Jump to content

Good Lord, is WFLD really this bad?


Jess

Recommended Posts

http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/03/20/fox-32-barely-admits-pay-for-play-news/

 

Basically they did a segment in which they pretty much promoted a prescription medication. And then quickly said something to the lines of "thissegmentwaspaidforbythedrugmakerCOMING UP..."

 

Also, apparently the GM lectures about the evils of Illinois politics from a throne.

 

WHY IS HE LECTURING FROM A THRONE

 

....Excuse me a minute.

 

GardnerFacepalmBig.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No offense, but I'm not even reading the contents of the post. All I'll do is respond to the title.

 

Yes. They are.

 

But seriously, I'm not even counting them among the other news organizations in-town, anymore. Chicago only has 4 primary news stations. There's only one nine o'clock newscast. Only one station has a local morning show lasting 5-6 hours. There are only 2 newscasts at noon.

 

WFLD is merely a programming service...if that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

No offense, but I'm not even reading the contents of the post. All I'll do is respond to the title.

 

Yes. They are.

 

But seriously, I'm not even counting them among the other news organizations in-town, anymore. Chicago only has 4 primary news stations. There's only one nine o'clock newscast. Only one station has a local morning show lasting 5-6 hours. There are only 2 newscasts at noon.

 

WFLD is merely a programming service...if that.

 

That's exactly what happened when WTXF was pulling crap like that during their newscasts. I forgot they existed. It really was Mike and Sheinelle's excellent hosting of Good Day in the last few years that brought me back around to them - and Sheinelle's leaving, so...

 

But yeah. Only four major news stations. Two noon newscasts. One 9pm news. I can get that. Just like there were only two Terminator movies and three Star Wars films.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some reason I don't remember WFLD being this bad before, I think it's something that's happened as time progressed. Even though they were still second-hand compared to WGN, it seemed like WFLD tried to compete with WGN before whereas now they just don't seem to care anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have no problem with FOX being honest about this. It's nowhere on the scale of the White Sox throwing the World Series or Blagcubbyvich selling Obama's seat.

 

It's not the fact that they said it, which they did, but *how* they said it: they said it really fast and then tossed to break. They said it like it was a disclaimer in a radio automotive commercial, or a side effect of a prescription medication.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

It's not the fact that they said it, which they did, but *how* they said it: they said it really fast and then tossed to break. They said it like it was a disclaimer in a radio automotive commercial, or a side effect of a prescription medication.

 

And reading some of those side-effects that Feder described in his article it's disgusting that they would not mention each and every one of them, in plain English slowed down so all could hear. But yeah if you are going to run a disclaimer at the end of your segment then just raise the white flag, pack your bags and have the last one out turn the lights off. Can you see WLS, WMAQ or WBBM running such a story? Or WGN? Fox 32 is a joke.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All evidence of the story seems to have vanished from the interwebs after Feder did this report. Cannot find it on the WFLD site anywhere. Which of course, means that something smells. And with Fox Television Stations, they happen to smell quite a bit. Note that I said Fox Television Stations. Not just WFLD.

 

It's something that I have to directly trace back to the mid-00s when Rupert put Roger Ailes in charge of Fox Television Stations, and the division's significant cost cuts in the wake of the Lesser Depression. I was much more heavily into newscast and news theme trading in 2004, and I got newscasts from WFLD, WNYW, WAGA, and I think other Fox O&Os, and I had my station to compare it to. All of the stations felt different in their own little way. Now, not only do they feel more or less homogenized, but the same stupid bullshit keeps happening at each station. WTTG anchors re-enacting movies for Oscar Sunday. WNYW doing a version of People's Court with Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto appearing before the judge. I thank god that WTXF is at least, at least a little bit watchable, and their silly moments arise organically. (And even there, they're letting one of the most successful duos in all of morning TV break up.) But it's still not far removed from the Patrick Paolini Reign Of Error, nor the tenures of Kingsley Smith and Mike Renda.

