New CBS O&O Graphics Begin Rollout

[bostonmediaguy 119]

 

Am I the only one who finds it embarrassing that the CBS websites don't offer a live stream?

 

The websites themselves are embarrassing. Live stream availability or not.

[HulkieD 1106]

The websites themselves are embarrassing. Live stream availability or not.

This. Times a billion.

 

Especially when you consider that the same company owns CBS Interactive, which has people who clearly understand the Internet and web design. Few TV station owners have access to an in-house unit that can achieve the same quality CBSi can. And yet to my knowledge, they weren't responsible for the current sites.

 

Good web design isn't going to solve the core problem, though. CBS Local's entire digital strategy is broken. Lumping every single station into a single app that has no bearing on thelocal branding whatsoever is bad enough; that YourDay is one of the lousiest local news apps out there just takes the cake. Unbundle the TV sites from the radio sites, create local news apps again, and for the love of God let CBSi do it this time, please.

[bostonmediaguy 119]

 

This. Times a billion.

 

Especially when you consider that the same company owns CBS Interactive, which has people who clearly understand the Internet and web design. Few TV station owners have access to an in-house unit that can achieve the same quality CBSi can. And yet to my knowledge, they weren't responsible for the current sites.

 

Good web design isn't going to solve the core problem, though. CBS Local's entire digital strategy is broken. Lumping every single station into a single app that has no bearing on thelocal branding whatsoever is bad enough; that YourDay is one of the lousiest local news apps out there just takes the cake. Unbundle the TV sites from the radio sites, create local news apps again, and for the love of God let CBSi do it this time, please.

 

I never understood what was wrong with the prior design. It was beautiful.

 

I completely agree that the strategy is broken. The sole app with no local branding is foolish.

 

As for the merged tv and radio sites, it can work in some instances. And, it's something that won't take much effort. Combine the brands; one sole brand that isn't CBS(your city). Use similar logos, the same themes, share on-air personnel, and, yes, share management. Where it does not make sense, separate them.

 

WBZ, KYW, KDKA... there are others. Utilize the known brands. WBZ-TV/WBZ NewsRadio/WBZ.com.

 

Like I always say, you cannot use the same playbook across the board. Each market is unique. Allow local management to choose what is best for their station.

[sanewsguy 506]

Current website arrangement was done, if I understand correctly, as a cost-cutting and synergy move. CBSLocal falls under the radio division. I'll use DFW as an example. Notice KTVT/KRLD (news radio)/the FM sports station are all lumped on CBSDFW.com. Then the rest of the radio stations have their own site (KLUV-FM and 100.3 Jack FM Dallas are provided as examples). It appears that the stations are able to customize the template as they please (to a certain extent, but some are better than others) but radio only, while the TV stations are stuck using the default city-name portal template. I think the templates are fine as a radio station website but NOT for a TV station. They're two different mediums and you can't really take a one site fits all type approach that CBS has been taking for their local stations. But if you're going to, KSL does a superb job, better executed than the CBSLocal sites.

[Guest Anthony]

I think one of the biggest reasons ABC O&Os are mostly #1 in their cities is because ABC allows the stations to cater to the specific markets. Graphics, music, logos, promos etc...

[mike91 66]

 

I think one of the biggest reasons ABC O&Os are mostly #1 in their cities is because ABC allows the stations to cater to the specific markets. Graphics, music, logos, promos etc...

 

They have been #1 in their respective markets for a very long time, even way before every other station group decided to standardize their on air looks.

[Geoffrey 729]

The CBS Local strategy is biased toward the radio stations. In New York, WCBS 880, 1010 WINS and WFAN are given their own Facebook and Twitter pages, allowing for proper branding, while CBS 2 is stuck with CBS New York (which has been using a weird do-it-yourself version of the CBS 2 logo for over a year) as their Facebook and Twitter presence.

 

Not to mention that the websites are a mess. They remind me of "content farms" that are meant to show up in search engines to get a lot of page clicks (Google has been pretty good at weeding these out, though). It's like they were designed with the ads in mind first and the content last. The previous look was much nicer and easier to navigate.

[HulkieD 1106]

There's one thing about CBSPhilly.com that emphasizes how bad and not thought out these sites are.

