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Sets that need replacing/oldest sets going


MarkBRollins88_v2
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11 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

We have a new winner in the "oldest set still in use" category.   

 

While KUSI's set dates back to 1996, there's a set that's one year older that is still being used.   It started at WJLA and has been at WSET since the 2000s. 

 

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/12/22/the-oldest-news-set-in-the-country

 

While it was Albritton that made this move, Sinclair was a prime offender for many years, and didn't really begin upgrading some of their ANCIENT sets until the HD transition, and in this case, WSET 

 

Allbritton had been notoriously cheap when it came to set upgrades for HD, and while Sinclair did spend money giving some of their stations new sets over the years post-merger, you still have some like the example you gave with WSET who have received very little from the mothership.

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Another station that has been neglected by Sinclair is KEYE in Austin. Their set dates back to 2005, when the station was still owned by CBS. It was then sold to Four Points before being acquired by Sinclair. They have made a few minor changes but it’s essentially the same. For example, the skyline has changed dramatically so they covered up the skyline behind the anchors with dark blue panels. The TV behind the anchors is now bigger as well. The desk is the same though. They no longer use the weather center for some reason. Considering they just recently repainted the portion of the set used by their lifestyle show, I’m guessing there are no immediate plans to upgrade. Also ... because there’s a space crunch in their building, the kitchen set is shoehorned in the employee break room, which is off limits while the show is on air. (They’ve been remote lately though due to COVID.) 

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6 hours ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

Allbritton had been notoriously cheap when it came to set upgrades for HD, and while Sinclair did spend money giving some of their stations new sets over the years post-merger, you still have some like the example you gave with WSET who have received very little from the mothership.

33/40 was a station that got a new set for HD, but it was extremely cheap-looking.   The Sinclair set that replaced it was a massive improvement, but pales in comparison to all the other sets their competition has launched in the past year or so...

 

Did KTUL ever upgrade their set? 

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2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

33/40 was a station that got a new set for HD, but it was extremely cheap-looking.   The Sinclair set that replaced it was a massive improvement, but pales in comparison to all the other sets their competition has launched in the past year or so...

 

Did KTUL ever upgrade their set? 

Nope, at least nothing significant...they're still on that old dated thing from like, 2000 or something.

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3 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

33/40 was a station that got a new set for HD, but it was extremely cheap-looking.   The Sinclair set that replaced it was a massive improvement, but pales in comparison to all the other sets their competition has launched in the past year or so...

 

Did KTUL ever upgrade their set? 

Nope same set they have had since 1999 the only changes have been the monitor wall added and the desk in the weather center and newsdesk when they went HD in 2011.

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I found this newspaper article from The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, MS that dates back to Monday, April 26, 1999 that previews the debut of WAPT's new set (that is still in use today excluding the current weather center set, news desk and duratrans).  Yes, this has already been discussed , but it is pretty neat to see a true date and a story about it.

 

Source:  https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6698893/wapt-to-unveil-new-set-today/

img?institutionId=0&user=0&id=185420758&

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WTVD's Disney ABC Owned Station in Raleigh/Durham is next!!!  it's Durham Studio there main campus needs a new set badly it been around for 11 years since 2009, since the Durham studio got a heavy lift over!!! Though I think it's primarily because they built the Raleigh Studio (Which has been renovated twice in this era in 2011, and in 2019) which  is not for all newscasts but they can't get everyone in there, like sports anchor Mark Armstrong he still does sports from Durham (Or in this case cause of the Pandemic the front porch of his house). I think with the New ABC O&O graphics a  new set could be coming soon!!! I think every time there in the Raleigh studio for a few days when all there newscast even the breaking news center segment is coming out of the Raleigh studio, I think a new set is coming but then another newscast is back in Durham, and that crushes it!!! So maybe I had superstitions about it, for example in the mornings where the Raleigh studio is used everyone would be in Raleigh but breaking news center segment anchor Julie Wilson is from Durham and so they killed my new set predictions, regardless seeing the whole evening crew in Raleigh!!! And even though she from the breaking news center which is right outside the studio that probably too would get touched up which it has in the past 5 years!!! Now the current GM is Rob Elmore who's from KABC in Los Angeles and was there News Director, before he was here at WTVD ABC Owned Station in Raleigh where he was news director since 1998 and there's been several new sets between 1998 and when he left for California in 2015. But he was News director not general manager I'm hoping since he had that major market feel with Los Angeles he allowing these new graphics that are to WTVD and all ABC Owned Stations, and that maybe a new set is in the works!!! Now since 2009 they've had very few updates a refresh duratrans for the current graphics package that's going away an addition of a Flat Screen monitor, and improved stand-off area specifically for sports and anchor wide shots, and they received what ABC Owned Stations got which were the virtual reality Werther graphics but that's it!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
2 minutes ago, MarkBRollins88_v2 said:

