New backdrop for the 4-8am hours. It's no longer nighttime 24/7 at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Patti Dennis hasn't been the news director there for a while. She was promoted to be Tegna's main talent scout, though she still works out of Denver. Eric Valdez, formerly of WFAA, is KUSA's "director of content," while Linda K, a longtime KUSA EP, is the "news director of content." I don't fully understand how that breaks down, but my understanding is that Linda K runs the newsroom. https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/eric-valadez-named-kusas-new-director-of-content/205502/ Tegna's president and CEO is Dave Lougee, who was KUSA's news director in the 90s. Seeing how so many KUSA people have ascended the ranks through Tegna, I think it's safe to say that local management and corporate are on the same page.

*Sigh* I wish they built an updated version of this set instead. Crazy to think how they once were able to use the same studio in different ways for almost all New York-based shows.

They should just leave Cuomo in the empty old space. He could still do his show there, it just wouldn’t have to be on TV anymore.

Looks quite nice and a little different from what we've been used to seeing with recent sets. Now, about that graphics package...

The CTM Eyeopener is really the closest thing. A lot of local stations also do the tracked cold open, which is more or less the same thing, but it doesn't have the same special feel as the public radio billboards do. What I wonder now is whether the All Things Considered theme might be next. I think it's gone even longer without an update. I still like it in a weird way. It always felt like a perfectly chaotic soundtrack to digest the day's news during the afternoon commute.

Would have been cool had they picked Mac DeMarco instead...

It's an improvement, and I think it actually turned out better than I thought. I do agree that it feels a little underwhelming considering that they had a completely blank slate to start with.

NPR's Morning Edition has a new theme. It's definitely a new sound, though it does have a taste of the outgoing theme. The new work was created by Man Made Music (a.k.a. Joel Beckerman). NPR is saying that the previous theme was in use for more than 40 years, which isn't exactly true. The theme does date back to the 70s when the program began, but it was revamped in 2005 not long after Bob Edwards left. 2005: The original: The change has been very controversial in the public radio world, especially among fans. Personally, I like the new sound. I always thought the 2005 update sounded really tacky.

I’m not a patron but it’s a pretty safe bet that a new GM would want to also install his or her own news director.

LA car chases do very well online. So well that KNBC doesn't allow other stations to stream them online.

Oh, it's definitely supposed to be a riff on LoDo architecture. The white cable thing above one of the video walls and in the weather center appears to emulate the Millennium Bridge: The more I think about it, the more I can't help but wonder whether the LoDo loft idea actually came from the old KWGN set, which was one of my favorites. I see some slight similarities.

Huge upgrade, though KWGN’s 2000 set from pencilogic still pulled off the LoDo loft look a lot better than this.

The first G3 flat look was before Gannett split into two and before Gannett/Tegna started buying a ton of stations. The color palette was a tie-in with USA Today, which got its own brand redesign around the same time. It was a much smaller station group, and that look felt much more special when it wasn't on so many stations. I didn't like it as much once it rolled out to so many stations across the country all of the sudden. The current Tegna look at least has some personality and makes it easier to shoehorn in the awful logo of whatever station it is that Tegna bought in Shelbyville this week. I will also add that while flat looks are particularly functional for broadcast, design trends reach all sectors. Everywhere, minimalism is in, whether that's in TV news graphics, user interfaces, fashion, product packaging, interior decorating, or whatever else. Whatever design trends that are at the forefront of popular culture will eventually end up everywhere.

Funny how CNN started using real newsroom backdrops again when their programming shifted away from doing actual news.