WABC - 7 Eyewitness News

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

5 hours ago, HanSolo said:

Thus, “aside from morning.” And apart from that and the Disney parks commercial, it’s 13 something hours of NBA, so yeah, it’s all day. 

Stop over-exaggerating.

[HanSolo 143]

Noon to 1 something in the morning is all day, my friend. More than that. 

[Encore 323 23]

3 hours ago, HanSolo said:

Noon to 1 something in the morning is all day, my friend. More than that. 

It is definitely all day especially west of Eastern time for sure.

[TheRolyPoly 2357]

The annual Christmas Day tradition at WABC-TV... the Christmas morning broadcast of Channel 7 Eyewitness News This Morning (the only news broadcast on WABC-TV this year due to the Disney Parade and the NBA on ABC going until 1am ET). Because of Hanukkah also following on the same day this year, both Bill Ritter and Lauren Glassberg (both Jewish) had the day off.

 

(EDIT: If I'm wrong as to why both Bill and Lauren are off, please correct me.)

 

Instead, it was Pedro Rivera (solo at 4:30am) and Tanya Rivero (joining from 5am onwards) anchoring with Lee Goldberg, the chief and the only usual one this year from the normal three, as part of this year's telecast. Of course, holiday greetings and more as NewsActive3 captured it this morning for us to now enjoy.

 

If you don't know how this tradition came to be, NewsActive3 on YouTube explains it:

"This was an annual broadcast that was done every Christmas Day since the September 11th terror attacks in 2001."

 

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by TheRolyPoly

[MediaZone4K 2158]

53 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

The annual Christmas Day tradition at WABC-TV... the Christmas morning broadcast of Channel 7 Eyewitness News This Morning (the only news broadcast on WABC-TV this year due to the Disney Parade and the NBA on ABC going until 1am ET). Because of Hanukkah also following on the same day this year, both Bill Ritter and Lauren Glassberg (both Jewish) had the day off.

 

(EDIT: If I'm wrong as to why both Bill and Lauren are off, please correct me.)

 

Instead, it was Pedro Rivera (solo at 4:30am) and Tanya Rivero (joining from 5am onwards) anchoring with Lee Goldberg, the chief and the only usual one this year from the normal three, as part of this year's telecast. Of course, holiday greetings and more as NewsActive3 captured it this morning for us to now enjoy.

 

If you don't know how this tradition came to be, NewsActive3 on YouTube explains it:

"This was an annual broadcast that was done every Christmas Day since the September 11th terror attacks in 2001."

 

 

Cool. For starters, what was the necessity of a 4:30 am newscast on a national day off?

 

Could they have made up the ad revenue with one of their specials?

 

Holidays like Christmas are when the concept of a Scrippscast actually makes sense. 

Edited December 26, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[NowBergen 679]

7 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

The annual Christmas Day tradition at WABC-TV... the Christmas morning broadcast of Channel 7 Eyewitness News This Morning (the only news broadcast on WABC-TV this year due to the Disney Parade and the NBA on ABC going until 1am ET). Because of Hanukkah also following on the same day this year, both Bill Ritter and Lauren Glassberg (both Jewish) had the day off.

 

(EDIT: If I'm wrong as to why both Bill and Lauren are off, please correct me.)

 

Instead, it was Pedro Rivera (solo at 4:30am) and Tanya Rivero (joining from 5am onwards) anchoring with Lee Goldberg, the chief and the only usual one this year from the normal three, as part of this year's telecast. Of course, holiday greetings and more as NewsActive3 captured it this morning for us to now enjoy.

 

If you don't know how this tradition came to be, NewsActive3 on YouTube explains it:

"This was an annual broadcast that was done every Christmas Day since the September 11th terror attacks in 2001."

 

 

 

Hanukkah is a festival, not a religous holiday.  They may have been off for other reasons such as family vacations, etc.  Wasn't Lee Goldberg on?  WNBC had an all Jewish news team at 6 and 11.  I'm not a usual Eyewitness News watcher but I found the newscast from 6:30 on to be useless from a news standpoint.  It was just viewers letters interspersed with some letters.  For those Eyewitness News fanboys, I'm sure that was fine.  For me looking for an update on news, I was disappointed.

