Seriously, when is WHEC going HD?

[newscool]

I know this has been asked forever, but I am tired of looking at that news in SD. Those new graphics they launched in january is not good enough. That new voice over guy sounds generic. WHEC need a new studio makeover period. This is 2013 and they are still doing things from 10 years ago. I have went to their facebook page and no one knows. Channel 10 is pathetic!

 

[editthis]

At least 2 of the big 3 are HD in the good old flower city. In SYR only WSYR is, though the CNY Central stations run their news in "Enhanced Widescreen". If you don't have the money to pony up for HD conversion why not at the very least run your news in "Enhanced Widescreen". We're looking at you WHEC and WKTV

 

[w9wi]

There's still a significant expense involved in going 16:9, even if it's 16:9 SD. Cameras, monitors, control room switcher.

 

[BobRoss]

There's still a significant expense involved in going 16:9, even if it's 16:9 SD. Cameras, monitors, control room switcher.

Most cameras made within the last 10 years can easily flip over to 16:9. Sure, it won't be HD, but it'll be 16:9.
I will concede, that the control room switcher and other elements of the on-air video chain are going to be the bigger expenses, but "widescreen" is still cheaper than HD.

 

[editthis]

Well in WKTV's case EVERYTHING is HD, local commercial production, station promos, syndicated programming and obviously the network programming. The only thing in 4x3 standard is the local news.

 

[Shhhh]

That piece of the puzzle will fall soon for WKTV.

Well in WKTV's case EVERYTHING is HD, local commercial production, station promos, syndicated programming and obviously the network programming. The only thing in 4x3 standard is the local news.

 

[therealjm12]

Watching stations like WKTV & WHEC with some HD & SD takes me back to the days when color was coming in. Network shows would be in color the local breaks would be in B & W. As stations got color film chains they would run color filmed commercials and the ID slides would be in color. I remember watching local newscasts with B & W studio cameras and color newsfilm. Of course, WKTV ran B & W newsfilm into the late 70's but did have color studio cameras (GE 350's). WKTV will probably be full HD sometime in 2013. I would imagine WHEC has to be close.

 

[tjdean]

Channel 10 had posted on their Facebook page a few months ago that they plan to go HD in 2013.

 

[newsbot]

Will Smith Media bother to spend to make its local news HD considering WKTV, as its last station, is likely on the block?

 

[BobRoss]

Will Smith Media bother to spend to make its local news HD considering WKTV, as its last station, is likely on the block?

I find it odd that WKTV's master control is already upgraded to HD, and they even have a bunch of in-house news promos in HD... yet the news operation itself is still SD. That's the opposite of how most stations do their upgrades. In Syracuse, it seemed like all the stations went widescreen or HD with local news first, and master control (anything played back from tape: spots, syndicated programs, etc.) was upgraded much later.

It's even stranger that WKTV has allowed WUTR and WFXV to enjoy "only local news in HD" bragging rights for more than a year. Back in the day, WUTR had quite a few "firsts" like starting a 5pm newscast... and WKTV was usually pretty quick to catch up and outdo WUTR. This time around, not so much.

I would have two guesses for WKTV taking so long:

1) As you suggested, maybe Smith does hope they can ignore it and let the next owner deal with making that investment.

2) Not enough room in the building. Most stations switch from SD to HD by building a brand new HD control room, while keeping the SD control room active. Unfortunately, you can't just shut down the SD control room, rip it apart, and install the HD gear in the same room, all without missing a single newscast. Not to mention, staff would need time to train on the new HD gear and probably run a few "dress rehearsals" before the HD control room goes live. So, you basically need to have two active control rooms at the same time, at least for a few weeks. But, WKTV is a pretty packed building with literally no room to expand. The building is bordered by Smith Hill Road, the staff parking lot (which itself is squeezed in between the building and Grace Road) and around back, you have the tower, and you have a steep hill dropping off.

They've already moved some of their production stuff to the building which houses the WLZW/WODZ radio transmitters across the street. I've never been over there, so I don't know how much room they have. But I can't imagine they'd want to build the HD control room there... just thinking of how much it would cost to run all that cable across the street. Every video and audio source, plus connections to cameras, intercoms, video servers (or are they still using tape decks for news?) and anything else that needs to be connected. And plenty of those things would need return connections back to the main building. Plus there's the matter of crossing the street itself, which I assume would need town approval, and some expensive work to run the cables high enough over street level, or to dig a conduit underground.

I've often wondered why WKTV doesn't move down into the heart of Utica itself. They could find a location with much more space, and the news crews would be much closer to the stories they are covering... rather than having to make the trip up and down Coventry Ave and Smith Hill Road countless times every day. (Think of how much they'd save on gas, wear-and-tear on news vehicles, and never again having to winch people out of ditches when Smith Hill gets icy?) WKTV doesn't actually transmit from the tower outside of its building as it is -- they haven't in decades. So what's the difference whether the studios are on Smith Hill or elsewhere in Utica? With fiberoptic, they wouldn't even need a clear STL shot to the tower in Middleville... just hardwire it. That wasn't possible 20 years ago, but it is today.

HD would be great for WKTV, if for no other reason, it would force them to finally replace the news set they've been using since (I think, but could be wrong) 1998. I thought six years was a long time for the old grey set they had before, but this one's going on 15 years now. They've made some minor changes over the years, but I would think they've more than made their money back on this set by now, and it's time for a new one.