WBBM in Chicago is airing short cookie themed ID segments to mark the holiday season.

The short IDs feature a live truck cutout cookie along with a Start of David and outline of Africa along with snowflakes and gifts.

The cookies, along with a real piece of harvest corn, appear on a dark wood background and are “eaten” using stop action style animation. 

The words “Happy Holidays” appear as “lay flat” cookies decorated with candy cane, Christmas three, candle and other colorful motifs. 

The “O” is, naturally, replaced with the CBS eye logo.

The spot ends with a rectangular cooke with an icing version of the station’s logo with festive white dots on the gold “2.”

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Stringr, a marketplace for video content, has partnered with Google to provide news organizations with video from the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Through the Google News Initiative, Stringr will supply national and local news outlets with broadcast, digital, and raw video content with Fox Television Stations serving as the first to utilize the new content.

Organizations will receive one broadcast and one digital segment per day and two or more pieces of raw video depending on the number of campaign events. Along with Fox, Boston Globe, News Press & Gazette, Lee Enterprises, and Flood Communications will also be initial launch partners for the service.

“The 2020 election is unique in the sheer number of candidates competing for the nomination,” said Lindsay Stewart of Stringr.

“The reality is, however, that major news organizations only have the resources to follow a handful of those on any given day, and smaller news organizations fewer still. Our partnership with Google News Initiative helps news organizations ensure all voices are heard, with a quality and cost-effective solution to deliver the most important stories to viewers during the election.”

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CBS owned stations across the country are in various phases of rolling out updated graphics.

So far, stations have rolled out updated weather and traffic looks as well as new designs for fullscreen graphics, teases and the ticker.

The exact changes vary from market to market and, in some cases, even newscast to newscast.

For example, WCBS in New York is using an updated ticker design and fullscreen looks, but still hasn’t switched to the new weather look.

WBBM in Chicago has been using the new weather graphics for some time now and added redesigned teases in November 2019. The station has also been using similar looks for its on-set video wall topical graphics as well. 

No CBS owned station, however, has switched to new opens or lower thirds, however, still relying on the gold, blue and white look.

The new look is flatter than the old design — and relies more on boxes and bolder typography.

Much of the shift is likely driven by CBS’s drive to launch local CBSN streaming news services in markets where it owns stations — as the new looks, when the various pieces are combined, echo the design used by the existing streaming offerings.

Given the somewhat inconsistent implementation of the new elements, it’s not immediately clear when looks will become more standardized or introduce new opens or lower thirds, though adjustments seem likely given CBS’s pattern of updating graphics packages and the lack of consistency between the looks.

In Chicago, WBBM’s updated teases feature the option to change accent colors based on the stories — such as red for breaking news and gold for “CBS 2 Investigators.” 

There are also quick animations that center the typography and a title in the middle of the screen with oversized outlined lettering the background.

More commonly used, however, are stacked boxes in the lower left corner of the screen with a headline and label. 

The look also includes larger outlined lettering behind it. 

Weather and traffic graphics feature black and blue boxes along with flat boxes and more generous spacing. 

At WCBS, meanwhile, fullscreen graphics take on a similar look to the rest of the graphics, while the ticker has also been updated to match the look. 

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Fox Seattle affiliate KCPQ has updated its LED video walls.

The new, UHD 1.87 mm panels are from Neoti, which also helped the station with integration.

The video wall was installed inside the set that debuted in 2016 with lower resolution LED in the same location as the upgraded panels. 

The new look also makes the background seamless, allowing the station to showcase high resolution imagery of the city’s skyline and nearby landscapes, which can be accented with transparent squares.

KCPQ brands on air as Q13 Fox and Q13 News. 

The station was previously owned by Tribune, but was included as part of the sale to Nexstar Media Group.

Nexstar is planning to sell KCPQ to Fox, which would make it an owned and operated station. 

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This story has been updated to reflect the launch of NBC Chicago’s new website.

NBCUniversal has switched over to new websites for its owned stations.

As of this writing, all of the NBC and Telemundo branded websites in markets where NBCUniversal owns both stations has switched over to the new design.

This also includes NECN, the network’s 24 hour cable news channel in New England.

Meanwhile, Telemundo stations owned by NBCU in smaller markets where the company doesn’t also own the NBC affiliate, have not all made the change.

Chicago made the switcher later than other markets, including both smaller or larger ones, and NBCUniversal did not respond to requests for comment about the delay or rollout schedule.

The new design includes a primary navigation bar with the station’s logo, search and primary links.

A hamburger menu here provides access to a sidebar menu with additional links. On mobile, this menu becomes the primary navigation system.

