Live shots at night

[Chicago2008 9]

I have noticed that with the exception of WFLD and WGN, most of the news stations don't do live shots on the late night news casts. Given the current state of the city, could a reason for this be safety? Thanks.   

[mrschimpf 2093]

Probably because it's very pointless these days more than anything? Unless it's a breaking story or the aftermath of a meeting during primetime you can't possibly rush back to the studio for, 'live at 10' when you can get out your phone and post to the socials straight off well before 10 is more exciting. A live shot in a dark police parking lot you had to burn fuel to get to in a lean time for TV news for 'scenery' just feels pointless.

 

Yes, safety definitely has a lot to do with it (though I'd argue the suburbs are much worse with domestic violence stories), but when everyone has already saw everything hours before, 'welp that happened' live shots feel like a waste of everyone's time, including the journalists and the viewers.

[24994J 5327]

1 hour ago, Chicago2008 said:

I have noticed that with the exception of WFLD and WGN, most of the news stations don't do live shots on the late night news casts. Given the current state of the city, could a reason for this be safety? Thanks.   

 

WLS does 2, 3, or even 4 (as news warrants), at 10. Similar count at WMAQ, from what I've seen.

[C Block 1510]

I don't know about the Chicago market specifically, though I'd be fascinated to know what their security situation is there. When I was in Chicago a few months ago, I was shocked to see a WBBM live truck with full station branding on the exterior. Where I am, all of our live trucks are unmarked, and without going into too much detail, we take pretty extensive measures to ensure crew safety in the field.

 

While live-for-the-sake-of-live definitely still happens, we try not to do it. Usually, if one of our reporters is live somewhere for the late shows, it's because that's where their story was. It often makes sense for the crew to stay on the scene, finish their story, do the live shot, and then drive back rather than rush back to the station and slam something together to make slot.

 

A lot of stations are also just putting fewer resources into their late news and assigning fewer reporters to it. It used to be that the 10/11p news were many stations' bread and butter, but late news viewership is falling the fastest out of any daypart.

[MediaZone4K 1592]

In general live shots at night where the scene is not visible are pointless. The main point of a live shot is to display an active scene or breaking news, the second is putting a report on the air in which there isn't enough time to package. Big markets like Atlanta are the king of pointless live shots. 

 

I doubt the audience cares if the reporter is live at an inactive scene, especially if they are consuming news after the fact on YouTube. 

 

I had a news director say he didn't want a daytime stand-up for a report airing at night, but the bridge or the cutaway two shots (and the interview) could be in daylight which made no sense. 

Edited June 20 by MediaZone4K

[ns8401 852]

On 6/20/2024 at 10:11 AM, MediaZone4K said:

In general live shots at night where the scene is not visible are pointless. The main point of a live shot is to display an active scene or breaking news, the second is putting a report on the air in which there isn't enough time to package. Big markets like Atlanta are the king of pointless live shots. 

 

I doubt the audience cares if the reporter is live at an inactive scene, especially if they are consuming news after the fact on YouTube. 

 

I had a news director say he didn't want a daytime stand-up for a report airing at night, but the bridge or the cutaway two shots (and the interview) could be in daylight which made no sense. 

A report from earlier in the day when the scene is more active would seem to be maximum bang for the buck. I’m used to the late news being an update show and the 6pm being the most important though… something that dates off and on back to the 1980’s at least. 

Edited Saturday at 05:21 AM by ns8401

[MediaZone4K 1592]

26 minutes ago, ns8401 said:

A report from earlier in the day when the scene is more active would seem to be maximum bang for the buck. I’m used to the late news being an update show and the 6pm being the most important though… something that dates off and on back to the 1980’s at least. 

It seems 4pm is the most important evening show now-a-days. In many markets I have seen 4:00 getting all the new packages and then being recycled throughout the later shows, with 10/11-pm maybe having some fresh nightime news. 

 

Despite 6 PM having the highest ratings, 6:00 newscasts are often rehashes of the 4pm. In Atlanta, I've seen 11 Alive and Fox 5's 6 PM newscasts featuring mostly pretaped look live shots. This most likely  because a day side reporter's shift runs 9-5ish. 

Edited Saturday at 05:51 AM by MediaZone4K

[C Block 1510]

41 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

It seems 4pm is the most important evening show now-a-days. In many markets I have seen 4:00 getting all the new packages and then being recycled throughout the later shows, with 10/11-pm maybe having some fresh nightime news. 

 

Despite 6 PM having the highest ratings, 6:00 newscasts are often rehashes of the 4pm. In Atlanta, I've seen 11 Alive and Fox 5's 6 PM newscasts featuring mostly pretaped look live shots. This most likely  because a day side reporter's shift runs 9-5ish. 

 

I disagree with the 4pm being the most important show. That's still too early to have the big audience, and if a station is giving all of their content to the 4pm and very little new for 5 and 6, then that's either a result of old habits or is just a poor allocation of resources.

 

The 6pm hour is probably the most important with the highest ratings and the most people at home watching. A lot of stations are still set in their ways of having a bunch of dayside reporters all start at 9:30, with one big editorial meeting then, and then everybody's live at 4 or 5 with a straight pkg for 6. Sometimes that's fine, but I do think that things can and do start to not feel as fresh at 6. Some stations have started to stagger reporter start times to be able to be live later and have new content for 6 and 7, and I think that's smart.

[ns8401 852]

20 minutes ago, C Block said:

 

I disagree with the 4pm being the most important show. That's still too early to have the big audience, and if a station is giving all of their content to the 4pm and very little new for 5 and 6, then that's either a result of old habits or is just a poor allocation of resources.

