• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Mini-rant towards WJAR

S

sonicdoommario

The only reason I watch WJAR is because my antenna has a hard time picking up WHDH where I live.

Now, is it me, or does WJAR still think we're doing TV broadcasting in the 1980s? The most annoying thing is that they break out of HD to show their station ID. Their station ID looks like it was done in the 1980s, with just plain white text, and back when on-screen text was like groundbreaking technology.

And their news promos seem so oldschool too. "Frank Cooleta and Kelly Bates, the power of knowledge, the power of trust." That sounds like something you'd hear in an anime cartoon or something.

I've heard that they're going HD by the end of the year. I have a hard time believing that because they've shown no signs of transitioning to HD, such as a promo or a station ID in HD.

How are they still number 1 in the ratings? Is it because they have the colorful NBC logo attached to their channel number?

I follow Boston news instead of Providence news because of better newscast quality and everything. However, I'm still stuck with the Providence channels because I live in Bristol County, where we should be in the Boston market.
 
I watched the Boston news in RI when Cox Cable had 4, 5, and 7, and 25 (10pm) and compared it to the Providence stations.  I liked what I saw on the Boston stations, even though it was not local, they covered some stories in RI, and the weather was often close to my local weather.  I also sometimes watched the 10pm news on WPIX 11 in New York when we had that station, and the weatherman Mr. G. was cool, and seeing the New York City news was interesting.  I often listen to 1030 WBZ to get the latest news and weather instead of waiting for it on 630 WPRO and when not listening to a local talk show.  WBZ may not be local but it does cover a wide listening area and the weather is almost the same.  I like WBZ 4, but I rarely get to see Boston TV.  I don't like WBZ 4's weather graphic when they show the local forecast temperature map looking above from a different direction, instead of looking straight down. 
 
How are they still number 1
There are several reasons. And because of their success they've become complacent but have yet to pay the price because the market's competition is weak. I've had an interest in the station because I knew someone working there when they were NBC O&O.
Lost lots of good personnel to ch.25 but got a few back. They've spent some money but it's a long way back to the status they once had.
 
People around here stick with what they are comfortable with. WJAR has always been on top. It's the same reason ABC6 is always dead last in the ratings. People stick with what they know. Hardly any of our parents watched WLNE for News. So the station ended up getting punished as future generations wouldn't watch either. This market is extremely boring when it comes to News. Nobody is doing anything very creative at all. Not even a single newscast in HD yet. I do think the first station to go HD will have an advantage. I often watch Boston stations for News just because I don't like watching SD pics on my HD Television. It annoys me when the picture doesn't fill up the screen. Providence needs to get up to speed. There are smaller market newscasts in full HD. This market is being put to shame.
 
Yeah, a reason we're trying to pull Bristol County out of the Providence TV market and into the Boston one is because we're not interested in Rhode Island news. Sure, the Providence stations have more time to cover southeastern MA news stories than the Boston stations, but you can associate that with the big difference in market size.

TV markets were assembled on over the air ratings, which is incredibly outdated now. First of all, antenna viewership is no longer the dominant source of watching TV. If the TV ratings were based on cable, I'd think you'd see a stronger preference of Boston stations across Bristol County (because Comcast and FIOS provide almost the same content for Boston TV here).

It seems like the Providence stations are more focused towards the southern half of Bristol County (New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, etc). Every time I see WPRI half of their MA stories come from Fall River.

Speaking of WPRI, like I said, I have a hard time beliving WJAR will do their news in HD before these guys do. At least WPRI has shown signs of transitioning to HD - commercials, station IDs, promos, school closings, and so on. I think WPRI's promos are as bad as WJAR's are. However, WPRI has more of "down your throat" kind of promos. If they go HD, you'll probably hear them say "The only high definition newscast in southern New England" in their promos (even though Boston is largely associated with southern New England).

I agree Skynet, I've seen a chart of news stations that do HD, and a LOT of markets smaller than Providence have already made the push.
 
radiojay1 said:
I watched the Boston news in RI when Cox Cable had 4, 5, and 7, and 25 (10pm) and compared it to the Providence stations. I liked what I saw on the Boston stations, even though it was not local, they covered some stories in RI, and the weather was often close to my local weather. I also sometimes watched the 10pm news on WPIX 11 in New York when we had that station, and the weatherman Mr. G. was cool, and seeing the New York City news was interesting. I often listen to 1030 WBZ to get the latest news and weather instead of waiting for it on 630 WPRO and when not listening to a local talk show. WBZ may not be local but it does cover a wide listening area and the weather is almost the same. I like WBZ 4, but I rarely get to see Boston TV. I don't like WBZ 4's weather graphic when they show the local forecast temperature map looking above from a different direction, instead of looking straight down.
Click to expand...

How long ago was that when Cox RI took away the Boston locals?
 
sonicdoommario said:
I have a hard time beliving WJAR will do their news in HD before these guys do. At least WPRI has shown signs of transitioning to HD - commercials, station IDs, promos, school closings, and so on.
Click to expand...


