tylerSC

On 1/4/2022 at 2:22 PM, Nelson R. said:

Yeah it seems like WJZY is the guinea pig again, like they were when Fox Television Stations bought the station and they went to the Hey, Hey Carolinas soft news format. But they are more competitive this time and at least they are not doing soft news so time will tell.

The upgraded and expanded news product is good. The new set is an improvement. But the rebranding is ill advised and unnecessary, and seems a bit juvenile in its approach. And could alienate viewers in the DMA outside of Charlotte. They should retain FOX46 has a strong identifying brand and just add Queen City News as a subtitle if they are so determined to do so. That would be the best combination of the legacy brand and a new marketing strategy.

15 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

It’s just going to be Queen City News (Fox Charlotte outside of news) and it begins next Monday. I like the Fox 46 Charlotte Queen City News. Good Day Charlotte is going to become Queen City News Now.

I wish you would persuade them to remain FOX46. Most folks seem to have a negative reaction to Queen City News and think it is a bad idea. And they haven't changed their FOX8 in Greensboro or their FOX56 in Lexington, Ky. This just seems juvenile and stupid.

On 12/22/2021 at 9:31 PM, TexasTVNews said:

'JZY should have stuck with "FOX Charlotte News".

They should remain FOX46 as that is a strong and familiar branding. It identifies both the FOX affiliation and the channel you are watching. They could add Queen City News as a subtitle if they choose, but that still may alienate viewers in the suburban communities, mountains, and Upstate SC who do not identify with Charlotte, and prefer to avoid the association with crime, traffic, and higher taxes. The new set is nice, and the news product has been expanded and improved. But the rebranding is a very bad idea. They should remain FOX46, not the idiotic Queen City News which sounds like some amateur community publication.

On 12/13/2021 at 9:11 PM, tylerSC said:

What has happened to Maureen O'Boyle at WBTV? She has been off the air for over 2 months and no apparent explanation. She is missed and hope all is ok. Must be some sort of extended leave.  

Maureen O'Boyle returned to the anchor desk at WBTV tonight, after an extended absence of over 2 months. No explanation given but just a welcome back. I guess just a personal leave but all seems well and glad to see her back.

What has happened to Maureen O'Boyle at WBTV? She has been off the air for over 2 months and no apparent explanation. She is missed and hope all is ok. Must be some sort of extended leave.  

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Also at WCNC in Charlotte anchor Bill McGinty signed off and announced his retirement after 32 years in the news business. Sounds like a sudden move not previously announced, but it seemed it may have been his choice and not a Tegna decision. He was at WCNC for 10 years as an afternoon and fill in anchor and consumer/ investigative reporter, known for his Get McGinty reports. Sad to see good, strong seasoned talent depart WCNC.

On 11/2/2021 at 3:19 PM, JoseRM303 said:

Couple of updates out of Charlotte and WCNC:

 

Sarah French who has been filling in on the morning newscasts has been officially named co-anchor of the weekday morning and midday newscasts.

 

Carolyn Bruck who had been out on leave the past several months returns to the station today but this time as co-anchor of the 4 pm newscasts. No word on who succedes Sarah as co-anchor of the 5, 6 & 11 pm newscasts. 

Yes Carolyn Bruck is back, after her 2nd extended leave of absence in several years. Not sure if it was for health or personal reasons,  or contract negotiations. But nevertheless she had developed a popular following, and had a good relationship and chemistry with coanchor Ben Thompson on the early show. Not sure why she was moved to evenings, but I guess it would be considered a promotion of sorts. I hope Sarah French remains on the morning news as she is a talented journalist and anchor, and has also developed a good rapport with Ben Thompson. Sarah was originally the evening anchor before moving to mornings to fill in for Carolyn. Now the flip flop may be permanent, as Vanessa Ruffes seems to be the new nighttime anchor.

On 9/30/2021 at 11:15 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

When WHNS joins the fold, that will add Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina as well. 

Gray may as well add a digital presence in Raleigh/Durham to fill out the rest of the state. 

