CraigViewer

Like ABC7 in Los Angeles, in media markets where ABC has owned and operated stations, the O&O stations tend to have more stability than its competitors, and have higher-rated newscasts, as well. It's an interesting pattern that I have noticed over the years, and speaks to these stations, or the O&O group that the stations are under doing something right, for sure.

It appears that ABC7 has combined both the weekday and weekend morning anchors in this new morning show promo that debuted today. Anyway, these are all sleek promos, and it's wise for Granato and Co. at ABC7 to relentlessly promote their newscasts and the Eyewitness News brand, for that matter, to audiences. It further drives it home and resonates more with viewers that way.

I have noticed that Dallas has had even more pep in his step, given some of the new weather presentations on their new set this week.

It's a gorgeous set! Here are some other photos of the new set, as well:

According to this article, Kacey Montoya will return starting this upcoming weekend to the weekend morning broadcasts until the end of April. The six laid off on-air KTLA talent were given the option of working the next 60 days with pay, or receiving 60 days of severance pay instead. Montoya opted to work for the next 60 days at the station. https://nypost.com/2026/03/04/us-news/kacey-montoya-dumped-in-ktla-layoffs-but-shell-be-back-on-air-soon/

Based on what I have seen from Newsmakers, it certainly looks like a nice upgrade from their former set! It is in a rather large studio space, so I am eager to see what else they have done with any other beautiful changes to it.

I happened to catch Eyewitness Newsmakers, as well. This is in all likelihood the soon-to-be debuted news set. In the background, on the right hand side of my photograph, there appears to be an LED banner of "Eyewitness News."

Mark Kriski's wife and former KTLA reporter Jennifer Gould posted on her social media accounts today: "Thank you all for the amazing outpouring of love and support for my legendary hubby @MarkKriski KTLA wasn't a job, it was his passion. He lived, ate & breathed that station. But as you've seen w/health battles, he is a warrior! Like a phoenix he will rise & soar again! " Some of Kriski's now-former colleagues at KTLA voiced their support in the comment's section on her IG posting (a screenshot of her X post), as well. With a couple new meteorologists who were brought on board at KTLA -- Liana Brackett and Olga Ospina -- within the last couple of months, and who may working there on a per-diem basis, I wonder if those were possible cost-cutting previews to come, as far as this week's Nexstar layoffs are concerned.

It's a bloodbath. We, the audience, essentially invite anchors and reporters to be guests in our homes on a daily basis. Thus, it's heartbreaking and also jarring for many to observe that they are being treated like cogs on a wheel by a large corporation.

I do not know whether or not any these layoffs are effective immediately, because at the top of the 3pm newscast on KTLA today, anchor Lindsey Peña (who is co-anchoring with Lauren Lyster today) said, "Glen and Lu have the day off."

While many NBC O&O's and affiliates have sent local production crews and anchors/reporters to the Winter Olympics, the coverage nationally on NBC is more subdued so far, indeed. The Winter Olympics are historically a relatively high ratings draw for the network, but less so than the Summer Games. That could be one of the reasons for the lack of on-air personnel, as far as big NBC is concerned. I would agree with commenters here that it has more to do with the Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy's, disappearance, however.

The 11pm newscast was back in their studio last night.

If I had to guess, ABC7 will debut their new set as well as any other on-air changes around the time of this year's Academy Awards. In year's past, given the fairly large viewership for the Oscars, I have noticed they have introduced new station promos during programming on Oscars Sunday. And, this year, it gives them that opportunity to introduce the changes, as well.

Interesting. I have observed that since KABC got both a new general manager and new news director in recent years that they there are seemingly leaving their mark, given the new set and the addition of quite a few new on-air talent, who are actually not bad at all. In my humble opinon, that's a good thing that they are threading the needle between those refreshes, and retaining their stability that they have continued to have over many years now.

Perhaps we will see new mic flags around that time, as well. To me, the WABC-style mic flags (which I know KABC had a similar version years ago) has always been more stylized and flashy than ABC7's current mic flags in Los Angeles.

Yeah, with the holiday season, it sounds like the producing team and/or writers of "Good Nite LA," which is probably a smaller group than those who put together the 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm weekday shows, filled-in for a few days.

Although the monitors on the set appeared outdated in recent years, the set largely stood the test of time. Aesthetically, it was superior to many of the other ABC O&O's sets. Looking forward to seeing the final product of the new in the coming months.

I started to notice the name change in my channel guide on DirecTV early this morning. I recognize that KCAL has long been recognized by a trusted local news source for Southern California residents, but to me, CBS Los Angeles always sounded more authoritative on Channel 2 than "KCAL News," that should have strictly been on KCAL on Channel 9 instead.

My guess is that they are modeling after the three-anchor format of "Good Morning America."

It's unsurprising to me that MSNBC struck that agreement with Sky News for a couple of reasons: no international reporters/bureaus of their own of soon-to-be MSNOW had been named in their press releases, and also that it has been simulcasting Sky's coverage of select international events for the past few years now.

This all would have been unsustainable for both Sinclair and Nexstar to continue long term in preempting Kimmel. They recognize the public outcry and the soaring ratings his post-suspension shows had this week. Also, it's worth noting, that according to a media report today, Disney CEO Bob Iger may have been on the verge of playing hardball against Sinclair and Nexstar by threatening to pull top ABC broadcasts, like MNF, off their ABC affiliates if they did not reinstate Kimmel soon.

As someone who lives in the Los Angeles market, I remember seeing her as being one of the reporters KABC brought in from out of town to assist with their Southern California wildfire coverage earlier this year. She struck me as being very solid. I would imagine that upper management at ABC7 in L.A. was impressed by her pitching-in work in large part, as well.

Perhaps it's part and parcel of many these virtual studios, but the lighting on the talent is dimmer in that virtual studio than it is in their main news studio, as well.

It appears as if CNN is introducing Michaelson to its audience gradually ahead of his show's launch, as I just saw him present a video package of a sit-down interview he conducted with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tony Blair at the end of Kaitlan Collin's program a short time ago.

It's possible that all newscasts will fully transition to it. I am not sure that will be the case, however, only because they debuted a new studio a handful of years ago.