rkolsen

Some commenter of TVNewsCheck made a comment that the Justice Department will be watching this arrangement and brought up the Joplin Problem of the 70s. Could someone tell me what happened in the 70s other than Janis Joplin's death?

I wonder how much the satellite equipment costs? Also I don't have access to the site.

WBAL has continued their expansion of 10pm news on their digital sub channel WBAL+ or MeTV Maryland to include weekends. They launched the 10pm weeknight broadcasts back in 2012. I believe they launched the weekend broadcasts as there has been no public mention other than that they are no appearing in my TV guide. I wonder if they will eventually continue this news expansion through weekend mornings? Currently during the week they continue local news until 8am on WBAL+. The only difficulty would be the length of time for the weekend broadcasts where they currently broadcast three hours on Saturday and four on Sunday . On Saturdays mornings they broadcast from 5-7am and from 9-10am but Sundays may be especially difficult/long because they currently broadcast from 5-8am and 9-10am. WBAL is also hosting the third and final gubernatorial debate on October 18. Normally only the Baltimore or Washington DC stations host debates normally focusing on central Maryland but are broadcast state wide on Maryland Public Television. WBAL's debate will be moderated by Jason Newton but will feature Deborah Weiner and two yet to be named journalists from WHAG (from Hagerstown market in Western Md) and WBOC (from Salisbury market on the Eastern Shore). http://www.wbaltv.com/blob/view/-/28205866/data/1/-/2mq4htz/-/WBAL-TV-11-set-to-broadcast-gubernatorial-debate.pdf

I was reading Wikipedia about KONG tv. I know it's not fully accurate and the sources the list I don't have access to (mainly a Seattle library card). I have a a question: Why did King Broadcasting object to KONG's license? I take it was because of King-Kong name and viewers would assume they were related?

N thi WTOP (Radio) and NewsChannel 8 are hosting the Md Governors debate. I wonder if WBFF will simulcast it up in Baltimore?

I thought there was a separate thread for the set refresh but here's a photo of the refresh posted on Flickr by Number 10 Downing Street during the interview that British Prime Minister David Cameron did with Brian Williams.

I almost think the new contracts are written in that the advertisements may not fill the full screen and may be run simultaneously with an sponsored L bar / ticker. But from my casual viewing I have not seen any conflicting advertisements. Locally WBAL and WBFF are the only stations that air their tickers and L bars respectively during commercials. The only difference is that WBAL's isn't normally sponsored - but when there are school closing a local franchised HVAC company sponsors the ticker.

I know this could start some crap here with people who like WPVI. But for me I I would have found in pretty rude if I am on a tour of your station as a viewer and I was ignored by the talent. To me that is simple laziness, complacency and arrogance. No John Q. Reporter I don't need a heart to heart conversation but just waving or a "Hi How Are you?" unprompted would make me think of you in a more favorable light. While your interaction with WCAU seemed much more pleasant. If they were willing to talk I would think they are engaged by their job and like it well. Just those behinds the scenes aspects between WPVI and WCAU show the types of people they hire - one that doesn't want to be bothered and another who wants to know their community.

I realize that. My point that I was trying to make is that there needs to be more competition for number one.

I was watching their live stream online and I am wondering if the Always on 7 Day is inserted through master control. I did not see it during the radar / headline section of the forecast. I wonder if it's just a general metro forecast or if they rotate the seven day forecast for different regions of DMA. As I mentioned before KNBC was the first to have the seven day forecast on screen through out the entire segment with about ten different variations. The only thing that KNBC sends out is an HD feed and also a single letter boxed SD feed. They modified their Look F so that everything is 16:9 safe. I hate to say this but I do not like it when a single station or show has been dominant for so long. There needs to be a little competition between the stations/networks and otherwise they get a little to cocky (not saying that WPVI is that) and complacent. It just does not seem fair for me.

I'm cross posting this video seeing as I have not seen anyone post caps/videos of the morning news ticker for the Sinclair graphics package. [yt]-7LU0j-d7KU[/yt] (As of this post the video is still cooking). WBFF is still working out the kinks. They need to add the sponsor image which appears in the white space underneath the logo on the right hand side. They also need to add additional current weather locations - only one is listed and that is Baltimore leaving two empty boxes, I would suggest Washington DC and maybe the Eastern Shore or Annapolis. Apparently their traffic system did not switch over yet as it still uses the old graphics package. During the evening news underneath the standard ticker there are three weather boxes showing the weather forecast for today and the following two days. They say log on to their website for more weather information. They apparently chose to leave the three day forecast on screen for the rest of the show. It looks very weird considering the image is essentially static. I think they should either go the hyper local weather route or add in sports scores underneath their ticker during evening newscasts. Over all it appears that this launch was rushed.

KNBC was apparently the first in the nation to do that when they moved to Universal City. But all of their content is sent out letter box, so it isn't an HD bonus.

