Shreveport Station to Finally Start Hi-def Newscasts
This from the tip box:
KTAL newscast will be broadcast in HD starting this Friday.
posted by ATN @ 12:37 PM
50 comments
Arkansas TV NEWS
We cover the TV News biz of Little Rock and the Ark-La-Tex(Shreveport,LA) AND Northwest Arkansas TOO!
Monday, June 18, 2012
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- Shreveport Reporter Leaving for the Big D
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50 Comments:
Oh great !! Meeeeeshell in HD....
Hallelujah! It's only taken six weeks so they must have completely gutted out that old raggedy studio. Does this include new equipment as well? Cameras, mics, switcher, ect.....
What a surprise, Nexstar last again.
Prepare for some big on air changes @12:42. Not sure about THAT one but others are brewing.
Really, do tell? Time for some contract renegotiations? Nick's hasn't been there a full year. Todd's not going anywhere. Both Brandon and Gavin have been there much longer then I expected. The morning anchor has turned into a revolving door. Weekends are VERY weak.
Who's in charge of programming at KTAL? I saw them run a paid program Sunday night during primetime.
Great... Just in time for everyone to start thinking about 4k... Not that local TV will EVER need 4k like the rest of the video production industry... But you have to have something to ridiculously hype up, don't you.
Are you serious? Did KTAL actually air a paid program in primetime? That's crazy.
Nothing surprises me about KTAL at all.
Yay! HD NEWS! Only a year or so late
KTAL is always way behind KSLA and KTBS in everything. So what all is going on 1:45? Are they cleaning house on air? Any of that ancient equipment being updated? Enquiring minds want to know.
Why shouldn't they air paid programming in primetime if someone is willing to pay enough? The Billy Graham organization used to buy primetime, and I've seen plenty of other times that time was bought in "primetime".
Nothing says classy operation like INFOMERCIALS in primetime, even if its during the dog days of Summer.
Stay Classy, KTAL! ;)
Has anyone been hired to replace Chris Tingle as General Sales Manager?
Speaking of hiring, where does KTAL advertise job openings? I don't see them anywhere on arklatexhomepage.com. Just occasionally on the Nexstar website.
KTAL couldn't get their act together and they won't begin HD newscasts until next week.
KTAL has been working on this HD newscast for six or seven weeks now and they are still not ready? That is so typical.
I'm not surprised. What day next week is KTAL planning to launch this new HD newscast and set?
Those parts from Radio Shack were on back-order.
Radio Shack? KTAL is really moving up. I thought they were scoring museums and old part suppliers for state of the art technology for 1972.
Anyone's guess is as good as mine as to when their HD news will begin. Even their own staff doesn't know.
One of their anchors said they are waiting on a part to arrive. Therefore, they could begin HD newscast anywhere from Monday to Friday.
NBC 6, Last in ratings. Last in HD.
For the love of God, KTAL. Fix your damn audio problems! Everyone is echoing like crazy
Hang on, its coming. The audio problem is not going to be fixed until we move to the new HD set.
LMAO @10:44! That's the most accurate branding the stations ever had.
Looks like we have another insider on the blog. Care to disclose an actual day to go HD? Not that your 24 viewers really care.
No 2:19, you just have to keep watching like everyone else. Not all the comments on this thread were posted by viewers. Most viewers have no idea this blog exists.
What a shocker...no one knows when they're going HD. I guess those radio shack parts are on back order.
Yep, just waiting for that back order and a Commodore 64 to come in.
Wow. Y'all really are stepping up.
Come on.. you know Nexstar is always leading the way. Leading the way in making cuts!
It looks like Nexstar prioritizes its stations pretty well.
KARK-hub, large set..redesigned logo
KTAL and KTVE-same set, same graphics, same logo design. But, KTAL gets the HD news while KTVE gets SD.
One station had to be the Hub, it made sense considering KARK has the largest facility. A facility paid for by Morris Communictions before Nexstar existed. Nexstar would have never put them in that nice building. The hub was created to save Nexstar tons of money. Just run master control out of one station and fire everyone else. You can tell they are focused on lots of stations because they constantly go to black, miss local commercials and join shows already in progress. You get what you pay for. KTAL is always going to black. Im sure it's the same way at the other stations as well. I've even seen a KARK promo on KTAL.
I think the last time KTAL ever led the way in local broadcasting was back in the 1960's when they moved their main studios from Texarkana to Shreveport. From what I've heard, KTAL built the 2nd tallest TV tower in the south back then and I think they were the first to broadcast in color thanks mostly in part to NBC's strong push to have all it's affiliates in color.
