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nycnewsjunkie

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Posts posted by nycnewsjunkie

  1. 5 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

    No matter how great of a career, there’s no need for people to be anchoring into their 80s (I’m looking at you Chuck). 

    I know you probably don’t mean it this way, but this comes off a bit ageist to me. Chuck is willing to work, NBC is willing to have him work, the viewers love him, and he’s still good at what he does, so I don’t see any reason for him to stop just because he’s old. It’s not as though he’s impeding younger journalists from greater opportunities. Besides, David Ushery and Natalie Pasquarella are the primary anchors there now, and if anything, having someone like Chuck in your newsroom to mentor younger journalists is an asset, not a liability.

     

    As far as Dana’s concerned, I’ve never met her, so I can’t speak to what others have said about her. Some people talk about her being supposedly difficult to work with, others have nothing but great things to say about her. That said, she was a good anchor who did her job well for decades, and I think she deserved acknowledgment for that. Ideally, one could argue she should’ve been given a bigger sendoff, but considering the nature of the TV news business, I’m glad she was given any sort of sendoff at all.

    • Like 1
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  2. On 3/21/2024 at 6:39 PM, Geoffrey said:

    This bug appeared at 5:30 for about a minute this evening, before being taken away and replaced by the normal blue one.

     

    Pretty weird. The ugly gradient reminds me of CBSN's old "Red & Blue" look (and also 1990s web design).

     

    CBS23-21-2024531pm.thumb.png.0fb92beed635420a4fdb92d6a9f11ae6.png

    Weird. Perhaps they were taking after the NYC flag? But I agree, that gradient does not look good.

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  3. 17 hours ago, TheNewsTV said:

    Maybe Pedro Rivera or Michelle. It's just strange that Sandra isn't there at 11pm, the other times she was there with David Navarro.

    I’d bet on Pedro Rivera; nothing against Michelle, but sometimes it seems as though she doesn’t proofread her scripts before going to air.

  4. On the one hand, I’ll admit there are worse ways to make cuts than by producing a Scrippscast. Given that Sinclair has resorted to shutting down entire newsrooms and pumping in a questionable product from DC, it’s not so bad by comparison. Better to have a station continue to cover local stories with less than ideal resources/production than to have a local newsroom shut down entirely.

     

    However, I still don’t think that this is good for broadcast journalism. IMO, a lot of these Scrippscasts (for example, see WTXL) look hastily put together, and it seems as though they do the bare minimum to cover local stories. The national content often has little to no relevance to the viewer in that market. I’m not totally against the idea of reducing the role of the anchor to save costs, but unless that money is going into more robust local journalism and providing greater context to local issues, it’s a bit disingenuous for Scripps to frame this as a positive evolution in local news. It’s just cost cutting.

     

    It certainly seems like this is the future of local news, but we don’t have to like it.

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  5. 1 hour ago, Howard Beale said:

    I don't think there's a need to "fire/cancel the guy."  If this was an honest mistake, treat it as such, and learn from it.  But don't sweep it under the rug either.  I doubt many people would have known about this if the NABJ didn't issue a statement.  KMOV owes its audience an explanation of how and why this happened.

    Understood, and I totally agree with you there. They should be transparent with viewers about this and shouldn’t pretend it didn’t happen.

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  6. 20 minutes ago, SnellKrell said:

    Yes, there is concern!

     

    It's rank amateur that things keep changing depending upon who's in the control room.

     

    After a newscast, that's when you experiment and settle upon a shooting style/pattern, you don't do it on the air.

     

    This is market #1 and the Flagship station of the NBC Television Network!

    I don’t mean to offend you, but this is a nothingburger. Changes happen on the fly during a newscast all the time. There are instances where stories are cut due to time constraints.
     

    There’s absolutely nothing to get worked up about here when these are things that very few people will actually notice. So they shot the set from a different angle…big deal.

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  7. 1 hour ago, Howard Beale said:

    I didn't find the video on their website.  Someone else did and posted the video to TikTok.  I searched KMOV's website and did not find the initial video or any subsequent apologies.  However, from what I've read online, Cory Stark did apologize.

    "Poor word choices" is an understatement.  Yes, mistakes happen, but we're talking about an outdated and racist term for Black people that somehow made it into a news broadcast in 2024.

    So instead of using it as a learning opportunity for everyone in the newsroom, let’s fire/cancel the guy? I fail to see how that helps anyone. It’s far more productive to heed the lesson from this experience so that people avoid repeating similar mistakes in the future.

     

    Not to mention, this cluster f goes beyond one person. If I’m not mistaken, scripts are supposed to be written, edited, and reviewed before going to air. Something went seriously wrong with that process if no one caught that phrasing before hitting air, and work should be done to correct that process. Unless this was done with malicious intent (which by all accounts, it wasn’t), they don’t need to go on a pink slip crusade.