[MediaZone4K 2158]

55 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

 

Hanukkah is a festival, not a religous holiday.  They may have been off for other reasons such as family vacations, etc.  Wasn't Lee Goldberg on?  WNBC had an all Jewish news team at 6 and 11.  I'm not a usual Eyewitness News watcher but I found the newscast from 6:30 on to be useless from a news standpoint.  It was just viewers letters interspersed with some letters.  For those Eyewitness News fanboys, I'm sure that was fine.  For me looking for an update on news, I was disappointed.

There was no need for an actual newscast, especially in an era of internet.

 

I was watching WSVN and they had their full slate of evening Newscasts. All shows from 4 to 7:00 p.m. appeared to be repeats of each other with little local content.

 

Overall, this subject comes up every year. Religious or not, there shouldn't be a problem with having an annual national day of rest.

 

It says something about this country that we get so upset when our daily institutions get to pause for one day.

Edited December 26, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[ns8401 940]

4 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

There was no need for an actual newscast, especially in an era of internet.

 

I was watching WSVN and they had their full slate of evening Newscasts. All shows from 4 to 7:00 p.m. appeared to be repeats of each other with little local content.

 

Overall, this subject comes up every year. Religious or not, there shouldn't be a problem with having an annual national day of rest.

 

It says something about this country that we get so upset when our daily institutions get to pause for one day.

Really it says something about humans being creatures of habit. Like anything else disrupting routines is usually a net negative. 

[HanSolo 143]

4 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

There was no need for an actual newscast, especially in an era of internet.

 

I was watching WSVN and they had their full slate of evening Newscasts. All shows from 4 to 7:00 p.m. appeared to be repeats of each other with little local content.

 

Overall, this subject comes up every year. Religious or not, there shouldn't be a problem with having an annual national day of rest.

 

It says something about this country that we get so upset when our daily institutions get to pause for one day.

It likewise comes up repeatedly to nitpick when the newscasts do air as normal. The problem, to the extent there is one, seems to be with people who insist, repeatedly, what is or isn’t necessary based on their standards. 

[MediaZone4K 2158]

1 hour ago, HanSolo said:

It likewise comes up repeatedly to nitpick when the newscasts do air as normal. The problem, to the extent there is one, seems to be with people who insist, repeatedly, what is or isn’t necessary based on their standards. 

Objectively speaking....Why pay staff time and a half to produce a full schedule of newscasts when little *LOCAL* news is actually occuring, for probably below average viewership?

 

Is there an appetite to hear about the latest shooting/stabbing on Christmas? 

 

And from a subjective POV....What little does someone have going on in their life that they're mad about not being able to watch as much news for one day out of 366?

 

Does any of this actually warrant debate? A major national holiday occurred, and mass amounts non-emergency workers scheduled vacation simultaneously. Its that simple.

 

Anyway this sums it all up...

On 12/23/2024 at 5:26 PM, mrschimpf said:

This week every news organization is going to have an abnormal schedule. It's the holidays. It's expected. 

 

We go through this every year and seem to begrudge people for taking time off during the holidays and...no. Just enjoy different people getting on the air. Some of them REALLY need it after the abuse some of them have had to deal with this year from the public, politicians and c-suiters pushing them to their last nerve. Live with your ABC station not having news on Wednesday because of the NBA being on all day and get over that your local station doesn't have your precious morning news and advertorial show on that morning and instead runs a mass, some bargain-bin Christmas film from Trifecta, or a taped parade.

 

I feel like I have to say this every year and it's tiring. People deserve time off.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[C Block 1566]

6 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

Objectively speaking....Why pay staff time and a half to produce a full schedule of newscasts when little *LOCAL* news is actually occuring, for probably below average viewership?

 

Is there an appetite to hear about the latest shooting/stabbing on Christmas? 

 

And from a subjective POV....What little does someone have going on in their life that they're mad about not being able to watch as much news for one day out of 366?

 

Does any of this actually warrant debate? A major national holiday occurred, and mass amounts non-emergency workers scheduled vacation simultaneously. Its that simple.

 

Ratings on Christmas are higher than you'd think. A lot of people are at home with not much else to do, or maybe they get enough of family time after a while. Plus, now there's football on Christmas Day.

 

With that said, a skeleton staff and maybe an hour show in the morning and half hour at 10/11pm is more than enough to suffice on Christmas. Run the yule log and pre-taped specials for the rest of the day.

 

In my experience, the most pointless holiday newscast is the morning news on New Year's Day. That's the hardest one to rustle up content for. Even less is happening then, and even fewer viewers are watching.

