WPVI to debut new weather graphics

[budtkaboy2000 0]

Adam Joseph posted on Facebook: "Big day tomorrow for the weather team. A major change arrives for the way our weather is presented-a whole new graphic system. You'll have to see at 5/5:30/6pm tomorrow!! So excited-hope you notice and like the difference."

[abric 157]

The new weather graphics premiered tonight and are more modern and more animated than the previous ones.

[channel2 869]

I wonder what HulkieD has to say on this.

[susquvalleywgal 494]

I wonder if this is a hint of where they are going, graphics wise. I like the wipes and tweaking of what they had. Nice job.

 

-- Matt

[Jess 1110]

I wonder what HulkieD has to say on this.

Wow, I didn't know people actually looked forward to my opinion on something. Thanks. I think.

 

I was out at Hershey Park all day yesterday and I didn't see the new graphics until today at noon. My TiVo also recorded the 6pm Action News yesterday as a "suggestion". I can't post my full opinion until I see the 5, because those forecasts have a different feel - plus they might have gotten rid of the "Mr. 6" animations. That and another big change they made a few weeks ago do not sit well with me at all.

[ColumbusNewsFan 217]

This the same weather system that WCMH in Columbus has. It's WSI's TruVu Max. Pretty good system and looks great.

[Jess 1110]

Okay. Opinion time. Extremely Negative Opinion Time.

 

Damn Near Ready To Use Purple Caps Lock Text In Comic Sans Opinion Time. (Yeah, they pulled the actual letter off of the internet, so you're getting this analysis instead.)

 

I'll get my feelings about the weather presentation off my chest first. 6 was already running a really impressive weather presentation before this. They've improved upon it, which is baffling. The live doppler, which has a lot of cool features that the others don't seem to have, now seems to look and run more smoothly. There are a number of unique, well-devised transitions, using cloud and rain effects, that look really impressive. Unfortunately, they're kind of going overboard with the transitions and the end result looks like someone hitting the "random transitions" button in PowerPoint. Hopefully they'll fix that.

 

The extended forecast has gone from a five day with a text graphic on the extended trend, to a five day that was squeezed to fit two more days in, to a straight seven day forecast. I kind of liked the "extended trend" graphic better, but it's better than the ridiculous squeezing of the five-day that they did after the move.

 

All in all, it's a nice looking weather graphics package that is a very nice improvement to the station's weather content.

 

And yet...

 

WPVI seems to be taking this opportunity to make some major changes to the way it presents the weather. For years, the 5pm weather was done outside. All of the forecasts would feature handwritten comments in a fluffy cloud, a holdover from the old magnet boards. And more recently, they introduced "Mr. 6", an anthropomorphic 6 logo (as seen in my avatar) that would be featured in an extended forecast at the end of the outdoor weather forecast.

 

The cloud just quietly vanished a few weeks or months ago.

 

Mr. 6 hasn't been seen in the two days since this new system was installed.

 

And the final indignity - today's 5pm weather was done INSIDE, at their admittedly-impressive Perceptive Pixel "Big Board". I can't recall any time that they haven't done the 5pm weather outside in my memory.

 

Do these sound like nitpicks? Yes, they do. But you have to understand, 6 is more unique than any other television station in the country. They do stuff that every other station in the country doesn't do or has long since dropped. They have a 40 year old news theme. They have a long opening with people mugging for the camera. They call their live shots "Action Cam" shots long after that fell out of practice. Their reporters and anchors have been there for years, decades even. And yet despite these quirks - hell, I'd say because of these quirks! - 6 has a bond between them and the viewers that's stronger than nearly every other station out there.

 

And that uniqueness was there in their weather forecasts. Okay, doing a weather hit outside is a little hokey. Making an anthropomorphic version of the station logo... that is kind of weird. And losing the cloud does make for a less rushed forecast. But at the same time, these were and are all things that delineate this station from the Eyewitness Earth Weather Authority Watch jumble that everyone else uses. And more importantly, they made 6's weather a little bit fun. Yeah, they can't put a zany disc jockey on as a weather man anymore (no matter how revered Jim O'Brien is in this town), and we've moved far beyond frowny clouds on a sticky board.

 

And let's face it, the other stations take their weather too seriously. NBC 10 has promos with their entire weather team frowning as their hair is blown all over by huge fans. CBS 3 proclaimed their doppler as "The Most Powerful Weather Radar... EVER". And Fox 29 uses the self-proclaimed title of the Weather Authority (even though weather seems much less important there than on 3/6/10 but I digress). With all this pompousness, all this "My doppler is bigger than your doppler" nonsense, it was refreshing to see a station take a little bit of its time out to say hi to honking fans or have a funny animation. If these things are all gone or going, then 6 is in severe danger of falling into this aggravating habit. I don't want them to be like the other stations.

 

I don't know why these changes are all suddenly happening. If I were to guess, Dave Roberts' retirement was the catalyst. Maybe his presence was why these little touches stayed in for years. But they kept using all of these things, up to 7 months on after his graceful exit.

 

The point is, 6 is unique. Any erosion of that uniqueness is something to be saddened and distressed by. Yes, their weather presentation looks nice and glossy... but I fear a bit of its soul has been lost.