Corollary to the thread on the best newscast: what do you think is the worst (or one of the worst)? For me, it is no contest that the worst in my market is WYFF News 4. I find it hard to explain why I dislike it so, but I do, especially in the mornings, when Dale Gilbert is the weatherman. This is, however, the only thing that I dislike about him; on Clemson game weekends at Death Valley, he is the P.A. announcer, and this I like about him.
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Worst local newscast?
- Thread starter bmasters1981
- Start date
Do you mean in terms of overall production and budget? WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford was very third rate in the 1970s due to a limited signal and station ownership at the time. Viacom bought them around 1978 and increased their signal substantially by about 1980 or so. These days, they're an NBC O&O and have an 11 AM newcast, after airing all four hours of Today.
Today, I see WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven as the lesser newscast. They're usually third here in Hartford County. They seem to cover greater New Haven and Fairfield County more, as one would expect.
If based on the time I lived in southern Maine from 1985-87, the low-rent newscast was easy: WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring.
Today, I see WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven as the lesser newscast. They're usually third here in Hartford County. They seem to cover greater New Haven and Fairfield County more, as one would expect.
If based on the time I lived in southern Maine from 1985-87, the low-rent newscast was easy: WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring.
KML-224 said:
That's what I meant, and you do have some good points there. I would also have to say that WLOS News 13 covers WNC a bit much for my taste (can't blame 'em though).
WBBJ-TV 7 of Jackson, TN, had a very low-budgeted newscast, at least when I lived close enough to them to watch them. That was back in the '70s and '80s. Can't say how they are now. It was not the fault of anyone who worked there. Recent college grads usually worked there until they got some experience, then they left for larger markets and better stations.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
You could fill several books with reasons why WIIC/WPXI in Pittsburgh was among the worst
ever in the 70's and 80's.
ever in the 70's and 80's.
Some of the worst I ever saw were:
WLWI/13 (now WTHR) Indianapolis IN circa 1970. They were the very-weak ABC affiliate at that time - a very poor station in a Top 25 market. No redeeming features whatsoever in their newscasts under Crosley/Avco ownership, and a horrible signal to boot. The only guy worth watching was some Ball State grad named Letterman doing weekend weather. I hear he went onto bigger and better things.
WAEO-TV/12 (now WJFW) Rhinelander WI circa 1971. Even for a very small market station (it's always been the Wausau-Rhinelander market, but they really didn't start serving Wausau until the '80s), this was low-budget. The anchors were the sales director on news, the program director doing weather, and another sales guy on sports. No news film/tape unless the story was about then-Rep. Alvin O'Konski, the local congresscritter. By some strange coincidence, he also owned the station. ;D
WBBM-TV/2 Chicago circa 1972. This was about a year before CBS paired up Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson and turned it around. It's not that their anchors were bad - they had John Coughlin doing weather and Burnt Hamburger Brent Musburger on sports. But that set looked like it had been shipped down from Green Bay - very crude by network O&O standards, even of that time. And it was called "TV 2 News" instead of "Channel 2 News" - a very weak presentation for the #3 market. Footage of this era on WBBM exists.
KPAZ-TV/21 Phoenix AZ circa 1974. This was pre-TBN, when they were still a half-secular, half-religious independent. Probably the worst newscast ever - this was small-market UHF-from-1953 stuff, except that it was in color. The anchorman was a Wally Cox look- and sound-alike who made Ted Baxter seem like Walter Cronkite by comparison. The weather map was a National Geographic US map mounted on the wall, with a clear plastic overlay so the weather-guesser could write on it with his magic marker. Their only saving grace was sports. The sportscaster actually attempted to be professional, and he also did Phoenix Giants play-by-play on the station. It was also the only 5 PM newscast in Phoenix at the time.
KTVK/3 Phoenix circa 1974. Decent anchors except for the old lady doing weather, but the set was horrible and the graphics were well below their competitors at KOOL, KTAR, and even then-indie KPHO. Just a very small-market feel for a network affiliate in what was then somewhere around Market #35 or so - even if that network was ABC.
