NEPANews

Well, Talkback 16 has comments, as one would expect:

No idea, though one would like to think that they'd keep the area's dominant brand/sound in place, roll 28/22 into it and call it "NewsWatch". Otherwise 28/22/16 News and that bland sound they currently use on WBRE/WYOU is just so boring.

WNEP switched this morning, and they're open is unique to the group. Most importantly, THEY KEPT THE MUSIC! Should be noted, apart from the opening sequence (which still uses a VO), and the L3s incorporating the Pixel Lens animation/look, nothing else changed. The Time/temp bug, station banner in orange for the morning, and all the transitions are still exactly the same. No "Stream Now" QR codes either, though considering the age of the average viewer in NEPA, most wouldn't know what to do with that.

As of today’s noon news, “Falls Chur” is fixed on WUSA.

The murmurs up in Scranton is WNEP will be transitioning within 2-3 weeks, and that internally they're fighting to keep their signature sound. It'll be intersting to see how it'd flow with how these opens seem to look group-wide so far.

It's not too bad of upgrade, and some of the music cuts actually sound kinda nifty (such as the one under WKYC's top stories lead-in). But we all know the litmus test will be if "MCTYW-esque" survives again at WNEP.

28 WBRE/WYOU 22 continues to slowly phase out their Eyewitness News branding, and this week they have introduced “Future Alert Weather”, to replace “Eyewitness Weather”. It looks awkward as all get out in the graphics banner, and as a brand I’m really not sure how I feel about it.

From the perspective of an NEP weekday producer at the station that I know, they acknowledged that it was indeed a genuine mistake for the testing to air on live feed, and when the crew there saw it, they were very much like “oh sh*t,” and rushed it off. However, folks have expressed their internal disappointment and frustration with the situation, as TEGNA suits are pretty miffed someone could’ve made such an error, given the current political climate. Not at all the attention they want.

Well, probably all except for your friends at WNEP. They’ll fight to stay as StormTracker 16 till they close the doors on Montage Mountain. You’ll have to pry it and “MCTYW-esque” from their cold dead hands.

The new opens looks great, but I am very surprised they had Charlie Van Dyke re-do his lines at the open and not just keep reusing his VO like in the previous package (and apparently in Breaking News opens) if they felt the need to continue using him. His voice sounds so badly degraded, which is a damn tragedy. He's a legend, and that voice is so incredibly iconic.

It’s certainly noticeable at WNEP as of late. Plenty of stories from WPMT (Fox43) in York have been appearing on newscasts as of late, which have little to nothing to do with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market.

Seems as though there’s something foul in the air at THE NEWS STATION (WNEP) as a wave of departures have hit recently. A few months back, popular meteorologist John Hickey abruptly left mid-contract to go into the private sector to continue doing work in weather, mentioning on a video podcast things were not going well behind the scenes and it was time to go. Claire Alfree left to go to the TEGNA duopoly in Jacksonville in January. This week it was announced reporter Amanda Eustice is leaving the station after 4 years. Meteorologist Valerie Smock left Montage Mountain to go work in downtown Wilkes-Barre at WBRE/WYOU. And whispers abound that at least 3 more departures are coming in the next few weeks. You don’t typically see a whole lot of turnover at NEP, as you more often than not see folks there 10+ years at minimum. It’s why the viewership is as rock solid as it’s been. But these past few months have been a whirlwind, and it really makes you wonder just how bad TEGNA has screwed this legacy station up.

You know, the more you look at the talent intros, and this may be really nit-picky, but the ABC logo within them. Is that…..the now “former” ABC logo in there with their names?

Good to hear our old friend Charlie Van Dyke still doing the v/o, although his voice has deteriorated quite a bit. Pleasantly surprised they didn’t use the chance to replace him with Virginia Hamilton or Gabe Kunda like they did at WPVI.

Talkback 16 strikes again with hard hitting discussion on the issues affecting all of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. Todays topic: Pronouncing Wilkes-Barre Talkback 16: The gift that keeps on giving.