DMA

Is Chris Cimino permanently off New York Living with his move to the PM weather? I will say I think Alex and Marysol seem to have great chemistry on air.

There’s a bit of personality at WCBS to be fair - Marcia Kramer certainly adds a local flavor but overall I tend to agree with you. - WABC’s vibe is an unusual combo of familial and tabloid. As much as I dislike the increased opinion segments, visual mess, and Disney corporate synergy, it still feels like the default for me. Coverage all across the Tri-State - they go all out, highest use of copters too. -WNBC is straight to the point but has the appeal of local-born talent and 30 Rock gravitas. Coverage is a little more focused on the boroughs, with a strong Jersey presence. Collaboration with WNJU reporters has been great, providing coverage into communities overlooked by everyone else. -WPIX targets straphangers and the NY1 demo. Used to have the Daily News connection which though diminished still feels present. -WNYW is a bit dull but I think has been targeting a tone similar to WABC’s tabloid/human interest take. At least they’re coming up with interesting branding like “The Noon” -WCBS is just…there. It’s visually polished but the tone is wooden and really feels cookie-cutter. Editorially there’s an overemphasis on Westchester and Long Island. I feel like they were stronger when they could lean on the Always-On WCBS 880 / 1010 WINS synergy, but that’s faded. The reporters and anchors are all…fine? But the overall vibe is just generic and not targeted to the market.

Agreed. I think a significant barrier to WLNY's success is the fact that it simply isn't available over the air in the majority of the market, including the five boroughs. Despite cable availability, it's not like, mentally a channel that exists to a lot of people, unlike KCBS/KCAL. If NYC ever gets ATSC 3.0 maybe WCBS could add a WLNY subchannel, but until then I can't really envision WLNY ever being competitive really.

I can only dream of NY1 going over the air...

Slightly updated backdrop for Bill tonight, my initial thought was that this was the Live studio but I guess he's at home?

Good addition - it's a shame that NBC hasn't consolidated LX News with NBC News Now, that'd be a great OTA option. Unfortunately with WNBC and WNJU channel sharing with 2x 1080i and 3 480i subchannel, this addition might make the already poor picture quality even worse in NY.

There's been a major subway shooting/explosion AND the Lieutenant Governor has been arrested. WNBC has dumped out of Today, WCBS has left Drew, and WABC is still with Live...tells you all you need to know of WABC's priorities here.

I'm the first to lament WABC's lack of aesthetics but the reality is that it works. New York is a tabloid town (in the Daily News / NY Post sense, not the WSVN sense), and it kind of makes sense that WABC's look emulates those visuals more than any other station in the city. Editorially WABC is toned down from the caustic irreverence and outright conservatism of the NY Post, but it shares the huge typography, bombastic/eye searing color contrast, and fundamentally human interest led approach. As I've noted before, there has been a shift with Bill Ritter's editorializing "Gun Insanity" rhetoric at WABC. I don't think you'd ever catch David Ushery or Kristine Johnson leading with such a framing.

It looks like there's a slightly new backdrop for the noon news today (or maybe just the wrong one?), it doesn't seem to match that of the dusk 5pm/6pm backdrops.

Ratings question - I see that WABC is #1 in the mornings, 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm as listed here: https://www.nexttv.com/features/local-news-start-spreading-the-news-and-theres-lots-of-it 4pm is omitted - is WNBC leading then?

The whole enterprise is built around a questionable use of CNN Newspath, anchors have blatantly posted their far-right affiliations on social media, the actual news they do show is...old? There's a line between scrappy and amateur, Newsnet hews more closely to the latter.

WNYW now has the subchannel live on 5-3.

WABC is currently airing coverage of the end of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and Reagan's inauguration, interspersed with ad breaks (not custom web ads, actual ads embedded into the feed) Odd choice! Also in before new O&O graphics speculation, this animated Circle 7 breakfiller was visible for a while:

Newsnet's NYC affiliate WJLP has dropped Newsnet, after (mercifully) being bought by Weigel. Prior owners PMCM (notorious for using an FCC loophole to move the station from Nevada to New Jersey) had crammed the RF with like 12 barely watchable subchannels, including right wing ones like Newsmax2 and Newsnet. Can't say I'll miss having access to Newsnet, especially now that Newsy provides a much higher quality OTA service in the DMA.

I've found the quick full-screen graphics showing the status of the subway and regional rail lines to be far more effective. Even for people out in Long Island and NJ who work in the city, I'd hazard that most commutes are via public transit.

It probably comes down to budget and the anchor's existing contracts, given that 7pm is an additional workload. They're familiar faces to viewers, I don't really give it a second thought honestly.

Looks good - I've always preferred vertical monitor arrangements since they seem more window-like.

I don’t have an Excel spreadsheet where I’m tracking every report, but before my post I looked at stories posted on the websites of stations in the area to ground my perception in something close to reality. WPIX and WABC had the highest volume of these PR stories, while WCBS and WNBC had a lower volume. This is obviously an imperfect methodology since not every story makes it to the website. I’m not equipped to do a full media study but I think this is an interesting shift that at least merits a mention.

I want to preface this by saying I don't mean this in a particularly inflammatory way, and I do not intend to delve into my personal views on policing in New York, I just want to neutrally note recent changes to WABC's editorial output. I have noticed that there have been a lot of NYPD public relations stories fairly high up in the running order of WABC's newscasts, sometimes multiple times a day. Things like NYPD funding basketball courts, hosting a dance party (seemingly attended by 5 people), NYPD-sponsored haunted houses (https://abc7ny.com/nypd-haunted-house-willets-point-fort-totten/11103618/) etc. Other stations (WNBC, WCBS) do not seem to be including this volume of reporting on this subject matter. While individually I don't think it's problematic to include community interest pieces like this (these are events happening in the viewing area after all), the disproportionate volume and prominence of such pieces are difficult to view as anything other than propagandistic in intent. Again, I do not mean this to be inflammatory but rather observational - peer stations in the market have been making other editorial choices so I thought this was worth noting here.

I have to say I continue to be impressed by Newsy - just saw a substantive yet neutral discussion of the school choice issue, with an in-depth interview with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. NewsNation claims to be neutral but really does have a right slant, while Newsy just gets right to it without platitudes. My only concern is that the pacing is maybe a little too leisurely - slower than the PBS Newshour at points. The discussion segments are quality, but I wish there was a bit more of an upfront news bulletin / reporting focus. Even a ticker would be valuable here. But overall this is a great “start” (given that Newsky isn’t exactly new), and I hope they get some traction and can scale more.

Seems nice enough content wise - far better than NewsNet so can’t complain. Nice to see a real national OTA news channel, genuinely surprised NewsNation didn’t try this model out.

Looks good - the prominent Today logo element tells me that this is probably temporary though. I can’t image they would have redesigned the Today studio last week with that if it was to be a general NBC News set.

That marble effect floor already looks dated (2014 Kardashian aesthetic much?). The rest looks fine, honestly not sure if I would have noticed the changes.

New flattened WABC logo debuted - doesn’t match what’s in the open though.

Agreed, they ended up extending through noon, over Days of our Lives.