NYNewsCoverage

PIX better make up its mind sooner or later. Like "BehindNYNews" said in an earlier post somewhere, they have to decide if they're Pix11 News or Pix11 Entertainment. They can't be both. How about airing hard news at 5pm and an entertainment show from PIX at 6pm? Or even at 7pm to compete with "Entertainment Tonight" and "Extra". This way they can sort out the stories they want to air.

I hope they start branching away from solo anchoring when one member of a team is off (especially during the evening.) I remember pre-2010, when Kaity was off, even reporters like Monica Morales would fill in. Also I believe Jackie Hyland or Mary Murphy would also occasionally sit in. I've also seen Allison Kaden anchor before, and she's not bad. Even Jay Dow could sit in with Tamsen if Scott is off.

Tamsen must have taken a half day, as Scott is solo tonight during the 10pm. I have to say, he's not bad by himself. He does a much better job than Tamsen does when she's by herself.

In other news, the Arsenio Hall show has been cancelled after 1 season. I'm happy, this likely means more Seinfeld reruns! If I want to tune in to a late night show, I'd take Letterman, Fallon, and Craig Ferguson, not Arsenio. I wonder if this will affect WPIX's ratings.

Wow, that's interesting! The only station that I've ever seen do that is WPIX, but that's not a big deal. But I've never seen any network station in New York have an anchor solo during the 5pm newscast. I guess Kristine was off, Alice Gainer or Dana Tyler was not available, and they didn't want to have a two men format (with Dick Brennan)? They should of had one of the reporters assume the role, like Diane or Andrea, and even Cindy Hsu would be great. That's a very surprising move for them. They don't even do this on the holidays. Even the 9pm on WLNY is rarely done solo if Alice and Dick are off.

She was not on at all this week. I'm assuming she will be starting on Monday.

I think I have proof that the sports desk is live: Scott said that the Mets game has officially been cancelled due to rain. The final decision was only made around 10:30 or so.

Yeah I have noticed that and it annoys me to some extent. I'll deal with it, but it's just annoying. But, what do you expect, at least you can stream it, unlike CBS (*cough* *cough*)

Jerry Barmash mentioned this earlier that she will do traffic, but just corrected himself about an hour ago and said that a new traffic reporter will be hired shortly, and she will only do weather from 4-6am.

Former WTIC meteorologist Rachel Frank will do weather from 4-6am and then handle traffic duties on weekdays for the PIX Morning News. This is according to Tuned In's Jerry Barmash. I don't know her, but it seems like a good hire.

I just watched EWN @ 5:00 and I see what you all mean. I personally hate it. If anything, play more music, not less! Good music is a huge factor in how "good" the news is, IMO. And Eyewitness News has a very catchy theme that I'm sure the public hums all of the time if they watch EWN often. Part of the reason that nobody knows PIX, is because they had a stupid theme that is not even really a theme. So, I'm not saying that if you don't have good music, their news product is bad overall, I'm just saying it allows the public to "engage" more in the newscast via good and familiar music, if this makes any sense :wacko:?? . But anyways, long story short, I don't like it.

Has anybody watched this video? I know someone brought it up a while ago, but skip to about 47:00 and listen for a while, you can tell Scott gets pissed at the control room crew. There is absolutely horrible communication between the anchors and the control room. That explains for all of the technical glitches and the anchors getting confused all of the time.

Believe it or not, that is what PIX 11 aired on TV in the #1 market in the country to somehow "promote" their new 10pm newscast in October 2010. Thank god they are not THIS bad anymore.

Oh, let us just get one last reminder of what WPIX was back in October 2010. So they were even telling viewers that the new 10pm newscast was horrible. How the heck was this promoting the station? I don't know how an actual station, in the biggest market, can get this stupid (I'm not referring to now, I'm referring to the old days). I know this is from years ago, but for some reason I just came across it and wanted to share this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woECnZNPxbQ :bang:

It seems that the people at WPIX have been listening to me and has finally stopped pre-recording their 'coming up' bumpers during the evening newscasts, which is great and thank you . However, the behind the scenes people need to wake up and put the correct graphic on that corresponds to the story. For example, they were telling us about the new CW line up, but they show a surveillance video, and they just showed the anchors for the rest of the bumper while they spoke. I don't mind them pre-recording the first preview they do before the stories, however. All they need to do is get some new management and control room people to fix the newscast structure and content and the new studio and they're good to go IMO. Yes, some of the on-air talent isn't the best, but I'm thinking it could work with the right management. And yes, I do keep changing my opinion every time I see the newscast. As far as the graphics, I like that you (WPIX) sped up the transition in the open that says "PIX 11 News" in the beginning before the anchors are shown. This way there isn't any awkward pause (not that it's a bad thing, because the music package is great). Also, another tip: maybe during breaking news situations, make the "BREAKING NEWS" banner on the lower third red, instead of orange, this way it has more of an urgent feel to it, and catches the viewers attention. But I think orange is fine for all other circumstances. Also, I've been liking the custom music cuts they've been using lately. And, also to any WPIX people who are reading this, I'd love a really long close with the theme that is playing in the background of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQOc5-emjhM Or of course a really long close with this theme would be great too: Yes, it's only a music package, but THIS is WPIX. Not the product you were putting out in October 2010-April 2014. To end with an optimistic comment, this is definitely the best news theme there is right now in New York. Period. (I know most people on this forum are probably just members like myself, but I know there are some professionals or station insiders that do read this forum, so that's why this post is kind of addressed to them, in the case a WPIX behind the scenes person comes across this.)

