Election Night 2011: WGN wins @ 9, WLS back in control @ 10

[Jase 823]

From the Sun-Times-

 

http://www.suntimes.com/business/3970783-420/wgns-election-coverage-drew-most-viewers.html

 

"WGN-Channel 9’s late news has been on a roll in recent months, and once again, the station’s 9 p.m. news scored big Tuesday with a 6.3 rating (220,500 households). That number bested all other stations for the 9 p.m. hour, including top-rated WLS-Channel 7.

 

At 10 p.m. on Tuesday, with Emanuel’s victory almost old news by then, the news ratings began to look more like they usually do at that hour for late local newscasts. Channel 7, which started its full-blown election coverage at that hour, was solidly on top with a 9.6 (336,000) for the first half hour, with Channel 5 in second place, followed by Channel 2.

 

Then there was Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, which still doesn’t look to be registering with TV news viewers in Chicago, despite the massive overhaul of the news department over the past 18 months. Channel 32’s 9 p.m. newscast, which in essence became an election special, was solidly in last place with a lowly 2.3 rating (80,500)."

[Weeters 1812]

Channel 32’s 9 p.m. newscast, which in essence became an election special, was solidly in last place with a lowly 2.3 rating (80,500)."

 

I watched about six minutes of this. I want that time back.

 

Listening to a seemingly random panel (which was about two people too big) of "political" people argue back and forth about Rahm Emanuel's failure to visit certain neighborhoods is not election coverage, it's wannabe cable news fodder (This, of course, is what the "consultants" and corporate have decided will "work". People watch FOX News Channel, that means if they poorly copy that format on their local channels, people will watch those too, right?!)

 

From a technical standpoint, the lower third with the Chicago flag on it looked like they took all of three seconds to throw it together in AXIS and the end of the 9PM and start of the special extended coverage at 10 was a gigantic disaster. Following an announcement that their regular programming was ending and the special coverage was beginning, a copyright graphic came up, and for a number of seconds there was silence over a picture of Rahm Emanuel with the caption "WINNER" before the anchors just kind of started randomly. Gotta love automation...

 

It's no surprise they're in the ratings toilet when there are internet newscasts out there with higher journalistic integrity and better production values.

[Jess 1110]

I watched about six minutes of this. I want that time back.

 

Listening to a seemingly random panel (which was about two people too big) of "political" people argue back and forth about Rahm Emanuel's failure to visit certain neighborhoods is not election coverage, it's wannabe cable news fodder (This, of course, is what the "consultants" and corporate have decided will "work". People watch FOX News Channel, that means if they poorly copy that format on their local channels, people will watch those too, right?!)

 

From a technical standpoint, the lower third with the Chicago flag on it looked like they took all of three seconds to throw it together in AXIS and the end of the 9PM and start of the special extended coverage at 10 was a gigantic disaster. Following an announcement that their regular programming was ending and the special coverage was beginning, a copyright graphic came up, and for a number of seconds there was silence over a picture of Rahm Emanuel with the caption "WINNER" before the anchors just kind of started randomly. Gotta love automation...

 

It's no surprise they're in the ratings toilet when there are internet newscasts out there with higher journalistic integrity and better production values.

This times a million.

 

I don't know what WFLD is like compared to WTXF, the other weird guinea pig of the group, but Philly last week spent the first 20 minutes of one 10pm newscast talking about education reform. I think the fact that they did that was commendable, I think the entire piece was well produced, and I think it was a great example of what, when done properly, this type of format can accomplish.

 

But that being said, it wasn't news, and at least at WTXF the broadcasts seem to be moving towards Fox News Channel type shows. That's fine if you're looking for that, but for those who want a summary of the day's news it's a bit wanting. If 3 was ever to expand the 10pm news on 57 to one hour, I kind of get the feeling there would be a switch. I'm already preferring their 7-9am newscast on 57 over Good Day because of those precise reasons above.

[Jase 823]

There's a lot of throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks happening at WFLD. By not having a consistent format, they have alienated a majority of viewers who have, like clockwork month after month, turned elsewhere for their news.

 

I don't recall a station locally being in this bad of shape across the board ever (Horrid ratings, no 9PM Weekday EP, no 9PM Weekend EP, etc...).Way too many unnecessary/unexplainable changes over the past 1 1/2 - 2 years.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

Changing formats, changing people, technical problems, etc.. All factors. Plus using that damn "Mobile 2"-type technology for just about every live report outside the station. They've been using that for morning news live reports for almost the past year and using it more and more on the 9PM news the past few months. It seems like every live report now is through that damn thing. Hell, they used that technology for their mayoral debate a couple weeks ago. Just awful production values.. For heaven sake, they're broadcasting in HD, people went to get nice HD TV's expecting nice picture and sound and then WFLD screws the people by giving them video that looks like is coming through a fuzzy webcam and sound that sounds like talking through a telephone..

