rkolsen

Yikes. I’m amazed she still has time to roll the prompter with all her jumping around.

WBAL’s running a 70th Anniversary Special Tuesday at 7:30pm. Really they signed on March 11th but you know sports.

If I recall correctly one of the changes they made was that the anchor didn’t have total control of the show nor the managing editor. Lester definitely has input but probably not complete control.

I seem to recall it wasn’t that big. I believe when they moved in 2014 they stayed in SD widescreen. http://www.wmtw.com/article/photos-wmtw-prepares-new-westbrook-studio/1971169

The studios an easy way to imitate the backdrop of the plaza.

It sounds like the flu was going around the Super Bowl. One of the highlighted comments for me on Instagram on Lester’s flu pic was Jim Rosenfield. He came down with it when he got back. It makes sense people from all over the country and world coming to Minneapolis. And this was at the time when they were running endless flu stories. With Dylan Dreyer getting it right as she arrives in PyeongChang sounds like she caught it at the Super Bowl. According to the CDC the typical incubation period is 1-4 Days (average of 2), a person can transmit the virus one day before they develop symptoms and upto a week after they recover. So it sounds like Dylan caught it at the Super Bowl and got sick in PyeongChang but was quarantined. I heard of other people getting sick at the Olympics. It’s not that surprising as everyone’s working and living in close quarters. Back in Rio the media people from station groups all share an apartment or two per group and I imagine it’s the same in PyeongChang. Of course I expect stars like Lester to have his own room or hotel. In the media village where space is at a premium people are practically stacked on top of each other it wouldn’t be surprising if it was filled with germs. The primary way of transmitting the virus is through coughing and sneezing - causing large particle droplets - which travel around a meter. So imagine your at one of those long desks at the IBC and someone sneezes everyone immediately next to, across or catty corner to them is at risk. But enough about being the transmission of the flu. Here’s Lester and his puppy, soup from Dateline colleagues and tamiflu recovering. Hopes to be back tomorrow. [MEDIA=instagram]BfeEkbcHBCs[/MEDIA]

The flu has been widespread in the US affecting more than normal. I think the same goes for South Korea. When Dylan started feeling bad they quarantined her to her room. Part of me thinks Lester was coming down from something rather than being all out sick when he went home. If he was really sick I don’t think he would work two days.

Lester is one of the hardest working anchors/reporters there is. I’m sure if he didn’t want to be out in cold at the Super Bowl he wouldn’t be or at the Olympics where he’s probably was coming from or near one of the dedicated stand up locations. Plus it’s not like he’s working outside the entire time. Him and the entire crew work inside and go outside when needed. I’m sure if it’s cold enough he would be inside a building or a truck during the commercial breaks. Both at the Super Bowl and the Olympics those stand up locations although outdoors they have those large commercial gas powered heaters. The big kind that’s like a high powered fan and heat a large surrounding area. The same type of thing goes for the Hollywood Squares setup that the NBC affiliates use - there are large heaters. Those standup positions benefit from having walls on three sides and what looked like a transparent roll down wall.

I almost want to say it’s because it’s live Coast to Coast. Everything’s happening in real time and we now have to wait through entire events versus the carefully edited pieces and events in previous Olympics.

He said on twitter that “the best way to cure jet lag is by working”. Which explains his appearance on Sunday. It may be a bit late for them to report from Florida but maybe there’s some exclusive waiting in the wings. His son Stefan has been on the air so maybe it isn’t family.

Horrific.

Shameless plug. A video I made of the various BBC World News simulcasts open/closes by KCET with some programme elements

KITV in Hawaii is having some twitter trouble. I noticed yesterday that many of their tweets just link directly to an AP article with text in the tweet saying it’s copyrighted. [MEDIA=twitter]964940265659207681[/MEDIA] Edit In case they delete it here’s how it appeared:

Well that’s a lot. A few of their shows are inked in for a while like Ellen and Steve. Kate Amara did the arching jo for a while she launched the 10PM newscasts before doing a few years in the DC bureaux. She returned to WBAL and I think is happy at being their lead political reporter. One show they could drop would be Access Live if they want to do a 4PM. It’s been used for years as a filler show. Also WBAL still doesn’t clear the fourth third hour (Megyn Kelly is considered seperate) of Today. The shows preempted in the morning for Live with Kelly and Ryan and at night with Access Live.

You mean the weather isn’t like that locally? I thought that was standard NameDropper HD. Maybe WBAL’s running it through a different system. Do other stations have some issues with the text disappearing when the ticker background disappears like around 3:55 of the video?

That sounds interesting. There have been times when both of the morning people have filled in in the evenings. Megan’s a good fit. I found it odd that she would leave a coanchor job at WMAR, to go do some PR, and come back and basically be an in studio reporter (but let’s be honest the PR gig was just a job during a non compete - she was there for seven months). Either Scripps wasn’t renewing her contract/paying enough or WBAL pays a lot more for a breaking news anchor vs a coanchor at WMAR.

[quote name='TVNewsLover']Seems like they can promote from within. Pair Deborah Weiner with Stan Stovall, and pair Andre Hepkins with Lisa Robinson. Stan & Deborah can do 5&11, while Andre & Lisa handle 6&10, and morning team of Jason & Mindy can handle noon. Or Stan & Deborah can handle 6/10/11, while Andre & Lisa handle noon/5.[/QUOTE] Sounds good. I just know Deborah is going to be there somewhere - she already was a known personality but lately in the past two or three years they’ve elevated her profile. For example the evening news promo spots include her and Andre in the group pose and they’ve promoted the 10PM newscast a lot more now. Before the 10PM would get a spot here or there but now it’s one or two spots (promoted as “the early advantage”) in every newscast plus a tease at the end of the 5:30 half hour (makes me wonder if it’s a strong competitor against WBFF). I also wonder how long Stan’s going to hang around as he’s atleast 65. I think that Andre Hepkins is the obvious heir apparent to Stan. They moved him into do the 5:30PM half hour and 10PM while reporting at 5,6&11 from the studio. I doubt they would do anything to the morning show as they have a great chemistry and still are young. Sorry in advance @Weeters I didn’t mean to get on the speculation train with all these fantasy rotas.

I think if the parallelograms were pointed in the opposite direction it would be close in size to the Hearst one.

WBAL’s Donna Hamilton is retiring from the station on May 23 after spending 22 years with the station. No word on a replacement. I am assuming Deborah Weiner will take over one of the slots as she’s Donna’s fill in when she’s out and Friday evenings. Would be interesting to see how this will effect their ratings. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/111219/longtime-wbal-anchor-donna-hamilton-retiring

Here's a video showing the various opens to Today and different program elements.

Here are some more pictures of the Saturday Today setup and some images of the graphics that I uploaded for the folks over at TVForum who were curious. (Note they revert back to the regular graphics for non Olympic stories - for some reason they do not insert the Today Show logo in the lower thirds) Like in Rio they edited the ticker space that the affiliates use. The affiliates did not have to change any of their settings rather the Today team changed the backdrop for the affiliate text to overlay.

It’s their larger insert studio. Frequently Noticiero Telemundo came from there and Wake Up With Al. Anyone notice how their graphics are just a reversed version of the old hearst chyrons.

Okay. It could also be a bit more difficult now / complicated with it all being hubbed.

Thought they did it for Rio.

Any word if they plan on doing midnight updates during the Olympics?