nycnewsjunkie

The Daily Mail is reporting that TJ Holmes also had an affair with an intern. Their source describes Holmes as “a predator who took full advantage of his position”

One should proceed with caution considering the source, but if it’s true, this can’t be good.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11649639/T-J-Holmes-sex-office-ABC-intern-13-years-junior.html

23 hours ago, wabceyewitness said:

All the big three networks moved the local news on New Year’s Eve to 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central.  The networks wanted more time for national entertainment programming leading up to midnight instead of just the 11:30pm ET half hour. 

IIRC ABC also had a problem when they showed Puerto Rico’s countdown last year. Most affiliates cut away to local news, so most of the country completely missed it. Moving the news to 10pm rectified that.

Side note: Happy birthday!

1 hour ago, MidwestTV said:

Another example of why dropping the white fill doesn't make sense to me. The background is so dark that the purple and blue feathers (especially purple) are almost totally lost.

In fairness, the gradient on the colors doesn’t help. Still, I’m starting to come around to that thinking myself. Dropping the fill works with some backgrounds/design themes, but not all of them. Hell, the affiliates won’t be dropping the fill because it doesn’t work for most of them.

11 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

I’m an armchair quarterback and I’ll never work in the industry. If I operated a television station it would fail in a matter of days, and I know it.

Same here

2 minutes ago, Weeters said:

I'm sure that the transition to "KCAL News", even if temporary, was thoroughly researched and discussed by people with a lot more information regarding the possible outcomes than we do.

 

Things in this industry generally don't just happen without some kind of research or thought being put into it. We knew when the "white box" logos started showing up on the websites, that they were likely there to help transition stations who are well known by their callsigns to the new branding. I don't know why it's surprising that KCBS/KCAL chose to transition using the brand that's better liked/known instead of just ripping off the band-aid on "CBS News Los Angeles".

I apologize for sounding repetitive, but people who are only watching KCAL might not even know that the brand is now also on KCBS. If they are only making minimal (if any) references to CBS, how do they expect their viewership to grow on KCBS or their streaming channel? That’s where they need to grow. The use of the KCAL brand to stimulate that growth isn’t surprising; the lack of any CBS promotion outside of CBS itself (in a market as big as LA) is.

Hopefully their researchers are proven right though (they sure as hell know more than I do). The product itself looks good so far IMO.

2 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Calling it “KCAL CBS News Los Angeles” is an invitation for disaster. Scuttling the “KCAL” name right away is as bad an option.

How is it “an invitation for disaster” though? They wouldn’t be scuttling the KCAL name at all. KCBS is the station that needs the most help ratings-wise, and I don’t know how the current rebrand invites KCAL viewers to watch newscasts on CBS if they aren’t even promoting CBS. Hell, it barely invites them to go to the streaming channel.
 

Again though, if KCBS sees a ratings increase and CBS News LA sees more web traffic, I’d be happy to be wrong.

5 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

With all due respect, how is this “alienating KCAL’s current audience” when it had always been a news-heavy indie? If anything, it’s finally showing people that KCAL’s news and KCBS’s news are one and the same. It’s literally doing the same thing KPIX is doing, just in a different way.

It isn’t; just pointing out that co-branding wouldn’t alienate them either.

3 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

It’s brand evolution. Businesses in practically every other industry do it.

If they wanted brand evolution, what KPIX is doing is a much better execution of it. Keep the call letters on air to let people know it’s the same newscast, while introducing a new name. In hindsight, it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference on either station ratings-wise, but co-branding would be a better way for people to immediately associate KCAL with CBS on both stations (without alienating KCAL’s current audience).

Not to get too off topic, but when Charter purchased Time Warner Cable, there was a period of time when TWC’s brand was phased out and Spectrum’s brand was phased in. Both names were used concurrently in TV ads, and both companies’ logos were on the TWC website. To me, at least, that seems like a better example of brand evolution.

That said, if KCBS ends up getting sustained ratings growth because of the association w/ KCAL, that will be a good example of why I don’t work in advertising.

7 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

The big problem overall is that "KCBS" has just become a jumbled mess ever since whichever guy at KNX-TV decided 'KCBS should be on our flagship station and we don't care that they've been on that San Fran station for decades'. It was the beginning of the end for channel 2's branding because for whatever reason, KCBS in SFO kept their call letters and come 2002, you had a brand manager's nightmare in LA where KCBS-TV, KCAL-TV, KNX, KFWB, and KCBS-FM all had different brands that never were united very well at all.

