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WFAA moves back to Young Street studio...


MarkBRollins88_v2

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343021006_ScreenShot2018-04-23at5_06_00PM.thumb.png.b0250d8cf40bf3d9c7a277340481946a.png ...temporarily, while their Victory Park studios get a "makeover," which we can all only hope does not mean Tegna's set-in-a-box.

 

The construction was confirmed by GMT's Jane McGarry this morning. She said they'll be at Young Street for a couple weeks while Victory is under construction.

 

 

On a side note, that Young Street set from 2006 still holds up, IMO.

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All they need to do at Young Street is update the lighting (I noticed there are heavy shadows on faces sometimes) and replace the video wall, then the studio will be great.

 

They could be locked into a long term contract.

 

Just to clarify Victory Park is the “streetside studio” and Young Street is the main studio with all their operations. Is there any control or office space at Victory Park or do the anchors and journalists have to prepare for the shows at the main studio? Additionally how many shows originate from the Victory Park set?

 

Edit: Yes, Victory Park is the street side studio and is only a mile away from home base. Now is there a control room and decent office space in the Victory Park studio? Or are all the cameras and say monitor graphics fed from Young Street. And do the anchors and reporters prepare from Young Street for their shows?

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They could be locked into a long term contract.

 

Just to clarify Victory Park is the “streetside studio” and Young Street is the main studio with all their operations. Is there any control or office space at Victory Park or do the anchors and journalists have to prepare for the shows at the main studio? Additionally how many shows originate from the Victory Park set?

 

Edit: Yes, Victory Park is the street side studio and is only a mile away from home base. Now is there a control room and decent office space in the Victory Park studio? Or are all the cameras and say monitor graphics fed from Young Street. And do the anchors and reporters prepare from Young Street for their shows?

 

According to Mark's "spy" picture (posted below), Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, noon, and 5pm are all at Victory, 6pm and 10pm are sometimes Victory, sometimes Young. I don't get to watch their 4pm news to see if it's at Victory or Young but I would guess Victory. I don't know for sure, but I would guess those who go on-air don't have to go to Young first, although if they need to be in the office/newsroom first, then they go to Young first, but if they're just on-air then they probably go to Victory. Victory doesn't look like it has very much non-studio room, so other than bathrooms and storage, there may be technical and some kind of back office, but otherwise I'd think Young has the bulk of control room and other off-studio area.

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According to Mark's "spy" picture (posted below), Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, noon, and 5pm are all at Victory, 6pm and 10pm are sometimes Victory, sometimes Young. I don't get to watch their 4pm news to see if it's at Victory or Young but I would guess Victory. I don't know for sure, but I would guess those who go on-air don't have to go to Young first, although if they need to be in the office/newsroom first, then they go to Young first, but if they're just on-air then they probably go to Victory. Victory doesn't look like it has very much non-studio room, so other than bathrooms and storage, there may be technical and some kind of back office, but otherwise I'd think Young has the bulk of control room and other off-studio area.

[ATTACH=full]5970[/ATTACH]

 

4pm is at Victory Park as well. That decal needs to be updated.

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According to Mark's "spy" picture (posted below), Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, noon, and 5pm are all at Victory, 6pm and 10pm are sometimes Victory, sometimes Young. I don't get to watch their 4pm news to see if it's at Victory or Young but I would guess Victory. I don't know for sure, but I would guess those who go on-air don't have to go to Young first, although if they need to be in the office/newsroom first, then they go to Young first, but if they're just on-air then they probably go to Victory. Victory doesn't look like it has very much non-studio room, so other than bathrooms and storage, there may be technical and some kind of back office, but otherwise I'd think Young has the bulk of control room and other off-studio area.

[ATTACH=full]5970[/ATTACH]

 

That decal was placed there when the studio first opened in 2007. Now all shows originate from there every day. And Daybreak starts at 4:30 and there's a 4 p.m. newscast now. There's no control room at victory but there are at least some computers. You used to be able to see Dale Hansen preparing his sportscast behind the anchors.

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They could be locked into a long term contract.

 

Just to clarify Victory Park is the “streetside studio” and Young Street is the main studio with all their operations. Is there any control or office space at Victory Park or do the anchors and journalists have to prepare for the shows at the main studio? Additionally how many shows originate from the Victory Park set?

 

Edit: Yes, Victory Park is the street side studio and is only a mile away from home base. Now is there a control room and decent office space in the Victory Park studio? Or are all the cameras and say monitor graphics fed from Young Street. And do the anchors and reporters prepare from Young Street for their shows?

 

I recall hearing that all the cameras were sent down over fiber at some point. It's essentially a remote studio with some workspace for talent. I doubt any reporters have their desk there.

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Found these photos of the set construction on facebook. Looks like they'll be reusing a good amount of the existing set. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me. I was hoping, that since they're TEGNA's biggest station, they'd get something on par with WUSA. 136982786_ScreenShot2018-05-04at5_57_56PM.thumb.png.c18039e51736efd46bada5d9ad98c92d.png136982786_ScreenShot2018-05-04at5_57_56PM.thumb.png.c18039e51736efd46bada5d9ad98c92d.png

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That space seems really small so I’m sure that has at least something to do with limiting creative options.

 

Is there any possibility of WFAA renting out other spaces in that building to move their operations over? It just doesn’t make sense to have the newscasts all come from Victory Park and then all the operations down the street.

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That space seems really small so I’m sure that has at least something to do with limiting creative options.

