nycnewsjunkie

I’ve come up with a tagline:

“John Dickerson: He’s not Chuck Todd.”

Hopefully these were just first day jitters, but there’s much to be improved upon to say the least.

18 minutes ago, GodfreyGR said:

Lifelong Minnesotan here- even if you are correct, they will take a sweet long time to kill off the best known branding/call letters in the state.
 

They had the opportunity to unveil the CBSN MN brand to the tens of thousands who walk by their booth at the state fair and every sign, banner, and giveaway had the classic WCCO logo on it.

 

Along with the billboards, you don’t spend that kind of money on promos and giveaways (even if they are paper fans and reusable grocery bags) to flip it right away. 

Good point, and now that you mention it, the state fair was at the back of my mind in the lead up to what we thought would be a Labor Day launch. The near absence of “CBS News Minnesota” branding on their tents, signage, etc. was hard not to notice. You’d think they’d use an event like the state fair to promote the new brand to the masses alongside their existing brand, if only for streaming purposes.

I still think they’ll implement the “CBS News Minnesota” brand alongside the existing WCCO brand (see the graphics demo, although that is likely not the final look). That said, it might take take at least a year before the WCCO name goes away on TV. There’s even a small chance that it doesn’t go away at all, although that would make WCCO a very special exception among the CBS O&Os. I suppose that would only happen if the market’s reaction to the whole rebrand is *extremely* negative.

WCCO isn’t the only station that is slow to promote the “CBS News (City)” brand. Even though KCNC is launching its rebrand on Sept. 12th, WCBS is still advertising their new 9am newscast (premiering on the same day) as “CBS2 News at 9,” with less than a week to go. There’s also a new KYW morning promo with the new graphics that advertises that newscast as “CBS3 Eyewitness News” (I’ll look for pictures/videos of both and post them here ASAP). Those aren’t “legacy stations” like WCCO, so perhaps those stations are slowly transitioning their brands because of the large number of OTA viewers in those markets? I’m honestly not sure. The rollout is a bit inconsistent at this point, and some things may not even be finalized yet. Chances are, we’ll know a lot more on Monday.

20 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

One of the problems was the tail end of the 19-20 and last season of Ellen were pretty much the last thing most viewers wanted to watch, so for many of these stations, they do have to spend the money and say that they have something to watch at 4pm, even if it's a newscast.

 

Also The Four is probably there to stay just based on hashtag-ness (#thefouronwccofour or #thefouronfour); if it was The 4 on CBS 39...yeah, that's a temp title.

Also, they’re the newcomer in the 4pm news game, and have to catch up with KARE, so I suppose every bit of promotion helps. Still, three in a row is overkill.

Agree on the name and branding. WCCO isn’t spending loads of cash to promote a temporary title/branding.

3 hours ago, bc485 said:

It appears that John Muller is replacing Craig Treadway as weekend morning co-anchor with Kirstin Cole.  I tuned in this morning and Craig Treadway was anchoring the 4am newscast with Vanessa Freeman. 
 

Lots of changes at PIX, and Muller seems to have been demoted several times since he returned to the station as lead anchor. First, he was dropped from the 5 and 10pm newscasts in favor of Kori Chambers.  Then he was dropped at 6pm and moved to the early morning slot, and now weekend mornings. 
 

 

I’ve given up trying to understand the logic behind many of PIX’s staffing arrangements. The only constant at that station is change, and Muller’s certainly used to that.

16 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

Trying to cast this as but anything but a downgrade and contract burn-off is completely impossible.

Marni isn’t stupid, though. She’s probably padding her resume as we speak. Any credible journalist would want to get the hell out of there asap.

As far as the programming goes (Cuomo is taking over the 9pm slot), it’s ironic how CNN is desperately trying to cast off it’s opinionated approach (a few years too late), while the “all facts, no opinion” channel has gone all-talk in prime time.

11 hours ago, MorningNews said:

I’m sure the anchors would find a way to get back in time for a majority of the coverage but there are much more robust contingency plans for network news these days than the 60s. For instance, George or Whit Johnson are more than capable of holding things together in David’s absence. Savannah or Tom Llamas could hold things down at NBC while Lester was en route. I have no idea who works at CBS.

Usually Major Garrett covers for Norah at CBS.

1 hour ago, Geoffrey said:

Just two months ago, we heard about "key staff departures" and "the design has not been finalized." Signs point to this look not launching for a while longer.

Also, if the demo is on YouTube before it even launches, there’s a decent chance that it’s not the final product.

