ABC 7 Eyewitness News thread

[Vlad 406]

On 3/18/2026 at 12:05 AM, Jase said:

 

WABC is the best in the ABC O&O group, imo. If we were to compare the 3 main areas (home base, weather center and interview area), there's no way I would put KABC ahead of them. While KABC has more space...bigger isn't better. Plus, I don't like how the logo looks against the white background, the blue floor, etc.. There's nothing really anything KABC did that's unique or revolutionary, imo. 

 

WABC, In my humble opinion, from an on air presentation (graphics and set) standpoint, I think we can all agree that they are comfortably "the best" just recently. KABC was always the better one for years and even today I think the KABC set is probably still a bit nicer than WABC's by a touch (they have the extra space that WABC doesn't have). The news product itself which is what ultimately matters has always been one of the most top notch local news productions in this entire country. They've always been prestigious at which all other local stations try to model. Both KABC and WABC stations do a near excellent job with that. And now we are starting to see both stations work kinda together on some stories which is kinda cute.

 

For WABC, in terms of the on air graphics and set, I think that was a long journey for them. At this point the only criticism I have now for WABC and now KABC is I wish they used more of their news music package. I'd imagine they have full access to the entire suite of music. At this point, its probably safe to say that WABC is the best overall O&O ABC station now and now we are seeing the rest of the Circle 7 ABC O&O stations model them (Logo and Graphics etc..) 

 

A bit of history with WABC; from an on-air graphics and presentation perspective, they were always far behind the rest of the O&Os until this past year really. KABC always had the edge over the years. I would always envy KABC because of how they just excelled over WABC. It wasn't till probably around 2012 with the Giant Octopus graphics that their on air appearance represented what a flagship station should be but it was short lived, they literally took two steps back with those terribly looking flat graphics in 2016 which pretty much sucked in my opinion they were really boring and just lazily designed. We had to deal with that disaster for 8 years and finally they got their new graphics in 2024 followed by their new beautiful set in 2025 which KABC now modeled and has a slight edge over. 

 

Edited March 26 by Vlad

[ns8401 995]

9 hours ago, Vlad said:

 

WABC, In my humble opinion, from an on air presentation (graphics and set) standpoint, I think we can all agree that they are comfortably "the best" just recently. KABC was always the better one for years and even today I think the KABC set is probably still a bit nicer than WABC's by a touch (they have the extra space that WABC doesn't have). The news product itself which is what ultimately matters has always been one of the most top notch local news productions in this entire country. They've always been prestigious at which all other local stations try to model. Both KABC and WABC stations do a near excellent job with that. And now we are starting to see both stations work kinda together on some stories which is kinda cute.

 

For WABC, in terms of the on air graphics and set, I think that was a long journey for them. At this point the only criticism I have now for WABC and now KABC is I wish they used more of their news music package. I'd imagine they have full access to the entire suite of music. At this point, its probably safe to say that WABC is the best overall O&O ABC station now and now we are seeing the rest of the Circle 7 ABC O&O stations model them (Logo and Graphics etc..) 

 

A bit of history with WABC; from an on-air graphics and presentation perspective, they were always far behind the rest of the O&Os until this past year really. KABC always had the edge over the years. I would always envy KABC because of how they just excelled over WABC. It wasn't till probably around 2012 with the Giant Octopus graphics that their on air appearance represented what a flagship station should be but it was short lived, they literally took two steps back with those terribly looking flat graphics in 2016 which pretty much sucked in my opinion they were really boring and just lazily designed. We had to deal with that disaster for 8 years and finally they got their new graphics in 2024 followed by their new beautiful set in 2025 which KABC now modeled and has a slight edge over. 

 

Their new graphics were inspired by a combination of brainstorming the most boring thing you make a lower third look like and someone on vacation watching the 2012 Scripps graphics and loving the way the transitions moved side to side. It is by far one of the worst looks in local TV today. The only graphics ABC ever had that I admired was what WLS had before they standardized everything. Those were pleasant to look at. 

Edited March 26 by ns8401

[MorningNews 1711]

WABC’s on-air appearance before 2024-2025 was shameful. The graphics before standardization were awful. The set they were on from 2006-2011 was one of the worst.

 

Praise to whoever took over and invested in the visual identity of the nation’s #1 news station.

