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Found this clip and now I have a question: Fast question here, did WTVJ end up turning this over to WCIX/WFOR just 2 years later?? If so that kinda sucks. (I know it's a long time ago but still).

Saturday Today has an updated background in their Washington studio (N5). It debuted today. Their virtual background makes them look like they are on street level with a similar set up to studio 1A in NYC. It appears the NBC family of channels is investing a lot of money in virtual backgrounds (we see them on MSNBC Reports, several other MSNBC shows, and now on Saturday Today). Pics attached show the previous and new background.

If KDKA Radio's talk lineup and KDKA-FM's sports hot takes haven't made it clear KDKA-TV isn't a part of them anymore, I don't know what to tell that viewer; there are still misguided radio listeners who call in to yell at WISN-TV for whatever hot take was thrown out by Mark Belling on WISN radio, even though they haven't shared anything, much less weather forecasts, in 20 years besides a callsign. That's definitely a viewer you're glad 'will never watch your TV station again you (whatever insult they have)!'.

These website rebrands don’t have to translate to TV though. It’s entirely possible that the “CBS News (Insert City)” branding on websites and streaming platforms are simply designed to generate traffic to the main CBS News website by integrating the local station sites into it. Heck, the station websites/social media accounts have been branded as “CBS (Insert City)” for years, and station logos were hardly present. Local branding has been deemphasized on the digital side for quite some time. I could be wrong, but if they were really going to dump the legacy local brands (a la CTV), you’d think they’d have done it by now.

Anyone else reminded of this when they hear the theme? I like it but I'm reminded of this series every time I hear it.

Looks like WBZ got the new site: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/

Not bad for someone who (just 4 years ago) was on WJAC with a not so certain future. I'm so happy for Mary. https://twitter.com/MaryOursWX/status/1528003287127040000?t=TbBY97KZyQt7nFR4jAfqMw&s=19

Tammie Souza was off today, so Mary Ours from KDKA Pittsburgh did the CBS3 weather this morning.

Stephanie Bertini just joined Fox5. She's from Canada but has been in Florida for the past several years. Here's a story about her from 2021. Broadcast Journalist Stephanie Bertini: From Toronto to Miami to the National Stage | Inspicio (fiu.edu)

From Nine in Australia, a special Election Day edition of Weekend Today:

Interesting read. Being in the market, I hear it, and especially the signature, as soon as I heard it, I heard a hint of Aerial (Which I am actually a fan of - lol). I definitely knew from that point it was a Stephen Arnold theme. But I also agree, it is kind of somber to me. I am interested to see what the future cuts would sound like.

So a couple of advocacy groups (i.e. Common Cause & Public Knowledge) have asked for more information and extension of time so they can file their oppositions of this deal. The FCC has granted a limited extension of time to file. So anyone who wants to file a deny petition, the new deadline will be June 22. For oppositions to the deny petitions, you'll have to file those by July 7. And for replies, you'll have to file those by July 18.

Stephen Marks, the owner of WBKB, KXGN, WBUP and WBKP, passed away on May 11.

Sad news for the ABC family. Walter Liss, former GM of WABC and later becoming the president of the ABC Owned Television stations, passed away earlier this week. He was 78. He started as a promotions manager at WPVI. Some of you might not know that he was credited for writing the lyrics to Al Ham's iconic "Move Closer To Your World" theme song. Before going to Channel 7, he was also GM of Fresno's KFSN.

Really interesting post here on Newscaststudio about Queen City News' theme, which launched after their rebrand, and wouldn't have happened had something else not fallen through. Great intent here with wanting something timeless, accessible, WPVI like. Going back to having full opens that take their time to build a sonic brand. Using organic instruments over synth samples. Aligning with the 'smiling people on the streets' visuals. All very promising things. But the execution here...while quality production...just comes across as too somber to my ears. There's not that sense of upbeat that should go along with community shots. And the pace of the melody seems too slow for news. Maybe future cuts will explore those dimensions. https://www.newscaststudio.com/2022/05/17/charlotte-queen-city-news-music-package/

Someone's gotta do it!

My apologies for overlooking that, they do simulcast in that direction. I don't know what's stopping them from simulcasting WDCW on WDVM though (contractual against WHP-DT3?), so the point does stand.

I'm keeping an eye on weather brandings. Outside of Weather, First Alert Weather is the most popular brand in the country and continues to grow. I know because Gray's WGGB/WSHM just adopted First Alert Weather within the last two-three weeks. CBS saw the name as an opportunity for some of its markets.

Man you really do keep an eye on FOX Weather for us @Spring Rubberand I thank you for that!

I thought WDVM was already on a WDCW sub via 25.1 to provide D.C. coverage via the WDCW transmitter.

I paid for a plan but then it took me to cable/satellite authentication when I don't have cable/satellite. So like I had to have cable/satellite and then pay for a plan to stream TWC? Like, WTF?

Licensing costs.

Oh yeah. Ironically, Matt worked on this too.

Sean Compton Guarantee TM.

I firmly believe the de-emphasis of the call signs and channel numbers is 100% intentional, and the "white box" on some of the websites is a temporary thing to tie a few of the stations with "legacy brands" to the new brands. Why? Because it doesn't matter if you're "CBS 2 WXXX" on the internet, which is where the audience these groups are going after is. People say "won't this confuse viewers?" while the same viewers are the ones who can't understand that KDKA-TV and KDKA 1020 are owned by two different companies. The viewers who might be "confused" are not the viewers the stations want. I predict that, sometime in the near future, these "legacy call sign" stations will simply brand themselves on-air like "CBS News Pittsburgh on KDKA 2" for a while before dropping the calls/channel number entirely.