And they could do a much better job in the Triad than Sinclair does with their so-called "local" news being piped in from San Antonio. 

 

Those moves fill out both of the Carolinas right there and how Gray can compete in markets they aren't in already.

WBTV-3 already puts a very strong signal into much of Western NC and Upstate SC, well beyond the official Charlotte market. In fact their signal comes in strong just like a local channel in Spartanburg and extends into Greenville. But of course WHNS will bring more Upstate SC focused news as WBTV focuses more on the main Charlotte metro.

On 9/20/2021 at 3:52 AM, tylerSC said:

So far we have only seen a limited view of the 2 anchors sitting at the main desk in front of the big monitor screen that shows a live view of the skyline. Would be nice to see more of the set. And perhaps they will eventually use the nice monitor wall seen in that above YouTube video. Seems to be a slow transition so far without any publicity.

And I am not sure why they spent all the time and money building a nice new set only to have the talent doing live stand up shots from the parking lot and calling it a "satellite center." You can see the big dishes in the background. But seems a bit phony baloney to me. We never see any wide shots from inside the studio, nor the use of monitor walls or any other aspects of the new set. Just the tight shot of the 2 anchors in front of the video wall. Seems like they would showcase more.

And a bit confusing as they are still using the FOX46 branding but some of the promos say FOX Charlotte. Looks like they can't make up their mind. But I would prefer them to remain FOX46.

On 9/15/2021 at 1:44 PM, SFTV said:

So are they going to give us a tour or be hush hush about it like it’s any normal day like KPIX did when they debuted their remodeled set with no mention whatsoever. 

So far we have only seen a limited view of the 2 anchors sitting at the main desk in front of the big monitor screen that shows a live view of the skyline. Would be nice to see more of the set. And perhaps they will eventually use the nice monitor wall seen in that above YouTube video. Seems to be a slow transition so far without any publicity.

At 4:00 they were in the new studio. But still old FOX graphics and FOX46 branding. Maybe they did have last minute change of mind. We'll see. As for the studio, so far it has a big monitor wall behind the desk with what may be a live cam pic of the Charlotte skyline. Need to see a bit more.

On 9/11/2021 at 12:41 PM, Nelson R. said:

An incoming employee said they wanted more diversity at 5, 6 and 10. Right now Lindsey is reporting. Wouldn’t surprise me if she is looking around though. 

Lindsay Clein may end up anchoring the noon news and 4pm as apparently Page Fehling is leaving at the end of the month. According to front page story in today's Observer. Supposedly family reasons but the revolving door at Nexstar continues.

They are still heavily running FOX46 news promos Sunday night. So we'll see if they indeed change to FOX Charlotte on Monday. Maybe they wised up and decided to stay FOX46 as they are well known. 

13 hours ago, Sendir said:

Monday soft launch. You won’t be disappointed unless you just completely hate Nexstar with no objectivity. Lol

Looking forward to the new set, but do not care for the rebranding. They should stay FOX46 as they are well known. And what has happened to Lindsay Clein? Seems like an abrupt departure for no good reason. But that seems to be the Nexstar pattern lately at WJZY.

On 9/8/2021 at 1:08 PM, Nelson R. said:

I am hearing another delay…the set was going to debut this week but apparently they are having cold feet on what the news branding was going to be. They decided to abandon that. They are going with the Nexstar Fox graphics but might not be de-Foxifying their branding after all. This coming from a new employee. 

Well I hope they reconsider and keep the branding FOX46 instead of changing to FOX Charlotte. And I hope the Nexstar graphics look good because I think the current FOX graphics look very good an don't necessarily need to be changed. But i know they often change graphics when a new set debuts.

On 9/6/2021 at 10:55 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

Gaffney (and Cherokee County SC) are part of the Charlotte market, correct?  (no longer the case....were they ever?)

Since it's just east of Spartanburg, there's probably a lot of cross-viewership there.  South Carolinians want their SC stations (and WLOS), and Charlotte is just a stone's throw away. 

Belmont (WJZY's COL) is even closer since their facility is in Western Mecklenburg County and Belmont itself is just across the Catawba River in Gaston County.