 

KFWB eventually got shafted and KNX and KCBS-FM became Audacy properties (along with KCBS-FM), but it still left open that it's only in 2023 that CBSNS is getting around to finally one-branding their local news operation, a thing that should have been done either in 1984 when KNX-TV became KCBS-TV, or in 2002 when KCAL because CBS-owned.

At this point, stick with KCAL. CBS in LA=entertainment, sports or national news (the only thing that cares about KCBS-FM's calls is the PPM as it's 'Jack FM' to a normal person). KCBS may have been there longer, but KCAL has established themselves as a news brand.

I’m not sure if people referred to it as “KCBS” in recent years though; I feel like it was just “CBS2” for most people. That’s what it is in NY; WCBS is associated w/ the radio station, not the TV station.

I don’t always explain myself well, so I should probably clarify that on its own, I actually like the “KCAL News” brand, given that KCAL is the stronger station; it just doesn’t sound like a good idea when CBS is restructuring their O&Os around CBS News. They could’ve incorporated the KCAL brand alongside CBS News LA (a la KPIX) on both stations; that way viewers build a stronger link b/w KCAL and CBS.

In hindsight, having mulled this over for a few minutes, it may not make much of a difference anyway. Regardless of what name they call it, KCAL’s ratings probably won’t change much, and KCBS will have an uphill battle. It would’ve been nice to see linear and streaming integrated right away, but I guess that’ll have to wait. One thing I’ll agree on: at least they’re not pretending they’re two different news organizations anymore.

30 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

People are assuming this is a permanent situation and it is most clearly not one at all.

 

In less than a year, “KCAL” will be gone, the name “CBS Los Angeles” will be on both stations, and no one will call either station to complain about being confused over “where did KCAL 9 News go?”

I’m not assuming that at all. My point was that going all in on the KCAL brand only to drop it after less than a year is not the smartest way to go about a rebrand. KPIX has already demonstrated that you can leverage a station’s brand legacy while incorporating the station into CBS News. KCBS/KCAL could’ve done this with the KCAL brand, which would also solve the problem of people not knowing that KCAL had anything to do with CBS.
 

They’re deemphasizing CBS in the name of viewer attachment to a brand, but they’ll eventually dump the legacy brand in the name of corporate synergy… thereby losing the brand viewers were attached to. IMHO, that’s not a plan; that’s indecisiveness.

2 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

KCAL is a brand. WJZ, WBZ, WCCO and KDKA are also brands, but the latter three are brands now confused openly with radio stations which also still use those brands for their own purposes. (KCAL doesn’t have that problem because virtually no one confuses them with KCAL-FM in Redlands.)

The problem is, this isn’t a reconciliation of strategies at all. They’re basically disregarding the CBS brand entirely. The new rebrand across the CBS stations is supposed to unite the linear and digital products. That’s why the KPIX rebrand works; what you see online is virtually identical to what you see on TV. In LA, the linear and digital products are actually more distant after the rebrand. The website is linked to CBS News, but outside of KCBS newscasts, there are zero on-screen references to CBS. This is even the case for the CBS News Los Angeles streaming channel, which is where the screenshot is from. Granted, this is probably a non-issue in Baltimore, but not in the second most populous market in the country.

2 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Call letters are not “meaningless” but they are increasingly unreliable in order to make your station stand out in a digital world. Same with “CBS 2” or “Fox 5” or “ABC 7” or “NBC 4”. KCAL AGAIN doesn’t have that problem BUT they have to reconcile their brand legacy with what has become a streamlined branding convention among CBS as a whole.

 

That’s all there is to it. We aren’t talking about rocket surgery.

To be fair, one could argue that KCAL does have that problem. For many people who aren’t TV junkies like us, the abbreviation “kcal” refers to a kilocalorie, not a TV station. If they want to reconcile their brand legacy, why not do what KPIX did and co-brand everything? That way, people associate KCAL with CBS, which is the whole reason this rebrand was supposed to happen in the first place. Going all in on “KCAL News” only to later drop the brand like a hot potato isn’t a good way to leverage brand legacy IMHO. In fact, it may even alienate people in the long run.

2 minutes ago, CLETVFan said:

It seemed like he wanted to get rid of Norah O'Donnell so badly, but was overruled.  That alone is a red flag.  I will say that I am not sure Brian Williams would have boosted ratings for the Evening News.

Brian Williams would have been a complete turn-off, and not just because of his exaggerated war stories. His MSNBC newscast was a poorly disguised opinion show, and that doesn’t translate well to the evening news. I’m not really sure why people ever considered him to be a viable option. If Khemlani was considering him, that’s poor judgment on his part.

