rkolsen

I also wonder how long will it be until Sinclair starts using WJLA's helicopter up here in Baltimore. The distance from DC to Baltimore is about a 40 minute drive and WJLA's bird has been overhead for their coverage if the breaking news is big enough.

I'm watching WBFF's 11PM rerun right now and find it interesting that the rerun does not include the opens or transitional elements that are featured in the main broadcast. Also worth noting that it appears the live bug is burnt into the recording and that rerun does not include their logo. They still are using the old graphics, I still find it odd that the flagship hasn't switched over yet. But they did launch a new HD SkyCam in Towson which I would say is significant because no other affiliate has cameras outside of the downtown area of the city. Towson is probably 20 miles from the inner harbor and has a big mall with a large "Luxury wing" where all the high end store has shops. Towson also has a few colleges where the largest university that has 22,0000 students and has a strong downtown area that is being revitalized.

I remember the old baron systems did that - hell WJZ's does (it looks like they up convert their radar to HD despite running Accuweather). As for the power of the radar it is most likely the ERP which takes into account of the gains of the antenna. Wikipedia uses an example that a 100kW radio station would typically only use 10-20kW of power.

My biggest complaint with the animation was that one beam appeared to be gaining speed on the other one and that there was no set interval. So it's exactly as I thought. This makes me wonder of this new technology called CASA radars which are being studied by MIT are in operation in Northern Texas and Oklahoma. The radar system uses several low powered radars spaced maybe 50 miles apart which they can selectively point an individual radome to focus on a small section of the storm so instead of having it spin 360° it pivot 90°. It makes me wonder if there are any tv stations in the country looking to deploy this method.

Is it just me or their studio in a bathroom - it has a bit of an echo. Also they were truly creative with their radar name Max Storm - I take it that if WSI named their product Weather A (as in the source input) that's what they would have branded it as.

Could someone explain to me why when I see their weather forecast when they show the Doppler radar there are two beams rotating different speeds from the same radar site? Correct me if I'm wrong but dual polarization radar "scans" the horizontal and vertical resolution at the same time from the same radome at the same speed. I realize that double scan is their marketing term that refers to nothing in particular but those two radar beams also move way to fast considering the average radars on the market (including private manufactures, NEXRAD and the TDWR) take 5 minutes to do a full 360° rotating

Please delete.

During the time that Weekend GMA was last broadcast from Time Square (October 2010) the set was almost exclusively the second floor and the first floor was designed as a subway station used for indoor concerts which was abandoned in January 2011 as a cost saving measure. Oddly they moved back downstairs exclusively in September 2011. The upstairs portion, aka the Marquee Studio, is now used for ESPN2's Olbermann but is available for rent. While I was searching for this information I learned that while Disney owns the building but ABC News has to lease the space out, which explains why they may not want to use Time Square during the weekend, especially if they have to pay for off hours access. You would think the rent would be non existent through vertical integration. This makes me wonder if the key staff and hosts have offices at both Times Squade and at 77 West 66th.

Call me crazy but I would want my morning show to broadcast on the weekend from a tourist trap like Time Square rather than at Rockefeller Center where you could draw a much bigger crowd than during the weekday.

Is there any specific reason why they don't use Time Square for weekend GMA?

I'm thinking a national reporter may not want to do a piece like this where it could damage their credibility if they were to do this type of piece. Plus if it came from Hunt Valley, WBFF would have made the most sense because they are the closest. Second how many national reporters do they have? They only one I know of is Kai Jackson but he has yet to make an appearance on WBFF because of a (what seems to be a very long) non compete clause.

First off I have a few questions: -Why do stations have to advertise and list every place they send job notices for EEO filings? I have read some of the EEO filings and they list every person who applied for a job and why they weren't hired (I think that could violate some privacy laws.) -They stated that the promotion with cartoon characters made unfair advantage of the trust children have in said characters - Do children even think of cartoon characters as trustworthy? I know I didn't. -Why do stations have to list and advertise where their public file (containing EEO, Children's Programming, Political Ad Time and Viewer Complaints) is nowadays when almost everyone has a computer and the FCC mandates they update it regularly?