Under the main horizontal navigation bar, meanwhile, is a “trending topics” list.

The upper right of the main nav also includes current weather conditions and “Live TV” button, while the sites have the option to incorporate a red breaking news bar along the top of the site or weather alerts to the far right of the “trending” bar.

The trending topics bar remains on mobile, albeit in a truncated format with a dropdown to see more. 

The “Live TV” button is removed and the weather icon and temperature remain but are slightly smaller. 

On the homepage is a large blue area housing the top stories that has muted market specific imagery. 

The website switches over most of the site typography to NBC’s custom font Arthouse Owned, which debuted in August 2019 as part of a typographic update to owned stations’ shared graphics package, Look N.

The new font is similar to FF Din, the font Look N originally used.

On its own websites, most NBC Owned Television Stations group digital properties used a combination of Roboto for headlines and Arimo for body copy.

Roboto is an open source font that has similarities to FF Din, while Arimo is another free font that’s often used as a substitute for Arial.

The new NBC owned stations websites are powered by WordPress’s enterprise content management offering.

The new sites have a few odd quirks that NewscastStudio noted shortly after the launch.

Clicking the search icon correctly opens a search box, but the magnifying glass icon is oddly duplicated. In some cases, the mobile “trending” menu “down arrow” element appears on larger screens. 

In addition, the last link in the trending section automatically gets truncated with an ellipsis added, but on some screen sizes, a standalone ellipsis appears next to the down arrow, creating an odd user experience since both elements are commonly used as navigational elements. 

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CBS launched CBSN Minnesota this week from its station in Minneapolis, WCCO.

A partnership between CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive, CBSN Minnesota will include local newscasts, coverage of breaking news and a library of programming for on-demand viewing.

CBSN Minnesota joins services in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco.

“Research shows strong demand for OTT content here in the Twin Cities. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to make our award-winning news programming available, both here at home and across the country, for people to watch on their favorite platforms whenever and wherever they want the latest news from WCCO,” said Ann Ouellette of WCCO in a statement.

The next CBS O&O to launch a CBSN Local version will be in Philadelphia at KYW.

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KDVR, the Fox affiliate in Denver, is running a promo for its “Problem Solvers” consumer reporting unit.

The spot uses the original song “We’re On It” from Stephen Arnold Music and features action shots of the station’s consumer team at work.

KDVR brands on air as Fox 31 Denver.

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A promo for WBTV’s investigative unit traces the path of an email tip takes into the reporting process.

The Gray Television CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, promo starts with the imagery of an email being typed and sent — which spurs a trip through a metaphorical version of the complex web of investigative reporting. 

The promo is accompanied with a hard hitting and dramatic male voiceover and music as well as a gritty textural look.

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Megaphone TV, a viewer engagement platform used by over 80 local and national news organizations, has compiled the top five topics of 2019 with politics, not surprisingly, at the forefront. 

The top stories of 2019 include:

1. Trump Impeachment 
2. Immigration/Border Wall
3. High School Football
4. Government Shutdown
5. Abortion

The list was compiled using data from the organization’s real-time live polling suite to measure audience sentiment.

“Our research shows that reaction to President Trump, both in support and in opposition, is the single greatest factor driving engagement in news polls. Polls that mention Trump by name reach significantly higher participation rates than those that merely mention the phrase ‘Impeachment Inquiry.’ As we head into the 2020 election cycle, we anticipate that Trump will continue to be the leading factor that motivates audience engagement,” said Dan Albritton of Megaphone TV.

The one outlier is high school football which Megaphone TV notes see large spikes in engagement because stations often let viewers vote on their favorite plays or game of the week.

“This goes to show you that local storytelling matters,” said Albritton. “High school football connects directly to the heart of communities. Politics certainly dominates the national conversation, but it’s important to find new ways to engage viewers at a local level. And leaning into high school football is a great way to accomplish that goal.”

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WCPO, the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio, is grounding its news helicopter.

Branded on air as Chopper 9, the craft is leased to the station from Air Sansone, according to FAA records.

Air Sansone owns and leases helicopter to many stations across the country. This is a common practice in the broadcast industry and is often seen as a way to simplify the complexities and liabilities owning and operating aircraft. 

The chopper has the tail number N90CL and is a Bell Jet Ranger model.

Ever wonder what it's like to fly in Chopper 9? Here's a behind-the-scenes video with @DanCarrollWCPO #Chopper9Extra pic.twitter.com/ch4Yt3cQxt

— WCPOChopper9 (@WCPOChopper9) July 17, 2018

The station will also part ways with Dan Carroll, the reporter assigned to the craft.

