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cbs2newengland

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Everything posted by cbs2newengland

  1. I see. Interesting how some stations actually use that for a hashtag, when I clicked on it, that could be a promo in itself (if not already.)
  2. the reply was awesome. All he needed to add was #spoileralert!
  3. This WFAA story from 1997 has a story of The Providence Journal acquisition in the late 90s - the story shows a graphic before and after the merger. youtube.com/watch?v=TBKAMezB75A. Its easy to forget which station is owned by what without some standardization in today's standards. However when Belo launched the Hothaus a couple years ago, did they still retain the graphics artists at each station? I do fear that they might get let go after the implementation of the Gannett graphics because everything is done in the cloud w/ the Axis system that might eliminate the need for dedicated artists. Mostly for promos I would say during sweeps period. to be honest, I wouldn't been surprised if Belo would roll out those graphics to the other stations, just given the need to be more streamlined - but not to the extent of Gannett mind you.
  4. I doubt the future of TXCN, wasn't that network been dead for a number of years only existing rerunning various newscasts throughout the state? Another thing, I didn't know that WHAS was a Belo station, I knew they owned KING and WCNC. How come they didn't roll out the Hothaus graphics throughout the group a year or so ago like they did to KTVK, KHOU and WFAA (am I missing others?)
  5. The only cut l like is near :27, a gentle melody. The final cut that plays breaks so many rules of local news packaging. To me it's in the same class as like a Today Show. Entertainment not hard hitting news. I love to see how the Deathstar will kill the ex Belo stations. KHOU is their second flagship station behind WFAA. I actually don't have much faith with them running that group or even the London group. Remember it's all about the USA Today brand, not anything else. These stations will get cut in the next 5 years down to the bone but yet they'll treat KUSA, WXIA, KARE like the teacher's pet (notice how I left WUSA out of the picture since their station is not performing as well as the other stations in the DC mkt.)
  6. The DIN and the Helvetica don't look right. Will KHOU's logo change to blend in better?
  7. Well I guess good themes have short shelf span and replaced by cruddier ones. That was one of my favorite themes from 615 Music, one of their best in years. Just like how the superior 360/NBC O&O package got thrown into the dumpster at WCAU this past winter replaced by you know what. At least for Houston, V2 will almost lasted 3 years, a few months longer than WCAU had the NBC O&O pkg.
  8. I've tried to load KHOU.com and it took like nearly 2 minutes to complete The code seems to be cluttered or one too many scripts running. If they have to get the graphics, I would hope they'd keep Propulsion. Especially when its grandfathered like WKYC in this instance, they used it a couple years ago, even before a peep about a Belo acquisition. And they used V2! If they used it then, than I'd say let the Texas stations keep it! I can't remember when the two last used "The Spirit of Texas" branding on air, has been since the late 90s? That be awesome if they brought it back at least for a secondary branding.
  9. The native Gannett stations explained this last year when the package was rolling out. First thing after I saw the WUSA piece was that "travel" and I'm like "shouldn't this be traffic?" Did they explain the similarities to USA Today and explaining this is part "of our new owners" (like the native Gannett stations did?) In some cases, not always as pleasant a traveling for pleasure. This was one of my issues since day 1 of the Gannett graphics package. The "travel" is better fit for their online portal at the USA Today not the local news outlet at the Gannett owned TV stations.
  10. The video probably won't be available on FNC's website unless someone DVR'd it or posts it on YouTube. Already checked and it looked like it didn't make the online cut. This brings the copycat to a new (or low) level. Promotions is one thing, but a news story unless that copy was in the Newspath (Howie said CNN ) rundown then I could understand. They need to learn to do "original" reporting!
  11. I like crawls, not the flipper news tickers. And not the FNC style where it rips off a full story off an RSS wire feed. A good story on a crawl can fit into a single sentence, or the worst case have the story broken up w/ the stations logo. I miss the days when humans ran a CG for an entire newscast.
  12. He's right. You shouldn't have to learn how to navigate graphics. All newscasts really need is a lower third to tell people the name of a person being interviewed, and maybe a full screen graphic if there's information that the viewers may want to know. That's it. There's really no need for tickers since nobody reads them. No need for the rundown because nobody reads that either. Time and temp somebody can check on their cable box or phone. And I think we all know what channel we're watching. And if I wanted to follow a reporter on Twitter I would just look them up there. No need to give me their handle. I can understand the color concept for newspapers, as many local ones, even ones not owned by Gannett, like the San Francisco Chronicle, use color coding for sections. But TV is not the same as a newspaper. Thanks a lot news consultants for sure. I question the quote "that viewers told them that they were tired of flickering graphic animations that added nothing to the story they were watching" because isn't that what people bitched to WUSA, KUSA and KARE? I love how stations can get away lying about "well our new package is in part of our acquisition from the Gannett company which owns the USA Today, if you can tell by the colors!" What's worse is the color code is more than your daily USA Today (9 colors on TV over 4 on the paper) and I said before the colors are hard to catch on the bottom. I disagree on the temperature and time bug and the twitter handle, IMO for some its value to others its not. The rundown in the current format is more tame than the Pyburn, because that was so SportsCenter like. At first I thought it was for some stations not in native HD or something then when I saw it outside the flagships - I was like this is crazy! I remember reading Mike Bloomberg's autobio written around the time he launched Bloomberg TV (and if you want to talk about cluttered graphics for the mid/late 90s - that had a lot of empty space!) but his defense was this: you don't look at your entire Windows desktop at the same time, you only look at what is relevant to you at that time. If Gannett wants to get viewers to take the graphics more seriously, then maybe they should cut the colors, cut out the rundown and then get rid of the black box in favor of the colors to stand out.
