nycnewsjunkie

On 2/22/2024 at 11:51 AM, Abraham J. Simpson said:

. I could be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Neither is going to happen. 

On the off chance Nightline actually does expand, I'm bookmarking this. Just saying

17 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

I would doubt it. Hasn’t the JKL hour been fairly successful for ABC? Seems like they’d want to find a suitable replacement than abandoning it.

I don't know...I think the cancellation of the Late Late Show after Corden's departure was a bit of a bellwether for the decreasing relevance of late night talk shows. Kimmel has his audience, but if I'm not mistaken, he is routinely beaten by Colbert and Fallon. As far as his current place in late night TV is concerned, I feel like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight are more culturally relevant than Jimmy Kimmel.

I suppose there's a chance that ABC finds a fresh comedian to helm a new talk show, and if they're making money between 11:35 and 12:35, they probably won't fix what isn't broken. However, if they end up giving an extra 25 minutes to the affiliates, that really wouldn't surprise me.

20 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

The thing is: who actually notices? For all the complaints about common elements, how many viewers are actually going to be in two markets with common designs, and happen to watch the stations in question, and happen to pay that kind of attention, and actually care? Effectively no one. 
 

Nobody cares if WABC and KABC, for instance, have common design elements. A few people like us on message boards aren’t representative of the public at large. 

Oh, absolutely, nobody notices. As long as the headlines are legible, and the graphics don’t distract from delivering info, nobody gives a crap.

6 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

True. I see both sides. I agree with the idea of identifying a similar product via aesthetics through several markets. Not to drift off topic but, comparing the more successful ABC O&Os vs CBS O&OS...I don't mind duplicating a look just with added personal touches like KWY doing green instead of the standard CBS blue and white. I know the argument is a similar look for content sharing but the audience does not care if WCBS takes a KYW green graphic. 

 

The issue becomes when stations sound like a bland corporate carbon copy and not locally authentic. Look at WCBS with its pharmacy jingle ringtone open and clean corporate feel which doesn't match the vibe of a gritty intense city like New York. In contrast, even though WABC is one of ABC's many Eyewitness News copies, it still feels locally authentic to NYC with its diverse set of long-tenured reporters and its "flashier" (as some have said) format. 

I have to agree with this though. WABC didn’t originate the Eyewitness News format (even their logo isn’t original), and yet it has always taken on the identity of the city/region it serves. Most of it is due to the long-tenured anchors/reporters and the longevity/viability of the format, but I do think building around a local identity plays a role too. Much of that would be lost if we woke up tomorrow and found ourselves watching “ABC News New York.”

To be fair though, the CBS O&Os were in a different situation than the ABC O&Os. When a lot of those stations are either dead last and/or lacked a local identity to begin with, their approach makes some sense. And full credit to them for beating the other network O&Os when it comes to streaming, and for finally patching up the embarrassment that was their Detroit outlet.

43 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

I’m all about a mandate if it prevents stations from the on-air presentation WABC had in place for a long time. 

I think there’s a difference between stations sharing a group graphics package and stations taking on the identity of the national network news division. The former is nothing to scoff at imo. The latter is far more noticeable.

On 2/11/2024 at 6:53 PM, mightynine said:

Did they forget to load TT Norms in? That looks horrible. 

I wouldn't be surprised if, given the social media reaction to that font, they make some adjustments to the scorebug before the 2024 season starts. FWIW, I feel like the whole thing would be fixable if they just used TT Norms as the font.

On the plus side, I think the game clock is a definite improvement.

I didn’t always agree with some of their editorials, but there aren’t many accessible and professional insider publications that I’m aware of. Hopefully they’ll be back sooner than later.

On 2/7/2024 at 7:13 PM, mrschimpf said:

I would literally pay extra for a 'clean feed' with just a simple scorebug and no tickers; every new sports service seems to think it's required to appeal to the 'prop bet on random Bangladeshi netball at 4:30 in the morning' category of bettors. I really hope that information isn't baked into the video of this service.

I doubt it will be. They’ll probably have an option to show betting info and game stats, sort of like how Amazon has an NFL StatCast feed for TNF. They would be dumb to bake that into the main feed itself.

On 2/8/2024 at 4:10 AM, Jase said:

No amount of time could have saved the first incarnation of CNN This Morning. Don, Poppy and Kaitlan were (are) polar opposites of each other and never truly seemed interested in making the show work nor supporting (uplifting) each other in any way from the beginning.

 

Of course building chemistry takes time, but everyone has to be willing to do the work and I never got that from them. It was a pain to watch.

I think this certainly applies to Don, but I don’t think it’s fair to apply this to Poppy and Kaitlan. The latter two seem to have had a good working relationship. Don shouldn’t have been put on that show to begin with; he was well “past his prime,” as he might put it.

