WBBM New Set (The Secret is Out!)

[cbs2worksforyou 35]

Couldn’t find a picture but when the Devlin designed set was turned blue, they used the same studio with the news desk moved in front of the multipurpose/interview area, which was just off to the left of the main set.

[rkolsen 1675]

Is it possible to do shot blocking with one CamBot? What I'm thinkng is doing it by retargeting it to a different target. Or is it something that requires each individual CamBot?

 

I remember last year WBAL had about two weeks of camera blocking (probably had them in place for full rehearsals as well) and stuck with their single newsroom flash cam the entire time. After every story there was a transitional graphic while the camera moved to the other anchor. Beyond me why they didn't move one of the Lottery cameras or an ENG cam in place.

[sg9018 10]

Nah, I meant the temp set that ended that era as Ahern was having the Works For You set gutted.

Is this it?

http://www.newscaststudio.com/setstudio/wbbm2/

[Spring Rubber 609]

No, believe it or not, that was the "permanent" studio after the temp set. At a later date (several months to a year later), they added a skyline backdrop and some CBS2 logos to the sides behind the desk, along with a Weather Control section on the right side of the studio, but I seem to remember this super-barren version of the set lasting for quite a bit.

[sfomspphl 453]

No, believe it or not, that was the "permanent" studio after the temp set. At a later date (several months to a year later), they added a skyline backdrop and some CBS2 logos to the sides behind the desk, along with a Weather Control section on the right side of the studio, but I seem to remember this super-barren version of the set lasting for quite a bit.

 

It's the "don't distract from the talent" edict - use a simple set that makes their face pop in the close ups - from the playbook for #3 stations trying to move up the ratings and make the talent more familiar.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

Couldn’t find a picture but when the Devlin designed set was turned blue, they used the same studio with the news desk moved in front of the multipurpose/interview area, which was just off to the left of the main set.

 

That is indeed correct.. For one week, they were on a temporary set which consisted of just a folding table placed in the "interview set" with a painted plywood front that was built by the in-house carpenter. The lighted logo and 2 large wooden brown side panels from the DDG set anchor desk were placed in front of the folding table to make it appear larger. During the one week on the temp set, lots of paint and foamboard panels with double sided sticky foam covered the DDG set and a wall was built to block the weather center. A few pieces of the DDG set made it to the third floor storage warehouse but much of the DDG set pieces removed went straight into the dumpster per Ahern's orders.. He honestly seemed to have had a "hatred" of that image as the first day he came in to the building as GM, his first order in his first meeting was to remove ALL signs of the "works for you" slogan. When the main set was complete, the interview set was painted and wallpapered the next week.

 

The set makeover didn't really take long because most of the lighting remained the same, cameras and camera angles remained the same.. Really, except for the physical appearance of the set and different graphics and music, most everything remained the same.

[Spring Rubber 609]

That is indeed correct.. For one week, they were on a temporary set which consisted of just a folding table placed in the "interview set" with a painted plywood front that was built by the in-house carpenter. The lighted logo and 2 large wooden brown side panels from the DDG set anchor desk were placed in front of the folding table to make it appear larger. During the one week on the temp set, lots of paint and foamboard panels with double sided sticky foam covered the DDG set and a wall was built to block the weather center. A few pieces of the DDG set made it to the third floor storage warehouse but much of the DDG set pieces removed went straight into the dumpster per Ahern's orders.. He honestly seemed to have had a "hatred" of that image as the first day he came in to the building as GM, his first order in his first meeting was to remove ALL signs of the "works for you" slogan. When the main set was complete, the interview set was painted and wallpapered the next week.

 

The set makeover didn't really take long because most of the lighting remained the same, cameras and camera angles remained the same.. Really, except for the physical appearance of the set and different graphics and music, most everything remained the same.

 

Thanks for all the details. You're the best.

 

Do you remember how quickly after the removal of "Works For You" was the set stripped down? Couple weeks? Months?

 

After the stripped-down set debuted, how long did it take for them to add in the city backdrop and other CBS2 logos, etc?

[sfomspphl 453]

Good article here from back in the day on all the changes

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-01-24/features/0301240072_1_wls-wbbm-station

 

The first substantial on-air change Ahern made after his arrival, for instance, was to replace an elaborate, multicolored set with a simple blue backdrop against which, he said, the anchors would "pop." Kurtis pointed out that another station's anchors "pop" too: "Well, if you'll notice," he said, "Channel 7 has a blue background, and they have for 20 years." (Emily Barr, WLS' general manager declined to comment.)

 

It wouldn't be the first time that Ahern took over a television station and reached into his WLS bag of tricks. Former employees at KGO tell a familiar story.

 

"It was all about, `Let's re-create WLS,'" said one KGO staffer who was there when Ahern arrived. In one of his first moves, he scrapped the station's set and replaced it with a blue background.

 

"He tried to replicate what had been his cookie-cutter success," said Lisa Scimens, a former KGO executive producer who worked under Ahern. "He knew what worked in one market and he was going to replicate it in San Francisco. It was kind of '80s programming, and it wasn't exactly in touch with the market."

 

[Spring Rubber 609]

Good article here from back in the day on all the changes

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-01-24/features/0301240072_1_wls-wbbm-station

 

The first substantial on-air change Ahern made after his arrival, for instance, was to replace an elaborate, multicolored set with a simple blue backdrop against which, he said, the anchors would "pop." Kurtis pointed out that another station's anchors "pop" too: "Well, if you'll notice," he said, "Channel 7 has a blue background, and they have for 20 years." (Emily Barr, WLS' general manager declined to comment.)

