Fox buying Charlotte's WJZY/WMYT

[CLTNewsWatch 4]

Any word on a co-anchor for Cheryl?

I don't believe that they will have a co-anchor, at this time. There wasn't an opening for it.

 

They also have hired their weekend meteorologist, Melissa Le Fevre, from CNN. I believe she was a weather producer, not sure if she was on air.

[CLTNewsWatch 4]

I asked "Will you not wear mics" and a reporter replied "yes." https://twitter.com/cltnewswatch/status/413425463093391360

Here's a picture of the practice: https://twitter.com/shannonfox46/status/413424558310715392

EDIT: I'm now seeing pictures with them using cameras on tripods, surrounding the Perceptive Pixel screen. A picture was posted showing the opening graphic for 'MyFOXCarolinas Primetime' https://twitter.com/chadrockfox46/status/413485122953154560

[sanewsguy 509]

At least they're using the O&O graphics. Also Cheryl's twitter profile says she's a professor, so how can she take the job for Fox46? Wouldn't that be too much of a burden on her?

[CLTNewsWatch 4]

At least they're using the O&O graphics. Also Cheryl's twitter profile says she's a professor, so how can she take the job for Fox46? Wouldn't that be too much of a burden on her?

"Professor-Turned-Reporter" so I guess she's no longer at the University. Here's an article on it, she has previously worked at TV Stations: http://charlottemediascene.blogspot.com/2013/12/jcsu-educator-new-anchor-at.html

[Thundershock MN 169]

Maybe it's just me. But, This seems to have some sort of Chasing New Jersey meets traditional O&O newscast vibe to it. Especially that picture with the handheld cams & boom microphones in the newsroom.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

I asked "Will you not wear mics" and a reporter replied "yes." https://twitter.com/cltnewswatch/status/413425463093391360

Here's a picture of the practice: https://twitter.com/shannonfox46/status/413424558310715392

 

That logo is a complete mess. I still think it's stupid to call it Fox Carolinas when you're adjacent to a market (Greenville-Spartanburg) that calls its Fox affiliate Fox Carolina.

 

 

 

Maybe it's just me. But, This seems to have some sort of Chasing New Jersey meets traditional O&O newscast vibe to it. Especially that picture with the handheld cams & boom microphones in the newsroom.

 

I think so too. Tim had a point earlier when he said that it looks like that Fox is using WJZY to test out and experiment with some new concepts.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens. But it seems like that when Tribune does it, it flops big time so I'm skeptical if Fox can do a better job.

[tyrannical bastard 3474]

I'm not going to look too far into what I'm seeing now, but my gut reaction is that it is too unpolished, unrefined, and totally underwhelming for TV.

[TexasTVNews 1367]

They're doing a live rehearsal online now at http://www.myfoxcarolinas.com/

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

I'm not going to look too far into what I'm seeing now, but my gut reaction is that it is too unpolished, unrefined, and totally underwhelming for TV.

 

It's the first night so I'm cutting them some slack. But if it's like this New Years Eve, then I will agree that they have work to do.

 

I will give them credit, the people running the chat room have done a nice job answering everyone's questions.

[swillh2k2 203]

 

I'm not going to look too far into what I'm seeing now, but my gut reaction is that it is too unpolished, unrefined, and totally underwhelming for TV.

 

Way to early to tell. They're still getting the bugs out. Will look much different on 1/1/14.

[tyrannical bastard 3474]

I'm watching the story the reporter shot on her iPhone....it looks very good for something shot that way, especially compared to the iPad reports I've seen.

The webstream may be of a lesser quality than something that would go out over television, so it may look different on TV.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

I'm watching the story the reporter shot on her iPhone....it looks very good for something shot that way, especially compared to the iPad reports I've seen.

The webstream may be of a lesser quality than something that would go out over television, so it may look different on TV.

 

Yeah, some of those "Digital Journalist" stories they had on their webpage before seemed very "small-market" compared to that one. It still looks "small-market" but it looks a lot more polished than it did previously.

[sanewsguy 509]

I recorded almost all the entire newscast (the dumb site automatically refreshes every ten minutes, so a minute or two got cut out) and may post it on YouTube, I'll think about it.

 

Anyway I hate this format. First of all if you are under the age of 35 it looks like you cannot get a job at Fox46 Carolinas. Almost all their on-air staff seems fairly young and inexperienced. They need to hire more veteran reporters preferably over the age of 40. Some of those reporters digital journalists need to be in small markets, and not in a top 30 market.

