Thanks to Frank for Youtubing this. An open from today’s debut of WPLG’s new studios.
They’ve kept the same music, the open is refreshed but overall the look remains the same. The time/temp bug is now animated, an animated cube. Not too bad but somewhat distracting.
HD Video after the jump
New Local 10 Open in HD
Just as i expected, they are using the ‘standard’ P-N graphics since there the station that created them.
Does WFOR have any plans in upgrading to HD? Almost all of the English stations have made the upgrade to HD. Anyone one know?
Yes, and it won’t be too much longer.
Is this the number one station for news in South Florida? I mean I am not impressed at all. I was expecting a lot more from them. The desk looks like something from my little brothers room. I mean come on WPLG you could have done better. I am dreading seeing that clown on monday night and her make up covered face. I mean if she looks as bad in regular tv imagine her in HD. I know one thing though her face is gonna be MUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGED beyond belief and it ain’t gonna be pretty at all.IN closing can we get some anchors enough is enough with the sports anchor doing the news solo. Come on you could have put Nikki or Jacey at the desk. This just comes off to me as cheap and pathetic.
Hey Diego…
Then don’t watch. The end
Jeezus Diego! lol
Anyways, the set is pretty disappointing. The new time bug is probably the best part. The video doesnt really catch the new pieces added in the graphics.
They also didnt do an actual report and presentation of the new set. Just a quick mention of moving in. We didnt get to actually grasp the set.
I don’t think the set and everything is done, that’s why they steered away from mentioning it too much.
Who has better graphics? WTVJ or WPLG? Who has better music? WTVJ or WPLG?
I think WTVJ has better HD graphics than WPLG. And the music WTVJ has now is better than what they had before. Can u imagine if WTVJ and WPLG merged, it would have been devastating in the Miami market. WPLG has a nice set and hopefully WTVJ will update theirs soon. WHAT DO YALL THINK?
I think you are going to be waiting awhile for WTVJ to update their set. Next earliest possible time is probably not till next year and that is pending the economy.
I agree NBC6. I will take NBCMiami anyday over WPLG. Why thank you Jim, I will not watch. However I tuned in to see the switch and to see if it was worth it. However like a previous poster when is CBS4 gonna go HD???? Ill stick with 7news or NBC6 anyday. Now Speak on that JIM !!!!!!!!
CBS 4 will be HD before too much longer.
Speak on what Diego? The fact that you write like a 10 year old girl? Sorry, but I left high school a long time ago, so I can’t respond much more to your childish ways.
I like watching PLG and NBC6. I have no problem with the people of SVN, but the style is just too bright and loud. No big deal. That’s why they invented the remote control.
I have to agree with some of the criticism here. The new studio design isn’t that great. the NBCMiami makeover puts it to shame.
Jim, I agree with you in the sense that, SVN is too bright. I feel bad for the epileptic viewers that used to watch SVN! I feel like I’m staring at a strobe light, with red and blue neon lights in my eyes while watching it, but I like their news delivery. NBC6, is my second choice. All the other stations, I hate to say it, are jokes. I don’t like 10 at all, and 4 should just call it a day.
CBS 4 has seen great ratings improvements since the beginning of 2009. Even if news aficionados don’t like them, they aren’t doing too bad when you compare them to NBC 6 which everyone here is praising.
Thank you, LuisR and Brandon. I so agree with both of you up to a point about all the news stations in South FLorida. Jim, Thank you for the comments I always find them refreshing and exciting. I am so on the edge of my seat with what you will say next to us all.
Graham, When will CBS4 be in HD?
Before July. That would leave only WPBF in West Palm Beach as the only non HD local news station in South FL. And they wont be HD anytime soon since Hearst has halted HD transition amongst its stations.
I agree with many of you on this forum regarding the news set for WPLG. The set design has no news “gravitas” but does have vivid colors that obviously look great in HD. Nonetheless, it is a news set and it should incorporate elements of the news, i.e. large flat panel screens to play graphics, small monitors to display a news sense, and labeled areas for features such as sports and weather. Also I noticed the anchors stand up behind the news desk, perhaps an indication of the producers wanting them to move around the set to convey the news, something I like seeing and NBC-6 does it marvelously. The anchor desk looks like something from a south beach lounge by the way. Someone mentioned it also looked like Superman’s cryptonite castle in a long lost galaxy.
