compubit

Sorry to bring up an old topic but I was able to find some videos of the opens for KLAF and KADN.

And yes, they look really really cheap.

 

 

 

Remember, this is also the market where KATC has its own musical opening...

I have never heard or read of this reasoning. Can you provide proof?

Tongue was firmly planted in cheek...

J

Nice open "stolen" off of WSVN...

Here's a promo from WUHQ (now WOTV) in Battle Creek, MI circa 1988. WUHQ era videos of WOTV are seemingly rare. I've only seen about 2 other videos (a very brief DX clip in one of FuzzyMemoriesTV's video from 1979/1980 and a signoff)

 

I remember visiting my Grandparents in Western Michigan and WUHQ had a customized version of ABC's Still the One - We're Forty-One...

Wish I had recordings - but "Why would anyone want to record TV?"...

Jim

WBNX is on Channel 30. Maybe they move to 28?

My question on repacking is: will they "block" a city (especially where most towers are collocated) in frequency spectrum (i.e., put all 6 full-power UHF stations in a block - say from 14-19)?

J

If entire companies leave markets, there may be more areas where duopolies would be banned under current rules (fewer than 8 owners)...

Yes, but in today's digital landscape, it's much easier for an owner to put two HD streams on 1 signal - effectively 2 separate stations, one chunk of frequency spectrum (and with the auction, $$$ in the bank...). (As well as "play" with LD stations, *cough* Laredo *cough*)

J

Blues Rolfes to retire March 1 from KLFY.

 

http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2017/2/1/singing-the-blues

http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/life/2017/01/31/blue-rolfes-leaving-klfy-after-almost-40-years/97304128/

I had a friend who worked a short time at KLFY, and she had nothing but praise for Blue. And this comes from a time period where stations were often bringing in youngsters to displace the "senior" news anchors (cough, KPRC Dominique Sachse, cough). Best of luck in retirement, Blue!

J

WNBC had some similar graphics in their talent opens (Names scrolling down)...

That was bizarre- I associate Newswire with two stations, WAVY and WLVI.

Also WMAQ (where I first ran across it...).

Based on the set, it was probably December of 92? The open used the Circle 4, which then switched to the "extra bold" block 4 (used by the other NBC O&O channel 4s at the time).

November 92 (Monday after Thanksgiving) was when WNBC changed their 4, and WRC was about the same time. In April '93 KCNC was using Image IX, but the open gfx had the elements used in the Image IX package.

IMHO, Image IX is one rocking package!

Jim

Well that sucks!

 

I'm very saddened to learn of the demise of Fishing With Gussy.

CJBN was a fine station and had many loyal viewers. It will be missed.

All 3 are deeply saddened...

I think the KOLD theme is part of the CBS "We've got the touch" theme - I'm trying to track down more details, but if you Google "CBS We've Got the Touch 83" or "CBS We've got the touch 84", you'll here the musical themes...

(Edit) It appears that WAKA also used this theme - check the NMSA(/Edit)

J

Actually that was at the time of the merger. If you read the description, it says it was on the first day or on the first week of the new merged operation.

Back then, many newscasts were shared, but 7pm was on 25 only and 12 had the first (half) hour of morning news, and I believe noon.

J

WRC has a sunrise graphic that doesn't seem right to me - either the sun is rising ENE over DC or they're using a sunset shot. The buildings are silhouetted enough that you can't really tell the direction the shot is being taken from...

J

I'm also hearing (pieces of) the KENS 1980s theme in that promo starting at 0:28...

J

Ah, alright. I sure hadn't seen that shadow-box 2 before.

At first glance, I thought WGBH, but with the NBC N on the other face of the Mike flag, knew - that's not right.

For how much longer though? Could Nexstar screw that one up?

Well, you're going against Tegna, Sinclair, and a fairly news lame Fox station...

On the 40 percent tax bill, if they took it as a lump sum, that makes sense. If they're going to continue to be paid every two weeks, as they are now, until they reach the total number of weeks they're entitled to, taxes should stay about the same.

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

WSAV in 1985. Some very subtle TVbD influence, surprising for 1985!:

 

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

Never noticed how high up WRC's skycams are. In this clip you can see a helicopter flying on the bottom of the video frame.

 

Also when did their news desk get a monitor installed?

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

WBFF is still working out the kinks. They need to add the sponsor image which appears in the white space underneath the logo on the right hand side. They also need to add additional current weather locations - only one is listed and that is Baltimore leaving two empty boxes, I would suggest Washington DC and maybe the Eastern Shore or Annapolis. Apparently their traffic system did not switch over yet as it still uses the old graphics package.

 

Over all it appears that this launch was rushed.

 

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