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WDJT Newsroom Renovation


trev57

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They're still on the 4PM "set" BUT just a bit ago they used one of the standup locations elsewhere on the set. It looked to me like another part of the set (the interview area) was reflected in the bezel monitor.

 

I kind of wonder if the monitor behind the main desk died and they're just avoiding showing it.

 

EDIT: They just used the weather area too... Something is going on but it's hard to tell what.

 

It also seems like there are some weird shadows coming from the main desk area/stage left when they show the weather center. Or it could just be me.

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A promo for their split Monday/Tuesday night interview with Stephen Colbert pre-Late Show launch just aired during the Auburn/Louisville game and features Jim Cutler on the V/O, and his voice re-dubbed over a Rebecca Schuld call-out station ID. I still remember when they were one of the first to have Al Vanik for years and years.

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I wonder if that's the extent of the news set remodel. It already looks better than the "old" backdrop as it is now. The old anchor area, while a drastic improvement over what they had before, felt dated almost immediately and a little claustrophobic. This at least has a color palette that matches the graphics, and isn't so bold and garish as what they had before.

 

Sound is still rather echo-y at times, and not just when the meteorologist walks between the weather wall and the set. If this is the permanent new set, they need some sound baffles in the grid to help soak up the echo.

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I wonder if that's the extent of the news set remodel. It already looks better than the "old" backdrop as it is now. The old anchor area, while a drastic improvement over what they had before, felt dated almost immediately and a little claustrophobic. This at least has a color palette that matches the graphics, and isn't so bold and garish as what they had before.

 

Sound is still rather echo-y at times, and not just when the meteorologist walks between the weather wall and the set. If this is the permanent new set, they need some sound baffles in the grid to help soak up the echo.

Except that part of the set already existed. It was just used exclusively for on-set interviews, usually during the 4pm newscast.

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So from my understanding, in addition to the new newsroom, they are also getting a new set and what they are on now is a temporary set made from the old interview area and old anchor desk.

they are getting a new studio so i question why they would have to dance around the current set if they have an empty room ready for a new one... unless they were moving the old one down there...

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They are in the new studio. And we have Michele McCormack's unnatural obsession with Selfies to thank for that information.

 

[MEDIA=twitter]641377562174844928[/MEDIA]

 

The interview area used to be camera right of the chroma wall in a studio which had it's walls painted black.

 

[MEDIA=twitter]636950641848528897[/MEDIA]

 

She posted another photo yesterday that faces the opposite direction, and you can clearly see the walls are painted white and are much closer to where the desk is compared to the edge of the interview area in the wide angle shot above. Compare to this photo and this photo.

 

My guess is that they're relocating the last bit of the old set (the part they've been on up until now) and once that's in the new studio they'll end up back to normal. That will probably reduce the echo too.

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I'm betting that this -- the old interview area, as noted above -- is, in fact, the new permanent backdrop, and they're ditching the old anchor area. I don't think they would have moved in the anchor desk and everything if it wasn't.

 

The only drawback to using this as the permanent anchor area is that it feels a little odd to have a daylight image of Milwaukee in back of them at night. Other than that, as I mentioned, it seems to work better with their current graphics look than the old backdrop. They tried to make do with just swapping out the duratrans shortly after they launched the O&O graphics, but that (for me) wasn't enough.

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I'm betting that this -- the old interview area, as noted above -- is, in fact, the new permanent backdrop, and they're ditching the old anchor area. I don't think they would have moved in the anchor desk and everything if it wasn't.

 

The only drawback to using this as the permanent anchor area is that it feels a little odd to have a daylight image of Milwaukee in back of them at night. Other than that, as I mentioned, it seems to work better with their current graphics look than the old backdrop. They tried to make do with just swapping out the duratrans shortly after they launched the O&O graphics, but that (for me) wasn't enough.

 

My impression of everything that's going on is this:

 

Newsroom: Gutted, completely renovated.

Former studio space: to be gutted, completely new studio for CBS 58 to be installed.

Current temp studio: to be used until the newsroom is complete, will then be turned into a space for Telemundo and/or Sunday Morning.