 

On CBSPhilly.com, there are five stations represented: CBS 3, KYW, WPHT Talkradio 1210, 94WIP Sports, and CBS Sports Network 610. Their lone music station here, WOGL, gets its own site. As does CW Philly 57.

 

If you watch 3 even a little bit, you know why CW Philly having its own site is a big problem. Both television stations are promoted as a single entity. Continuing Coverage graphics, for example, have both station logos, reporter polos and rainjackets have both logos on there, and generally they go out of their way to say "hey, we're related!"

 

On the other hand, CBS 3 has almost no overlap with KYW. The days of channel 3 echoing the newsradio branding are long gone, and the only thing shared between the stations are the weather updates. Yet... their true sister station gets its own site when it's really not a whole entity, while KYW and CBS 3 are forced to share a news site. Makes no sense.

[chrelevator 28]

The same is true with KDKA and CBSPittsburgh.com (which they still call "kdka.com" - I imagine that may change when they get the new graphics, or maybe not....who knows). While KDKA Radio still features reports from KDKA-TV, KDKA doesn't do the same. When you listen to the news reports at the top of the hour and at :30, you'll often hear reports given by KDKA-TV reporters in the field. KDKA-TV does not return the favor by featuring KDKA Radio personalities in their stories. In general, the only time KDKA-TV seems to even acknowledge KDKA Radio's existence is in the mornings when the morning anchors chat with Larry & John in the KDKA Radio studios.

 

This I think is wrong because KDKA TV and Radio should be tied closely together (and I'm sure they used to be in the days of Group W), and the CBS Pittsburgh website could certainly aid in that. But instead they choose to remain pretty separate from each other. Hell, they aren't even in the same buiding anymore. KDKA Radio moved out of Gateway Center and joined the other CBS Radio Pittsburgh stations in Greentree. Now, unlike KYW which still shares weather reports (according to HulkieD), KDKA Radio gets their weather reports from AccuWeather, and KDKA-TV gets their weather from both AccuWeather and WeatherBug.

 

KDKA Radio is a great station with great programming, and so is KDKA-TV, and if they emphasized their bond as sister stations a little more, I think KDKA would be even better.

 

Oh, and WPCW also has its own website, just like WPSG.

[bixpchiphead 105]

 

The same is true with KDKA and CBSPittsburgh.com (which they still call "kdka.com" - I imagine that may change when they get the new graphics, or maybe not....who knows). While KDKA Radio still features reports from KDKA-TV, KDKA doesn't do the same. When you listen to the news reports at the top of the hour and at :30, you'll often hear reports given by KDKA-TV reporters in the field. KDKA-TV does not return the favor by featuring KDKA Radio personalities in their stories. In general, the only time KDKA-TV seems to even acknowledge KDKA Radio's existence is in the mornings when the morning anchors chat with Larry & John in the KDKA Radio studios.

 

This I think is wrong because KDKA TV and Radio should be tied closely together (and I'm sure they used to be in the days of Group W), and the CBS Pittsburgh website could certainly aid in that. But instead they choose to remain pretty separate from each other. Hell, they aren't even in the same buiding anymore. KDKA Radio moved out of Gateway Center and joined the other CBS Radio Pittsburgh stations in Greentree. Now, unlike KYW which still shares weather reports (according to HulkieD), KDKA Radio gets their weather reports from AccuWeather, and KDKA-TV gets their weather from both AccuWeather and WeatherBug.

 

KDKA Radio is a great station with great programming, and so is KDKA-TV, and if they emphasized their bond as sister stations a little more, I think KDKA would be even better.

 

Oh, and WPCW also has its own website, just like WPSG.

 

In reality, the only heritage Group W radio/tv combo that has done synergy well has been 'BZ, and the big push for that occurred after radio went Mostly All News in the 90's.

 

(Perhaps it's in the DNA @1170 Soldiers Field Road, with 'BZ being the ONLY radio and television pairing that were founded by the Circle W, all other GroupW TV's were bought along the way)

 

KDKA Radio and Television have never realty been that close (going all the way back to Bill Burns) even when they shared space @ One Gateway Center.

