Working4You 40 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 WIAT the Lin Owned CBS station in Birmingham has debuted its new state of the art set along with its new name WIAT 42 News. I love the new look personally! Something fresh for the Birmingham market. Their new slogan is Coverage You Can Count On. Overall its a great new look and a new start so they can make a run for #1. This new look and feel makes ABC 33/40's and Alabamas 13 look really dated and is on par with what Fox 6 looks like. Can not wait to see more! Check out the live stream here for the 6 & 10 pm. http://cbs42.com/video/live-streaming-video/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesapeakeTV 310 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Looks nice at first glance, though the 42 looks far too thin to me. We shall see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsMaster 226 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 IMPACT V5??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Here's the open: [yt]IWmEcgtCeLE[/yt] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 752 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Looks nice at first glance, though the 42 looks far too thin to me. We shall see... Also, if the newscasts are now branded as "WIAT 42 News," then the "42" is in the wrong spot. I took a peek at the streaming player (they use the Livestream player that allows you to run back in time to when a prior newscast is streamed) and in the first report of the 5:00 p.m. newscast, reporter Leigh Garner called it "WIAT News 42" in her sign-out. Then again, other times when stations change branding, reporters have accidentally sign off using their station's old news brand (that's what happened here in OKC, when KOCO switched from Eyewitness News 5 to KOCO 5 News a year ago). The graphics in the main open and franchise opens are very reminiscent of some of the Giant Octopus packages from the mid-2000s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsMaster 226 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Very interesting choice of Lonnie Perkins for VO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrelevator 28 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I guess that means the old CBS O&O look is officially dead...were there any other non-O&Os besides KOIN and WIAT that were using it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestTV 1173 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Am I the only one here that thinks the new weather logo is absolutely atrocious? To think they paid God knows how much money to have THAT as their logo... The lower thirds text is also wayyyyyyy too narrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTV1983 743 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 The graphics are interesting, but the logos are meh. The set looks pretty cool though. I'm guessing this was also done by Studio A, a new company that was founded by a former FX Group designer that also did KSNW and KOIN's new sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skbl17 188 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Finally, WIAT has an actual open again! During the O&O GFX era, they simply used cold opens, so it's nice to see the full opens return. That being said, I'm not feeling the logos with regards to layout (as was stated earlier, I want to read it as "WIAT News 42", not "WIAT 42 News",) and the general design...it feels a bit plain. Likewise, the L3s use a terrible typeface; it's not Arial or Comic Sans, but that doesn't mean its good. I'll withhold any full opinion I have on the set until I see more of it, but right now, it doesn't look too bad. And no, I don't think any other CBS station is using the 2010 GFX. Of course, that doesn't mean the package is necessarily dead. Who knows, a station may, in the future, use the 2010 GFX in a rebrand (bargain bin, anyone?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leavellebrett 85 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I guess that means the old CBS O&O look is officially dead...were there any other non-O&Os besides KOIN and WIAT that were using it? KLBK used it for a bit, but it's gone now. https://vimeo.com/58909417 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3471 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I'd like to congratulate WVTM in advance for sending WIAT back to the bottom of the ratings. In a few months, they'll be someone else's problem other than LIN's when Media General has to sell someone off. It looks nice and all, but it just looks so out of place and out of touch with the market it's serving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess 1110 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 KLBK used it for a bit, but it's gone now. https://vimeo.com/58909417 It is weird as hell to hear WABC's iconic theme music over the CBS graphics. As for the current look... hmmm.. I'm not sure why they're now leaning heavily on the calls. Their brand never was the call letters, even though the change was a key to that station becoming relevant. It was always "42", or "CBS 42". They'd be better sticking to that. As for the placement of "42", it doesn't bother me too much. I lived with a station whose logo read "10NBC" despite being named "NBC 10" for the better part of two decades. I love the lower thirds, and I love the red and white look, which is something that really doesn't get used too much here in the states. (Especially since BBC pulls it off so damn well.) The fonts are a different matter. Akzidenz-Grotesk is one of my absolute favorite fonts, and you can build an entire look around