    • Like 5
  8. 7 hours ago, kdex86 said:

    In Boston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, a CBS O&O competes with a Hearst owned station.

    Boston and Pittsburgh are unique in the fact that both markets have CBS O&O's, Hearst owned ABC stations, and a Big 4 station owned by Cox Media Group.

     

    WBZ has actually fared well in Boston TV news ratings.  I haven't seen any official press releases for Boston station ratings in recent years, but they've consistently been #2 behind WCVB, sometimes winning a timeslot here and there.  The fact that WBZ has been around since 1948 also helps it be a strong station in the market.

    Unfortunately, Next TV doesn’t seem to provide full ratings data in their Local News Close-Ups, but they do note that in the September 2023 ratings period, WBZ placed third behind WHDH at 11pm (in both the demo and total viewers). It wouldn’t surprise me if they were second in other time slots, though. Regardless of ratings, I think they put out a fantastic product; they’re definitely one of the better CBS O&Os IMO.

     

    https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news-close-up-better-things-are-bruin-in-boston

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  9. 9 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

    Dammit.  The Bally Sports dumpster fire gets a new source of kindling....

     

    https://awfulannouncing.com/sinclair/against-all-odds-diamond-sports-group-looks-set-to-rise-from-the-ashes.html

    As much as I (and, I presume, most of us) like to hate on Sinclair, the RSN business, and the decreasing accessibility of professional sports, this is probably the best case scenario for the teams. A lot of these teams rely on RSNs for revenue, and the total loss of Bally Sports would have crippled those teams.

  10. 7 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

    O&O wise, CBS lags in the largest markets while ABC dominates.  NBC varies, but seems to be in the middle.

     

    Of the top 5 markets, Chicago is where Fox gets their clock cleaned by WGN on a consistent basis while NY & LA seem to be doing better, WNYW does way better than WPIX and what's left of WWOR (but does KCAL and KTLA outrank KTTV?)

     

    Generally, ABC has held up the best as the network owners have "borged" their stations.  CBS took a hit in the 80s from the Tisch era and Jeff "Zucked" the NBC stations during his disastrous tenure.

    In LA, KTTV actually doesn’t perform as well as its competitors. In the mornings, KTLA is in first both in the demo and total households. At 10pm, KTTV is behind both KCAL and KTLA.

     

    Getting back to CBS, one silver lining for them is that KCAL is still doing well (they actually won both the demo and total households at 10pm). Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t seem to have translated to ratings growth at KCBS.

     

    https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news-close-up-la-news-battle-begins-before-sunrise

  11. What a horrible turn of events for Newshub and for New Zealanders. WBD has already been making cuts to its NZ division, but to close the entire newsroom is diabolical. A lot of good people are going to be out of work, and most importantly, it’s a disaster for New Zealand. TVNZ (the state-owned “public” broadcaster that operates more like a commercial channel in practice) is going to have a monopoly on TV news. What a joke.
     

    I don’t know of too many healthy democracies with a lack of media diversity. You can’t adequately scrutinize people in power when there’s only one, state-owned outlet available to do it. I’m hoping there’s a way to save Newshub before June, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

    • Like 2
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  12. 14 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

    At least it looks better with the new package then it did with the other one.  And the team colors are also used by the Pirates and the Penguins, so they do transcend beyond the Steelers to being more of a "Pittsburgh" thing.

     

    I like Pittsburgh, But being from Northeast Ohio, you get the idea 🤣.

    All good lol😂

    (And in fairness, man do those colors look ugly…)

    1 hour ago, carolinanews4 said:

    For the CBS owned stations, I think comes down to a lack of budget and the resulting lack of identity. CBS O&Os historically have spent less than their ABC and NBC counterparts leaving them with fewer resources. To play catchup stations like WCBS and WBBM have gone through numerous rebrandings.

     

    From a corporate standpoint, CBS has undervalued the "presentation" portion of TV news which has been reflected in the way they fund their local stations. They live in the Walter Cronkite era of storytelling. Admirable? Sure. But television is a visual medium and newscasts are built on a relationship with the viewer. I don't feel like CBS has ever truly embraced either of those things. The lack of investment was easier to hide in the 70s and 80s because everyone's presentation was crude. But as technology has evolved, CBS always seems to be playing catch-up. 

     

    When Jeff Zucker cut NBC budgets in the early 2000s, WNBC went into their "WCBS era" where they lacked identity and money. The NBC O&O group launched Daily Connection which was a "newscast" that featured repurposed content from across NBCU properties. The pieces of the show were assembled in NYC and then fed to stations to be produced with local talent. (Sound similar to the equally generic CBS News Now broadcast from Texas?) Cost efficient? You bet. Compelling tv? Not at all.