 

Secondly, I do not like this feature, about 45 minutes in, they aired a PKG about a controversial topic and then brought out two digital journalists (the one who actually did the PKG and then another one who had nothing to do with it), the general manager, and a producer, and asked them what their opinion was on the story. This is unnecessary. I watch the news to get the facts in an unbiased and direct manner; not to hear what the journalist's opinion. They are welcome to have one, just don't tell us on-air, because I don't care what they think about an issue. I lose confidence in them for that. Especially the GM, she seems real likeable but needs to not share her opinions either since she is ultimately in charge. Most of the people in the chat room seemed to echo that sentiment.

 

I can forgive them for introducing the personalities to us (first night, they want to make themselves be known) and for the numerous technical screw-ups (well it is a rehearsal, can't fault them there).

 

Thirdly, I hope that country song they kept using is not their theme. I understand they use it for their "Fox46ForLife" imaging campaign, but they don't need to use it for the main news theme. I presume they have the Fox O&O Music and just didn't want to use it. Hopefully they will use that come 1/1/14.

 

The newsroom looks a lot like KTTV's but downscaled. It definitely reminds me of their former news strategy of starting out in the studio and progressing to the newsroom which made no sense.

 

The newsroom looks incomplete.

 

The "you don't have to wear ties, you can wear whatever you want", please no. Stick with the suits/ties please. A lot of the on-air people were dressed very casual. Behind the scenes staff yes, on-air, I'd rather not. Stay professional.

 

The iPhone story looked good but I hope this is not their primary method of shooting news stories.

 

I will not be watching this newscast unless they clean up their act. I'll stick with WCNC, WBTV and WCCB. I predict WCCB will outlast WJZY's news because they are far more traditional and far more tolerable than this mess.

[Nelson R. 560]

At least Fox is stepping outside the box. Kudos for them trying something different. If it fails, they can just go to a traditional format like everyone else. I do agree that the Hey, Hey Carolinas doesn't need to be the permanent opening. I still like it but it is not an opening. No problem with them not using 46 in the news branding (although I would prefer not using the "My" either) as long as it's used in the actual station branding.

 

By the way I don't think WBTV will move their 10:00 newscast on 3.2. The Bounce TV schedule does not really allow for it. Most of the time they have a movie from 9-11 pm. 3 10:00 newscasts are enough anyway.

[CircleSeven 1944]

 

By the way I don't think WBTV will move their 10:00 newscast on 3.2. The Bounce TV schedule does not really allow for it. Most of the time they have a movie from 9-11 pm. 3 10:00 newscasts are enough anyway.

 

I'm not too sure either. But Raycom's flagship station, WSFA in Montgomery have aired its 9pm newscast on its 12.2 for a while. For a moving that's airing an hour or two hours before, or 90 minutes after 9pm (depending on when the network shows a movie at that time, they tend to air RightThisMinute and other programming while the movie is in progress. I doubt WBTV would do it, but should they do, they'll probably would have to fill some more shows at those affected times around their 10pm news.

[Nelson R. 560]

I wonder if they'd consider a 9:00 newscast on 3.2? That would make sense to get a head start on WSOC, WJZY and WAXN and they could delay programming and preempt something overnight. That would be a TRUE WBTV News PrimeTime.

 

The only problem is the Bounce TV prime time schedule is not consistent. Sometimes they air a movie at 9 but not always.

 

I guess WBTV could air another Millionaire on 3.2 if need be.

[Nelson R. 560]

No WJZY online rehearsals last night or tonight. Curious decision given the new Hornets logo reveal and Panthers last second comeback win, and the fact they could take Tue and Wed off for Christmas.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

It looks like they had another rehearsal on Thursday.

 

http://www.myfoxcarolinas.com/story/24311180/tell-us-what-you-think-watch-our-fifth-rehearsal

 

Still using that gimmicky theme song for their open but overall it does look a bit more polished than it did last week.

[LoadStar 363]

First time checking this out. Wow. Just... wow. Horrible is the only word I can come up with for this. I can appreciate thinking "outside the box," but that's when coming up with a solution to a problem. Unfortunately, here, it just seems like they came up with solutions to problems that didn't exist.

 

The sound was awful. At first I thought it was because they were using a boom mic, which they definitely seemed to be, and not body/lavalier mics - but they were using those as well. Whatever the cause, they were picking up tons of ambient noise.

 

The PixelSense touch table offered no advantages over a standard wall-based touch screen, and introduced lots of awkward camera angles with sub-par visibility, distracting cuts back and forth between camera shots and the computer output, and limited its usefulness in that it doesn't lend well toward showing static visualization graphics to accompany stories. This, here, was particularly an example of a solution to a non-existent problem.

