nycnewsjunkie

WCVB has promoted Cindy Fitzgibbon and Mike Wankum in the wake of Harvey Leonard’s retirement. Cindy will gain the title of Chief Meteorologist, but will remain on the morning/noon newscasts. Mike Wankum, currently on weekend evenings, will become the new weeknight meteorologist. IMO, well-deserved promotions for both. https://www.wcvb.com/article/wcvb-stormteam-5-meteorologists-cindy-fitzgibbon-mike-wankum-promoted-july-8-2022/40550090#

I suppose only 4/15 consistently good stations isn’t exactly a great track record for the station group, so you definitely have a point there. And it certainly makes sense to ditch Enforcer (if that’s in the works.) IMHO, that music had its day, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the back of it in favor of something new. That said, I still don’t understand how going the CTV route with local branding would increase ratings at the dead weight stations. WFOR, KYW, WBBM, etc. may not have anything to lose by ditching their local titles, but what would they have to gain that would make them stand out from WSVN, WPVI, or WGN? Considering that they might also ditch the local brands of the more successful stations, they’d be gambling away successful and proven names for the remote possibility that they improve in other markets. It sounds like cutting off one’s nose to spite their face in their competitive markets (one could include WBZ as being competitive for CBS too, given WHDH’s loss of NBC.) You’re right that WWJ will be branding as CBS News Detroit, but you could say that’s because WWJ (TV) never carved out any distinct identity whatsoever. This kind of branding actually works for their case, as it puts the power of a big network brand (even if their national news is incredibly weak) behind a station that has little to no news reputation to speak of. It’s entirely possible that you’re right, and they go the CTV route. I suppose there’s also a non-zero chance they go generic for their struggling stations while keeping local brands intact on their more successful ones. There’s also a chance that the local brands don’t go away at all, even with the new “CBS News” brand on certain newscasts and online (see posts from @Geoffrey in the WCBS thread for potential evidence of that.) The whole thing still seems like a bit of a crapshoot to me, and I know we’re just making very early guesses, but it’ll definitely be interesting to see what happens in the fall.

IIRC, WCBS gave her an offer to do 5p and 11p with Ernie Anastos, her former Ch. 7 colleague. Considering that she had been passed over for Liz Cho when Diana Williams reduced her workload, perhaps she figured Ch. 2 was her best shot at a main anchor seat. Unfortunately for her, Ch. 2 dropped a #2 on its anchors by constantly shuffling them around, and she didn’t last there very long.

Amanda Cox gave her final goodbye from WJZY this morning. She’s apparently headed into the world of IT.

I’ve always thought that the website rebranding was more of a way to connect the stations’ often glitchy websites to the CBS News website, and in turn drive internet traffic to the national side of things. There has not yet been definitive evidence of dropping local branding wholesale. AFAIK, the only mentions made about dropping local branding were comments on this website, and that was nothing more than speculation. Of course, my theory is also speculation (they could theoretically drop local branding on air and online while keeping it in the sky), so I wouldn’t take this as a sign of anything until we have a better idea of the upcoming new look.

This isn’t a sign of anything until we see evidence of WBZ itself rebranding (the website doesn’t count.) CBS stations using the “CBS News (Insert City)” brand for newscasts isn’t anything new. KTVT does it at midday to promote their streaming service, and WLNY did it for a while at 9pm. The “Now on TV38” portion of the title could just be part of the cable guide’s listing, but we’ll have to see what it looks like at launch. What we do know, per NewscastStudio, is that CBS is working on new graphics that are expected to launch in the fall. I have personally seen no evidence in publications that suggests CBS intends to get rid of local branding on their main local newscasts based on the new website designs (nor have I even heard rumors backed up by sources.) Because of this lack of verifiable info, until we see/hear more of the specific changes that are to come in terms of rebranding, I would treat any suggestions of a full brand overhaul as pure speculation, and nothing more.

And it’s a shame that neither WABC nor WSVN seemed to give any tribute to him whatsoever. Even KODE in Joplin noted his passing. Even if he didn’t leave WABC on the best of terms, the fact that they didn’t even acknowledge it online is neglectful at best and low at worst.

Fox 5 may not stand out these days, but I think they benefit from WPIX going through several anchor/personnel changes every few years (especially in the morning). PIX’s newscasts have always been inferior to their Tribune/Nexstar counterparts in Chicago and LA, but they at least used to have some character. They now have newscasts that are even more bland and uninspiring than Fox 5. IMHO, they never fully recovered after dumping Jim and Kaity from evenings, and that’s worked to Fox 5’s benefit.

Yesterday’s parade shooting in the Chicago area received coverage from the big cable networks, and of course from local stations like WGN. Per FTVLive, this was not the case at NewsNation. In the immediate hours after the shooting, their Twitter page posted a single article on the shooting that contained reporting from both WGN and the Chicago Sun-Times, but not from NewsNation itself. While WGN was live and on the air, NewsNation was showing the famous award-winning news program… Blue Bloods. They did not go live on air or update their digital content with their own reporting until much later. It should be emphasized that NewsNation is located in the same building as WGN. In Chicago. I think we can finally pronounce this thing dead. No need to give any more attention to a network that can’t take itself seriously enough to properly cover a story miles from where they’re located.

