24994J

No matter how much you know, I realize you can't say anything specific (and I understand if this is even too much to ask), but I do have one simple yes or no question...will anything seem familiar?

So, after seeing it like half a dozen times in a few days, I just realized that Bill Ratner is voicing a new morning show promo. It's far more tradtional; anchors on the set, doin' their thang, 'bout as far from '7 in the Morning' as you can get. I have a feeling they might be going back to a more authoritative voice for the news division. I don't think they should dump Roger Rose, though. He's been at the station long enough that he's familiar, and he thrives at the lighter-toned work. As for the serious stuff, I've never been a big fan. But, we shall see...

It looks pretty good, but I would sooooooooo rather have new graphics.

Yeah, from some reason I just could not think of the name. I kept think Charlie Van Dyke, which I knew it wasn't. I guess I was thrown off because at no point did he say 'CBS 2'.

A different announcer is being used for an I-Team promo. Not sure who it is... http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=9209261

Funny thing is that someone called them out on the Snowden OTS on Facebook, but not the other one.

The spell-checker had the day off. Same newscast...

There's a new 'Chopper 7HD' and Sylvia Perez breaks her silence... http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/5791-news-notes-my-fm-b96-abc-7-sylvia-perez-brian-noonan-greg-brown-jason-dildine-steve-dahl-more This is the chopper...

I wouldn't say that the '7' is thicker, it's just been softened some...

Seriously, that NEVER gets old.

I'm not going to make a big deal about this, seeing as it was under special circumstances, but ABC7's Frank Mathie just ended a live shot with "Frank Mathie, Channel 7 Eyewitness News". He was giving a preview for the station-sponsored Leukemia walk that honors late reporter Jim Gibbons, who died from the disease in 1994 (when the Eyewitness News branding was still in place). It all still made me do a double take

There's black (gray), blue, red and gold. The ONLY place I've seen the black one is on WABC. Most of the affiliates are going with the blue, which is more subtle than the red and gold. As for the circle 7, it's seems to be essentially the same one they're using now, but with the gradient effect toned down and softened. However, the coloring remains the same, namely the grayish/silver.

Hahaha. Nope, just wondering because I DVR Dolinsky's Wednesday morning segment at 11am.

Just for giggles, about what time did it air?

That is seriously the most fun I've seen them have in YEARS. This is why I think Ben needs to be on the morning show. I like Hosea, but either promote him upon the retirement of someone else, or...

It turns out that Saturday morning meteorologist Mark Bishop is leaving the station after the June 15th broadcast after 8 years. He's accepted a teaching position at an institution in Nashville. No word yet on Channel 7's plans for the time slot.

My thoughts exactly.

I'll guess this is why 'Katie' ended at 3:53 today.

No. Only the text slides are in the boxes, but your not going to see much of it tonight. Jerry doesn't seem to be using it all as much as Tracy or Mike. If you really want to see it in action, check out Tracy's forecast at 11am yesterday... http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=9113598 I need to make my way downtown sometime. If you notice, she's actually touching the screen. I have no idea how, though. In the past, whenever anyone touches the drop-down screen, it used to swing and sway. Now it's not. I'm wondering if they've blocked the window with a permanant set-up. That would explain why we haven't seen the desk-to-weather center camera angle, or the wide shot of the crowd outside. I was downtown in March, and nothing had changed then, but you have to wonder if anything has been done since.

There are some heavily updated weather graphics as of this morning's 11am show. They look pretty good. All of the area maps and stuff are still the same, and this is a very heavy refresh, but who knows? This could be a sign of thing to come. This is the first real overhaul to the 7-day in about 12 years (at least). This is the full album... http://s1260.photobucket.com/user/24994J/slideshow/ABC%207%20Chicago%20Weather%20Graphics%202013 And this is the 7-Day graphic... And the old in comparison...

Eww.

And the ABC's on the flag is reflective, so they have a shine that's not artificial like WABC's. And they are still using the 80/90's silver mics. Giggity.

WLS has updated the promo graphics. All newscasts use the same too-low-lower third in the teases, with the 5, 6 and 10pm shows using "Eyewitness News". They look really nice, and I'm kinda (begrudgingly) getting used to the music switch, though it is still relegated to promos only. The graphical elements looking really clean and sharp, with the animations being far more fluid than before (in my opinion), most notably the way the anchor's name flashes onto the screen... [yt]aCJUnk31d4k[/yt]

They're still running it, but a lot less often, and it's the 15 second version (without the song lyrics) most of the time.