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KGW (Tegna) changing up 6pm newscast


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On 1/16/2020 at 9:56 AM, Greggo said:

I thought Tegna was supposed to be giving up on this crap?!?

TEGNA lied and I'm not surprised.

 

TEGNA, I will be happy if you undo the Gannett-Belo merger. KGW was historically a Belo station, and Belo was one of the best owners in existence. You can't be better than Belo, Cox (pre-Apollo) or Hearst.

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5 hours ago, Conrad said:
On 1/16/2020 at 8:56 AM, Greggo said:

I thought Tegna was supposed to be giving up on this crap?!?

TEGNA lied and I'm not surprised.

 

Where did this idea come from the Tegna was "giving up" on this stuff? The departure of Joel Cheatwood? Even if that's a logical conclusion to make, developing a new show from conception to debut can take 6-12 months. So this new KGW show was probably in the works long before he left, if he was even involved at all.

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22 hours ago, PTVNews said:

 

 

Where did this idea come from the Tegna was "giving up" on this stuff? The departure of Joel Cheatwood? Even if that's a logical conclusion to make, developing a new show from conception to debut can take 6-12 months. So this new KGW show was probably in the works long before he left, if he was even involved at all.

If TEGNA was serious about improving, this show would've been scrapped during development.

 

It can be now even more sad to think that this used to be a Belo station.

 

TEGNA will continue to get worse as time goes on. It doesn't matter what they say or whether or not Joel Cheatwood is there. Maybe after Dave Lougee leaves, things might get better.

 

(I wrote this before Weeters' post.)

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19 hours ago, PTVNews said:

Where did this idea come from the Tegna was "giving up" on this stuff? The departure of Joel Cheatwood? Even if that's a logical conclusion to make, developing a new show from conception to debut can take 6-12 months. So this new KGW show was probably in the works long before he left, if he was even involved at all.

Just because Cheatwood left, doesn't mean they're going to throw out these formats.

 

The idea that Tegna is just going to suddenly go back to some boring, dry news format with two stiff anchors at a desk reading news over some grand orchestral news music is ludicrous. 

 

The old way of doing things aren't coming back any time soon. Folks need to stop holding their breath.

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Well, here is the first episode. Not sure what to think but I think it's slightly better than I thought it would be. I'll wait to see more episodes to see if they are able to keep up the same type of stories and quality. I looked over social media for comments and I'd roughly guess maybe 80% liked it.

 

 

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On 1/27/2020 at 10:45 PM, PTVNews said:

Well, here is the first episode. Not sure what to think but I think it's slightly better than I thought it would be. I'll wait to see more episodes to see if they are able to keep up the same type of stories and quality. I looked over social media for comments and I'd roughly guess maybe 80% liked it.

 

 

Respectfully, I love it!

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  • 2 weeks later...
5 hours ago, Big Mood said:

 

nope

---

 

Anyway, here's a write-up on the creation of the show. Hard to say it's a gimmick when it's.... uh, purposely free of gimmicks.

 

https://cronkitenewslab.com/broadcast/2020/02/06/the-story-transforming-legacy-newcast/

 

I don't get the "gimmick" complaints either. After all, local TV news has been bursting at the seems with silly, consultant-driven gimmicks for years.

 

"Your first look at the weather"? That's a gimmick.

Attractive, smiling male-female anchor teams with the man usually older than the woman? That's a gimmick.

Endless reminders to download the station's weather app? That's a gimmick.

Consultant-tested newscast names that mean absolutely nothing these days (Eyewitness News, Action News) and should have been retired decades go? That's a gimmick.

"Breaking news" tags on stories that are not remotely breaking news in any sense? That's a gimmick.

Live remotes from places where the action has ended hours ago? That's a gimmick.

Overblown nicknames for weather radars featuring lots of meaningless numbers? That's a gimmick.

Silly chats with the meteorologist and the sports anchor? That's a gimmick.

Weather forecasts for ten days in advance even though weather forecasts are notoriously unreliable beyond five days or so? That's a gimmick.

Glossy 3D graphics with whooshing sounds that make the news look like a video game but do a poor job of conveying information?  That's a gimmick.

The same old recycled slogans from a consultant's list? That's a gimmick.

"There's danger lurking in your kitchen cabinet. We'll tell you what it is at 10." That's a gimmick.

Random, often meaningless crime and fire footage without any broader context just to create the impression that the station is "everywhere"? Oh, you better believe that's a gimmick.

