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Social Distancing on Set


jerseyfla

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Back to Anchorage: Jackie Purcell (KTUU) and Melissa Fry (KTVA) have been doing weather from their homes lately.

 

Here in Atlanta...Sunday's severe weather coverage had ALL of the stations' main weather folks in the studio; Chris Holcomb, David Chandley, Jennifer Valdez, Brad Nitz and Jeff Hill were dragged out of their homes.

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On 4/14/2020 at 12:18 PM, johnnya2k6 said:

Back to Anchorage: Jackie Purcell (KTUU) and Melissa Fry (KTVA) have been doing weather from their homes lately.

 

Here in Atlanta...Sunday's severe weather coverage had ALL of the stations' main weather folks in the studio; Chris Holcomb, David Chandley, Jennifer Valdez, Brad Nitz and Jeff Hill were dragged out of their homes.

Yeah, when Charlotte got the brunt of the severe weather on Monday morning, WCNC brought in Brad Panovich for their morning newscast along side with Larry Sprinkle. 

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On 4/14/2020 at 12:18 PM, johnnya2k6 said:

Back to Anchorage: Jackie Purcell (KTUU) and Melissa Fry (KTVA) have been doing weather from their homes lately.

 

Here in Atlanta...Sunday's severe weather coverage had ALL of the stations' main weather folks in the studio; Chris Holcomb, David Chandley, Jennifer Valdez, Brad Nitz and Jeff Hill were dragged out of their homes.

 

12 hours ago, AaronQ said:

Yeah, when Charlotte got the brunt of the severe weather on Monday morning, WCNC brought in Brad Panovich for their morning newscast along side with Larry Sprinkle. 

 

Raleigh did the same WTVD ABC11 were in GMA in fact all of them were actually in their respective network morning shows (except for FOX). ABC11 the station I watch was in the middle of a GMA update weather portion at around 7:25 then around 7:28 a tornado warning popped up around Sampson or Cumberland County and they went into full coverage with morning weather anchor Don Schwenegger and Weekend Weather Anchor Brittany Bell and Chris Hommann coming in all from there homes. Don was already in studio since he was the morning anchor and the storm coming that morning he came normally these past few weeks he's been doing the weather from home with Virtual AR.

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Watched a little of WOIO the past few days....

 

It seems EVERYONE is working remotely, no one is on the set.

 

Which is a darn shame, since the set sucked to begin with....

it wouldn't surprise me if it made "social distancing" impossible!

 

(in other words, the hodgepodge of remote locations looks better than the set ever did on air!)

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On 4/7/2020 at 5:24 PM, Superdude said:

In Pittsburgh, KDKA-TV is still doing the one anchor route for the 4-7pm block.  Ken Rice usually,  but sometime Susan koeppen or keistine sorensen. Stacy smith does the wall street update from home with other anchors contributing to segments. 

 

WPXI has two anchors, david Johnson on the main set and peggy finnegan on the side set.  Sports have been done from home and I noticed the weather started to be done from home, at least the two female backup weather people.

 

Can't comment on WTAE, their signal doesn't come in here since the switch to digital.

Here is a WTAE broadcast I recorded a month ago. They have continued in this way since. https://youtu.be/xnjaHcaACe0

 

Here is WPXI to compare. https://youtu.be/s0MujphiniI

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On 4/17/2020 at 10:47 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Watched a little of WOIO the past few days....

 

It seems EVERYONE is working remotely, no one is on the set.

 

Which is a darn shame, since the set sucked to begin with....

it wouldn't surprise me if it made "social distancing" impossible!

 

(in other words, the hodgepodge of remote locations looks better than the set ever did on air!)

Pretty much every reporter is working from home. The anchors are usually at Reserve Square, with one in the Sunny Side Up studio and another in the main studio. AFAIK most of the weather folks are still at Reserve Square, with the exception of either Jason Nicholas or Samantha Roberts alternating from home.

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All this social distancing on the set. Plus, co-anchors delivering the news remotely from their homes.