 

And then you have the CEO of the division going around and saying things that sound like they could have come out of Lee Abrams' asshole while he was at Tribune. Like "we're going to retire the anchorman". And you have things like MyFoxCarolinas, and Chasing New Jersey, which are great alternatives to regular newscasts but which aren't really the future of the medium, at least not yet, but they're being pushed as the latter. You have general managers going on the airwaves bitching about the cliches in TV news. Local TV news might be broken, but the last thing you need to do is to go out and publicly shout that it is. There's a reason that the most dominant station in my hometown, both online and on all forms of social media, is the one with the 65 year old solo anchor and the 40 year old news theme. Not only do they stick to a proven formula, they also have, very smartly, moved towards a model that embraces technology without shouting "WE'RE MODERN". WPVI might shove the Big Board down our throats but they were the first local station to get that thing. And even when they introduced it, they did it in a throwaway segment which consisted solely of the consumer reporter just throwing things around the touchscreen to Jim Gardner's bemusement. (This was a week before they moved to the new building, so they were throwing from the old studio to the new one.)

 

I think the fundamental flaw in this strategy - and this goes all the way up to Rupert here - is this:

 

The Fox Network is not the Fox News Channel. Not only that, the two entities are almost fundamentally incompatible save for the name.

 

Maybe it's not as overt as it was, but just look at the graphics and listen to the music and you'll still get where the inspiration came from. Frankly, they've been doing this for a decade and I think maybe it's time to just come out and admit that the attempt to be Fox News isn't working. All it has done is diminish the product at nearly every station that's tried to do it. Fox News skews much older than The Fox Network. Fox News is extremely conservative - The Fox Network launched with a show that had the lead character sticking his hand down into his pants in the opening credits. Fox News has Bill O'Reilly. The Fox Network has Seth MacFarlane.

 

Not only that, but the stations are doing Fox News on a fraction of the budget of Fox News. Most of the O&Os have sets that have not been upgraded, in any meaningful way, for years. Fox News has their main breaking news anchor originating from a spaceship. They have VizRT while the Fox O&Os are on some form of creaky graphical technology.

 

And the sad thing is, before they decided to be Fox News Channel, I think they actually cracked what News on Fox should be. I look at the WNYW model from 2002, the WTXF from 2003, the other affiliates that went to the similar look and music. A style which was a bit tabloid, yes, but gritty, in-your-face, no-compromise. You're the underdog - emphasize that. Embrace that. The sleek red and white of 2003 has aged much better than the current look has in a year of use.

 

Okay. Rant done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All evidence of the story seems to have vanished from the interwebs after Feder did this report. Cannot find it on the WFLD site anywhere. Which of course, means that something smells. And with Fox Television Stations, they happen to smell quite a bit. Note that I said Fox Television Stations. Not just WFLD.

 

It's something that I have to directly trace back to the mid-00s when Rupert put Roger Ailes in charge of Fox Television Stations, and the division's significant cost cuts in the wake of the Lesser Depression. I was much more heavily into newscast and news theme trading in 2004, and I got newscasts from WFLD, WNYW, WAGA, and I think other Fox O&Os, and I had my station to compare it to. All of the stations felt different in their own little way. Now, not only do they feel more or less homogenized, but the same stupid bullshit keeps happening at each station. WTTG anchors re-enacting movies for Oscar Sunday. WNYW doing a version of People's Court with Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto appearing before the judge. I thank god that WTXF is at least, at least a little bit watchable, and their silly moments arise organically. (And even there, they're letting one of the most successful duos in all of morning TV break up.) But it's still not far removed from the Patrick Paolini Reign Of Error, nor the tenures of Kingsley Smith and Mike Renda.