that suite of fonts. So it's off-putting when "Coverage You Can Count On" is in the wrong font, or when the lower thirds mix A-G and Helvetica. And can we kill "Coverage You Can Count On" now? Please? As for the set... it looks nice. I don't have any real positive or negative feeling towards it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I have to say that the logo looks bland but everything else looks decent. However, I have to admit that the look will become dated give it 3 yrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3471 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Another thing that's really bugging me is the reference to "WIAT 42 NEWS" even though the logo says "WIAT NEWS 42" :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: It looks like a Nexstar station......should be a fixer-upper for them when MG dumps them....again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skbl17 188 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 And can we kill "Coverage You Can Count On" now? Please? Boris Johnson will be U.S. president before WSB drops that slogan. So....not for the foreseeable future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABC 7 Denver 1554 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 1. These are the graphics that KOMU should be using. 2. Hey look! WCCB has a sister station! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3471 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I wonder if the "WIAT" call letters carry the same stigma that plagued the station for decades when it was WBMG. The best thing this station had going for it was "CBS" and "42". Why would a station rebrand itself if the strongest thing going for it was its network affiliation?!?!?!? One of the reason's for WIAT's meteoric rise was the fortunes of Alabama football under Nick Saban. As a result, WIAT posted the highest SEC ratings out of any CBS affiliate in the country. This was a complete 180 from a station that only a decade before, had it's news program beaten in the ratings by "Sanford and Son." It makes me wonder what they are thinking at WIAT these days. Their GM, Helen Swenson came from The Weather Channel, where she was in charge of live programming. And anyone who has watched The Weather Channel over the past several years, has seen their weather coverage become more inane by the day, by naming winter storms and making up fake "Tor-Con" indices. I hope Media General passes on this station like they did before. Even though they lost out having WIAT succeed, it's probably a mess they don't want to deal with when the LIN merger closes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Another thing that's really bugging me is the reference to "WIAT 42 NEWS" even though the logo says "WIAT NEWS 42" :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: It looks like a Nexstar station......should be a fixer-upper for them when MG dumps them....again! Nah, I see them as Gray bait along with the rest of LIN/MG's rejects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTV1983 743 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Video's up on WIAT's YouTube page showing off their new digs: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country News 435 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I like to think that Blue Helio did the graphics package. It has all of their calling cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Is LIN is going to use this same firm to update all the stations graphics? I know they've updated graphics for the few LIN stations already, but DAMN!! It's good that this firm is composing unique graphics for each of its stations (but they are some distinctive similarities), but why don't they hire another firm? Also, didn't WVTM used Impact back in the late 1990s? I think this is another case where a competing station is using a former station's theme song (even though that theme itself have been updated many times since 13 stopped using it 15 years ago). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaking News 802 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 The look is great but I like it when they had the skyline backdrop instead of the plain blue. Second I agree they should of kept CBS 42 News but if your going to say WIAT 42 News the graphics should match. However my biggest concern is your slogan is Coverage You Can Count On, which FOX 6/ WBRC used in the late 1990s through the mid 2000s. I know everybody may not remember, but there YouTube clips out there. How long does competition have to wait using competing station slogan? I would think LIN would want to keep 42 over 13 because 42 has higher ratings than 13. However Gray would fit 42 image, but there some good and bad to their new updated look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABC 7 Denver 1554 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I like to think that Blue Helio did the graphics package. It has all of their calling cards. I remain skeptical. No. This doesn't have all of their calling cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4168 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I'd like to congratulate WVTM in advance for sending WIAT back to the bottom of the ratings. In a few months, they'll be someone else's problem other than LIN's when Media General has to sell someone off. It looks nice and all, but it just looks so out of place and out of touch with the market it's serving! As long as CBS has the rights to the SEC, WIAT won't be sent to the absolute bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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