Jump to content

NewsNation Launch Thread


Sendir
Message added by Weeters,

Thread Notice: On March 1, 2021 WGN America will rebrand as NewsNation. As it will then become a proper cable news network, this thread documenting the start of the show as it existed on WGN America will be closed on that date. Please consider starting new threads to cover other aspects of the new network.

Recommended Posts

I understand the need to innovate, but I feel like that's a lot of legacy branding down the drain.  I wish Nexstar would retain the 'WGN America' name, even if in name only -- much like a station having call signs but branding as something else.  I feel as though Nexstar can and should find some way to retain the WGN America name, even after the complete transition to NewsNation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 674
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Wow! WGNA fully rebranding into NN in under a year! Was this planned or is this quick? NN only started Sep 1st , Good for NN!

 

1 thing however, you now need a TV provider to watch online which we knew it was coming but DISH and DTV are not on the login screen. Anyone know why?

On 1/29/2021 at 5:22 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

I like Scott Jones' idea...bring back the WGN Morning news!!!

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2021/1/27/nexstar-should-do-this

 

It's a good enough show that it should have a national audience once again.  Throw in some national segments (only seen on NewsNation) and it could work!


Was WGN's Morning News ever nationwide? I thought only Noon, 9pm. were coast to coast?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was never national. I remember wayback some report somewhere that they didnt do it national since some of the segments couldnt be cleared naitonal since other stations get them. I am assuming reports from CNN Newsource and others. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Drew said:

It was never national. I remember wayback some report somewhere that they didnt do it national since some of the segments couldnt be cleared naitonal since other stations get them. I am assuming reports from CNN Newsource and others. 

'94-'97 they cleared 6-9am with cuts for the Syndex content.

 

And I do agree; even though fewer and fewer consumers are using an A-Z channel guide where "W" was towards the end, moving it into the middle of the listings between Nickelodeon and Newsmax is not good in that sense for branding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as that would be nice, when I emailed WGN asking about this topic years ago, they responded by saying that the national audience "wouldn't be interested in 5 hours of Chicago news." Besides, it wouldn't happen anyway in the age of live streaming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, mightynine said:

 

And FTV Live is saying Bill Shine - formerly of Fox News & the Trump White House - might be brought on as a NewsNation "consultant"?

 

That should put a pin in the "unbiased coverage" balloon if true.

That name doesn't ring a bell, when was he on FNC?

 

If NN has people from both sides..it's still unbiased correct?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, jrh1985 said:

That name doesn't ring a bell, when was he on FNC?

 

If NN has people from both sides..it's still unbiased correct?

From TVNewser "Shine was co-president of Fox News Channel prior to his tenure as a member of the Trump administration (he served in the comms department from July 2018 until March 2019),  He started at the network beginning in 1996 (the year it launched) before resigning in May 2017  around the time of the company’s sexual harassment scandals." (https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/former-fox-news-co-president-white-house-comms-director-bill-shine-joins-newsnation-as-consultant/470108/)

 

In my opinion this could become a problem, what exactly do they expect him to "consult" them on? It's worrying that they hire the former executive of a talk show and opinion network and not to mention the political connection to the past administration, one that attacked a free press and blatantly lied, all of it could turn viewers off and appear as biased. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill Shine explicitly smacks of "career rehabilitation" on his end.

 

I can't judge many of these FNC/FBN producers that NN poached, but this is not going to help FNC as they further calcify into a cable talk network. For all we know they'll actually do a professional and quality job, which would be a welcome move.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Mediaite article says that he's going to be consulting on talk shows, so they might do more chatter during the day. I honestly don't see the need for that. Also, Nexstar needs to get its act together on TV Everywhere access to NewsNation, as Spectrum is not one of the options, unless they want to hold them hostage to retransmission consent fees to show NewsNation (it's also not on their OTT subscriber platform, when all other news channels including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox, Newsy, Cheddar, Newsmax, and the Black News Channel are). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill Shine oversaw all of FNC primetime programming in the early years when it was still an upstart network. He wouldn't necessarily be my own personal choice, but I actually don't think it's that much of a problem that NewsNation is hiring him if he's only going to be working in the capacity of a consultant. He would probably have some decent insight in knowing how to scale up the operation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, C Block said:

Bill Shine oversaw all of FNC primetime programming in the early years when it was still an upstart network. He wouldn't necessarily be my own personal choice, but I actually don't think it's that much of a problem that NewsNation is hiring him if he's only going to be working in the capacity of a consultant. He would probably have some decent insight in knowing how to scale up the operation.