 

It wouldn't be the first time that Ahern took over a television station and reached into his WLS bag of tricks. Former employees at KGO tell a familiar story.

 

"It was all about, `Let's re-create WLS,'" said one KGO staffer who was there when Ahern arrived. In one of his first moves, he scrapped the station's set and replaced it with a blue background.

 

"He tried to replicate what had been his cookie-cutter success," said Lisa Scimens, a former KGO executive producer who worked under Ahern. "He knew what worked in one market and he was going to replicate it in San Francisco. It was kind of '80s programming, and it wasn't exactly in touch with the market."

 

I still think it's hilariously ironic that despite tearing down the elaborate 2002 set, he built an equally-elaborate set himself in 2008, only for the next GM to strip it down.

 

It still saddens me, though, because both sets had tremendous potential, but in both cases, they fell victim to the ever-revolving management door at WBBM.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

Thanks for all the details. You're the best.

 

Do you remember how quickly after the removal of "Works For You" was the set stripped down? Couple weeks? Months?

 

After the stripped-down set debuted, how long did it take for them to add in the city backdrop and other CBS2 logos, etc?

 

 

Ahern came in June/July of 2002. The set was stripped down in either September or October 2002. The first day Ahern walked into that studio, he ordered those glass panels between the main set and weather center with the "CBS News style world globe map" with the CBS 2 logo removed so those were taken down right away.. straight into the dumpster they went.

 

I believe the city backdrop and logo walls/panels were added in spring 2003. The stripped down powder blue set only lasted about 6 or 7 months.

 

Funny thing is,the thing that the station has saved all the way up to now from their 1997-2002 set, DDG set, and "Eye on Chicago" set is all their interview set furniture. From 2008 until they made their recent set to its current configuration, they were using the original DDG interview set chairs for morning show interviews. In the recent years, they have been using the stools from their 1997-2002 interview set in their recent set. I'm going to have to ask someone but I'm sure they're still going to keep saving those all those chairs.

[Spring Rubber 609]

Another thing I remember from when Ahern took over was that they switched from doing a 7-Day Forecast back to doing a 5-Day Forecast. I guess Ahern had a hatred of 7-Day Forecasts?

 

Did the switch back to a 5-Day Forecast, the glass wall coming down, and the removal of "Works For You" all happen at the same time? I seem to remember, even as a 12-year-old viewer at the time, I could tell major changes took place behind the scenes.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

Another thing I remember from when Ahern took over was that they switched from doing a 7-Day Forecast back to doing a 5-Day Forecast. I guess Ahern had a hatred of 7-Day Forecasts?

 

Did the switch back to a 5-Day Forecast, the glass wall coming down, and the removal of "Works For You" all happen at the same time? I seem to remember, even as a 12-year-old viewer at the time, I could tell major changes took place behind the scenes.

 

Yes, it all happened about the same time.. It was in a 2 or 3 day time period.. Ahern was never a fan of the 7 day forecast at the time.. That changed a couple years later when the 7 day became something everyone had to have.

[sfomspphl 453]

I still think it's hilariously ironic that despite tearing down the elaborate 2002 set, he built an equally-elaborate set himself in 2008, only for the next GM to strip it down.

 

It still saddens me, though, because both sets had tremendous potential, but in both cases, they fell victim to the ever-revolving management door at WBBM.

 

Coincidentally, Ahern destroyed a 1-2 year old set at KGO when he arrived. Then, he built an elaborate set himself just months before leaving in 2002. That set lasted over a decade in some form.

[Chicago News Boy 33]

Since the CBS 2 Broadcast Center debuted on 9-22-2008, I'm curious to see if they roll out the new studio on or close to the 22nd.

[Chicago News Boy 33]

Toys R Us is on the verge of bankruptcy so a pop-up is most likely, if that rumor has any validity at all.

 

It came from a CBS 2 staffer so it has a little validity. Emphasis on little.

[mrschimpf 2050]

Welp, we know when it's launching; less than two mere hours from now;

 

[MEDIA=twitter]908503172897009664[/MEDIA]

 

And here's the launch promo that got pulled from FB but was put on Twitter...

 

[media=twitter]908506660284616704[/media]

[Spring Rubber 609]

Welp, we know when it's launching; two mere hours from now;

 

[MEDIA=twitter]908503172897009664[/MEDIA]

Thanks for the update. I wouldn't have expected it to be tonight.

[jbnews 344]

I can already tell from the pictures, this is gonna be one nice set.

[Newscenter5WCVB 29]

 

EDIT: So they posted an "Expect More" promo to Facebook, featuring the new set, and immediately took it down.

 

EDIT 2: It came back!

[mrschimpf 2050]

EDIT: So they posted an "Expect More" promo to Facebook, featuring the new set, and immediately took it down.

 

It popped up on Twitter, so I updated my post.

[Georgie56 3059]

Hmm. Can't wait to see it.

[Chicago News Boy 33]

OKAY NOW CBS 2, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING! Resist your urge and anger temptations to tear s**t apart!!

[24994J 5269]

OKAY NOW CBS 2, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING! Resist your urge and anger temptations to tear s**t apart!!

Baskerville will have one of the monitors in his living room within a week, and they'll replace it with the monitor's box, crudely spray-painted blue.

[Chicago News Boy 33]

LOL!!

[Chicago News Boy 33]

Oh no! The set replicates the layout of 2008. Shit is bound to be torn apart by next year