[MD TV 389]

After weeks away, Leslie Lopez just announced on-air that she's leaving the station to join the network:

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-lopez-named-abc-news-meteorologist/18848038/

 

She's filled in a bunch of times on GMA, so this feels like the logical next step for her. Says her first day with ABC is Friday.

Edited April 7 by MD TV

[Vlad 406]

Aw, she will be certainly missed. I will miss her for sure. I loved how graceful and warm she was with the forecasts. Her delivery of her forecasts always came from a place of humility. I wish her the best! 

[MeAndTheGraphics 16]

2 hours ago, MD TV said:

After weeks away, Leslie Lopez just announced on-air that she's leaving the station to join the network:

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-lopez-named-abc-news-meteorologist/18848038/

 

She's filled in a bunch of times on GMA, so this feels like the logical next step for her. Says her first day with ABC is Friday.

Question: Will she be moving across the country or staying in LA for this new role?

[TVNewsLover 861]

4 minutes ago, MeAndTheGraphics said:

Question: Will she be moving across the country or staying in LA for this new role?

If you click on the link and read the article, you’ll have your answer. 

[MeAndTheGraphics 16]

54 minutes ago, TVNewsLover said:

If you click on the link and read the article, you’ll have your answer. 

And my question is answered. Thank you.

[MorningNews 1711]

I can’t remember her name but is the weekend forecaster still at ABC? Samara Theodore I believe.

[MediaZone4K 2661]

On 3/11/2026 at 3:24 PM, Encore 323 said:

This is exactly what I said before HanSolo's comment. These little details do not matter much to people because most average viewers don't have the time to be comparing and contrasting those things. Most people would say just give me the local news I need to know and that is it. 

 

* The above statement is just a reflection of how most average viewers think and does not reflect how I view and discuss local news aesthetics, just in case anyone is confused. *

If we focused squarely on what the average viewer cares about, half these threads would not exist. I think the point of a site like this is for us hyper vigilant people to come together and talk about some of these minute details that layman watchers miss.

 

Yes when we complain about certain things we have to be cognizant of what typical viewers care about, but that doesn't stop us from pointing them out.

Edited April 8 by MediaZone4K

[24994J 5888]

1 hour ago, MorningNews said:

I can’t remember her name but is the weekend forecaster still at ABC? Samara Theodore I believe.

 

She's currently on maternity leave, but it feels like she's off a lot, even when she was available. Wouldn't be shocked if she was eventually phased out, but that would be way down the line.

[GraphicsMan 345]

1 hour ago, MorningNews said:

I can’t remember her name but is the weekend forecaster still at ABC? Samara Theodore I believe.

Yes. She’s just on maternity leave.

[GraphicsMan 345]

12 hours ago, MD TV said:

After weeks away, Leslie Lopez just announced on-air that she's leaving the station to join the network:

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-lopez-named-abc-news-meteorologist/18848038/

 

She's filled in a bunch of times on GMA, so this feels like the logical next step for her. Says her first day with ABC is Friday.

I thought Dani Beckstrom would get it

[NYAZSporty 196]

3 hours ago, GraphicsMan said:

I thought Dani Beckstrom would get it

Of course if that were the case, it wouldn't be as significant a deal as this considering it's from their flagship WABC, & ABC News tends to have ppl there contributing from time to time there including Chief Meteorologist Lee Goldberg, who btw, is also officially a part of ABC News as of Tuesday, which is no surprise considering he's popped up frequently recently on World News Tonight whenever they bring up weather. 

 

Edited April 8 by NYAZSporty
Insterting a tweet

[GraphicsMan 345]

1 hour ago, NYAZSporty said:

Of course if that were the case, it wouldn't be as significant a deal as this considering it's from their flagship WABC, & ABC News tends to have ppl there contributing from time to time there including Chief Meteorologist Lee Goldberg, who btw, is also officially a part of ABC News as of Tuesday, which is no surprise considering he's popped up frequently recently on World News Tonight whenever they bring up weather. 

 

Good Lee Goldberg is apart of the network I just saw his age he’s still very young. But 2 salaries doesn’t hurt.

[HanSolo 467]

21 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

If we focused squarely on what the average viewer cares about, half these threads would not exist. I think the point of a site like this is for us hyper vigilant people to come together and talk about some of these minute details that layman watchers miss.

 

Yes when we complain about certain things we have to be cognizant of what typical viewers care about, but that doesn't stop us from pointing them out.