  13. I am critical of the Gannett package because in this example it shows how there is no structure of writing a lower third. From the WHAS embed: "ALEX SCHULMAN - @WHAS11ALEX 2ND STREET BRIDGE ACCIDENT CIVIL LAWSUIT" Obviously, I object to the top tier. I don't like the dash, and his handle should feature a Twitter icon below his name, then have the slug run by itself. On top of that, (correct me if I am wrong) but the headlines are not in 2 lines. So if a story is very wordy, then the L3 can be so tight because its trying to fit the text onto that single line. That's just crazy.
  14. Ok, I thought Gannett's was more Bell Gothic. DIN is meh to me. Look C graphics were nice, the font really was an eyesore IMO.
  15. It was a rhetorical question. However do both stations still have separate newsrooms/studios/whatever? I feel its dumb branding for the Maine audience that needs things simplified branding without the complexity of virtual VHF channel numbers. They did call themselves NewsCenter 6 years and years ago. Anyways jts wacky marketing for a Gannett station.
  16. Oh gawd, that's just annoying like WCSH's signoff "NewsCenter" - what channel is "NewsCenter"?
  17. What do they mean "This is Home?" I still don't get that campaign. Its lame, written by someone with poor English skills!
  18. The Spirit of Texas is like a trademark, when I think of that tag, I think of WFAA (and KHOU to be fair, but I've associated with 8 the longest in my memory.) With the Deathstar buying out what was 6 TX stations, they can actually expand on it and not just the two established ex-Belo stations. Gannett needs to execute the branding very carefully, 2013 was probably the first time where major groups bought or merged with other major groups in ages. I am in no defense that "each station is different and we should treat them special" kinda BS, however I wished the packaging would fuse. And Gari music isn't been the same to some from the mid 90s and to some from the late 80s, and yes I could be a fanboy of Propulsion V2, but I'd love maybe a new 615 package if they so choose. Gari is more of a brand name to some CSD lemmings, and not understand there is more to news music than Gari. (Personally, for years I never "got" Stephen Arnold - thought he was just another "heartland" composer and wether it's taste or I am just getting older, I am actually a fan of his music and his 360 unit.) On the graphics, I am at a lost why the Miranda system can't do a "Chyron/Deko export." I thought they used Viz (must be judgmental) and maybe that was way they couldn't. I said before, I don't like how graphics are made by twentysomethings that are very PC (the computer) when designing graphics and never design it with the mind of a viewer watching it on a 22" screen or a 9" incher, etc. TV is still the first product to deliver information, and the web comes in second, so thats how the graphics should be done. I wish them luck. And hope the viewers don't take the change the wrong way.
  19. LOL I saw that too, and forgot to mention that. And they had that logo for nearly 25 years (1970s to 1997) before they went radical to the current CBS2 logo. WCBS' was the best Channel 2 logo out of the group at that time, classy and all. I'd love to see it return though.
  20. I have to say HulkieD, there is a difference between a web designer and a CG/graphics operator. You can't put the two skills together. No wonder why people can't see L3s like they used to. IT/computer types ruined it for all. I'll defend the old Chyron way of graphics design any day, if you take visual content seriously.
  21. I disagree with the G3 look. I don't like modern and fresh looks. If I want modern and fresh looks (with leftist biased reporting) I can tune to a European news network. I am a traditionalist, graphics I can read and not be forced into a 16:9 format when (believe it or not ) many still have SDI or a non HD set. And for the love of God who ever came up with the 9 colors for their graphics package should be fired and banned from the TV industry. The G3 package has no character limits, no drop shadowing, just flat and simple (read stupid) graphics only a 25 year old that doesn't wear glasses can read. Where's the color on the graphics (insert "Where's the Beef" tone?) The tiny thin lines is hard to see. And USA Today? How many fleeping times do I have to be reminded that any Gannett station is sisters with a paper I haven't read from front to back since 2001!? I'd take the deathstar ID over being forced down my throat in the lower third package anyday! I loved the Belo package, its style aligned with the substance, like lower thirds that are meant to be read 10' away (not 1" to ruin ones eyes!) And if they dump Propulsion V 2 (yes V1 sucked like heck, but V2 is classic 615 Music) with the lame This is Home, that would be really disappointing. I don't get that campaign, whats "home"? No one lives in their hometown like a generation ago. Its not relevant to the modern generation to be quite honest.
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