New studios at KHQ...

[TheRolyPoly 2466]

Its been nearly 25 years, but KHQ is finally getting some new digs at their studios on West Sprague Avenue. Dan Kleckner and Stephanie Vigil were there when the then-new studio (and new building) was unveiled in 2001, and they've used it ever since... until Monday.

 

https://www.khq.com/news/nonstop-local-studio-to-undergo-major-makeover/article_38b5598a-fddf-11ef-b2e2-973c2ed914e3.html

 

 

[norcalTVfan 16]

Dan and Steph were the best. Glad they retired before this “NonStop Local” branding gimmick. Give me back “Q6” and the over-the-top graphics and music. 

[norcalTVfan 16]

The new set debuted on April 24. It is an improvement and is a “Top 2” set in a three newsroom market. For some reason, they decided to debut new “lower-thirds” that do not match their existing graphics package or on-air and on-set branding. The new “lower-thirds” and ticker use — insert audible GASP — use what appears to be Tahoma, instead of the Helvetica-esque font on everything else. These are atrocious and would be less so if they at least used the same font family found everywhere else. Cowles rolled the same super and ticker out to their other WA and MT stations, too. 

[mouseboy33 99]

Oh wow. The design of this set took my breath away. Im sure it might have a local meaning but that set it awful.  I dont get this trend over past decade of shoehorning in "local" materials or designs no matter how minuscule it might be. That curved bridge thing with a monitor shoved in front of it makes it looks like a local high school talent show production in the school gymnasium/auditorium.  I expect to see some teenagers come out and tap dance or try singing in front of it.... Let alone presenting a serious newscast. The logo, brand and graphics are just plain bad. Yeesh. The NonStop local with the red swish looks like a early 2000s dot.com tech start up. It so outdated. And the alt logo with the KHQ and Peacock on top of it looks hideous and just slapdash.   Q6 LOCAL NEWS sounded better.

[brb588 109]

On 4/29/2025 at 6:29 PM, norcalTVfan said:

The new set debuted on April 24. It is an improvement and is a “Top 2” set in a three newsroom market. 

Nah, this is a pretty terrible set and a downgrade from the previous one. Better technology? Yes. But at the sacrifice of fugliness.

[Weeters 1932]

This is a fine set for Spokane and market 73.

 

Folks, I think we need to collectively come to the terms with the fact that the money is gone, everything is more expensive, and design trends are different than they were 20 years ago.

[HanSolo 172]

9 hours ago, Weeters said:

 

 

Folks, I think we need to collectively come to the terms with the fact that the money is gone, everything is more expensive, and design trends are different than they were 20 years ago.

This seems a hard concept for many. 

[brb588 109]

On 5/2/2025 at 2:45 AM, Weeters said:

This is a fine set for Spokane and market 73.

 

Folks, I think we need to collectively come to the terms with the fact that the money is gone, everything is more expensive, and design trends are different than they were 20 years ago.

It's not about money, as I said the tech is there. It's bland, lifeless set.

[GodfreyGR 658]

1 hour ago, brb588 said:

It's not about money, as I said the tech is there. It's bland, lifeless set.

Every step and element of a set- from the first design meeting through the final light being plugged in is about money. Larger owners, like Nexstar for example, can get away with the same "set in a box" being mass produced which allows for some of the little design touches to become attainable in the budget. A much smaller company like Cowles, the owner of KHQ, has to pick and choose with the budget they likely have. They chose tech and an overall set that they likely hope will last as long as the old set did for them.

[MidwestTV 1233]

53 minutes ago, GodfreyGR said:

Every step and element of a set- from the first design meeting through the final light being plugged in is about money. Larger owners, like Nexstar for example, can get away with the same "set in a box" being mass produced which allows for some of the little design touches to become attainable in the budget. A much smaller company like Cowles, the owner of KHQ, has to pick and choose with the budget they likely have. They chose tech and an overall set that they likely hope will last as long as the old set did for them.

 

I'm willing to bet it was also designed in house. Hiring dedicated firms is not cheap. An unfortunate consequence of that is station engineers and graphic artists (if they have such a department) aren't set designers but do what they can.

[GodfreyGR 658]

12 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

 

I'm willing to bet it was also designed in house. Hiring dedicated firms is not cheap. An unfortunate consequence of that is station engineers and graphic artists (if they have such a department) aren't set designers but do what they can.

Which honestly makes me appreciate it even more TBH...

[Weeters 1932]

3 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

Every step and element of a set- from the first design meeting through the final light being plugged in is about money. Larger owners, like Nexstar for example, can get away with the same "set in a box" being mass produced which allows for some of the little design touches to become attainable in the budget. A much smaller company like Cowles, the owner of KHQ, has to pick and choose with the budget they likely have. They chose tech and an overall set that they likely hope will last as long as the old set did for them.

This. It's also not wildly technically complex. It's a bunch of big TVs, and that's perhaps one area where everything is not truly "more expensive"... Both consumer and commercial displays have come way down in price. A 75' Samsung 4K UHD HDR smart TV is slightly cheaper than it's commercial counterpart. The fabrication of the set probably cost much more than those displays did total.

 

They also have like, a whopping total of 20 lighting fixtures, which is why it's lit so flat, and why it look underwhelming. Again, this is a trend, because good lights are still expensive (The new WABC set is lit with a lot of Skypanel S30s and S60s (linking the new version because the old version is on clearance sale), with the money WABC spent on just lighting their set, they could have probably bought the KHQ set 10 times over.) and KHQ doesn't have the money to do that. They seem to have dumped their conventional lighting fixtures (non-LED and non-Fluorescent) visible in that last broadcast from the old set, because those are also expensive to operate.

 

Yeah, it doesn't look as good as it could if they had a massive big-market budget. But this isn't a big market, it's Spokane, and it's still a nice modern look.

 

[MetroNews 3]

2 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

 

I'm willing to bet it was also designed in house. Hiring dedicated firms is not cheap. An unfortunate consequence of that is station engineers and graphic artists (if they have such a department) aren't set designers but do what they can.

This set is from FX Group.