NBR without Paul Kangas, but with a new look

On December 31st 2009, an era ended at Nightly Business Report when co-anchor and one of the founding team there, Paul Kangas, retired after just over 30 years at NBR.

He started as the Stocks anchor back in 1979, when WPBT first produced The Nightly Business Report.  Linda O’Byron and Merwin Sigale were the original anchors.  Susie Gharib joined NBR in 1998, and for nearly 12 years, they were the team bringing the world of business news every day to an appreciative American and later global audience through the internet.

Tom Hudson, also of Chicago based syndicated programmer “First Business” is now co-anchor in Miami, taking over from Paul Kangas, but it would be impossible to “replace” him.

However, that’s not the only change.  A new anchor, a new format, though some elements have remained exactly the same, a new studio set, which is entirely virtual, and a new graphic look, NBR has undergone a massive overhaul that wouldn’t have been necessary otherwise.  But because it was the end of an era, NBR needed to do something that would catch people’s attention.  And whilst the blogosphere hasn’t been hot with the new look, Newscast Studio has some info, though little is really known.

Sky News returns to Studio A with a new look

Sky News launched a new schedule earlier this week, and today, Wednesday 4th Febraury, one day before their 20th birthday, they launched their new look with instead of one big set with 8 presentation points, they're using 4 smaller sets.

The first set we saw at 6am was the new look to Sky News Sunrise.



The desk had been described as a chat show desk and it has to be said, the look is somewhat reminiscent of a chat show set, like the interview sets for Jay Leno's Tonight Show, or the Late Show with David Letterman.

But it does give Sunrise a very distinctive look, which is more relaxed than Sunrise had previously been. This set is also used for Jeff Randall Live.

The second set we saw at 10am was a desk based set for Sky News Today.



This seems to be the basic set, which may well get used on other programmes.

The third and final set we saw was at 2pm for Afternoon Live.



This set has also been used for the infamous News Sport & Weather, for 15 minutes, every 15 minutes.

Live at Five used the second set, but with the anchor desk rotated to a different position.



This is also done for Sky News at Ten. This gives Live at Five and Sky News at Ten an almost flagship style look compared to the other bulletins and programmes.

I like the new sets, they have managed to make the one studio look much better than it did even when the new studio was launched in 2005. Now, if they can just take out the slight conservativeness that has infected their agenda in the past few years, they'll be heading back to the top of the news channel wars. But until they lose that very slight bias they have, they will lose out to BBC News 24.

GMTV's new look for 2009 launches

As I told you yesterday, GMTV introduced a new look this morning. Unfortunately, due to technical problems, I was unable to record this morning's edition. My PVR decided to crash overnight. However, there are some clips on YouTube, which I am presenting here. Many thanks to the original posters.

First off, how GMTV opened at 6.00 am this morning.



Next, a little time lapse to show the old set being demolished and the new one being constructed.



And finally, the titles for GMTV with Lorraine, the new name for LK Today.



I'll try again tomorrow morning, and hopefully get you some stills. But these videos are excellent.

GMTV gets a new look.

GMTV starts a new year, with a new look. New set, new graphics, new members of the team, even a new news set. No longer will GMTV News be from a little CSO sub set in the studio.

I hope to have some pictures, though they'll be camera at the screen rather than proper full screen pictures after the new look has launched.

NBC Nightly News: New Studio

As an interested news listener and viewer, I watched this first edition of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams from the rebuilt NBC News World Headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, with more than the usual degree of interest.

Like many othersI had seen the preview images released on various blogs, but basically, I didn't have a clue how the set would look on screen. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things I saw.

In some ways, the new anchor desk is unique, being L-shaped. This gives you two views of the anchor desk, one with a giant screen as a backdrop, not unlike ABC News, and the other has the newsroom as a backdrop, which is somewhat reminiscent of many 24 hour news channels around the world.

The fact that it reminds me of so many studios in varying ways, rather than any one particular studio, highlights the fact that rather than trying to deliberately copy any other studio, they have tried to do something different, but with elements that are familiar to everyone.

So, do I think the studio looks good? Oh yes, very definitely. They've managed to achieve something that looks different, stylish, practical, reminiscent and distinctive, whilst avoiding being copycat. They've also managed to avoid trying to look too modern, whilst also avoiding looking too staid. It's a difficult balancing act to pull off, but they have managed it, somehow.

Personally, I can't wait for the usual pro-FOX brigade of comment contributors to Inside Cable News to put their usual pro-FOX / anti liberal media spin on this studio. Granted, it's not a studio you would expect to see a FOX News programme, it's too stylish and classy for that. Fox News studios tend to be a bit more in your face than other news studios. This NBC Nightly News studio is almost understated, which actually helps to take the attention off the studio set and onto the stories themselves.

I would give this 9 out of 10.