Absolutely, but there is at times a tendency to blow things out of proportion and lose sight of what will matter to typical viewers. That and a somewhat entrenched aversion to change at times. 

[rtmclaug 75]

I love Leslie’s work and I’m glad we can still see her on channel 7. She knows her stuff and she’s a great person. Kudos to her. 

[Encore 323 79]

With Leslie Lopez gone to NYC to work in the ABC News climate and sciences unit, I wonder if KABC is considering bringing soon to be ex-KTLA meteorologist Kacey Montoya on to the team (if she wants it) to cover maybe the weekday 7-8:30am streaming slot/11am shows to lessen Brianna Ruffalo’s load or on weekend nights to have a fully certified meteorologist there because Niku Kazori is not fully certified, despite her earning some credentials during her time as weather anchor at KCBD 11 in Lubbock. At the same time, anybody can do the weather these days as long as they know something about it and look good, so maybe removing Niku is not a big deal to them right now.

Edited April 19 by Encore 323

[GraphicsMan 345]

On 4/18/2026 at 8:31 PM, Encore 323 said:

With Leslie Lopez gone to NYC to work in the ABC News climate and sciences unit, I wonder if KABC is considering bringing soon to be ex-KTLA meteorologist Kacey Montoya on to the team (if she wants it) to cover maybe the weekday 7-8:30am streaming slot/11am shows to lessen Brianna Ruffalo’s load or on weekend nights to have a fully certified meteorologist there because Niku Kazori is not fully certified, despite her earning some credentials during her time as weather anchor at KCBD 11 in Lubbock. At the same time, anybody can do the weather these days as long as they know something about it and look good, so maybe removing Niku is not a big deal to them right now.

Why does LA not have so many certified Mets for the number 2 market?

[FiveNews 481]

Its sunny and 73 degrees 300 days of the year.

[GraphicsMan 345]

On 4/30/2026 at 9:30 AM, FiveNews said:

Its sunny and 73 degrees 300 days of the year.

I guess so, no hurricanes, just rain mostly. Snow falls in the mountains. Dallas Raines and Adam Krueger seem to be the only certified Mets in the market with actual degrees, and not those certs from Miss state.

[ns8401 995]

On 5/1/2026 at 10:42 AM, GraphicsMan said:

I guess so, no hurricanes, just rain mostly. Snow falls in the mountains. Dallas Raines and Adam Krueger seem to be the only certified Mets in the market with actual degrees, and not those certs from Miss state.

It isn’t like you can’t learn on the job from the two certified meteorologists and the weather producers. Plenty of amateur folks know their stuff. 

[GraphicsMan 345]

5 hours ago, ns8401 said:

It isn’t like you can’t learn on the job from the two certified meteorologists and the weather producers. Plenty of amateur folks know their stuff. 

True… I just know if you were in a severe weather area pretty much anywhere outside of California they wouldn’t hire you as a weather person unless you’re a bonified met. Except in small markets they’ll let that pass. I’m shocked to see it in New York with that Fox weather presenter at WNYW.

[Joey1986 30]

I just saw this on the L.A. TV News Junkies Facebook page:

 

Quote

The countdown is on. Longtime ABC7 reporter Carlos Granda is retiring.

After more than a quarter century at Eyewitness News, the countdown is officially on for veteran reporter Carlos Granda. While no official retirement date has been publicly announced, sources tell us Granda is now in his final weeks at the station.

Granda’s journalism career stretches back decades and across some of the biggest news markets in the country.

After graduating from the University of South Florida in 1984, Granda began his journalism career at WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Florida. He’d eventually work for Miami stations WLTV and WPLG. 

In 1990, Granda moved to New York to report for WABC-TV and later at WNBC. He returned to Miami to anchor at WFOR-TV. He then moved to Los Angeles to work at KCAL-TV in 1996.

Granda joined KABC-TV in 1998, quickly becoming a familiar face to Southern California viewers who’ve watched him become ABC7’s longest-tenured general assignment reporter over his more than 28 years at the station.

For many longtime viewers, Granda has been one of those steady, recognizable reporters who always seemed to be everywhere — from breaking news scenes to celebrity trials to natural disasters.

When his final sign-off comes at the end of May, it will mark the end of an era at ABC7, but the start of a very well-earned retirement for Carlos.

[GraphicsMan 345]

2 hours ago, Joey1986 said:

I just saw this on the L.A. TV News Junkies Facebook page:

 

Wow he is great I wish him the best in retirement.