Six vs. Seven (or: WPVI and WABC)

[Jess 1110]

Marcus Solis was live covering the accident involving Tracy Morgan this morning. He was pulling double duty for both WPVI and WABC.

 

So, I decided to screencap their respective reports. What graphics do you prefer?

 

 

[Breaking News 802]

I like WABC/7 over WPVI/6 which looks very Raycom-ish. I do feel Action News could update their graphics just a little bit.

[ToriElectra 291]

Both. The title of the thread made me think of something: a couple of years ago, the WABC morning crew once mentioned that the peoples of WABC and WPVI come together once a year to play a softball game against the other? Does anyone else remember that, or know about it? (WABC also used to play softball against WPLJ; not sure if they still do that, considering WPLJ's since been sold off.)

[NYNewsCoverage 257]

I'll have to say WABC. I understand WPVI is "action news", but the graphics are too busy to look at. WABC, although plain, has a nice design that is, for lack of a better term, pleasant to look at. The thing with graphics is that they're supposed to be unique, and creative, while not too busy all at the same time, which is very hard to do. And I'm not criticizing WPVI at all, because that is their format, Action News. But if lets say, WABC, went for that design, I would not be happy.

[Rusty Muck 4171]

WABC's L3 sticks out like a sore thumb, though. Looks too busy and cluttered, especially with trying to cram "Eyewitness News" and Marcus' Twitter handle on the same line, but with different fonts. At least WPVI has Marcus' name and "WABC-TV" in the L3.

 

The layered aspect of WPVI is interesting and 3-Dish, but the "6" bug having a transparent background bothers me a bit. I would assume that WPVI no longer uses sound effects for their graphics package?

 

 

(WABC also used to play softball against WPLJ; not sure if they still do that, considering WPLJ's since been sold off.)

 

I would assume that they don't. Outside of ABC News Radio still being run by Disney/ABC (Cumulus manages distribution and sales for ABC News Radio under their syndication unit, the former ABC Radio Network that is being assimilated into WestwoodOne) there is no connection whatsoever between the two entities. Especially since Scott Shannon bolted from PLJ to join WCBS-FM.

[Jess 1110]

I think the thing with 6 is that they can do everything graphically, because they have to have some seriously powerful hardware generating their graphics. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of their graphics are generated in real-time. Especially when you consider what they have to do.

 

Their weather graphics, too, are just batshit insane. Here is a screenshot.

 

 

Now, keep in mind that those cars are speeding along the highway at 65mph. There's a tractor-trailer and a school bus as part of the animation. This is all done with no lag whatsoever. None. I'm pretty sure that it can run Crysis on max settings, in fact.

 

The problem is, because they can do everything with their graphics, they do everything with their graphics engine. It gets over the top, I agree.

 

---

 

WABC does bug me because they try to shove too many details into that lower third. The typeface choices bug me as well. You're using a mix of Univers and Helvetica. It doesn't work and it actually comes off as incredibly odd.

[BricklayCBS 1]

WPVI Looks like a mess. I like WABC, and why are the colors warmer on WPVI?

[C Block 1488]

I'll put in my vote for the west coast O&Os. I've long thought that WPVI's design is really garish. WABC used to have some nice lower thirds, but the new ones are just too much with all those animations and strange design choices.

 

Sure, the KABC/KGO graphics wouldn't work all that well on WPVI and WABC, but at least they're sharp and unobtrusive. Whoever designed WPVI and WABC's graphics have no taste.

[Action Newsroom 1151]

 

I think the thing with 6 is that they can do everything graphically, because they have to have some seriously powerful hardware generating their graphics. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of their graphics are generated in real-time. Especially when you consider what they have to do.

 

Their weather graphics, too, are just batshit insane. Here is a screenshot.

 

 

Now, keep in mind that those cars are speeding along the highway at 65mph. There's a tractor-trailer and a school bus as part of the animation. This is all done with no lag whatsoever. None. I'm pretty sure that it can run Crysis on max settings, in fact.

 

The problem is, because they can do everything with their graphics, they do everything with their graphics engine. It gets over the top, I agree.

 

---

 

WABC does bug me because they try to shove too many details into that lower third. The typeface choices bug me as well. You're using a mix of Univers and Helvetica. It doesn't work and it actually comes off as incredibly odd.

 

I hate the WPVI weather graphics for the same reason, and also the way the animations look, including today with the animations of Philadelphia, Allentown and especially Atlantic City, it makes me itch. And you should've seen the weather graphics from the last package; I had to avoid the whole thing entirely. To this day I still get nightmares about...The Poconos. (shudder)

[ns8401 846]

I think the thing with 6 is that they can do everything graphically, because they have to have some seriously powerful hardware generating their graphics. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of their graphics are generated in real-time. Especially when you consider what they have to do.

