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Looks like WMAQ eliminated the standard closing to the 5pm news in favor of a full-screen teaser for NBC Nightly News and the NBC 5 News at 6. The WMAQ anchors talk about what's coming up next on Nightly News and on the NBC 5 News at 6 before tossing directly into Nightly News with no actual closing to the newscast.

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I'm surprised they have not gone the way of "outsourcing" sports to CSN, like some other NBC O&Os.

 

A lot of their primary people are tied up with pre/post game coverage of each Chicago team (ie. , Boden -Blackhawks, Garfein-White Sox, etc..) that adding sports coverage for WMAQ to the mix may be too much to handle given their (CSN) current resources.

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  • 2 weeks later...

WMAQ outlasted everyone with the severe weather coverage, staying on the air until 12:10 A.M. They were in a shootout with WLS for who would end first, with WLS wrapping up 5 minutes earlier at 12:05 A.M.

 

WGN wrapped up at 11 P.M.

WFLD wrapped up at 10:45-ish

WBBM ended at the usual 10:34 P.M. because they needed time to re-air the entire CBS primetime lineup with the season premiere of Big Brother.

 

WMAQ was a little short-handed tonight with no Byron Miranda, no Alicia Roman, and no Rob Stafford. They had Dick and Allison anchoring, with Brant and Pete doing the weather. Since Byron was off today, they had Trina Orlando on the road in Storm Chaser 5.

 

I was a little disappointed to see no Byron today. I hope this was just scheduled time off rather than a sign of things to come. I enjoy his style; in fact, seeing him on the 11 A.M. news while at work is a highlight of my day.

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I was a little disappointed to see no Byron today. I hope this was just scheduled time off rather than a sign of things to come. I enjoy his style; in fact, seeing him on the 11 A.M. news while at work is a highlight of my day.

It boggles the mind that he's limited to only the midday news. Maybe that'll change when the 4pm debuts. You still have to wonder how/where the new meteorologist will fit in.

 

As for coverage, 5 and 7 were damn good. I'm sure Skilling was Skilling, but 2 and 32 were also short their chiefs tonight, with Curran and Kleist and Caplan and Strehl on duty. I was honestly surprised how well the Taft/Schwarz/Mowry tag team on 7 worked out. They were very balanced and no one upstaged the others. It also helps that Taft was awake and functioning.

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It boggles the mind that he's limited to only the midday news. Maybe that'll change when the 4pm debuts. You still have to wonder how/where the new meteorologist will fit in.

 

I would think it's a safe bet that Byron will pick up the 4 (or at least split the hour with Brant).

 

I think they do something like this (if no one is leaving/retiring)...

 

Weekdays 4-7A: Andy

Weekdays 11A & 4P: Byron (Brant too maybe)

Weekdays 5P, 6P & 10P: Brant

Weekends AM: Kalee

Weekends PM: Alicia

 

There will still be enough (with vacations, weather emergencies, etc..) for Pete to fill-in from time to time.

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He's part-time. I think they still have him visit schools and such during the week too.

 

Pete Sack is also a substitute teacher in a southeastern Wisconsin school district. Apparently he never moved out of the area after leaving WDJT. I guess he likes what he has going since there's been plenty of chances to move up in Chicago or get back into Milwaukee.

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Pete Sack is also a substitute teacher in a southeastern Wisconsin school district. Apparently he never moved out of the area after leaving WDJT. I guess he likes what he has going since there's been plenty of chances to move up in Chicago or get back into Milwaukee.

 

Just Google'd him to get an age range (never seen him before) figuring he must be of retirement age given his part time status and substitute teaching. Not to sound to crazy but if he graduated from college right after high school he probably has at least 10 more years until he's 65 based on his LinkedIn page. He's also a master craftsman doing woodworking.