 

Use of shoulder cams allows flexibility in moving about the newsroom - but also adds distraction in the form of motion that the eye is drawn to and away from the subject of the shot. I don't particularly have a strong objection to filming in a newsroom, as there are many newscasts that do it successfully on every level (local, network, and cable). Those that do usually have a layout that permits use of pedestal cams to get the shots necessary. It feels like the idea of filming in the newsroom was an afterthought here, forcing the use of the shoulder cams to get some of the shots required.

 

I know that these are rehearsals, but I'm assuming that the format they're presenting here is the format they'll be using on the air. If so, the whole concept as implemented so far seems incredibly half-baked. To me, this all feels sort of like a spur of the moment implementation than anything actually planned. Frankly, this feels like the kind of newscast that a station might produce if a fire, flood, or some other natural disaster took out part of the station, and they are just trying to limp by until getting recovered. I can't imagine a newscast ever intentionally looking like this.

[A3N 996]

I'll wait to see what they put out there on January 1st, but I just don't see this format driving viewers over to FOX 46. I'm all for the use of [new] technology but it became a chore just trying to follow along. The start of the "newscast" seemed more like a meeting between professor and students showcasing their work to each other and less like journalists presenting their work to the viewers. Let's see how long this experiment will last...

[sanewsguy 509]

Are they still asking the reporters their opinions on stories?

[Thundershock MN 169]

First time checking this out. Wow. Just... wow. Horrible is the only word I can come up with for this. I can appreciate thinking "outside the box," but that's when coming up with a solution to a problem. Unfortunately, here, it just seems like they came up with solutions to problems that didn't exist.

 

The sound was awful. At first I thought it was because they were using a boom mic, which they definitely seemed to be, and not body/lavalier mics - but they were using those as well. Whatever the cause, they were picking up tons of ambient noise.

 

The PixelSense touch table offered no advantages over a standard wall-based touch screen, and introduced lots of awkward camera angles with sub-par visibility, distracting cuts back and forth between camera shots and the computer output, and limited its usefulness in that it doesn't lend well toward showing static visualization graphics to accompany stories. This, here, was particularly an example of a solution to a non-existent problem.

 

Use of shoulder cams allows flexibility in moving about the newsroom - but also adds distraction in the form of motion that the eye is drawn to and away from the subject of the shot. I don't particularly have a strong objection to filming in a newsroom, as there are many newscasts that do it successfully on every level (local, network, and cable). Those that do usually have a layout that permits use of pedestal cams to get the shots necessary. It feels like the idea of filming in the newsroom was an afterthought here, forcing the use of the shoulder cams to get some of the shots required.

 

I know that these are rehearsals, but I'm assuming that the format they're presenting here is the format they'll be using on the air. If so, the whole concept as implemented so far seems incredibly half-baked. To me, this all feels sort of like a spur of the moment implementation than anything actually planned. Frankly, this feels like the kind of newscast that a station might produce if a fire, flood, or some other natural disaster took out part of the station, and they are just trying to limp by until getting recovered. I can't imagine a newscast ever intentionally looking like this.

This is strictly my opinion. But, I think the decision was made to remain in the WJZY/WMYT building at the last minute. So, I think you are kinda right that about the spur of the moment implementation and making do with what they have. I am of the belief the original plan was to move to Speed Center and there was a last minute change of plans. Hang with me here...

 

Throughout the first several months it was assumed by many (myself included) that WJZY/WMYT would move to the Speed Center building. The WJZY/WMYT building was believed to be too small to adequately house a newsroom/studio and would likely need heavy renovation (or an addition) to bring it up to par. The Speed Center building on the other hand had additional space to more than accommodate a news operation. And, with Speed's shift to a "support role" within FSMG would potentially have even more space. Early in 2013 one of the 3 studios at the Speed Center building was cleared out with "Race Hub" and "Wind Tunnel" moving into space within the other 2 studios. The studio just sat there vacant with no real indication of what would fill the space. And, up until June it was still somewhat unclear where WJZY/WMYT would be basing their operations. Although, it was starting to look like they might stay put now something that seemed unlikely just a few months prior. I have a feeling something happened in the spring (late April-early June) that made them change course. FSMG's plans for turning Speed into a Fox Sports-Charlotte operation housing some productions, etc. started to go off the rails. This was later confirmed in an SBJ article at the time of Speed's shut down in August. From the article former Speed Executive Vice President Steve Craddock was quoted as stating "Based on what [shanks and Freer] said, this was a great place to make TV. It really came down to they ran out of money in starting this new network, to do all the things they had in their mind that they said they wanted to do, primarily a morning news show. They [FS1] were going to do a morning news show here from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and they just don’t have it in the budget to do that.” And, from the article the final hammer dropped on FSMG's vision for the Charlotte operation on June 27th during an all staff meeting. This was oddly around the exact same time (June 25th) that WJZY/WMYT stated definitely they would be staying put. So, IDK I'm just putting two and two together.

