What WBZ could do to become the #1 news station in Boston

[beantownradio25]

Here's what I say...

1) Get a new news set

2) Get a station "voice", strictly male, dominant sounding kind like WHDH has, and get rid of that lady who voices the promos.

3) Put the promos in HD (so annoying!) :

4) Put the intro in HD, and also play more clips in HD, which they seemed to be doing today, which I like.

...I also think they should return the 4oclock newscast.

That's just me, how do you guys think they could improve?

 

[MassMusicMan]

"Wheelbarrow full of balls" voice overs are passe and cheesy. WBZ isn't in the business of lurid journalism. They're CBS...they don't have to do gimmicks.

What would a 4 PM newscast accomplish? This is Boston...people are at work at 4 PM, both men and women. Not many housewives in this market to watch the news. Now that I think of it, the people in Boston who aren't working at 4 PM are students. Gear a newscast towards them. Funny we should be talking about news that interests students...one of my Allston bars in which I work was the subject of an I-Team report last night.

They ran a promo a couple of years ago that depicted people impersonating Jack Williams. That was a great strategy - it highlighted and humanized the face of their news department.

 

[beantownradio25]

WHDH has a 4 o'clock newscast, dump Judge Judy, a bad lead in to the 5oclock newscast, and compete with WHDH.

Maybe put Judge Judy on WSBK to boost ratings

 

[PaulRAnderson]

1) Get a new news set

Why? Their set is understated and classy compared to the garish ones at, say WFXT and WHDH.

Paul

 

[AtkinsonWeather]

I respectfully disagree with many of your points.

I actually don't mind their refreshed news set, though it appears many do. It's bright, vibrant, and does the job. That said, it would be nice for something new, though I don't think with the economy any station is jumping at the chance to redo their set entirely.

I somewhat agree with your point about the voiceover; it isn't absolutely necessary for them to regain the top spot. It would certainly be nice to see the promos and their open in HD (or at least 16x9) as well. I noticed today that their field cameras are now 16x9, however.

I definitely don't think they should move Judge Judy...it does deliver ratings, and while Oprah beats it in the 4pm slot, it's a decent lead-in.

Remember now, they are #1 at 11pm. They're second at 5, and are clearly beating WHDH in second at 6, according to the October numbers.

 

[Skynet74]

1) Get a new news set

Why? Their set is understated and classy compared to the garish ones at, say WFXT and WHDH.

Paul

You think WBZ has a good set? Your standars might be low. It looks like the studio of a communications school. WBZ could go back to the set they had in 1985 and it would still be 10 times better than what they have now.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

I definitely don't think they should move Judge Judy...it does deliver ratings, and while Oprah beats it in the 4pm slot, it's a decent lead-in.

Judge Judy actually beat Oprah in households during October. (3.8/12 and 4.2/12 for both half hours vs. Oprah's 3.9/12). The show isn't going anywhere.

 

[Skynet74]

I definitely don't think they should move Judge Judy...it does deliver ratings, and while Oprah beats it in the 4pm slot, it's a decent lead-in.

Judge Judy actually beat Oprah in households during October. (3.8/12 and 4.2/12 for both half hours vs. Oprah's 3.9/12). The show isn't going anywhere.

Judge Judy is good at 4 PM. I do think WBZ should revive "LIVE on 4" at 5 PM though. Those were the days when WBZ News was on top. So why not try to recapture that greatness. "LIVE on 4" was a great start to the News Block.

 

[jg]

As any news director will tell you, a new set, graphics, and music will have no impact whatsoever on ratings.
Stations need to update them, but they do not reflect in the ratings. Same for going HD. That does not impact ratings.

WBZ is a damaged station that will take some time to rebuild. For years they were inconsistent about when they had news and when they had programming during the traditional news viewing time. This will take time to rebuild but can be redone. Also lots of talent changes over the years.

 

[Garrett]

Uh, I thought WBZ was back on top already?

As for their news set, it has the same color tones that were used just before the station dropped the old Group W 4 logo and went to "News 4 New England." In addition, the set actually interprets all the elements of the set from the late 80s, including the blue background, side monitors and reflective pads on top, but in a brighter modern contemporary way.

