'4 News LIVE' (Pilot)

[24994J 5568]

A pilot produced this week by KNBC shows an example of what a fast-paced, social media-friendly afternoon/4pm newscast could look like, in their eyes. Introduced and anchored by lead sports guy Fred Roggin (who's serviceable in the role), the top stories clock in at 2 minutes or less. Also included is a cable-inspired debate segment (or two), and the vaguest forecast you've ever seen, given by a local choir.

 

No, really.

 

This is an example of a 30-minute edition, with an actual forecast and investigative segments a likelihood to fill a full hour. As it is just a demo, the goals of higher ratings and increased web traffic are targeted, though explicitly not ensured, but that a product like this could be a way to (re)capture a little bit of what local television news has lost in the social media age.

 

My 2 cents? I get the idea of such a pilot. We've seen Scripps and Tegna (among others) experiment with these formats, but certain things just CANNOT be included in a potential final product. The choir bit is cute, but doesn't do a damn thing to give the viewer any usable info, and the debate segment takes up way too much airtime (definitely not 2 segments, preferably 0). Visually, it's very nice and polished. These graphics lend themselves well to the faster, cable-like pace, and new elements are clean and simple.

 

Ladies & gentleman...'4 News LIVE'...before they take the video down.

 

UPDATED with link after video made private: https://vimeo.com/349145331/4ac4dc6eb4

 

 

[Big Country News 435]

Is that the underused NBC O&O package I hear?

Could also be the updated 360.

[PTVNews 194]

ok, In know it's just a pilot but here are my thoughts. Not that my thoughts mean anything to anyone but I had some time so why not.

 

1: The monitor on on the right side in the intro shot in the studio has a a non-looping mon loop...

2: It's fast paced, but that's nothing new. In fact, sometimes it felt too fast paced to process the info given before it was on to the next thing.

3: Maybe just a quirk with this pilot, but the anchor and reporter in studio did not appear to be looking straight into the camera when reading.

4: It seems to me that this was edited heavily in post. In fact, a lot of it may have been post-produced. That first "live shot" was very snappy jumping between the camera and sot. The control room shot was obviously a looklive. The only reason this matters is because when it comes to actually producing this live from a production standpoint, it can be hard to keep the pace up depending on technology and personnel. BTW, if that is KNBC's control room, does anyone have any other pics/vids of it. Looks cool!

5: I'm not familiar with KNBC talent but this guy is a pretty good news reader if he comes from sports.

6: Definitely ditch the Choircast. What are they gonna do when it rains? Sing "It's raining, it's pouring...". 

7: Too many debate segments, especially considering it was the same people.

78 Not sure what "social media friendly" referenced above means but it's barely "social". It also doesn't feel like cable new either.

 

TL; DR: It's a faster paced show but not really that different from a standard newscast (I'm not saying one way is better than the other). 

 

 

[bhratbrat 437]

@PTVNews Fred Roggin is very versatile..has done Olympic coverage for NBC and also has filled in for a lot of the sports stuff. 

 

I think maybe its just a pilot to test out a newscast format. Its decent but more than likely will have to be reformatted for live broadcast tv unless it might be formatted for social media and social media only.

 

Either that, or they found an old WTVJ relic from their 4 NEWS NOW era.

[PhillyWatch 239]

Regarding it being "social media friendly", I don't think they meant in an interactive way, more like any story/segment could easily be clipped out at the station and posted to Facebook/Twitter/YouTube for easy dissemination. Could this be a potential replacement for O&O's losing Extra? It'd certainly be something to set a new newscast apart from the 3 previous hours of, for the most part, the same 30 minutes repeated 5 times. 

 

This would be a million times better than launching a new celeb tabloid talker or grabbing another syndie sitcom. There are a bunch of talented staff on hand, why not give them the chance to work a different writing muscle in their brain, try weird shots out, have the sports/weather/traffic/reporter person host or do segments, have local, relevant people in to give viewers perspective on stories. HAVE a choir do weather (you've seen the reports 15 times already and could easily grab your phone or flip channels and see it ol' fashioned-style there. 

 WTXF in Philly had an interesting 10pm format around 2011 (opening with a skyline or chopper shot and having an anchor rundown the night's stories over a radio hit before the actual open, debate segments with local politicians/activists) and I definitely miss that.

 

And while we're at it, bring back Jodi Applegate wandering around the newsroom at 10pm on PIX!

[C Block 1566]

I feel like I just watched an episode of Sports Shouting.

 

 

I'm in the minority on this in this line of work, but I actually thing going long, rather than chopping everything down to 25 seconds, is the way to go. We should all be heading in the direction of Vice News Tonight if we want to get serious about appealing to a younger demographic while also creating thoughtful content. I think the more we water everything down, the less likely people are to stay with us.

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

16 hours ago, Big Country News said:

Is that the underused NBC O&O package I hear?

Could also be the updated 360.

 

Definitely 360. The signature can be heard at 1:13.

[justin2kx 237]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:03 AM, 24994J said:

Ladies & gentleman...'4 News LIVE'...before they take the video down.

 

Video went private. Do you know the url link to this?

[okiechi 55]

6 hours ago, justin2kx said:

Video went private. Do you know the url link to this?

 

Looks like they nuked it after looking at their Vimeo profile... https://vimeo.com/nbcla

[jrogo 196]

5 hours ago, okiechi said:

 

Looks like they nuked it after looking at their Vimeo profile... https://vimeo.com/nbcla

If you previous “liked” it on Vimeo you can still see it. I liked it and can still watch it. 

[24994J 5568]

This is the link, from my list of likes. Someone check to see if it works.

 

https://vimeo.com/349145331/4ac4dc6eb4

[okiechi 55]

3 minutes ago, 24994J said:

This is the link, from my list of likes. Someone check to see if it works.

 

https://vimeo.com/349145331/4ac4dc6eb4

 

Can confirm, it's still up. Didn't know that about Vimeo, neat. Thanks @JRogotzke for the tip.

[Eat News 4745]

11 minutes ago, 24994J said:

This is the link, from my list of likes. Someone check to see if it works.

 

https://vimeo.com/349145331/4ac4dc6eb4

 

Yup that link works...I was able to make a copy of it.

 

Thanks

[MidwestTV 1232]

Choircast? That was a choice and it was a bad one.

[24994J 5568]

33 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

Choircast? That was a choice and it was a bad one.

 

Of all the choices, it's certainly one. 

[kshow 166]

14 hours ago, 24994J said:

 

Of all the choices, it's certainly one. 

 

The worst idea ever. 

[okiechi 55]

18 hours ago, 24994J said:

 

Of all the choices, it's certainly one. 

 

(Had to be done.)

[newsguy22 59]

I’ve been singing the “Partly Cloudy” song all morning. Also, apparently that’s an old bit that actually made the air once?! I didn’t know that! Here’s the clip. 

 

 

[C Block 1566]

And it looks like the whole thing has now been taken down altogether. But did nobody even think to send it to Scott at FTVLive beforehand? That thing needed to be thoroughly dissected on a bigger platform.

[rkolsen 1684]

2 hours ago, C Block said:

And it looks like the whole thing has now been taken down altogether. But did nobody even think to send it to Scott at FTVLive beforehand? That thing needed to be thoroughly dissected on a bigger platform.

Thought about it. I saved the entire show.