I don't exactly know what a TV station technically needs to broadcast a local HD signal. It must be expensive for it to be taking so long. I just bought a flip mino type device that records in full HD. It looks great on my TV. So for less than a $100 bucks I have the ability to record and view HD at my house. But Providence TV stations can't manage to do this. In a way I find it funny.

I do know that WPRI broadcasts some promos in HD. They even air HD programming such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. So they must have shelled out the dough for some HD equipment, but have yet to purchase HD cameras for their studio. I guess they have to upgrade the control room monitors as well. Perhaps that is the greatest expense. I'm just guessing. It would be nice for someone who knows the technical side of things to come here and tell us what the most costly aspect of broadcasting in HD is. Seeing they are already broadcasting some things in HD, it almost seems as if the only thing they don't have are the HD cameras in the studio. Is that the only thing they need now?
 
sonicdoommario said:
...does WJAR still think we're doing TV broadcasting in the 1980s? The most annoying thing is that they break out of HD to show their station ID. Their station ID looks like it was done in the 1980s...
Click to expand...

"You're watching WJAR, Channel 10... The Right Choice." ;D
 
WJAR's damn election results ticker takes up 70% of the TV screen! The 80s quality SD makes NBC's beautiful HD coverage unwatchable.
WPRI's takes up about 50, but is watchable and HD
WLNE's is the best at just a small ticker over ABC HD.
 
WPRI definitely had the most appealing looking broadcast. They should broadcast their regular news with sidebars until they go full HD.
 
WJAR is still technologically inept....no surprise there.

I was following the Boston outlets on this issue because well, I'm from Massachusetts and I have no interest whatsoever in Rhode Island politics. What they do in the Ocean State has absolutely no effect on me.

Did WJAR have a ticker for local election results during NBC programming? If so, did that force the program to break out of HD, per usual?
 
Yes, WJAR had a ticker, in horrible quality SD. But it wasn't just a ticker, it was a full screen graphic, with the NBC programming put into a little tiny box at the center of the screen.
 
WJAR News is supposed to go HD by the end of this year. They better hurry up. Time is running out if they want to meet that deadline.
 
well when they do go hd i hope the tech glitches doesn't come with it!!! how long till gene walks out last two nights hes had some type of problem with his mic going out etc i thought he was gonna quit last night!!!
 
Might as well follow up to this. During the blizzard coverage I flipped back and forth between the Boston and Providence stations. How does WJAR not realize how ugly their school closing graphic is? It breaks the programming out of HD and the program only takes up like 30% of the screen. Again, this looks like something drawn up from the early 90s. Remember when watching sports back then, when they would show the scores from the other games on the screen, how they would shrink the screen and put up a graphic that takes up a large majority of the screen? That's exactly what the WJAR school closing graphic looks like.

One other thing I forgot to mention is to compare the sound quality between WHDH and WJAR during NBC programming - WHDH absolutely blows it out of the water.

Here we are in 2011, and WJAR still hasn't lived up to its apparent HD promise. I don't think we'll see a Providence station go HD until at least the middle of the year.
 
im wondering if they have ever changed their equipment since the 90's they did this also during the election, how can this station be number one with such a poor graphics and audio package along with tech glitches all the time and looking like there new on the job????
 
As I said in an earlier post, I said that WJAR's closings graphic looks like one of those sports scores graphics you saw in the 90s.

I've been wanting to get this picture up for a while now, but here you go:

http://img820.imageshack.us/i/scorebugr.jpg/

I'm sorry but when it's 2011 and your school closings graphic still compares to something drawn up in the 90s, then you really need to start questioning the decisions that you make at the station.

Also, WLNE (the bankrupt TV station that's up for sale, by the way) is capable of putting up graphics on the screen without breaking up HD. Sure, the graphics aren't dazzling, but it gets the job done and doesn't revert the picture quality to that of 30 years ago. WJAR should let the fact sink in that a TV station that is bankrupt and a distant third in the market is more technologically advanced than they are...
 
Ken said:
radiojay1 said:
I watched the Boston news in RI when Cox Cable had 4, 5, and 7, and 25 (10pm) and compared it to the Providence stations. I liked what I saw on the Boston stations, even though it was not local, they covered some stories in RI, and the weather was often close to my local weather. I also sometimes watched the 10pm news on WPIX 11 in New York when we had that station, and the weatherman Mr. G. was cool, and seeing the New York City news was interesting. I often listen to 1030 WBZ to get the latest news and weather instead of waiting for it on 630 WPRO and when not listening to a local talk show. WBZ may not be local but it does cover a wide listening area and the weather is almost the same. I like WBZ 4, but I rarely get to see Boston TV. I don't like WBZ 4's weather graphic when they show the local forecast temperature map looking above from a different direction, instead of looking straight down.
Click to expand...

How long ago was that when Cox RI took away the Boston locals?
Click to expand...

Early 90's. One at a time.First to go was WFXT(25) then WHDH(7) then 4,5 and 56.WSSBK came and went a couple of times and completely disapeared when UPN came around.
Cox should pick up WSBK again since it's an indy.The only BOSTON news we get is a simulcast of of WLVI(56) news at 10 which is from WHDH(7).

Not sure what state your living in now Ken but when I knew you in the 90's its still th same on COX.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom