Roadrunner

I think maybe aside from the "Possible PG&E Shutoffs," nothing else looks really new? See the similar recent example from CBS Chicago below, which has also already implemented CBSN. I wouldn't hold my breath on anything genuinely new for their on-air newscasts -- probably going to have to wait until maybe next year or even the year after.

Hard agree with above criticisms, because I think the show had no need to redesign its logo, and if they really felt like they did, this certainly was not the direction to go. It honestly just gave me a very generic company feel and also Vistaprint vibes (the business card/stationery company). Not hip at all, especially if they're trying to lean into younger audiences long-term. Also maybe not, but...you never know -- wondering if anyone's going to somehow politicize the logo's now-complete use of blue.

When Rick was moved to weekday evenings after Stu came onboard, I always felt like that meant Pablo would become dead man walking because there'd be no other slot for him (since there's no weekend mornings to justify five WXers). Unfortunate that his departure was very unceremonious, but we knew Fox was busy making cuts where they could.

Some other retirements that have made the rounds this past week: Reporter Deborah Wrigley from KTRK in Houston is retiring after 42 years https://abc13.com/society/deborah-wrigley-signs-off-after-42-years-at-abc13/6403033/ Meteorologist Sally Severson from WISN in Milwaukee is retiring after 34 years -- she'd been reducing her workload over the last few months but officially departed this past Monday https://www.wisn.com/article/celebrating-sally-severson-with-a-tribute-on-her-last-day/33927742 Reporter Bill Hudson from WCCO in Minneapolis is retiring after 31 years https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/09/04/after-30-years-bill-hudson-bids-farewell-to-wcco-tv/

Pretty sure she's out on medical for her knee surgery -- just check her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CindyHsuTV/

This is not new but I wanted to bring it up as a unique element that I'd seen only on WBZ (probably others have it too). The station's bug rotates out with the CBSN bug during newscasts and I think it's a subtle way to keep the station's CBSN brand relevant (since I feel the other O&Os just toss it aside, or at least they really have now). Something to think about if/when any new look comes rolling out, CBS TVNT reader. Video for reference: https://boston.cbslocal.com/video/4683885-rep-lynch-calls-for-top-to-bottom-review-of-fort-hood/

Well, Marissa left WAGA in February so I think this could give some credence to the possibility that Allison was basically already on her way out, but I'm still unsure as to why she was then unceremoniously booted off, assuming this was the timeline of events. Still sad for Allison, but I wish Marissa well at WTTG. ---------------- In other news, Jacob Wycoff, meteorologist at WGGB and freelance at WBZ, has now announced he is officially joining WBZ full-time, which shocks no one, considering his on-air time had sort of grown lately. He's supposed to fill in the void left by the now-retired Barry Burbank, but I kind of see him as a Todd Gutner (now at WCSH).

Some recent promotions from local to national: WXIA has sent off two of its reporters to ABC News: Elwyn Lopez to the Atlanta bureau [1] and Faith Abubey to the DC bureau. [2] Clearly WXIA is garnering the right eyeballs at the nets, despite its not-so-good ratings. [3] A subjective observation, but I feel like ABC News has really expanded its roster of correspondents overall much more lately when compared with NBC and CBS. Might just be me paying closer attention to ABC these past few months, or that they are really hiring more, but it only does them good to have more talent going forward. WRC's Meagan Fitzgerald, weekend morning anchor, is heading to NBC's Chicago bureau. [4] A bit about her recent history is (IIRC) she was promoted in early-2019 in the wake of Angie Goff's departure from News4 and made headlines for announcing her engagement to her girlfriend on-air in June 2019. I'm kind of curious to see who they'll tap to replace Meagan in the chair - 'twas a really short time for her as anchor.

Nothing particularly shocking here (and also not detailed or necessarily unbiased either lol), but just a little memento about WABC's noon ratings: I also liked Sam's response:

Re: Mugo -- Suzanne is now out on medical leave until this fall and Mugo stepped in yesterday & today, so these doors could definitely open up for her someday.

