Jase

I didn't realize the new WFLD city backdrop was digital. I'm watching the election coverage and am seeing the you decide backdrop stars are moving.

I didn't realize that either until last Nov. when they first used the election backdrop. Since the backdrop upgrade last year, they have used at least three different night backdrops and two for the morning/midday I believe. In all honesty, these digital video/images look a lot sharper and brighter, imo, than the live video WMAQ, WSNS, WGBO uses.

 

I honestly love the way it looks, but I don't like the NBC 5 logo on the glass panel on the left. I think that's unnecessary. I also don't see why it can't read "NBC 5 Weather Center" instead of Storm Team. Those are my only two gripes about this great looking update to the weather center.

 

I'm not a fan of the logo on the glass either and agree the desk would look better without it. I'm thinking the NBC 5 Storm Team sign maybe a placeholder for something else, but you never know.

 

Edit: I retract that. It's decent but very plain

 

They needed something more functional than what they had before. This new weather center does that. Sure its not flashy, but in all honesty, it didn't really need to be.

For everyone talking about bobble head Ravi, I don't the open with Linda Yu who looks like she is talking and has Her mouth open. I think I saw it in the 4 pm open someone posted

Seems like she's saying 'Hey!!' which is fine. Ravi's is just weird and probably should have been caught.

 

That's embarasssing.... Was Cheryl in the promo?

 

I don't think she is.

 

If they were fixing the news desk or getting a new one why would they have removed the logo from the back wall?

 

The logo removal from the back wall is unrelated. Honestly, the overall look is better without it. Whatever monitor issue there was has since been fixed. They also went back to standing altogether at the end of the newscast it seems.

 

She always seems pissed on abc 7 lol! I think it's her trying to be the serious new girl trying to fit in. I don't think she means it but it comes across that way. I also wonder if the veterans are treating her crappy since mike left and or social media?!?

 

Social media (via recent posts on the ABC7 Chicago facebook page) seem to be a mix between 'She's hot' and 'Bring Mike back'. There is nothing she can do about it other than not focus on it and continue to push forward. I doubt anyone @ ABC7 is treating her crappy. I would hope they would be above that.

 

Are they trying to go back to the FOX Chicago branding or what? What is going on here? Why do they removed the FOX 32 logo from the news set?

 

I need to start back watching FOX 32 News to see the changes...

 

Very, very unlikely. They are probably either fixing a few things on the news desk or getting ready to replace it with a new one. I noticed at Noon there were no wide shots of the desk. Normally, they work in a few wide shots of the anchors as they transition to/from commercial breaks. Just very tight shots where you could only see the very top of the desk.

Any word on the weather center updates?

Nothing yet. I agree the overall look wasn't cohesive. In fact, when they added in the video wall for traffic reports/various segments, it made things worse. Hopefully, they clean it up a bit and have it match, to some degree, the opposite side of the set.

 

I just noticed that the newsdesk now has the old logo at the center. Not "FOX 32 Chicago" but "FOX NEWS Chicago WFLD." I found that odd and a flashback to just a few years ago.

 

Could they be getting a new desk? Also worth noting is that they no longer stand altogether at the end of the newscast. I guess the new EP is getting things back in order by creating a more traditional format/newscast.

 

Tisha lewis (I'm shocked, she never subs) is in for Larry Yellen alongside natalie Bomke tonight at 9. Also, the FOX 32 logo that has always been next to the city backdrop is gone.

 

As of late, Lewis has filled in more often (on GDC, @ Noon, etc...). This move gives Lisa Chavarria a bit of a break since she has been the go-to fill-in (on weekends in particular) for awhile.The logo was removed weeks ago. Strangely enough, they added a FOX 32 logo to one of their Michigan Avenue windows (it is lit up at night).

