WABC - 7 Eyewitness News

[TVNewsLover 776]

I honestly believe the only shuffling that needs to be done is amongst the 4 afternoon/evening anchors. Have Dave & Liz anchor at Noon and 5pm, and Bill & Sade at 4pm, 6pm, and 11pm. That way each anchor pair is on 2 hours and no one from the morning anchor team (Shirleen) is being stretched. They should invest in an additional weather person honestly.

Edited May 21, 2021 by TVNewsLover

[MediaZone4K 2165]

10 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

I honestly believe the only shuffling that needs to be done is amongst the 4 afternoon/evening anchors. Have Dave & Liz anchor at Noon and 5pm, and Bill & Sade at 4pm, 6pm, and 11pm. That way each anchor pair is on 2 hours and no one from the morning anchor team (Shirleen) is being stretched. They should invest in an additional weather person honestly.

Agreed about the stretching. I think more stations should move away from the practice of having early morning anchors also do the noon newscast. That's honestly a crazy schedule from about 3:30 am to after 1pm (for anyone working in or out of media).

Edited May 21, 2021 by iron_lion

[Liugrad2020 80]

10 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

I honestly believe the only shuffling that needs to be done is amongst the 4 afternoon/evening anchors. Have Dave & Liz anchor at Noon and 5pm, and Bill & Sade at 4pm, 6pm, and 11pm. That way each anchor pair is on 2 hours and no one from the morning anchor team (Shirleen) is being stretched. They should invest in an additional weather person honestly.

I think Sam wants the 10 Hour a day for 4 days per week schedule. Shirleen and Ken can do

mornings. David and Liz can do noon and 4pm and Bill and Sade can do the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm.

[DMA 135]

Has anyone noticed a shift in the editorial tone at WABC recently? It might just be for sweeps, but coverage of things like crime or city nuisances seems much less neutral and much more tabloid than they had been previously.
 

For instance, a report by Lucy Yang tonight on subway crime was much more forceful and scathing in attributing it to bail reform than I would have expected from WABC, nearly FOX-like in tone. The following report on a dirt bike crash referred to the familiar city nuisance as a “scourge”. I don’t think these examples are bad journalism or even ethically fraught, but they are an abrupt shift from the generally empathetic, descriptive, and non-analytical tone that I associate with Eyewitness News. 
 

I’m curious to see if this continues - could management changes be the root of this? Happy to see them test new waters but if this is indeed a new approach, I’m not sure the New York Post is the best font of inspiration. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by DMA

[nynewslover 277]

18 minutes ago, DMA said:

Has anyone noticed a shift in the editorial tone at WABC recently? It might just be for sweeps, but coverage of things like crime or city nuisances seems much less neutral and much more tabloid than they had been previously.
 

For instance, a report by Lucy Yang tonight on subway crime was much more forceful and scathing in attributing it to bail reform than I would have expected from WABC, nearly FOX-like in tone. The following report on a dirt bike crash referred to the familiar city nuisance as a “scourge”. I don’t think these examples are bad journalism or even ethically fraught, but they are an abrupt shift from the generally empathetic, descriptive, and non-analytical tone that I associate with Eyewitness News. 
 

I’m curious to see if this continues - could management changes be the root of this? Happy to see them test new waters but if this is indeed a new approach, I’m not sure the New York Post is the best font of inspiration. 

I noticed that the past few nights.. specifically with Lucy Yang as mentioned. However over the past few years (specifically during the past administration) Bill Ritter.. ONLY Bill Ritter.. would throw comments in making it quite clear of his political stance. It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by nynewslover

[MediaZone4K 2165]

I noticed this trend as well in an old videos from the Eyewitness News vault. From the tone of their '92 Gotti verdict coverage, it was clear they believed (and rightfully so) that John Gotti deserved to be behind bars. I was surprised at their lack of neutrality on the issue, as evidenced by some of the metaphors that (specifically) Jim Dolan used in his report. On the flip side, I love the colorful language that they used in their coverage. It felt engaging rather than just someone reading current events to you.

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by iron_lion

[Liugrad2020 80]

21 hours ago, iron_lion said:

I noticed this trend as well in an old videos from the Eyewitness News vault. From the tone of their '92 Gotti verdict coverage, it was clear they believed (and rightfully so) that John Gotti deserved to be behind bars. I was surprised at their lack of neutrality on the issue, as evidenced by some of the metaphors and with that (specifically) Jim Dolan used in his report. On the flip side, I love the colorful language that they used in their coverage. It felt engaging rather than just someone reading current events to you.

 

A rare clip of Susan Rosensgen. She basically was WABCs Deborah Norville.

[IceManNYR 238]

I've noticed at the start and the middle of the newscast they promote streaming of the newscast on hulu + LIVE TV.

[Roadrunner 216]

 

1 hour ago, IceManNYR said:

I've noticed at the start

It seems like they didn't do this too often at WABC, but my memory could just be failing me.

 

Over at KABC, the old blurb last year was long enough of a word salad to be laughable:

"Hello, I'm (name). You're watching Eyewitness News at (time), live on ABC 7, ABC7.com, and streaming on the ABC 7 Los Angeles App and Hulu Live." every broadcast.

Thankfully, for everyone's sake, it's now much shorter.

