compubit

I drove up from Arlington to Hagerstown to record the last newscast on WHAG. It appeared that the 10pm was live, but the 11pm NoVa News seemed to be taped (10pm anchors and stories mentioned 10pm, whereas 11pm didn't mention a time) and had a slightly different feel. No promotion of the change except one reference of "for the last time" during the open, a reference to the new website near the end, and the same promo already posted run a few times. Everything else (promos during the newscast) still was referencing "WHAG News" and "Your4State.com". I can see them dropping the Pennsyvania coverage, since Comcast dropped/is dropping the station in PA (receivable OTA, but not in market)... (But Comcast doesn't' carry the station in DC Northern Virginia Suburbs...) IMHO! The graphics need a little work - the WHAG/your4state.com rotating bug looks weird over no background, as do the Facebook/Twitter/other social media links, I can see them going for full market coverage - the weather included down to Woodbridge, and stories included Fairfax and Springfield as well as the Winchester area. Jim

Remember, this is also the market where KATC has its own musical opening...

Tongue was firmly planted in cheek... J

Nice open "stolen" off of WSVN...

I remember visiting my Grandparents in Western Michigan and WUHQ had a customized version of ABC's Still the One - We're Forty-One... Wish I had recordings - but "Why would anyone want to record TV?"... Jim

My question on repacking is: will they "block" a city (especially where most towers are collocated) in frequency spectrum (i.e., put all 6 full-power UHF stations in a block - say from 14-19)? J

Yes, but in today's digital landscape, it's much easier for an owner to put two HD streams on 1 signal - effectively 2 separate stations, one chunk of frequency spectrum (and with the auction, $$$ in the bank...). (As well as "play" with LD stations, *cough* Laredo *cough*) J

I had a friend who worked a short time at KLFY, and she had nothing but praise for Blue. And this comes from a time period where stations were often bringing in youngsters to displace the "senior" news anchors (cough, KPRC Dominique Sachse, cough). Best of luck in retirement, Blue! J

WNBC had some similar graphics in their talent opens (Names scrolling down)...

Also WMAQ (where I first ran across it...). Based on the set, it was probably December of 92? The open used the Circle 4, which then switched to the "extra bold" block 4 (used by the other NBC O&O channel 4s at the time). November 92 (Monday after Thanksgiving) was when WNBC changed their 4, and WRC was about the same time. In April '93 KCNC was using Image IX, but the open gfx had the elements used in the Image IX package. IMHO, Image IX is one rocking package! Jim

All 3 are deeply saddened...

I think the KOLD theme is part of the CBS "We've got the touch" theme - I'm trying to track down more details, but if you Google "CBS We've Got the Touch 83" or "CBS We've got the touch 84", you'll here the musical themes... (Edit) It appears that WAKA also used this theme - check the NMSA(/Edit) J

Back then, many newscasts were shared, but 7pm was on 25 only and 12 had the first (half) hour of morning news, and I believe noon. J

That just smells like the same folks who did NBC's "Come Home to NBC" - even snuck in the words "Come Home to the Best" in the lyrics... J

WRC has a sunrise graphic that doesn't seem right to me - either the sun is rising ENE over DC or they're using a sunset shot. The buildings are silhouetted enough that you can't really tell the direction the shot is being taken from... J

I'm also hearing (pieces of) the KENS 1980s theme in that promo starting at 0:28... J

At first glance, I thought WGBH, but with the NBC N on the other face of the Mike flag, knew - that's not right.

Well, you're going against Tegna, Sinclair, and a fairly news lame Fox station...

40% seems a bit high. I know when I termed with a former company at 12 weeks of PTO payout, it was withheld at about 25%. Granted, I wasn't making large market anchor salaries (maybe small market), but not 40%... Most likely it'll be a lump sum, so that it can be written off immediately, and not a liability. If there is a continuation of medical benefits involving an employee contribution portion, they may be able to defer that specific amount, since that's usually pre-tax money... (Plus some states - California, especially, have some whacko laws which may impact withholdings, etc.) Jim

This logo looks like someone took the KYW 3 and flipped it upside down! (And features Arthur Fennell who ended up at WCAU...)

I'll have to look at when the desk got a monitor, but think it was around the time that they changed the font for the word "NEWS". As for the skycam, based on the angle of the view, it's on one of the buildings in Crystal City (where I work). The camera can easily pick up the traffic going into or out of Reagan National Airport. I've also seen it swung down to look at the airport, usually during weather segments. Jim

I prefer the second much more than the first one. I'm not even sure Wes Quave even visited Huntsville... I do like the homage to the old 3 fingers/1 finger of folks at local events that WAAY used to use during newscast closes back into to the 90s. J

The US could implement ATSC 3.0 as the UK has done with DVB-T2: If you want HD, you have to upgrade to a newer Freeview box (that supports MPEG-4), but digital TV (SD widescreen) is available for backwards compatibility. I wish, though, that station transmitters would all be co-located within a market - with SFN-types of repeaters to fill in coverage, plus markets would be "banded" together frequency-wise. For example, if a market had 5 channels, then at a co-located transmission site, that market would have say channels 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 (maybe with 19 & 20 as "spares"). OTA users could then have one place to point to, as well as a frequency-matched antenna. Of course, it could end up like Italy, where nearly every channel is in use country-wide - but for national channels, the muxes are on the same frequency: MediaSet Mux 2 is always on Ch. 36 and TIM Mux 1 is always on ch. 47. But where there isn't a national channel, there probably is a local or regional channel offering even more programming. Side note: Digital TV in Italy has intrigued me - where we stayed near Cortona, my computer tuner identified over 250 streams over the air. Some were radio, some were encrypted, but most were regional or national channels. There were some duplicates - sometimes a local channel will carry a channel from a different state (in exchange for carriage in the other locale), so you can pick up a stream twice if you're in the right location. Being interested in local news, my biggest issue was trying to figure out when local newscasts aired (teletext was the only semi-reliable solution - no printed local/regional guide, and websites were lacking with program guides or just program info for just 1 stream).

Anybody catch the few frames of Rolland Smith after the "This is CBS" slide on the KNOE clip? Someone in NY didn't fully fade to black before WCBS started their news. I remember as a kid a couple of times when someone at KHOU was asleep at Master Control, and let a WCBS news break start during the 9:30pm CT local opt out, as well as an occasional WCBS/2 ID through. This usually happened on a Saturday or Sunday night - when the folks working weren't the station's "A-team". J

radiobremen gets my vote for best theme. I'm a sucker for news themes that incorporate other musical works - specifically Schifrin's Tar Baby Sequence (and it's reimagining by Frank Gari), Classical Gas, and my favorite of this genre: KNTV's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" theme. J