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2 minutes ago, hmaxhanson said:

You mean KTVU?

Yeah they mislabled it. Makes more sense.

Audio of Dec 31, 1973 KTVU 'Action News'

https://californiarevealed.org/do/110a8815-26be-4a63-8d6a-860ee50c28ec

KCRA Channel 3 Reports 5pm  12-14-1983 (most...cuts to KOVR at the end) - earliest use of 'where the news comes first' theme I've come across

audio is on the 'right' audio channel - 'left' channel is another station (KXTV?). Use the balance control in your settings to hear either one.

https://californiarevealed.org/do/92b39edc-0916-4db7-9785-4690b414e89a

KCRA Channel 3 Reports 1980? open with a comic book looking logo

https://archive.org/details/casacsh_002398

This story has the anchor desk 2 shot and the story wall. I think the weather is going 3D like KPIX, at least looking at a promo that aired. 

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/high-speed-train-from-rancho-cucamonga-to-las-vegas-aims-to-cut-travel-time-in-half/3289036/

Would look less generic if they put attached a physical banner of lettering to the top of the story wall and/or main anchor backdrop wall that says 4 LOS ANGELES or something. 

The feedback in the comments of the Variety article is resoundingly negative. And Variety isn't some curmudgeon factory.

There's no advantage to the CNBC viewer in 'feeling' like the rest of NBC. In fact, for some, that's a negative. 

Graphics that made use of light effects and dimension were core to the CNBC brand. People in finance are used to darker screen backgrounds as well vs jarring white. 

That said white and blue was the CNBC look of the 90s but that observation isn't making them more likeable among some core finance nerd viewers - see the comments here

KDKA 11pm October 1989

They had started using some refreshed harder hitting cuts of the mid 80s KD and You package for the bumpers and close - no more jazzy sax for the close. 

Lots of improvement, the reporters teasing their stories adds a lot of authenticity. 

The lighting on the main anchor is another area to work on - it's faded compared to the high resolution and brightness of the graphics, as well as compared to the quality of the field reports. 

Yeah KRON was forced to bring back Instant Classics in the 2000s over the SESAC licensing 

KTVU almost brought back the Randall theme before Fox bought them

Enforcer was effectively a throwback for WCBS/WBBM/KCBS

KGO in the 80s twice dropped Cool Hand Luke/NS2K only to bring them back 

The 99 update to Eyewitness News by WABC was a throwback to the teletype sound 

Not my favorite package but I’d bet KARE has some brand value in the old Third Coast packages if they brought elements back

On the Tuesday topic...this is a 1985 demo, not many surprises in here other than high quality sound on the Lets All Be There news promo music at the beginning, KXTV mid 80s theme around 2:00, and the News 88 full theme at the end.

It's an upgrade from before and the larger than life peacock feathers on the wall are a nice visual, but....the space feels too narrow, those 90 degree angles continue to make it feel boxed in like the back of a retail storefront.

WABC doesn't have much space, but they block their shots and angles so it all still feels 'big' in a way and makes the talent heroic - you rarely get a sense of the corners or ends of the studio during the newscast. 

Maybe stick to more close in shots and it's a great looking set. Leave some mystery for the viewer. 

Or maybe it's the tiny desk and lack of element between the desk and backdrop - if that were wider and further away the wide shots might have more breadth. 

To me the city name as the main brand on the screen feels more detached, less local - like are people in NY and DC doing the news and this is our lightly edited “edition.” Just my observation.

The Rich Lieberman blog says the rolllout hasn’t “moved the needle” at KPIX though they were pretty aimless going in. 

KDKA’s May was mixed vs a year ago…good data here:

https://triblive.com/aande/movies-tv/tv-talk-strong-sweeps-ratings-for-wtae-tv-pbs-explores-age-of-easy-money/

The 6 dropped a lot esp among the demo, WTAE held its ratings at 6. The 5 and 11 look more stable. Don’t know the market well enough to hazard other factors at 6 though that tends to be the creature of habit time slot vs the leadin driven 11.

Feb also showed a drop vs prior year for KDKA at 6.

Noon which is an oddly big audience for KDKA held steady. Any other station have a Noon that draws more than most of the evening? 

WXIA 11 Alive Feb 1983 update and news. One of the earlier clips of the skyline set. 

Can't figure out how to upload it, but for the 6pm close they're putting the icing on the cake - the 'Hello' waves and the old school closing music. 

That's great - thought it was nice for the week of live shots in Clinton, but wow full time is a thrill. 

Excellent work making the case. Did Warner Chappell remaster or sweeten it for digital at all?

Congratulations Tom what a legend. 

On 10/5/2023 at 5:52 PM, NowBergen said:

WNBC's set is going away shortly as they move from Studio 3K to 3B, shared with Telemundo 47, in a similar set up to DC.  Hopefully there will be some unique elements but most of the NBCU sets are based on lots of video screens and stand up delivery.  In the end, does a viewer really care?  

Recall the wood grain elements WRC retrofitted onto its prior set after its original stark Clickspring debut…wood elements that were signature to the set that replaced…

Mu guess is viewers were off put by something so stark the first time around.