But after that, a sad long history of cost-cutting and operational incompetence ensued, letting the physical plant & technical plant deteriorate to the point that they almost lost the NBC affiliation over it. No matter though, patchwork fixes to appease (minimal) standards kept things going and as long as revenues kept up, nothing mattered. It's a shame given today's technological advances' that Nexstar can't seemlessly improve KTAL. It is just amazing that breaks are blown so much, traffic orders wrong, etc., etc., etc.; relying on make-good appeasement as opposed to focusing on quality in fixing problems before they happen. But it doesn't really matter I suppose. Too bad too, 'cuz KTAL has some opportunities to really become a player given their twin-metro focus.
The problem is they don't have support from Nexstar. It's all about lining the CEO's pockets, not actually being competitive.
I will hand it to Nexstar. They did buy a pretty decent graphics package for their stations. Plus, KTAL's new set isn't too shabby. I mean, the colors aren't what I'd like, but neither is KTBS nor KSLA's. I'll see what it looks like live before I give them too much credit.
Wow...so many haters out there. Must be a lot of people not happy at KTAL or you were let go by KTAL. You are right, it has taken a while but come on. Once KTAL goes HD with a new set, new cameras, new audio equipment and a new weather system there will still be a station still behind KTAL in Shreveport. KSLA still doesn't air commercials in HD. Of course, KTAL has lots of work to do, but progress is being made.
I agree with the last post. They are trying. Just not getting very far. I can't wait for that first HD newscast too see how good (or bad) it is.
KSLA doesn't do anything in HD except live shots. With no HD switcher, still no HD commercials, HD morning news weather cut-ins, no HD syndicated programming, or no HD pre-made news programming.
To 8:09 PM:
There might be some "haters" posting but there's also a lot of folks who are making pretty accurate & factual observations about KTAL and how Nexstar operate. I will agree however, KSLA doesn't quite cut the mustard when it comes to HD. KTBS on the other hand has the best HD signal from what I see and they've also improved on their tower-cams HD too!
I get annoyed when I see KSLA's signal jump from Wide-screen to 4:3 on some programs. Anyone know why that is?
It's all about an hd switcher. And they lack one. On top of all that, their is OTA signal is the weakest in the market besides KSHV. KMSS and Kpxj even have better signals.
Wow...thanks for the update on KSLA. Funny how they went from having the best technical standards to smoke & mirrors television. But then again, it's Raycom which is known industry-wide as much a tightwad as Nexstar.
I think KMSS got a better signal strength after their antennae coax got fried several years ago and they had to replace it, otherwise they'd probably be still running on fumes.
I can't wait to see KTAL's new set and other improvements. As a former employee I know first hand how outdated everything was. Most especially the equipment. It was a great day if nothing broke or crashed just before or during a newscast. I honestly never thought Nexstar would cut loose the money for all these improvements. With KTBS and KSLA being so dominate in the market I don't know if the new HD set and newscast will garner them any more viewers. If it does great, but KTAL does have a 50+ year history of having a bad product to over come. I guess we will see when the next book comes out.
I imagine all KTAL is hoping for is to best themselves ratings-wise. Let's hope all these technical improvements give viewers a better-looking and (hopefully) a better-sounding newscast and broadcast product. But for the life of me I still don't get the noon newscast "Arkansas Today". Talk about totally ignoring a huge chunk of your (potential) audience with focus on mostly Arkansas. It seems that it is in KTAL's corporate DNA to not think things through too well.
@ 11:10 To "best themselves ratings-wise" is to get more viewers. More viewers equal higher ratings. Higher ratings equal more revenue for corporate in Irving. The speculation is whether or not KTAL will gain more viewers with the new HD improvements since they have such a well established bad reputation.
KTAL did not ask for Arkansas Today. It was forced on them, and their sister station KTVE in Monroe which is also run out of KARK in Little Rock, as a free noon newscast that covers viewers in the entire state of Arkansas. Yes it's great for those viewers in Arkansas to know whats going on in you own state, but not for those of us in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas who are part of that coverage area could care less. I don't know how Arkansas Today is doing ratings wise. I have lots of relatives in Arkansas and none of them watch it. Here in the ArkLaTex KSLA's News at Noon is well established and is what most viewers are watching during that time slot.
Word is KTAL can't handle all of the HD equipment and the whole project is on the back burner until further notice. -TW
I think whomever was referring to KTAL's "corporate DNA" was probably referring to "Nexstar DNA". And all KTAL is really interested in is improving their ratings/share points. Nexstar isn't interested in making KTAL a "player" in the local mkt...they just want to bump their shares up a little more than where they've lanquished for so long.
Well it happened finally. Now if they can deal with the talent and cut that ticker I know I'd watch a little longer.
MeeShell in High Def, Oh Boyee! :(
MeeSHell should go back to doing Ivan Smith commercials so she can irritate their customers and not would-be KTAL viewers. I wonder if ratings drop when Nick takes a night off and she has to do the newscast solo?
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