nycnewsjunkie

19 minutes ago, IceManNYR said:

Bill mentioned two sports anchors were on vacation and the other was out sick, so Mike Marza, who is anchoring in the morning, was in to do the sports report.

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…

46 minutes ago, WeatherandTraffic said:

Agreed. 

This station has always had one of the best graphics in this market, if not, the country, next to Hearst. The outgoing graphics were 7+ years old and they aged well. 

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.

1 hour ago, jrogo said:

MSNBC will be providing extended coverage on Thursday, the networks big names will come in for the night. 
 

Shame on Fox for not providing coverage of such a high profile event. 
 

I wonder if the networks will go straight to local news if the coverage goes late enough? If the hearing lasts anywhere around that 2 and a half hour mark, it would turn into a nice lead in for local news. I’m guessing ABC will do a special edition of Nightline? Colbert should/could do a live show as he does around special events. 

As mentioned in the original post, Fox is providing coverage of the hearings. They just aren’t providing full, uninterrupted coverage on FNC. They’ve opted to put the main coverage on Fox Business and distribute it to affiliates that want it. Given that FNC’s talking heads are usually on air during the time the hearings are scheduled, this isn’t really a surprise.

Furthermore, I wouldn’t be surprised if many Fox affiliates decide not to take the network’s feed and either A) provide their own coverage or B) show highlights on the late news. IIRC, WJZY ended up cutting from Fox News to NewsNation on 1/6 itself, given FNC’s subpar coverage of the actual event.

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.

29 minutes ago, Spintech33 said:

Pix11 chooper is not down.. They were on the air this past week.  Information is invalid. I've checked the discord, and there's no mention of it.

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.

10 hours ago, dabx said:

Someone mentioned on Discord that WPIX dropped Air11 True?

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.

34 minutes ago, jrogo said:

All the replies above this are spot on, couldn’t say it better. 
I think the gem of this article is: “As previously reported by The Post, O’Donnell’s predecessor Jeff Glor was making a modest $2 million.”

 

So Jeff did it for $2M, they fired him, signed Norah for $8M for the same result, now have Norah at $3.8M. Seems like Jeff really got screwed. 

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.

I guess when you have a penny-pinching, micro-managing boss, an alleged narcissist as your chief anchor, and friction between the two, that doesn’t translate to high ratings or a good product. The relationship between O’Donnell and CBS News seems to be a marriage of convenience, and a dysfunctional one at that.

On May 26th, BBC Director-General Tim Davie announced plans to cut staff and services in an effort to save £500 Million annually over the next few years. The plan is billed as a “digital-first” initiative to modernize the corporation, but is being implemented after the British government announced a freeze of the television license-fee at £159 ($200) for the next two years. The BBC is funded entirely by said license-fee, and the current UK government has previously criticized this method of funding.

Highlights:

• BBC World News will merge into the domestic BBC News Channel. BBC News will serve as the sole news channel for both the UK and international audiences, though there will be some separate broadcasts for the British and world feeds.
• BBC Four and CBBC will cease linear broadcasting, and will become digital-only services through BBC iPlayer.
• Radio 4 Extra will cease linear broadcasting, and will become digital-only through BBC Sounds.
• The regional news program in Oxford will be axed this November, and will merge with the news program from Southampton.
• The BBC will request Ofcom to lift some restrictions on BBC iPlayer
• “A number” of BBC World Service languages will become online-only.
• 1,000 staff are projected to be cut over the next few years.

Links:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/plan-to-deliver-a-digital-first-bbc/

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61591674

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-61593568

https://deadline.com/2022/05/bbc-close-cbbc-bbc-four-linear-channels-1000-redundancies-expected-public-broadcaster-next-few-years-1235033365/

15 hours ago, SnellKrell said:

NewscastStudio -

 

https://www.newscaststudio.com/2022/01/14/wnbc-wnju-combined-facility/#:~:text=NBC-owned WNBC and WNJU,New York City metro area.