 

Of course, all of this is speculation when the station won't comment on anything.

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what i heard was the old studio is being rolled into the newsroom space. the new newsroom will ***not*** be a "new set" & there is no intention to do shows from the newsroom like they used to.

 

there is no indication of a "new set" & i don't know how that even came up.

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I think the use of old barn wood and nostalgic oil company signs would be a fine interview area. You can have haystacks to sit on, and maybe a few goats and bunnies to play with.

 

You can call it "Grandpa's barn"...or even "Old G-Mans Crib".

 

You can be telling the worst news story ever...but "cut-away" to a cute little chicken and everybody will have a brighter day.

 

It can be a green and sustainable place on an active set, and think about how "promotable" it will be.

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there is no indication of a "new set" & i don't know how that even came up.

 

It came up when they posted "And by big changes, we mean a whole new studio and all the bells and whistles that come with it!" on Facebook. It's the semantics of "set" vs "studio". To me, the average person equates studio with set.

 

Although, if they are just relocating the old set, it would explain why they haven't mentioned it and won't comment on it.

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I have seen a photo of their current setup... the old set is not in there and there's no room for it anyways. The chroma wall sits about 20 feet directly in front of the news desk and the camera cables are run over a door into another part of the building. This is, by all indications, a temporary studio.

 

I'm going to make a wild guess that they tried to move the "home base" part of the set into this room and it wouldn't fit. That would explain why that part of the set disappeared first but all we got was this awful interview area setup.

 

The weird thing is this isn't the studio they tape the Sunday Morning show in... That area has wood floors and brick walls. This room has a solid black floor and white sheetrock walls.

 

Who knows what is going on over there anymore. I'm surprised they're putting this much work into renovating rented space instead of just moving.

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I'm going to make a wild guess that they tried to move the "home base" part of the set into this room and it wouldn't fit. That would explain why that part of the set disappeared first but all we got was this awful interview area setup.

That seems wildly implausible. You think it seems likely that they just started moving stuff without measuring, laying it out on paper, etc.... then got halfway in and went "Oh, s***. This doesn't fit" and threw up their hands and gave up?

 

(As I mentioned before, I actually prefer the interview area as an anchor desk backdrop, over the old "home base." The only positive thing I can say about the old home base is that it wasn't the newsroom set. Other than that, there really wasn't anything I liked in the set.)

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That seems wildly implausible. You think it seems likely that they just started moving stuff without measuring, laying it out on paper, etc.... then got halfway in and went "Oh, s***. This doesn't fit" and threw up their hands and gave up?

 

That's exactly what I could see happening. This is CBS58 after all... It probably worked on paper and once they set it up they ran into problems with lighting the set or blocking shots. It's the only scenario I can come up with that would explain why home base disappeared so early. There's no reason they would have needed to be on the 4:00 set all that time if all they planned on doing was moving the interview area (which doesn't take long to set up if you've ever seen time lapses of identical set pieces get put up at other stations).

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Judging from this picture from morning anchor Kate Chappell, you can see what @Weeters was talking about. The green screen is directly across from the anchor desk, and from what it appears, the "studio" they are in isn't much wider than the screen itself. [IMG]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12027770_779393865502581_277563317219674982_n.jpg?oh=8d64ae2b6a3622437f52799950b31785&oe=566DE07E[/IMG]
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Morning anchor Jessica Tighe posted a video of a local band performing in front of the green screen a few days ago. I think the caption settles the debate of whether they're getting a new set or not.

 

I heard something about a new set as well, which is the opposite of what I heard before the newsroom project started. Maybe they're using the newsroom after all.

 

Also, I found a video that shows the entire Sunday Morning studio. As you can see, it's much bigger than the closet the temporary set is in, but has numerous support columns in it. I couldn't imagine trying to put a news set in here as shot blocking would be a nightmare. Works great for what they're doing with it though.

 

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I can confirm the installation of a new set is in progress and the newsroom is finished and people are moving in. No idea when the new set will make air though. Still waiting on some things apparently.

 

One would think on or around October 11 or 18 when the Packers play on CBS. But who knows if they think that far ahead.

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