Fox6 News HD: 1 month review

[WITI6fan]

I know it's a minor detail, but one of the only problems I have with the Fox 6 HD newscast is that they still haven't gotten the time and temp in HD. A while ago Chuck from Fox said that they were working on it, but I still haven't seen a change. WITI did have the time in HD for at least one night, as can be seen in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz9StJI9PzI&feature=related

Believe it or not, sometimes the equipment manufacturers will send a product to a station to allow them to do a live demo of the product. Another station in town recently did this for a month with a product they wanted to get. This may be why the time/temp was in HD that night.

If they're not going to use the graphics package that goes along with it, and not going to use the music as it's designed to be used, they should go out and either find a package that fits better, or get one custom-made for them.

Speaking of graphics... The more I look at the graphics, the more I want them to go away. This is especially true since I found out parts of them are from Videohelper. I really think a graphics and music overhaul is already needed. Just get some Syndicated graphics from Giant Octopus (like this package or this one, to name a few). I hear Hothaus has some syndie packages coming out soon too. In this market, it really doesn't take much to "stick out" from the other stations with graphics. Right now, WITI is blending in with WDJT and WISN.

As for music, anything's better than the FOX O&O package. The exception would be Stephen Arnold's "Indie Band News". That sounds awful.

[trev57]

Speaking of graphics... The more I look at the graphics, the more I want them to go away.

I agree. The royal blue and yellow graphics they are using are...they just doesn't work or look right with the FOX6 logo. Personally, I would like to see the Fox O&O graphics or something similar.

[beeper]

Fox 6 news should turn down the green set lighting that makes their anchors look sickly.
They all have a touch of Frankenstein, except those away from the anchor desk, like the weather.

WTMJ uses a tad to much red lighting, so the anchors look sunburned instead of sickly.
A little more pleasing at this end.

[WITI6fan]

Was that an HD storm alert graphics I saw earlier? Quality is a bit poor on this screencap (signal was choppy when I took it) but it sure looks like it's HD! First in Milwaukee!

EDIT: Just noticed WTMJ FINALLY updated theirs! No more squished screen, and has a map with a line of text rotating through the counties and their warnings, and a small ticker at the bottom of the screen.

[trev57]

Chuck from Fox emailed me this morning and explained why they are using the graphics package they currently use. He said they prefer it over the O&O package and even if they wanted to use the O&O, they couldn't because they use a graphics system called VIZ and O&O doesn't work with it.

On a side note, he also said that a new HD time/temp and ticker are on the way in the near future, as they are working on it right now.

[WITI6fan]

I'll just leave this here since I don't know where else to put it...

RE: The new "Parents, do you know where your children are" tag on the 10PM open...

WNYW's: Yes
WITI's: No.

Honestly, the opens don't look all that special, and the quality of this tag is just... bad. I don't understand why the opens don't match the rest of the graphics. The flat, matte 3D text in the opens looks awful next to the shiny metallic text in the segment opens and other graphics. The bad early 80's 3d at the end of this promo looks better than the 3D text in the opens.

It's kind of upsetting that, in the last few years, I've seen a station go from having a pretty good, consistent on air look to going through a number of packages/updates with random, mismatched graphics were tacked on. At one point, I can clearly remember that the show would open with something like the last linked video, then use a "Big Story" graphic that was based on the open at WJW Cleveland, and the next story would go to the style seen on the WakeUp Talent Open video.

Is a completely new graphics package needed? No. This one is nice and could work if treated right. What needs to be done is the powers that be need to sit down and try to get everything to match.

[trev57]

I agree. WITI's emphasizes "children" too much. If anything they should empasize "your".

And am I seeing things or did they redo the backdrop behind Brad Hicks on the left side of the studio? It looks a lot better now.

[LoadStar]

I agree. WITI's emphasizes "children" too much. If anything they should empasize "your".

And am I seeing things or did they redo the backdrop behind Brad Hicks on the left side of the studio? It looks a lot better now.

Yeah, and it seems they've been deliberately choosing angles that emphasize that backdrop. I tried finding a picture that showed what was there before to compare, but couldn't find one.

[WITI6fan]

Yeah, and it seems they've been deliberately choosing angles that emphasize that backdrop. I tried finding a picture that showed what was there before to compare, but couldn't find one.

Here you go!

[Chuck from FOX]

Hey guys - a couple of thoghts.  First of all, I love the discussion and debate.  Also, I like that you guys have moved on from discussion of what is/isn't HD (a while back) to the subjective discussion of graphics, audio, etc.

The backdrop you have discussed is new - it replaces an older (in fact, really old) city shot, which was a 90's way to dress up your set - the ol' let's go shoot the city from a helicopter and it will make us look local - if you will.

W/ regard to the lighting, we do work done here at the station and also use an expert out of New York - he's quite good and a character to boot.  We like to move around on the set so that does have an impact on how we light it. We're working on a few things now that I think you guys might enjoy and one of them has a lot to do w/ lighting - I'll tell you more about that soon.

Graphics are subjective - what one person loves another dislikes.  Much of our current pacakge came from an outside production house vs. the example given for consistency (above), which was actually done in house...again, there really isn't a right or wrong w/ graphics - it's much more about how it 'feels' and your likes/dislikes.  There's a saying in our industry that 'sets and graphics do not a rating make' - that being said, they are a part of the personality of a station.

Good discussion - continue on.

[WITI6fan]

W/ regard to the lighting, we do work done here at the station and also use an expert out of New York - he's quite good and a character to boot.  We like to move around on the set so that does have an impact on how we light it. We're working on a few things now that I think you guys might enjoy and one of them has a lot to do w/ lighting - I'll tell you more about that soon.

Would it be possible to get someone to operate the lighting controls and kill some of the lighting on parts of the set when not in use? I used to watch the WTVT studio camera and remember they did this for a some of their stand up spots. Of course, this may be a moot point depending on what the "changes" are.

[LoadStar]

The backdrop you have discussed is new - it replaces an older (in fact, really old) city shot, which was a 90's way to dress up your set - the ol' let's go shoot the city from a helicopter and it will make us look local - if you will.

Yeah... now that you mention it, didn't they use that same backdrop on the old "Friend you can Count On" era TV6 news set?

[trev57]

It looks like the newsroom now has a new backdrop. 100 times better looking than the "FOX6 News" glass that was there.