New CBS 2/Kate Sullivan Promos

[former newsboy 50]

Here's a 5 second promo that'll air monday... don't blink or you'll miss it (and the ads will drive u crazy if you do):

 

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/[email protected]

 

Kinda cheesy, like they're trying to be sexy-cool or sumthin. But I like the font. They should use it on their newscasts instead of bland Arial.

 

I've been seeing the same kind of short 5 second spots just for Kate Sullivan the past couple of days, but the link i posted is the only one they've put online. I also just saw a 30 second one with the whole gang (Bill, Walter, Rob, Kate, and Ryan) promoting the new Hawaii Five-o. I guess they're at a restaurant, all sittin around a table havin lunch, each with their cheesy one-liners about the show. Walter's was funny tho. Noticeably absent is Steve Baskerville, but i think it's just because he's been on vacation this week.

[Weeters 1811]

I believe that font is Akzidenz-Grotesk. Funny that someone on here commented earlier today that KYW should use that instead of Arial.

[C Block 1488]

It's hard to tell because it's so small, but it looks more like Franklin Gothic to me. They're all based off Akzidenz-Grotesk anyway.

 

Either way, anything would be better than Arial.

[Weeters 1811]

Ok, a bit off topic here...

 

Watched the promo again trying to figure out the font, the video rolled after it. WHY does WBBM insist on stretching their video vertically? It seems they tried to crop out the safe areas. It looks awful.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

WBBM has been using that particular font for generic promos for about a year now to more match the network promos.. It's not a bad font but it doesn't fit as well with the current news graphics as Arial/Helvetica. Plus, I'm sure CBS wouldn't be happy if WBBM used that font on their graphics. CBS is going for a more simplistic look and using that font on the news would definitely take away from what they're going for. The way things are, I'm sure WBBM wants to keep on higher up management's good side.

 

I know char615 and many others here don't like Arial but like I've heard from many in the business, they're not in the business of trying to please us TV news junkies. 99.9% of the TV viewing public can't tell the difference between the 2 fonts. Only your graphic departments and people like us here. I'm sure WBBM will change everything over to Helvetica as time goes on but it's not a priority..

 

 

As for the promo, I've seen 2 different 30 second ones within the past 3 days. The first one, with everyone walking down the sidewalk outside the CBS 2 building, has everyone including Steve Baskerville. The other one, with everyone sitting in a restaurant, promoting Hawaii Five-O was definitely taped while Steve was on vacation. There are a boatload of different 5 second ones they've been airing too since Wednesday.

 

I can say that indeed, they were really going for that "we're cool, we're badass, cheesy-David Caruso CSI Miami" look for the promos with an almost modern wild west style music cut in a couple of the short promos. It seems to be working catching people's attention. The whole wild-west type thing was more for the return of Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. They're like the "cowboys" of TV news anchoring. Someone mentioned to me that the idea for that came from someone mentioning that a promo of Bill and Walter coming back to the studio wearing cowboy hats and riding a couple horses along with wild west music playing should be made.

 

 

As for Weeters comment, I don't think WBBM has understood what the "safe area" is anymore ever since they moved to the new building in 2008. The on-air graphics have never really fit into the safe area since then. I thought it was just because of my TVs at home but I've watched WBBM on many different standard old style tube-TV and they've had plenty of safe area issues.

 

With the main news Hothaus look, about 1/3 of the CBS 2 logo on the corner was chopped off my screen along with a good portion of the left side of the lower-third. It was even worse with their Monsters & Money in the morning graphics with half the CBS 2 logo chopped off my screen along with the ticker not viewable on my TVs.

 

The new O&O graphics work ALOT better fitting the "safe area" except for the weather 7 day forecast in which half the first day on the screen and half the last day on the screen are chopped off. I've let them know about that one and they claim to be working on something new for the weather. They just don't want to go to the condensed last 2 days that WCBS does.

 

I think a part of the problem too is that they sold off most of their old style non-flat tube TV's when they moved to the new building. Most stations I've been to still have an old non-flat tube TV or 2 around in the graphics department just to make sure what they work on is still visible on screen for people who have old TV's. WBBM purchased a couple new model tube TV's at the new building; however, newer model flat screen tube TV has a larger area of view than the old rounded front tube TV's so what shows on that screen can still be chopped off.

[cbs2worksforyou 35]

They still haven't posted her bio on the station's website. Weird

[lazynetjunkie 34]

They still haven't posted her bio on the station's website. Weird

 

 

They probably are figuring why bother since they're supposed to be changing over to the new format/platform any day now.. However, the "any day now" has been for almost a month now.

[Amra 130]

I really hate the new website, they should keep it as is.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

I really hate the new website, they should keep it as is.

 

 

If the CBS 2 web people have their way, the website would remain as it is..

 

However, it's not a matter of the station wanting to keep that site but what higher CBS management wants. The changing the websites to the new platform isn't so much about "simplifying" the websites. It's about cutting web people and saving money. Instead of each CBS entity in a market having their own "web team", there would be just one web team for each market that would maintain the website(s) for all the CBS owned TV/radio stations in that market. It's a main reason why the CBS 2 web team unionized making them the first TV station web team in the country to be union.

[Amra 130]

If the CBS 2 web people have their way, the website would remain as it is..

 

However, it's not a matter of the station wanting to keep that site but what higher CBS management wants. The changing the websites to the new platform isn't so much about "simplifying" the websites. It's about cutting web people and saving money. Instead of each CBS entity in a market having their own "web team", there would be just one web team for each market that would maintain the website(s) for all the CBS owned TV/radio stations in that market. It's a main reason why the CBS 2 web team unionized making them the first TV station web team in the country to be union.

 

Appreciate the input! Because the new website is very cluttered. I tried the NY & LA sites and they aren't very user friendly. I hope the web team @ BBM have their way.