 

By no means to I think Fox had some grand master plan with FS1/Speed/WJZY. It just so happened that FSMG was carrying out their FS1/Speed plan and FTS acquired WJZY/WMYT around the same time. So, their paths kinda converged to take advantage of a large building that was already in the process of being repurposed. When one of them (FS1/Speed) had to change course that forced the other (WJZY/WMYT) to also change course. There probably wasn't enough time left to design/build a studio addition leaving them to fashion some sort of studio out of the newsroom. And, then there was all the "news bureau" positions that seemed like an attempt to free up newsroom space within the building for the "studio." I think elements of the concept (ipad reporting, etc.) they are using would still be the same just by virtue of FTS' vision to seemingly reimagine the newscast. But, I think some of their elements (the seemingly haphazard newsroom studio, etc.) were because they were forced in that direction. That's my take at least. You don't have to agree with me and I could be totally wrong. I'm just reading the tea leaves with the facts that are known and filling in the blanks.

[Nelson R. 560]

This is strictly my opinion. But, I think the decision was made to remain in the WJZY/WMYT building at the last minute. So, I think you are kinda right that about the spur of the moment implementation and making do with what they have. I am of the belief the original plan was to move to Speed Center and there was a last minute change of plans. Hang with me here...

 

Throughout the first several months it was assumed by many (myself included) that WJZY/WMYT would move to the Speed Center building. The WJZY/WMYT building was believed to be too small to adequately house a newsroom/studio and would likely need heavy renovation (or an addition) to bring it up to par. The Speed Center building on the other hand had additional space to more than accommodate a news operation. And, with Speed's shift to a "support role" within FSMG would potentially have even more space. Early in 2013 one of the 3 studios at the Speed Center building was cleared out with "Race Hub" and "Wind Tunnel" moving into space within the other 2 studios. The studio just sat there vacant with no real indication of what would fill the space. And, up until June it was still somewhat unclear where WJZY/WMYT would be basing their operations. Although, it was starting to look like they might stay put now something that seemed unlikely just a few months prior. I have a feeling something happened in the spring (late April-early June) that made them change course. FSMG's plans for turning Speed into a Fox Sports-Charlotte operation housing some productions, etc. started to go off the rails. This was later confirmed in an SBJ article at the time of Speed's shut down in August. From the article former Speed Executive Vice President Steve Craddock was quoted as stating "Based on what [shanks and Freer] said, this was a great place to make TV. It really came down to they ran out of money in starting this new network, to do all the things they had in their mind that they said they wanted to do, primarily a morning news show. They [FS1] were going to do a morning news show here from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and they just don’t have it in the budget to do that.” And, from the article the final hammer dropped on FSMG's vision for the Charlotte operation on June 27th during an all staff meeting. This was oddly around the exact same time (June 25th) that WJZY/WMYT stated definitely they would be staying put. So, IDK I'm just putting two and two together.

 

By no means to I think Fox had some grand master plan with FS1/Speed/WJZY. It just so happened that FSMG was carrying out their FS1/Speed plan and FTS acquired WJZY/WMYT around the same time. So, their paths kinda converged to take advantage of a large building that was already in the process of being repurposed. When one of them (FS1/Speed) had to change course that forced the other (WJZY/WMYT) to also change course. There probably wasn't enough time left to design/build a studio addition leaving them to fashion some sort of studio out of the newsroom. And, then there was all the "news bureau" positions that seemed like an attempt to free up newsroom space within the building for the "studio." I think elements of the concept (ipad reporting, etc.) they are using would still be the same just by virtue of FTS' vision to seemingly reimagine the newscast. But, I think some of their elements (the seemingly haphazard newsroom studio, etc.) were because they were forced in that direction. That's my take at least. You don't have to agree with me and I could be totally wrong. I'm just reading the tea leaves with the facts that are known and filling in the blanks.

That definitely makes sense. Also keep in mind the contract with WBTV to produce their news runs out at the end of the year. They probably could not air WBTV's newscast past December 31.

[A3N 996]

 

That definitely makes sense. Also keep in mind the contract with WBTV to produce their news runs out at the end of the year. They probably could not air WBTV's newscast past December 31.

 

They could have come to some kind of agreement extending the WBTV produced newscast if they wanted to. I think that FOX/WJZY wanted to get their own in-house newscast up and running ASAP.

[Samantha 2878]

 

That definitely makes sense. Also keep in mind the contract with WBTV to produce their news runs out at the end of the year. They probably could not air WBTV's newscast past December 31.

 

And WJZY certainly didn't want to not have news while it had a captive audience with the Panthers in the playoffs.