MediaZone4K

I declined to say decades because I don't recall exactly when they stopped having primary hosts like Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace were originally.

A lot of us are seeing Scrippscasts as this major shift to the industry, but I'm beginning to realize the anchorless newscast concept has existed for a long time. This is perhaps the first serious attempt on daily local news. 60 Minutes has not had a primary host for years now, and has correspondents presenting the stories themselves. I cannot find the article anywhere but IIRC a New York City newspaper wrote about a NYC station, NBC New York Non-Stop perhaps, testing the idea of anchorless news broadcast around the late 2000s. ASU Cronkite School of Journalism also put out a pretty smooth college broadcast employing the same concept. No anchor newscasts are not the end of the world especially as we shift to digital. But it poses the risk of job elimination and a plain impersonable product. I'm especially curious to see how smaller markets with more VOs than packages pull this off. I don't mind it being a method of news delivery but I don't want it to become the standard. Scripps former Senior VP who was instrumental in this concept discusses it further here. Interestingly, and scarily, he has moved on to Graham. He brands himself as a "disruptor" and "innovator".

Almost looks Nexstar-ish with the tile and white light boxes. Not the worst, not the best set. Meh.

The previous Judge Judy show was better than the current. If a show like Judge Judy has a thousand plus library of episodes with evergreen scenarios, there's no sense in taking it off the air just because it's not making new episodes. Old sitcoms remain in syndication but there's this general feeling that daytime shows should be buried once they stop making new episodes.

It's good to see people who have actually been reporters elevated to positions of power in journalism. In general....Too often we have bosses, especially news directors and producers, who expect the wold. They have no idea about the timing and logistics needed to pull off field reporting and make slot because they were never reporters.

I am glad you mentioned this, I had similar observations. MSNBC is not the channel for breaking news anymore. It is largely political commentary. NBC News Now appears to be where the network is diverting their general news coverage to. Amid all their faults, CNN and The Fox News Channel are better at diverting from politics to cover breaking or general news. The exception I saw was Sean Hannity using his show to say FEMA funds were being diverted to illegal immigrants. MSNBC may break for a moment to cover an actual breaking story, but goes back to their status quo, orange man bad.

To rephrase... If I was being pushed out (as it seems) I wouldn't volunteer to be in the middle of a hurricane. But perfect point that events like the VP debate and this hurricane coverage would be waste to ease viewers into getting used to Maurice and John.

West Palm Beach is now going wall to wall in the aftermath of the tornadoes. WFTS appears to have the most on the ground coverage during landfall.

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.