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WBZ launches ND. Who's Next?

G

Garrett

Nice little blurb in Scott Fybush's NERW this morning. It seems WBZ TV has fired (let go, asked to resign) their News Director.

So this leads to a question:
Should they bring back Eyewitness news and Jack and Liz? Are there two similar anchors? I remember back in the 80's, Channel 4 ruled! Everything was perfect from the lighting and the set and the banter of the team, to the awesome music and intro package they used. It all fit together nicely. Live on 4 really was live, and fresh. Then the harder news came later and Jack always took everything very seriously. There seemed to be a community feeling about the station, and you really felt like you them. It was fun to watch.

What have they got today? Some unrecognizable logo next to the Eye, and a couple of Anchors whose name noboby can seem to pronounce. About the only one I really like is Bob Lobel and how much longer will he be there?

So what's it gonna take for them to get back on top? Should they bring back Eyewitness News (yes), or some other news label (perhaps)?

Thoughts? Suggestions? <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Garrett on 07/25/05 06:07 PM.</FONT></P>
 
I agree with everything that you said. I live in the PROVIDENCE market and WBZ was even big down here! I actually had classmates in Junior High talk about the station and watching Bruce Schwoegler do the Weather. Remember those 4 TODAY segments and People Are Talking with Tom Bergeron. The 80's were definitely the best time for WBZ! There simply wasn't a stronger anchor team in Boston television than Jack and Liz. Sadly though..... It seems that as soon as WBZ lost their NBC affiliation they went downhill Quick! Things have never been the same since. I truly wish them all the luck in the world. Perhaps one day they can figure out a way to recapture some of that old magic!



John<P ID="signature">______________
Awsome Voiceovers for your station.
JohnChartier.com
206-600-2629
</P>
 
This was all discussed in an earlier post, but I agree with everything you said. There have been rumors for the past week that Jack Williams would be named sole principal anchor. It's a smart move.

Were I steering the ship, here's how I would do it.

Eyewitness News Early Edition - Scott Wahle, Kate Merrill, Melissa Bell
The Morning Show (38) - Ted Wayman, Robin Hamilton, Melissa Bell
Daytime Live (9am) - Kasey Kaufman and Josh Binswanger (more of a 'Live on 4' format)
Eyewitness News at Midday - Paula Ebben, TJ Winick, Ed Carroll
Eyewitness News at 4 O'Clock - Sara Underwood, Lisa Hughes, Ed Carroll
Eyewitness News at 6 O'Clock - Jack Williams, Barry Burbank, Bob Lobel
The Evening News (7pm, 38) - Teri Adler, Barry Burbank, Bob Lobel
Eyewitness News at 11 O'Clock - Jack Williams, Barry Burbank, Bob Lobel

Eyewitness News Weekend Morning - Eileen Curran, Mike Hydeck, (new meteorologist)
Eyewitness News Weekend Edition - Ken MacLeod, Pauline Chiou, (new met), Steve Burton

It's time to return to the old regime. If they must refer to themselves as "CBS 4," then they need to diminish the need for it. Reverting back to "Eyewitness News" and bringing popular, veteran talent into the spotlight will garner attention. The station has been wildly successful in branding "First Alert Doppler," without any title mention of "CBS 4." It's not "CBS 4 First Alert Doppler." Maybe masking the CBS ownership and just calling it "Eyewitness News" can help.

The station was once one of the greats in broadcasting. It's time to see it that way again.


> I agree with everything that you said. I live in the
> PROVIDENCE market and WBZ was even big down here! I actually
> had classmates in Junior High talk about the station and
> watching Bruce Schwoegler do the Weather. Remember those 4
> TODAY segments and People Are Talking with Tom Bergeron. The
> 80's were definitely the best time for WBZ! There simply
> wasn't a stronger anchor team in Boston television than Jack
> and Liz. Sadly though..... It seems that as soon as WBZ lost
> their NBC affiliation they went downhill Quick! Things have
> never been the same since. I truly wish them all the luck in
> the world. Perhaps one day they can figure out a way to
> recapture some of that old magic!
>
>
>
> John
>
 
> It's time to return to the old regime. If they must refer to
> themselves as "CBS 4," then they need to diminish the need
> for it. Reverting back to "Eyewitness News" and bringing
> popular, veteran talent into the spotlight will garner
> attention. The station has been wildly successful in
> branding "First Alert Doppler," without any title mention of
> "CBS 4." It's not "CBS 4 First Alert Doppler." Maybe masking
> the CBS ownership and just calling it "Eyewitness News" can
> help.
>
> The station was once one of the greats in broadcasting. It's
> time to see it that way again.
>
>

Personally, as a fellow Bostonian, I feel that WBZ should more likely to become WBZ CBS 4. Since I know that their bosses at CBS wanted it that way, just add the call letters to the identification. And use the Eyewitness News name and format. Also, should WBZ drop "ET" and "The Insider" for Bob Scheiffer and have a revival of "evening magazine?" I would hope so!
<P ID="signature">______________
Tape Traders Central/Retro Blog</P>
 
While a return to EM would be absolutely splendid, I don't know how likely it would be. If anything, they may move WHEEL and JEOPARDY! over from 38.