 

The 6pm hour is probably the most important with the highest ratings and the most people at home watching. A lot of stations are still set in their ways of having a bunch of dayside reporters all start at 9:30, with one big editorial meeting then, and then everybody's live at 4 or 5 with a straight pkg for 6. Sometimes that's fine, but I do think that things can and do start to not feel as fresh at 6. Some stations have started to stagger reporter start times to be able to be live later and have new content for 6 and 7, and I think that's smart.

I’m kind of thinking the tell on what time slot a specific station values the most is in its advertising. In my market it’s the 6pm that gets the most ads and feature reports. I know WLS emphasized the 10pm heavily in its advertising and less the other time slots in the evenings. Not sure if that’s still the case. 
 

Tonight they had 2 pretaped packages at 10pm. It was a pretty sleepy newscast. 

Edited Saturday at 07:09 AM by ns8401

[C Block 1510]

8 minutes ago, ns8401 said:

I’m kind of thinking the tell on what time slot a specific station values the most is in its advertising. In my market it’s the 6pm that gets the most ads and feature reports. I know WLS emphasized the 10pm heavily in its advertising and less the other time slots in the evenings. Not sure if that’s still the case. 
 

Tonight they had 2 pretaped packages at 10pm. It was a pretty sleepy newscast. 

 

Yeah, every station here and there may have a slightly different idea of what has historically been and presently is their flagship newscast. Put most broadly, I think most stations' flagship newscast was probably the late 9/10/11pm 20 years ago. Now, I'd say it's probably the 5 or 6pm or mornings for most stations. I can't stress enough how much late news ratings have dropped for everyone.

[MediaZone4K 1592]

On 6/22/2024 at 2:47 AM, C Block said:

 

I disagree with the 4pm being the most important show. That's still too early to have the big audience, and if a station is giving all of their content to the 4pm and very little new for 5 and 6, then that's either a result of old habits or is just a poor allocation of resources.

 

The 6pm hour is probably the most important with the highest ratings and the most people at home watching. A lot of stations are still set in their ways of having a bunch of dayside reporters all start at 9:30, with one big editorial meeting then, and then everybody's live at 4 or 5 with a straight pkg for 6. Sometimes that's fine, but I do think that things can and do start to not feel as fresh at 6. Some stations have started to stagger reporter start times to be able to be live later and have new content for 6 and 7, and I think that's smart.

 

Going back to Atlanta, the exception to that 6pm rule is WSB. From observation they usually do live hits in the 6 (even for stories that don't require them). But it's still repeated content from 4 & 5.

 

The logic stations give for new at 4 repeat for the remainders is "audiences stick around for quick hits and don't watch newscasts straight through or for hours". How true that is, IDK? EDIT: To WSB & WXIA's credit, from watching their evening newscasts it looks like they switch up the order of stories between shows.

 

I might run the TV for hours on one station if I'm doing something else, and the repeats are noticeable. A creative thing a station in my market does is a live VO/SOT at 4, half the story in a PKG at 5, and the complete PKG at 6, to give the illusion of new content and to keep people sticking around through shows. From a viewer POV I like it but I've heard reporters complain that turning the package multiple ways adds to their hefty workload.

 

And I get it. 4:00 newscasts often don't leave reporters enough room to make slot. This especially if your editorial meeting begins at 9:30 a.m, and you may not be out the door until after 10:00, plus travel time, editing, etc. The vo/sot at 4 method might alleviate this.

 

On 6/19/2024 at 8:11 PM, mrschimpf said:

Probably because it's very pointless these days more than anything?

And from an employee standpoint the problem with unnecessary live shots, especially at night, is going past your shift hours.

 

If your shift ends at 11:35pm and your 11:00 live hit is an hour away from the station, that has you getting back past midnight which can be a bummer for work-life balance. 

Edited 9 hours ago by MediaZone4K

[MediaZone4K 1592]

On 6/22/2024 at 3:20 AM, C Block said:

 

Yeah, every station here and there may have a slightly different idea of what has historically been and presently is their flagship newscast. Put most broadly, I think most stations' flagship newscast was probably the late 9/10/11pm 20 years ago. Now, I'd say it's probably the 5 or 6pm or mornings for most stations. I can't stress enough how much late news ratings have dropped for everyone.

I'd say mornings after 7 am are the flagship for many Fox/CW stations with their own news departments.

 

Again, six o'clock is traditionally considered the flagship show but many stations have their close-to-retirement anchor or B team, rather than their A team, doing the 6. Examples: WCBS's Dana Tyler, WNYW's Ernie Anastos, and WNBC's Chuck Scarborough.

Edited 9 hours ago by MediaZone4K

[Chicago2008 9]

On 6/19/2024 at 7:18 PM, 24994J said:

 

WLS does 2, 3, or even 4 (as news warrants), at 10. Similar count at WMAQ, from what I've seen.

Unless a sporting event or award show spills over into the 10:00 news cast. 

[24994J 5327]

6 minutes ago, Chicago2008 said:

Unless a sporting event or award show spills over into the 10:00 news cast. 

 

Respectfully, you're splitting hairs.

[MediaZone4K 1592]

21 hours ago, Chicago2008 said:

Unless a sporting event or award show spills over into the 10:00 news cast. 

Good. From experience, waiting for sports to end to do a live shot that would work just as fine pretaped is a waste of time. 

Edited 14 hours ago by MediaZone4K