I think it is easy to be nostalgic for the bold, dark look that WBZ had in the 1980s. The problem is, this is not the same station or audience anymore. WBZ is a CBS station now, their audience and their appeal is older. People who want the flashy cut-throat news delivery will watch 7News, Fox25, or NewsCenter5. The rest will go to WBZ, and from what I understand, that is a lot of people right now.

 

[AtkinsonWeather]

I definitely don't think they should move Judge Judy...it does deliver ratings, and while Oprah beats it in the 4pm slot, it's a decent lead-in.

Judge Judy actually beat Oprah in households during October. (3.8/12 and 4.2/12 for both half hours vs. Oprah's 3.9/12). The show isn't going anywhere.

I wasn't aware of that. It doesn't surprise me; I always thought it was a good lead-in.

 

[brandy00]

I don't think that WBZ news will ever beat out WCVB unless they buy the station. I have been all over the country and watched a lot of local news stations including NYC and I have yet to see on as good as WCVB.

 

[PaulRAnderson]

You think WBZ has a good set? Your standars might be low. It looks like the studio of a communications school. WBZ could go back to the set they had in 1985 and it would still be 10 times better than what they have now.

That might be. They've had some nice sets in the past. I just don't like flashy sets with lots of color as it just detracts from the news presentation. I watch NESN most of the time anyway as they have longer stories and don't concentrate on Boston news as much as the Boston stations (naturally).

Paul

 

[AtkinsonWeather]

1) Get a new news set

Why? Their set is understated and classy compared to the garish ones at, say WFXT and WHDH.

Paul

You think WBZ has a good set? Your standars might be low. It looks like the studio of a communications school. WBZ could go back to the set they had in 1985 and it would still be 10 times better than what they have now.

I like their set, and my standards aren't low. It's bright, vibrant, and warm. My opinion.

 

[bg02445]

Well a lot of the promos are in HD now, and the tease was all 16:9 today (except for the open), along with all of the reports.
I also like their set already.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

1) Get a new news set

This was already discussed here: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,154171.0.html and here: http://cbslocalblogs.prospero.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?webtag=WBZ_Declare.

2) Get a station "voice", strictly male, dominant sounding kind like WHDH has, and get rid of that lady who voices the promos.

Why? Their image/brand works without it.

3) Put the promos in HD (so annoying!) :

They are - and have been long before the news went HD last December.

4) Put the intro in HD, and also play more clips in HD, which they seemed to be doing today, which I like.

The open/bumps flat out suck. They should return to the 2007 open (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjM0prtcDkc&feature=related) or something similar to WCCO's current open (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oky8SjCzv6s).

...I also think they should return the 4oclock newscast.

Makes no sense. 4PM news viewership is dwindling throughout the country and Judge Judy is highly competitive in the time period.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

Could the wishes of a new set come true soon? The "interview" area of the current WBZ set has not been shown for well over a week now. Perhaps some additional renovations are taking place on-set.

 

[Skynet74]

At the end of a recent Newscast the camera zoomed out enough to at least make it look like the studio isn't the size of a closet. That gave me a glimmer of hope that they do at least have a little space to work with to possibly build something nice.

 

[Skynet74]

As any news director will tell you, a new set, graphics, and music will have no impact whatsoever on ratings.
Stations need to update them, but they do not reflect in the ratings. Same for going HD. That does not impact ratings.

Wow.. I disagree with EVERYTHING you just said. I think the news set, graphics and music can have a fairly big impact on ratings when done right. If a station comes across with a more professional polished look, than viewers are going to take notice and think the news product is more professional as well. But if you give the station a rotten set with bad music and graphics, just watch what happens to the ratings over a period of time. I've even changed the channel to watch an HD newscast rather than one that wasn't in HD. I don't think I'm the only one. Great sets and music packages are what makes a station memorable.

WPRI Providence had an awsome two level set back in the mid 90's when they were owned by CBS. They would even do sports from the second level. I never forgot how cool that set was. It caused me to tune them in a lot more just because they looked damn serious about what they were doing and I felt confident that I was getting the best newscast in town. Yes.... those were my impressions just based on the SET! Do not underestimate how important the overall "LOOK" of a newscast is. Also.. Do not underestimate how valuable a great music package is either. These things are a lot more important to viewers than you seem to realize. The News Director who does not realize this is probably the News Director of a station that is in last place.

 

[bg02445]

I saw a new set part on WBZ today, it looked nice.