> Personally, as a fellow Bostonian, I feel that WBZ should
> more likely to become WBZ CBS 4. Since I know that their
> bosses at CBS wanted it that way, just add the call letters
> to the identification. And use the Eyewitness News name and
> format. Also, should WBZ drop "ET" and "The Insider" for Bob
> Scheiffer and have a revival of "evening magazine?" I would
> hope so!
>
 
> While a return to EM would be absolutely splendid, I don't
> know how likely it would be. If anything, they may move
> WHEEL and JEOPARDY! over from 38.
------------------

That would be good. Wheel and Jep seem so out of place on UPN38. Two of the hottest syndicated shows in Television deserve a better channel.


John<P ID="signature">______________
Awsome Voiceovers for your station.
JohnChartier.com
206-600-2629
</P>
 
> > While a return to EM would be absolutely splendid, I don't
>
> > know how likely it would be. If anything, they may move
> > WHEEL and JEOPARDY! over from 38.
> ------------------
>
> That would be good. Wheel and Jep seem so out of place on
> UPN38. Two of the hottest syndicated shows in Television
> deserve a better channel.
>
>
> John
>

But has little or nothing to do with their news problems.
Also, I'm not sure about your comment regarding Bob Sheiffer. Are they currently not running the CBS eve news?
 
I wish they would rebrand the station to "WBZ/CBS-4".

This way, they manage to include a set of heritage call letters as well as the network and channel number.

"Live from New England's first television station, this is 'WBZ/CBS-4 Eyewitness News'!".
 
> But has little or nothing to do with their news problems.
> Also, I'm not sure about your comment regarding Bob
> Sheiffer. Are they currently not running the CBS eve news?
>
Many people would like to see the network news moved back to 7p, which would make sense when you consider how many people get home from work at later hours.
 
> > But has little or nothing to do with their news problems.
>
> > Also, I'm not sure about your comment regarding Bob
> > Sheiffer. Are they currently not running the CBS eve news?
>
> >
> Many people would like to see the network news moved back to
> 7p, which would make sense when you consider how many people
> get home from work at later hours.
>
Ok, agreed.
I wasn't sure what you meant before.
I think putting a game show on between newscasts destroys the continuity also. And, it didn't help that they took away the 5:30 newscast.

If I were running the boat (and that is a total pipe dream), I would go back to the identical format they had in the 80's, with the 5:30 "First Look" news cast, an hour of local news at 6, CBS News at 7, with ET at 7:30.

Right now, it's so disjointed, because they have all these newscasts, and nobody knows where to find anything. It will also solve the problem of anchors. The 5:30 (or the 5), should have separate set of anchors. The 6 and the 11 should have a different set and a one anchor team that does both.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Garrett on 07/28/05 12:10 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> I wish they would rebrand the station to "WBZ/CBS-4".
>
> This way, they manage to include a set of heritage call
> letters as well as the network and channel number.
>
> "Live from New England's first television station, this is
> 'WBZ/CBS-4 Eyewitness News'!".
>

If you recall, though, the branding was changed to get away from the station's heritage and image as a powerhouse NBC affiliate. At least that's what Viacom claimed, so I'd doubt that they consider anything like that.

Then again, at the moment, CBS4 is so desperate that maybe they would.
 
> Right now, it's so disjointed, because they have all these
> newscasts, and nobody knows where to find anything. It will
> also solve the problem of anchors. The 5:30 (or the 5),
> should have separate set of anchors. The 6 and the 11 should
> have a different set and a one anchor team that does both.
>
Unfortunatly, the disjointed newscasts will continue because of "Dr. Phil". They had it on at 3 initially but felt they could get a bigger audience later in the day. It can't air at 4 because it would be on opposite "Oprah" (contracts specifies they cannot air at the same time in a given market) and "The Insider" and "ET" are a package hour so CBS Evening News can't be moved to 7p.

This also disrupts the judge shows on UPN38. When "Dr. Phil" went to 5p, they moved "Judge Judy" over to WBZ and put "Life & Style" on at 3 on UPN38, between "People's Court" and "Judge Joe Brown". Continuity destroyed on both channels.
 
