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Inauguration Coverage

jal41

jal41

It seems like everyone did a good job. All four broadcast networks and CNN were in HD for coverage.

One problem...the networks cut off coverage at 5 PM...right as the parade was beginning (which was delayed for over an hour in light of Ted Kennedy's seizure and other planning miscues). WXIA/Atlanta, which has no news until 6, went to MSNBC for 10 minutes before going to locally produced coverage (two local anchors out of DC and a studio anchor in Atlanta).

Some stations...including WXIA...got the "interactive chat" bug, and inserted a local ticker into the national broadcast which featured comments from a live chat room.

Fox (broadcast) ran only to about 1 PM. WAGA/Atlanta went to coverage produced by WTTG/Washington.

The three big local stations in Atlanta went all out in sending anchors to Washington. WSB-TV (three anchors, including Monica Pearson), WAGA (two, lead anchor and political reporter), and WXIA (three, two anchors and another reporter - Gannett pooled resources for the conventions and is under mandatory weeklong furloughs). WXIA constantly broadcast where their satellite truck was going to be located at in Washington over the past week, and invited people from the Atlanta area coming to the inaugration to stop by.

How bad were the other local markets?

On the cable front, CNN and MSNBC's big talent was present. HLN also covered it from their Atlanta studios. CNBC interrupted business news to cover the swearing in, although immediately going back to normal after the ceremony. The black-targeted nets, TV One and BET, were present.
 
With a winter storm in our area that closed practically
everything yesterday, WFMY Greensboro cut back and
forth between CBS's coverage of the inaugural parade
and the snow situation in the station's viewing area.
It also did the almost-unthinkable for this area: it pre-
empted Andy Griffith at 5:30 and ran an extra half-hour
of news.
 
I was watching the main ceremony on CNN HD, including Obama's speech. This may have been Comcast's fault, but it seemed like there were some technical difficulties. There were a few spots where the picture froze for like a second or so, and there were even a few audio dropouts during the speech.
 
Not all networks necessarily cut away at 5. I was watching ABC (WPVI, Philadelphia), and Charlie Gibson said they were offering stations the option to break for local news, but their coverage continued; the same thing happened at 6. (WPVI stayed with the network.)

I did laugh at Charlie welcoming viewers to a special edition of "Good Morning America" instead of "World News Tonight" initially when the special 7 PM ET segment began. Old habits....
 
WFMY carried an expanded edition of the "CBS
Evening News" from 6:30-7:30. They pulled
another almost-unheard-of, delaying "Wheel Of
Fortune," which usually airs at 7, until after Craig
Ferguson.

How did other CBS affiliates handle the expanded
newscast, especially those few that air Katie at 7?
 
ssetta: I didn't notice any picture freezing on CNN HD.
 
imhomerjay said:
Not all networks necessarily cut away at 5.  I was watching ABC (WPVI, Philadelphia), and Charlie Gibson said they were offering stations the option to break for local news, but their coverage continued; the same thing happened at 6.  (WPVI stayed with the network.)

I did laugh at Charlie welcoming viewers to a special edition of "Good Morning America" instead of "World News Tonight" initially when the special 7 PM ET segment began.  Old habits....
Click to expand...
One minor note, on Tuesday WPVI did not air the Pennsylvania Lottery nighttime televised drawings that usually air at 6:59 PM every night. The lottery numbers was shown on the bottom of the screen during the special ABC World News broadcast.
 
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