     

    WNBC eliminated Live at Five in favor of News4You and Extra. When that didn't work, WNBC played musical chairs with timeslots, anchors, and formats for years. WNBC their newsroom into a "Content Center" which was nothing more than a gimmick, like the gimmick WCBS tried in launching the short-lived CBS 2 Information NetworkIt was during this time when WCBS was able to move up to #2, not because Channel 2 was doing anything particularly compelling but because they offered stability where WNBC didn't.

     

    Valari Staab, formerly with the ABC O&O group, has spent over a decade rebuilding the newsgathering resources of the NBC group. New radar technology, studios, increased digital resources, heck even new buildings have been added. CBS meanwhile appears to continue the "more with less" mantra that has been in place for over 40 years. While NBC was rebuilding, the ABC stations, with their well-defined local identities, have steamrolled everyone with a consistent and well-funded product. Meanwhile the FOX O&O group, with seemingly endless hours of local news, generates strong local revenue. 

     

    What has CBS done? Slapped the last-place 'CBS News' brand onto their local stations. Most of the CBS stations lack the type of true community investment it takes to be a strong player. With audiences for linear TV newscasts continuing to shrink, one could argue it Is way too late for them to catch up. 

    I think you nailed it. I’ll continue to give CBS credit for launching the best/most watchable local streaming newscasts, but even aspects of that whole endeavor (like CBS News Now) were seemingly done on the cheap.
     

    I would just add that Paramount’s current financial situation probably isn’t helping either. IIRC, the O&Os were hit with layoffs in June and December, and CBS News laid off 20 people this month as part of company-wide layoffs.

    • Like 1
  13. 6 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

    How is Pittsburgh doing these days?  Even though the newscast is pumping out the same garbage that all the other CBS markets are, they're allowed to use the ugly black and yellow to cater to the "Stillers" fans, and probably get a lot more traction by doing so!

    I don’t mean to offend, but I really don’t understand why this bothers people. They’re not my favorite colors either, but we’re talking about Pittsburgh here. Sure, there are better ways to execute the black and gold look, but is it so bad that a station’s visual identity reflects the city it serves?

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  14. 2 hours ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

    I mean, given that those 2 stations are the only CBS O&O’s in their states (Colorado and Texas, respectively), you can’t really blame them.

    I understand Colorado (the Denver market covers a majority of the state geographically), but given that Texas is also home to a big city like Houston and growing cities like Austin and San Antonio, the brand just doesn’t work IMO.

    • Like 3
  15. 4 hours ago, NYNewsCoverage said:

    Either way I'm also surprised CBS is allowing both Andrea and Doug to speak the truth about the change, since that will obviously fuel anger and hate towards WCBS (and heck, if enough speak out maybe even reverse that decision)!

    Don’t count on that happening. The decision’s been made, and unfortunately, what’s done is done. Not only would that be unfair to the person they hired for the job; news executives generally don’t walk back their decisions like that. They’d have proverbial egg on their face if they did.

  16. That’s a shame. I thought Andrea was a good anchor, and she and Doug had great chemistry. I’m glad they were allowed to be frank and honest about the whole situation on air, though. That said, they’re fixing something that isn’t broken IMO.

    • Like 4
  17. On 2/22/2024 at 11:51 AM, Abraham J. Simpson said:

    . I could be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Neither is going to happen. 

    On the off chance Nightline actually does expand, I'm bookmarking this. Just saying 🤣

    • Like 1
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  18. 17 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

    I would doubt it. Hasn’t the JKL hour been fairly successful for ABC? Seems like they’d want to find a suitable replacement than abandoning it.

    I don't know...I think the cancellation of the Late Late Show after Corden's departure was a bit of a bellwether for the decreasing relevance of late night talk shows. Kimmel has his audience, but if I'm not mistaken, he is routinely beaten by Colbert and Fallon. As far as his current place in late night TV is concerned, I feel like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight are more culturally relevant than Jimmy Kimmel.

     

    I suppose there's a chance that ABC finds a fresh comedian to helm a new talk show, and if they're making money between 11:35 and 12:35, they probably won't fix what isn't broken. However, if they end up giving an extra 25 minutes to the affiliates, that really wouldn't surprise me.

    • Like 3
  19. 20 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

    The thing is: who actually notices? For all the complaints about common elements, how many viewers are actually going to be in two markets with common designs, and happen to watch the stations in question, and happen to pay that kind of attention, and actually care? Effectively no one. 
     