 

Any idea when all this social distancing will end? When hell freezes over, and the devil opens an awesome ski resort with FREE ski and snowboard lessons

 

Any clue when the vaccine will come out, and news teams will start getting back together in the newsroom? When pigs fly...like F-16 Fighting Falcons

 

Sorry for my negative attitude

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3 hours ago, newsteam13 said:

All this social distancing on the set. Plus, co-anchors delivering the news remotely from their homes.

 

Any idea when all this social distancing will end? When hell freezes over, and the devil opens an awesome ski resort with FREE ski and snowboard lessons

 

Any clue when the vaccine will come out, and news teams will start getting back together in the newsroom? When pigs fly...like F-16 Fighting Falcons

 

Sorry for my negative attitude

This might be a hard to swallow pill, but it's probably not going away, at least not completely. And I'm not some doom-and-gloom type that thinks we need to stay in our homes forever. TV has, at least over the past decade or so, been slow to adapt to the current trends. It took a long time for TV news to "learn" how to use social media, even though they're still not great at it. TV news is still pretty awful at streaming.

 

Now, they were pushed in to current trends head first. They, almost overnight, had to adapt to a model that's already wildly common in the world of streaming and YouTube: the at-home studio. Yet, even without a sleek and shiny set, anchors are delivering the news every night and people are still watching. People are still watching late night, even though the hosts are at home and talking to their guests over their video conferencing system of choice. Ultimately, nobody cares where the content is coming from.

 

The "at home studio" isn't innovative. This is what people on YouTube have been doing for years, with much success, especially among the demographics that TV desperately craves: millennials. One of my favorite YouTube channels is Technology Connections. The channel offers fairly long form content. It's very informative. It's also filmed in front of some IKEA shelves filled with junk in this guy's basement. That doesn't affect the quality of the content. You learn just as much in the video as you would if he were standing on a $3 million set surrounded by every visual gizmo known to mankind.

 

You better believe that, by the end of this, TV stations are going to look long and hard at where they are spending their money. Do they really need a fancy news set and a big open newsroom, when their ideal demo is more than happy to watch someone talk about toasters from their basement? Or stream a video game from their bedroom? Is that expensive news set actually helping with "storytelling", or is that some buzzword that the set designers have been using to justify building bigger, more elaborate, more expensive sets? Do they need to pay for the space for every reporter to have their own desk, when they could just have the reporter go home and send in their story over the internet?

 

I've said before that TV News will, eventually, probably become a couple of people sitting at their desks in some rented office space, streaming what's happening on Facebook and Twitter with slightly better production value than the average person could pull off. I think all of this may have finally started us down that road. 

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20 minutes ago, Weeters said:

This might be a hard to swallow pill, but it's probably not going away, at least not completely. And I'm not some doom-and-gloom type that thinks we need to stay in our homes forever. TV has, at least over the past decade or so, been slow to adapt to the current trends. It took a long time for TV news to "learn" how to use social media, even though they're still not great at it. TV news is still pretty awful at streaming.

 

Now, they were pushed in to current trends head first. They, almost overnight, had to adapt to a model that's already wildly common in the world of streaming and YouTube: the at-home studio. Yet, even without a sleek and shiny set, anchors are delivering the news every night and people are still watching. People are still watching late night, even though the hosts are at home and talking to their guests over their video conferencing system of choice. Ultimately, nobody cares where the content is coming from.

 

The "at home studio" isn't innovative. This is what people on YouTube have been doing for years, with much success, especially among the demographics that TV desperately craves: millennials. One of my favorite YouTube channels is Technology Connections. The channel offers fairly long form content. It's very informative. It's also filmed in front of some IKEA shelves filled with junk in this guy's basement. That doesn't affect the quality of the content. You learn just as much in the video as you would if he were standing on a $3 million set surrounded by every visual gizmo known to mankind.