I went to justnews.com and saw slideshows of the newsroom and common areas and I must say it is beautiful and very high tech. The control rooms look very relaxing and all systems seem to play along with the HD transition. Going back to the news set, it looks like it’s better suited for a Miami-south beach style talk show set, instead of a news studio. I encourage the WPLG bigwigs to consider other news sets, like the recent one Univision-23 installed which is in my opinion the best studio news set right now in South Florida. Of course, I won’t be running away from WPLG’s telecasts because it is south florida’s finest journalists, but I’ll still tune in blind-folded when they’re broadcasting from their new set.
You’re a strange cat Diego, that’s for sure. I have no clue what you’re talking about, but as long as you’re enjoying yourself, that’s cool.
As for the new set. It seems solid overall. Not overwhelming or anything over the top. It could be better, but it could certainly be worst. I’d say it’s about the same as NBC6. Not as boring as 4, but not as bright as 7.
The aet is ugly. Why has Charles Perez been anchoring Sunday evening? Whats up with Neki and Robb. Why dont they anchor anymore?
Just saw the 6:30pm news and I love the set, graphics, and sound. The fact that just about everything is HD puts Ch. 10 on top IMO. Ch. 7 people will be drooling when they see the HD field reports.
I don’t get why everyone wants to tone things down – HD is just awesome with the superb eye and ear candy. I say let’s have more of it.
Diego – Dude, put a lid on it until we see Laurie in HD. Belkys is just a train wreck happening over and over, so I’m confident there will be no comparison. That said, Ch. 10 really needs to get Charles Perez’ makeup people in line. He looked pretty brutal tonight in HD.
I think Ch.10 should bring back Dwight Lauderdale and Kristi Krueger back together. Has any1 seen Dwight recently? I saw him last tuesday on the 6pm show. The man looks good since his retirement. I miss him on Ch.10 does any1 think he will come out of retirement like the late Ralph Renick did? I like Charles Perez, but I think he is better as a weekend anchor with Neki Mohan or solo. Laurie needs to go back to Ch.7 with Craig Stevens,they made a great team together.
NBC6 Fan, the funny thing is is that I was just thinking about that last night. You can tell that Craig is tired of Belkys. She’s funny, but can get obnoxious. They were great together. I actually prefer Rick Sanchez and Laurie Jennings together. THEY were a great team.
NBC6, I agree with you Put Kristi back with Dwight. I love Kristi on Local 10. However I really Disagree with you about Laurie and were she should go.
Joe,
Laurie, Looked awful the other night before HD. I can only imagine in HD tomorrow. I mean I will be hiding under my covers in fear when I see her and her neck. Charles Perez, looked fine in HD. As for Nerey being a trainwreck you need to wake up. I mean if you call her a trainwreck I would hate to see your idea of a georgeous lady.
Jamboi,
I have been wondering the samething about the anchors at Local 10. Why are Neki and Rob not anchoring? Why is Will Manso the sports chief and your man anchor anchoring your weekend news? Isn’t local 10 number 1 in SOuth Florida? If so then you would think they could get a weekend anchor team and stop the craziness.
Local 10 has fallin in ratings, I don’t know if they can really call themselves #1. WFORs news passes them in some areas, especially from 5 to 6pm since WPLG chooses to air Dr Phil.
Diego,, your prolly some fat spanish dude who has no life critizing people you dont even know, Laurie is by far the hottest anchor in the market,, if you want to be some damn critical of someone then why dont you get your cynical ass on a set and let us bash the hell out of you
Wow. If we are talking about the hottest anchor in the market, Laurie is definitely not it. Does anyone really think Laurie is HOT? Jackie Nespral is much hotter than Laurie, then there’s Julia Yarbough and Pam Gigante of course. Thos etwo women on 7 in the morning are horrendous. I mean, does anyone tell them they wear too much makeup and look awful HD or not? Jacey Birch has looked pretty good.
Will Frank get Fired for putting that up on youtube?
as a fan of wplg.. i think the set is something NEW and yes it takes some geting use to it. but i think its a great new idea/geometric style with plenty of colors. i am sure they will add more to the set in the future
Nikki and Rob basically took pay cuts and management has decided to relinquish them to reporting duties FOR NOW since they are not paid at anchor salary. They are SUPPOSED to be rotating anchoring duties solo on the weekends. The reason why Charles did sunday nights and Laurie did friday nights SOLO was purely a ratings strategy during RATINGS/SWEEPS. That should end this week….. They are basically trying to float Will Manson as a weekend anchor for now 🙁 Remember, ratings period ends this week but starts right back up again towards the end of April. More changes ahead.
sflanews ,
My dear I am far from fat first off. I have no problem get on that tacky set and letting you all bash me. That’s just fine!!!!!!!!!
Joseph,
I thank you for the info about the anchor situation at Local 10. I still think they shouldn’t be doing it however.