WCPO will also presumably need to revise its newscast opens, as they feature “action shots” of Chopper 9 prominently as part of the station’s heavy promotion of being the only permanent news helicopter in the market.

WCPO brought back its helicopter in 2014 after several years.

Instead of Chopper 9, the station will rely more on its Sky 9 drone, which debuted in 2016, for aerial coverage.

The use of drones in the broadcast production industry has increased over the past years as the technology has improved and costs have come down.

However, drones used for commercial purposes, such as newsgathering, may still be subject to certain FAA regulations such as keeping the craft within sight of the operator at all times, though regulations are slowly changing.

Due to battery life, drones typically don’t have the range or flying time of a full helicopter — and their smaller profile means they aren’t as well equipped to fly in bad weather.

The station presumably could also rent helicopters or other small aircraft on an as needed basis to gather aerial footage that the drone can’t.

There’s no word on what will happen to the craft itself, but it’s possible it could receive new livery and be leased to another TV station under the same or different tail number. 

It could also be used for non-news gathering purposes, sold off or retired. 

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Gray Television has announced the new branding for its unique Sioux Falls, South Dakota, duopoly.

“Dakota News Now” will debut Monday, Jan. 13, 2020.

As part of the announcement, Gray also released a new logo for the news operation that uses Bank Gothic (once used across most Hearst Television stations) in silver and gold with both the ABC globe and NBC peacock atop it.

Gray announced its intention to buy the market’s NBC affiliate KDLT in May 2018, having already owned ABC affiliate KSFY since 2013 with the acquisition of Hoak Media. 

However, the purchase required an FCC waiver since Gray was buying the stations outright and normally the same company cannot operate two major network-affiliated stations in the same market.

During the waiver process, Gray argued that combining the two stations’ operations would be necessary to compete with market leader KELO, the CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group.

According to local newspaper Argus Leader’s data from 2016, KELO’s 6 p.m. newscast was viewed by 16% of households, with KDLT drawing 2.8% and KSFY at 7.2%.  

It’s not uncommon for the same company to operate two stations in the same market under a joint sales agreement, JSA, local marketing agreement, LMA, or shared services agreement, or SSA, but this typically still keeps the stations’ ownership separate — though the listed owners of both stations often have close ties and similar agreements in other markets.

The FCC approved the waiver for the Sioux Falls market in September 2019.

Gray operates under a similar arrangement in Honolulu, Hawaii, where it operates NBC affiliate KHNL and CBS affiliate KGMB, though this arrangement was set up when Raycom owned the stations.

The changes officially kick in Jan. 13, 2020.

The new “Dakota” branding purposefully avoids any references to channel numbers or networks so the name can be used on both stations.

It’s not uncommon for stations in JSA, SSA or LMA agreements to result in the use a more generic branding for their newscasts — such as Gray’s Hawaii’s “Hawaii News Now,” and “First Coast News” in Jacksonville, Florida, which is owned by Tegna.

Nexstar also uses “Eyewitness News” (without a channel number reference) for the NBC affiliate it owns in Pennsylvania, WBRE, and on CBS affiliate WYOU, which is owned by Mission Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar through an SSA.

This is partially necessary because both stations will carry the same morning newscast from 5 to 7 a.m. and the late newscast at 10 p.m.

Combined, the two stations will produce three hours of local news starting in the late afternoon into the early evening.

KDLT will carry local news from 4 to 5 p.m., 5:30 to 6 p.m. and 6:30 to 7 p.m., while KSFY will broadcast from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and 6 to 6:30 p.m.

On weekends, newscasts will be simulcast a 6 and 10 p.m. Saturdays and 5:30 and 10 p.m. Sundays.

KDLT will carry “NBC Nightly News” at 6 p.m. and “ABC World News Tonight” will air at 5:30 p.m. on KSFY.

This move will mean the two top-rated network newscasts will air at different times in the Sioux Falls market, with leader “World News Tonight” getting the “traditional” 5:30 p.m. timeslot in the central time zone. 

As part of the change, KDLT will move to KSFY’s studios, which is large enough to accomodate the production needs for both stations.

KSFY moved into its current downtown studios in 2016 and debuted a new set from FX Design Group at the same time.

The video wall heavy set will continue to be used on both stations’ newscasts.

