Curtains for Gari's "News Station"?

[Sammi Brie]

In 1992, KPNX in Phoenix, Arizona commissioned an update to its identity, a new image package from Gari Communications. The musical signature is "12 News, Arizona's News Station". KPNX stopped using it in 2004 (by which time they were mixing it with cuts from the NBC Collection that they too had commissioned).

Here's what the original sounds like (this is from 1994, but I believe this is very close to the original):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO8RZYjmNLs

One year after it made its debut, then-WIXT picked it up. Its rendition of the package and image signature was a little different: "9 News (Making A Difference), Central New York's News Source". The purple graphics lasted through the first three years of the package.

When Television by Design relaunched the identities of the Ackerley stations in 1996, News Station spread even further, to Binghamton (WIVT), Elmira (WETM), and Utica (WUTR), all of which no longer use the package (despite the NMSA still listing WIVT, their news is now produced by WETM, so I highly doubt it).

WSYR's impending relaunch, complete with the FF Meta "9" getting thrown out after fifteen years, will likely be curtains for "News Station", at least for WSYR. WHAM's relaunch junked veteran "Advantage" for new cuts of the Eyewitness News package, and I half expect the same from WSYR. WXIX Cincinnati will be its last user if this happens, and I fully expect Raycom to give them a new package soon (they switched to News Station in 2001).

 

[BobRoss]

WSYR's impending relaunch, complete with the FF Meta "9" getting thrown out after fifteen years, will likely be curtains for "News Station", at least for WSYR. WHAM's relaunch junked veteran "Advantage" for new cuts of the Eyewitness News package, and I half expect the same from WSYR.

Sadly, I think you may be right.

http://www.9wsyr.com/content/special/hd/default.aspx -- This has some pictures of the old set being torn down and a few of the beginnings of the new set construction, but nothing new since Jan 5th. Page says more "sneak peeks" will be coming soon, but no indication as to when that will happen... or if anything will reveal the music.

In order to keep News Station alive, I think Gari would have to be launching a new "version" as they have in the past. The existing WSYR-TV music package is actually a combination of cuts from several Gari packages... I happen to have a copy of Gari's demo CD from 1994, and if you listen to all the packages on the CD, you'll hear several cuts that made it into the existing WIXT/WSYR package. Some of them obviously needed some custom changes to fit in with the "signature" of the News Station theme, but this was definitely more than just an "right off the shelf" deal.

With barely any other stations using the package, I would think Gari wouldn't find it cost-effective to do any updates, and I don't see WSYR putting up the cash to spearhead a custom package for itself.

On a side note, I was always a fan of Advantage since I first heard it used on WKTV in Utica, way back in the mid 90s. I think the music combined brilliantly with the news opens they used at the time. To this day, neither their music nor their opens have been as exciting as the ones WKTV used back then. Of course, back in the 90s, the "original" Smith Broadcasting had a seemingly bottomless bank account and spent tons to have those opens produced out-of-house. For the last several years, the opens have been very obviously in-house productions.

 

[Sammi Brie]

WSYR's impending relaunch, complete with the FF Meta "9" getting thrown out after fifteen years, will likely be curtains for "News Station", at least for WSYR. WHAM's relaunch junked veteran "Advantage" for new cuts of the Eyewitness News package, and I half expect the same from WSYR.

Sadly, I think you may be right.

http://www.9wsyr.com/content/special/hd/default.aspx -- This has some pictures of the old set being torn down and a few of the beginnings of the new set construction, but nothing new since Jan 5th. Page says more "sneak peeks" will be coming soon, but no indication as to when that will happen... or if anything will reveal the music.

In order to keep News Station alive, I think Gari would have to be launching a new "version" as they have in the past. The existing WSYR-TV music package is actually a combination of cuts from several Gari packages... I happen to have a copy of Gari's demo CD from 1994, and if you listen to all the packages on the CD, you'll hear several cuts that made it into the existing WIXT/WSYR package. Some of them obviously needed some custom changes to fit in with the "signature" of the News Station theme, but this was definitely more than just an "right off the shelf" deal.

With barely any other stations using the package, I would think Gari wouldn't find it cost-effective to do any updates, and I don't see WSYR putting up the cash to spearhead a custom package for itself.

On a side note, I was always a fan of Advantage since I first heard it used on WKTV in Utica, way back in the mid 90s. I think the music combined brilliantly with the news opens they used at the time. To this day, neither their music nor their opens have been as exciting as the ones WKTV used back then. Of course, back in the 90s, the "original" Smith Broadcasting had a seemingly bottomless bank account and spent tons to have those opens produced out-of-house. For the last several years, the opens have been very obviously in-house productions.

I'm wondering if WIXT had special work to fit in all the words it wanted to when it began using News Station.

I also have a strong suspicion Making a Difference and News Station are quasi-related (similar cuts exist in both, but that WAS '90s Gari).

 

[BobRoss]

I'm wondering if WIXT had special work to fit in all the words it wanted to when it began using News Station.

I've heard the "12 News... Arizona... Arizona's News Station" version (it's on the demo CD) and it doesn't sound THAT much different from the Syracuse version. Obviously, the singers had to sing a little faster, but I don't think the music had to be changed. In the KPNX version, the "Arizona" part was pretty drawn out, while WIXT's "Making a Difference" was sung faster, but not so fast that it sounded bad.

It's similar to radio jingle packages, which are usually written so the vocals can accommodate any station, regardless of how many syllables there are in the frequency or name of the station. (Think of the differences between singing "nine-ty-three point one" versus "one-oh-sev-en point sev-en." A wise composer in this field crafts melodies that can accommodate a variety of numbers, slogans, and so forth.

Of course, if the station's paying extra to have their own custom vocals done in the first place, I'd imagine it might not cost too much more if they needed minor alterations to the music itself, especially if it's going to make-or-break the deal for the music company.

 

[CNYRadio.com]

The "News Station" music package remains alive and well at WSYR. As reported Saturday morning on my site's FB and Twitter feeds, WSYR had been advertising a "February" start for HD, but actually launched early -- Saturday at 6pm.

http://www.cnyradio.com/2011/01/29/newschannel-9-launches-hd-early/

It's the same theme music that's been in place for years. Sounds like they added some new or slightly different cuts (perhaps cuts that already existed but just weren't used before) to freshen it up, but that's it.

9wsyr.com has tons of new pictures of the new set being built, different angles of the finished product, and some shots of their very nice new control room. This upgrade was well overdue; the old control room's video switcher is the original from when the building opened in the early 80s. The audio board was also pretty dated.

Weekend newscasts are usually pretty tame... they didn't really show off too much of the set or the changes in the newsroom, but I'm guessing we'll see more new angles, transitions, etc. come Monday. For example, the old set's news desk rotated to a few different positions, to provide different backdrops at 5pm, 5:30 and 6. Can't tell yet if that'll remain the same with the new set, but pictures on 9's website show that the new set's "city skyline" mural can be moved aside just like on the old set, revealing the newsroom behind the anchor desk.