Greggo

KPRC tweaked its initial 1994/1995 set (the one that corresponded with the rebrand to News 2 Houston) multiple times before moving to the KPRC News Center, a working newsroom set based upon WSVN’s, in 1998. Even when they dumped the newsroom set and moved back to a more traditional one, it remained the newsroom with many of the fixtures still in place until the building was replaced and then demolished on the same lot about 5 years ago.

With Cox leaving Boston, I’d be shocked if Standard General doesn’t abandon the disastrous Boston 25 brand for a return of Fox 25. Also … someone above was asking about Cox blowing out the Tegna sets. I wouldn’t count on it. KOKI, their Tulsa station, is still using its Clear Channel set. The WFAA set is brand new. The KHOU set is only a couple years old and dates back to when the station relocated to the Galleria area after flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The KVUE set is the stereotypical Tegna “set in a box” but it, too, isn’t that old. Cox will likely let these stations pick whichever graphics they’d like, however. Maybe WSB, KIRO or the “Tonight” graphics.

If that were the case, then Houston wouldn’t have been included either. Cox has a cluster in Houston with 3 FMs and an AM. Only thing I can think of is that they felt the need to keep at least one large station in the state to work with all the small ones. The smaller stations share HR and other functions. The larger stations give them a lot of back office support. The general manager at KVUE in Austin has management oversight at their Tyler, Texas station, for example.

There’s also this one from WBBM … one of the most ambitious talent opens you’ll ever see.

This will always be one of my faves. It looks better than most of the stuff on the air now across the country, even though it’s around 25 years old at this point. They did such a great job with that package. Clearly a lot of time and thought went into it. The quality of the animations, the timing of shots … everything. And then to see it all swept away when they took on the “precious” WOAI call letters … Also … the KTVT package above is another great one. KEYE here in Austin swiped it and used it for a bit while they were still an O&O. They at one point used a modified talent open where the anchors’ actual signatures were shown in place of displaying their names using the designated font

Agreed. So many things wrong with these talent opens. The news anchor robotically lifting and tilting his head looks very forced and unnatural. The news and weather anchors both make awkward hand gestures. The weather guy looks off to the left at the end of the group shot on ABC. Clearly the shot ran out. They couldn’t fix? It’s especially odd because the Fox open doesn’t have that issue. Also … I’m not sure why they feature the sports director, whose segments are pretaped from the night before. Not trying to be a jerk, but if anyone knows the people who put this together, maybe have them reach out to a more experienced peer in a larger market for feedback next time.

Seems like there’s got to be something more to this. Maybe he’d been growing increasingly unhappy and just decided to walk? You leave the same day you make your announcement, the day before a major sweeps period when your station has the Olympics and the Super Bowl? I’m sure they had their anchors already scheduled for the entire month, had cut a ton of promos and now they have to shuffle. Perhaps one of his parents did take a turn for the worse but even then, would you quit the same day? I mean … he also has a wife and kids who have to be relocated. That takes some coordination. Switching schools, finding a new house, etc. Not to mention a new job, unless he’s going back to KXAS. Dallas is only a 45-minute flight from Houston on Southwest if something ever came up. Honestly it would just be easiest for KPRC to put Keith on the 5, 6 and 10. Keep Andy on Midday and noon, plus have him take over the 4 from Keith. They wouldn’t need to hire another male anchor, wouldn’t have to introduce a new face and would save some $$$$. They’ve been using Brandon Walker as a fill-in on some shows in recent months so he’d be available if need to help when someone is off. Blowing through both main anchors in a span of less than 6 months (and 3 in about 18 months if you add in Bill, who Kris replaced) isn’t a very good look for KPRC.

Guess they waited till contract renewal time to avoid a potential lawsuit.

The WOAI/KABB bosses initially told the local newspaper there would be no sharing after Sinclair snagged WOAI. That has been watered down dramatically over time … especially since WOAI moved to the KABB building from its historic longtime home on the River Walk downtown. (A fire sped up the process.) They share weekend anchors, weekday morning traffic anchors and GA reporters. You will see the same news reporter turning the same story repeatedly mornings, bouncing between the 2. The weekday morning and evening anchors don’t really cross over. That’s about it now.

