wabceyewitness

Doesn’t seem like it. Ryan Field posted these photos from that area on Friday when the Stanley Cup visited ABC7 for a promo shoot and he also did Monday’s 6pm sports report from that area.

they most likely are but, behind the scenes, they have the option to wear a mask or the the station has reinstated indoor masking following the city and state health departments both recommending indoor masking again.

and being run seamlessly.

No, and in reporting about the stations new LI bureau at Hofstra, he was identified as “president of WABC and ABC Owned Television Stations”. I believe WABC is also operating without a news director since Rehan Aslam underwent emergency surgery last year and is still recovering and on medical leave.

they did this a bit before the pandemic.. looks like they’re trying it again and capitalizing on the distancing at the desk.

Pretty good get just after 6am this morning by Josh Einiger who was reporting live near the Poland-Ukraine border as Cardinal Dolan returned to Poland after a surprise trip into Ukraine. WABC dumped most of their 6am A block so Eineger could speak live with the cardinal right after he got out of the car transporting him. The breaking news report lasted about 7 minutes. https://abc7ny.com/josh-einiger-poland-russia-ukraine/11801114/

portions of all network evening newscasts are pre-recorded, including headlines and some anchor interviews with experts, newsmakers and correspondents. it’s great that Lester and David made it to the scene, but it didn’t add to or take away from coverage by the anchor being there or not.

WABC did do a brief update at the top of the 7pm hour saying they were awaiting the news conference and that it would stream online. That said, I’m pretty disappointed that they felt airing Jeopardy was more important. Obviously most news conferences are not something you interrupt programming for to carry live, but this was an emergency presser where new information was released that served the public. At the very least, WABC could have ran a breaking news crawl directing viewers to ABC7NY.com, but they didn’t even do that. It’s moments like this that your regular viewers and those that tune to you for breaking news depend on you to be on air and it’s your chance to showcase your commitment to serving the public. WABC gets credit for being on air most of the morning but dropped the ball in the 7pm hour.

Sam Champion* Although, Sam Smith would be a nice guest for both local and GMA.

If it were another public figure such as an actor who takes a leave of absence from a TV show or a singer who cancels concert dates, the press would speculate and demand answers as to the cause. There’s often a double-standard in television news when it comes to on-air talent, who are public figures, and their lives. Suddenly, the newsroom decides to respect a person’s privacy to the point of not even acknowledging anything has occurred.

CBS Evening News recently ran a story that aired over a month ago on CBS Mornings, offered no update and even trimmed it down from its original package. more from FTV Live: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/3/24/recycling-the-news-at-cbs

This is what the set should’ve looked like when it first debuted. So glad the obnoxious tunnel and light pillars are gone. The rest of the studio still looks pretty much the same, so there’s a mismatch happening. I wonder if this is a temporary homebase while other changes happen? They’re certainly due for a set refresh.

WABC-TV appears to be suffering some technical difficulties. Viewers saw rare color bars and test patterns for the first 5 minutes of the 11pm news. It appears, however, that the newscast started as usual. When the test pattern ended, the newscast was joined in progress during the middle of an A block weather report. During regular weather around 11:20, the forecast segment was interrupted by a station promo that then aired again right after the weathercast finished up and Bill Ritter tossed to a break without any bumper headlines. The first commercials didn’t air until 11:21.

WNYW and WPIX both broke in several times this morning with weather updates and live reports. WABC is now pre-empting the second hour of Good Morning America Saturday. It’s also a weekend when schools and many businesses are already closed. Not much new information to report on for multiple hours except that it is snowing, it will continue snowing, and it will eventually stop snowing.

And prior to that, many years at WABC as a producer, executive producer and assistant ND. Great to see someone from inside who comes from a local news background take the reigns of the owned station group.

She tested positive for COVID so will be broadcasting from home for a few days.

Here’s a pic of the revamped weekend studio that mimics the TS studio. Honestly— kinda looks a little better than TS.

I’m told we should see a rollout of new graphics across the station group “soon and into the new year”. not sure how soon “soon” is and how far into the new year that means for some stations.

They’ve changed the main desk backdrop to an image of Time Square. I guess this change is to better distinguish them from Good Morning America

CBS Mornings had 4 anchors at the table this morning. Tony and Nate were joined by Jamie Yuccas and Michelle Miller Gayle King has been off this week, however, this morning was the first day 4 people were at the desk with no mention of Gayle.

Starting this week, they’ve returned to the previous “CBS This Morning” theme for the 7am Eye Opener headlines segment.

Noticing that the WABC local station bug that appears in network promos is pixelated. Just like the rest of the ABC rebrand, it seems straight out of Microsoft Paint.

The design company has this reel on their website showcasing the work they did for ABC. Interestingly, the ABC logo is downsized in the affiliate logos on this reel. Based on this and what we’re seeing in the rollout, it’s clear the owned stations pushed back on the the original idea. Also noteworthy, it that this reel shows what would be a WABC logo, but with the network logo placed the way KABC or KGO would.

That’s what I keep thinking… what is the point of their testing program if the results aren’t returned before they’re on air, or why are they allowed on air with results pending? That could’ve avoided all of this. That said, I understand the need to immediately isolate someone if they have positive results regardless of what’s happening around them.