Frankie,
Thank you, for having eyes like myself. Laurie Is not hot now nor has she ever been hot. I think Louanne Sourels is hot. Jacey is also a cute lady.
I miss Jackie Johnson. ):
Damn KCAL…
I think Jackie is the most attractive woman in this market. Followed behind her is Julia, Pam, Roxy, Trina, and Kelly. Kelly Craig? yes I said it! When Kelly first came to Miami in 1990 she was fine, skinny, beautiful and attractive. As you get older you gain some weight and you change physically. I think she is still beautiful, but more sexier back in the 90’s before she was married and had Jack. Overall, Jackie is the number one woman for as looks in this market. Don’t forget to tune into Paul and Young tommorrow morning Kelly Craig & Todd Togen will be competiting on the radio station. LOL I think I spelled Todd’s last name wrong! OOPS…
Diego – Saw Laurie on the 6pm tonight and she looked great. Charles also looked a lot better this evening (and also for the 11pm last night). The makeup people finally got it together.
Joe, Her neck looked saggy and those hands looked like she needed gloves on them or some Joan Rivers hand cream. Once again if that is a hot woman I will sell you the land I got in Ocala. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now someone who looked flawless was Kristi Krueger this morning. Kristi, you still got it girl keep showing out on those kids like only you can do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott and Trent also looked Fresh and Delicious.
IMO, WPLG went way over the top with the news set. I’m a bit surprised that WPLG was able to keep its theme music intact… while Gari seems to be forcing other ABC stations to use the “Eyewitness News” theme music. The graphics look okay to me.
My opinions about some of the other Miami-Ft. Lauderdale stations…
— WTVJ has very nice looking NBC O&O graphics. The news set looks very ghastly… I hope NBC will try saving up some money to build a newer, more up-to-date news set.
— WSFL is supposed to be getting a new morning show sometime this year… some may be wondering if it’ll ever debut.
— WFOR (and WBFS) are still not in HD. If CBS is considering converting them to HD sometime this year, hope they’ll get new graphics, as well as a new set. I don’t know if WFOR and WBFS will be keeping the theme music intact or not… I wouldn’t be surprised if they get “The CBS Enforcer Music Collection” theme music.
Eric,
Maybe that’s why they can’t afford regular weekend anchors. I bet there still paying for that desk.
DESK?!?!?!? More like… camerA! Yes, Singular… Trying to pay off one camera at a time… Those cameras are about… $36,000 each!
WFOR’s music was written for them. I doubt it’s going anywhere.
I cant stand WFOR’S music. That station again needs a makeover!!!
It’s been done for the past decade:
1995-1999: News 4 South Florida
1999-2001: CBS 4 News Phase 1
2001-2003: Phase 2 with E-Rod
2003-2007: Phase 3 with Robb Hannrahan
2007: Phase 4 with Shannon Hori
2008: Phase 5 with Antonio Mora
Personally, NBC6Fan, WFOR had went through the NewsSource Now Phases, while I believe that the news package says “Moving Fluffier” I think WFOR would need a better composer. Edd Kalehoff maybe?
IMHO, aside from the uncomfortable anchor shots, CBS4 already is going places.
Diego – It’s pretty obvious that we’re seeing different things on 7 and 10. I think Belkys amounts to a train wreck and Laurie is one of the most professional anchors in SoFla; you see something quite different. Let’s just agree to disagree, shall we? BTW, it wasn’t me that started calling female anchors “hot” – check the thread.
Joe,
Yes, I am quiet different from other people you will meet. I also agree we will never see Eye to Eye on things.
Joseph, I think you have a good theory, but I still don’t buy it. I really think it’s all about money, and it makes sense. It’s such a bad economy and you have to save a buck where you can. Neki and Rob go report so that means they need two less reporters on staff those days. Charles, Laurie and Will take care of Friday-Sunday and they’re already on staff paid as anchors. It’s actually a good idea. Get the best bang for the buck.
While you kids all want new graphics, music, set and all… Management at ‘PLG handled the change just right. They got a new set, but kept the same music and the same graphics (although they are in HD). CONSISTENCY is the name of the game for any successful news operation, hence the changes were not a COMPLETE Make-over! Major changes upset viewers and can lead to losing them.
I completely agree with you. The new graphics and studio SVN has, has really torn me away from watching them. I’m not pleased with them AT ALL! Graphics, music, set, everything, I hate it. Just like the HD part. I’ve turned to TVJ more…
You may have turned to TVJ more, but South Florida hasent.
AMEN
so can having no audio at the top of your show, then running 8 minutes of commercials, then canceling the show all together, like wplg did today at noon. they have been a technical train wreck since they moved.