1 hour ago, Weeters said:

Folks were complaining about "CBS News (city)" not being "unique" enough and whatever, and then when given "KCAL News" are upset about that. It's a good brand. It translates well cross-platform, and there's no other "KCAL News" out there. KCAL was seen as the stronger brand and there's nothing wrong with that.

I think people were wondering why CBS is calling it “KCAL News” when the whole point is to unify every station around CBS News (especially in big markets like LA). Even on streaming, there are barely any visual references to CBS News Los Angeles (at least, not yet). If the goal is building around a strong local brand, this is a success. If the goal is brand unification w/ CBS, this fails. Furthermore, the KCAL News brand does not translate well cross-platform; the website and app are built around CBS News, but there are barely any references to CBS News on the newscasts themselves (outside of KCBS newscasts).

That being said, KCAL is the stronger brand, and it’s much better to build around “KCAL News” than have two separate names for the same product. On its own, it’s a great (and sensible) rebrand, but if the goal is to build around CBS News, it doesn’t accomplish that.

30 minutes ago, mightynine said:

Just saw a promo for "Weather Command" where one of the claims is they might even "debate the data". Oh boy, wonder what THAT could mean. /s

Climate change implications aside, they can’t even get the phrasing right. Data is supposed to be interpreted, not debated. “Debating the data” is like debating if 1+1=2. But my expectations for these people were never very high.

39 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

Hey moron, YOU were wrong. I was right. That's reality. I really could care less what you think.

23 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

They switched their Facebook from CBS Los Angeles to KCAL News this morning. Why wasn't this done on day one? But tell me this FB post THIS morning STILL isn't a confusing mess? 

 

You are contradicting yourself about the branding & my observations and can't even see it. Priceless!

 

I can't help YOU if you don't understand how idiotic it is to tell people here is what coming up over the next 4 hours on KCAL News Mornings and then promo what is coming up on CBS Mornings when the brand is identified as the same & is being broadcast, simulcast on both stations in the 6 am hour - but not telling viewers where to watch it. They have the ability to split the broadcast, previews. They aren't airing the same spots, promos during the breaks - they are completely different on 2 & 9.

 

For the record, they didn't air a preview of CBS Mornings today at all as they did yesterday.

16 minutes ago, SFTV said:

I’m guessing the KCBS set is now obsolete. I was thinking Sports Central would’ve salvaged it.

Did they ever really need two sets? I get the feeling they only had them to emphasize two different brands for the same news operation. Now that they’re unifying everything together, it seems logical to unify studio presentation as well. Besides, the last few months showed that the two stations were able to operate out of one studio just fine.

58 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

These aren't hiccups. They are massive issues showing they are not prepared or don't have a major market quality professional staff.

 

There is no branding sense here. It's a bunch of brands lumped together that only confuse.

 

They had a preview of KCAL News Mornings on 11 pm but made no mention of what channel it is on. I'm sorry but the future may be to eliminate channel mentions but we are NOWHERE near that day. No other station in the market is doing it.  Same as this morning on the simulcast, a preview of CBS Mornings coming next. But no mention of where to view it. Just prior, they had a preview of KCAL News Mornings. But again no mention where it would be on when the simulcast split at 7 am.

 

Why is the KCAL News bug so small next to the huge CBS Los Angeles? 

 

Why does the Facebook page say KCAL News, CBS Los Angeles, CBSLA.com and CBSNews.com? Mass confusion.

 

Why is the chopper called SKYCAL? The branding is KCAL NEWS. It doesn't reflect it. It should say SKYKCAL to be consistent even though that is just as idiotic as SKYCAL.

 

A number of people on this board do not comment as an average viewer. Read the Facebook comments which get it more than many of you do and start understanding your viewer.

I commented on NewsNation from Day 1. I knew it was a disaster ON DAY ONE. I got a lot of flack for it but it wasn't difficult to see what a mess it was. I was 100% correct. This is just as bad, probably worse. I am sorry you can't see it yet.

This is Los Angeles. Not some idiotic market in the midwest. There is a certain level of expected professionalism. It starts on day 1 not weeks later.

I understand that you live in the market, so I won’t pretend I understand LA more than you or anyone else here. That said, they’ve already hit rock bottom in terms of ratings, and they needed to try something different. As far as brand sense goes, there’s more brand sense w/ “KCAL News” than there was when they were using two names for the same news operation. I think there’s room for criticizing how they went about it (I pointed out the lack of promotion), but most of the things you mentioned (like the name of the damn helicopter) are things most people don’t care about. And if you’re criticizing them for not telling people where to watch *CBS* Mornings... I can’t help you there.