 

and a friend who works for the station.

 

Those are my sources!!!!

That NewscastStudio article cites a single Broadcasting & Cable article, which suggests that both stations will move into a shared workspace. I assume both stations will get new sets when they do, but the B&C article doesn’t mention that. The “Potential Studios” section of the NS article doesn’t cite anything, so I’m assuming it’s speculation on the part of the author.

On 5/20/2022 at 12:21 AM, Weeters said:

I firmly believe the de-emphasis of the call signs and channel numbers is 100% intentional, and the "white box" on some of the websites is a temporary thing to tie a few of the stations with "legacy brands" to the new brands. Why? Because it doesn't matter if you're "CBS 2 WXXX" on the internet, which is where the audience these groups are going after is. People say "won't this confuse viewers?" while the same viewers are the ones who can't understand that KDKA-TV and KDKA 1020 are owned by two different companies. The viewers who might be "confused" are not the viewers the stations want.

 

I predict that, sometime in the near future, these "legacy call sign" stations will simply brand themselves on-air like "CBS News Pittsburgh on KDKA 2" for a while before dropping the calls/channel number entirely. 

These website rebrands don’t have to translate to TV though. It’s entirely possible that the “CBS News (Insert City)” branding on websites and streaming platforms are simply designed to generate traffic to the main CBS News website by integrating the local station sites into it. Heck, the station websites/social media accounts have been branded as “CBS (Insert City)” for years, and station logos were hardly present. Local branding has been deemphasized on the digital side for quite some time. I could be wrong, but if they were really going to dump the legacy local brands (a la CTV), you’d think they’d have done it by now.

2 hours ago, abric said:

Hopefully CNN can go back to some more credible, hard news journalism that has been 'zucked up' in the past few years.

It’s going to be an uphill battle on two fronts.
 

First, ratings. Many of us (myself included) wish CNN could transform into its 1990s self and just do the darn news instead of running whatever hyper-partisan narcissism they ran under Zucker. I’d also like to see long-form reporting/documentaries on “investigations or far flung human dramas.” However, straight news and in-depth reporting don’t make for high viewership on a rolling news channel, and documentaries are more expensive to produce than shows where pundits rant into a camera. There’s a harsh reason why every cable news channel (including the zombie that is NewsNation) ends up as some variation of Fox News instead of France 24: many Americans (regardless of party/belief) would rather be coddled to instead of seeing politicians questioned rigorously.
 

Second, reputation. Over the past decade or so, CNN has become known for catering to Northeastern middle/upper-class liberals. That image has become especially problematic under Zucker, and it won’t be easy to erase. CNN would have to completely overhaul opinion programming and clearly separate it from the news division before it even begins to shed Zucker’s influence.

Here’s hoping Licht & Co. pull it all off, but there is a long road ahead.

59 minutes ago, Spring Rubber said:

On StreamTWC.com, it says that you can watch for free if you already have TWC through a cable or satellite subscription, so my understanding is that the paid service is for users who don't already have a cable or satellite subscription?

I was confused about that as well. Does the streaming service have any features other than extra severe weather coverage?

16 minutes ago, tjt24 said:

CBS is not giving up KDKA. Ever. Under any circumstances. I can never see that happening. That is one of their crown jewel stations and they value it. They aren't going to sell it. 

 

Now WPCW on the other hand? That is possibly a different story. If duops aren't CBS' thing and should they want to unload the CW O&Os (which would be a very tricky process), then it's not out of the realm of possibility that they sell WPCW to Nexstar. I don't think or know if it's all that likely, but the possibilty is there. 

 

And to your point, @Kenneth Kissel, Nexstar does own a bunch of stations surrounding the Pittsburgh market, so them having a presence here would only make sense. 

CBS has every reason not to sell KDKA. Even though their stations are obviously not always their #1 priority, KDKA’s position in an AFC market means strong ratings and revenue that they’d be foolish to get rid of. They’re also arguably the best station of the bunch, so even if CBS decides to sell some stations, I doubt KDKA is going anywhere.