 

Their weather graphics, too, are just batshit insane. Here is a screenshot.

 

 

Now, keep in mind that those cars are speeding along the highway at 65mph. There's a tractor-trailer and a school bus as part of the animation. This is all done with no lag whatsoever. None. I'm pretty sure that it can run Crysis on max settings, in fact.

 

The problem is, because they can do everything with their graphics, they do everything with their graphics engine. It gets over the top, I agree.

 

---

 

WABC does bug me because they try to shove too many details into that lower third. The typeface choices bug me as well. You're using a mix of Univers and Helvetica. It doesn't work and it actually comes off as incredibly odd.

WXYZ just started using similar graphical animations put out by the Scripps hub. They look great, but some lag pretty bad. It can take up to 15 seconds to load fully and just jerks along slowly. Other times the same graphics work perfectly. They have election graphics with vertically flowing blue stars on either side and they jerk up and down every few seconds. I'll take those weather graphics over the WPVI animations by a long shot when they work properly. I suspect they are using a 10 year old graphics engine from the Eyewitness news package era pre standardization.

 

Back to PVI These weather animations look.. Old and the animation isn't as crisp as it could be. The weather box being tiny and at the very top is another downside. As for which station has better graphics... WABC by a mile. WPVI's look... Weird. It may also be that I'm used to the Eyewitness-Action News hybrid they use here, pure Action News I've never been able to fully embrace.

[ABC 7 Denver 1554]

 

I'll put in my vote for the west coast O&Os. I've long thought that WPVI's design is really garish. WABC used to have some nice lower thirds, but the new ones are just too much with all those animations and strange design choices.

 

Sure, the KABC/KGO graphics wouldn't work all that well on WPVI and WABC, but at least they're sharp and unobtrusive. Whoever designed WPVI and WABC's graphics have no taste.

 

So you dislike Cake Studios and Giant Octopus? Hmmm.

 

I think that the WPVI L3s could use an update. However, I think WABC could use an overhaul, full stop.

 

The thing that bother's me about the WPVI L3 is the foremost background red to gold gradient rectangle. It needs to go and the topical pop-up needs to be a solid gold.

[News 9 Viewer 100]

I've never cared for WABC's current look. Everything is just WAY too big. Honestly, they should use WLS's new graphics. It's a similar design, but it's executed better.

 

That said, WPVI's look is kind of a mess right now with the introduction of a KABC/KGO style ticker that looks nice but matches nothing.

[Jess 1110]

WPVI's logo animations and backdrops were created by Cake Studios. Everything else was done at the station. I'll say one thing about the "no taste" thing - it's better than some of the stuff they were using in the not-so-distant past.

 

They've actually been running graphics teasing that night's Action News in the KABC/KGO style during network programming. Not that it means anything necessarily. I think that look could work at the station - worth a try. The current graphics are suffering from, shall I say, feature creep.

 

 

 

Back to PVI These weather animations look.. Old and the animation isn't as crisp as it could be. The weather box being tiny and at the very top is another downside. As for which station has better graphics... WABC by a mile. WPVI's look... Weird. It may also be that I'm used to the Eyewitness-Action News hybrid they use here, pure Action News I've never been able to fully embrace.

 

I'd actually go out on a limb and say WABC is a little more pure Action News than WPVI is right now. WABC isn't full-blown Eyewitness News and WPVI isn't full-blown Action News. If you watch newscasts from, say, 1981 from each station, they were much, much different. When CapCities took over, WABC was already de-emphasizing the longtime Eyewitness News elements. CapCities just made the station look and feel closer to WPVI (including AccuWeather).

 

And as for the weather animations looking old... they don't. These things run at full 60fps, with absolutely no graphical hiccups or stutters whatsoever. That particular shot uses several dozen different car models going at high speed while the weather animations play. It's overkill, I agree.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

 

I know I'm being a bit nitpicky, but it bothers me that the font on the blue "gas" sign uses the real highway sign font while the green ones don't...

 

Also, just out of curiosity, what's WPVI's hashtag? In that WABC screencap it says "#EyewitnessNews" but I don't see the one for WPVI.

[NEOMatrix 1295]

Marcus Solis was live covering the accident involving Tracy Morgan this morning. He was pulling double duty for both WPVI and WABC.

 

So, I decided to screencap their respective reports. What graphics do you prefer?