Oh yeah, I knew that, but I wasn't thinking at the moment. So I guess they just did their regular 9am hour and ended the show.

WNYW also does this with storm coverage. They're always the ONLY station that does not start at 4am for snow storms and such, and is always afraid to break into programming for snow storms. Usually, they just provide hourly updates. But, come on. I mean, Good Day New York does last until 9AM, can't they just continue for an extra hour? I mean really. I have to say WNYW seem to be branching further and further away from "news" these days.

Well I don't really watch the news at 10, but tonight I decided to check out WNYW. And I never liked or cared for Dari Alexander. But after watching for, what, 5 minutes, I seriously wanted to walk away and get my news from online articles. Honestly, as much as myself, including others, bash on them, I'd take Tamsen and Scott's conversations anytime before Dari's attitude. Yes, news is supposed to be serious, but not to the point when a newscaster has an attitude reading the stories. They really do not deserve to be #1 at 10pm, and with the right changes, I feel WPIX can surpass them easily. I don't get what WNYW sees in Dari, I really don't.

There are reports of shots fired at the garden state plaza mall. So, CBSNewYork.com has a big banner up on their webpage about it, and when I listen to WCBS 880, I have listened to it for a full half hour, and there is not ONE mention about it. Does anybody else find this strange?

So it's the 2nd day of the PIX11 Sports Desk, and it's really the same thing as last week (with different stories of course, just same format). It's obviously live though, because when they were covering the yankees, Scott said "ok guys do we have the tape" or something like that. They did have it, but it probably would of been edited out if it wasn't live. Also, I noticed they played the "NG style theme" (sorry I keep calling it this, I just don't know what else to call the new cut that they use of the custom package during the duration of the highlights during the first block. I also notice they did the open 2 times just like they did last week. During the second block however, they didn't have the music playing throughout. Also, Joe Mauceri is doing sports reporting again on location. And some of the stories that they did were just repeats of sports-oriented stories they did during the 5pm newscast. Finally, they should probably rename the show since they don't use a desk. Overall, no real difference from last week, and a pretty disappointing show IMO, as I expected.

WPIX debuted a new strictly business report "open" I guess you can call it. It was kind of odd, but I'll have to see it again. On an unrelated note, I know I brought this up before, but when exactly is Arnold Diaz on? In the morning, evening?

I already wrote this up on page 7 of this forum, about the anchor slot being open. Here's what I said: I just figured I'd check PIX 11 Jobs, and there's an open spot for an anchor/reporter and the date posted was April 11th of this year. It says in our "single anchor format". Was the description written a while ago? I'm just not sure what they're implying by that. I guess they're either looking for an anchor to replace Dan (if he ever leaves) or a new anchor to do the 11am and weekend morning newscasts (if that ever happens). And If they give up on Tamsen and Scott now, that's a sign of a weak station. Even though they're not that good, viewers aren't going to want to get to know a new anchor again. It's better to have Tamsen, a familiar morning anchor or 'glamour girl' as some refer to her paired with Scott, a familiar sports reporter and WWE commentator. Unless of course they plan on returning Kaity to weekdays, which the chances of that happening are extremely slim IMO. Or another thought just sprung into my mind. Maybe they want to add a 6PM newscast with a new solo anchor walking around? Or at another time slot? Hmmm...

Oh, maybe he was on in the morning? I don't watch WPIX in the morning, so that could be. I'll be sure to look for him.

Just wondering, does anyone know when Arnold Diaz is set to debut on WPIX? I thought it would happen already, but I guess not. Just curious, Thanks.

I agree with everything everybody here said. The segment needs to be fine tuned. If they're going to end the news and do just sports, have news for 30 minutes, and have the half hour dedicated to sports if they really want to. I recommend just having 10 minutes of sports, then going back to Tamsen to do another story, and then blah blah blah, and sign off with the two of them together. Maybe make the sports desk inserted into the news at 10:30, and then end it at 10:45 with more news after? Just a suggestion. At least I'm happy that they're making Scott feel more at home, doing the sports. That is what he is meant to do, sports, not news. He's not horrible as an anchor, but he's a great sports director.