11 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

Well, that was a dud. I'm so sorry, guys.

 

At least we have KCNC to look forward to next Monday.

I mean, it’s only graphics. No need for an apology. It’s not the end of the world or anything.

Besides, they’ll get the full set at some point.

1 minute ago, Geoffrey said:

Not exactly the launch of a new look in Minneapolis.

Looks like a half-launch. Weird.

1 hour ago, newscopter7 said:

Yeah, right—that’s when the Wendy Bell fiasco when down on 1020 no one called the tv station…

 

 

oh wait…

Not sure what you’re replying to there…I never said people didn’t get the two confused.

20 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

And here’s the whole damn thing.

 

 

Not surprisingly, they’re basically the CBS News/Evening News graphics. For the most part, they look slick as hell, and it’s good to see the local stations getting the same look.

The cut of music they use in the demo is refreshing, but as others have mentioned, it feels a bit too light for some markets (including New York). I was hoping they’d go with a variant of the CBS News streaming theme. Then again, the demo cut gives off a WCCO/WJZ vibe, and will work well on those stations.

18 hours ago, Tyler said:

Re KDKA; That joke was relevant 25 years ago. In modern times, no one is out on the streets saying call letters. Or channel numbers. 

Unless they’re referring to the radio station, but of course, it no longer has anything to do with the TV station.

1 hour ago, Geoffrey said:

Andrea Grymes, who used to anchor weekend mornings with Cindy Hsu until the pandemic, was back as a co-anchor this morning on Cindy's last weekend broadcast. As Cindy moves back to weekdays starting next Monday, September 12th (the graphic says "CBS 2 News at 9:00AM" so maybe the name change is still some time away?), Andrea will be returning to the anchor chair on weekend mornings.

 

Much of the 8:00 hour this morning was about Cindy. They brought back familiar guests from restaurants to be in the studio for the first time since the pandemic began and even the "Furry Friend Finder" was back. (I'm curious to see if these segments return permanently, or if this was a one-day Cindy special.)

Good to see Andrea back in the weekend anchor chair. She and Cindy made a great team. Also, I’d like some of that bread.

As for the graphics/name change, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new graphics launch September 12. Given that they’re still promoting it as “CBS2 News,” I guess they’ll be easing in the name change over the next few weeks. I’m surprised they aren’t launching it sooner, given that it’s CBS’ key station and that the branding change won’t be very drastic at all in this market.

2 hours ago, WheelWarrior said:

Is there any chance that CBS will extend the scheduled end time to 7:30 or 8:00? CBS has the worst on-time performance of CFB broadcasts because, no matter what time the game ends, they will always do roughly 10 minutes of the Rocket Post Game Show. Most commonly, I notice the game itself ends around 6:55, but affiliates will not begin programming until about 7:10. I have been following this for about four years now, always briefly tuning into a CBS affiliate (usually KYW, which does news at 7:00 during CFB season) at 7:00 or 7:05, and only once (not counting days with cancelled games) have I not seen the fourth quarter still in the homestretch or a table of talking heads. Why doesn't CBS just schedule to 7:30 and encourage its affiliates to do 6:00 news at 7:30/6:30c? With the way it is now, news crews always have to wait for everything to finish (unless they prerecord), or whatever program airs at 7:00 (or 7:30 after news in many cases) never airing in its entirety. Other networks generally only do post game shows similar to CBS's if they have a lot of time to fill.

They could theoretically dump the post-game show if it’s that big of an issue for the network. Besides, I have a feeling most people (myself included) switch over to another Saturday night game by that point anyway.

13 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

And WWJ-TV has gone all-in as "CBS Detroit" (h/t @DetroitTVNews)

Maybe it’s me, but this version of the logo looks a bit awkward. IMO they should’ve kept the logo horizontal and made it much smaller, kind of like how CBS Sports does with their logo placements. That’s a nitpick though; most people won’t (and shouldn’t) care and I’m sure they’ll make adjustments as time goes on.

15 minutes ago, anchorman said:

Longtime News 12 Long Island morning anchor is leaving the morning show to focus solely on News 12’s “The New Normal” show which airs live at 9am and repeats at 4:30pm. The show airs on all N12 networks. 

I assume you’re referring to Elizabeth Hashagen?

4 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

As long as CBS Atlanta doesn't resurface on an O&O in the market, although I doubt Gray wants to "fire" CBS any time soon or vice versa...

