Jase

1 hour ago, Amra said:

I'm looking forward on seeing what WBBM has in store for their rebranding. I did think, a few days ago, what if WBBM rebrands the newscasts as WBBM News, streaming on CBS News Chicago, like BZ and CCO are doing? It would give a fresh opportunity to reintroduce the brand to the viewers while moving forward.

I don't see them rebranding as WBBM News; but if there was ever a time to go big and be bold, this would be it. I have a feeling they will play it safe. I'm more interested in seeing the updates to the streetside studio.  They appear to be moving at a glacial pace in getting it completed. 

15 hours ago, C Block said:

I'm confused by that KYW look. Why bring back a throwback logo that few people probably remember? It seems counterproductive to what I thought was CBS's ultimate goal of unifying all the stations' branding and eventually de-emphasizing channel numbers. Yes, I know they want to have local elements in there too, but this just feels like it's going in the opposite direction.

 

Also, why let stations pick their own colors? The whole point of standardizing graphics equipment on Chyron Axis is that you can roll out different animations and monitor graphics for all kinds of news topics really quickly to all the stations. Other station groups have done this for years. Stations like KYW and KDKA with one-off looks are going to perpetually have a mismatched look or will not be able to benefit from the resources of hubbed graphics.

I don't see the harm in allowing the stations to add their own unique twists/elements to this graphics package. KYW's new look is awesome and creates the [distinctive] look that they wanted. The same can be said of the other CBS O&Os. 

CBS could have easily laid down the hammer and mandated every station look and sound the same. They did not do that and that, in and of itself, should be celebrated. I had previously said CBS was 'placating' each station, but now that i think about it...I was wrong to see it that way.

The fact is [and regardless of the industry], when you allow people to have a say in something..the greater likelihood they will do all that they can to help the company, organization, etc... succeed.

People, at each station, advocated for certain things (however big or small) and CBS listened. How often does that happen???

At the end of the day, I rather they take some risks and think 'outside the box.' The bones of the package are still there. Allowing for different colors, etc.. doesn't change that. 

11 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Green is a rare color for stations but KYW pulls it off well. Loving the Philadelphia Eagles shade of green. The new CBS package in't all that great, but touches of uniqueness like these is what adds flare and authenciticty. 

Word is they were looking for something ‘distinctive’ and after playing around with 2-3 different colors.. settled on green. They wanted to get away from using blue (arguably the most popular color currently used) and red is, of course, synonymous with breaking news.

While they may not admit it, I think , subconsciously, they were likely leaning toward green to play off the Eagles colors from the beginning. I do wonder what other colors they were considering. 

3 minutes ago, Action Newsroom said:

Wow, that Eagles green looks great; way better than it has any right to be. Certainly blows Black-and-Gold out of the water for personalized GFXs colors in my eyes.

If there's one thing I dislike is the blue in the weather gfx clashing with the greens. Nitpicking I know, but it stands out in a negative way, imo. 

Couple of more (including new mic flag)…

Really like the green…

59 minutes ago, WCAUTVNBC10 said:

It's not surprising given that some of the other stations that are using the box logo aren't verbally using the old brand (see KTVT and WFOR). But yeah it goes to your point; why keep the old logos or in KYW's case keep the 3 at all. KYW is especially a strange case since they abandoned the old brand even before launching the new look and music.

Maybe each station is advocating for certain things (whether it's bringing back old branding, web sites, logo, #s, etc...) and CBS brass is, in some sense, placating them. Which is why I don't think the co- (or secondary) branding outside of the primary CBS News [....] is temporary or transitional as I don't see the point of taking that approach.

But I agree that if you're going to use a co- (secondary) branding like a channel #; it would make sense to use it verbally in some way not just visually.

3 hours ago, mre29 said:

Meanwhile, HLN, which has been showing older Warner Bros. TV dramas on weekends -- first The West Wing, now Fringe -- has expanded that to weeknights, with Third Watch now showing at a rate of four episodes per night (8:00pm to midnight, ET).

 

I mention it despite not being sure this is the correct thread anymore for discussing HLN. I mean, does the channel even fall under Licht's purview outside of simulcasting CNN This Morning? Do we have to move this discussion to the Breakroom?

 

 

I believe overall oversight of HLN is now under Kathleen Finch (WBD US Networks Group chair) with Jason Sarlanis handling the programming side of things. 

19 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

I do want to correct something Variety twice claimed in the article, including here: 

 

When CNN hired Alisyn Camerota but didn't know where to put her at first, she was paired with Don for a time on CNN Tonight. It might have only lasted a few weeks or months but it was permanent enough for both anchors' names to have been on the show's logo. (Alisyn would go on to bump Kate Bolduan as Chris Cuomo's New Day co-anchor.)

