The News Sets of The 1990's

[MidwestTV 1187]

Here are some screenshots from a KSHB newscast in 1998. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdQvSV8H01s I can't be certain, but it looks as if this set was the framework for their new set that debuted sometime in the early 00s, possibly 2003 when they adopted the Action News branding. The frames are very similar.

Edited February 9, 2022 by MidwestTV

[Metrodonmartin 42]

On 2/6/2022 at 8:56 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

Well, after looking up some airchecks from WOIO and WUAB in the 90's....I guess my vision of what they had was sort of jumbled together.  It seemed the banks of monitors that both WOIO and WUAB used on their respective sets resembled what I saw when the WDTN and WKYC sets were shown here. None of the "highway bars" like the other sets had.  WOIO had their "newsroom" set all the way to "Action News" and WUAB had a separate set until the same era. 

This was the pre-Reserve Square set that WUAB had at their studios in Parma.

 

I guess the image I had in my head was what WTTE used for their first newscasts.  This was in 1996 so I don't know if WSYX was involved yet (about the time Sinclair bought River City and spun off WTTE to Glencairn).

These are Express Group sets 

3 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

Here are some screenshots from a KSHB newscast in 1998. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdQvSV8H01s I can't be certain, but it looks as if this set was the framework for their new set that debuted sometime in the early 00s, possibly 2003 when they adopted the Action News branding. The frames are very similar.

BDI set. 

[MediaZone4K 1724]

Good Morning America, Christmas 1993. Ornate decorations creating depth. These days all of this elegant detailing would be done on a video wall.

Edited February 9, 2022 by iron_lion

[NWA_TV_guy 148]

This set from WLBT was an interesting design.  The set was designed by various teams in Jackson and was installed in 1995. A lot of the features with the images were removed from the set not long after the set debuted. The was a lot of emphasis on the locally-designed part of it, but it was a look that didn’t age well. 
 

Wednesday, June 28, 1995, The Clarion-Ledger, newspapers.com

1995 (original set as debuted)

 

 

~1996/1997 when the set was updated 

 

1998-2002

[MidwestTV 1187]

18 hours ago, Metrodonmartin said:

BDI set. 

Interesting. Now that you mention it I can see it in the broad, long support elements.

[MediaZone4K 1724]

Today Show (1990-94): faux wood, ice cubed windows, landscape wallpaper window pane walls, ambersome vintage world maps, designated news desk area, and a grand piano. The mid 80s set was my favorite set but this was beautiful!

Edited February 10, 2022 by iron_lion

[ToriElectra 291]

On 2/3/2022 at 1:13 AM, Metrodonmartin said:

The Express Group. Update by FX. 

I want to thank you, Don Martin -- you've finally solved a huge frickin mystery neither me or @Samanthacould figure out -- the designer of the 90s "spaceship sets", so named because KNXV's Express set from when they began their news op in 1994 was dubbed the "spaceship" in the local press. Neither of us had been able to get any conclusive leads until you posted the name. I've attached pics of some of the spaceship sets Express did in the 90s (they also did at least one Canadian set, for Edmonton's CITV; other spaceshippy sets not seen here include KWGN. WIAT and WDAF).

 

On 2/6/2022 at 11:56 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

Well, after looking up some airchecks from WOIO and WUAB in the 90's....I guess my vision of what they had was sort of jumbled together.  It seemed the banks of monitors that both WOIO and WUAB used on their respective sets resembled what I saw when the WDTN and WKYC sets were shown here. None of the "highway bars" like the other sets had.  WOIO had their "newsroom" set all the way to "Action News" and WUAB had a separate set until the same era. 

 

No, the Cleveland Television News sets definitely did have the highway bars. I'm wondering where WUAB's Express set was in the building; analyzing WOIO/WUAB footage of the time, I can't figure out if it was just off the newsroom where it couldn't be seen from the newsroom cameras, or if it was in a completely separate studio.

Edited February 11, 2022 by LiveEye57

[tyrannical bastard 3642]

I"m thinking it may have been the WUAB Sports Extra portion of the set. 

[MorningNews 1336]

13 minutes ago, LiveEye57 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christ sake we have truly come a long way lol. What the hell is this desk?

[WRNK 32]

WINK also had one of these Express Spaceship sets.

They used it until around 2003.

[dabnis74 52]

WKEF set from 1995, refreshed in 2002 used till January of 2013.

[WWUpdate 1290]

On 2/5/2022 at 6:22 PM, iron_lion said:

WSVN Newsplex mid 1990s! Very CNN. It matched with their hard/tabloid news station format they were aiming for. 