In hindsight, I suppose you’re right, nearly 10 years is a long run. And I didn’t say that presentation didn’t matter, just that it wasn’t the single most important aspect of a newscast. Still think they could’ve done a better job, but hey, it’s the best set in the market, so that’s fine. That said, I’m still not sure why some stations (KDVR, KNTV, WTKR, KXAN) are junking sets from 2016 (and in KDVR’s case, 2019!) when the money could be better spent elsewhere. EDIT: To WKRG/Nexstar’s credit, the old set isn’t going to waste. It’s being donated to the University of South Alabama.

If this set were replacing a set like WALA’s, I’d agree with you. A set isn’t even the most important part of a newscast, the journalistic product is. The problem is that Nexstar doesn’t seem to think this way when it comes to some of their stations. They place so much emphasis on building sets for stations that don’t really need them (the set this replaced wasn’t even 10 years old,) and the new sets look dated even at launch (see WTTV for another example of this.) While I agree with @tyrannical bastard that this set is the best in the market, that’s not a very high bar. The competitors are Sinclair (speaks for itself) and WALA, which hasn’t updated their set since they first went HD. IMHO, if a new set is that important to your news operation, it should be built to last. As I said in my post in the KXAN set thread, Nexstar could’ve spent that money on more staff, resources, and employee benefits. An FTVLive article from today featured a reporter from a Nexstar station that was tasked with solo-anchoring and producing an 11pm newscast, while also doing the weather. How is it that Nexstar can spend loads on new sets that don’t even look all that great, but can’t afford to hire staff at other stations to lighten the workload? I’ll give Nexstar credit for how WJZY has turned around under its stewardship. Their story selection has improved, more people have been hired, and their new set (which they actually needed, unlike WKRG) looks great imo. I also recognize that local management has a lot to do with these decisions, and that corporate isn’t just controlling each station with marionettes. That being said, if a new set A) isn’t needed, B) doesn’t even look as good as what other designers have produced for stations, and C) adds nothing new to the overall product, what’s the point? It’s like replacing a working iPhone 12 with the brand new iPhone just because it’s newer.

Just caught a peak of New York Live. The show itself is basically a reformatting of the lifestyle-oriented 10am show, minus the news and weather segments. As mentioned, Chris and Marysol are now the primary hosts (as opposed to having an anchor front the bulk of the show.) Ben and Ojinika continue to host segments. The show is utilizing the traffic set (at least for now) and graphics look to be a modification of the existing news graphics.

If anything, they'll probably end up using the traffic/NewsNation set, given its relative versatility. I doubt they'll want to launch from the cramped space in the newsroom. I wouldn't expect it to be much different from the other lifestyle/pay for play shows out there, but we'll see.

I know that Altice is horrific when it comes to how they run News 12, but to hire Audrey Gruber *after* the NY1 fiasco is a whole new level of incompetence. Then again, Altice probably doesn’t care. They seem to have been moving toward integrating the News 12 networks anyway, and these resignations will give their out-of-touch management team an excuse to move further with that effort.

Wirtz and Reinsdorf wouldn’t need to start entirely from scratch. They could feasibly buy out Comcast’s 25% share of NBCS Chicago and they’d have their own RSN. Given that Comcast can’t find a buyer for their RSNs (since they aren’t in demand,) this would be an easy way for Comcast to sell one of them. Both sides would essentially get what they want.

I initially thought they modified the duratrans a bit, but it turns out that had more to do with the lighting and placement of the monitors. Hopefully the new set doesn’t look as cramped as the last one.

So they basically just did what MSNBC did. They dumped the tickers as well. Outside of Bret Baier and Fox News Sunday, their programming has been mostly talk/personality shows for a while. The “newsroom” shows have always been slanted to the right (not explicitly, but in terms of story selection). I don’t like Fox News (or any other American cable news channel for that matter,) but I’m not sure this counts as a drastic change from what they’ve been doing before.

Agree. The show is great, but it’s best suited for prime time.

Bill, Liz, and Lee shared sports for the 6pm, to rather hilarious results. They actually did a decent job (even if Lee is a closeted Celtics fan,) though I imagine Ryan Field’s job security is intact. EDIT: @wabceyewitness beat me to it at the exact same time. Apologies for the redundancy.

Looks decent…for 2010. Maybe it’s just me, but imho both the graphics and music are a downgrade from what they replaced. They both look/sound well past their expiration date, and they just debuted. If only Tribune’s creative services team was kept…

I’ll go as far as to say that the outgoing package looks better than some of the newer graphics packages being churned out by Gray and Nexstar. That said, the new Wx graphics look fantastic. If they are a harbinger for a group-wide package, that will be a welcome development, especially for WABC and other stations with aging/less than stellar graphics.

I’m surprised it supposedly isn’t COVID-related, given that the other anchors (at least from what I’ve seen) are distanced on the desk together, rather than being in separate studios.

Thanks for the info, I must’ve just missed seeing it on air. Several other Nexstar stations have their helicopters in the air, so taking one down in a place like NYC didn’t sound right to begin with.

I haven’t seen it on air for some time, but I don’t know if they dropped it entirely. Would not be a very good move if so.

Imho, CBS screwed themselves more than they screwed Jeff. One can argue that Jeff somehow has the better end of the deal today. He works almost exclusively on Saturday mornings with a good cohort of people, and might even get another shot at the big chair down the road if/when CBS decides to fill its ranks with people who know what the hell they’re doing. In the meantime, he can sit comfortably knowing that he’s not involved with this current fiasco.