MediaZone4K

National update: Lester Holt and David Muir are anchoring on the ground in Florida. Norah O'Donnell however is in studio in Washington. She is however on her way out so I wouldn't blame her for opting out of storm coverage if that's how it went. West Palm Beach Stations were apparently going commercial free during their newscasts due Milton related to tornado outbreaks.

Interestingly Norah is the only evening news anchor not in Florida covering Milton. Don't blame her though. If I was on my way out I wouldn't do it.

Agreed. The Internet's 24/7 news cycle makes non-stop storm broadcasting somewhat unnecessary. Conversely, storm coverage is the draw factor for local stations especially in natural disaster prone areas like Florida. Unless Tampa outlets are using relaxed coverage as an opportunity to evacuate and let the staff tend to their lives, this is puzzling. Even more peculiar: the markets getting the outer effects of the storm, not the market getting landfall are going wall to wall? This might be a domino effect. Once one Tampa station decides to go nonstop, the others might follow to be competitive.

I can agree with that. If their delivery is declining and their appearance becomes disheveled, that's a good reason to hang it up. I'm just very careful of telling older people we don't want to see them anymore. Conversely, I've seen stations tell talent that they look too young to be taken seriously. It might be off-putting to see someone who looks 17 talking about retirement savings, but again, work should come down to ability and job performance over years lived.

As of Tuesday evening, non stop coverage in Ft Myers and Orlando, Tampa apparently not. Perhaps this is to allow station employees a chance to tend to their families and belongings?

Late to the party, I noticed ARC Morning Shows popping up across Sinclair. It means "Authentic, Relevant and Community". From what I saw out of WHAM and WPEC, they're very CW/Fox-type morning shows. I like this as opposed to straight news in the morning. Not a bad idea, could have used a better branding title though.

Interestingly I'm seeing WBBH WZVN Fort Myers go wall to wall, but (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't see any Tampa stations doing so (yet). Ironically, Tampa/Sarasota is supposed to be the market that gets a more direct hit.

SW Florida cant catch a break, Especially considering recovery from Hurricane Ian is still relevant. I wonder if Fox 4 will go live like their counterparts in Tallahassee, instead of a Scripps cast. I remember them going wall to wall during Ian prior to the Scripps cast cuts.

I can agree as long as you are not associating being a certain age with needing to quit. If ratings are low and an older anchor with a maxed out salary is not moving the needle, that's a legitimate reason to go. If there are mental or physical ailments preventing the anchor from doing their job effectively, that's a reason for them to go. But simply being over 65 is not ---not saying you're saying this, but this is a common attitude. Sidebar, if age is a factor, I'm surprised they took Sandra off weekends for a weekday slot. Then again, noon is the least consequential broadcast.

Loved that package, especially on the WB 11 NYC.

Love that theme!

David Navarro, 65 is older than Sandra, 64. Both could leave in a few years. Going well past 65 is not uncommon for handsomely paid news anchors, but agreed that retirements are probably on the horizon. WABC has the strongest anchor lineup in the market, not one weak pairing! The sad part is, many of those anchors are approaching retirement age (Ritter, Bookman, Novarro, Torres, Champion) not to mention a host of veteran reporters aswell.

I see your point. Lead/primary anchor is more defined on national news. That person hosts and managing edits the evening news, is called into anchor special reports, and leads election night coverage. In local news, whatever anchors are in the building typically take up special reports, with less emphasis on specific anchors leading coverage. Whoever the pm team is typically does election night. Bill has a co-anchor on all of his broadcasts so his "lead" status is not as obvious. Not sure, but I'm guessing a producer managing edits 6&11, not Ritter. Lead implies power or prominence over other anchors. IMO, Bill Ritter was always one of an ensemble rather than a lead.

I didn't realize how old Bill was until he started graying a few years ago. It will be weird watching the six and not having Bill there. To think Chuck Scarborough will (hopefully) still outlast him. As much as we hate anchor predictions, simplest solution: David/Sandra Noon David/Liz 4 & 6 Mike/Sade 5 & 11pm

I'd like them to go the KABC route.

Ahhh! Makes sense!

Agreed. The CBS Overnight News method makes way more sense than World News Now.

Is World News Now obsolete? In the 24/7 news cycle where we have access to information on our cell phones, a live overnight newscast is unnecessary. None of the cable news networks that are "24/7" air live programming between roughly midnight and 4:00 a.m. ET. Why subject people to working the worst shift when they don't have to?

You're right! Its their in house produced "Off the Clock". Not a newscast but still KTLA produced. They're producing their own content from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Insane.

Yup! WPIX has looked cheap since 2010 when they started doing newscasts from their control room. Ironically, none of the NYC stations are the best looking in their O&O groups despite being flagship stations. WTTG looks way better than WNYW. WRC looks better than WNBC. KCAL looks better than WCBS, and KABC & KGO look better than WABC. Back on topic...

Package as seen on their 2:00 PM newscast — here I was thinking KTLA was alone on that. Nexstar is really inconsistent. They can drop bangers like this on KRON 4 and WXIN, yet do a mixed job on WPIX, and totally suck on News Nation. At least their stations don't all look the same like Sinclair's. Ranking station group aesthetics from best to worst, I'd say: Tegna, Hearst, Graham (they're declining), Nexstar, Gray, Scripps, Sinclair.

Good point. CBS is paying Norah $8 million annually. Brian Williams made $6 million annually on MSNBC. Assuming they match his cable rate, CBS would be saving $2 million dollars on Brian (even more more if they go lower). In all fairness, Maurice and John are probably the cheaper option, and previous big name hires like Katie Couric have not elevated CBS from the perpetual third place. But if even Dan Rather, one of the biggest anchors in news history couldn't elevate CBS from third, maybe that's just their lot. Everyone can't be first place. At this point their goals should be to increase the ratings, and be more competitive.

I always wonder how the two stations navigate being a duopoly with separately branded newscasts on at competing times with what I presume are the same reporters. Are they both airing the same packages and then the reporters front them on both stations at different time slots?

Minor graphical observations. I like how NBC and MSNBC are navigating showing off their branding plus the competition's. The MSNBC box is more seamless compared to the redundant double lines that other networks like FOX News are using. Is this how presidential debates will be in future elections? One network controlling the event and simulcasting it to others?

The segment needed to be longer, they were getting into a real conversation and there was only 20 seconds left. When I say CBS Mornings is the smarter of the three morning programs, this is what I mean. These are the substantive conversations that Today used to have and it and GMA now lack. Tony asked good questions, and Coates gave good answers. I think what turned people off from Tony was the way he personalized asking his first question, rather than just lobbying a general question. It also seemed like Tony was advocating for one side in his questioning of why Coates only advocated for one side.