The changes are also triggering a new anchor lineup:

• Vanessa Gomez and Erik Thorstenson will anchor with meteorologist Aaron Doudna on the morning simulcast from 5 to 7 a.m.
• Carleen Wild and Kelsie Passolt with meteorologist Tyler Roney will appear on the 4 to 5 p.m. block on KDLT.
• Allen and Passolt with meteorologist Phil Schreck will hold down the 5 p.m. half hour on KSFY.
• Meanwhile, Allen and Wild with meteorologist Roney will anchor at 5:30 on KDLT.
• Allen, Passolt and Schreck will anchor at 6 p.m on KSFY.
• Allen and Passolt will also appear at 6:30 p.m. on KDLT but with Roney as meteorologist.
• Allen and Passolt will anchor the shared 10 p.m. newscast with Mark Ovenden on sports and meteorologist Schreck with weather.
• On weekends, Sam Wright will solo anchor with Sam Gabrielli on weather and sports from Zach Borg.

Reporting staff will be shared across both stations, as will behind the scenes newsroom and production teams. 

As part of the new ownership, some of the stations’ syndicated programming will move around, with “Jeopardy!” now airing at 2:30 p.m. on KSFY and 5 p.m. on KDLT. KSFY previously aired “Jeopardy!” in the morning. “Family Feud” will also move to KSFY at 11 a.m. to noon.

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New York City’s Fox owned WNYW created a single take morning news promo that takes viewers on a sweeping view of its studio, making stops along the way to showcase all of the content the broadcast offers on “Good Day New York.”

The spot starts at the anchor desk with anchors Kerry Drew and Bianca Peters before moving to entertainment reporter Ryan Kristafer in the standup area.

There’s then a brief view of two unnamed chefs cooking before moving on to an unidentified dance group in the performance area. 

Next up is forecaster Mike Woods, who “tosses” to traffic report Ines Rosales. 

Lori Stokes and Rosanna Scotto next appear on the show’s sit down interview set before the camera wanders off into a standup area and the show’s logo appears on screen.

At each of the named talent “stops,” the talent reads what sounds like a generic start of a report before the camera moves on.

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Touting the “First snow of 2020” (which isn’t all that impressive consider it was only 10 days into the year), KMTV in Omaha created a “seven box” showcasing its team coverage.

Of course, that’s nowhere near the epic “25 box” WSB in Atlanta used once — or the “150 box” Sky News used once either.

The layout included an anchor one shot in the middle with six boxes on either side showing five remote reports and a forecaster standing by at the chroma key wall as well.

When you need critical coverage during winter weather @3NewsNowOmaha has you covered! pic.twitter.com/dNtC9uxQZB

— Geoff Roth (@GeoffMoJo) January 11, 2020

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WGN news director Jennifer Lyons has been selected to lead Nexstar’s new nationwide newscast, “News Nation” — and the station has already named her replacement.

Lyons has news director since 2014, though she did take a brief interlude in 2018, reports Robert Feder.

To fill her now vacant slot, the station turned to executive producer Dominick Stasi. 

There’s no immediate word on who will take over as executive producer for WGN’s local newscasts.

Lyons will work out of a new newsroom Nexstar Media Group plans to build on the upper level of the station’s Bradley Place studios. 

There are also plans to build a new set for “News Nation” in Studio 3, previously home to the now shuttered CLTV and, before that, WGN’s local newscasts.

Nexstar acquired WGN and WGN America in late 2019 as part of a deal to purchase Tribune’s broadcasting assets. After the deal closed, Nexstar announced it would shut down CLTV, a 24 regional cable news channel.

“News Nation” will air weekdays from 8 to 11 p.m. on WGN America, the cable channel that also operates out of the station’s facility. 

Stasi, meanwhile, will continue to play a key role in the station’s now 72 and half hours of local news it produces weekly — an output that outpaces any other station in the market by about 20 hours.

The station announced expanded weekend newscasts and programming earlier this month.

Nexstar also has yet to name any talent or producers for “News Nation” but has said it plans to hire 120 people to work on the newscast and its associated digital platforms. 

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NBC owned stations have followed suit with the network by adding the Olympic rings to their local news bugs.

In Chicago, WMAQ added the rings to the bug used during local newscasts Jan. 1, 2020, while NBC network programming started using it Jan. 2.

The design involves moving the colorful NBC peacock icon up a bit (and shrinking it down) and placing the rings, in white, below.

This is all in preparation for NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, of course.

For years, NBC has added the Olympic rings to its bugs and other graphics in the months leading up to the Olympics. 

NBC adds Olympic rings to bugs ahead of 2020 games

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To promote the Kansas City Chiefs’ upcoming Super Bowl match up against the San Francisco 49ers, Fox 4 has released a special version of its “Our KC” promo campaign.

Kansas City station marks 70 years with image campaign

This spot, filmed in the West Bottoms of K.C. includes “super fans” cheering on the Chiefs as sports anchors Rob Collins and Harold Kuntz plus news anchor Loren Halifax, Pat McGonigle, Abby Eden, Mark Alford walk through the crowd.