> Unfortunatly, the disjointed newscasts will continue because
> of "Dr. Phil". They had it on at 3 initially but felt they
> could get a bigger audience later in the day. It can't air
> at 4 because it would be on opposite "Oprah" (contracts
> specifies they cannot air at the same time in a given
> market) and "The Insider" and "ET" are a package hour so CBS
> Evening News can't be moved to 7p.
>
> This also disrupts the judge shows on UPN38. When "Dr. Phil"
> went to 5p, they moved "Judge Judy" over to WBZ and put
> "Life & Style" on at 3 on UPN38, between "People's Court"
> and "Judge Joe Brown". Continuity destroyed on both
> channels.
>

This is poor programming in my opinion.
First of all, they do not HAVE to take Insider and ET as a one our package. The two shows are available individually also. I know this, because that is how we run the shows here in Lubbock.

Second, They chose to get all those shows, and sacrificing the newscasts for a bunch of syndicated programs that don't all mesh is their fault. So I'm unsympathetic to the reasons that they can't run an organized news schedule. By the time you get to a market the size of Boston's, you should know who to orgaznize a program shedule. IMHO.
 
It's not that simple. Unfortunately, Viacom buys those syndicated shows for their station group (or many of the stations in the group for that matter), and essentially forces the local stations to air them. Do you think WBZ wants to air Larry Elder every morning? I doubt it. But it's not really their choice. Yes, ET and Insider could be broken up, but Viacom pressures its stations to air them in the prime acces 7-8 slot.






> > Unfortunatly, the disjointed newscasts will continue
> because
> > of "Dr. Phil". They had it on at 3 initially but felt they
>
> > could get a bigger audience later in the day. It can't air
>
> > at 4 because it would be on opposite "Oprah" (contracts
> > specifies they cannot air at the same time in a given
> > market) and "The Insider" and "ET" are a package hour so
> CBS
> > Evening News can't be moved to 7p.
> >
> > This also disrupts the judge shows on UPN38. When "Dr.
> Phil"
> > went to 5p, they moved "Judge Judy" over to WBZ and put
> > "Life & Style" on at 3 on UPN38, between "People's Court"
> > and "Judge Joe Brown". Continuity destroyed on both
> > channels.
> >
>
> This is poor programming in my opinion.
> First of all, they do not HAVE to take Insider and ET as a
> one our package. The two shows are available individually
> also. I know this, because that is how we run the shows here
> in Lubbock.
>
> Second, They chose to get all those shows, and sacrificing
> the newscasts for a bunch of syndicated programs that don't
> all mesh is their fault. So I'm unsympathetic to the reasons
> that they can't run an organized news schedule. By the time
> you get to a market the size of Boston's, you should know
> who to orgaznize a program shedule. IMHO.
>
 
> It's not that simple. Unfortunately, Viacom buys those
> syndicated shows for their station group (or many of the
> stations in the group for that matter), and essentially
> forces the local stations to air them. Do you think WBZ
> wants to air Larry Elder every morning? I doubt it. But it's
> not really their choice. Yes, ET and Insider could be broken
> up, but Viacom pressures its stations to air them in the
> prime acces 7-8 slot.
>
>

That's a good point. Makes me wonder how much control a local station in a group like Viacom has with regards to syndicated programming. The same thing can be said with Hearst-Argyle's WCVB and WMUR. Both stations run alot of syndicated programming at the same time during the week.
 
> This also disrupts the judge shows on UPN38. When "Dr. Phil"
> went to 5p, they moved "Judge Judy" over to WBZ and put
> "Life & Style" on at 3 on UPN38, between "People's Court"
> and "Judge Joe Brown". Continuity destroyed on both
> channels.

Judge Judy has actually been on WBZ longer than than this season. There was originally a syndicated talk show on at 4PM a few seasons back that was expected to be a good lead-in to the 5PM news. However, this show was quickly cancelled and the 4PM slot became home to reruns of some other show, then became reruns of Jeopardy, and before long Judge Judy came in to play, and has been there ever since. It was Phil @ 3, Judy @ 4, News @ 5.

Earlier this year, Phil moved to 5p, and the news moved to 4p. Apparently Judy was doing well enough that she got to stay, but was dumped to the empty 3p slot.
 