So generally yes viewers probably don't obsess the details but if the change is too stark they can find it distracting or hard to identify and stations can get caught flat footed. 

Thats probably more pronounced at the minority of stations that have deep generational viewing habits. 

The close up 20th floor highrise shot on the monitors is nice and iconic. It gives the set some sense of place and proportion, with some grandness to it. The center monitor with the logo is more heroic for the brand. That's better than setups where your focus is drawn down to the desk monitor. 

Agree the interview area is sterile and that white wash flooring isn't doing any favors. 

8 hours ago, Vlad said:

 

So sad to see Derrick Go! Definitely a class act and he was just extraordinary at delivering the news. He's gonna be missed, hope he gets to anchor chair in New York some day.

 

 

Something I noticed today during the 10AM show commercial break:

 

 

 

 

Noticed this new wordmark for an Eyewitness News promotion for Climate Change during the 10AM show. Could this be a glimpse of their upcoming new look? At first I thought it was KABC because they have the same wordmark, but then I noticed the ABC 7 logo is WABC's. But in the promotion it looks like the locations in the video are in California, so it to me looks like it could either be something that KABC is producing for WABC but slapping WABC's ABC 7 logo, or is it an element from the upcoming new graphics? 

 

 

They've had the current masthead for so long...over 35 years, it's like if the New York Times or WSJ decided to change its masthead. 

There's something unmistakably New York and urgent about the legacy masthead. Their call, not mine. 

She talks about what happened in the building here

2 hours ago, WWUpdate said:

Some interesting historic footage in this WLS 75th anniversary retrospective from earlier this week:

 

 

More clips here

https://abc7chicago.com/tag/wls75/

Interesting experiment. Creative way to adapt the set and a broadcast that takes more time interviewing while also covering lighter things so it isn't a snoozer like 'Up Close.' Those are some of the things I found interesting about KUSI that got me watching local news more often again.

Not used to having Sam during a political interview - does he have to be 'along for the ride' the whole show? I guess he is the pro talent and most seasoned of the bunch, but then why not make him the lead interviewer if that's the role? Like go all the way instead of an awkward middle.

The music isn't singing to me, not distinctive enough for a daily Eyewitness News show, maybe they'll play around and find something else. 

14 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

This tickles me a little bit. - Is it Nexstar? Is it McKinnon!?

 

Yeah and the text up there is raw text, not a graphic that needs the creative team so no real excuse. Maybe someone is doing only doing exactly what they were told and nothing more. 

The social/web lead (was a McKinnon, maybe still is) appears to be continuing as if little to nothing has changed, based on the social feed text. 

Watching the evening news today…

They changed the anchor positions on the set…now seated in the middle as originally designed on the circa 1998 set with the original big “9” logo in blue. Tosses to sports now have a 3 shot. My guess is this is the pre temporary set look while they redesign the rest of the space; the set already has plenty of blue for the traditional temp look. 

The pre show tease no longer has live previews by the field reporters like Dan Plante. Just the anchors reading the teases.

A lot less chit chat into breaks and between stories. 

Bit of a somber feel if you ask me and not just for the appropriate 9/11 segments. 

Story selection and guests are similar to before (still showing the alternative local political voices) although they’re inserting more brief general voiceover stories like public health messages. 

Here's a writeup on it

https://www.The Other Site.com/2023/09/07/kpix-primetime-edition-virtual-production/?utm_campaign=NCS - Newsletter 20230907&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The Other Site

The head of the stations group says they're going to consider more virtual set elements vs 'hardscape'. in future set builds (so possibly not just weather, and part of the main presentation). 

The current iteration has its gimmicky elements, but the realism of the simulated hard pieces is pretty good. Has that 'Newsmat' style where it's designed to look non virtual with the skyline background, window framing, etc, but leveraging virtual to bring in the info graphics and topical elements. 

As for the weather segment...at some point they'll probably figure out people still want the full screen graphics at times - it's harder to read radar maps, etc when they're condensed into a part of a set display. 

I'd like to see some sound effects work their way in - would be a nod to KPIX weather graphics innovation in the 80s when they had the 'sizzle' sound for the highs and the animated blimp. 

15 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

I was about to say, their social media person needed to go. That person wouldn’t know the difference between reporting and editorializing if it slapped em in the face.

It was one of the McKinnon grandchildren (edit: might still be based on today's twitter posts)

My guess is the son of the elder McKinnon (GM) and his son (head of social) were the “alt right” political manipulators in the building. 

That said many newsrooms have the opposing alt left? equivalent individuals making editorial judgement they just don’t own the station outright and are less clumsy about executing their particular bias. 

2 hours ago, SFTV said:

The VR weather set is only used on PIX+ primetime newscasts but will slowly integrate on KPIX newscasts. 
 

didn’t realize they had a secondary studio. That studio is larger than what they currently have.

Yeah it was probably the one used back in the day for People are Talking, with audience risers and all. Wasn't sure if it got repurposed along the way but apparently not.