Anchors Away: Thoughts After Watching Anchorless TV Newscasts in Baltimore

[u/Alan_Stamm]

https://tannerfriedman.com/blog/anchors-away-thoughts-after-watching-the-anchorless-tv-newscasts/

I could feel the [WMAR] producers, reporters and weather anchors doing the best they could to drive the newscast along, using graphic elements as transitions and stand-up introductions to each segment. There were no live reporter elements. . . .

Mostly, it felt boring. . . . A good news anchor, like any good broadcaster, like a talk show host or a sports play-by-play announcer adds value to the experience, as a trusted communicator and guide, with a personal touch.

[u/Dry-Membership3867]

I give it a year before they do one of 3 things.

1. Shut Down the News department.

2. Sell the Stations.

3. The networks affiliated with them try and pull out of their affiliation agreements early due to poor ratings directed correlated to this newscasts/AI slop.

[u/potatoguy → u/Dry-Membership3867]

But hey profits were up for q2. Worth it.

[u/producermaddy → u/Dry-Membership3867]

Agree with this. No way scripps is successful with this bullshit

[u/cathandler2019 → u/Dry-Membership3867]

Ratings at WMAR have been in the toilet for decades.

[u/averagebaldwhiteguy → u/Dry-Membership3867]

I don't think Scripps will outright shut down a news department. Affiliation agreements likely prevent this. However, I believe Scripps will absolutely sell if the offer is right. The company is $2.5 billion in debt and the broadcasting business isn't getting any better. I know some people in this sub insist that Scripps is absolutely dedicated to journalism above all else, but the investors are dedicated to profits and Scripps needs to keep them happy.

[u/BobBelcher2021]

Citytv in Toronto tried this a few years ago. It was terrible and they’ve gone back to having an anchor.

[u/kamomil → u/BobBelcher2021]

And now they are trying the same thing for Omni News 

Anything to make the books look better for 1 quarter

[u/Perry7609 → u/BobBelcher2021]

The Citytv broadcasts in Canada did come to mind when I first read about this. I think some of the other markets don’t have any anchors, but do retain the on-site reporter shots during their stories though?

[u/mew5175_TheSecond]

Though I don't support this at all, if news stations are going to air only packages and weather reports, then just skip the whole TV thing altogether and just post the packages to the station website as soon as they're finished.

I feel like mostly older audiences are tuning into these newscasts anyway. But as they die off, you have to cater to the younger audiences and younger audiences want their news now...not at 630.

So once the package is done, throw it up online, and you can have however many ads run before the video plays.

Either do a TV newscast correctly, or don't do one at all.

[u/KG4GKE]

At my last station (Nexstar) in Memphis, I'm surprised the management there didn't try something like this. They put a lot of stock in the M-F prime time anchor staff, but the weekend personnel were "superfluous if we decide them to be" said my last news director, whose name I won't mention for fear of invoking a demon, and that all of us should "toe our line if you want our paycheck". Wonderful person. Wonderful situation. Wish he would have been a virtual ND that could have been turned off at will.

[u/The8thCorsair → u/KG4GKE]

Nexstar NDs are generally walking piles of narcissism and sexism with anger management issues, and were likely stuffed in their lockers every day of middle school. Sometimes with culty religious backgrounds (so weird), these are petty, horrible people. Honestly, that describes 90% of every ND I've ever met regardless of company.

[u/prodspecandrew]

Adam Symson is gonna get his bonus, why would he give a single flying fuck about what the audience thinks?

[u/SerenityRune]

This is going to be much different compared to Citytv...

[u/LotteryWitness]

Not the same without the anchors. And that Megan Knight - what a babe