broadwayjoe said:
WFSB-CBS Eywitness News 3: Still the number one rated news station in CT. Very good with scattering their crews around the state and covering as much as possible. Nice new graphics and pretty solid talent. Although sometimes I feel they can get a little bit “tabloid-ish” and over dramatic at times, especially with breaking news from other parts of the country that have nothing to do with CT. Overall, they do a good job.
WTNH-ABC Newschannel 8: The solid number two news station and rising. The have very solid anchor teams and reporters and are the most experienced in the market. A nice “no-nonsense”, less “fluff”, straight forward newscast with its content and delivery. Also, they are the only station in the market with a chopper which adds a lot to their breaking news coverage. However, I would like to see them do a better job of changing up their daily newscasts instead of basically showing the same broadcast at 6, 10 and 11.
I have to agree.
This is why I say that WTNH-8 should be first. NewsChannel 8 does the best job in covering Connecticut, in market and out of market. No other station covers Fairfield County as well, whether it be Stratford, Stamford, Bethel or Bridgeport. At the same time, WTNH is constantly covering news in the eastern part of the state, with the New London newsroom at the Day. I also think WTNH's bread & butter is Litchfield County, Greater Waterbury, the Naugatuck Valley, Greater Danbury, and then of course the I-91 New Haven-Hartford corridor. In terms of news coverage, they're literally everywhere! WFSB doesn't venture much to the south or west of Southington, and likewise, both WFSB and WVIT are weak along the coast and in Fairfield County. WTNH puts its NewsChopper 8 to good use, something none of the other stations have or can compete with. WTNH is also superior in terms of traffic coverage and politics. Aboveall, WTNH airs what someone else called "no-nonsense news" most of the time. The content of their newscasts is concise and hardly sensational. The only thing WTNH suffers from is the constantly recurring problem of weird things happening to the audio, graphics, and cameras when they're live from the studio or field. But I think the fault, albeit no less annoying, is due to human error at master control in Springfield, Mass.
I would say that WVIT-30 would be the second best newsstation in the state. With the exception of their morning team, most of their evening news personalities are veterans in the state (Gerry Brooks, JoAnne Nesti, Janet Peckinpaugh, and Brad Field). Speaking of Brad Field, I think the NBC30 weather crew is of the most qualified in the state. They have the most accurate forecasts, and actually used to "guarantee" their weather with a prize of sorts. They're also strong in their sports coverage. Although not veterans in Connecticut, Kevin Nathan and Persephone Contos (who also worked at WTNH) have done a great job at establishing themselves in the market. They're also the most active in community events, along with Brooks and Nesti, whether it's the GHO (what do they call it now?) or the Pilot Pen. The few negative aspects of WVIT include their tendency to be a bit tabloid, as well as the high turnover of reporters. I couldn't tell you who is left as a news reporter there. The last reporter I actually liked was Lisa Salvati, but she only lasted a few months and was gone at the beginning of the summer.
WFSB has to be last among the 'big three', in my eyes. I already mentioned their poor coverage of news (either live or late breaking) throughout all parts of Connecticut. They tend to focus on Hartford and Middlesex Counties and eastward. What really gets me going is the fact that they have this news segment which they constantly flaunt, called "Town By Town." Unfortunately, they jump around the state, usually reporting about four towns at a time, and give a small briefing on something happening there, all in less than one minute. The most perverse thing about it is that these are stories that happened days or even weeks ago. I think WFSB scans the wire or state newspapers, then sends out a videographer to get a small clip, and then the anchor does a voiceover. But it's always old news. It's a sorry way to try to get viewers and make people feel that WFSB truly covers every town in Connecticut. It's just too absurd. With the exception of Al Terzi, Denise D'Ascenzo, Bruce DePrest and Kevin Hogan, WFSB lacks a lot in terms of quality personalities. They've had huge turnover in terms of sports personalities over the years - maybe this Joe Zone guy will actually buck the trend. Watching the morning show is like being at the circus sometimes, who knows, maybe some people like that kind of stuff when they watch the news. But to me, it's all too fluffy and not worth watching. Their weather crew is not as established as WVIT's, but I think they can build themselves up well in a few years. Another thing is their flashiness and sensationalism. They tend to report more crime/shooting stories than any other station in Connecticut. Nationally, they like to report especially on car chases in California, stupid criminals and bank robberies in the midwest, and stories involving wildanimals in the south. You can find this kind of stuff before and/or after the weather and sports segments. And a small pet peeve of mine is the fact that they tend to pair up Dennis House and Kara Sundlun during the primetime newsshows. I like Al Terzi and Denise D'Ascenzo better, but Terzi, being Connecticut's most veteran news anchor, tends to work a lot less these days. And Dennis House replaced him at 6 & 11. I assume it's only a matter of time before they offer D'Ascenzo some kind of better schedule, since she's been there forever, and replace her with Sundlun. Most people probably could care less, but I just think there's something wrong with putting House and Sunlun next to each other at the anchor desk since they're husband and wife. Many corporations that I've worked at actually had policies on interoffice dating.
Of course, WTIC comes last. I don't have anything against FOX61, but I think it's not much better today than it was ten years ago. They just don't have the talent that they used to. Their news department was more qualified and serious in the mid 90s (i.e., Beth Carroll and Pat Sheehan) than it is today. I think Rich Coppola is the only worthwhile personality from the old school that they have left. Their weather coverage was more accurate and detailed in the mid 90s than it is today, with all the modern forecasting technologies and graphics at their disposition. The talent just isn't there. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad for a FOX affiliate in a smaller market. But I think they reached a crossroads a few years ago when they were in their prime. They had the opportunity to further develop their brand, possibly start a morning, noon, or evening newscast. But it didn't happen, and now the last few years has seen a downward spiral of quality, in my own opinion.
But I still watch all four stations regardless. Thanks to my recording devices and remote control I get a good survey of each news department and thus gather my opinions that way. No station's news coverage is so bad as that I wouldn't ever watch it. Every station works hard at what it does and they all deserve fair credit. Hartford-New Haven, as a whole, is actually superior to some other larger markets in terms of local news from what I've seen and heard. So despite some of my harsh critiqueing, we're still fortunate to have what all four stations are offering us.