 

To be fair, we don't know that WLS people haven't been approached for bigger things. Perhaps those that have fielded offers feel satisfied being at the #1 station in the 3rd largest market. Plus, more than WMAQ (to my knowledge), ABC 7 seems to have several Chicago natives, making leaving their hometown an unattractive proposition. What's happened at NBC 5 over the last few years is the same thing that happened at CBS 2 twenty years ago. They had Elizabeth Vargas, Jim Avila, Larry Mendte and Rob Stafford, all of whom went national.

 

Long story short, a lot of this stuff is cyclical, and I doubt there's any major correlations between big market interest and talent, just good agents.

 

I'm sure offers have been made to WLS people...hence the 'for whatever reason' part of my post, but WMAQ has a longer history of people actually landing bigger jobs that dates back to at least the 60s. That said, the odds would seem to be better at WMAQ than WLS, but I agree these things are cyclical. My concern is that she may be in over her head. It's one thing to be confident in one's self and your abilities and it's another to over value yourself and those abilities. Rob Johnson and Anna Davlantes come to mind.

 

Eric Horng?

 

I am talking about moving from Chicago to either NYC/LA or a major network. There are plenty (Zoriada Sambolin, Horng, Jeff Goldblatt, etc...) who have returned to local news after a network level gig. No one, that I can recall, has been tapped, for whatever reason, from WLS for bigger horizons. The majority have come from WMAQ. So it wasn't the best of moves, imo, to leave in the first place if Scott's intentions are to move upward and onward.

I was thinking, at one point last fall, when the hiring of Scott was first rumored, many speculated that the ABC 7 job is not much more than a resume booster, something to keep her busy until either coast comes calling. If that is the case at some point, could this whole ordeal ultimately work in Tracy and/or Phil's favor?

 

Wrap your head around that one.

No one from WLS has gone on to bigger and better things (ABC, NBC, CNN, etc..). She would have been better positioned to grow and move on had she waited her turn at WMAQ. Even tho she is not directly responsible for Mike's departure, people will hold that against her and that may hurt her image.

 

And so it begins. Cheryl on at 4pm now. Have to say, she's doing a lot better than when she started.

 

We still have to see how she handles major weather storms and the like. She seemed a bit lost during a major rain event last year (or the year before) when the entire NBC 5 storm team was on-air and everyone had to produce (if you will). Luckly she has Jerry for another year, but she is going against (either directly or indirectly) weather vets like Skilling, Miller and Baskerville and I am not sure she will ever be good enough in some people's eyes.

 

I thought the goal was to have Demetrius eventually take over for Skilling, especially considering that as long as Tom's health holds up, he'll probably keep doing his job until he no longer can. By that point, Demetrius should be seasoned enough to take over, especially if Tom keeps working for another 5-10 years.

 

If WFLD was my only option, I'd be on the next flight out of town.

 

I think it's a toss up between WGN and WFLD. Jim Ramsey probably should hang it up and if he does, I could see Mike fitting in very well there. The management/environment at WFLD is very unpredictable, so I dont think that's the ideal place to go, but you never know.

I was thinking the same but I have been thinking about this for a while and had a feeling it was coming. I feel like after her first baby, she started to go all audio. I know I began speaking highly of them the other day but I mean honestly, how many more people can they cut? Or are they just going to keep cutting until they have no viewers of a station to operate anymore?

I too had a feeling this would happen. She had not been seen on-air since they moved the traffic desk out of the newsroom and into a corner in the weather center (where the interactive screen once lived) last year. They just slowly reduced her role/presence on GDC and she hadn't filled any reports for the Noon show in quite some time. True that she wasn't in any promos, but neither was Corey for awhile. Nevertheless, it's a shame they pushed her out. I'm guessing she didn't get to say goodbye or thank viewers on-air..??

 

Now we know where Tom Skilling is. He just joined Mark, Micah, and Jim live from the Big Island of Hawaii. It was classic.

 

Speaking of Jim...I hope they didn't have him back out on the weather deck @ 5. He look like he was near death standing outside @ 4. We get that it's cold, so there was/is no reason to have that poor man (or anyone else) out there in this type of weather.