Worth noting is that Don was on with Alisyn this past Tuesday on CNN Tonight, so it would appear that they don't have a issue working together. Pairing him with Poppy and Kaitlan was shocking, for a lot of reasons, and they have zero chemistry that will never get better. The oddest trio there is.

19 hours ago, Daybreak said:

I read the report and now I’m more confused and concerned as to why was this allowed to go on for so long unchecked. There’s been a few time his ratings were subpar so why not get rid of him then? This seems like a set up to an ouster. 

Unfortunately, being a jerk and creating a hostile work environment wasn't a big deal then as it is now. Plus, given that management was always going to side with him no matter what; he no doubt felt he could say/do whatever. Now it appears he is on very thin ice so his ouster or another re-assignment  'could' be imminent.

23 minutes ago, NBC 5 Chicago said:

Take this with a grain of salt but Radar is saying Kaitlan Collins is moving to the 9pm slot temporarily as a trial starting next week . If true, sure adds more fuel to the fire. 

 

I quite enjoy Katilan Collins. I like her style and she seems very well connected to get the scoop on a lot of things. 

 

As for Don Lemon, I liked him  when he was here at WMAQ in Chicago but I would agree I feel his ego has been inflated too big and he comes across pompous and arrogant most of the time. While I'll typically agree with his views its his delivery that I don't quite enjoy. I tried watching CNN this morning. I enjoy Poppy and Kaitlan more than Don. 

I feel like having her in an anchor/host role isn't the best use of her skills. She is much better reporting than anchoring.

2 hours ago, Spring Rubber said:

I see that NewsNation bumped the 8pm-10pm ET (I think) portion of their normal primetime schedule tonight in favor of a NewsNation Special Report on the Trump arraignment co-hosted by Vargas, Cuomo, and Abrams all sitting together on the new set.

 

I also saw on the program guide that they covered the arraignment live in the afternoon, but I didn't catch any of it or see who hosted.

Hughes handled coverage in the afternoon. Not sure she did all of it (maybe Vittert helped carry the load at some point????). Assuming she anchored her normal 3 hr block, that's a lot of hrs. for one person to anchor solo.  

52 minutes ago, Spring Rubber said:

Wait, so the control room in view wasn't just an image on a video wall? It's real?

Correct. That's all glass not a video wall. The second to last pic above was shot in the control room as they went to break. 

3 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

How is the show and how does it fit into the right-leaning vibe the network has been giving off?

Like I mentioned above..from what I saw briefly; it was a straight-forward newscast. I don't watch NN enough (i.e...I had no idea Tom Negovan disappeared at some point) so I can't say how right-leaning they have become. I will say Vittert, Cuomo (and maybe Abrams to a degree) have become more conservative- friendly.  I doubt Vargas will, but you never know.  

35 minutes ago, Spring Rubber said:

Thanks for the pics. I kinda forgot this launch was happening today. I also kinda forgot that the new studio was going to debut. At least the studio is on-brand and doesn't feel like a small shoebox anymore.

Yeah it’s a good space. I do wonder if, at some point, they remodel the now old small studio to have as a backup.

Elizabeth Vargas Reports premiere from new NewsNation NYC studio. Updated pictures.. Nice studio (w/ control room attached on one side and small work space/newsroom on the other). 
 

As far as the show… pretty standard fare with an emphasis on interviewing the day’s newsmakers.

I think interactions between the anchors will come with time. It’s a new format that everyone will have to get use to. I guess (hope) they get a chance to sit down off camera because standing for 3 hrs is a pain.

Honestly, I’m glad there were no panels or political discussions. I know that’s their bread and butter, but viewers can get that elsewhere. I rather they focus on the news during these two 3 hr. blocks.

I agree the show appeared too scripted, but that’s an easy fix. I’m interested in seeing how things will go when there’s breaking news (I.e… will they wheel in a desk and chairs for the anchors, etc…).

Overall, not too bad.

As others have said, nothing ground-breaking. Music is a bit too dramatic for me. Shame the new graphic elements couldn't be fully implemented. Kate seems out of it for some reason.

On 3/29/2023 at 10:21 PM, mountainave said:

Wondering if the new studios for News Central will coincide with a new studio for This Morning.
 

From a programmatic perspective I would think getting the new studio for the flagship morning show up and running should take priority over the daytime lineup.

 

On the other hand, the temp studio CNNTM is using functionally works, whereas the studios from which Newsroom has aired lately are not well configured for a 3-host panel with stand ups, graphics, etc., so I get the need to revamp those. 

 

We’ll see. 

A look at the logo (courtesy of The Other Site). I like this a lot.

I wonder if the new studio will look similar to this (‘Studio 7’ circa 2010, designed by ClickSpring). Ideally, it would fit perfectly for what they’re going for with News Central. 
 

