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.

Sorry to see Molly Grantham abruptly depart WBTV, as she was apparently forced out the door after she declined to renew her contract which expires at the end of the month. Rather than allowing her honorably finish 20 years of service, she was abruptly kicked to the curb wih no appropriate farewell or final broadcast. I would speculate Gray TV offered her an unsatisfactory contract, but whatever the case it is a shame to see her treated so disrespectfully. I hope to see her join WSOC or some other station if she so chooses and a contract is offered. WBTV continues to lose longtime legacy talent, incuding Paul Cameron, Maureen O'Boyle, Eric Thomas, Steve Ohnesorge, David Whisnant, and Steve Crump. Losing heritage credentials and class act reputation. More inclined to watch WSOC.

Yes they upgraded 13-WLOS in Asheville about a year ago, also very nice job. Although my antenna in Spartanburg actually pulls in WSOC Channel 9 from Charlotte much better in terms of ABC. And WSOC now has new Cox graphics, but seems a bit overdue for a new set themselves since the current version debuted inn 2012 and has only had a backdrop refresh in the years since. But good job by Sinclair with WLOS and WJLA.

Not sure why they want to remove the network logos from their branding. But I can confirm WBTV has removed the CBS Eye from the Channel 3 logo when they switched to grayOne. But WHNS is still branded FOX Carolina so I suppose the FOX logo will remain there, although they do not appear to have yet converted to grayOne. I receive both these stations with an antenna, so I can visibly confirm these graphics. Here in Spartanburg, WBTV Charlotte comes in strong just like a local channel which I can receive with an indoor antenna, while official CBS affiliate WSPA can be more of a challenge due to VHF. And WHNS comes in good, so 2 strong Gray stations here, although WJZY from Charlotte is also a strong signal, despite Nexstar downplaying the FOX affiliation. So it seems network branding and promotion may vary by market, despite the group package in some cases.

Apparently Carolyn Bruck may have finally departed WCNC. Need further confirmation here. She was well liked on both the morning and recently afternoon shows. But she has had at least 2 leave of absence periods in the past before ultimately returning. Hope to see her back on a CLT channel. Wish her good luck.

I am glad they changed their plan and decided to keep the legacy 3 channel branding in the new logo. WBTV has a strong familiar heritage as Channel 3 going back to the analog era as the first TV station in the Carolinas. Although they did eliminate the CBS logo from the new brand.

Another good addition along with Colin Mayfield who came from a Hearst station in Cincinnati. But what has happened to popular female anchor Carolyn Bruck? Is she on leave of absence again? She seems to have an on again, off again track record there.

I was disappointed to see Cheryl depart, as it seemed rather abrupt. Perhaps because they are cutting back on the afternoon show which may have resulted in a salary cut. Not sure about such personnel matters, but just sorry to see her go. I wish they would have found her a spot on one of the news programs, as she is appealing talent and did a good job. Also in Charlotte, former WBTV meteorologist Leigh Brock popped up again on WSOC as a Saturday fill in. Wish they would give her a permanent gig as she is appealing talent and a good weather presenter. Not sure why she was dropped by WBTV to begin with, as she was well liked and has been missed. They did recently hire Eric Garlick at WBTV to replace the late Jason Myers. Good weatherman, strong presentation.

Updating, for outdoor antennas, Televes has excellent performing products now supporting the US market. The Televes Ellipse Mix is good for suburban to distant areas, and the DAT Boss long range models pull in the deep fringe. All include a built in amplifier with automatic gain control to avoid overload and interference, as well as LTE filter. And they have a new version of the classic 8bay UHF antenna with the built in amp and added dipoles for VHF. Check Amazon, Lowe's, Ness Electronics and Solid Signal.

In Charlotte, QC talk show hostess Cheryl Brayboy has left WBTV, where she was regular talent on the morning and afternoon talk shows. The afternoon show may be cut to half an hour as Gray is adding an investigative news show in September. I always wanted to see WBTV promote her to the anchor desk, as she is a good anchor/reporter and would be nice to add another African American anchor.

In Charlotte the leading news stations WBTV and WSOC no longer have a regular sports segment on their newscasts. On WSOC the sports anchor Phi Orban is a news anchor on the weekends and only covers the NFL Panthers and NBA Hornets as warranted, with no daily sports segment. Back in the day, these stations had strong sports anchors Jim Thacker, Paul Cameron, Delano Little and Harold Johnson. WCNC and WJZY now have the most sports coverage.