compubit

40% seems a bit high. I know when I termed with a former company at 12 weeks of PTO payout, it was withheld at about 25%. Granted, I wasn't making large market anchor salaries (maybe small market), but not 40%... Most likely it'll be a lump sum, so that it can be written off immediately, and not a liability. If there is a continuation of medical benefits involving an employee contribution portion, they may be able to defer that specific amount, since that's usually pre-tax money... (Plus some states - California, especially, have some whacko laws which may impact withholdings, etc.) Jim

This logo looks like someone took the KYW 3 and flipped it upside down! (And features Arthur Fennell who ended up at WCAU...)

I'll have to look at when the desk got a monitor, but think it was around the time that they changed the font for the word "NEWS". As for the skycam, based on the angle of the view, it's on one of the buildings in Crystal City (where I work). The camera can easily pick up the traffic going into or out of Reagan National Airport. I've also seen it swung down to look at the airport, usually during weather segments. Jim

I prefer the second much more than the first one. I'm not even sure Wes Quave even visited Huntsville... I do like the homage to the old 3 fingers/1 finger of folks at local events that WAAY used to use during newscast closes back into to the 90s. J

The US could implement ATSC 3.0 as the UK has done with DVB-T2: If you want HD, you have to upgrade to a newer Freeview box (that supports MPEG-4), but digital TV (SD widescreen) is available for backwards compatibility. I wish, though, that station transmitters would all be co-located within a market - with SFN-types of repeaters to fill in coverage, plus markets would be "banded" together frequency-wise. For example, if a market had 5 channels, then at a co-located transmission site, that market would have say channels 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 (maybe with 19 & 20 as "spares"). OTA users could then have one place to point to, as well as a frequency-matched antenna. Of course, it could end up like Italy, where nearly every channel is in use country-wide - but for national channels, the muxes are on the same frequency: MediaSet Mux 2 is always on Ch. 36 and TIM Mux 1 is always on ch. 47. But where there isn't a national channel, there probably is a local or regional channel offering even more programming. Side note: Digital TV in Italy has intrigued me - where we stayed near Cortona, my computer tuner identified over 250 streams over the air. Some were radio, some were encrypted, but most were regional or national channels. There were some duplicates - sometimes a local channel will carry a channel from a different state (in exchange for carriage in the other locale), so you can pick up a stream twice if you're in the right location. Being interested in local news, my biggest issue was trying to figure out when local newscasts aired (teletext was the only semi-reliable solution - no printed local/regional guide, and websites were lacking with program guides or just program info for just 1 stream).

Anybody catch the few frames of Rolland Smith after the "This is CBS" slide on the KNOE clip? Someone in NY didn't fully fade to black before WCBS started their news. I remember as a kid a couple of times when someone at KHOU was asleep at Master Control, and let a WCBS news break start during the 9:30pm CT local opt out, as well as an occasional WCBS/2 ID through. This usually happened on a Saturday or Sunday night - when the folks working weren't the station's "A-team". J

Are they currently still keeping graphics in the 4x3 safe zone? Guess that this may be part of an update to eliminate that (like WRC just did recently...)

I just saw a WFAA newscast since the switch to TIH (first trip back to Dallas since the summer). I noticed different cuts for the each segment - the first break after the A-Block had a bit of a "Hello News" feel (at least to me). I do like the variety (over what I see on w*usa 9, my home Gannett station). As for integrating "The a Spirit of Texas" and "This is Home" - I can see it easily being done using the 6-note SOT signature followed by the TIH signature. I have it running though my head right now and think it sounds decent - but since WFAA is branding as "News 8", I haven't seen any vestiges of SOT anywhere on air... It seems that Gannett just wanted to kill the SOT, to ensure folks knew that Belo isn't in charge anymore... (Just my thoughts) J

I was able to catch the Saturday morning news from DC. I didn't get to see the open, but thought the look is OK. One thing I didn't like, and would think advertisers wouldn't like either, is the continuous "L box" - where your competitor could be sponsoring the ticker while your ad is on the screen... J

