NBC 5 Chicago

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CNN Mornings

That's exciting. Jennifer has done great things at WGN and tried with NewsNation. Could we see an upwards climb of CBS 2 under her leadership? Time will tell, but I'm excited to see where it will go. WBBM has been really lagging behind all of the stations in Chicago for so many years.

This from TVNewsCheck. Alicia officially takes over for Andy on Aug 30th. Additionally, they hired Iisha Scott (from WCNC) as weekend AM meteorologist as well as weekday reports on community and weather-related stories. Her first day is also Aug 30th. I'm surprised they filled the position so quickly. This must have all been in the works for a little while.

I never quite understood why they needed two during the morning. Now, it makes a little more sense as to why if Andy had been contemplating retirement over the last year. Letting the viewers get used to seeing her in the mornings then when he does retire its a seamless transition. Or after having her baby she wanted to be more in the mornings then doing her marathon weekends of mornings, 5pm and 10pm. But like @jase said, you never really know with WMAQ. A new hire could shake things up.

I'm not quite sure but it looks like they are redoing the weather center again. This pic I saw on Lauren Petty's Facebook page about a week ago shows the background monitor sitting lower towards the ground and the background is different. Gone are the computers and cabinets. I also haven't seen them use that area on air for while. The morning team is together at the desk now and the weather team is at the green screen. During the height of Covid this area was heavily used in the morning as a anchor desk so they could be socially distant.

The one I was surprised and confused about was WVIT. Perfect opportunity to launch them with the new set. Their Telemundo station has them but not WVIT. There must be a hiccup or something to not switch over yet.

Daytime Chicago is bumping Rachael Ray at 10am on WGN not Windy City Live on WLS.

TVNewsCheck is reporting that Tonya Francisco and Amy Rutledge will be the hosts of the new Daytime Chicago show. This means Amy Rutledge comes back to WGN after being co-host of now cancelled "The Jam" on WCIU. It also means that someone will have to take over Tonya's weekend morning position unless they decided to go solo.

I really like this set. They did a behind the scenes tour of it and it's got great functionality and technology. Set is way better than what WVIT did. I feel WTVJ's studio lights are a little too dark or warmer than most sets. It looks a little dull on the anchors.

Per Feder, Derek Dalton is out as President and General Manager at WBBM CBS 2. Also out is Jay Howell the President and General Manager at KCBS in LA in a sweep across the top 3 stations in the group.

I wouldn't count them out. Still have WRC, WVIT, KNSD left to switch as well. WTVJ and WVIT we know will have new sets with the debut.

WBTS uses like 3 different ones. I like this one the best though.

Interesting. So On Balance with Leland Vittert that is debuting today is most likely just keeping the 8pm hour seat warm for Dan. I get with a new network there's going to be a lot of changes but damn it's hard to keep up now with what they're offering.

On Balance with Leland Vittert is debuting at 8pm ET and NewsNation Early Edition is rebranding to NewsNation: Rush Hour beginning July 19th. Here's the article. So now that only leaves one hour of Prime before Banfield.

WNBC's open is awful. I'm surprised they're still sticking with LA Groove. At least use the actual open to match the graphics. The 4 note sting just does not go well at all. Really surprised they did that.

One other thing I noticed is at 3:26 there is a gray background slate to display their app. WMAQ used it during a reporters piece to show a cell phone picture over the weekend. I didn't know if it was part of the package but after seeing it here too it looks like there is a gray variant other than blue for background slates. It doesn't animate though.

At least they have a VO for their open.

I still think its LA Groove. They used it for the close. The bumper is soft so I can't tell if it is and just a different cut or something else entirely.

Just to clarify that peacock variant is actually a transition as the L3 comes into view. It starts out colorful over the whole L3 then shrinks down to the bottom and transitions to 2 shades of blue and red for breaking news at the bottom. It doesn't stay that way. I was trying to capture the transition element although I really wouldn't mind seeing it like this.

Thank you for this!!

WMAQ Novocom - 2000 (cannot find the exact date they switched) Look A - August 15, 2005 Look F - February 28, 2012 Look N - June 28, 2016 Look S - June 21, 2021 NBC O&O's typically change their graphics every 4 years to coincide with the summer Olympic Games starting with Look C in 2008. Look A - 2005-2008; WMAQ 2005-2012 Look C - 2008-2012 Look D - WNBC - 2008-2012 Look E - KNSD - 2010-2012 Look F - 2012-2016 Look G - KXAS - 2012-2014? Look N- 2016-2021 Look S - 2021-Present Now some of these stations had different looks (WMAQ, WNBC, KXAS, KNSD) but since 2008 almost all have changed looks every 4 years, 5 with Look N due to the pandemic and the Olympics being moved to 2021. WMAQ did use look A the longest for 7 years.

Sooooo happy its not all red all the time. Very subtle. It would be nice if there was a yellow/orange variant for the morning.

WMAQ has updated its graphics as of their 4pm newscast. Below are a few screenshots. Surprised we're the first ones to change.

As of the 4pm newscast, NBC 5 has new graphics and updated music. Sounds like an update to the NBC O&O or different tracks. It's a little more upbeat. Graphics have similar elements of look N but everything is very flat. The bug is different. Animates between the NBC logo and the NBC 5. Seems to be a heavier emphasis on the NBC logo through out the graphics with the bug animation, transitions, and open. I've also noticed new lighting around the anchor desk. Now, if they could just get rid of that desk they'd have such an awesome look now. Attached are a few screen shots I took.