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As the new station on the block, NBC Boston tries daring new technique in storm coverage

By adamg on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:00pm

Channel 7's Steve Cooper was out trudging in the snow in Sandwich with his wind-gauging garbage bag and polychromatic goggles, and various other reporters stuck rulers in snow mounds and dusted snow off benches and talked to plow operators, but, well, ho hum, we've seen it all before. It took newcomer Perry Russom at NBC Boston, fresh off stints at stations in Binghamton and Providence, to show us there's still new tricks in snow coverage, specifically, a bowling ball:

Topics: 
Weather
Free tagging: 
Perry Russom
Snow
NBC Boston


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Comments

By dpalomares on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:20pm.

If you are going to measure snow with bowling balls, it needs to be candlepin bowling balls.

By Joe Kane on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:30pm.

The new Ch. 7 was showing infomercials until 8 AM today while the other stations were presenting news and weather.. If Ch. 7 wants to compete successfully with NBC Boston and the other local stations it should offer local news and weather when they do.

By cybah on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 8:50pm.

Weekends they are showing infomercials until 8am. Plus not a flake flew in the Boston area until around 10:30 so they were ok.

I think WHDH isn't trying to compete.. they are just trying to say afloat. Infomercials bring in alot of revenue to a non-network station.. alot more than snow coverage.

On a different note.. I kinda feel sorry for the anchors at WHDH.. working so long ass days to fill in the gaps where they have no network programming now.

By anon on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 9:57pm.

These guys, until this week, were reporters at a major-market network affiliate. Now, they're scrapping for an independent. They're not going to do cross-talk with Savannah and Matt or Lester.

By cybah on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 1:13am.

I feel like if Asnin can't make a go of this within six months, most of WHDH's news department will be laid off. News Departments are usually the first to go on independence stations who have financial issues, since they cost the station so much.

If you produce local content (i.e. news), it's expensive. Once you layoff all those people, you're left with a station programmer (who programs the automated system of stuff to transmit.. and probably only works one day a week). A technician who maintains and fixes the transmitter link, a few marketing people to sell ads, and a station manager. Good portion of a stations cost is for local content.

I just hope Asnin is able to attract some better syndicated programming or another network (i.e. MyTV or CW) to move to his channel. Otherwise WHDH's days are really numbered.

By dpalomares on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 12:16pm.

I take your point that unless he can pick up a MyTV or another network, he is in real trouble. There is allot of news now, but what about the summer months. He will need to re-think this "news all the time" stuff.

By bshep on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:32pm.

or is it just this particular evening, or is this station unwatchable? I just sat through about 20 minutes, and everyone- anchors, reporters, weatherpeople- was hesitating and tripping over their words. No one sounded sure of themselves or like they knew what was going on. And what's with the constant background noise and chatter in the studio while an anchor is speaking? Technical glitch, or a new trend? Either way, it made me anxious enough that I had to turn it off.

By Bowler on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:41pm.

It's not just you.

By bshep on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:41pm.

I'm referring to the one that is channel 7, not channel 10. So I guess the one that is not NBC Boston. Jeesh, there were so many ads explaining the change in such repetitive concrete terms that you'd think I would have sorted it out.

By cybah on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 8:57pm.

I thought you meant NBC Boston.. honestly I watched their first newscast @ Sunday Jan 1. And then I gave it another shot on Tuesday. Honestly they are horrible. The anchors.. I dunno, I just can't describe it. I was expecting more NECN like news.. but some how this just feels different. Either they don't have their format down, or the anchors are just wrong for the job or its a bunch of kinks.. I don't know.

I'd expect better news from a NBC O&O station considering how much fan fare there was about the switch. I'll try again in a few weeks to see if they got their kinks worked out but I have little hope. This should have been smooth from day one.

In a weird way, since the switch, I've watched more WHDH news lately. More because 7 News is on all the time, so at 8pm I can flick on some news and get caught up. Maybe Asnin was right about people's habits are changing...

By anon on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 7:41pm.

Just another example of how out of touch this station is. Don't they know this is candlepin country? Viva WHDH!

By anon on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 8:51pm.

Is anyone else not getting NBC Boston by antenna right now? I was able to get 60.5 earlier this week, but now nothing. Also nothing on 60.2 or 8.1, but that was the case before as well.

By cybah on Sat, 01/07/2017 - 9:57pm.

Works for me.. showing some football game.

By Iwuzzn'tthere on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 7:09am.

My zip code is 02467 and I have two TVs with two different antennae and I can't get that channel on either one.

By Marco on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 9:08am.