13 hours ago, iron_lion said:

This is not limited to GMA but has anyone noticed reporters increasingly speaking in the present tense?

 

Example: Last night, Speaker Pelosi landing in Ukraine, speaking with President Zelensky about Putin's next move. 

 

I suppose this is to make things sound more dramatic or current? I've noticed this happening in about the last two or three years, especially on GMA.

 

ABC has been reading the news in the present tense for a while, although that really accelerated after David Muir took over WNT. I guess that style of delivery is supposed to make the news sound like it’s happening in real time, but it’s devolved into being unintentionally hilarious, given that they aren’t even speaking in complete sentences anymore. It’s certainly a departure from Peter Jennings’ style of delivery.

28 minutes ago, Spring Rubber said:

It was a bad week for TWC. They went to long form programming promptly at 8 PM ET both Wednesday and Thursday nights when major severe weather (with multiple tornado warnings) was firing off throughout the northern plains. I don't get how you make the decision to disregard a major derecho with 90+mph straight line lines with multiple embedded tornadoes and say, "No thanks, we're good. We gotta get to long form at 8 PM no matter what."

 

In 2021 and prior, when Weather Underground was a 5pm-8pm ET program, they would very regularly at least add one extra hour of Weather Underground from 8pm-9pm ET. It was an extra 4th hour of the show, because the show was 3 hours long, and adding a 4th extra hour was no big deal. When Weather Underground became a 4-hour show last year from 4pm-8pm ET, they stopped adding the extra hour at 8pm. I'm guessing there's a clause in the OCM contracts that they can't add a 5th hour to their shifts willy-nilly; they're probably capped at 4 hours.

 

Now with Pattern being introduced to the schedule, Storm Center is now the same as old Weather Underground, 5pm-8pm ET, only three hours, yet despite this, they simply will not add the extra hour at 8pm ET, even when horrible severe weather exists, if they didn't pre-schedule "extended coverage" ahead of time to last to 1am ET.

It honestly benefits TWC to have weather coverage in prime time. Even from a ratings standpoint, severe weather is far more interesting than whatever they put on after 8pm. Do you know if their derecho coverage was paywalled for those in the affected area? Would be disgraceful if so.

6 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

Running all stations like they're in Scranton and investing in them that way because you are ignorant to market size and diversity.

I’d make an exception for WGN, but that’s only because they had the wisdom to leave well enough alone over there (so far) and not because of any improvements they’ve made.

I’m a bit miffed at the idea of yet another streaming service to sign up for and missing my local announcers (full disclosure, I’m a Mets fan,) but Jason Benetti is a class act and the inclusion of some regional analysts is welcome. When it comes to the booth, NBC is already off to a better start than Apple TV IMHO.

1 hour ago, bostonmediaguy said:

Is the heritage brand truly being de-emphasized? That's counter to Wendy McMahon's textbook marketing strategy when she was at both WCCO and WBZ.

 

I would agree, however, that the O&Os branding is very inconsistent; not just within the group, but even at the station-level.

 

I present the table below with no intent of making this a "list" thread, but to simply illustrate my point. 

 

 

Perhaps the branding changes are just on the digital side, then. They could be sticking with heritage/local brands on TV while emphasizing the connection to CBS News on most social media sites. Those changes could also be a way of generating more traffic to the main CBS News website (given that the local websites are integrated with CBS News.) That actually makes more strategic sense than wiping away local branding wholesale.

1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

Hate to break it to everyone but "KDKA-TV 2" is already being deemphaized in favor of "CBS News Pittsburgh" and "CBS Pittsburgh".

 

KDKA means radio, and Audacy has a rather sweet licensing deal with Paramount Global to continue using the call letters as a brand. Let them continue to use that name and lessen the confusion, like when people were complaining at KDKA-TV because of Wendy Bell flaming out at KDKA radio.

