Who has the best news set? News music?

[lancer808]

Which local television station has the best news set? Which station needs a major redesign and/or "refresh" their set? Also, which station has the best graphics package and news music?

Both KITV-4 and KHNL-8 had acquired news music packages from Gari Communications Inc., a prominent Los Angeles media company that has created music packages for many radio & television stations throughout the country. Just like many of it's Hearst-Argyle sister stations on the mainland, KITV-4 uses Gari's "The B Package". KHNL-8 uses the "NBC - News Now" package, which incorporates the NBC signature chimes sound effect.

I'm not sure where KGMB-9 obtained their news music. I have heard that KHON-2 produced their own news music and graphics.

[pzarquon]

Re: Who has the best news set? News music?

I knew NBC's theme was part of a package, but I didn't know KITV's was as well.

A news junkie friend of mine, when sufficiently lubricated, would have much fun singing the themes to the various local news broadcasts. I can't remember KGMB's news theme anymore, but they've got "One of the Good Things About Hawaii" for their overall station branding, which - lethargic though it might be - is pretty darn distinctive.

KHON's previous theme, the 'fanfare' one, was pretty much the most fun. I don't really like their new 'techno drum' version, with the digital-slick intro effects. Do they still use the slack key signoff... at least on weekends?

Obviously the target now is to get to the news quickly. I think KITV was the first to kick off immediately with the news, then cue the brief theme/graphic after the lead story was read. Gone are the days of KHON's old, melodramatic, thoroughly overproduced opening montage...

As for sets, I can only really recall the KITV setup clearly in my mind, which could be a good or bad thing. (That and KHNL's color scheme, which has always been just a bit too Crayola.) The question is, how much do you want people to notice your news set, and how much do you want the anchors and the story to be the main attraction?

One trend in news sets that always amused me was the insistence of having visible, "candid" office or technical space in the background. Sure, you might get the appearance of a bustling, busy newsroom, with people moving around and answering phones or working at computers... but more often than not, the only time you really notice that "backset" is when someone trips, or scratches themselves inappropriately, or wanders in frame then suddenly scampers off in embarassment.

[Ty Lee]

Re: Who has the best news set? News music?

I don't know much about the background sets for newsrooms, but I do know that the music library for most of the major networks are generic. I have actually heard the same thems in differnt parts of the USA.

I do like the local flavored music for closing news programs, but the tense drama themes are a very important part of the hype in a story. Sonic hook.......

Ty Lee

[dick]

Re: Who has the best news set? News music?

I'm sitting here after having watched all four newscasts at 10, and am trying to recall what the sets were like. I find myself having a hard time.

Here's what I have in my head (and they could be way off):

KHON - Joe Moore sitting in front of a fake Honolulu City Lights backdrop.
KITV - Paula Akana sitting in front of perhaps a bank of some token greyscale TeeVee monitors flickering moodily.
KGMB - Kim Gennaula sitting on a drab set with some plants or something
KHNL - Some female anchor whose name escapes me and Howard Dashefsky sitting on some semi-futuristic affair, darker in color scheme, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Not sure what that all means, but I guess I don't notice too much about the set, although perhaps subconsiously it makes some sort of difference.

On a side note, I've been to a few news sets, and I always found it kinda cool how fake everything was in 'real life.' It looks a lot better on the tube.