Reportedly, Shine was brought on as a consultant prior to the launch last September. Given the sudden (and somewhat mysterious) departure of Pudar; I wonder if that opens up the possibility of him taking on a larger role at News Nation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This dumpster fire keeps on burning. I feel bad for people like Joe donlon who gave up a main anchor job in Chicago for this failed venture, and the lady who left a main anchor job in Miami. 

the news director who launched it leaving 5 months after the debut isnt a sign of confidence 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, DENDude said:

I had no audio & buzzing on News Nation for the fist :40 mins tonight, DirecTV had a crawl running saying it was on WGN America's end and that they were working to resolve the issue. 

 

You'd think they'd do something after 5 minutes or turn on something else until they fixed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, DENDude said:

I had no audio & buzzing on News Nation for the fist :40 mins tonight, DirecTV had a crawl running saying it was on WGN America's end and that they were working to resolve the issue. 

 

2 hours ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

 

You'd think they'd do something after 5 minutes or turn on something else until they fixed it.

The program has had an array of technical issues since they started. For example, when they opened the broadcast last Tuesday, Rob Nelson's mic was off when he, Joe Donlon, and Marnie Hughes did their introductions. It's happened several times, to my knowledge, where either Rob, Joe, or Marnie's mics weren't turned on on air.

 

And of course, there was a moment during the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death when Dean Reynolds was doing a live phone-in and all of a sudden, he was cut off and the next voice we heard said something like, "Your call cannot be completed as dialed...." (this happened twice). 

 

For the latter, someone on this board compared it to similar instances during WGN's morning newscast and I remember another poster opining that WGN needed to fix their phone system....

 

But these are just some examples of tech issues that have somehow made their way on air on News Nation. (I know that these things come with the territory when it comes to live TV, but still....)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, J1975am said:

 

The program has had an array of technical issues since they started. For example, when they opened the broadcast last Tuesday, Rob Nelson's mic was off when he, Joe Donlon, and Marnie Hughes did their introductions. It's happened several times, to my knowledge, where either Rob, Joe, or Marnie's mics weren't turned on on air.

 

And of course, there was a moment during the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death when Dean Reynolds was doing a live phone-in and all of a sudden, he was cut off and the next voice we heard said something like, "Your call cannot be completed as dialed...." (this happened twice). 

 

For the latter, someone on this board compared it to similar instances during WGN's morning newscast and I remember another poster opining that WGN needed to fix their phone system....

 

But these are just some examples of tech issues that have somehow made their way on air on News Nation. (I know that these things come with the territory when it comes to live TV, but still....)

 

I wonder if their control room is mostly automated. One of the Toledo stations newscasts went to an automated control room, and for a year and a half there were so many technical problems that it was hard to watch. It's pretty much all fixed now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/4/2021 at 10:00 PM, newsman123 said:

the news director who launched it leaving 5 months after the debut isnt a sign of confidence 

 

Wouldn't a news director, especially one in her type of position, have a contract?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like Compton isn’t happy with doing news without bias, so let’s swerve this thing to the right!

 

https://www.robertfeder.com/2021/02/08/consultant-bill-shine-casts-fox-shadow-newsnation/


In a presentation described as meandering, Compton said the changes set for March 1 were just the beginning of plans for a 24-hour news product. Though short on specifics, he was clear what’s coming next will be different. “What we’re doing is friendly vanilla news and it’s not working,” he said according to two people in the room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well lets see here, 6 months in and it looks as if the non opinion news has backfired on them.  It will be interesting to see if this shakeup does anything to the ratings or not.  I'm guessing to begin with yes, in the long run no.  People don't think of NewsNation when they are looking for news.   I can't say it's something that comes to mind for me when I'm looking for a national newscast.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.