Wow this was kind of a gut-wrenching read, and I almost wanted it to be longer. I really didn't expect Brad to come down with this and it always sucks seeing anyone get sick. You can really sense some of the raw emotions that he's tried to suppress throughout his career. A bit awkward about the missing comments from Rob and Irika though, but I hope that doesn't mean any hard feelings between any of them, with regards to the tumultuous circumstances at the station. I also found some of his recent tweets interacting with others about the article to reveal some more glimmers into who he is and I know the station is still struggling and many people make a joke out of it, but I'm really pulling for their success and hoping they can all turn a new leaf.

Joining the wave of sudden resurgence in anchor reshuffling across basically "everywhere", the latest comes out from WBZ in Boston: https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/08/20/wbz-anchor-changes-liam-martin-anaridis-rodriguez/ Liam Martin, 5:30 & 10PM anchor, will be moving to mornings to replace Chris McKinnon, who was laid off in May. First off, they really do need a co-anchor there; I like Kate but the rapport between Kate and Chris was hard to beat and honestly irreplaceable, so they really needed some rejuvenating once Chris was laid off because it was getting a little stale. I don't know if Kate and Liam have worked together much so it'll probably take some time to build the chemistry there. I really thought they would actually keep Liam where he was for the long haul, but neither David nor Lisa struck me as nearing retirement by any means either (Paula's probably more likely to be the next one to move up), so...yeah, I wasn't too sure how they'd promote him any further in the coming years. But honestly, what I really expected WBZ to do was actually stick Breana in the morning anchor chair permanently based on her filling-in, so I'm actually surprised by this move. Anaridis Rodriguez, reporter and occasional fill-in anchor, will take Liam's old spots. Somewhat related in the interest of anchor reshuffling is this KCAL promo that's been airing for some time now, which basically confirms/highlights essentially a no-brainer ("and now, the return of Pat Harvey") now that they have less anchor teams overall --> https://twitter.com/NewsJuan/status/1294040729300344832

Interesting development in the weather department at CBS 2: She mentioned that she will tentatively debut on-air in September in a comment. It's a hell of a commute for freelancing, but if she's eventually hired full-time, I do think she's needed more at CBS 2 over CBS 3; what they do with Tim will probably affect that though. ================================= Something else recently: Their HOUR 18 newscast (their low-commercial, hard-news-only 6PM newscast) has been tweaked. The original selling point was that they had only one commercial break after 20 minutes of nonstop news (not including any sports stories) and then one quick weather overview after the break, but they've recently bisected the 20-minute period and now have two breaks (hmm convenient ad dollars) and added at least one sports-oriented story. Guess the intense hard-news format wasn't working out as well as they'd hoped? Not sure if this new format is permanent.

This is 3 days late, but re: Vince Gerasole leaving, here's the tribute post from CBS 2: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/08/14/vince-gerasole-signs-off-today-at-cbs-2-here-are-some-of-his-favorite-stories/ Vince also really looked up to Pam Zekman (from being her intern, then being awestruck at actually being able to become her colleague, then setting up an online virtual tribute for her after her unceremonious lay-off) and it almost seems fitting to ride off into the sunset in the same (sort of) time frame. With Erin gone, it's ultimately a smaller morning team, since the breaking news and traffic roles have been combined -- which is a win for the bean counters of course. I also don't think execs want to do away with a traffic anchor in Chi, so ultimately, Yasmeen makes for the best overall morning pseudo-anchor / fill-in anchor they have at the moment without also commanding a large budget (just my speculation), since she's relatively new and still doing traffic like she was at KOVR. For Mugo, I personally think she has potential to move into an anchor chair sometime in the future (maybe weekend mornings if/when Suzanne retires/leaves?) / set for bigger things. Speaking of "nonstop news," as you referenced, here's a throwback [https://www.newscaststudio.com/2019/03/08/cbs-2-chicago-nonstop-news/] about that segment that really highlights how much turnover there's been at CBS 2 in just ~1.5 years.