IMO, the issue with CNN’s approach to things is not that “no amount of time could have saved” the show; it’s that they keep trying new things only to blow them up. If you keep doing that, you’ll have no audience to speak of. As you said, building chemistry takes time, and CNN This Morning was not given that time.

18 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Bill is also probably nearing retirement so I noticed he's scaling back on the duties, slowly. But he also still anchors the 5, 6 and 11 so thats still a lot of air time. So its a good strategy to have Bill, the lead anchor still maintain a solid on-air presence while allowing potential successors to groom them out on that Friday evening slot. I can even see the new guy, Pedro Rivera potentially later on down the line, landing the weekday evenings which would be a nice success for him. A lot of anchors who do the morning show on weekend mornings always end up landing somewhere bigger after, seems to be the show with most turnover. 

IIRC, Bill Ritter himself was on weekend evenings before he replaced Beutel on the 11pm. If they're grooming Mike Marza to be Bill's eventual successor, I could definitely see Pedro taking the weekday morning slot.

On 2/1/2024 at 9:15 PM, GoldenShine9 said:

What value does KCBU have for Gray though? Unless they acquire KSL (and there's no indication Bonneville is selling), it's an isolated asset with no real value.

I mean, the worst case scenario is that they get a station in Salt Lake City in exchange for some stations in very small markets, all without cash considerations. In and of itself, that sounds like a good deal to me.

I'm sure they'll do something with that station though. KJZZ currently airs Jazz games, and I don't know when that agreement expires, but I agree that they could be in play to air sports if the NHL moves to Salt Lake City (via the Coyotes or an expansion team).

57 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

Moving onto a temp set 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2f4n5Cyu6q/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

 

The bare bones temp set actually looks more up to date than the outgoing set.

This IG post gives a view of the anchors. Looks as if they’re using an old desk from KSWB.

https://www.instagram.com/tsardinatv/p/C2tZT_Yreel/

2 hours ago, EVVTV12 said:

The tape delay ratings in the Indy market still beat out the live ratings in other markets. So for WISH, it would give them a huge boost. 

Oh wow, I wasn’t aware of that. Would be a great (and much needed) get for them then.

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

That may be a good thing for WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

I wouldn’t bet on it. The live broadcast of the Indy 500 has been blacked out in Indianapolis for decades.

6 hours ago, sfomspphl said:

Looks better than the O&O implementation. Less in your face with the eye and CBS name. 

 

But close enough you pick up the cues it’s related to the network news parent. 

I’m not a fan of that “2” logo though. It looks a bit…off with the rest of the package. And unless they’re planning on rebranding as “KTVN,” I don’t really see the point of having the call letters in the box; seems rather redundant.

I do prefer the music here though, mainly because Enforcer is a lot more versatile than Dimensional. Other than KPIX (which uses the package well), the O&Os use the same one or two cuts that get really tiresome after a while. Just my opinion though.

5 hours ago, ATLNewsExpert said:

Hello everyone,

 

Our latest episode, extremely proud of it and how it turned out! We returned to using the green screen in part for the headlines, with the background based off of how CNN uses studio A/B for News Central, also in love with the updated set and how it flows on air.

 

 

Wow, this is the first time I’m seeing this project, but it looks fantastic! Seems like a wonderful way to introduce high school kids to video journalism (and journalism in general). They certainly seem really enthusiastic about it. Good for you guys.

On 1/22/2024 at 8:38 PM, Abraham J. Simpson said:

Those game show hosts also came from other fields. They were not sent down from on high to become game show hosts from day 1. Alex Trebek’s own book details how he wound up where he did.

That’s actually putting it lightly. Drew Carey and Wayne Brady certainly never set out to be game show hosts any more than the “career game show hosts” have. I remember watching Drew’s interview with Alex Trebek for a game show documentary; his initial reaction to the offer to host TPIR was something along the lines of “I don’t want to host that old man’s show.” Of course, he’s become such a natural at the gig that you’d never know that if he didn’t say it.

1 hour ago, TresGriffin said:

On a semi-random note (a thought brought on by Mayim Bialik's ousting at Jeopardy), it's kind of interesting that we're well past the era of "career" Game Show Hosts. Like, the days of having Bob Barker, Alex Trebek, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, Tom Kennedy, etc are behind us now and it's really a shame.

It's like they now throw in someone from some other medium to be game show hosts now, like comedians, actors and sports personalities. Like we now have Michael Strahan (sports) on Pyramid. Steve Harvey (comedian) on Family Feud. "Blossom" was (partially) the host of Jeopardy.

 

Do you think we'll ever see game shows go back to a model of having hosts that specialize in game shows?