Here's an article that was posted on Poynter today about the discussion of their content management system, called Presto, and the design of the website. http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/journalism-and-business-values/257767/case-study-gannetts-monumental-task-a-content-management-system-for-all/

Most of the time the do use their rear projection screen like they do in the video where it usually shows videos pertinent to the story and occasionally graphics with the story headline for the first two stories of every "block". Then when they do round up summary of brief news they use over the shoulder graphics where unlike other Hearst stations they do them only on the left side of the screen regardless of anchor positions (WJZ keeps the OTS on the right). The camera shoots the anchor close up with either the projection screen showing a generic diagrid background or they use the dura trans. I will say I prefer the use of one sided OTS graphics because it keeps the text in the same area of the screen when the other anchor takes over. I found that my eyes don't have adjust/refocus to read text on the other side of the screen (this is attributed to bad eyesight). Second, I do not like how Hearst designed the OTS graphics for the right side of the screen where the spinning diagrid cone takes up the bottom corner of the screen rather than the top - this sometimes cuts off what an anchor is wearing and interferes with the lower third graphics. They also have a few different camera angles that show content on a second monitor which is just an 80" projection tv that is used in the weather center. The shot is angled in a way where they can shoot the anchor and an interview subject who sits on the left side of the desk next to the weather center with the tv in the background which is displays supplemental information (If you've seen their set or any Hearst FX set you know how the layout). In front of the news desk they have a 50" monitor that most of the time displays a static logo or the date but during the noon newscast when they report on the stock markets they will pull out the shot and use this monitor to display stock market data while they give a brief update. To the right of they anchor desk, they have the standard FX Group design for Hearst monitor tree which is essentially one 50" plasma mounted on a pole with two 20" monitors stacked on each side of it. The monitor tree is used for traffic where the big monitor displays the maps and the smaller ones show various feeds, during sports the big one shows the prominent footage with the others showing a generic sports logo or if they have supplemental video it is shown on the smaller ones. The final area of the set is a multipurpose type of area where they do exercise segments / interviews / pet segments / demonstrations on a "stage" that is probably 15 feet wide and 7 feet deep elevated a foot off the floor that has a second 100" projection screen built in behind it which will display the number of reps for exercises and questions for the veterinarian. On occasion they also use this area when they interview / do cross talk with the Washington bureau with their reporter on screen. Wow, I didn't expect to write an essay on their camera shots but I did. I also realized that they do use the monitors on the set for a purpose other than to show a the city scape background (which is what WCVB did with their 9x3 monitor wall refresh). As for the screen capture that was actually the best one that I could get using the OTS shot.

Maybe it's just me but I really dislike these picture in picture over the shoulder video graphics that seemed to have been rolled out in the past year at various Hearst stations. Here's a iPad screenshot from tonight's 11 PM newscast on WBAL showing various weather graphics: It looks a bit better on television in HD. But, I don't understand why they use it to show either live helicopter footage or a taped piece from the ground. Why would they choose to relegate good footage that is procured and transmitted to the station in HD to such a tiny picture frame? I'd rather they air the video full screen with the anchor doing the voice over. If they are gung-ho on keeping the anchor in frame why don't they put the footage on the 100" rear projection screen behind the anchor. In the past they have blocked the camera angle where the anchor presenting the segment fits perfectly with the monitor behind them keeping everything in the 4:3 safe zone.

I've noticed that too and when they display the names on the lower thirds it typically only lasts five seconds which is just long enough to read it. I'm willing to guess their lack of use is mainly due to the fact that their newscasts are not personality driven as opposed to say WJZ's morning news with Don and Marty. However their PoP promos they do display the anchors names while they cut from footage of anchor speaking. I am also thankful they don't put the anchors twitter accounts in the lower thirds because the blue twitter T logo does not look good against the background in addition the @ sign looks a bit messed up.

Not virtual - although it was designed to give it that look with the monitor walls. It's just Hearst's way of being creative using a green screen - it would have been perfectly fine with out the monitor wall. I've seen it in use at WCVB, WESH and I believe WPBF.

You mean this type of full screen graphic http://www.rkolsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/image.jpg where inside the parallelogram there's the occasional live video feed? Or this one http://www.rkolsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/image1.jpg where instead of the first bullet point it's a small video box? I don't think it's necessarily tabloid like WHDH and WSVN are, rather they are just using what's available to them.

WISN's looks a bit difficult to read, I think it's mainly the red on blue background that's making it difficult rather than the size. However the the width of the stylized pillar boxes looks to be bit off. Maybe it's because of the height of the ticker skewing some of the ratios.