[24994J 5562]

1 hour ago, IceManNYR said:

I've noticed at the start and the middle of the newscast they promote streaming of the newscast on hulu + LIVE TV.

 

WLS has only adopted a bumper going to break. Nice and quick, not messing with the flow of the anchor's greeting at the top. An introduction at the top seems like too much.

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by 24994J

[MorningNews 1441]

KTRK has also recently started doing the same.

[MorningNews 1441]

KTRK has also recently started doing the same.

[PhillyWatch 239]

WPVI is shoehorning it into the script as well when they go to break during their 5pm- "You're watching Action News on Hulu Live, and wherever you stream 6abc" or something just as clunky along those lines. It's bad. Fluff pieces on "Dancing With The Stars" and the latest Disney release during ABC O&O newscasts are one thing, but plugging Hulu in the script feels... lower? 

[IceManNYR 238]

Live with Kelly and Ryan has ended social distancing for the hosts. Curious when the same happens for the newscasts.

 

[nynewslover 277]

So far it seems WNBC and WNYW have ended social distancing... news 12 seems to have most on air staff back in studio.. it can’t be much longer before others follow. New Jersey ends all capacity limits and such friday.. which is the last major restriction in place for the tri state so maybe they’re waiting for that 

[TVNewsLover 776]

On 5/21/2021 at 4:43 AM, TVNewsLover said:

I honestly believe the only shuffling that needs to be done is amongst the 4 afternoon/evening anchors. Have Dave & Liz anchor at Noon and 5pm, and Bill & Sade at 4pm, 6pm, and 11pm. That way each anchor pair is on 2 hours and no one from the morning anchor team (Shirleen) is being stretched. They should invest in an additional weather person honestly.

And it seems as they are:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP8kcUMnKhG/?utm_medium=copy_link
 

Brittany Bell is joining as a meteorologist. Assuming she’s not replacing anyone, they’ll probably carve out the 12noon and 4pm for someone. Now the question is how will things be shuffled around?

[Roadgeek Adam 170]

Not surprised. They've been using the Raleigh affiliate's weathercasters for a bit when they have none of their 4 to fill in. (Yes, they had Spencer Christian and one of the WPVI weathercasters). 

 

Hopefully she's joining as a 5th and we're not losing one of the 4. 

[nynewslover 277]

Let’s say she takes over the noon and 4... does Sam Champion start working Fridays? 

[MorningNews 1441]

I think one of Sam’s primary asks was to work 4 days a week. He’s mentioned the importance of it a number of times because his significant other is based in Florida (or at least was when he returned).

[TVNewsLover 776]

4 hours ago, nynewslover said:

Let’s say she takes over the noon and 4... does Sam Champion start working Fridays? 

I doubt they’ll put her on weekdays. She will probably get weekend mornings with either Jeff or Amy being bumped to weekdays. Could see the noon/4 person picking up Friday mornings and Lee picking up Friday 4pm. Or for all we know Sam may move to noon/4 (in which case the morning person Lee could split Fridays). Guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

Edited June 11, 2021 by TVNewsLover

[wabceyewitness 818]

… isn’t it also possible that either Jeff or Amy plan to leave, or that Sam plans to retire (again) at the end of this contract ?

 

[24994J 5562]

57 minutes ago, wabceyewitness said:

… isn’t it also possible that either Jeff or Amy plan to leave, or that Sam plans to retire (again) at the end of this contract ?

 

Certainly a possibility. The logical and optimistic assessment would slot her as a 5th, but in a budget crunch era, someone else exiting and keeping the count at 4 isn't out of the question.

[MetroCity 248]

10 hours ago, 24994J said:

Certainly a possibility. The logical and optimistic assessment would slot her as a 5th, but in a budget crunch era, someone else exiting and keeping the count at 4 isn't out of the question.

A fifth isn’t necessarily out of the question. Weather is a hallmark for WABC. During severe weather, they often double team their weather people. They have found it useful to have one meteorologist work as weather producer for another during long newscast stretches like the mornings. WABC also has a history of putting weather people in the field to either do climate related stories, for community events, or during sweeps. 
 

It also isn’t out of the question that WABC and ABC could be bringing back a resource sharing agreement where WABC provides a weather person to ABC when network news needs one. And finally, the additional person gives them the opportunity to do more online weather updates, live or recorded. 
 

As far as the $$$ are concerned, ABC recently gave the owned stations additional specific money to add more diversity to their on-air talent. WABC’s weather team needs that. 

[MisterBill 99]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:37 PM, wabceyewitness said:

… isn’t it also possible that either Jeff or Amy plan to leave, or that Sam plans to retire (again) at the end of this contract ?

 

 

Hopefully not Amy. It hasn't been announced (at least not that I've seen), but if you follow her Instagram, there have been hints that she was recently re-married (one post going to Las Vegas had the tag #honeymoon) and she has posted photos with a guy with his own family (who were in the aforementioned post) and her kids, sort of a Brady Bunch situation.

[Liugrad2020 80]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:37 PM, wabceyewitness said:

… isn’t it also possible that either Jeff or Amy plan to leave, or that Sam plans to retire (again) at the end of this contract ?

 

All of that is possible. I suppose it’s even possible that Lee could be leaving the station although I think that’s very unlikely.