 

And then you have the CEO of the division going around and saying things that sound like they could have come out of Lee Abrams' asshole while he was at Tribune. Like "we're going to retire the anchorman". And you have things like MyFoxCarolinas, and Chasing New Jersey, which are great alternatives to regular newscasts but which aren't really the future of the medium, at least not yet, but they're being pushed as the latter. You have general managers going on the airwaves bitching about the cliches in TV news. Local TV news might be broken, but the last thing you need to do is to go out and publicly shout that it is. There's a reason that the most dominant station in my hometown, both online and on all forms of social media, is the one with the 65 year old solo anchor and the 40 year old news theme. Not only do they stick to a proven formula, they also have, very smartly, moved towards a model that embraces technology without shouting "WE'RE MODERN". WPVI might shove the Big Board down our throats but they were the first local station to get that thing. And even when they introduced it, they did it in a throwaway segment which consisted solely of the consumer reporter just throwing things around the touchscreen to Jim Gardner's bemusement. (This was a week before they moved to the new building, so they were throwing from the old studio to the new one.)

 

I think the fundamental flaw in this strategy - and this goes all the way up to Rupert here - is this:

 

The Fox Network is not the Fox News Channel. Not only that, the two entities are almost fundamentally incompatible save for the name.

 

Maybe it's not as overt as it was, but just look at the graphics and listen to the music and you'll still get where the inspiration came from. Frankly, they've been doing this for a decade and I think maybe it's time to just come out and admit that the attempt to be Fox News isn't working. All it has done is diminish the product at nearly every station that's tried to do it. Fox News skews much older than The Fox Network. Fox News is extremely conservative - The Fox Network launched with a show that had the lead character sticking his hand down into his pants in the opening credits. Fox News has Bill O'Reilly. The Fox Network has Seth MacFarlane.

 

Not only that, but the stations are doing Fox News on a fraction of the budget of Fox News. Most of the O&Os have sets that have not been upgraded, in any meaningful way, for years. Fox News has their main breaking news anchor originating from a spaceship. They have VizRT while the Fox O&Os are on some form of creaky graphical technology.

 

And the sad thing is, before they decided to be Fox News Channel, I think they actually cracked what News on Fox should be. I look at the WNYW model from 2002, the WTXF from 2003, the other affiliates that went to the similar look and music. A style which was a bit tabloid, yes, but gritty, in-your-face, no-compromise. You're the underdog - emphasize that. Embrace that. The sleek red and white of 2003 has aged much better than the current look has in a year of use.

 

Okay. Rant done.

Are there any solid #1 FOX stations? WJBK here in Detroit gets 5's in the mornings (5am-12pm) and is a solid #1 there. No "Good Day" crap. It's FOX 2 News Morning and "The Nine". They get mid 8's at 10pm and are #1 there too. 5 and 6 it's 3rd. It wins 25-54 solidly all day. I have to believe JBK is one of their stronger stations, the news content is horrible, the graphics suck and the presentation is ghetto though. They still use "works for you" as the slogan which I have heard is not in use as much as it was. It has not been nuked like WFLD. I wouldn't put it past fox to eventually do that though. Most of the stations seem to be losers that run news to fill time but I don't know that for a fact.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few weeks ago, I watched some clips of WFLD from before the Fox O&O homogenization of 2006. Oh man, it was such a better product back then. It actually felt like a solid newscast.

They still had all their halfway decent talent plus Robin Robinson. They made a huge mistake shoving everybody out the door.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll second HulkieD's analysis from my perspective. Here, it's pretty impressive that within five years of purchasing KDVR, Fox not only built what is still the most modern broadcast facility in the state, but they also built up a news department that became a major player in the Denver market after just few years from signing on. It certainly was a tabloid feel, and they made some questionable ethical decisions, including keeping Tom Martino as part of the news staff for so long, but it was a high quality product with pretty decent news content and high profile talent. Things definitely started to feel different around 2007/2008 though. I don't think KDVR was as hard hit with the FNC-style standardizations like some of the other stations (they didn't even get the O&O graphics until early 2008), but it definitely started to feel chintzier. The sale to Local TV, merger with KWGN, and HD transition were really rough afterward (*really* rough), but now as a Tribune station with a slightly less tabloid approach and a more local feel, I feel very lucky that they're no longer in Fox's hands, especially seeing what has happened to WFLD and others. (FNC-style mud slinging debates on a local level? Really? Who wants to watch that?) I don't know if it's exactly the same with the other stations that were sold, such as KSTU, WITI, or WDAF, or if it's just that KDVR is really lucky to have really good management on the local level, but in a way, it shows you where the problems with the Fox O&Os lay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

It's not the fact that they said it, which they did, but *how* they said it: they said it really fast and then tossed to break. They said it like it was a disclaimer in a radio automotive commercial, or a side effect of a prescription medication.

