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That would be incredibly disappointing if they took John off of weekday mornings again. He basically is the life of that show. Sure, Tony and Chris are great, but it all seems to revolve around John.

 

I agree with you that team weather always felt gimmicky, and yet I liked the energy it brought. But it was kind of telling that they'd never have someone fill in for one of them if either was off.

 

It's hard to imagine any other interpretation of this, though. They edited him out of the promo, and even shot the group shot with and without him months ago so this must have been in the works the whole time.

 

I'll have to say, if this is what it looks like and John knew, then he should be commended for being the most team player of team players. The way he hyped Tony and everyone else up... Just amazing on his part. 

 

Do we think this is effective immediately?

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48 minutes ago, Geoffrey said:

That would be incredibly disappointing if they took John off of weekday mornings again. He basically is the life of that show. Sure, Tony and Chris are great, but it all seems to revolve around John.

 

I agree with you that team weather always felt gimmicky, and yet I liked the energy it brought. But it was kind of telling that they'd never have someone fill in for one of them if either was off.

 

It's hard to imagine any other interpretation of this, though. They edited him out of the promo, and even shot the group shot with and without him months ago so this must have been in the works the whole time.

 

I'll have to say, if this is what it looks like and John knew, then he should be commended for being the most team player of team players. The way he hyped Tony and everyone else up... Just amazing on his part. 

 

Do we think this is effective immediately?

Perhaps he’s being shifted to handle noon and one of the evening shows to ease the burden off Lonnie, since Lonnie will also be handling duties on the mothership. 

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Wow, this is a very interesting development. John is the life of WCBS morning news (and of course Elise was great, but the energy with John was always superior in my opinion). I agree that the whole "team weather" thing was unnecessary, but it was different. Also with Tony, John, Lonnie, Vanessa and Craig Allen, there are more meteorologists hired at WCBS than shifts as defined in the past. So it is possible that he is being let go, as horrible as that would be.

I do like the theory of John handling noon and 5pm perhaps when Lonnie expands duties for the CBS Evening News. Hopefully he's not being pushed out completely. That would be so unfair for all that he has done for that station, but it happened to Andrea Grymes and Dana Tyler.

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Did not expect to see "national weather correspondent" Rob Marciano doing the weather this morning. No mention of John or Tony that I noticed (though they often don't acknowledge when half of the weather team is out)).

 

 

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1 hour ago, Geoffrey said:

Did not expect to see "national weather correspondent" Rob Marciano doing the weather this morning. No mention of John or Tony that I noticed (though they often don't acknowledge when half of the weather team is out)).

 

 


I noticed that Rob said he was filling in for John at the start of the 5:30 half hour only. There was no other mention of John or Tony during the 4:30-7am newscast. To be honest, it felt like Rob ad-libbed his “in for John” comment at 5:30, as it was not in the script during any other weather hits. 

Edited by bc485
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8 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

Did not expect to see "national weather correspondent" Rob Marciano doing the weather this morning. No mention of John or Tony that I noticed (though they often don't acknowledge when half of the weather team is out)).

 

 

 

 

John did the weather forecast this weekend morning, maybe he's off. Rob was also at noon today.

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On 10/23/2024 at 9:24 PM, Geoffrey said:

For the last few weeks, WCBS has been using CBS's virtual studio for some weather hits. It seems to mainly be used for the short weather in the first block of the 5pm, but tonight it was used for the main weather around 5:20pm. (I don't watch every night so I don't know how common this is.)

 

I was having trouble finding video on their YouTube so I'll have to settle with screenshots.

 

It seems gimmicky to me. It looks cartoonish. It's dizzying going back and forth between the left wall, the right wall, the floor in the middle. The live camera used to create the "window" look in the background is grainy and cuts off most of the skyline view. The wood design is tired. The "daily capsules" look odd and the text is way off, even more than a month after debuting. And they try to make the studio look big at the expense of making Lonnie look small with way too much headroom.

 

Does it help tell the weather story better? No, I don't think so. Does it look cool? Not really.

 

Anyone else feel differently?

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I don't mind it. I think the virtual weather studio is cool, and the virtual news set that's used on CBS 24/7 is even better. It sets their weather presentation apart from the other six stations in NYC.

On 10/26/2024 at 10:15 AM, Geoffrey said:

That would be incredibly disappointing if they took John off of weekday mornings again. He basically is the life of that show. Sure, Tony and Chris are great, but it all seems to revolve around John.