[wabceyewitness 818]

Liz Cho anchored at noon today, for the one person here who seems to be obsessed with her subbing schedule and feels she should work more. 

[TVNewsLover 774]

19 minutes ago, wabceyewitness said:

Liz Cho anchored at noon today, for the one person here who seems to be obsessed with her subbing schedule and feels she should work more. 

You don’t have to refer to me as ”the one person”, you can mention me by name. And I wouldn’t call it an obsession. That’s ironic coming from a board full of people with weird obsessions. Kudos to her for subbing twice at noon within a short period. I will try not to mention it ever again since some of you get butt hurt at the site of it.

[wabceyewitness 818]

27 minutes ago, TVNewsLover said:

 I will try not to mention it ever again

 

Thank you. 

[HanSolo 143]

4 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Objectively speaking....Why pay staff time and a half to produce a full schedule of newscasts when little *LOCAL* news is actually occuring, for probably below average viewership?

 

Is there an appetite to hear about the latest shooting/stabbing on Christmas? 

 

And from a subjective POV....What little does someone have going on in their life that they're mad about not being able to watch as much news for one day out of 366?

 

 

Objectively, the people making the decisions have far more information than speculation. I don’t need to know every single piece of data to understand why station X decides it’s fitting to run their normal schedule, albeit with a reduced staff, while station Y tosses on filler material. Nobody is just burning the bosses’ money for kicks and giggles. 

[MediaZone4K 2158]

6 hours ago, HanSolo said:

Objectively, the people making the decisions have far more information than speculation. I don’t need to know every single piece of data to understand why station X decides it’s fitting to run their normal schedule, albeit with a reduced staff, while station Y tosses on filler material. Nobody is just burning the bosses’ money for kicks and giggles. 

Because management always makes the right decision and wasteful spending never happens.

 

Contrarian and corporate apologist per usual.

Edited December 27, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[TheRolyPoly 2357]

On 12/26/2024 at 7:21 AM, MediaZone4K said:

I was watching WSVN and they had their full slate of evening Newscasts. All shows from 4 to 7:00 p.m. appeared to be repeats of each other with little local content.

 

WSVN has done normal newscasts on Christmas for years except for 5am and 12 Noon to air a local boat parade special (Winterfest, 40 years now).

[Vlad 323]

I know its been several days past Christmas now, but I gotta say, it was a solid broadcast. And remember there are no newscasts for the entire day at WABC so I think its more than fair to have the broadcast. Solid broadcast non the less, thanks RolyPoly for posting this!

 

 

[HanSolo 143]

On 12/26/2024 at 11:53 PM, MediaZone4K said:

Because management always makes the right decision and wasteful spending never happens.

 

Contrarian and corporate apologist per usual.

Aw, was that supposed to be an insult? When it comes to a track record of the complainers who seem to live to find imaginary fault or people with the actual data and accountability, the armchair QBs come up short.  

[MediaZone4K 2158]

On 12/29/2024 at 11:44 PM, HanSolo said:

Aw, was that supposed to be an insult? When it comes to a track record of the complainers who seem to live to find imaginary fault or people with the actual data and accountability, the armchair QBs come up short.  

It's a fact. All you ever do is just find a way to contradict/dismiss what people say and advocate for station management.

 

Your answer right now shows a lack of self-reflection.  You think legitimate critiques of the way our collapsing industry is being run is "finding imaginary fault". 

 

Most of your answers on this thread are chalked up to "the people in charge have all the answers and we should just accept anything because they know best."

 

What is the point of this website if not to critique decisions and offer alternatives? 

On 12/4/2024 at 11:23 PM, ns8401 said:

Are you a proponent of change for the sake of change or something? You come off as some sort of apologist for the way things are done right now being somehow superior and anyone who thinks otherwise has something wrong with them…

Exactly.

Edited December 31, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[HanSolo 143]

13 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

It's a fact. All you ever do is just find a way to contradict/dismiss what people say and advocate for station management.

 

Your answer right now shows a lack of self-reflection.  You think legitimate critiques of the way our collapsing industry is being run is "finding imaginary fault". 

 

Most of your answers on this thread are chalked up to "the people in charge have all the answers and we should just accept anything because they know best."

 

What is the point of this website if not to critique decisions and offer alternatives? 

Exactly.

As opposed to “everything anyone does I don’t like is wrong?”