 

So the thing I really wanted to talk about right now is the fact that today's NFL game is being broadcast in terrible quality...definitely less than HD. On their SD channel, they're cropping the image at the sides instead of letterboxing. I think somebody left the weather warning crawl system on from probably earlier this morning when they were scrolling the alerts for today's snowstorm, and they never returned the channel to full HD when the crawl was over.

 

How the heck does one get this resolved, especially on a Sunday? Would anyone be at the station to take complaints?

 

These type of technical issues (terrible video quality, etc...) are common place with them. Honestly, I don't think they know what letterboxing is much less how to fix basic technical issues, so best of luck in voicing a complaint. This is a station that had a station id/copyright graphic that only read 'All rights reserved' for what seemed like a year on every newscast before it was fixed.

 

 

Usually if a certain channel disputes the common forecast being given by everyone else, they'll make mention of it and explain the models that make them feel that way, but instead Byron and NBC 5's weather team are just completely ignoring the notion that we could even get snow Monday night into Tuesday. Why do you think this is? Are they disputing everyone else's forecast, or is it that they simply don't care about Monday or Tuesday until after Saturday and Sunday's storm system passes? If it's the latter, then that's a major flub. I certainly hope that's not the case.

 

It could be because the snowfall Monday night into Tuesday may not amount to much or it's unclear if we will get any at all. A lot can change within 48-72 hours and they may not want to make 'the call' until Sat. night or Sunday. I can't blame them for being a bit cautious.

 

I just don't get how you think who is where during the holidays has much bearing on anything if you know how schedules work?

 

People throw out random theories on various things daily on this site. They also agree and disagree too. No need to get bent out of shape over something so trivial.

 

All I know is that the schedules are built to try to be somewhat fair and accomodate as much as possible. That's why folks are all over the place. This is pretty standard in TV it would appear.

 

Here in Detroit for example we had our sports director anchor the 6 and 10pm shows Monday and the lead anchor soloed on Sunday night at 6 and for 2 hours from 10-12.

 

It all depends on who wants what when and who's still available what days as a result. That's what's determining who goes where. Nobody is going to try throwing experimental chemistry or scheduling into the mix. The schedules are determined well in advance usually and Scott simply bumped somebody to a day off or another shift most likely.

 

Sheesh...I was being both a bit subjective and speculative (like others often do). I am fully aware of how schedules work, but thanks for the refresher!!

 

She did a 10pm too.... It's the holidays... This is a terrible pair of weeks to glean anything about scheduling.

 

I disagree. There is no better time to get a sense of how things will be after Jerry retires than right now. There is a lot (from on-air presentation to team chemistry) that can be gleaned. Scott's hiring and unofficial title of 'heir apparent' is big news. There's a lot of pressure on her. If she succeeds Jerry, I believe she would be only the third woman to have had the title of chief met. (behind Shelly Monahan, WMAQ and Amy Freeze, WFLD) in this market.

 

I can't remember if Monahan was officially given the title after replacing Andy Avalos tho. Nevertheless, viewers are likely going to be more critical of her than if she was replacing someone other than Jerry. I'm sure WLS is mindful of this and likely testing things scheduling-wise to see what works. Just imagine if she was replacing Tom Skilling.

 

How bout Mike at 4, 5 and 6 and Cheryl at 7 and 10? Seems pretty straightforward.

 

I doubt they want to ruffle any more feathers with Cheryl sitting in for Jerry @ 10p when Mike is the primary sub. I get the sense that her hiring hasn't been completely welcomed by all, so as to not make matters worse, everyone gets to be appeased to some degree. This is likely why Jerry worked Thanksgiving and Christmas with Mike subbing for him at 10p recently. She will get her chance, it just likely won't be anytime soon.

 

I was talking Burton.

 

Oh..I have to remember there are two people named Cheryl there now. Anyway, C. Scott was in studio with Jerry most of the evening. I guess she was getting some training in before her first full on-air experience.