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The Fox 29 News/Good Day Philadelphia Thread


Jess

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15 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

I actually am excited about the new anchors and think they will work out great. Although perhaps they should hire a second anchor team in the future for evenings. I just hope that WTXF tweaks the presentation a bit.

 

Agreed. I don't see why Dawn and Chris can't do say the 5 & 11PM and have Jason and Shaina do the 6 & 10PM. Or Dawn and Chris could anchor the 5PM exclusively and then go out in the field for the late newscasts. Just having one team doing all four of those newscasts just comes off as both unimaginative and cheap.  

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  • 1 month later...

So FOX 29 was knocked off the air Saturday AM for several hours because of a power outage / underground fire right near their studios.

 

They've been doing the news from the streetside studio ever since. Wonder if their videowall-heavy studio got damaged from some kind of power surge?

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

It looks like the 6pm show has been reformatted as "The Six". I caught very little but did see the end of a sports discussion with Jason on the set, Tom Shred and their female sports anchor both on screens from elsewhere in the building. There was also a segment with Shaina and a web producer talking about a trending story in the newsroom (and shown entirely with that god-awful stutter/staggered video effect they love using during halftime breaks on Sundays). 

 

I also believe I saw a touch of the new graphics in use too (but still the old gfx time/temp bug). 

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  • 5 months later...

Like what's happened in other outlets/newsrooms elsewhere in recent weeks, there seems to be a growing uproar against management at Fox 29; in this case, it's been described as "toxic, super-white, and Trump-apologizing."

 

Some background:

1) https://www.phillymag.com/news/2020/07/13/ken-rothweiler-fox-29-firing-black-lives-matter/

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/7/14/gone-in-philly-for-being-pro-blm

July 13: Former Fox 29 Legal Analyst Ken Rothweiler, who had been at the station since 2009, alleged news director Jim Driscoll reprimanded and later fired him for being "too pro-BLM"/"too anti-cop" on his social media. Driscoll is alleged to have surveil Rothweiler's comments more closely in recent years. The tension reportedly erupted after Rothweiler sent an email to former colleagues discussing the nature of his firing, after which a fiery back-and-forth ensued.

 

2) https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/7/17/philly-we-have-a-problem

July 17: An update from the previous development -- Rothweiler reportedly sent a letter to GM Dennis Bianchi with legal concerns after hearing stories of similar experiences.

 

3) https://www.phillymag.com/news/2020/07/21/fox-29-philadelphia-fox-news-conservative/

July 21: The Philly Mag 'exposé,' if you will, of the station was published, written by Ernest Owens. Former on-air talent (specifically a male anchor from 2013-2016; I think I know who, but won't name him if he's not named here) claimed management was "extremely white, conservative, and everything wrong you would expect from such leadership overseeing news coverage in a diverse city." Some of the incidents listed include the Lauren Johnson n-word incident, the infamous Burlington incident, and microaggressions such as when Sheinelle Jones "[sounded] 'too proud' when saying President Obama’s name on-air." Additionally, Driscoll reportedly put his "right-wing slant" on Trump-related headlines posted on the website for the station's stories and on social media.

 

My thoughts? If anything, the allegations make the station sound like a tumultuous place to be working at, and even if you might have agreed/sided with management's reported opinions/proclivities, it still sounds a lot like walking on eggshells. Owens acknowledges that the station has more diversity in its on-air talent overall, but the conclusions are that the management seems to be the root of the problem. Driscoll has been with FTS since 2001 when it acquired WWOR and joined WTXF in 2012, the same year Bianchi joined as GM from WCAU. Rothweiler has threatened to possibly sue (allegedly, as reported in the first FTVLive link) but in the end, will any of this make an impact at Fox 29/raise eyebrows at FTS?

Edited by Roadrunner
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  • 3 weeks later...

I caught a spot promoting this on one of the off Saturday/Sundays I was up early enough to catch “Good Day Weekend” but just now have found TV listings to verify- they’re axing the 7am hour from #GDW. Two episodes of “The Classh-room” will take it’s place on both Saturdays and Sundays. 

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25 minutes ago, ddaniels20 said:

I think they got rid of the 7AM hour a while ago, at least since last month, maybe earlier.

I believe it. I saw the commercial a few weeks back but whenever I checked listings they were still listing it in the 7am hour (until now)

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14 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

https://www.fox29.com/news/police-investigating-attempted-break-in-at-fox-29-thursday-morning

Attempted break-in at Fox 29 at around 5AM - no injuries reported and a man is in custody.

 

I don't think that should have led the show, but whatever.

 

I'm actually more curious about the security guards. I'm not familiar with their building but Google street view makes it look like it's a standalone facility. I can understand a large shared building having security, but private security just just for a station? Is this the norm in the top large markets? A temporary things?

Edited by PTVNews
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  • 2 months later...

Fox 29 is producing a new program titled The Feed AT Night beginning January 4, 2021.

It's a casual half-hour program that will air at 12:30AM and talk about the day's trending social media topics and will be hosted by Thomas Drayton and Alex Holley. 

Based on that timeslot, it is likely replacing The Class H-Room (unless this one will also replace another program), which is a local trivia-based game show airing exclusively on Fox 29.

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The Class-h room pits two teams from local schools against each other in trivia with a small audience from the schools, all taped on the FOX29 evening set. Pretty much every aspect of that sentence has been upended since the start of the pandemic, which is unfortunate. I appreciate the fact that WTXF has been willing to try out so many locally-produced programs, particularly a game show.

 

I'm a BIG fan of "The Final 5" on sister station WTTG in DC. It airs weeknights at 11:30 with a single host riffing on news stories of the day (typically political) with an interview or two from relevant experts. The FOX29 show sounds like it will be more pop-culture based, but again, I appreciate them trying something local in that slot as opposed to another run of Judge Judy.

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5 minutes ago, PhillyWatch said:

The Class-h room pits two teams from local schools against each other in trivia with a small audience from the schools, all taped on the FOX29 evening set. Pretty much every aspect of that sentence has been upended since the start of the pandemic, which is unfortunate. I appreciate the fact that WTXF has been willing to try out so many locally-produced programs, particularly a game show.

Honestly, the fact that something like this even existed up until 2019/20 is extraordinary, especially in a big market, so I agree that Fox 29's emphasis on trying out more local programming of the like is to be commended. 

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