices currently on the Upper West Side. This includes Eyewitness News, Live with Kelly & Ryan, World News Tonight, 20/20, and The View.

The Times Square set actually looks better using the This Week graphics than it does for GMA. Assuming ABC keeps the giant TV wall behind the anchor desk, I wonder how different TV3 will look on air after the renovations.

It is a bit strange but it’s a timing preference on WABC’s part. They want a quick transition to the 5pm news to retain the 4pm audience, so they dropped the 5pm talent open years ago (they brought it back briefly during Diana’s last week anchoring). At 11, they want to retain as many primetime viewers as possible so they get right to the news. The 6pm is still seen as the signature newscast of record for the day, so it gets a talent open and “fresh start” rather than the quick transition.

Lori and Ken requested to move off the noon show after it expanded to a full hour just a few years after the morning news expanded to a 4:30am start time.

TV3, the studio space that GMA Weekend and WNT broadcasts from, is undergoing a renovation. That’s why last weekend’s Good Morning America aired from Times Square and it’s why WNT has been in a small, temporary set the last few days. This has nothing to do with ABC’s move downtown in 4 years.

New augmented reality graphics and for WABC that mimic the standup/interview area in the main studio. This was shot in the newsroom (you can hear the newsroom phones ringing in the background).

huh? That move is about 4 years away.

Sounds like a major computer meltdown. Assuming the Liz Cho newscast was filled with pre-taped evergreen pieces to use in this type of scenario.

Per FTVLive: CBS Evening News is down double-digits with both total viewers and demos since July when O’Donnell’s tenure started. O’Donnell is in last place in the broadcast networks evening news race, but it gets worse. In markets like Los Angeles, Atlanta, Tampa, Detroit, Orlando, West Palm, Birmingham and Knoxville, O’Donnell’s newscast is even losing in the ratings to Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2019/12/18/oh-no-for-odonnell

All the monitors are now seamless. In addition to the backdrop, the anchor desk panels and stand up/interview area monitors are now seamless. The interview/stand up area also received a set of three vertical monitors to add to its background.