> > It's not that simple. Unfortunately, Viacom buys those
> > syndicated shows for their station group (or many of the
> > stations in the group for that matter), and essentially
> > forces the local stations to air them. Do you think WBZ
> > wants to air Larry Elder every morning? I doubt it. But
> it's
> > not really their choice. Yes, ET and Insider could be
> broken
> > up, but Viacom pressures its stations to air them in the
> > prime acces 7-8 slot.
> >
> >
>
> That's a good point. Makes me wonder how much control a
> local station in a group like Viacom has with regards to
> syndicated programming. The same thing can be said with
> Hearst-Argyle's WCVB and WMUR. Both stations run alot of
> syndicated programming at the same time during the week.
>
Man, forget Viacom ever existed!!!! WBZ should think about it's commitment to the community at large than about being an O&O! Here's the trick:
Move ET/Insider to the 10pm Slot on 38! Phil could stay on 4 but at what else, 3pm, Judge judy could be at 5pm before a revived version of "Live on 4." And not to mention to revive the Eyewitness News name as well as rebrand the entire station the promos would look like this:

ANNCR: Judge Judy weekdays at 5pm on WBZ...CBS 4.<P ID="signature">______________
Tape Traders Central/Retro Blog</P>
 
Justin T. commented:

> If you recall, though, the branding was changed to get away
> from the station's heritage and image as a powerhouse NBC
> affiliate. At least that's what Viacom claimed, so I'd doubt
> that they consider anything like that.

But by using BOTH the "WBZ" calls AND "CBS" as part of the branding, Viacom/CBS gets both the network branding and the station's heritage. By including "CBS" (as in "WBZ/CBS-4"), there should be no doubt as to where to find CBS on the Boston-area TV dial.
 
Why WBZ-4 Won't Expand Their 6 P.M. News To An Hour (And Move The "CBS Evening News" to 7 P.M.)

Even if WBZ-4 didn't run "The Insider" and "Entertainment Tonight" back-to-back, there's one other reason why the station, and nearly all other network affiliates in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, have moved away over the last fifteen years from airing network news at 7 P.M. Eastern or Pacific time.

Were WBZ to air the "CBS Evening News" at 7 P.M., they would lose several minutes of local commercial time in the 7-7:30 P.M. half-hour. Instead, they would be obligied to air several minutes of network commercials sold for and airing on the "Evening News" during that half-hour.

WBZ would gain several minutes of commercial time between 6:30 and 7 P.M., but commercial time between 6:30 and 7 P.M. is far less valuable to a local TV station than commercial time between 7 and 7:30 P.M. WBZ probably wouldn't make as much money with an hour of local news at 6 and network news at 7 than with a half-hour of local news at 6, network news at 6:30, and a syndicated show at 7. The only possible exception would be if an hour-long "WBZ/CBS-4 Eyewitness News at 6" (why not call it that??) were to attract more viewers in the 6:30-7 P.M. half-hour than "The Insider" now attracts at 7 P.M. But given WBZ's current local news ratings situation, that's not very likely.

That's why WBZ (and almost every other CBS/ABC/NBC affiliate in the Eastern time zone) won't expand their 6 P.M. local news back to an hour and run network news at 7 P.M.
 
Re: Why WBZ-4 Won't Expand Their 6 P.M. News To An Hour (And Move The "CBS Evening News" to 7 P.M.)

> Even if WBZ-4 didn't run "The Insider" and "Entertainment
> Tonight" back-to-back, there's one other reason why the
> station, and nearly all other network affiliates in the
> Eastern and Pacific time zones, have moved away over the
> last fifteen years from airing network news at 7 P.M.
> Eastern or Pacific time.
>
> Were WBZ to air the "CBS Evening News" at 7 P.M., they would
> lose several minutes of local commercial time in the 7-7:30
> P.M. half-hour. Instead, they would be obligied to air
> several minutes of network commercials sold for and airing
> on the "Evening News" during that half-hour.
>
> WBZ would gain several minutes of commercial time between
> 6:30 and 7 P.M., but commercial time between 6:30 and 7
> P.M. is far less valuable to a local TV station than
> commercial time between 7 and 7:30 P.M. WBZ probably
> wouldn't make as much money with an hour of local news at 6
> and network news at 7 than with a half-hour of local news at
> 6, network news at 6:30, and a syndicated show at 7. The
> only possible exception would be if an hour-long "WBZ/CBS-4
> Eyewitness News at 6" (why not call it that??) were to
> attract more viewers in the 6:30-7 P.M. half-hour than "The
> Insider" now attracts at 7 P.M. But given WBZ's current
> local news ratings situation, that's not very likely.
>
> That's why WBZ (and almost every other CBS/ABC/NBC affiliate
> in the Eastern time zone) won't expand their 6 P.M. local
> news back to an hour and run network news at 7 P.M.
>

I beg to differ. WBZ had lost track of its roots ever since the affiliation switch with NBC. But being an O&O is a lot harder to pre-empt programming by the network. But like I said, I would be a lot better if the Insider moves to 38, keep ET on 'BZ but add Evening Magazine. (Insider could be a great lead in for Wheel/Jep! on 38.)<P ID="signature">______________
Tape Traders Central/Retro Blog</P>
 
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