Normally, I’d argue that de-emphasizing a heritage brand is a terrible move, but given the collateral damage caused by the Wendy Bell hiring, it actually makes sense in this case. KDKA 1020 is a talk radio outlet that no longer has anything to do with the TV station, and the call letters arguably have a stronger connection to radio than TV (a similar comparison can be made to WABC-TV, which only references their call letters in station IDs and legal disclaimers.)

That said, I’m not sure why CBS wants to de-emphasize local brands on all of their stations, given that there tends to be more trust in local news than national news (and CBS News isn’t exactly dominating the ratings in mornings and evenings.)

I guess they couldn't decide on the branding. They slapped a "KDKA" in a white square next to the CBS News Pittsburgh logo. They clearly spared no expense with that /s.

15 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Yeah it just alludes to the direction Local TV News and WABC is going, from the complaints about Sam Champion not wearing a suit, to Bill's emotional rants, to not breaking in when warranted, it just goes to show that the standard that WABC has set is starting to decline or perhaps in alignment with the today's generation of viewers. They indeed seemed to be more relaxed as attitudes and expectations shift with new generation of viewers. It is 2022. I'm sure Sam's on air look is intentional. Maybe him not wearing a suit and tie is appealing to a certain audience. The requirement of needing to be polished, have a suit and tie seems to not be prioritized as much anymore. Lets not forget, that nowadays people dont even have TVs anymore they go online or stream online, so maybe they felt like the efficiency of being in air broadcasting a news story that was developing wasn't warranted at the time especially when most people have internet access and can go on the web and get more information much faster than the news can deliver it on TV.

In terms of the newscast format, this isn’t the first time WABC broke convention. Witty anchors like Roger Grimsby and the whole concept of “happy talk” were specifically implemented to break from the traditional newscast of the period and stick out from their competitors. However, deciding not to cover a news conference on TV and breaking into programming late don’t fall under the “breaking convention” strategy. WABC still does a solid job overall, but they could’ve done a bit better with today’s coverage IMHO.

On 4/10/2022 at 3:31 PM, sanewsguy said:

Simple: he was caught with his pants down and moved to quickly scrub the use of the stuff ripped from News Music Now once it was exposed to the right people that he was doing that. He probably made it private hoping nobody else would see that he was doing that.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that he had probably hoped nobody would ever catch him doing this, and it worked, almost. Kind of an odd logic to have when you boast about being seen in over 115 million households.

 

He also started to scrub the NMN stuff from his other show, "The Reed Report" and now uses some random YouTube music: 

 

 

It looks like he was doing this with his other show too, "Valley View with Austin Reed" (how many shows does this guy have?). That one is/was using the old TXCN music and Impact in a sponsor bump. Again, I think once Austin realized what he was doing was not cool, he corrected this. That said, he shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. 

 

Forget the music… it looks like he’s spreading himself WAY too thin here. Again, I appreciate that he’s at least providing an alternative in a market where there’s really only one good station (KFSN), but when his main newscast alone is a bare bones show with limited local news on a low power station, he’d be better off doing one thing at a time. There comes a point where you can’t do it all yourself and expect the eyeballs to roll in. Also, naming your operation after yourself seems a bit off-putting imho, but I guess you could chalk that up to me being particular.

28 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

Aside from the need to update the aesthetics, the music is fine. Actually I'd opt to return to the late 80s/early 90s version of Cool Hand Luke.

 

In terms of news product I think WABC has the most recognizable brand but WNBC is my prefrence. WNYW has the weakest news product outisde of it's feature specials like Street Soliders. WPIX isn't strong either outside of the "Morning News". Overall News 4 and Eyewitness News are the strongest news wise. 

 

Is no one behind the scenes speaking to Ritter about his editorializing or does he have leeway as the station's lead newsman?

Something tells me management actually likes having the anchors editorialize. I guess it’s supposed to make them more relatable, but it’s a bit condescending to those of us who would rather not hear opinion on a straight newscast. Reminds me more of Bill Bonds than Bill Beutel. That said, the format works for NYC.