I just got home from visiting friends in Houston - they have a widescreen HD TV, yet still go to 2, 11, 13, 26, etc. (SD feeds) on AT&T Uverse abd watch everything SD stretched, even more fun if the channel is letterboxed - stretched with black at the top and bottom. I've given up trying to get them to go to 1002, 1011, 1013, 1026, etc. I had no trouble with my parents in their 70s - heck they're amazed at the quality, even on a 720p large screen... J

WUSA made the change at noon... J

CFRN in Edmonton used this theme (or a knock-off) during the period when they were going as CFRN 2 ("CFRN. It's true. It's 2!"). The station aired on Channel 3, Cable 2. This was also the time period when some other Canadian stations were using cable channels for idents: CFCN 3 (OTA 4) CICT "Calgary 7" (OTA 2) CKY 5 (OTA 7) CHRO "NewsSix" (OTA 5 & 43) And later: ckvu13 (OTA 10) Some used both: CKND 9 & 12 CISA 2 & 7 CJFB 5 & 9 CHAT 6 & 3 J

Au contraire, mon frere! Go back to 1949, and Wilmington, DE's WDEL-TV on channel 7 was an NBC affiliate, moving to channel 12 is the frequency reallocations of 1951, eventually having it's license turned back to the FCC, then reincarnated as WHYY. Also, WMDT has a satellite station: WEVD, a low power station (formerly W27AJ), so technically, Delaware does have a big 3 affiliate within it's borders, albeit without any true local programming. J

Nope. I ran tvnewsthemes.net when I had a little more free time (technically still do, but haven't updated in ages). (Plus I have a lot more content to post and trade....) I'be been thinking about an update, now that I'm settled in the DC area. Also thinking about a Roku private channel for some newscasts (particularly HD), since I have a new hosting site with lots of storage and no bandwidth caps (and blistering Internet vs. what I had in Houston) J

CISA is Lethbridge, Alberta used the theme in the mid 90s and I never found out where it was from. It's one that is in my "favourites" list from Canada! (2&7 C-I-S-A, Turn to us!) Thanks! J

Wonder if that's a Gannettt thing... WKYC in Cleveland had an ice desk and the weathercaster did a rap (which was skewered by Jimmy Kimmel...). J

Definitely agree - plus they are a 1 owner market: Saga owns ABC and Fox on Full power, plus NBC, CBS, Univision and Telemundo on Low-powered digital stations. In a market like that, there's a different level of reporting - definitely more to the community level. J

Does KJUD/8 even have any local news content? I thought that KJUD/8 and KATN/2 were essentially news satellites of KIMO/KYUR/13. J

Some of these could cause an epileptic seizure... But still great history of the Delaware Valley's News Leader. J

Is that the same David Scott who anchored at KXAN 25 years ago, then bolted for Houston with KHTV's failed early 90s 7pm & 11pm newscasts?

KNAZ was also using the NBC: TPTB themes way past the end of the network run - especially in late night hours at least into 1994 - though not for the newscasts themselves

I guess the station was so poor, they couldn't afford W's for their title graphic... I'm surprised they even showed the anchor smoking into the 70s... J

I'm guessing that CSN Washington will start formally sourcing WRC's sportscasts... (I haven't watch 4 in a while, so I don't know if thy're doing something already - guess I'll set the DVR tonight...) Jim

I think it's Beartooth NBC - thought I'd be interested to see what a "Bluetooth NBC" looks like... J

I made my first visit to Las Vegas in 1994 (change from a NASA engineer to an IT engineer) and attended NetWorld+InterOp in May 1994. KLAS was using PYCCO8 at that point for Eyewitness News and still had Real News on their "local update" on CNN Headline News. I enjoyed the closes - most were a full minute or longer with nice clean cuts of the music (I have them on 8mm tape, somewhere...) J