I’m happy to criticize when warranted, and this thing may end up not working out, but saying it’s DOA after one day is a bit much IMO.

56 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

It won't last that long. DOA. 

The public sees what a mess it is already. From CBS Los Angeles Facebook tonight.

They're going to destroy KCAL 9 as well.

Dude no offense, but one rando on Facebook isn’t evidence that the whole thing is a disaster. It’s day 1.

Look, they had a rough start this morning, but these things don’t always start smoothly (look at KOTV a few months back.) The assignment desk isn’t perfect, but as I said elsewhere, at least they’re peeling back the curtain on news gathering and trying something no other station is doing. That’s how you stand out. Keep in mind that the alternative was a morning newscast that got 0.0 in the ratings and a network that was airing morning infomercials instead of live programming. I’m happy to point out some flaws, but this is an improvement by every stretch of the imagination, and I think we’re overreacting if we say otherwise.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but the assignment desk is growing on me. Yes, I’m well aware that it’s a gimmick, and I normally hate gimmicks, but it’s nice to see the curtain peeled back a tiny bit on the news gathering process, and it’s nice to see the assignment editors get some screen time. Also, I’ll credit them for doing something a little bit different to the rest of the market instead of putting a new coat of paint on an identical product.

9 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

They just had a preview of CBS Mornings near the end of the 6 am simulcast but made no mention of how those who are viewing on KCAL 9 could watch it. 

I mean, isn’t it obvious enough? They can go to CBS. That’s the least of their issues.

That being said, the audio issues…holy crap. Several mics keep cutting off, and now I can’t stop hearing that audio hum in the studio. First day jitters are normal, but they‘re really having problems today.

Here’s KCAL’s launch (h/t @Georgie56 on another thread.)

Also, some screenshots of KCAL’s sign on, the severe weather ticker, the CBSLA streaming feed, and what was seen on KCBS at 4am PT.

1 hour ago, twotrey said:

This spot kind of explains why KCAL is now the unified news brand, with Pat Harvey bringing up Jerry Dunphy with two vintage Prime 9 News opening clips (the first with Dunphy and long-forgotten 10pm anchor Kate Sullivan; the second with her successor, Tawny Little).  It's telling that they're evoking Dunphy's KCAL history as opposed to KNXT; it goes to show how *long* ago the CBS affiliate's news heyday was, while KCAL has been fairly consistent in reputation/perception over the last 30+ years, even with the ownership changes since then.

 

 

See, this is the kind of promo they should’ve been going with a month ago. I know not everything was ready yet, but you have to give people something to look forward to.
 

I don’t think making KCAL the primary station is a bad thing at all, but *if* the goal is to build around CBS News, that should be indicated on some level in how they advertise themselves. Yes, KCBS is a ratings trash heap compared to the more stable KCAL, but this is still the nation’s #2 market. CBS will have to make its brand more prominent at some point (especially with the streaming component factored in).

8 hours ago, C Block said:

It's not about cost-cutting, it's about more effectively using the power of owning two stations. By putting different and better programming on both stations, they can sell ads on both stations. Right now, they're trying to sell ads on a newscast nobody watches on one station, and infomercials on another.

 

There's no guarantee that people will start watching right away, but there will now be more reason for viewers to linger on both of the stations CBS owns, and it's at least a more compelling sell to potential advertisers. 

I think the more confusing thing (at least for me) is why they aren’t calling it “CBS News Los Angeles.” I get that KCAL gets viewers and KCBS doesn’t, but when the whole point is to unify the branding and put CBS News at the forefront, this doesn’t exactly help. You’d think they’d at least do what KPIX is doing and cobrand the newscasts, but they’re not even doing that. I haven’t seen any mentions of CBS News Los Angeles outside of the website and references to the streaming channel. It’s all “KCAL News.”

On the last CBS2 Morning News, they introduced the entire KCAL morning team. At one point, one of the anchors said something to the extent of “it’s a little confusing, we’re trying to get used to it ourselves.” When even the on-air talent is confused by the arrangement, and most viewers won’t find out until tomorrow because of a lack of promotion, I don’t think they’re setting themselves up for success. I like the overall strategy given the ratings mess at KCBS, but I don’t like the implementation so far.

1 hour ago, noggi said:

So apparently the key to building ratings growth is:

 

new set

confusing/mediocre branding 

more hours of news than anyone else

It really would’ve helped if they’d actually promoted the damn thing instead of waiting for the 11th hour to do it. It made sense to move most of the local news to a station that actually gets ratings, but the branding is going to be confusing, and is counter to what CBS is doing in the rest of the country. Not even WCCO, arguably their most successful station, is going to get this treatment (I know it’s because of the radio station, but still). Is CBS so damaged as a brand in LA that they have to put the KCAL name on everything?