 

I know WMYA is relayed on WLOS for the Western NC viewers, but they don't do the same for WLOS on WMYA.  

Cherokee County is officially Greenville-Spartanburg/Asheville market, but Charlotte TV signals are very strong and carried on cable there. WBTV, WCNC, and WJZY broadcast from 2000 ft. towers in Gaston County west of Charlotte, so they put a very strong signal into Upstate SC that reaches into portions of Greenville County where I formerly resided in Mauldin before moving to Spartanburg County. WSOC and WCCB also reach Spartanburg if you have a decent antenna, and WSOC also has a translator on Crowder's Mtn. that reaches Spartanburg. I'm not sure how news ratings measure antenna viewers, and they probably no longer include out of market viewers beyond the official DMA.

On 9/4/2021 at 10:13 PM, JackityJack said:

The number of overlapping viewers would be incredibly small.  He’s not the only person from an adjacent TV market to make the switch to Charlotte, or for that matter, to that station recently.
 

As for a Charlotte station trying to pick up a new anchor—here’s that’s up with that.  Any ‘spots to fill’ are largely female anchor slots, at this point, if you take a look at open positions.  All the stations are relatively stable on anchors. Plus, I would imagine all the stations now have a ton of research on their main talent behind them. 

Well if you use an antenna, most Charlotte signals are easily received in Spartanburg, especially WBTV, WCNC, and WJZY. And WSOC and WCCB also come in. WSOC even has a translator for an additional signal. And WBTV especially is super strong just like a local signal. So there is overlapping coverage if folks choose to watch. But cable/sat services dropped Charlotte years ago, despite antenna availability. Ironically 13-WLOS from Asheville is difficult to receive, and it is the primary DMA. But I get ABC via WSOC very easily.

17 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

And it moves to 10am starting Tuesday because Good Day Charlotte expands to 4am-10am. 
 

 

 

Ted Phaeton may have overlapping viewers from Upstate SC as he moves from one studio on I-85 up to another, as he is leaving WHNS-21 FOX Carolina to join WJZY in Charlotte. Both WHNS and WJZY overlap antenna signals in Spartanburg County and parts of Greenville County. He has previously hosted morning news and weather on WHNS. I guess he will be the replacement for Nick Kosir, the popular "dancing weatherman" who departed. Now I wonder if a Charlotte station will try to lure evening anchor Cody Alcorn from WHNS, as he is one of the more popular GSP/AVL personalities.

17 hours ago, Requiere said:

I mean... It's a logo? Kind of seems lazy imo. Also this makes it feel as though they're emphasizing more on the FOX brand and less on Charlotte.

 

Lazy, bland and generic. Doesn't provide an identifier for what station you are watching. Both the channel number and call letters are missing. Only the national network is identified. Not sure how this helps them promote a local news product that is just now gaining some traction, new set or not. Not a fan of this new branding.

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I see your point.  Usually any set change is part of a new graphics package, and even the trifecta of a new brand as well.  Some places do them all at once in a well planned move, and others happen in stages. 

 

Some cases a new graphics package just shows up one day, especially if it's a corporate one mandated by the owners.

I like the current FOX graphics package that Nexstar inherited, but I guess they will change that too. And I am speculating we may see all the big changes on Tuesday.

The strongest legacy analog branding is indeed Channel 3 and Channel 9, with 18, 36, and 46 a bit weaker. And WBTV does identify more by the call letters, although the 3 remains prominent in the logo. I would say Channel 9 used by WSOC is the most prominent channel number branding. And the Circle 9 logo is classic, and one of the first and best looking in the country. However, WJZY has always been well known as Channel 46, so I don't quite understand why they would want to drop this identifier. I guess they don't want to look like a FOX O&O anymore, I don't know. But their current FOX logo and graphics package looks good, so I am sorry to see them change it. And Nexstar kept FOX8 for WGHP in Greensboro and did not change to FOX Triad. So this is a bit inconsistent. And they changed CBS North Carolina back to CBS17 for WNCN in Raleigh, so these changes at WJZY seem like a step in the opposite direction. FOX46 is stronger and more familiar, depicting both the national affiliation as well as the local channel identity.