3 hours ago, patsx3 said:

It’s strange, if the plan is to eventually rebrand all stations as CBS (city name) then I wonder why WBZ is now promoting their website as wbz.com. The bottom of the screen reads “The news is always on WBZ.com. It’s the first time their website has been promoted as anything but cbsboston.com in probably a decade.

I assume that given the newscasts are branded WBZ News, they wanted to keep wbz.com. Regardless of what you type, you're re-directed to the cbsnews.com/city, state or region website so, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.

On 3/23/2023 at 4:24 PM, C Block said:

I’m sorry, but that pee-stained Spirit Airlines vibe looks awful. 

Looks even worse on the streaming side. Hopefully someone recognizes this issue and fix it.

6 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

That runs entirely contrary to the core point of the restructuring, to merge CBS News into the O&Os. Plus WCBS-TV and CBS News have been tied at the hip since the days of Jim Freaking Jensen.

 

The easiest explanation here is that WCBS management utterly and royally botched the rebrand. There is no excuse to keep any references to CBS 2 if the station outside of newscasts rebranded to “CBS New York” anyway. For the network flagship, this is just downright embarrassing.

 

Wouldn’t be surprised if CBS gave KDKA the option to change the color palette to see if it could even be possible (and potentially incentivizing the graphics package as customizable to affiliates). And that’s pretty much it. In a few months, “KDKA-TV News” will be retired in favor of “CBS News Pittsburgh” (which is what it already is referred to in a visual sense).

I disagree. It has been well-known for some time that this entire process was going to be a collaborative one in which the legacy (whatever that may be) of each station would be taken into account with some flexibility when it came to graphics, logos, etc... That said, this is exactly what we're seeing.

Has this process/rollout been executed perfectly???? No... which is why certain things have been (and likely will continue to be) fixed/tweaked. 

I don't think the intent has ever been to make the look/sound of each and every CBS O&O be the same. That would be very unfortunate. 

19 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

So, both WCBS and KDKA were able to keep their existing newscast branding. The odd part is that O&Os that opted to keep their news brand didn’t have separate logos created for the OTA newscasts that reflect their branding (similar to KCBS/KCAL), while the version using the “standardized” wordmark was saved for the local CBS News streaming channels. If the OTA newscast logos were formatted to reflect the newscast title, the “CBS News [city name]” wordmark would probably need to be placed in the box, using the stacked version of the CBS News logo and the city/region name in a smaller point size aligned properly with it. (Granted, that formatting might not translate entirely well in the L3 bug.)

I assume WCBS kept their branding to differentiate themselves from CBS News given they are both based in NYC and to prevent viewer confusion. In KDKA's case, the call letters/branding coupled with the gold/black color scheme is synonymous with the station that it made sense for it to remain.

7 hours ago, Daybreak said:

WOW...There has to be more to it because how swiftly they got rid of Amy and TJ, they cannot possibly allowed this to go on and he's still on the air? 

I agree there has to be more to this. Surprised they were able to keep this quiet for so long.

32 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

I'd assume it was a three-party deal where the victim pretty much said 'fine, but if he comes near me again' and management said he wouldn't and blocked him from TSS. He's more a roving weather reporter anyways so his in-studio appearances were limited to begin with (usually he's stuck near the GWB for a location shot).

There are a lot of missing pieces here because this incident (or incidents), imo, would warrant a review of corporate policy and not a random ‘you can’t set foot in the studio’ agreement. 

5 hours ago, IceManNYR said:

The only odd thing I'm noticing from the new studio is, the graphics look distorted when they do the weather forecast from the video wall.

 

Too much light shining directly onto the screen (video wall). Same can be said of the one directly behind the anchor desk.

Not bad, but the main background is too much visually (blues clashing with oranges and reds). A more subtle/simple look would work better.

3 hours ago, Spring Rubber said:

At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the dayside programming will even remain in Chicago or if the eventual goal is going to be to move everyone to NYC or DC, just like everyone else in the national media game.

Despite them abandoning their ’News from the Heartland’ approach, I think the majority of programming stays in Chicago. Chris and Dan were already based (likely Elizabeth too) in NYC, so it made sense for them to stay there.

I‘m sure they will add an additional political show or two aside from ‘The Hill’ and be DC-based.

There’s no benefit I can think of to moving NewsNation (along with the rest of the Nexstar Networks group) from Chicago. 

2 hours ago, Drew said:

Now that Rush Hour will be gone by the end of April do you think Nichole Berlie will be moving to the dayside after Marini? 

The 1-5P block needs to be filled, so I’m assuming Berlie (along with someone else) would be given those hours. I think ’Morning in America’ needs a complete overhaul ASAP so I wouldn’t be against the idea of shifting Berlie there, making ‘Early Morning’  2 hrs. and moving Bankert to EM with Carr.