 

You better believe that, by the end of this, TV stations are going to look long and hard at where they are spending their money. Do they really need a fancy news set and a big open newsroom, when their ideal demo is more than happy to watch someone talk about toasters from their basement? Or stream a video game from their bedroom? Is that expensive news set actually helping with "storytelling", or is that some buzzword that the set designers have been using to justify building bigger, more elaborate, more expensive sets? Do they need to pay for the space for every reporter to have their own desk, when they could just have the reporter go home and send in their story over the internet?

 

I've said before that TV News will, eventually, probably become a couple of people sitting at their desks in some rented office space, streaming what's happening on Facebook and Twitter with slightly better production value than the average person could pull off. I think all of this may have finally started us down that road. 

 

OH...MY...GOD! THAT's the future of TV News? A TV station with NO newsroom and NO news set? 

 

Anchors delivering stories from their at-home studio? Reporters submitting their finished pieces via the cloud or google drive? Putting the newscast together via video conferencing software in control room?

 

 

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I'm a bit confused...are Facebook and Twitter the platforms being streamed to, or the sources of news? Wouldn't the stations still like having a Roku app and such, or broadcasting over-the-air?

 

How else might TV stations slim down their operations?

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12 hours ago, channel2 said:

I'm a bit confused...are Facebook and Twitter the platforms being streamed to, or the sources of news?

Let's be honest... both.

 

My theory operates under a few assumptions:

  • Networks discontinue linear TV distribution for pure OTT, or at least prioritize OTT over linear TV (new/live episodes are on their subscription streaming platform first, and appear on "free with commercials" OTA later)
  • Local stations prioritize OTT/digital/social media, streaming on [platforms of choice] when there is something happening, and posting videos for everything else. The long-form hours-long news broadcasts are either discontinued or serve as a block of the recent internet content stitched together. Some companies are already showing signs of moving in this direction with "Digital First" initiatives.
  • Some local stations sign off of OTA TV completely, as a cost savings measure, once a majority of their viewership moves to digital platforms. This would also eliminate the "cap" as there are no regulations on ownership for online-only media companies.
  • Broadcast companies largely hub departments like sports and weather, and maintain a national desk to create content for the entire group.

I still don't think it's going to happen any time soon, but I think all of this has set us down the path to getting there in 10-15 years.

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13 hours ago, channel2 said:

I'm a bit confused...are Facebook and Twitter the platforms being streamed to, or the sources of news? Wouldn't the stations still like having a Roku app and such, or broadcasting over-the-air?

 

How else might TV stations slim down their operations?

They are the platforms being streamed to.  

 

I could see stations at some point in the near future doing web only newscasts (Look at what KNBC was doing 4 years ago with NBC4 News Raw).  Web is already the only way that most millennial's get there news anyways, the real question is how do local stations stay in touch with millennial's?   I Think most will not and in 10 years or so there will be very little "locally originating newscasts".   

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I just hope internet access is more widespread and affordable by then. OTA’s main advantage is its infrastructure, cheap and widely available. A lot of rural areas don’t have good internet.

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In Raleigh same thing except ABC11 had the advantage of two studios, Robert Johnson Raleigh (the man on air) and Brittany Bell (in Durham) providing updates on twitter

 

At WRAL, it had social distancing with weekend weather anchor in the weather center for an hour

WNCN wasn't on the air so wasn't Univision or FOX

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50 minutes ago, Gavin said:

In Raleigh same thing except ABC11 had the advantage of two studios, Robert Johnson Raleigh (the man on air) and Brittany Bell (in Durham) providing updates on twitter

 

At WRAL, it had social distancing with weekend weather anchor in the weather center for an hour

WNCN wasn't on the air so wasn't Univision or FOX

 

I mean WRAZ's news is produced by WRAL so they could've simulcast WRAL's coverage.

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19 hours ago, Gavin said:

I know I just wish the Murdochs or someone buy that station Raleigh needs 6th news department (if you count Univision and Spectrum News).

 

Actually, I'll go against you and say NO. Despite not having its own news department, having the resources of WRAL already makes WRAZ one of FOX's strongest stations. They don't need the Murdochs or anyone else because Capitol Broadcasting runs both WRAL and WRAZ really really well. In fact, I think Capitol Broadcasting is one of America's best broadcasting companies.