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Just Google'd him to get an age range (never seen him before) figuring he must be of retirement age given his part time status and substitute teaching. Not to sound to crazy but if he graduated from college right after high school he probably has at least 10 more years until he's 65 based on his LinkedIn page. He's also a master craftsman doing woodworking.

Yeah. 50-something. Brant's 66, Andy's 59, and Byron is like 57. It's not totally crazy to think they're starting to think for the future.

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Didn't realize Byron was that old. I was thinking he was around 45 or 50.

You wouldn't believe where I found his age. He was featured as one of America's most eligible bachelors in People Magazine, July 2000.

BYRON MIRANDA, 41, weatherman, Chicago.

 

The forecast for Miranda: hot and getting hotter. The head-turning former Air Force sergeant and beach lover has become must-viewing since he joined WMAQ's top-rated morning newscast in 1998. Single since an amicable 1988 divorce (daughter Brianna, 17, lives with his ex-wife Cassandra McCraw, a high school administrator, in Oakland), Miranda, who rises at 3 a.m. and goes on occasional weekend dates, is ready to marry again: "I've learned how to be humble."

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20131741,00.html

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Looks like the graphics will debut today or tomorrow. Looks like we can't look forward to a return of The Tower...

 

[MEDIA=vimeo]172456008[/MEDIA]

 

I'm loving the time lapse video of the city!!! I hope they use video for the open! Everyone else's are so bland!

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Looks like the graphics will debut today or tomorrow. Looks like we can't look forward to a return of The Tower...

 

[MEDIA=vimeo]172456008[/MEDIA]

 

Seeing this promo makes it clear to me that they really did want to design something similar or copy Hearst's Diagrid. I don't know about the other HTV stations but BAL certain has their share of promos which are extremely similar this design (the brief animation and the cutout background stick out the most).

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New graphics on the news at 11!

 

Same generic open with no voice over.

 

Same music.

 

They have the bottom bar but no top bar. Top bar only during breaking news and weather.

 

They had the 7 day during the weather segments but at the very end of the newscast they showed the 10 day.

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New graphics on the news at 11!

 

Same generic open with no voice over.

 

Same music.

 

They have the bottom bar but no top bar. Top bar only during breaking news and weather.

 

They had the 7 day during the weather segments but at the very end of the newscast they showed the 10 day.

 

I like what I see so far. I'm guessing this is a slow role out just to get a general sense of things (could be why there's no new music, etc...). I hope the 'swoosh' sound effect era is over too. That drove me crazy.

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New graphics on the news at 11!

 

Same generic open with no voice over.

 

Same music.

 

They have the bottom bar but no top bar. Top bar only during breaking news and weather.

 

They had the 7 day during the weather segments but at the very end of the newscast they showed the 10 day.

 

Does the bug have weather forecasts? I missed the 11am news.

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I want to dislike this package, but dammit, it does look nice. There are still some quirks about it I don't like, but at least they're not (at first glance) half-assing like they've done with other packages. Like its immediate predecessor (F 2.0), this is my second favorite package in town. I'll work on getting some opens up this week.

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I just turned on the news and noticed the new graphics on NBC 5. I wonder did they keep the current news music too?

Same music.

 

I like this package, I think. It certainly does look very nice and polished. I was really only disappointed in the open... too short and very underwhelming.

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Same music.

 

I like this package, I think. It certainly does look very nice and polished. I was really only disappointed in the open... too short and very underwhelming.

 

Yes, I understand. But I didn't get a chance to see the news open, but I'll catch the new open at 6:00. I also like how they did with the new 10-day forecast graphics, it's pretty nice to me since the other stations currently uses the 7-day forecast weather graphics.

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I also like how they did with the new 10-day forecast graphics, it's pretty nice to me since the other stations currently uses the 7-day forecast weather graphics.

Cough -scam- cough

Ach -gimmick- choo

 

In regards to the opens, the syncing was off at 4:30, but it was 100% at 5, and looked really good. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they stretched it to fit in the full signature.

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