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Don Scott Retires from WJZ


Leavellebrett

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I watched the broadcast and thought it was good and well put together. I'm not sure if it's on the web but they had a montage of the current WJZ staffers wishing him the best in addition to a local astronaut on the space station, Reid Wiseman, the governor of Maryland, the mayor of Baltimore and oddly Nancy O'Dell from ET (which is odd because there is never any cross talk between WJZ and ET and if they do air a clip from ET it's a generic toss).

 

But the one thing I thought was odd was that there was no one from the network to wish him luck. I was kind of expecting the CBS This Morning team to do a hit before the show (at a minimum Gayle King since they worked together during the Oprah years) or maybe a mention on the Evening News. The only reason I expected an acknowledgement was that in the past year both Today and Nightly News have used airtime to give shout outs to their affiliate anchors who've made it 40 years at one station. Off the top of my head I could think of three like the Queen of KING5 Jean Erenson (who was flown out to NY for an appearance on Today in September to mark her 46th year at the Gannett owned K5 and her retirement was mentioned within the last month on Nightly News), WNBC's Chuck Scarborough's 40th and WRC's Jim Vance 45th.

 

The only thing I didn't like about the retirement was that on the station automation cut off his very last words for an advertisement. It also reinforcement my dislike the "community" or folksy branding of WJZs news product like having groups of people singing Manic Monday and each time they come back from break they cue audio of a group of people cheering It's Friday. The morning show also uses a decent amount of sound effect that makes me question what the show wants to be: a radio show, a talk show, or a newscast? With that being said I do like Don Scott, just not his partner Marty Bass, and I have found in the past when Don anchored the noon news and Marty is relegated to the weather it is much more viewable.

 

I also realized that despite the news set being 16 years old - It has kept up well. In the video you could see the mini refreshes that the news set has gone through, like desks have been swapped out twice and the monitors changed.

 

I watched the broadcast and thought it was good and well put together. I'm not sure if it's on the web but they had a montage of the current WJZ staffers wishing him the best in addition to a local astronaut on the space station, Reid Wiseman, the governor of Maryland, the mayor of Baltimore and oddly Nancy O'Dell from ET (which is odd because there is never any cross talk between WJZ and ET and if they do air a clip from ET it's a generic toss).

 

Yes the staffer shout outs are online: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/video/10355790-marylanders-friends-say-goodbye-to-wjzs-don-scott/

 

 

The only thing I didn't like about the retirement was that on the station automation cut off his very last words for an advertisement. It also reinforcement my dislike the "community" or folksy branding of WJZs news product like having groups of people singing Manic Monday and each time they come back from break they cue audio of a group of people cheering It's Friday. The morning show also uses a decent amount of sound effect that makes me question what the show wants to be: a radio show, a talk show, or a newscast? With that being said I do like Don Scott, just not his partner Marty Bass, and I have found in the past when Don anchored the noon news and Marty is relegated to the weather it is much more viewable.

 

This is the very reason I like WJZ. They have a lot of fun there. I like how they don't really change with the times and stick with what works. I enjoy the Manic Monday segment and the sound effects. Marty Bass is cool, I don't know why you're slamming him. No, he isn't a generic weather person like Ava Marie, Jonathan Myers (who isn't actually that bad) or Lynette Charles, but that's good, because he enjoys himself and I think he has a few years left out of him to do the weather at WJZ.

 

OTOH, WBAL (which you've already established as your favorite station) is not as good as WJZ (or WBFF). It's boring, consultant-ridden and the epitome of most American local TV newscasts. If I ever go to Baltimore, I will watch WJZ. If I lived there, I would also watch WJZ. Also, the morning anchors at WBAL have not been there and together for over 30 years like Don and Marty. Don and Marty are icons in Baltimore.

Your right I do prefer WBAL most of the time mainly because they give out a polished and professional product without the kitsch that WJZ uses in the morning. It's my preference in the morning (and almost every other time) that I prefer straight news and I typically hop around all the broadcast channels including WBFF and WMAR equally in addition to the cable networks. I do typically watch/record WJZ's 4PM newscast straight through, because the happy talk is non existent. Then at five and six I go through all the newscasts.

 

As for my dislike of Marty Bass he comes off like your obnoxious uncle who interrupts what your saying and then spews their mouth off (and has a criminal history of soliciting a prostitute but got off by saying he was doing a news report on it.)

 

As for my dislike of Marty Bass he comes off like your obnoxious uncle who interrupts what your saying and then spews their mouth off (and has a criminal history of soliciting a prostitute but got off by saying he was doing a news report on it.)

 

That was in the 1980's....

@rkolsen I agree w/ you that WBAL 11 has more of a polished look in their newscast. I don't understand why WJZ doesn't have the CBS mandate? Their color scheme, their on-air look looks like a college production. Somebody on here said there was a story about K.Robertson at WJZ why they haven't went all CBS mandate..

 

One Name, Jay Newman The GM of 'JZ since Group W days.... He is the reason "there's only one 'JZ"

 

Is that good or bad? I know Jay Newman was once at the helm of WWJ/ 62CBS in Detroit at one time. So Jay wants to keep the college production look? What his deal?

 

Is that good or bad? I know Jay Newman was once at the helm of WWJ/ 62CBS in Detroit at one time. So Jay wants to keep the college production look? What his deal?