 

 

 

It was even exported to Germany:

 

 

[tyrannical bastard 3642]

On 2/11/2022 at 5:53 PM, dabnis74 said:

WKEF set from 1995, refreshed in 2002 used till January of 2013.

Sinclair really used a lot of these sets picked up from other owners well past their prime.  Even with their legacy stations like WBFF.

WCHS was another, (lasting from the 90s until 2012) and so was WEAR in Pensacola, lasting pretty much from the debut of their building in 1994 to 2008.

[LexTVandRadio 416]

I've always enjoyed WTVQ's set from 1993-1997, then Media General took the landscape background out of it and replaced it with clouds.  Then got a refresh in 2002 then went away in 2008. Not sure who did set, but I do recall seeing it at other stations. 

[kfc513 226]

4 hours ago, LexTVandRadio said:

I've always enjoyed WTVQ's set from 1993-1997, then Media General took the landscape background out of it and replaced it with clouds.  Then got a refresh in 2002 then went away in 2008. Not sure who did set, but I do recall seeing it at other stations. 

 

I'm not sure who originally made it either, but I do know that FX Group did the 2002 refresh. http://web.archive.org/web/20080923183829/http://www.fxgroup.tv/portfolio/wtvq/

[MediaZone4K 1724]

MSNBC 1996. Amazing, futuristic and internet oriented. Nothing compares to it on tv today.

WABC "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" late 80s-late 90s. Plain and simple but I like the frame consuming blue background, reminds me of interview sets from the 70s.

Edited February 16, 2022 by iron_lion

[Metrodonmartin 42]

3 hours ago, iron_lion said:

MSNBC 1996. Amazing, futuristic and internet oriented. Nothing compares to it on tv today.

WABC "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" late 80s-late 90s. Plain and simple but I like the frame consuming blue background, reminds me of interview sets from the 70s.

Gil Jimenez Broadcast Design did the WABC set 

[C Block 1531]

I didn't realize until not too long ago that KCNC and WXYZ had almost exactly the same set in the late 90s from pencilogic. Looks like WXYZ got it first.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by C Block

[Metrodonmartin 42]

11 minutes ago, C Block said:

I didn't realize until not too long ago that KCNC and WXYZ had almost exactly the same set in the late 90s from pencilogic. Looks like WXYZ got it first.

 

 

Both sets by Pencillogic 

 

[Justin Hill 38]

By the early-mid-1990s, many TV stations, mostly ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates (some of which, would become Fox stations in 1994, 1995 or 1996), started using a lot of blue, purple and pink on their sets, which would otherwise look bland with just a simple white or gray color scheme. Some sets that come to mind are the WBAY-TV 2 set in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the WJKS-TV 17 set in Jacksonville,  Florida, the KARE 11 set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the KUSA 9 set in Denver, Colorado and the WGHP-TV 8 set in Greensboro, North Carolina.

[MediaZone4K 1724]

WNBC Approx 1981-93 Love this set, didn't realize it lasted so long. I wonder what prompted them to rebrand from News 4 NY to News Channel 4.

Edited February 19, 2022 by iron_lion

[WWUpdate 1290]

On 2/11/2022 at 4:04 AM, WRNK said:

WINK also had one of these Express Spaceship sets.

They used it until around 2003.

 

And  a similar one from Germany:

[DucNguyen0131 49]

Well, I honestly liked the WSB set of the mid-1990s, because it's my favorite Georgia TV news set of the time.

[Metrodonmartin 42]

1 hour ago, Duc4TVNewsTalk said:

Well, I honestly liked the WSB set of the mid-1990s, because it's my favorite Georgia TV news set of the time.

Set by Gil Jimenez 

 

[NowBergen 525]

On 2/18/2022 at 7:44 PM, iron_lion said:

WNBC Approx 1981-93 Love this set, didn't realize it lasted so long. I wonder what prompted them to rebrand from News 4 NY to News Channel 4.

 

That set had two different desks.  Live at Five used the desk behind Sue and Chuck in this view.  The 6 and 11 were from the front desk.  Lighting in  Studio 6B actually faded  over the rear desk during the opening of the 6 pm news.  NBC used staff announcer Don Pardo (in studio) for the Live at Five broadcast, and staff announcer Fred Facey for the 6 and 11.  Several years later they reefreshed the set with blue sides, Chuck actually made a comment they put up a lot of blue felt. It did brighten up the space.  The studio was the home of the original Tonight Show, and is used for that today as well.  

Edited February 26, 2022 by NowBergen