 

I agree with you that team weather always felt gimmicky, and yet I liked the energy it brought. But it was kind of telling that they'd never have someone fill in for one of them if either was off.

 

It's hard to imagine any other interpretation of this, though. They edited him out of the promo, and even shot the group shot with and without him months ago so this must have been in the works the whole time.

 

I'll have to say, if this is what it looks like and John knew, then he should be commended for being the most team player of team players. The way he hyped Tony and everyone else up... Just amazing on his part. 

 

Do we think this is effective immediately?

From questionable graphics choices (as shown in that debate pic) to questionable talent changes. Just a series of clueless missteps by CBS O&Os and WCBS itself. Who is their news director???

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3 hours ago, TheNewsTV said:

John did the weather forecast this weekend morning, maybe he's off. Rob was also at noon today.

 

Since Craig has been out on medical leave, Tony and John have been splitting weekends, each usually taking one weekday off in return. So team weather had already been reduced to three days a week in recent weeks.

 

At noon, Rob said he "was happy to fill in for Tony and John today."

 

And John's "Weather 101" promo still aired at noon, so it seems like he's not totally gone.

 

Still very disappointing if it is what it looks like again.

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Today Tony handled the AM and noon, but I didn't hear if he made any reference to John. We shall see if he pops up tomorrow or this week.

Edit: Same situation today, I didn't get to hear if Tony said "in for John" but my gut says no. We shall see if John is oficially re-assigned to weekend mornings (or if Craig Allen makes a comeback when he gets better)?

Edited by NYNewsCoverage
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Allen Devlin is anchoring the 8 p.m. on Halloween night. Right at the top, he pronounced where the big parade is taking place as "Green-Which Village."

 

He's lucky that this newscast is on WLNY and no one is watching, but wow. This is why you don't take someone who is totally unfamiliar with New York and plop them on weeknights as an anchor.

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1 hour ago, Geoffrey said:

Allen Devlin is anchoring the 8 p.m. on Halloween night. Right at the top, he pronounced where the big parade is taking place as "Green-Which Village."

 

He's lucky that this newscast is on WLNY and no one is watching, but wow. This is why you don't take someone who is totally unfamiliar with New York and plop them on weeknights as an anchor.

I've been there before as a journalist and in all fairness it is a lot to learn pronunciations of EVERY place as soon as you get the job. 

 

He probably wouldn't have known the pronunciation because he's never had to say the neighborhood name before plus most people simply call it The Village.

 

Speaking of reporter mistakes, I've seen long time journalists at some of the stations call anywhere in Central Brooklyn "Flatbush".

 

Yes, little details like this matter, but no one is perfect. Someone should point at the mistake to him, correct this and any more potential mispronunciations, then move on.

 

The producers can also assist by putting pronouncers of tricky town names in the prompter.

Edited by MediaZone4K
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25 minutes ago, Geoffrey said:

Allen Devlin is anchoring the 8 p.m. on Halloween night. Right at the top, he pronounced where the big parade is taking place as "Green-Which Village."

 

He's lucky that this newscast is on WLNY and no one is watching, but wow. This is why you don't take someone who is totally unfamiliar with New York and plop them on weeknights as an anchor.

I did see a video on the website that he also covered for Maurice on the 5pm (who did the Evening News tonight for Norah). Despite that issue, he seems like a decent anchor so far.

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23 hours ago, NYNewsCoverage said:

I did see a video on the website that he also covered for Maurice on the 5pm (who did the Evening News tonight for Norah). Despite that issue, he seems like a decent anchor so far.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is WCBS's plan for handling Maurice once he takes over F/T on the CBS Evening News & he can still do the 11pm newscast.

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1 hour ago, newsman123 said:

Yes. He was hired as the main anchor to replace Maurice. And yes.. this is what happens when people are hired young and out of town because they check a box. Just sayin’. 

Undoubtedly, hiring transplants leads to reporters unfamiliar with the market. But that's just the nature of the business. 

 

Yes experience is beneficial, but denying someone a chance because they're young, or thinking someone would be less error prone because they're older is unfair. Devlin wasn't my favorite anchor in ATL, and I'd rather Dick Brennan as anchor, but I won't say Devlin's unqualified for NYC.

This looks like an MMJ package shot on cell phone based on video angles. If so, it's unfortunate that one man banding has crept as high as Market #1.

 

The incentives to become a tv journalist are shrinking. More responsibilities for declining pay and tighter deadlines. Anchoring is an escape from the hassles of field reporting but companies like Scripps are eliminating that position in some markets.

Edited by MediaZone4K
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