 

Is there any possibility of WFAA renting out other spaces in that building to move their operations over? It just doesn’t make sense to have the newscasts all come from Victory Park and then all the operations down the street.

 

I suppose it's always possible. Not sure if the building would be big enough to house all their operations. The whole ground floor is retail aside from the studio. Plus parking for live trucks and the such would be an issue; the building only offers limited underground parking, which must be shared with the twin building across the plaza and the American Airlines Center.

 

However, I'm pretty sure WFAA is contemplating leaving Young Street. The Dallas Morning News just vacated their campus next door. The area seems ripe for redevelopment. I remember at one point, a concept map had a high speed rail station planned for that spot, however the rail station has since been decided to be built elsewhere. I'm sure once the right buyer comes along, WFAA will sell its young street property and move somewhere.

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I was in Dallas near WFAA a few months ago. The area sure doesn't look to be in very high demand for redevelopment. It seemed like half the space was taken up by parking lots, and there was a lot of undeveloped land around as well.

 

Perhaps they are just refreshing the Victory Park studio and are going to build a complete new set at the main facility once it's done?

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I was in Dallas near WFAA a few months ago. The area sure doesn't look to be in very high demand for redevelopment. It seemed like half the space was taken up by parking lots, and there was a lot of undeveloped land around as well.

 

Perhaps they are just refreshing the Victory Park studio and are going to build a complete new set at the main facility once it's done?

 

The area where the Young Street studio is is definitely in high demand. While it may look like nothing special right now, that's just what Dallas does. Blocks are redeveloped to look totally different in a blink of an eye. For instance, the area around their victory park studio 15 years ago vs now is 100% unrecognizable except for the arena. Even five years ago, looked totally different. You used to be able to see some of the Dallas skyline out the windows of their studio for the first few years it was there. But so many high rises have popped up around it that you can't see it anymore.

 

As for that undeveloped land and parking lots you saw, it's mostly leftover from the old Reunion Arena. And overflow parking for the convention center. Once the old Reunion Arena site gets redeveloped (which there are plans in the works to do), look for WFAA's building to get sold.

 

A lot of new development focus is shifting away from Uptown/Victory Park, which is nearing being built-out, and back toward redeveloping Downtown and areas south and east. I'd almost put money on it that the old Dallas Morning News Building and the WFAA building on Young street will berated and redeveloped into high rises, apartments or green space within 10 years.

 

 

As for their main set, they don't really ever use it except for Inside Texas Politics, which I'm sure they could easily film at Victory. With Tegna's tight pockets, I imagine they'd just decommission the Young Street studio, or leave it as is.

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I was in Dallas near WFAA a few months ago. The area sure doesn't look to be in very high demand for redevelopment. It seemed like half the space was taken up by parking lots, and there was a lot of undeveloped land around as well.

 

Perhaps they are just refreshing the Victory Park studio and are going to build a complete new set at the main facility once it's done?

It would make sense for WFAA to have:

 

Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, Midday and 6pm newscasts done from the Victory Park studio

 

4pm, 5pm newscasts and the Update (10pm) done from the Young Street studio

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It would make sense for WFAA to have:

 

Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, Midday and 6pm newscasts done from the Victory Park studio

 

4pm, 5pm newscasts and the Update (10pm) done from the Young Street studio

 

I get the feeling the reason shows have been moving to Victory is because it had a nicer set. The one at the station hasn't aged particularly well. I could see them updating Victory now, and then once all the shows can move back there, building a new set at the station for the evening shows. Which I would guess wouldn't happen until November sweeps.

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I get the feeling the reason shows have been moving to Victory is because it had a nicer set. The one at the station hasn't aged particularly well. I could see them updating Victory now, and then once all the shows can move back there, building a new set at the station for the evening shows. Which I would guess wouldn't happen until November sweeps.

Alternatively they could split the difference do half of the newscasts (like Daybreak, the Midday, the 4, the 6) at the Victory Park studio and do Good Morning Texas, the 5pm, the Update and Weekend Newscasts at the Young Street once they get the Young Street studio renovated this way WFAA can at least put some use to the Young Street rather than turning it into a waste of space.

 

I do agree with the idea of WFAA doing everything at Victory Park but don't make the same mistake they did when they built the Victory Park studios in the 2000s by making it a pernament thing

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WFAA has, when it can, all newscast out of Victory Park. Why would they want all their evening newscast at their old studios? That makes no sense.

 

Why? Because when big events happen at the American Airlines Center (games, concerts, etc.), WFAA has been one to have anchors/meteorologists out on the plaza for live shots. What other station in DFW can do that?

 

As for the Dallas development discussion, don’t forget WFAA’s old neighbor The Dallas Morning News sold its old building on Young Street. That is being redeveloped. I cannot recall if that area is still going to be the new bullet train station (Dallas to Houston) or not.

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WFAA has, when it can, all newscast out of Victory Park. Why would they want all their evening newscast at their old studios? That makes no sense.

 

Why? Because when big events happen at the American Airlines Center (games, concerts, etc.), WFAA has been one to have anchors/meteorologists out on the plaza for live shots. What other station in DFW can do that?

 

As for the Dallas development discussion, don’t forget WFAA’s old neighbor The Dallas Morning News sold its old building on Young Street. That is being redeveloped. I cannot recall if that area is still going to be the new bullet train station (Dallas to Houston) or not.

Not all of the evening newscasts will be done at Young Street only Good Morning Texas, the 5, the Update and Weekend Newscasts will be done at Young Street, the rest will be done at Victory Park

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