DMA

Looks pretty cheap - I guess it's the least important of the O&Os, but the monitor array on the left side of the set looks 10 years out of date.

It looks like they're still using the Look F geographic map wipes (e.g. "Manhattan", "New Jersey"), but the package is so iterative that I suppose they still match. Overall looks great, lovely animations and typography. Glad to be rid of the grey bar on the bottom of Look F!

Has anyone noticed a shift in the editorial tone at WABC recently? It might just be for sweeps, but coverage of things like crime or city nuisances seems much less neutral and much more tabloid than they had been previously. For instance, a report by Lucy Yang tonight on subway crime was much more forceful and scathing in attributing it to bail reform than I would have expected from WABC, nearly FOX-like in tone. The following report on a dirt bike crash referred to the familiar city nuisance as a “scourge”. I don’t think these examples are bad journalism or even ethically fraught, but they are an abrupt shift from the generally empathetic, descriptive, and non-analytical tone that I associate with Eyewitness News. I’m curious to see if this continues - could management changes be the root of this? Happy to see them test new waters but if this is indeed a new approach, I’m not sure the New York Post is the best font of inspiration.

No, current CDC guidance allows vaccinated people from different households to be unmasked indoors: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html Obviously the circumstances of a workplace will be different, so it is good that stations are acting cautiously rather than moving too fast.

I suspect that much of the distancing on screen hasn't necessarily been for actual risk minimization, but public service "modeling" behavior for viewers, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing! I wouldn't be surprised if things gradually come back to normal soon.

Honestly fairly surprised by MSNBC becoming the top network!

Is he going to take over the 11am from David?

I'd hazard that there are a fair amount of under-the-hood upgrades that we might not notice but take a while to implement?

I get that they're in a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode but the desk really clashes with the rest of the studio design.

Yup, I think the mullions were removed in 2018? Other than that though, I think everything has stayed the same aside from the removal of the desk in front of the secondary video wall used for the weather, and the introduction of the new desk recently.

The set has a slightly odd fishbowl arrangement with the placement of the weather center, I doubt they could widen the desk without camera framing being an issue.

I think it's probably permanent, standing presentation has been their post-COVID policy, and this minimalist desk probably makes framing shots for the LED wall easier. If it was temporary I don't think they would have gone to the trouble to make LED uplighting for it.

I have a soundbar with a center channel and WNBC is consistently the best - I think they actually broadcast in 3 audio channels (doubt it's true 5.1) WABC is normal stereo and WCBS is consistently muddy audio wise.

GMA3: What You Need To Know is such an incomprehensible name, just rename it to ABC Afternoon News or something.

It's truly insane to me (as someone who is very much on the side of COVID precautions) that WCBS has seemingly cancelled the noon under the guise of COVID restrictions. Seems like Judge Judy and Insider is here to stay. WNBC is operating normally / partially remotely, as is WABC. If they wanted to produce the noon responsibly, they could have. If the justification is the frequent Cuomo/Murphy fireside chats, it looks like today was the first day that WABC opted not to broadcast it live, so that excuse is now out of the way.

Truly horrendous - the 2017-2020 package was great (maybe even classic?). They were minimalist, unobtrusive, and most importantly, legible. This is a huge step back and gives me flashbacks to horrendous 2007 era graphics, super masculine and industrial for no apparent reason.

I’ve noticed these full screen graphics being used tonight - are they new? Or from a package from a sister station?

I think aesthetically WABC is a victim of their own success - we're in a very static news market, and WABC's dominance has been imprinted upon nearly two generations at this point. The comically large text, stodgy format, primary colors and dated music are certainly iconic. Even though I find the entire product fundamentally incompatible with my tastes, I absolutely understand the rationale for keeping WABC in the 90s - it's working.

Not to go totally off topic since this is a Sinclair thread, but it does appear that they're in the midst of expanding their operations: https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/newsnet-breaks-ground-on-new-studio. They're scrappy, but it's an endearing effort and I think they're making good use of the resources they have.

I think Cablevision->Optimum->Altice does in fact carry NY1 in NYC, the reason being that Spectrum and Optimum territories do NOT overlap, so there's no disincentive for Spectrum to license it out. Not sure about RCN though.

I always found it odd that FiOS 1 never launched in NYC proper, only in LI, NJ, and LoHud. I know NY1 is king, but it seems to be a major competitive disadvantage. I wonder who Verizon will contract this out to - certainly not NBC or ABC, but I wonder if some link to an Oath Media property would be at play.

I agree here - if you're reliant on traffic reports in the morning, WCBS-AM, 1010 WINS, or even KTU would be better sources than TV News. If anything, I think there should be more of an emphasis on transit coverage, given how skewed the market is towards public transportation.

It looks much improved, I always thought that the lighting in the previous studio was much better, despite it being smaller.

I've seen promos for it with Stefan Holt, it's a 7pm livestream on YouTube.

Rehearsals began last week apparently, there are some unremarkable progress pics in the set thread.