 

”Legitimate critique” and “this wasn’t done this way before” or “that’s not what my journalism school professor way back when preached” are not the same thing. Audiences change. Tastes change. Expectations and needs change. Technologies change. But by god, don’t fade out to a commercial break cold. Don’t do a newscast when I don’t have any actual data but assume it shouldn’t be on. Don’t speak in an active voice. On and on and on.

 

It’s always so easy to pretend to have the magical solutions when it’s not your job to manage the P&L, to make the hard calls with the available resources, to actually use data to make choices and not rose-colored glasses yearning for some bygone era. 
 

So yeah, change things the heck up. That’s what millions of people do. They change. They try new things. They evolve. They mix old and new. They change something for the sheer hell of doing something different. They don’t become fossilized dinosaurs. 

[MediaZone4K 2158]

1 hour ago, HanSolo said:

As opposed to “everything anyone does I don’t like is wrong?”

 

”Legitimate critique” and “this wasn’t done this way before” or “that’s not what my journalism school professor way back when preached” are not the same thing. Audiences change. Tastes change. Expectations and needs change. Technologies change. But by god, don’t fade out to a commercial break cold. Don’t do a newscast when I don’t have any actual data but assume it shouldn’t be on. Don’t speak in an active voice. On and on and on.

 

It’s always so easy to pretend to have the magical solutions when it’s not your job to manage the P&L, to make the hard calls with the available resources, to actually use data to make choices and not rose-colored glasses yearning for some bygone era. 
 

So yeah, change things the heck up. That’s what millions of people do. They change. They try new things. They evolve. They mix old and new. They change something for the sheer hell of doing something different. They don’t become fossilized dinosaurs. 

Never said that. That first statement is exactly your attitude. "Any statement any non-executives makes is invalid, and any question of change makes you a fossil." 

 

Change for change sake is just different. It doesn't necessarily progress things. It's just different.  I will never say let's do it this way because this is the way we've always done it, or I will never advocate for doing something just because journalism school says you have to. So stop there. If you're going to change things up there should be a legitimate reason, And it should be for the better.

 

How does saying that staff deserves Christmas off and it might not make sense to air all newscasts on a slow news day advocating for a bygone era? That's very much current. 

 

You have a habit of speaking in absolutes.."Nobody is just burning the bosses’ money for kicks and giggles.".... How are you so sure?

 

I'm guessing most of us here aren't in the corporate boardrooms. Does that mean we have no right to comment on and analyze certain situations in media? If you think people outside the office shouldn't be critiquing what's going on inside then why are you on this website?

 

 I don't know if you have ever actually worked in media because I have and I can tell you it doesn't make sense to bootlick for people who wouldn't hesitate to terminate you if it meant maximizing shareholder gains.

 

To avoid a back and forth before the moderators step-in, people deserve time off for Christmas, it's not a sin to reduce your news output on a national holiday, and hesitate to comment on anything I post if your answer is just "the bosses know best, dont question, just comply." 

 

I don't even see why staff getting time off on Christmas is a debatable subject. But Ill close my part in that discussion here.

 

Edited December 31, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[ns8401 940]

1 hour ago, HanSolo said:

As opposed to “everything anyone does I don’t like is wrong?”

 

”Legitimate critique” and “this wasn’t done this way before” or “that’s not what my journalism school professor way back when preached” are not the same thing. Audiences change. Tastes change. Expectations and needs change. Technologies change. But by god, don’t fade out to a commercial break cold. Don’t do a newscast when I don’t have any actual data but assume it shouldn’t be on. Don’t speak in an active voice. On and on and on.

 

It’s always so easy to pretend to have the magical solutions when it’s not your job to manage the P&L, to make the hard calls with the available resources, to actually use data to make choices and not rose-colored glasses yearning for some bygone era. 
 

So yeah, change things the heck up. That’s what millions of people do. They change. They try new things. They evolve. They mix old and new. They change something for the sheer hell of doing something different. They don’t become fossilized dinosaurs. 

Thank god nobody put you in charge of say product safety or getting potholes fixed. 

[NowBergen 679]

Can you guys take this conversation or whatever it is offline?  Thanks.  It is way off topic.

[Encore 323 23]

All the petty arguments on the forum need to be let behind in 2024 and start fresh in 2025 by focusing only on WABC in this thread and respecting decisions to air less news on certain holidays. Have a nice New Year everyone.