Weeters

There's also no lights... so my guess is whatever is set up in there is temporary and just meant to fill the space.

They are running promos that state "CBS 11 is now CBS Texas" while animated stick figures lower in the "channel number box" to sit next to the new CBS Texas logo. Seems to be another sign that the "logo box" is, as theorized, a temporary and transitional thing. .

KCAL might honestly be the only one where the "transitional" branding can function long-term. I do think it's just a matter of time until the "CBS News" portion gets put back into the OTA broadcasts. The rest of them, though? There's no way something like the WCBS and WJZ lockups, with the current logo in the box next to "CBS News New York/Baltimore," are viable long-term. The "channel number logo" gets shoved into a small box in the corner, dominated by "CBS News (location)". Two distinct logos advertising the same product. Same goes for the call signs. They accomplish very little, simply existing to reinforce the fact that this is the local news and not the visually identical network news. They're not even following the way the stations currently use their call signs, if the KDKA image is any indication... They want you to "Expect More from KDKA-TV News" for a reason. KDKA will keep that call sign box until the day someone on KDKA radio decides to say something controversial again. Some of these call signs aren't viable long-term because CBS management made a huge mistake not requiring call sign changes on the majority of the former radio cluster. As for stations buying stuff with the logo, KPIX is still using mic flags with the CBS 5/CBSN Bay Area branding on them. Just think of how good that square "KPIX" box would look on a mic flag... But maybe there's a reason they haven't bothered to order new ones yet? Waiting until they can get away with simply putting "CBS News Bay Area" on them? Perhaps. Why do I think the "call sign box" is a transitional brand? It looks and plays the part. It's one size fits most, grafted onto a different logo in an uninspired manner. It's also not universal, and only seems to be rolling out at stations that have some kind of long-term branding history using their call sign. @ChesapeakeTVrecently shared a news article in the Discord that had some interesting numbers in it. CBS knows that people by and large (over half of all people, at this point!) are moving away from over-the-air television being how they primarily consume local news. This is why Detroit was launched as a "streaming first" operation. If this company truly felt that call signs and channel numbers were still relevant to today's consumers, we'd be seeing them on WWJ CBS 62 News Detroit. Those boxes are transitional. This is a fact. The question is, how long will this transition last? At this rate, what relevance will channel numbers or call signs have in three years? Five years? Ten? The digital renascence is here, folks.

Once and for all: Rey Rodriguez of Linear Drift is the Art Director for Nexstar. In fact, his LinkedIn shows his "employment" at Linear Drift ending in 2015 when he started at Nexstar. Technically speaking, none of the Nexstar packs are "Linear Drift" graphics.

That desk is 8 years old, recycled from the 2015 temporary set.

The general consensus seems to be that box is a transitional element, so I'd not expect them to brand as what is essentially "CBS 4 WBZ CBS NEWS BOSTON" forever.

It has been longer since WPVI tried changing the music (1996-2023= 27 years) than it was between MCTYW debuting on the station and the attempt to change (1972-1996= 24 years). This is a fun piece of news lore, but it's also ancient history, and things are a LOT different today than they were in 1996. They have been sneaking in new cuts of music for a while now. I can almost guarantee "modernizing" MCTYW would not get the same response as it did nearly 30 years ago. It would probably take days for anyone but the oldest, rustiest dial viewers to notice.

Thread closed. Literally a list thread as defined in the guidelines:

Firstly, CBS owns the trademark to "Eyewitness News". Secondly, no. Both "Action" (which is owned by Cox!) and "Eyewitness" are cliché and ancient brands that do not need to be picked up by anyone not already using them.

The studio pipe grid is noted in the plans as having a height of 13' 2" (The portion of the building the studio is in is physically incapable of having a grid height higher than this), and remained in place during the demolition and rebuild. That seems about right for pictures from the early 2000's set. The last set did seem a little shorter, so perhaps the lighting was brought lower by way of stirrups, but it's hard to tell. The scale on the plans also show the studio pre-renovation as having dimensions roughly 65' by 46', which would be roughly 80' by 49' after the remodel, with the removal of the technical and mechanical rooms. There was also what appears to be a noise trap along an exterior wall (The same wall that features windows in the newsroom) that was removed. The early 2000's set had a "soft news" morning show portion not visible in the above screenshot, but if you look closely, it appears you can see part of the floor pattern for this area under the center and right camera. The camera taking that spy cam shot was probably mounted near the top of the set wall, either on the set itself or from the grid. I wouldn't be surprised if the news desk platform slid backwards to give the cameras more space to move when shooting the opposite direction. The set being "large" was 100% an optical illusion, like most news sets. The second floor newsroom wasn't touched much through it's life. After they moved news into the studio, the former studio portion of the newsroom was tiled over until the iPad Graphics debut. The real mystery is what they originally planned to do with the space once the 10th floor Newsroom opened a few years ago. It's possible the general concept of renovating the space was a long time in the making, and started under Tribune.

Yeah, both the pre-renovation and post-renovation floor plans are in this thread. The studio is actually slightly larger than before, thanks to the deletion of a mechanical room and tech room along the eastern wall. The new NewsNation studio sits in the footprint of the old WPIX newsroom, and also includes the space previously occupied by a control room.

I think it's necessary to reference @Myron Falwell's post from the KCAL thread as it's extremely relevant to the ongoing channel number discussion. Long story short, look at Birmingham's WBMA, which brands as "ABC 33/40". It has not transmitted on the Channel 33 satellite since 2014, and is now regulated to the .2 on 40. WBMA's own low-power signal was on 58, which is also what their Virtual Channel is, but they didn't brand with any mention of 58 at all. What they do have is this mess, none of which have anything to do with the 33 in their brand, and And yet everyone still figures out where to watch James Spann when there's a tornado. In the words of one of our favorite media bloggers: JUST SAYING...

The discussion about channel numbers is missing the entire premise of CBS News Detroit. Somebody please show me how to tune my phone or web browser to Channel 62... This is an operation built on a "streaming first" mentality. The fact that it airs OTA is just a bonus. CBS appears to be, by and large, moving towards "streaming first". This is exactly how I've publicly predicted TV will move over the coming years. Channel numbers are an outdated concept in a world where more and more people are watching OTT where those precious numbers mean nothing. Traditional TV viewers are not bumbling morons and will figure out where to watch. Millions of senior citizens have figured out where to watch Fox News without it branding with channel numbers.

Are we sure this isn't a rejected proposal from 2012? These look so incredibly dated it's not even funny.

I'm sure that the transition to "KCAL News", even if temporary, was thoroughly researched and discussed by people with a lot more information regarding the possible outcomes than we do. Things in this industry generally don't just happen without some kind of research or thought being put into it. We knew when the "white box" logos started showing up on the websites, that they were likely there to help transition stations who are well known by their callsigns to the new branding. I don't know why it's surprising that KCBS/KCAL chose to transition using the brand that's better liked/known instead of just ripping off the band-aid on "CBS News Los Angeles". (Also, WITI used the transitional "FOX is SIX/SIX is NEWS" branding for less than 6 months)