I feel sorry for that station if that closet is their control room. But I guess I should be glad that at least they have a proper switcher - I am amazed at how many stations when they went HD they chose to only have an Ignite panel in their building (cough WPVI cough). The reporter in the piece misspoke (or doesn't know the difference) by saying they are going full 1080 HD. I am a bit of an HD snob and would be pissed off if this small market station was the first in all of North America to broadcast in 1080p. With that being said I would have honestly thought that the station went HD based on the picture quality of that video being viewed on my iPad. I honestly wonder what that news set looks like in HD - doesn't appear to have been refreshed and looks like a little brother to KING 5's. I think I have mentioned this before but why does every single Gannett station feel the need to explain/make a hullabaloo over their new graphics package? Is it a localized "must run" by corporate? Do they think viewers are that stupid that they need someone to tell them that three columns of seemingly unrelated stories is the run down? I would think people would catch on to how the graphics work after watching the channel for five minutes. The only thing that could be confusing is the color coding of the stories, which are subjective to the producers thinking. How about a little jingle like the ones that are used for a weather beacon.

WBFF switched over to their new graphics. It looks like they have some teething issues.

A copy and paste job but I wanted it there Incase I remove it. McPaper was at the tip of my tongue but I couldn't remember it when I wrote that. I'd also be willing to go as far as saying USA Today is probably the most recycled newspaper in the country.

As I once said in the shoutbox: Gannett is overly proud. Some of you mentioned that in the past that they frequently disclose that they are sister organizations to USA Today. I'm not sure I would be bragging about being USA Today's corporate sibling - it's bland journalism reduced to the lowest common denominator. However USA Today would be a good paper to read if you were starting to learn English.

It's been 18 days. Just for reference WCVB's refresh this year took 10 days to install 27 monitors behind the desk plus several mo around the studio, Maybe they are getting new backdrop, desk and maybe the floors are being refinished for all we know - if they are good floors they should last five years and they debuted this set in 2008. Perhaps in order to handle all of the new features additional hardware has to be installed and tested.

This is a off topic from the chopper 6 360. But I remember a while back Hulkie/Matthew mentioned that all of WPVI's graphics are done in house except for the rendering of the 6 logo. My question is what was so difficult that required them to use an agency?

I think the reason why you have to use the IM360 app is because they have to process it before it goes out. Also I think it maybe if they included it in their native app, the app would become to bulky. Also wouldn't they have to state that this was product placement when this is used on air? Because there mentioning of the app would be similar to requiring Java.

No you are not actually controlling the camera. Most likely it is a one way datalink. Have you ever seen what a Google Streetview Car or even images before? If so it's exactly like that. Here's the camera I think they are using: http://www.ptgrey.com/products/ladybug3/Ladybug3_360_video_camera.asp. It has six cameras which stitch the image together and is sent back to the server as a panoramic image. But the server and software manipulate it in a way that only a certain part of the image is displayed.

Yeah, there are six cameras on that rig so your not controlling anything. It's not like they are letting you control the $500,000 gimbal camera. I fooled around with it briefly this afternoon, it's would be useful when the helicopter is hovering over the scene of the accident but most of the time the bird is flying around the DMA. I guess I would call this an act of desperation with all their toys.

I had a link but I lost it to where they got the camera. But I found a similar system used for broadcast or live streaming that was $24,000 used. I wonder how they are back hauling the video back to the station? I'm guessing they are using a bonded cellular. I doubt they would want to waste the precious datalink that's used for the actual helicopter video feed. If you'll notice the video in the piece wasn't that good, so,I doubt they will use it on air, when they could just tell the photographer to move the lens. But this may be cool the first time you try it, but this gimmick will get old fast (like the BigBoard - stations rarely use them to the full potential and all they are used for is to allow the reporter to press play on a piece). If I were the station I would rather the spend the money on something that is really useful.

Unfortunately that's a prices that they pay - whether you want your set done on time (and on budget) or have intermittent noise during a small part of your newscast.

No offense to you and those who live in Hampton Roads, but would this be considered a major step down for April Woodard? I know she was on Inside Edition almost daily but to go from a top syndicated show down to DMA 45? I know Inside Edition isn't hard hitting journalist but I'm pretty sure she could easily get a top 10 market job. But since she's a hometown girl maybe she wants to be home. (I would be thinking the same thing if she was auditioning for a job in Baltimore). I think KUSA or KARE has one. Trust me they aren't that special. All you end up with is a reporter but mainly meteorologist in the field reading numbers off a 46" TV. Sure it gives a hyper local weather report with the weather station on top but most of the time the temperature isn't that different from opening up your Intellicast or NWS forecast. It would be useful if the weather station could transmit the data back to the weather office where they could place a pin drop on the map showing current conditions.

Looked huge, seemed like prior to HD conversion weather set designs were often larger than "home base". WBAL had a big one with a second level elevated 2-3 feet above the prior set. Of course the Mac daddy (can't believe I'm using that phrase) had to go to KAKE TV's and it's various translators, satellite stations, and boosters that had a weather set that had the capabilities to "opt out" different weather forecasts/special weather reports for six different zones of Kansas.