1 hour ago, Nelson R. said:

Yeah they have been phasing that in during Young Sheldon, YBYL and BBT promos. I’m extremely disappointed as well. Which makes it even more crazy is that they are “de-Foxifying” their news branding according to someone on Discord who will be working at the station in a couple weeks. 

They probably want to de-emphasize FOX based national reporting in favor or Nexstar regional reporting or their NewsNation brand. But they should keep the familiar FOX46 identifier. FOX Charlotte is very generic and does not indicate or promote the channel/station you are watching.

On 7/13/2021 at 1:51 PM, tylerSC said:

Glad to hear the update. Sounds like they continue to expand and improve news coverage.

Hope they keep the branding FOX46. Well established and no need to revert back to FOX Charlotte or something like that. And the current FOX graphics package looks good so they should leave that alone. And don't see the need to change the call letters.

Well looks like I will be disappointed with the rebranding. New promos indicate the FOX46 logo is being replaced by FOX Charlotte, which was previously used by WCCB back when they had the FOX affiliation. Disappointing since WJZY has always been known as channel 46, from the independent days and through the UPN and CW eras. While 46 does not quite have the legacy branding of WBTV channel 3 and WSOC-TV channel 9, it is still familiar, especially to those of us who watch via an antenna. I generally dislike when stations drop their channel numbers from their branding. I was also disappointed when WCNC dropped 36. Looks like the current FOX46 logo and FOX graphics will soon be retired, which is disappointing as they look good. I agree with the upcoming new set and studio, but not the total rebranding.

And I guess the new set should finally be coming soon, as September is almost upon us.

On 8/1/2021 at 8:09 AM, iron_lion said:

Ann and Matt had zero chemistry. Ann to her credit is a serious newswoman and should have remained as the newsreader. BUT as much as I’m warming up to Savannah, Ann was superior. I just wish Meredith would have never left!

 

Once Ann was out, coupled with the reformatting of Today when Studio 1A went from orange to blue around 2013, marked a sharp quality decline in the program. Add that against the team of Robin/George/Josh/Lara/Sam on GMA, and there was no going back for Today. Worse yet, Today is severely dumbed down compared to the days of Jane, Bryant , Matt and Katie.

 

CBS This Morning is the best on the air right now and deserves to be #1. I agree that morning news ratings are down as a whole because of changing viewer habits and the litany of depressing news over the past decade. COVID and the Election on repeat became annoying after a while. Moreover, the quality of tv shows from as a whole from cable to broadcast isn’t as good as it used to be IMO.

The Today Show had the best combination of personalities with Matt Lauer and Katie Couric and then Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera. But Ann Curry was an excellent reporter and news anchor. And I miss Kathie Lee Gifford on the 4th hour, and I appreciate the way they allowed the legend Regis Philbin to make guest appearances. But I agree the best morning show now is CBS This Morning. 

On 7/8/2021 at 8:40 PM, Nelson R. said:

UPDATE: Just read on the Nexstar channel on Discord that the new set/studio is coming in September.  It’s likely coming with a total rebrand, and they have added staff. They could even be adding on to the building. They are also planning on more newscasts. So my guess is that GDC will be expanded into the 9-10am hour and an 11pm news will be added, with Charlotte Sports Live moving to 11:30. I would expect to see the Nexstar graphics in September. Who knows, they might even change the name of the morning news.

Glad to hear the update. Sounds like they continue to expand and improve news coverage.

On 7/12/2021 at 9:07 AM, Nelson R. said:

Now I’m hearing that WJZY could even be changing their call letters! This is coming from speculation but the secondhand source seems pretty legit so it could happen. I hope not. They really don’t need to go that far. That’s the only call letters they have ever had since they’ve been on the air. (They were originally licensed as WHMU).

Hope they keep the branding FOX46. Well established and no need to revert back to FOX Charlotte or something like that. And the current FOX graphics package looks good so they should leave that alone. And don't see the need to change the call letters.