Big changes are also on teh way for NBC6. NBC in New York wants two anchor news shows stopped to save money. What will happen to Joel and Jackie and Julia and Jackie. What about morning? Pam and Bob no more?
I’m going to check into that, but I’m willing to bet that’s false. One anchor shows fail, and are simply boring… again, I’ll check into that.
Frankie – remember that Jackie solo anchored 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. when they let Michael Williams go about two years ago – and that lasted for less than a year. I can’t see NBC-6 going back to a one-anchor format. As much as I love Julia, Jackie and Joel, not one of them can carry a newscast alone on a regular basis – I don’t think I know of any local anchors who can.
I don’t think you’re reading the tea leaves correctly out of NBC’s flagship station in New York. You can’t have WNBC without Chuck and Sue (6pm/11pm). It’d be like WABC going sans Liz Cho and Bill Ritter (6pm/11pm) or Sade Baderinwa and Diana Williams (5pm) or Lori Stokes and Ken Rosato (Morning).
I have a feeling that your one anchor theory is coming from the debut of the news content center (cute, but blah!) and the creation 24-hour local news digital subchannel (cute, though NY1 still rocks — if limited to cable :). The 24-hour news operation tends to follow the one anchor format utilizing digital broadcasting tricks like re-running the same story every 22 minutes ;).
I could be wrong, since I’ve been down in SoFla lately… but I believe that’s what Frankie is referring to out of the New York market.
Deep Thoughts: If anyone is familiar with the New York news market and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale news market, has anyone else noticed how dumbed down the news in South Florida is? My biggest pet peeve is being talked down to by Laurie and Not-Dwight Perez on a station that I respect. It’s no better by the crew at WTVJ, WFOR, or WSVN.
Granted, that might be what the market demands (which is scary), but I’ve always enjoyed the idea that the news in the New York market always seemed primarily to be written for and delivered by adults. The exception would be Fox’s flagship WNYW, but sometimes their message gets killed by their overkill use of graphics… but that’s a family trait 🙂 …I kid Fox5 though!
And I don’t think it’s easy to blame it on South Florida’s laid-back lifestyle. The nation’s No. 2 market, Los Angeles/Southland (LaLa Land), still manages to put a reasonably mature news product together and get ratings — see KABC, KNBC, and KCBS. KTLA and the other second-tier channels (no offense) are still capable of better than what South Florida’s most-watched 6pm/11pm news produces more often than not.
Another market that is excellent and should be an example to their local sister stations (ahem, WTVJ)… is Chicago (#3!). WMAQ-Ch. 5 aka NBC Chicago is awesome. As is WLS-Ch. 7 ABC. Those two stations are both perfect examples of balancing fun (morning) with serious (evening). Hell, I find myself watching WGN (the national broadcast version of the local Chicago station) and their 10 pm (9pm local) news just because it’s easy to watch.
OK… I’m done… Sorry! And before anyone says I’m just some cranky old man who wishes women should be seen and not heard or something… I’m 27! I interned at WPLG and WSVN and WNBC and the Sun-Sentinel, the Miami Herald, and Newsday. I love news, and I probably have a more critical view of news than most because I absolutely love and respect local news and believe tough love is what they need right now. 🙂
As Michael Putney says (paraphrased): GET INFORMED. GET INVOLVED. READ A NEWSPAPER. OK, I added the last part. 🙂
Thanks for reading. 🙂
man you guys are tough
I like a lot of the CBS4 reports that I’ve seen on the site. Granted I don’t watch the station live so don’t see the filler but still …
Just don’t really care for the presentation, alright set but feels too closed in
WPLG is cutting back on everything (the sports guy is even doing news), so the bare basics studio doesn’t surprise me. They let John Henry Smith go so there is only one person in their sports dept. I expect them to be hiring people from the Dollar Store to work there soon. Very sad.
Brian is right about the stupid news product that South Florida produces. Miami TV news has turned into a crappy little market. All the stations spend so much time telling you about stories no on cares about and they spend very little time on looking deep into stories that affect us all. Pedestrians hit by cars, traffic accidents, these are no stories that need to be packaged and fronted by reporters. Yesterday NBC6 did a story about a huge hamburger for sale at some ballpark outside of Florida. Why is that on local news here?
Look, I agree with you… but in times like this, we need some lighthearted stories.
Is Jen Herrera pregnant again? She is putting on some weight. She made a remark to Johanna Gomez on the weekend news about how they are allowed to eat more (Johanna is knocked up). Todd Tonglen was like WTF?