That set does look fantastic, though. I’ll give them that.

4 hours ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Broadcast primetime TV is a mix of stale sitcoms, tons of stale and stupid reality shows, the same washed-out crime dramas (i.e., CBS's THREE FBI: "Insert Here" shows, multiple NCIS shows, multiple CSIs) and the same washed-out medical dramas. Then they jump the shark, add relationships to the shows instead of focusing on the premise of the program. The Good Doctor used to be about an autistic savant doctor. Now, it's about his relationships with women and the relationships between other doctors/nurses at the hospital. Grey's Anatomy - same thing.

The Goldbergs keeps going even though the 'kids' are now in their early-to-late 20s. I don't know how they do, the show has jumped the shark since the loss of George Segal and Jeff Garlin's departure. Abbott Elementary isn't that bad, on the other hand, and nor is Ghosts on CBS, but sitcoms for the most part have no life to them anymore. And yes, political messaging has destroyed many of these primetime shows. They just can't seem to have an unbiased plot on a drama or sitcom anymore - it has to show activism in some way.

 

Game shows - you can't seem to find any contestant on any primetime or daytime show (except maybe Jeopardy!/Wheel) that isn't on five energy drinks' worth of caffeine. The Price is Right is one of the biggest examples, but even the last few primetime shows (The Wheel, Beat Shazam, Press Your Luck) are like this too...

 

Late night TV shows have also declined to new lows. Same jokes about former President Trump EVERY NIGHT on every single show. We get it, I can't stand him either, but he's no longer POTUS. Surely is there anything else to make fun about? Segments are mundane and cookie-cutter compared to previous hosts (Leno's Headlines, Craig Ferguson, Geoff and Secretariat, Carnac on Johnny Carson). They have little to no creative value to viewers. I love Bill Maher, but I don't watch any other late night show. That ship sailed when Letterman, Ferguson, and Leno retired.

 

Even the soap opera fans are noticing extremely poor writing and the lack of nuance on Y&R, B&B and General Hospital, compared to 20-30 years ago. Days already went to Peacock (to die, probably). It looks as though the rest of the soaps are also on life support.

 

Do NOT get me started on cable TV. What was entertaining (Cubs games and Bozo on WGN, great movies and Night Tracks on TBS, Cartoon Express on USA etc.) has become a wasteland of binge-watching repeats, zillions of commercials (of which Limu Emu gets at least 1/3 of the airtime), and reality shows that keep getting worse by the year. TruTV aired 'Jurassic World' last night. The channel for live, rolling court coverage and analysis is now running not just hours of Impractical Jokers, but also MOVIES. What gives! Nickelodeon = zillions of SpongeBob repeats with oodles of commercials. Food Network = tons of food competitions, very few how-to cooking shows. Where art thou, Essence of Emeril, Barefoot Contessa, etc.? TWC spends all night running Highway Through Hell repeats (and all day on weekends) and once in a while, they will shove those away if there's major tornadoes. The ghosts of Dr. John Hope and Dave Schwartz haunt the studios, I bet. What was Chuck Roberts and Gordon Graham on Headline News 24 hours a day has turned into WEST WING repeats. Oh, and a zillion Forensic Files showings. Might as well call it TNT2 at this point. TLC's constant reality garbage, same with Bravo, USA, MTV, Discovery Channel. GSN's constant Harvey Feud repeats, too! Isn't he on a few other cable channels...TVLand maybe?

 

Honestly, I'd be fine only getting ESPN, ESPN2, and a few other sports networks a la carte. The rest of cable TV is garbage. Yes, that includes CNN/FOX News/MSNBC. 

 

Honestly, I stopped watching TV for the most part after the start of the pandemic. And for the most part, except for some sports, and maybe the local news, I haven't come back. I would rather watch a classic movie or Seinfeld repeat than 95% of what's on TV nowadays.

 

RANT OVER.

Nailed it. I’d love it if we could get stuff a la carte too, even though that’s never going to happen. Outside of live sports, I barely watch TV. I get my fix from streaming, a little bit of social media, and YouTube (which costs absolutely nothing). Local news too, but even that doesn’t require traditional TV anymore (unless your station owner acts like they’re in the 1990s.)

12 hours ago, VHSgoodiesWA said:

Hamlin is still in critical condition with no further updates. Game will not be made up tomorrow night either, from what I hear.

It’s the right decision IMO. I know they haven’t made changes to week 18 so far, but I really wouldn’t blame the NFL if they postponed those games too.