Tryin to watch football last night, nuthin. tried 10.1 and 8.1, even rescanned all the channels via the TV, still couldn't get it in Dorchester. Back to illegal streaming i suppose. Sucks after all the antenna hoopla and months of weak signals, now i just straight up don't get NBC anymore.

By cybah on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 10:03am.

Something's not right.. I'm further away than you (chelsea) and I got the signal fine every time I checked.

Did you look at 60.5? 10.1 doesn't exist (its the cable location of WBTS only). 8.1 only works if you're super close to that tower since its an LP station.

By anon on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 3:47pm.

I'm in Somerville and I no longer get anything on 60.5. Missed the football game last night. It was weak but watchable a few days ago.

By Ron Newman on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 4:22pm.

I still have an old analog TV and a digital-to-analog converter box, but that shouldn't matter.

By Neal on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 1:41am.

Is Shelby Scott holding the bag? Because if she is not, there's no reason to give a rat's ass.

By anon on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 1:48am.

or Bob's Furniture, or slip and fall Lawyer ad.

Poor newsreaders having to keep up the drivel all day long instead of simply informing people that its snowing outside and moving on. Steve Bouchard was today's Shelby Scott.

News production is cheap and profitable. Its cheaper than other programming and draws an audience checking in at any time, thus sells advertising.

CNN started it all with many competitors now. NECN does it on a local level, but now that they are NBC, have switched roles with WHDH, now on bottom.

Viewers lost too with 60.5 broadcasting in 720p instead of WHDH's 1080i HD.

By cybah on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 11:32am.

News production is cheap and profitable. Its cheaper than other programming and draws an audience checking in at any time, thus sells advertising.

No, The news operation is the most expensive part of a TV stations operation. Think staff and salaries. Takes alot more people to have a news department, than just to run a TV station. If it was cheap, every single indy station would have a fabulous news department. But in reality, any indy station that had one and starts to lose money.. the news department is the first to go.

(for reference.. if you're old enough. Many local indys had their own news departments initially.. 56, 38, and 60 all had news departments in the 80s. As they lost money, one by one all dumped their local news departments.)

60.5 being 780p is only temporary. NBC had to rush to get a signal up since so many people complained. WMFP's tower only supports ONE 1080i stream, which is currently being used for WMFP's 62.1 digital channel. They say within a few weeks, WBTS 60.5 will be 1080i.

By aldos on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 10:24am.

I think you're mistaken-- no TV stations broadcast in 1080p. The highest broadcast resolution is 1080i, which for many types of programming is not appreciably higher quality than 720p. IIRC WBZ and WFXT also broadcast in 720p.

By cybah on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 11:30am.

I couldn't remember if it was 1080i or 1080p.. I get those confused.

WBZ and WFTX are in 1080i. I was watching CBS Sunday Morning a earlier and it was in 1080i

By aldos on Mon, 01/09/2017 - 8:01am.

It's actually WCVB and WFXT that are 720p. It's generally a network-level decision which format gets used; see the table here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television_in_the_United_S...

You may also notice that a lot of the sports cable channels are 720p; I suspect this is due to the thinking that progressive scan is better than interpolated scan for video where there's a lot of movement.

By Scumquistador on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 11:37am.

even those uncompressed OTA broadcasts arent 1080p?

By Ron Newman on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 12:39pm.

That is more meaningful to me than "720" or "1080".

By cybah on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 5:44pm.

You should pay attention to 720p and 1080i or 1080p. Its more accurate to how the video is being displayed (resolution). 4x3 or 16x9 really doesn't matter very much, as you can have a 16x9 480i stream... it would just be 'letterboxed' to fit the screen.

4x3 is typically is 480i
16x9 is typically the rest.

However, not to say you won't see a 4x9 on 720p or 1080i .. its just rare, and like 16x9 on 480i, 4x3 on 720 or 1080 would just be revere letter boxed (meaning the black boxes are on the sides, not the top or bottom).

And to further complicate things.. I'm refuse to talk about "zoom", as many stations who display 480i videos on 720/1080i will often "zoom" or "stretch" the video to fit (so no black boxes). Which can complicate things. This is why its best to refer to them as 480i, 720p, or 1080i or p instead of 4x3 or 16x9

By Bunny on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 6:46am.

When every other broadcast channel was on sports in the midday at the height of the storm, WHDH was on storm coverage. I'm in the business (but don't have cable at home, because I'm cheeeep) and to me, that was problem meeting opportunity. I thought WHDH did a great job, providing service and coverage when no other broadcast TV outlet did, for the the first major storm of the season.

No, I do not work for them.

I think their owner is a idiot.