WLWI/13 (now WTHR) Indianapolis IN circa 1970. They were the very-weak ABC affiliate at that time - a very poor station in a Top 25 market. No redeeming features whatsoever in their newscasts under Crosley/Avco ownership, and a horrible signal to boot. The only guy worth watching was some Ball State grad named Letterman doing weekend weather. I hear he went onto bigger and better things.
WAEO-TV/12 (now WJFW) Rhinelander WI circa 1971. Even for a very small market station (it's always been the Wausau-Rhinelander market, but they really didn't start serving Wausau until the '80s), this was low-budget. The anchors were the sales director on news, the program director doing weather, and another sales guy on sports. No news film/tape unless the story was about then-Rep. Alvin O'Konski, the local congresscritter. By some strange coincidence, he also owned the station. ;D
WBBM-TV/2 Chicago circa 1972. This was about a year before CBS paired up Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson and turned it around. It's not that their anchors were bad - they had John Coughlin doing weather and Burnt Hamburger Brent Musburger on sports. But that set looked like it had been shipped down from Green Bay - very crude by network O&O standards, even of that time. And it was called "TV 2 News" instead of "Channel 2 News" - a very weak presentation for the #3 market. Footage of this era on WBBM exists.
KPAZ-TV/21 Phoenix AZ circa 1974. This was pre-TBN, when they were still a half-secular, half-religious independent. Probably the worst newscast ever - this was small-market UHF-from-1953 stuff, except that it was in color. The anchorman was a Wally Cox look- and sound-alike who made Ted Baxter seem like Walter Cronkite by comparison. The weather map was a National Geographic US map mounted on the wall, with a clear plastic overlay so the weather-guesser could write on it with his magic marker. Their only saving grace was sports. The sportscaster actually attempted to be professional, and he also did Phoenix Giants play-by-play on the station. It was also the only 5 PM newscast in Phoenix at the time.
KTVK/3 Phoenix circa 1974. Decent anchors except for the old lady doing weather, but the set was horrible and the graphics were well below their competitors at KOOL, KTAR, and even then-indie KPHO. Just a very small-market feel for a network affiliate in what was then somewhere around Market #35 or so - even if that network was ABC.
My candidate is the old WQTV-68 in Boston, circa 1979, shortly after they went on the air.
While most of their program schedule consisted of scrambled over-the-air subscription TV, they did carry a few hours of unscrambled programming in the late afternoon and early evening (roughly from 3 to 7 P.M.). Most of their unscrambled programming consisted of cheap-to-acquire reruns, public-domain movies, and some brokered shows.
Among those programs in 1979 was a local newscast at 5:30 P.M. on weekdays that consisted of two anchors (Carole Yelverton and Brad LeMack; both new to TV but both having worked previously in Boston radio) and a sports segment from former New England Patriots star Jim Nance.
There were no film or videotape reports, no live shots from the field, no reporters in the field, and maybe occasional slides keyed-in behind the anchors.
It was about as cheap a TV newscast as you could do. The only way it could have been done any cheaper had been if all the stories were read by one person.
It was otherwise 30 minutes (less commercials) of reading news into a camera.
While most of their program schedule consisted of scrambled over-the-air subscription TV, they did carry a few hours of unscrambled programming in the late afternoon and early evening (roughly from 3 to 7 P.M.). Most of their unscrambled programming consisted of cheap-to-acquire reruns, public-domain movies, and some brokered shows.
Among those programs in 1979 was a local newscast at 5:30 P.M. on weekdays that consisted of two anchors (Carole Yelverton and Brad LeMack; both new to TV but both having worked previously in Boston radio) and a sports segment from former New England Patriots star Jim Nance.
There were no film or videotape reports, no live shots from the field, no reporters in the field, and maybe occasional slides keyed-in behind the anchors.
It was about as cheap a TV newscast as you could do. The only way it could have been done any cheaper had been if all the stories were read by one person.
It was otherwise 30 minutes (less commercials) of reading news into a camera.
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