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44 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

Actually, I'll go against you and say NO. Despite not having its own news department, having the resources of WRAL already makes WRAZ one of FOX's strongest stations. They don't need the Murdochs or anyone else because Capitol Broadcasting runs both WRAL and WRAZ really really well. In fact, I think Capitol Broadcasting is one of America's best broadcasting companies.

 

They don't air FOX News Special Reports outside of Prime-time. So on Election night its only 8-10 P.M. after the 10 P.M. no special coverage and no inauguration coverage though my guide said that in 2017 however they expanded the WRAL News on FOX 50 Morning News to 10 A.M. and in 2017 (If my memory serves me right) that's around the time the FOX Broadcasting cut-in for special coverage so maybe next year in 2021 WRAZ air it and FOX will make all of its affiliates with FOX News Service and Fox Entertainment air FOX Broadcast Network Coverage of Trump's Inauguration.

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40 minutes ago, Gavin said:

 

They don't air FOX News Special Reports outside of Prime-time. So on Election night its only 8-10 P.M. after the 10 P.M. no special coverage and no inauguration coverage though my guide said that in 2017 however they expanded the WRAL News on FOX 50 Morning News to 10 A.M. and in 2017 (If my memory serves me right) that's around the time the FOX Broadcasting cut-in for special coverage so maybe next year in 2021 WRAZ air it and FOX will make all of its affiliates with FOX News Service and Fox Entertainment air FOX Broadcast Network Coverage of Trump's Inauguration.

 

Umm... WRAL didn't add a 9:00 a.m. hour on WRAZ until Monday, June 3rd, 2019. I know because I reported it on my blog at that time.

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56 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

Umm... WRAL didn't add a 9:00 a.m. hour on WRAZ until Monday, June 3rd, 2019. I know because I reported it on my blog at that time.

 

I forgot mention its was in 2019. sorry bout continue, your opinion.

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On 4/22/2020 at 3:19 AM, Weeters said:

Do they need to pay for the space for every reporter to have their own desk, when they could just have the reporter go home and send in their story over the internet?

Not just the TV industry, but white collar jobs in general. 

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WVII in Bangor is moving their anchors a little closer together and still social distancing apart.

From mid March until Tuesday morning, this was the set up. One at the anchor desk and other standing 10 feet in front of the desk: 5cb2261342962891.jpg

Tuesday and Wednesday morning, they moved closer with one the anchors moving to where the sports anchor would stand: 6e80031342962896.jpg 

This evening, this is the current setup: bc4abe1342962901.jpg 

 

This is how much space they have to use, this was taken from the anchor desk. Where the sports anchor is standing is the morning interview set, to the left of the photo is their control room, and the green screen isn't used because weather is done by sister station WJFW in Rhinelander, WI since January 1st. (Before AccuWeather did their weather for weekdays, weekends were and still are done by WJFW.) EUEdLraXYAYO2pu?format=jpg&name=large

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50 minutes ago, RGSJenkins said:

WVII in Bangor is moving their anchors a little closer together and still social distancing apart.

From mid March until Tuesday morning, this was the set up. One at the anchor desk and other standing 10 feet in front of the desk: 5cb2261342962891.jpg

Tuesday and Wednesday morning, they moved closer with one the anchors moving to where the sports anchor would stand: 6e80031342962896.jpg 

This evening, this is the current setup: bc4abe1342962901.jpg 

 

This is how much space they have to use, this was taken from the anchor desk. Where the sports anchor is standing is the morning interview set, to the left of the photo is their control room, and the green screen isn't used because weather is done by sister station WJFW in Rhinelander, WI since January 1st. (Before AccuWeather did their weather for weekdays, weekends were and still are done by WJFW.) EUEdLraXYAYO2pu?format=jpg&name=large

 

That a small set, they might wanna bigger one once this is all over. I remember when this set was installed by a previous previous previous I I'm right news director. Back in 2013 she announced on the day the same day she and her co-anchor resigned on the same newscast at 6 P.M. before it ended.

 

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