 

Still doesn't bother me. Out of all the stations in Chicago, FOX is the one I admire the most. Last year for example, I was going for a jog near the Metra tracks in Edgebrook. It was on a trail where hundreds if not thousands of commuters walk down everyday, yet to my surprise a cop stopped me and ticketed me for trespassing on that trail, even though there wasn't one warning sign surrounding the place and I had no idea I was trespassing either. I contacted all the local tv stations (Spanish ones excluded) about this travesty and none of them besides FOX responded to the injustice I went through that day. In fact it was later found in a study just how poorly trained Metra cops are. The sad truth is even those goofs make the Cubs look like pros. http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/24524159/investigation-reveals-metras-lack-of-firearm-qualifications :bang:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

All evidence of the story seems to have vanished from the interwebs after Feder did this report. Cannot find it on the WFLD site anywhere. Which of course, means that something smells. And with Fox Television Stations, they happen to smell quite a bit. Note that I said Fox Television Stations. Not just WFLD.

 

It's something that I have to directly trace back to the mid-00s when Rupert put Roger Ailes in charge of Fox Television Stations, and the division's significant cost cuts in the wake of the Lesser Depression. I was much more heavily into newscast and news theme trading in 2004, and I got newscasts from WFLD, WNYW, WAGA, and I think other Fox O&Os, and I had my station to compare it to. All of the stations felt different in their own little way. Now, not only do they feel more or less homogenized, but the same stupid bullshit keeps happening at each station. WTTG anchors re-enacting movies for Oscar Sunday. WNYW doing a version of People's Court with Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto appearing before the judge. I thank god that WTXF is at least, at least a little bit watchable, and their silly moments arise organically. (And even there, they're letting one of the most successful duos in all of morning TV break up.) But it's still not far removed from the Patrick Paolini Reign Of Error, nor the tenures of Kingsley Smith and Mike Renda.

 

And then you have the CEO of the division going around and saying things that sound like they could have come out of Lee Abrams' asshole while he was at Tribune. Like "we're going to retire the anchorman". And you have things like MyFoxCarolinas, and Chasing New Jersey, which are great alternatives to regular newscasts but which aren't really the future of the medium, at least not yet, but they're being pushed as the latter. You have general managers going on the airwaves bitching about the cliches in TV news. Local TV news might be broken, but the last thing you need to do is to go out and publicly shout that it is. There's a reason that the most dominant station in my hometown, both online and on all forms of social media, is the one with the 65 year old solo anchor and the 40 year old news theme. Not only do they stick to a proven formula, they also have, very smartly, moved towards a model that embraces technology without shouting "WE'RE MODERN". WPVI might shove the Big Board down our throats but they were the first local station to get that thing. And even when they introduced it, they did it in a throwaway segment which consisted solely of the consumer reporter just throwing things around the touchscreen to Jim Gardner's bemusement. (This was a week before they moved to the new building, so they were throwing from the old studio to the new one.)

 

I think the fundamental flaw in this strategy - and this goes all the way up to Rupert here - is this:

 

The Fox Network is not the Fox News Channel. Not only that, the two entities are almost fundamentally incompatible save for the name.

 

Maybe it's not as overt as it was, but just look at the graphics and listen to the music and you'll still get where the inspiration came from. Frankly, they've been doing this for a decade and I think maybe it's time to just come out and admit that the attempt to be Fox News isn't working. All it has done is diminish the product at nearly every station that's tried to do it. Fox News skews much older than The Fox Network. Fox News is extremely conservative - The Fox Network launched with a show that had the lead character sticking his hand down into his pants in the opening credits. Fox News has Bill O'Reilly. The Fox Network has Seth MacFarlane.

