Don't forget Rob Lopicola from WPTV, although I think his arrest/conviction happened after he quit TV.

It's nice that Nexstar isn't forcing affiliates to use certain packages (Especially the CBS pack, which is probably the worst of the three network-linked ones IMO). Slick graphics and set. Is this a new gfx pkg for Nexstar?

https://www.newscaststudio.com/2019/09/04/kcci-new-set/ Bit of a surprise here...unlike nearly all of the other new Hearst sets, Devlin didn't design this one. Z Space Creative did.

https://www.kcci.com/article/tour-the-new-kcci-news-set/28897985 The latest Hearst set. Looks to have a CBS theme (with the Cronkite world map and all) rather than a location theme like WVTM.

Nice...too bad the account isn't particularly active. If there's a great place to do drone shots, it's that market.

Devlin has been knocking it out of the park with its sets lately, particularly the Hearst ones. Love the attention to detail on this one. It's nice to see thought being put into design rather than just serving up cookie-cutter stuff.

Based on the discussion in the KFMB thread, I think it might be interesting to have a general thread about drones in TV news. What are some good uses you've seen of them from stations? Who's debuting one? Will they ever be able to replace choppers? etc. -- To answer the latter question -- I agree with the folks who say "not anytime soon". It sounds great on paper, but all of the federal restrictions and the fact that drive time is required to go fly renders them ill-suited to replace choppers. I think they're better than nothing for the stations that don't have helicopters, but not replacements by a longshot.

I don't think ns8401 intended to put down Spanish-language TV news. S/he wasn't saying Spanish-language news is somehow inferior to English-language stations, just that the numbers aren't particularly profound when you look beyond the surface and the press release...as in it's less about the content the stations are producing and more about the demographics. In 2015-2016 about 3.6% of Hispanic TV households nationwide lived in DFW vs around 2.3% of overall households nationwide. https://www.nationalmediaspots.com/media-stats/Nielsen-2016-2017-Hispanic-TV-Homes.pdf You can see how some markets punch tremendously above or below their weight in this regard. In Hispanic households, the RGV is a top 10 market while barely cracking the top 80 overall. Obviously it's important to not necessarily conflate Hispanic with "Spanish-speaking", since plenty of Latino Americans speak zero Spanish...that is unless language is a factor in Nielsen's rankings.

Probably a mix of there being only two Spanish news-producing stations versus four (less ratings dilution) and perhaps more Spanish-speakers watching TV news than anglophones.

Viewer loyalty isn't easy to break. Most of the bloodbaths happened behind the scenes, and viewers are a lot less likely to notice if the anchors remain the same and most viewers aren't going to really notice lower-quality MMJ content. It's just a shame how Gray operates, that's all.

Yeah, and then completely strip them to the bone. (WDBJ, WCAX, KYTV, etc.)

Both could use some serious work, really.

A lot of the traffic reporters stations add to the fold nowadays have some other role. Anchoring the noon or later morning show, fill in WX, transportation reporter, etc.

There's nothing "ABC" about the graphics other than Nexstar arbitrarily deciding that's what their ABC affiliates get. Personally I've always thought it was dumb to divide the packages by affiliation. The CBS and ABC gfx don't really have any noticeable elements that correspond to affiliation...and the NBC, just barely.

What in the world makes you think this?