I don’t think so. The role of career game show hosts made more sense when game shows were in greater demand by the networks to fill out the morning and afternoon hours.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having people who don’t strictly host game shows do just that; to me, comedians are especially great in that role. Keep in mind, it isn’t anything new. Dick Clark was primarily known as an DJ, not as a game show host. Alex Trebek was a CBC DJ before he hosted game shows. Pat Sajak was a local weatherman. The only modern example of a career game show host that I can think of is Jeff Probst.

On 1/17/2024 at 10:15 AM, EJ Velazquez said:

Aw, well, I know the new Disney/ABC/ESPN campus is going to look great and out of the park but I’ll also miss the street studio, never had a chance to visit. As for the new graphics, I’m glad the talents are back, makes it more distinct from their other stations!

You can still visit if you’re in the area and find yourself in/near Lincoln Center; it’s pretty cool to see it in person. It’s a shame there won’t be one in Hudson Square, but I imagine they have their reasons for that.

6 hours ago, DMA said:

I've always viewed WABC's visual format as a take on print-tabloid aesthetics. While the newspaper age definitely on the wane, in a lot of aspects NYC is still a tabloid town, especially among working class people. The large text probably doesn't hurt with an older demographic either. While I haven't been a fan of WABC's previous looks, I kind of got what they were going for: legibility, bold flat colors, a general "punchiness" - a loud look for a loud town. 

 

This new look is a nice 30 year time warp to the present, but still within the realm of WABC's overall visual tradition, can't complain!
 

 

Couldn’t have said it better. I do think their newscasts would come off as being rather ostentatious and gaudy in most other cities, especially when you consider the occasional mild editorializing on the part of the anchors. However, the “populist” (for lack of a better word) style of WABC’s newscasts does fit in NYC imo.

4 hours ago, NowBergen said:

I look at KDNL in St. Louis, which supposedly ABC has not been happy about yet they keep agreeing to affiliation agreements with Sinclair in the end.  

 

The issue becomes how does a network drop an affiliate?  If there is a strong independent station, that can work or if they plan to start their own station as NBC did in Boston (which probably would not happen anymore, especially outside a top 10 market).  If there was a whole affiliation switch in a market, then some other network gets stuck on a Sinclair station, just maintaining the actual problem.

Not to sound speculative, but I do think the prospect of networks dumping affiliations with certain station groups is becoming more feasible. The networks (except for Fox) are already able to distribute “network-only” feeds of their programming; ABC did just that when Sinclair and Hulu had a carriage dispute last year. Sure, it might be a loss for OTA viewers, but I’m sure the networks would find a way to get their feeds carried on streaming/cable. It’s not as though the networks care that much about OTA antenna viewers anyway; if they did, we wouldn’t be seeing Peacock-exclusive NFL playoff games.

I don’t see it happening anytime soon, but I do think there will come a time when the networks won’t need the affiliates, especially if they’re run by a company like Sinclair. I’d be intrigued to see what the TV landscape looks like 10 years from now. Disney can’t be happy to associate with Sinclair, and I imagine if the opportunity presented itself, they’d want to rid themselves of that association. 

18 hours ago, MorningNews said:

WABC might be one of the most sensational and flashy local news stations I’ve seen outside of the Sunbeam operations. It’s not a bad thing or a knock, the format and style fits WABC perfectly.

I mean, they sort of always have been on the flashy side when it comes to their presentation of the news. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think their product is anywhere near the level of sleaze and shameless tabloid junk that WSVN was pumping out in the 90s, and the station does (and has done) plenty of serious journalism. But their newscasts have always had a “man on the street” feel to them, at least imo.

This is an Eyewitness News promo from the 1960s. The subject matter would still shock some today, so imagine how it was received back then.

5 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

A sad day in Baltimore, since the Sun was a vocal critic of David Smith and his escalation of Sinclair into a national powerhouse of propaganda.  Given their current state under Alden, it sadly may actually be an improvement, since the paper is once again under "local" ownership.

The Sun is certainly running with that “local ownership” line, and I suppose “local ownership” is a tangible improvement compared to being owned by a hedge fund. But I’d bet any money that the editorial leanings and journalistic standards of the paper will be drastically different than they are now.

Hasn’t David Smith thrown enough money away already? Nobody was rooting for him to become dollar store Rupert Murdoch.

The only reservation I have with the new look is, sadly, Charlie van Dyke. He’s one of my favorite voiceovers, but he really doesn’t sound good in the intro. I’d hate to see him go, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else started voicing the station’s newscasts in the near future. I know there are other VO actors that voice promos and such already.

6 hours ago, TheNewsTV said:

It's WABC's turn

1 hour ago, wabceyewitness said:

Here it is:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eeO_nJqoRg

 

Night and day.