 

Now, people may like or dislike various new approaches to doing the news (and in many cases the criticism is justifiable!), but please don't pretend that "traditional local news" isn't full of gimmickry, much of it going back to the '70s. (And do read Ron Powers' 1977 classic The Newscasters if you don't believe me.)

 

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3 hours ago, WWUpdate said:

Now, people may like or dislike various new approaches to doing the news (and in many cases the criticism is justifiable!), but please don't pretend that "traditional local news" isn't full of gimmickry, much of it going back to the '70s.

 

 

And that's sort of Tegna's thing. Separate yourself from the competition. Tell them they're not going to get that. 

 

The clap-snap-woo music? Different from whatever Steven Arnold package the other stations bought (and let's be real, everything he puts out sounds the same). It might not be your taste - and that is okay. But there is no denying that it's a better attempt at sonic branding than any other station group.

 

The simple graphics -- PURPLE?! Yeah, I bet you every station in your market is running some sort of blue/white/yellow combination that, if the logos were swapped, would be absolutely interchangable and nobody at home would know. It's a sea of sameness. 

 

Following me so far?

 

I could make a whole other post about the original content (Verify, An Imperfect Union, etc), in addition to the push for innovative/unconventional storytelling. Nobody else is doing it. They will start. They will make the same dumb mistakes Tegna made. They will be behind.

 

There have been mis-steps, false starts, and bad calls, but... here are some facts for TVNT at-large to get mad about:

 

The format invented 40 years ago will not last another 40 years.

 

Adapt or die.

 

And you don't do that without making mistakes to learn from.

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On 1/16/2020 at 12:42 PM, atlnewsfan03 said:

 

That has me wondering, and I'd imagine others could easily be wondering the same thing about whether TEGNA's upper management is losing their minds.  Better idea would be to The Story with Dan Haggerty in 7PM hour to keep traditional 6PM newscast in place.

My thoughts exactly-- keep the evening edition as it was, and move that Haggerty show to the slot you suggested.

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On 2/7/2020 at 7:01 PM, Big Mood said:

 

nope

---

 

Anyway, here's a write-up on the creation of the show. Hard to say it's a gimmick when it's.... uh, purposely free of gimmicks.

 

https://cronkitenewslab.com/broadcast/2020/02/06/the-story-transforming-legacy-newcast/

When there isn't much in the way of actual news, TEGNA's style of news is a gimmick. If I were TEGNA and I wanted something different, I'd use a public radio-style format.

 

As far as Belo goes, yes they were one of the best. Don't believe me? Look at the track record of WFAA and WWL under Belo's ownership. WWL was once CBS's strongest affiliate (that's why Viacom was interested in buying the station in 2005, shortly before Katrina), and WFAA's newscasts have once been recognized as among the best in the U.S., alongside other stations such as Hearst (at the time Hearst-Argyle)'s WCVB and WBAL.

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On 2/8/2020 at 3:13 AM, bmasters1 said:

My thoughts exactly-- keep the evening edition as it was, and move that Haggerty show to the slot you suggested.

 

That might be the "safe" thing to do, but I don't think they were going for safe. I think they wanted to be bold and take a risk. There are still plenty of "traditional" newscasts at 4pm, 5pm, 6:30pm, and 11pm on KGW....

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On 2/10/2020 at 11:54 AM, Conrad said:

When there isn't much in the way of actual news, TEGNA's style of news is a gimmick. If I were TEGNA and I wanted something different, I'd use a public radio-style format.

 

As far as Belo goes, yes they were one of the best. Don't believe me? Look at the track record of WFAA and WWL under Belo's ownership. WWL was once CBS's strongest affiliate (that's why Viacom was interested in buying the station in 2005, shortly before Katrina), and WFAA's newscasts have once been recognized as among the best in the U.S., alongside other stations such as Hearst (at the time Hearst-Argyle)'s WCVB and WBAL.

i am going to share something with you... some FACTS...

 

you might want to sit down...

 

are you sitting down???

 

many of the people making decisions inside tegna came from belo...

 

i know... how could this be??

 

tegna stations are basically autonomous... but everyone is trying to outdo everyone else... what you are seeing are "belo people"... unleashed and encouraged to try something new...


very few things have come down from the top... almost all decisions are made LOCALLY!!!
 

sometimes by former "belo people"...

 

no one is holding a gun to their head... they want to try new stuff... they know it is time to adapt or die...

 

tegna didn't come in and "destroy" WFAA... the people who already worked there wanted to try a different style of news... 

 

just saying...

 

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