The spot ends with the whole group doing the Tomahawk chop, a Chief’s game day tradition.

WDAF’s internal creative team lead by Danielle Ray with Dan Horner, Taylor Mefford and Eric Houser, created the spot.

Super Bowl LIV is Sunday, Feb. 2, on Fox.

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Tegna’s Charlotte NBC affiliate debuted an updated set as well as new logo.

WCNC’s new look combines backlit and frosted panels with modern takes on wood and faux stone.

Home base is now a standing height anchor desk in front of five vertically mounted video panels flanked by frosted panels, wood trim and faux stone accents.

A nearby weather center allows for interaction shots between anchors and the forecaster and features its own presentation pod with large video panel.

The far right panel behind the weather presentation area is frosted to reveal some of the weather workspace beyond, which also extended behind an additional freestanding video panel array.

Meanwhile, more generous use of exposed brick can be found in the multipurpose standup area, which features nine video panels leftover from the station’s old set and given a new life.

WCNC also integrated a new logo design into its existing Tegna group graphics package. 

The new logo features the NBC peacock tucked next to the left angle of the “W” while the first “C” is placed in front of its neighboring letters and the second “C” sits behind the “N.”

The station has retained its “WCNC NBC Charlotte” and “WCNC NBC Charlotte News” branding after going through the names and taglines “6 News,” “NBC6,” “Carolinas’ News Connection” (backronym for its call letters) and NewsChannel 36 (a reference to its cable channel number) as well as “NBC Charlotte.”

Project credits

• Set Design by Joe Lamberta of Joe Lamberta Design
• Fabrication by Southwest Scenic Group
• Lighting design by Redwood Media Group
• AV by Grant AV and the station’s Steve Kiser

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CBSN Philly has officially launched, becoming the six localized version of the OTT service to rollout so far.

Co-located with KYW in Philadelphia, the service augments the channel’s regular newscasts with breaking news coverage and live streams.

“It is very exciting to reach the mid-point of the rollout of our CBSN Local services with today’s launch of CBSN Philly,” said Peter Dunn, President, CBS Television Stations.

“We have learned so much during our five previous launches and now have the structure in place to accelerate our rollout plan and go live in all of our markets within the next few months.”

CBSN New York started the CBSN Local launch in December 2018, followed by Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and just last month Minnesota.

CBSN Pittsburgh is expected to debut in February.

CBSN is produced by CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive.

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WFLD, the Fox owned station in Chicago, showcased a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant that a California company created in a field of grass.

However — the station’s lower third banner identified it as a “Tribute to Kanye West” during its 9 p.m. newscast Jan. 30, 2020.

West, of course, is musician who is married to reality star Kim Kardashian and also happens to be black. Bryant, meanwhile, was a former L.A. Lakers NBA star who was killed in a helicopter crash.

The story came up during the station’s “Across America” segment.

It appears someone in the control room may have noticed the error because the lower third banner was only on screen briefly before it disappeared. 

Normally the banners remain on screen for the entire duration of the anchor voiceover during the segment.

In a bit of show stacking irony, immediately after the grass tribute story, Fox 32’s anchors teased an upcoming story about marijuana and driving study, which aired right after the break.

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WDAF, Fox 4 Kansas City, added another mix to its growing “Our KC” promo series during the Super Bowl.

Produced by Stephen Arnold Music, the latest version included a rap style, evoking a city on the move.

Danielle Ray, WDAF’s CSD, and Dan Horner, promotions manager worked closely with Stephen Arnold Music on the campaign with Ray writing the lyrics.

K.C. Fox prepares for Chiefs’ Super Bowl appearance with special promo

“We wanted to create something authentic to Kansas City,” said Ray. “It’s a unique place with a mix of new and old, people who’ve lived here their whole lives as well as lots of transplants. It’s a city with a cool, artistic vibe.”

“Our KC” debuted in October with the station’s 70th anniversary.

Kansas City station marks 70 years with image campaign

“The key to a great hip-hop/rap song is how the beat and cadence of the vocal work together,” said Chad Cook of Stephen Arnold Music.

“In this case, we worked through multiple ideas until the lyrics, beat and cadence aspects of the song worked perfectly together. That was the magic formula.”

“It’s become a local phenomenon,” Ray notes. “Our anchors often run into people on the street who sing it to them. One viewer sent in a video of her two-year-old daughter dancing to the beat.”

“We love the way the rap vocal blends with the original song. It gives it an edgier sound, but it’s still instantly recognizable as the song that everyone in Kansas City has come to know and love.”

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