ns8401

They filmed scenes in New York City, New Jersey, Atlanta and Huntington. That top white box above the weather map is definitely based on a Scripps graphic I think. They could easily have paid them to use the design elements. Looking a little harder one of the real KC stations did a piece on it… this was filmed in New Jersey. The set is a fake built at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. They dressed up a building as the stations building… they even put satellite dish props behind a fence.

That music just doesn’t work. It look good but the sound is dreary.

Actually I was genuinely curious. Every single board I’ve ever been on has had some folks like you describe.

What sort of message boards do you go to where everybody is perfectly polite all the time?

80 or so years in is anybody really confused on where to find what channel or what’s gonna be there when they turn it on? Honestly I think the network names and logos in the local branding is way worse. Most of the people watching are 902 and their dials are rusted on whatever channel they prefer.

When we say Scripps cast are we talking about packing a bunch of National content in or just clearly prerecording the thing?

I wonder if we are gonna have to deal with the lower third always being on the screen during stories? I kinda like the way the current package lets them shut off for most of the story.

Some management shuffling in Detroit… WJBK GM Greg Easterly is retiring. He had been with the station since 2019. WJBK has parted ways with its News Director, Laura Moore, who had been with the station since 1998 in various roles. They’ll do an internal and external search for a new News Director. WJBK has also eliminated its Director of Community Service position which was held by Katie Fehr who had been there since 1996. Their new GM is Paul McGonagle who had been the VP and News Director at WTTG in Washington D.C. since 2014. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2025/07/01/fox-2-detroit-new-general-manager-search-news-director/84430915007/

WDIV is opening a coffee shop in the western Detroit suburb of Plymouth with the oh so clever name “Fourgrounds”. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/06/24/local-4-to-open-coffee-shop-community-space-in-downtown-plymouth/

Longtime WDIV reporter Hank Winchester had his home searched on June 13th and he has been placed on administrative leave. Apparently he was studying massage therapy and made unwanted sexual advances towards a man during a massage. He’s been at the station since 2001. WJBK is blasting this as the lead story on its website. Classy. https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/home-wdiv-local-4s-hank-winchester-searched-police

This is about as generic as you could possibly get I think…

Inergy was pretty good I thought…

If he’s 75 now the odds of him simply disappearing one day aren’t near zero anymore. Sometimes you just gotta know when to hang it up.

With ESPN in the family you would think they’d figure something out as a workaround. It always annoys me when I dip into a newscast from an ABC O&O.

Those are quite impressive.

The gold one was one of the worst things ever devised by mortal man. Those colors belong in a 1970’s car dealership. The other one was good except for the silly flying box on the left. That got old after a while.

It’s probably to counter the stupid, over the top, full of yourself presentation of WDIV. And besides. It’s the best thing they’ve put out product wise since all the old folks retired. That and they can put out a cleaner product than WDIV, which it is, and try to capitalize on that sinking ship over there. Do I wish they had some of the old O&O style energy? Sure. It’s it the most mistake free in the market? Probably. This new music package with the goofy string sound just sort of repeats variations of that and it sounds kinda weird after a while. WFTS played about two minutes if it today and it really never even gets off the ground. It might make a great BREAKING NEWS bed but it’s kinda lousy theme music.

This is the 7 day forecast graphic. It looks pretty decent me thinks.

The current music is rather... lethargic too. I really miss Inergy at this point. This music won't fit everywhere if thats the required opening cut. Maybe there is something better in the package. These graphics look pretty good though I hope they keep the concept of the transitions featuring the station logo between stories. It was a nice touch. I am glad to see there are no text bubbles or crazy flying boxes or other insanity this time.

Everything they have been doing lately has an early 2010’s Scripps vibe to it. I mean… who would hire the guy that brought “The Now” into existence and burdened the local stations with it?

Lauren Kostiuk has joined WDIV in Detroit as a reporter from WTHR in Indianapolis.

When WXYZ switched to the 7 First Alert Weather branding in 2011 they started “7 First Alert Weather Days” not long after. They’ve been gone for years now. WDIV then rebranded their weather to “4 Warn Weather” and started doing “4 Warn Weather Days” which is executed in a ridiculous overhyped fashion. Apparently nobody got the memo there that it’s so last decade.

The neighborhood reporters thing isn’t actually a bad concept. WXYZ is giving its plethora of reporters each a beat. And it’s sending them out to rustle the bushes for stories in their assigned area. All but a handful (5 or less) of their air talents are not from Detroit so the reporters they are hiring know the area. If you do it right it’s pretty workable. They haven’t reduced anchor time and the quality is much improved overall. So if done well it’s a win. Certainly an improvement over all the failed Scripps ideas.

Good for him getting out there like that then.

Too bad they clip sports out of their on demand recordings. Is third fiddle at WLS a step up from Sports Director at WBBM?