You mean this variant: This one was introduced in 2008 was used up until they started using the current weather crawl right a few months before they launched the diagrid graphics - so my estimation is January 2012 the new style was introduced. As for my thinking this was standard aided was because of a press release from the EAS encoder manufacturer saying Hearst bought 30 encoders/receive which receives the alert and is interfaced into the graphic system to generate the crawl. I've seen it in use from air checks from WESH (which actually did a splay spring with one side golf and the other side weather and they have the ability to broadcast both audio programs) and WPBF. I think WCVB used it as well.

Since you appear to be the expert on this subject what is the "best" / most powerful graphics engine platform? VizRT, Avid, Chryon, Vertigo, Orad or something else? Seems like Viz has been the latest go to platform. Also I agree that KINGs set does not match the graphics.

Regarding the cutting off of Jimmy Fallon's head - the issue is fixed and as of tonight they squeeze the picture to fit everything on screen. As for a map of the counties I don't think it is necessary in this region although WBAL has the compatibility to do so through their WSI weather system. There are only twenty four counties (including the city of Baltimore) in the state of Maryland but the Baltimore DMA only consists of 11. WBAL's ticker displays severe weather warnings for the entire state, which I believe has to do with their sister radio station being the primary entry point for the entire state and somehow the encoders are connected. Second in Maryland there is more of an awareness of the county that a person resides and works in because most of the services provided in the state are handled by the individual counties where as in Pennsylvania individual townships provide the services (I asked someone who moved out of state what county they are in and they didn't know and responded with a township.) A third and final reason is that when a station overlays the state map on screen with only certain parts colored it is not aesthetically pleasing and because of its size on screen it's difficult to ascertain which areas are which. Currently the Sinclair triopoly consisting of WBFF, WNUV and WUTB are the only stations that overlay the state map on screen during severe weather which is color coded and rotates through different maps if there is more than one warning. The map is translucent and is about 150 pixels wide by 120 high. The text stating the alert type despite it being bold and colored is difficult to read because the background is translucent to the program. In addition these stations do not give the additional information that the crawl that WBAL, WJZ and WMAR offer which includes a description of the storm type, size, it's current location in the area, where it's heading and when the alert is set to expire. I believe the severe weather ticker was placed at the top so they could easily add a third line for additional information such as a different alert type. Even though the image I posted has the third line repeating the same information - the current ticker that was used tonight during a thunderstorm warning displayed information pertaining to a flash flood warning that was also issued. Furthermore they probably placed it at the top of the screen so they can display additional information such as closings and delays simultaneously. Yes, there is a sense of redundancy in the screen captures that I provided, how ever the ticker is not on screen all the time. The ticker appears when the alert is first issued, the information is repeated twice and then disappears leaving the bug/logo on screen by itself. This process is then repeated after every commercial break. The only time it is constantly on the screen is when there is a tornado watch or warning. As a side note here's their graphic when there's an amber alert: [tweet]https://twitter.com/rkolsen/status/441632698906738689[/tweet]

I know Hearst standardized their severe weather crawl where there is a graphic that displays the type of weather warning that is occurring, next to it the counties and until what time they are affected and below it more detailed information in a ticker stream. Here is what it currently looks like: Then today I started wondering what kind of digital on screen bug do other Hearst stations use during severe weather when the crawl is not in place. You can see one in the above picture on the lower right hand side. However it appears differently during the newscasts - the main thing is that it adds the peacock logo and the 11 is now yellow instead of translucent. Take a look: With all of these differences in graphics made me wonder what other Hearst stations do to alert viewers to severe weather. Do they use the same type of illustration (the storm clouds or snowflake) integrated with their logo to alert viewers or is it completely different? Please share. Secondly if any one has a guide or listing to all the different types of warning logos please share. I remember in the late 90s - early 2000's WBAL used to print out a pamphlet outlining all of their different logos for severe weather (I think there were about 9 different type of alerts) along with tips of what to do in such a situation. I believe the alert logos are the same today as they were in the late 90's.

I thought about starting a new thread for this but decided against it. I would like to know why ABC has decided to let their stations basically do what ever they want for their local news crawl during Good Morning America. In fact I think their national news ticker which is replaced when a local affiliate keys over their headlines looks horrendous and doesn't mat the graphical style at all. Compare this to what the Today Show and CBS This Morning use where it fits into their graphical style perfectly and requires little operator intervention. For Today all the affiliate has to do is to edit a simple text document and their Namedropper HD system formats it and the machine does the rest. I'm not familiar with what CBS uses but I'd reckon its similar. But for both of them it's essential a set it and forget it operation where the network sends cues for when the crawl should appear or disappear.

I find it interesting that USA Today already updated their homepage to a different design less than a year going live with this version.