Does anyone with any intel have any idea why Fox still hasn’t given one of their best performing stations, KDFW, any love since 2006?

 

Corporate can only do so much. The rest is largely handled by the people managing the station.

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FOX has demonstrated they are cheap with their capital expenditures, as evidenced by the building and equipment issues at WNYW, and all of the "rehab" that COX had to do in Memphis to bring that station up to a decent level of workability.

 

I'm sure these stations are very "profitable" because of all the capex they are starving from them!

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On 1/13/2021 at 3:21 PM, MorningNews said:

One has to wonder if KDFW is taking the safe “don’t fix what’s not broke” approach. Either that or they’re planning a larger move (their currently facility in downtown Dallas is a dump).


You know I think I have a theory why KDFW hasn't gotten a new set I think it's because there playing a game with WNYW in New York on who can have the 2006 set the longest.  But WNYW got one but it didn't get reported by Newscast Studio website which they haven't reported on it.  I been tryna get them to. Or they just have a WJZ situation.

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At the time, Allbritton sprung a ton of money on these fancy Devlin sets that were state-of-the-art at the time.  Fast forward to the HD era (and trends in general) and the design touches are no longer in fashion, simply because of the change from SD to HD, and the general design trends of the late 90s all the way to today.

 

Even all of the technology has changed since then.  Monitor arrays were often tubed and not those connected plasma (and now LED) arrays, and the only big screen was the old rear-projector variety, and maybe DLP.

 

Not to mention the lighting.  Incandescent and Halogen lighting all gave way to fluorescent and LED, and the ability to change the color temperature with the latter. 

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KDFW: Needs a new set... BADLY!

KXAS: No change. Still the best set in DFW market, wish KXAN/Austin would get a set like that if they would get a new building.

WFAA: Victory Park studio, no need to change, but the main studio on Young Street needs it.

KTVT: Needs a few tweaks and a new anchor desk (like the ones KCBS, WCBS, WFOR, KOVR, or KCNC have).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sinclair's first generation of HD sets dating back to 2008 are starting to get a little dated.  WEAR and WLOS still have theirs, while WBFF and WSYX/WTTE have since updated.

 

The next generation of HD sets were more varied, along with some of the sets acquired from prior owners, who commissioned their own.

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  • 1 month later...

WABC and WNBC New York. Their new set, Studio 3C in 2012 was great until they downgraded to 3K in 2016. It  looks so empty and barren. Their social distancing anchor desk is even worse.

Screenshot_20210307-081240.thumb.png.e8200fb1fe54a2fbf100308710382003.png

WABC has always had a great news team but an iffy on air look.

Sister stations KABC and KGO have an on air look that would be cool for WABC to replicate.

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7 hours ago, iron_lion said:

WABC and WNBC New York. Their new set, Studio 3C in 2012 was great until they downgraded to 3K in 2016. It  looks so empty and barren. Their social distancing anchor desk is even worse.

 

WABC has always had a great news team but an iffy on air look. WNBC and at times WNYW. Sister stations KABC and KGO have an on air look that would be cool for WABC to replicate.

 

I don't see WABC making any real changes to their current setup any time soon other than a few updates along the way. The station along with all of Disney/ABC's New York operations are slated to move to a new facility at Hudson Square in the coming years, so they may be holding off on new set plans until then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

WLUK-TV 11 in Green Bay, Wisconsin used alternate versions of their 1994 news set until 2012. It started out white, but was painted brown in 1996, not long after the switch from NBC to Fox in 1995, the background behind the main anchor desk was changed slightly, a weather lab and sports center with their own desks were added sometime in 1998.

 

WOOD-TV 8, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan also used a similar news set, which also had fake wood and illuminated glass block fixtures throughout.

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