Yeah, that's fair. It seems like they weren't actually listed, which, I don't know... feels kind of odd considering how present I feel Rick was in newscasts. For anyone who wants to see bios from circa September 2019, here they are: http://web.archive.org/web/20190902145217/https://www.nbclosangeles.com/contact-us/about-us/ If we're to get really specific about website bios, NBC O&Os aren't the best at updating them. But anyways.

Hey, yep. They're there in the "contact us" section on every O&O site except for KNBC -- it made me think that maybe the team had been subject to harassment or something (not that one couldn't gather up all the names eventually, though) and the manager decided to just not list station talent. Agree. The "I-Team"/"Investigative Unit"/whatever else they call it and consumer units have definitely contributed to the stations progressing really well in their markets (both ratings-wise and Emmys-wise). IMO, the on-air looks of the stations among the Big 4 are also the best graphics-wise, so the whole package each newscast feels really sleek and appears well-done. But of course, power corrupts, and troubled management at NBCU/Comcast really rots the rest of the ladder, so....honestly, what's new. It's sad. (speculatively pessimistic, but that's my outlook )

I know the Los Angeles thread is being deprecated soon once this forum's changes roll out, so I thought the conglomeration of info would be more useful. This first post is very list-oriented, so I apologize for that, as it's not the most conducive to conversation. The changes noted on the site are also inconclusive, so there's a lot more that could be discussed and expanded here. Newest developments - [ongoing]: Layoffs at NBCUniversal due to pandemic-induced economic repercussions early-August 2020: 5-year night reporter Rick Montanez is let go Hints as to his next moves: https://twitter.com/RickMontanez_/status/1291509541956329472 My thoughts: move to KABC to continue the KFSN --> KABC train lol As of recent, the following developments have been noted on here - June 2020: 38-year veteran meteorologist Fritz Coleman retires Tribute: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/weather-news/fritz-coleman-weather-nbc4-retirement/2386566/ His next move: https://www.mediapathpodcast.com/ June 2020: 3-year traffic anchor Alysha del Valle is let go https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/6/30/run-over-in-la Definitely a trend in the "do away with the morning traffic person" thing going on here nationwide July 2019: "4 News Live" social media-focused, accelerated pseudo-newscast anchored by Fred Roggin (sports anchor) is found on station's Vimeo Vimeo links have since been nuked and it's been 1 year since the test -- I'd wager they're not aiming to use the format any time soon. June 2019: Renee Washington becomes station VP (joined NBC 4 in 2018 as Asst. ND from KABC) and replaces Todd Mokhtari https://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/nbc4-renee-washington-vice-president-of-news/135166/ January 2019: Daytime lifestyle program "California Live" launches exclusively on NBC's California O&Os, hubbed out of KNBC's studio https://marketshare.tvnewscheck.com/2019/01/07/california-nbc-owned-affils-launch-new-lifestyle-show/ Hosted by former CBS correspondent Danielle Nottingham and NBC's Jessica Vilchis 2018 KNBC Thread that fell out of use after December 2018. Other talk - July 2020: midday anchor Michelle Valles was blasted by Yashar Ali for basically affiliating herself with "qxaxnxoxn" (trying to prevent search results/hordes of people pinging back here) on her social media December 2019: Website GUI changed, along with all other NBC O&Os As of August 2020, they still have not placed station bios in one place on the new website (or I'm just clueless about finding them)

Not sure if this is the one (someone else can verify), but I found this -- Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ee13ujPWoAE5bN1?format=jpg&name=medium Twitter 'source'/thread: https://twitter.com/lifeofjaneeee/status/1291820313366405124 Whatever the reasons were, Allison's very abrupt departure is seriously bad optics, especially given how long she had been at the station and resonated with the community. Not that this is anything related at all, but can't forget how Fox 5 has lost other big DMV names within the last few years, like Tony Perkins and Annie Yu, and has also seen its fair share of controversies in the past. Anyways, in the case that these accusations of her being forced out are verified as fact, then we'll see if these changes really make the difference Fox 5 wants.