 

 

I would say 7 because 6's gfx look disjointed and mismatched by a long shot.

[huebomont 3]

WABC is better by far but it's still not great. I don't know what it is with these stations and huge text. If they brought elements down in size, and if WPVI could stick to one or two "layers" at most in their graphics, I might go with WPVI but for now, PVI's look is crazy.

[ns8401 846]

 

WABC is better by far but it's still not great. I don't know what it is with these stations and huge text. If they brought elements down in size, and if WPVI could stick to one or two "layers" at most in their graphics, I might go with WPVI but for now, PVI's look is crazy.

 

At least WPVI has smaller text even though the rest of it looks awful. If I were doing graphics I would probably mandate the current WLS package, that is by far the best in the group. WABC's are silly looking with the huge text although they are still cleaner than WPVI's train wreck graphics.

[NYNewsCoverage 257]

I never understood why abc doesn't have group wide graphics like CBS and NBC has with their o&o's.

[bostonmediaguy 123]

 

I never understood why abc doesn't have group wide graphics like CBS and NBC has with their o&o's.

 

Probably because they realize that a "one size fits all" approach does not always work. Each station should have a different flavor. Each city is different.

[Mrknowitall526 108]

 

I know I'm being a bit nitpicky, but it bothers me that the font on the blue "gas" sign uses the real highway sign font while the green ones don't...

 

Also, just out of curiosity, what's WPVI's hashtag? In that WABC screencap it says "#EyewitnessNews" but I don't see the one for WPVI.

 

They usually use #6ABC with an appropriate word, ie, #6ABCSnow #6ABCIce #6ABCUnimportantNewsStoryWeWantToShowPicsOfLiveOnTheAir

[sanewsguy 509]

 

I never understood why abc doesn't have group wide graphics like CBS and NBC has with their o&o's.

 

 

Probably because they realize that a "one size fits all" approach does not always work. Each station should have a different flavor. Each city is different.

 

I've always noticed this about ABC, but they seem to be the last when it comes to implementing changes that other O&O groups have already done. They were the last to sell off their small O&Os, the last to redesign their ancient sites. I do think they will at least launch standardized graphics in the next couple of years. I can't see standardized music only because WPVI viewers will get pissed off because they decided to change the music...

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

I never understood why abc doesn't have group wide graphics like CBS and NBC has with their o&o's.

 

They kinda do.

 

KGO's graphics are the exact same as KABC's. And WLS's new graphics share a lot of the same elements that the WABC package does.

[NEOMatrix 1295]

I've always noticed this about ABC, but they seem to be the last when it comes to implementing changes that other O&O groups have already done. They were the last to sell off their small O&Os, the last to redesign their ancient sites. I do think they will at least launch standardized graphics in the next couple of years. I can't see standardized music only because WPVI viewers will get pissed off because they decided to change the music...

I remember reading on Wikipedia how WPVI changed to a boomier, drumless version of MCTYW and viewers were bitching about it big time. Changing the music completely would probably cause rioting in Philly. At best, I don't see WPVI changing much of anything for at least another decade, maybe the L3s but that's about it. As far as small-market O&Os, ABC still has Fresno and Raleigh probably because they are still cash cows in their respective markets. AFAIK, ABC (Disney-owned or not) will hang on to WTVD and KFSN for a long time unless the network gets cash-strapped.

[24994J 5277]

A little off-topic, but I'm curious about something, and I can't help but think that I've heard this before.

 

I know that News Series 2000 Plus is included under the Eyewitness News music umbrella, and vice versa, but isn't MCTYW somehow affiliated...like ABC has possession of it or something?

[Jess 1110]

ABC owns the melody to Move Closer To Your World. When 615 posted the Action News Arrangements (i.e. the topical and breaking news cuts that WPVI uses), it made sure to mention that ABC owned the rights. This probably explains why WPVI keeps claiming that the theme is composed by Walter Liss - Liss was an ABC employee and that could have been used to get the rights into ABC's hands. Much like Haim Saban's credit on the 80s cartoon music composed by Shuki Levy. (And Shuki's credit on music that was composed by Ron Wasserman, Jeremy Sweet, et al.)

 

As for standardized looks...

 

CapCities/ABC not only had a pretty standardized look in the 80s and 90s, they actually had a hub. The ABC Video Design Group in LA was pretty much responsible for all O&O graphics up until 2004 or so. I'm not saying it worked like the hub model we see today, but it's close. Animations and designs were used across several stations. I know this Insomniac Theater animation was used on WPVI as "Cinema 6". Even today the stations don't look all that much different from each other.