tylerSC

Disappointed Tegna NBC affiliate WCNC Charlotte has cancelled their Sunday morning political program Flashpoint. It was an informative program with newsmakers and political leaders that aired after Meet the Press, as sort of a local version. Good program, sorry to see it go. Victim of cutbacks, I suppose. They are now airing infomercials in its place. WSOC still airs its Political Beat program on Sundays on the Cox ABC affiliate in Charlotte, and the Hearst NBC affiliate WYFF in Greenville-Spartanburg still has their Sunday news and public affairs program.

Nice upgrade for Raleigh/Durham. But they need to upgrade and modernize the news studio at WSOC. Although I realize the Charlotte ABC affiliate is owned by Cox and not Disney/ABC. But overdue for an overhaul in the Carolinas' largest market.

I think they should return the CBS Eye logo to the bottom screen graphics. The solid one next to the correspondents name and the transparent one during the rest of the broadcast. They still use the logo on the other CBS News broadcasts as well as entertainment programming. And I think they should still use the Washington studio when major vents of the day originate from DC. Such as State of the Union, election and other political coverage. The DC studio is still a very nice studio and can easily be modified for various broadcasts. Although most of the time the new Evening News can still remain a New York broadcast.

They could return her to the morning news since Nate Burleson is now busy with the game show and sports telecasts, but I think he has been a good addition so I don't foresee any changes there.

I always enjoyed Bob Scheiffer hosting Face the Nation and the CBS Evening News. Washington insider, very congenial, appealing presence. Margaret has a harder edge but does a good job.

Have they announced yet what Norah's next assignment may be? Or is she leaving CBS?

Yes DC has always had strong, legendary news stations. Back in the day on WRC you had Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, Bob Ryan, George Michael and Arch Campbell. And WUSA featured Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyeon and Warner Wolf. And WJLA had Renee Poussaint. Great talent back in the day.

Yes very nice to allow Norah to anchor the Inauguration coverage, which is good since she has anchored the political coverage the past few years. Gives a since of continuity and completion to the election coverage, and good be a way to introduce Dubois and Dickerson into the coverage if they choose to. Might be helpful to the transition.

Has there been any word regarding Hoda's future plans with NBC? Or has she totally departed the network?

I think the CBS Evening News may be the best network broadcast, both journalistically and aesthetically. And Nora O'Donnell is polished, polite, and professional. I just don't understand why they are making these talent changes. Well, nevermind, I guess it all comes down to the ratings and the demographics. But I thought Nora otherwise was doing an excellent job. In previous generations, growing up, my preferred news anchors were Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and then I transitioned to Peter Jennings.

And I guess it is still too scandalized to consider bringing back Matt Lauer, and it probably would cause backlash and a PR issue. Which does beg the question, reminiscent of his famous old segment, "Where is Matt Lauer?" Although it would nice to see Katie and Meredith make some return appearances. They sometimes show up now and then, and I believe are still in good standing. And maybe have KLG guest host with Jenna sometimes, but she has apparently moved on to personal projects in Tennessee. Craig Melvin is a solid choice, and a guess they decided to leave Willie Geist on Sundays and MSNBC. But will definitely miss Hoda and her positive attitude and pleasant demeanor.

And of course Kathie Lee Gifford returned to honor Hoda in the fourth hour, where she hosted originally before Jenna Bush Hager. Jenna does a nice job, but I still think I enjoyed the original pairing of KLG and Hoda the best. I kind of thought they might have Tom Llamas take over for Hoda on Today but perhaps they are saving him for when Lester retires from Nightly News. I wonder if he or someone else will show up as a supporting 3rd host as Craig Melvin has done previously.

WCNC Charlotte also debuted their renovated set today at noon. Main change was adding a new large video wall as the main backdrop behind the desk, replacing several monitor panels stacked vertically. Nice improvement, but the side video monitor wall and weather center remain the same. Overall a generic Tegna look similar to WXIA, but a nice upgrade.

Tegna seems to be upgrading WXIA and WCNC. As WCNC has been staging the anchors at the video wall and side areas in the studio rather than the main anchor desk, for about 2 weeks. It may be a renovation rather than a full rebuild set. Perhaps they are changing the video monitors behind the desk with a new backdrop. And perhaps a similar upgrade at WXIA.