 

Not only that, but the stations are doing Fox News on a fraction of the budget of Fox News. Most of the O&Os have sets that have not been upgraded, in any meaningful way, for years. Fox News has their main breaking news anchor originating from a spaceship. They have VizRT while the Fox O&Os are on some form of creaky graphical technology.

 

And the sad thing is, before they decided to be Fox News Channel, I think they actually cracked what News on Fox should be. I look at the WNYW model from 2002, the WTXF from 2003, the other affiliates that went to the similar look and music. A style which was a bit tabloid, yes, but gritty, in-your-face, no-compromise. You're the underdog - emphasize that. Embrace that. The sleek red and white of 2003 has aged much better than the current look has in a year of use.

 

Okay. Rant done.

 

This might be the most beautiful thing I've ever read.

 

 

A few weeks ago, I watched some clips of WFLD from before the Fox O&O homogenization of 2006. Oh man, it was such a better product back then. It actually felt like a solid newscast.

 

It's true. You look at each managerial tenure of recent years, or at least look at the anchor teams and you realize how far they've fallen. Even in the last few years, I have to admit they I miss Bob Sirott.

 

I miss Amy Freeze.

 

I miss Jeff Goldblatt.

 

I miss Byron and Nancy.

 

Hell, I even miss "The TEN"!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Are there any solid #1 FOX stations? WJBK here in Detroit gets 5's in the mornings (5am-12pm) and is a solid #1 there. No "Good Day" crap. It's FOX 2 News Morning and "The Nine". They get mid 8's at 10pm and are #1 there too. 5 and 6 it's 3rd. It wins 25-54 solidly all day. I have to believe JBK is one of their stronger stations, the news content is horrible, the graphics suck and the presentation is ghetto though. They still use "works for you" as the slogan which I have heard is not in use as much as it was. It has not been nuked like WFLD. I wouldn't put it past fox to eventually do that though. Most of the stations seem to be losers that run news to fill time but I don't know that for a fact.

 

WTVT and WAGA are examples of Fox O&O's that are still contenders in their market.

 

They both happen to be former New World stations which are the ones that have been spared some of these ridiculous experiments although that seems to be changing (last time I caught WTVT, they were doing that stupid debate panel that other Fox O&O's were doing). It's been a while since I've been back down there so maybe WTVT dropped that.

 

But I do think the reason that these stations are still doing ok in their markets is because these stations haven't been fooled around with too much and basically kept running a "traditional" newscast. Which should be something that FTSG should take note of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually realized there's a better, more succinct way to put why the Fox News Channel approach isn't working:

 

The Fox Network is anti-establishment. Fox News IS the Establishment.

 

I don't think you can get as simple as that.

 

---

 

I think I'm starting a new general thread cuz there's a lot to bitch about, and it's not just at WFLD. Though good lord, I'm reading Feder and just shaking my head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

For some reason I don't remember WFLD being this bad before, I think it's something that's happened as time progressed. Even though they were still second-hand compared to WGN, it seemed like WFLD tried to compete with WGN before whereas now they just don't seem to care anymore.

 

 

They were never in as bad a shape overall as they are right now. And there were times in which they beat WGN on some occasions, but you're right, they don't seem to care. Honestly, I have never seen anything like this before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

KDFW still has very good ratings and is still a contender. They run a very good operation and many trust them at 9.

I don't disagree with them being a local contender, but their competition at 9 is "Nightcap News" on the CW. Houston is probably similar, going up against "NewsFix" (or as I call it "NewsBroken").

 

To me, the former New World stations are a different breed than the original Fox O&O stations.

 

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I don't disagree with them being a local contender, but their competition at 9 is "Nightcap News" on the CW. Houston is probably similar, going up against "NewsFix" (or as I call it "NewsBroken").

 

To me, the former New World stations are a different breed than the original Fox O&O stations.

 

J

 

I agree that the New World stations have better and more established news operations (WJBK dates back to around 1950 when it was CBS).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.