 

I'm getting the feeling the whole letterboxing of the newscasts are just to make life easier for the staff at the station. Saves the trouble of the control room and floor director of trying to keep shots in the "safe zone".. Especially when the robot cameras go wild on the set (which they do on a regular basis).

 

 

I'm still looking for a good reason why they hired Bill Bellis.. He comes across too much as a "pretty boy". The Chicago market will eat him alive. Apparently, Amy Freeze has alot of interest from stations other markets so I don't think it'll be too long until she's got a weather gig again..

 

 

Election night was just more reason why Mike Flannery and Bob Sirott aren't the "stars" some made them out to be.. You can't just stick people on the screen and expect the people to come. Management needs to start using their brains and actually start working.

 

Mike should have just stayed put at CBS 2. It'll probably end up sucking for him because when new management eventually comes in, he likely won't be happy with what they would offer him when contract renewal time comes around (if they even decide to keep him) and it likely won't be anywhere near what he was getting at CBS 2.. I doubt CBS 2 would take him back. They are doing fine with Jay Levine, Bill Kurtis, and Walter Jacobson on politics.

[Jess 1110]

I was up early this morning, and was switching between the two local morning shows here - WTXF's Good Day and the WPSG portion of KYW's Eyewitness News. More and more, I'm finding myself preferring KYW/WPSG's effort to WTXF's, and it's for exactly the reasons Weeters noted above.

 

EWN was running more or less straight coverage of the morning's rainstorm and the coming weather changes in the afternoon. They did traffic and weather every couple of minutes, regular rundowns of the top stories, and occasional light features. During a commercial break, I switch over to Fox 29. Upon switching to Fox 29, anchors Sheinelle Jones and John Anderson launch into a piece about... wait for it... Al-Jazeera English. Not just a story on the network, oh no - an entire segment on the network's perceived biases. They even went so far as to note comments on their facebook page that people are threatening to cancel Comcast if they decide to carry the network! I decided to switch back to 57 where I remained for the rest of the morning.

 

It gets worse - apparently this is a thing. There are stories on the Fox 29 Website about Al-Jazeera English and its faults. It's probably going to pop up on the 5, 6, and 10pm newscasts tonight.

 

I'm fine with opinion and commentary and focusing on non-traditional news topics. KYW/WPSG run such segments during their combined 4.5 hour morning news - one of them was a fantastic piece by Danny Bonaduce on Charlie Sheen's troubles today. The thing is that at KYW/WPSG, they're presented in addition to the news content, whereas on 29, it's presented instead of the news content. I watch them because I know I'm going to get news, weather, and traffic and not what Weeters so aptly described as Cable News Fodder.

 

Changing formats, changing people, technical problems, etc.. All factors. Plus using that damn "Mobile 2"-type technology for just about every live report outside the station. They've been using that for morning news live reports for almost the past year and using it more and more on the 9PM news the past few months. It seems like every live report now is through that damn thing. Hell, they used that technology for their mayoral debate a couple weeks ago. Just awful production values.. For heaven sake, they're broadcasting in HD, people went to get nice HD TV's expecting nice picture and sound and then WFLD screws the people by giving them video that looks like is coming through a fuzzy webcam and sound that sounds like talking through a telephone..

Be grateful you're getting live reports! WTXF barely has any these days, with virtually all of their reporting coming from the newsroom these days. Occasionally they'll have a live shot, maybe a Skype stream, but it's almost always newsroom and interview segments now. There's very little in the way of traditional live reporting.

 

I'm getting the feeling the whole letterboxing of the newscasts are just to make life easier for the staff at the station. Saves the trouble of the control room and floor director of trying to keep shots in the "safe zone".. Especially when the robot cameras go wild on the set (which they do on a regular basis).

 

At least at WTXF, the move to letterboxed newscasts was made because of the sheer amount of graphics that are now packed onto the screen during a typical newscast. Originally some of the extras were only to be seen by HD viewers, but the extra bits kept spilling onto the edge of the screen in 4x3...

 

I'm still looking for a good reason why they hired Bill Bellis.. He comes across too much as a "pretty boy". The Chicago market will eat him alive. Apparently, Amy Freeze has alot of interest from stations other markets so I don't think it'll be too long until she's got a weather gig again..

I'm convinced she'll wind up back in Philly on WTXF. Partly because that's generally the station's MO, and partly because John Bolaris seems to be trying his damndest to get fired or make veiled insults against the station. (Case in point, after they ran a commentary where Mike Missanelli from 97.5 The Fanatic declared the Eagles coach as "on the clock" to get fired, Bolaris then remarked "we're on the clock"!)