    Nobody cares if WABC and KABC, for instance, have common design elements. A few people like us on message boards aren’t representative of the public at large. 

    Oh, absolutely, nobody notices. As long as the headlines are legible, and the graphics don’t distract from delivering info, nobody gives a crap.

    6 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

    True. I see both sides. I agree with the idea of identifying a similar product via aesthetics through several markets. Not to drift off topic but, comparing the more successful ABC O&Os vs CBS O&OS...I don't mind duplicating a look just with added personal touches like KWY doing green instead of the standard CBS blue and white. I know the argument is a similar look for content sharing but the audience does not care if WCBS takes a KYW green graphic. 

     

    The issue becomes when stations sound like a bland corporate carbon copy and not locally authentic. Look at WCBS with its pharmacy jingle ringtone open and clean corporate feel which doesn't match the vibe of a gritty intense city like New York. In contrast, even though WABC is one of ABC's many Eyewitness News copies, it still feels locally authentic to NYC with its diverse set of long-tenured reporters and its "flashier" (as some have said) format. 

    I have to agree with this though. WABC didn’t originate the Eyewitness News format (even their logo isn’t original), and yet it has always taken on the identity of the city/region it serves. Most of it is due to the long-tenured anchors/reporters and the longevity/viability of the format, but I do think building around a local identity plays a role too. Much of that would be lost if we woke up tomorrow and found ourselves watching “ABC News New York.”

     

    To be fair though, the CBS O&Os were in a different situation than the ABC O&Os. When a lot of those stations are either dead last and/or lacked a local identity to begin with, their approach makes some sense. And full credit to them for beating the other network O&Os when it comes to streaming, and for finally patching up the embarrassment that was their Detroit outlet.

    • Like 4
  20. 43 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

    I’m all about a mandate if it prevents stations from the on-air presentation WABC had in place for a long time. 

    I think there’s a difference between stations sharing a group graphics package and stations taking on the identity of the national network news division. The former is nothing to scoff at imo. The latter is far more noticeable.

    • Like 1
  21. On 2/11/2024 at 6:53 PM, mightynine said:

    Did they forget to load TT Norms in? That looks horrible. 

    I wouldn't be surprised if, given the social media reaction to that font, they make some adjustments to the scorebug before the 2024 season starts. FWIW, I feel like the whole thing would be fixable if they just used TT Norms as the font.

     

    On the plus side, I think the game clock is a definite improvement.

    • Like 2
  22. On 2/7/2024 at 7:13 PM, mrschimpf said:

    I would literally pay extra for a 'clean feed' with just a simple scorebug and no tickers; every new sports service seems to think it's required to appeal to the 'prop bet on random Bangladeshi netball at 4:30 in the morning' category of bettors. I really hope that information isn't baked into the video of this service.

    I doubt it will be. They’ll probably have an option to show betting info and game stats, sort of like how Amazon has an NFL StatCast feed for TNF. They would be dumb to bake that into the main feed itself.

    • Like 1
  23. On 2/8/2024 at 4:10 AM, Jase said:

    No amount of time could have saved the first incarnation of CNN This Morning. Don, Poppy and Kaitlan were (are) polar opposites of each other and never truly seemed interested in making the show work nor supporting (uplifting) each other in any way from the beginning.

     

    Of course building chemistry takes time, but everyone has to be willing to do the work and I never got that from them. It was a pain to watch.

    I think this certainly applies to Don, but I don’t think it’s fair to apply this to Poppy and Kaitlan. The latter two seem to have had a good working relationship. Don shouldn’t have been put on that show to begin with; he was well “past his prime,” as he might put it.

     

    IMO, the issue with CNN’s approach to things is not that “no amount of time could have saved” the show; it’s that they keep trying new things only to blow them up. If you keep doing that, you’ll have no audience to speak of. As you said, building chemistry takes time, and CNN This Morning was not given that time.

    • Like 5
  24. 18 minutes ago, Vlad said:

    Bill is also probably nearing retirement so I noticed he's scaling back on the duties, slowly. But he also still anchors the 5, 6 and 11 so thats still a lot of air time. So its a good strategy to have Bill, the lead anchor still maintain a solid on-air presence while allowing potential successors to groom them out on that Friday evening slot. I can even see the new guy, Pedro Rivera potentially later on down the line, landing the weekday evenings which would be a nice success for him. A lot of anchors who do the morning show on weekend mornings always end up landing somewhere bigger after, seems to be the show with most turnover. 

    IIRC, Bill Ritter himself was on weekend evenings before he replaced Beutel on the 11pm. If they're grooming Mike Marza to be Bill's eventual successor, I could definitely see Pedro taking the weekday morning slot.

    • Like 1
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