 

To be sure, there were and are collaborations

 

(The annual Children's Hospital benefit show, the late Ray Tannehill or Stacy Smith anchoring the 4PM half hour radio news block leading into "90 to 6", Larry Richert and John Shumway)

[Mrtraveler01 730]

 

In reality, the only heritage Group W radio/tv combo that has done synergy well has been 'BZ, and the big push for that occurred after radio went Mostly All News in the 90's.

 

(Perhaps it's in the DNA @1170 Soldiers Field Road, with 'BZ being the ONLY radio and television pairing that were founded by the Circle W, all other GroupW TV's were bought along the way)

 

KDKA Radio and Television have never realty been that close (going all the way back to Bill Burns) even when they shared space @ One Gateway Center.

 

To be sure, there were and are collaborations

 

(The annual Children's Hospital benefit show, the late Ray Tannehill or Stacy Smith anchoring the 4PM half hour radio news block leading into "90 to 6", Larry Richert and John Shumway)

 

KDKA seems to do more collaboration with the Post-Gazette than they do with KDKA-AM. However they are doing more collaboration with 93.7 the Fan (KDKA-FM) and integrating that into their sports coverage by having the on air people from there come onto the Nightly Sports Call and also on the #1 Cochran Sports Showdown on Sunday.

[HulkieD 1106]

Actually, the CBS 3 weather thing is something new. Used to be AccuWeather around the clock, but a year or so ago everything but the morning daypart was handed over to CBS 3. Elliot Abrams and AccuWeather are still used for morning drive.

 

I never understood what was wrong with the prior design. It was beautiful.

I do, and I can explain.

 

The old sites WERE beautiful, fantastic even. They were also designed in 2006.

 

What changed since then? LOTS. The iPhone wasn't out, much less the iPad, and screen resolutions were lower, and a significant percentage of households were still stuck using Internet Explorer 6.

 

Now, websites have to be created to work on desktops, laptops, tablets, hones, TVs, you name it. The old design, like ABC's soon-to-vanish design, wouldn't work on tablets - the links are spaced far too much together. They would have had to do a complete redesign anyway.

[ToriElectra 287]

 

Actually, the CBS 3 weather thing is something new. Used to be AccuWeather around the clock, but a year or so ago everything but the morning daypart was handed over to CBS 3. Elliot Abrams and AccuWeather are still used for morning drive.

 

 

WCBS and WBZ have been doing the same thing since at least last year; I listened to them both on a trip to Boston.

[chrelevator 28]

Switching gears for a moment...does anyone have a video of KTVT's new opening? I'd love to see it.

[AlNYTVRadio 21]

 

Switching gears for a moment...does anyone have a video of KTVT's new opening? I'd love to see it.

 

I've been asking that as well, looks like nobody has it yet.

[24994J 5126]

WBBM started using the new package Sunday (10/20) night. They're using the WCBS bumpers, and I'm assuming the opening cut matches, as I only started watching during the weather segment. No set changes or anything have been made. Their logo remains boxed and monochromatic (just as I thought) and the bug transitions are rather infrequent, compared to their east and west coast counterparts.

 

So, with markets 1-5 covered (save for WLNY and KCAL), the ball's in KPIX's court.

[AlNYTVRadio 21]

Can you upload a video? Thanks if possible.

[24994J 5126]

 

Can you upload a video? Thanks if possible.

 

Good luck with that.

 

Just kidding, I would if I could.

[AlNYTVRadio 21]

Thanks anyways.

[HulkieD 1106]

This is a terrible capture, but here you go:

 

[AlNYTVRadio 21]

I saw that and posted the link in another forum and my review. With the new WLS and WBBM packages and what I've seen so far, it looks to me that WLS's will be better, but we haven't seen both packages fully. But still the new CBS GFX are better than before. Anyways, thanks for your help!

[TJTWX 2]

WFOR converted to the new graphics today (I think), according to this video on their website:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/video/9461397-cbsmiami-com-weather-10282013-monday-9am/

[Leavellebrett 85]

WFOR -

 

WBZ -

[andrew1995 2]

WJZ has new graphics (basically new lower thirds, and a gold 13 in their logo). They aren't much different than what they've had. Just a different color scheme.

 

[ToriElectra 287]

The eye in the WJZ logo is a bit oddly shaped. Let's hope that it's a sign of things to come (at least preserve Chroma Cues). Also, what does Chroma Cues mean anyway?