On the contrary, I think this new branding is exactly what Hilton Howell meant by “firing CBS.” It fits with the overall strategy of giving the station its own identity, which it’s never really been able to find all these years. It’s not like they’re planning on dumping the affiliation or anything.

2 hours ago, kshow said:

Why would a station want to do this?

Because WGCL’s ratings have been in the toilet since time immemorial. The only constant at CBS 46 has been an absurd level of instability. Also, I’m not sure how branding by “channel 46” makes you relevant in today’s world.

Gray doesn’t want its largest station to be a perennial basement dweller. They needed to end the instability plaguing the station, enhance the newsroom with new hires, and blow up the branding. They’ve done a decent job with the first two so far, and now they’re about to do the third.

13 hours ago, ttvn2000 said:

It’s silly…just go back to “Channel 3 News.”

 

One notable thing is Sara Shookman’s sharp decline in having any sort of presence here. As recently as 2018, she was the main anchor and now has been relegated to 7pm - and gets pushed out by Christi Paul and Carmen Blackwell.

Sara Shookman is on maternity leave. The station even covered the birth of her second child. I don’t think anyone’s getting pushed out here.

Also, I don’t like WKYC’s format either, but it’s not like Dave Lougee and Tegna issued an edict that WKYC must change their newscasts. While Tegna management certainly encouraged this stuff, these moves were made entirely by local management.

1 hour ago, channel2 said:

But I do think trying to force the major affiliate groups to drop, in some cases, decades' worth of brand recognition and give up at least the appearance of an autonomous newsroom potentially problematic. There are a lot of people who are still, almost 20 years later, distrustful towards CBS News (rightly or not) over their handling of the Killian documents. Plus if CBS News gets into hot water again, why make it harder to distance yourself from the network? The O&Os have every reason to align themselves with the network, being owned by them and aggressively branded with the Eyemark and "CBS" visually or verbally. But if your newsroom is independent from the network, why act like it's not? Wasn't the longstanding "A CBS AFFILIATE" marker meant to indicate exactly that?

While there are potential problems, it may be worth the risk given that the more successful O&Os are exceptions, not the rule. Also, CBS has changed significantly since the Killian fiasco. CBS and Dan Rather have had nothing to do with each other for nearly 20 years. If CBS News gets into hot water again on the national level, there will always be people who harass their local CBS affiliate over something the national network did, regardless of station branding.
 

Also as you alluded to, KCNC’s identity has been that of a standard CBS O&O since 2003, and they no longer have any real local identity to speak of anyway. This really isn’t much of a change on their end.

1 hour ago, channel2 said:

Also, it sounds eerily similar to NBC's failed gambit to make Young sell KRON to them at a loss. "Call yourself 'NBC 4' and pay us $10 million a year or we're pulling our affiliation."

IIRC, that had more to do with KRON’s habit of preempting shows than a branding issue.

1 hour ago, channel2 said:

The alignment of the O&Os with the network also serves another purpose I haven't seen theorized: It helps CBS News look like it's "in touch" with large swathes of the country. Over the last decade or so, the national news media seems to have retrenched into a handful of large metropolitan strongholds: New York, LA, San Francisco, Washington, maybe Chicago. Touting a presence in places like Detroit or Pittsburgh or Baltimore or Denver is huge, especially considering the national media's disinvestment in the Rust Belt and general ignorance of the Intermountain West.

I mentioned this in the “WBZ Rebranding Newscasts” thread, but that’s a big component of this. Even if some of CBS’ more successful stations in medium-size markets (ex: Baltimore, Pittsburgh) lose their local identities, they will make the national network more relevant in those markets. You mentioned the difference in viewer trust between CBS News and the local affiliates, and CBS is well aware of this. Unifying national and local brands can be a small step in remedying that issue. The CBS O&Os can add value to the national news operation, and if the CBS News brand is more ubiquitous, more viewers might begin to trust the national network in the same way they trust their local station.

It should be noted that WCCO appears to be launching the new look with their own local branding, although that’s more than likely a transitional thing.

18 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

There's a negative halo from network newscasts for some portion of the audience (this goes back decades...the whole 'network news doesn't represent my views' thing isn't new among some portion of the audience, just magnified these days). Beyond that the channel number / call letters are a bit of a firewall that also makes it feel more authentically local.

 

Eliminating the local station number / call letters, and using the exact network news name (CBS News) makes it all feel even less local, trusted for that segment of viewers. 

 

See in Pittsburgh how KDKA lags WTAE at 6pm but has a massive lead at 11. Some of the core KDKA viewers don't care much for the national CBS News outlet, preferring World News Tonight.  