 

It's not the look, it's Chroma Cues. What they have now works. I personally love the retro look and sound of WJZ. I mean, new graphics would be a nice upgrade, but it works well with what they have now.

 

The only thing I didn't like about the retirement was that on the station automation cut off his very last words for an advertisement. It also reinforcement my dislike the "community" or folksy branding of WJZs news product like having groups of people singing Manic Monday and each time they come back from break they cue audio of a group of people cheering It's Friday. The morning show also uses a decent amount of sound effect that makes me question what the show wants to be: a radio show, a talk show, or a newscast? With that being said I do like Don Scott, just not his partner Marty Bass, and I have found in the past when Don anchored the noon news and Marty is relegated to the weather it is much more viewable.

 

 

I was wondering if that happened on-air or just on the online video clip. That's unfortunate.

 

I did catch WJZ's morning news from time to time and really liked it. You could tell those two had a lot of great chemistry, which is why I think the show lasted as long as it did. Now you have to wonder what WJZ has planned post-Don Scott.

 

One Name, Jay Newman The GM of 'JZ since Group W days.... He is the reason "there's only one 'JZ"

 

Jay Newman has been GM since 1998, replacing Marcellus Alexander who was the GM from the Group W days. They have had the same ND though since 1991 which is why there's been a lot of stability at that station unprecedented for a station in a market the size of Baltimore. And considering her predecessor only lasted seven months, I think that's great she's been there 23 years. Whenever Gail Bending leaves WJZ is screwed honestly and I think there would be a lot of nonrenewals and new faces as the ND wants to make their mark on the station. I also would see segments like "Manic Monday" and People Are Talking ending, or at least the name going away (all People Are Talking is is a name for their morning feature reports; nothing like the program that aired when Group W ran the station).

 

 

Is that good or bad? I know Jay Newman was once at the helm of WWJ/ 62CBS in Detroit at one time. So Jay wants to keep the college production look? What his deal?

 

I don't think it's Jay Newman so much as it is KC Robertson. If he had a different CSD then the product would probably look entirely different. I think yes, their GM wants them to stand out from the other O&Os, but the CSD probably likes this look and the GM just says OK.

 

 

It's not the look, it's Chroma Cues. What they have now works. I personally love the retro look and sound of WJZ. I mean, new graphics would be a nice upgrade, but it works well with what they have now.

 

They have used the same cuts of Chroma Cues since 1997. Would be nice if it was refreshed. I could see that with the O&O graphics. At least have some leeway. Also the graphics they have now would have looked good in 1997 but not now. The one thing they could do to dramatically improve the graphics is use a font other than Helvetica Extended. It just looks so ugly and cheapens the graphics. Maybe then they'd be a little more tolerable.

 

Also, the female VO WJZ now uses at the beginning of their news opens is the same one Sinclair likes to use on WKEF and WPEC. Useless and random fact I'm throwing out there and only mentioning it since Baltimore is Sinclair's hometown.

 

 

I did catch WJZ's morning news from time to time and really liked it. You could tell those two had a lot of great chemistry, which is why I think the show lasted as long as it did. Now you have to wonder what WJZ has planned post-Don Scott.

Linh Bui takes over for him. It's going to be weird seeing somebody other than Don Scott sitting with Marty. But from what I've seen she'll do good. She has the personality for the mornings. WJZ is now starting to get new faces with the departure of two key anchors, Kai Jackson for Sinclair and now Don Scott heading into retirement.
I was wondering if that happened on-air or just on the online video clip. That's unfortunate.

 

I did catch WJZ's morning news from time to time and really liked it. You could tell those two had a lot of great chemistry, which is why I think the show lasted as long as it did. Now you have to wonder what WJZ has planned post-Don Scott.

It cut off but was only about two words cut off and you could easily complete his sentence. They did have great chemistry.

 

I think the show will do fine - it may lose some viewers but I could see them going with a straight newscast whenever Marty Bass leaves. In the past few weeks they've introduced Lihn Bui as a reporter featured in their news open so it wasn't a complete shock to the viewers.

It's not the look, it's Chroma Cues. What they have now works. I personally love the retro look and sound of WJZ. I mean, new graphics would be a nice upgrade, but it works well with what they have now.

I only have a problem with the "13" - which is a crude redraw from the Group W font. Plus they could go with "Roboto" instead of Univers on their L3s and it wouldn't look as tired and worn. And that's going to happen with a graphics package that is around a decade old (outside of the obvious refresh done with their HD conversion).

 

But I'm not K.C. Robertson.

As for my dislike of Marty Bass he comes off like your obnoxious uncle who interrupts what your saying and then spews their mouth off (and has a criminal history of soliciting a prostitute but got off by saying he was doing a news report on it.)

That was in the 1980's....

As was this classic story explaining why Marty didn't want to wear a toupee anymore.

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I only have a problem with the "13" - which is a crude redraw from the Group W font. Plus they could go with "Roboto" instead of Univers on their L3s and it wouldn't look as tired and worn. And that's going to happen with a graphics package that is around a decade old (outside of the obvious refresh done with their HD conversion).

 

But I'm not K.C. Robertson.

I've never been a fan of the chroma cues but wish they would be updated. The only problem I have with them is this one extremely harsh cut that's used when they return from break - think of that screech that's used on the WBAL open but this one lasts longer. It drives me crazy when I hear it when I have a headache. Their first generation HD graphics were similar to their prior SD graphics.

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