I also watched the newscast and everything went pretty standard/well, however you want to say it, all the way up until their last segment with the Blackhawks interview, and that handover to the 5 -- that was a huge blunder, especially when Dawn thought there was a commercial in between the two. Ah well. I recall reading Tia was supposed to be reporting from "studio 32" so I'd hope she can move soon into that location where Anita/Scott are in that promo posted a few weeks ago. Putting her streetside is a little too noisy, especially if she's going to do live interviews via Zoom/Skype, like she did today. --Edited to add that WFLD's evening opens feel like nothing (when compared to some of those at the sister stations) and the 4PM open was merely about 1 second long, and felt like even more of a bore. I know most don't bother, but..... eh.

The tributes can be viewed here: https://abc7ny.com/entertainment/tim-fleischer-retiring-after-35-amazing-years-at-eyewitness-news/6344869/ Tim was a true NY staple and legend; may his retirement be filled with fulfilling rest and joy.

It's in line with the revised website identities they implemented about 2 weeks ago or so. It's more plain, but I sure won't miss the searchlights and the gaudy my-fox branding though, as historically associated as they've been with Fox. (And OK this isn't the graphics thread, but is anyone ever a little annoyed by the end of the arm on the F just being slightly diagonal?)

For those of you in the Milwaukee viewing area, FOX 6 pulled out all the stops for WakeUp anchor Nicole Koglin, who is departing the station after 15 years, which she announced four months prior in March. Today was her last day and she'd been anchoring from home for several months, but the station put up a desk outside the studio for her to be with people one last time on-air. Anyone leaving a station is difficult to watch, but if you're a fan of hers, you can check out what they did for her on her last day today: https://www.fox6now.com/fox6-wakeup-news/saying-goodbye-to-nicole-koglin-fox6-crew-wishes-her-well

Another reported high-profile departure at NBC 10 - weekday morning anchor Vai Sikahema. If this is true, with the slowly growing number of departures or anchor lineup upheavals across their O&O network, NBC won't be doing their ratings (if they arguably matter anymore, anyways) any favors. EDIT at 11AM GMT 7/30: It's true. In an article posted by Philadelphia Business Journal about 12 hours ago, Vai is retiring this year, with a departure slated for sometime in November 2020. More information can be found here: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2020/07/29/via-sikahema-retiring-from-nbc10-after-26-years.html Vai has reportedly been thinking of retirement for quite some time, as he's been actively involved with his church and nonprofit. Wishing Vai the absolute best post-retirement!

As promised, Portland (OR) witnessed deployment of ATSC 3.0 tech across seven stations on July 28, covering pretty much most of the English-language programming in the area. Meredith - KPTV (Fox 12) + KPDX ("Fox 12 Plus") Nexstar - KOIN (CBS) + KRCW (CW) Sinclair - KATU (ABC) Tegna - KGW (NBC) Oregon Public Broadcasting - KOPB (PBS) John Hane, president of BitPath (broadcast data services firm leading the transition here), said: More information can be found here: 1) https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/251746/seven-portland-or-stations-launch-atsc-3-0/ 2) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/major-broadcasters-launch-nextgen-tv-on-seven-local-television-stations-in-portland-or-301101679.html ------ In other news, this dives into the specifics surrounding the new emergency alert system launched by the ATSC group. Earlier, I mentioned how WJLA and WTTG in DC are preparing to test the system out over 60 days before officially launching. The new technology is designed to hand stations more power, flexibility, and streamline ability over content dispersion and, of course, monetization potential. An example of the optimization is Sinclair creating templates that will be embedded with relevant information/media that viewers can get/watch directly. The content will also be bolstered by geo-targeting so that area-relevant emergency alerts could run as a bug or crawl on screens just to those in affected areas.

I know Web Archive isn't always 100%, but it shows that even on January 14, Andy's bio has been missing for quite some time. His bio can still be found online (I know it doesn't really mean anything since bios don't really disappear from the internet), but he is still tweeting out weather updates, so it doesn't seem like anything abnormal yet...?