 

I doubt this change would have passed the common sense test of Les Moonves. 

 

The press release for KCNC isn't even consistent. It calls it 'CBS News Colorado' upfront, then all the newscast titles are 'CBS Colorado News at XXX.' 

 

The former is much more network newscast tied with 'CBS News' as the exact phrase, the latter maintains some more local identity (keeping the 'CBS News' phrase out of the mix). 

Thing is, given the damage David Friend, Peter Dunn, and the old management team at the CBS stations did, and the fact that there is a clear push toward unifying linear and streaming brands, it has to happen. There are also reasons why it can work at CBS, but not at the other networks. I’ll link to a post from @Samantha, who explained it best:

As for your point about local brands being more trustworthy than the network’s brand, I totally get it. If you asked me a few months ago, I would’ve agreed with your point and would’ve questioned why dumping local identities was even up for discussion (in fact, I did). Thing is, that trust deficit is a huge problem for the network, especially given its eternal ratings woes. In fact, it’s all the more reason for CBS to do what it’s doing.
 

Having trustworthy local news brands is great, but it means little if it doesn’t translate to success on the national level. By integrating the local stations with CBS News, the national news operation can benefit from the trust people already have in their local stations. It might sound like CBS News is trying to force its way into CBS-owned stations; in reality, it is the stations and their local news operations that are adding value to CBS News. The local station might feel less “local,” but over time, the national operation will feel much less alien to viewers.

18 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

Looks like we have our smoking gun, folks.

 

KCNC is rebranding as “CBS Colorado News”.

Kudos to everyone who called this even before the new websites rolled out.

Hopefully CBS’s rededication to investing in its O&Os goes beyond this name change and translates to better local journalism.

4 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Thus, I expect the network to pressure the major chains—Gray, Nexstar, Cox, Sinclair, Tegna** and Scripps—to adopt these branding conventions on their CBS affiliates wholesale, which will set up an interesting confrontation between the groups and the network that @Weetershas been predicting on the discord for awhile. (“Why should we have to brand our stations as ‘CBS’ and act like the network owns us when we can fall back on NewsNation, the CW and Antenna?”)

 

** Fate of said company still TBD.

Just curious, in what ways could a network pressure its affiliates to that extent without completely alienating the station groups? Granted, the station groups need the networks more than the networks need them, but given that many CBS affiliates are part of duopolies (ex: KGMB, WTOL, KPHO), I’m not even sure CBS would want to go that far.

That said, unified branding somewhat remedies the 1994 switch that still affects CBS and its stations today. As you said, it’s the norm in nearly every other country, and it makes sense in a world that prioritizes streaming. Nobody looks for “channel 2” on YouTube TV or online; they look for CBS.

2 minutes ago, Tyler said:

Yeah, I wasn’t being snarky. Apologies if it came off that way. I was trying to prove that things like that need not be overlooked. Why complicate branding outside of a newscast when you can just say “CBS.”

No need to apologize, that’s my bad.

I agree with your point though. Making things less complicated is likely the whole motivation behind why they’re doing all of this in the first place.

2 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

Seen at the end of a WCBS promo featuring all of the anchors talking about reporting on the communities they live in. 

 

I keep hoping for more clues that the O&Os are keeping the channel numbers but I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed.

 

What will stations be branded as outside of news? How will they differentiate between TV and streaming?

 

I wish I snapped a picture, but I’m in Philly right now and I saw a KYW talent promo w/ Ukee Washington after tonight’s Evening News. It ends with the “CBS3” and “CBS News Philadelphia” logos, with no mention of Eyewitness News. They’re going full send on brand standardization.

I didn’t think they’d actually do this at first either, and I’m very much in favor of local identities being kept. That said, on many levels, this makes sense. As many others here have pointed out better than I ever could, most CBS-owned stations in large markets do not stand out. WCBS and KPIX already look bland, KYW and WBBM have been mismanaged into instability, and KCBS… need I say more? I don’t think a unified branding will make those stations ratings powerhouses or anything, but it would at least tie them to the network’s news division.

Also, to answer your question, there is no longer any need to differentiate between the network and streaming. That’s the whole point. If CBS wants to really prioritize streaming, a great way to do that is to unify both linear and streaming brands.

Just now, Tyler said:

Here me out:

 

”CBS.”

No need to be snarky, but yes, CBS or CBS New York will suffice.

(If you weren’t being snarky, my apologies for interpreting it that way.)