CBS Austin (KEYE) morning meteorologist Nicole Hartford announced today she’s going to WXIA in Atlanta, her hometown. She didn’t say which shift she will be working.

Monica’s 2 shows will be on Peachtree TV. The article specifically says she will not appear on WGCL’s news programming because she is keeping her deals to appear in TV commercials for various local firms. So, to all the WGCL cheerleaders, just how exactly does this announcement help WGCL? Answer: It doesn’t.

Those logos are soooooo smooshed!!!

Off to a great start

KEYE/Austin prerecorded the 10p news Sunday, presumably to avoid an on-air dumpster fire. They were open and told viewers it was prerecorded because of technical difficulties. The news segment was recorded at a different time than the weather segment so the news anchor and met were never on camera together. No L3s, no prompter, no opens. This morning, still no L3s, prompter or opens. They have weather graphics and commercials are running. No traffic maps. Assuming they’re affected too. Last newscast captured by NewsOn was Saturday at 10p. FTVLive is reporting Sinclair’s master control systems are now not able to ingest new content which, he predicts, could mean some stations go completely black if this isn’t resolved soon.

Adding to the cheesiness … that shot behind the female KOSA anchor is a static one. She’s not in the control room. And not in front of a monitor showing a live look inside the control room. I wonder how many viewers have picked up on that

Which GM/ND/CSD looks at the honeycomb package and says, “That’s the package I want for us!” ??? It immediately looks so dated. Straight from the 1970s or 1980s.

More Houston TV news … 5p anchor Art Rascon is retiring from KTRK at the end of the year. His replacement will be … his son, Jacob Rascon. Jacob recently left KPRC, where he had been co-anchoring weekend mornings.

WOAI replaces main anchor Randy Beamer with Jonathan Martinez, weekend anchor at KPRC. I could say more, but I’ll keep my mouth shut. #Sinclair https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/meet-jonathan-martinez-news-4-san-antonios-new-co-anchor

It’s kind of odd that his former station, ABC 15, spent far more time on his death than his current station, ABC 33/40. (He had been gone from KNXV for about 4 years.) A well-produced, 6-minute package vs. a VO. Either way though it’s a very sad story.

With May sweeps over, KXAN/Austin has parted ways with evening anchor Sydney Benter. She’d been there about 4 years. Britt Moreno from KCNC/Denver has said she is heading to KXAN and is the presumed replacement. Sydney’s post is actually kind of heartbreaking. It sounds like she was completely caught off guard. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2021/05/sydney-benter-leaving-kxan-austin.html

There was an f-bomb on WMAQ’s 10p newscast Friday night. Reporter Chris Coffey was doing his live intro on a mask mandate story when a man ran behind him and yelled “F-ck Joe Biden.” Coffey was obviously startled but apologized and continued. After his signoff, anchor Allison Rosati said she was glad Coffey was OK and that she hoped the man would apologize to him for what he did. Crazy enough, they didn’t even bother to bleep the word — or cut the report entirely — during the overnight repeat. Lazy. 003388E3-540C-408F-91BB-E6F4B6282735.MOV

Seems like they still need to do an internal investigation but not looking like that will happen.

Damn! 11 discrimination complaints at WKYC alone? And 9 at WTSP? What is up there and how is management still there? Also ... I definitely don’t think we should identify these folks ... but regulars on this board can probably figure out at least some of the people they talked to. There were 2 I figured out based upon circumstances that were previously published.

NAHJ, in a recent message to members, claimed Tegna was digging in and supporting the management team at KUSA. This came after a recent meeting. Tegna can’t seriously continue to do that. The more that comes out, the more it appears the KUSA GM and ND, at a minimum, need to go. This is causing serious damage to the entire chain’s credibility and alleged commitment to diversity.

Thanks! Interesting that 2 is acting like Start is new when they were already carrying it.