NEWS from KDKA: March, 2004: It's sweeps, and KDKA and WTAE sem to be having a heated battle for the Noon, 5/6 and 11PM spots. KD has traditionally won at Noon, because of the Price is Right, but WTAE has caught up considerably with their happier midday reports. WPXI still holds strong at Noon, but Action News is a very close second. KDKA remains third, as does the KDKA Morning Show in it's tough 9:00 slot. KDKA recently updated their desks with plasma screens over the old Anklepants <b>2KDKA-TV</b> logos. November 11, 2003: Happy 25th Anniversary to Patrice King Brown! No new real news from KDKA.We're all knad hoping that a new graphics package is going to debut soon. Especially if it were based on the orange-blue promo package they're using. Maybe I can get some captures to show you what I mean. Slightly updated weather graphics are raising some questions. They feature a new red line seperating the "AccuWeather" logo from the rest of the graphic, and a yellow strip down the right side. Aside from that, they're the same. The crap new music has been popping up all over lately- Promos, opens, talents, and even on one tease I heard a week ago. The tease was actually nice- it makes agood underscore. But the opens and talents, and especially the promos... well, they need a more driving theme. One happy note: The deep, reflective promo theme for the "Coming Up on KDKA-TV News at __" is still being used. (That should be used for the talent. I swear, if KDKA would let me work Creative over there...) MY BIG RANT: Warning: Conservatives Beware. October 31, 2003: Suprise, suprise. Any hopes that KDKA would resurface as a distinguished journalism enterprise are now dashed. In a report recently aired on KDKA, KD Investigator Marty Griffin "uncovered" male on male sex acts performed publicly in North Park. OK- First, it happens in K-Mart, it happens in the Strip. Straight or gay. So what's news about it? Secondly, throughout the whole report, there were "more-than subtle" anti-gay sentiments that were, while unspoken, still communicated. One police officer suggested to Griffin to "use a tablecloth" if attending a picnic at one of the park's shelters. One woman preached that she wouldn't return to the park with her kids- or at all. Great for you! What about K-Mart? Are you going to shelter your kids from that when picking up your Dove soap and a gallon of milk? You can't expect to. Bottom line- some things are better left off of TV. While the KD investigators seem to say "Hide your families!" they're simultaneously requiring us to explain to our children what male-on-male sex is. All for ratings! What happened to Pittsburgh's first-class news operation? Viacom. A shame, really. I don't think homosexuality is wrong. I agree that sex shouldn't be public. But I think KDKA targeted the gay population for this report in order to shock and draw in a conservative, homophobic audience. And trust me, I have emailed KDKA and Viacom out the butt. No response. And as for my TV- It'll stay firmly planted on WTAE, one Pittsburgh station that has always had a strong, reputable image. Shame on you, Al Blinke. And, as for Griffin and Martino- I'm suprised you weren't shot at. Even if you were, were you not leading these men on? You've destroyed one family already. how far does it have to go? September 8, 2003: With all the CBS/Viacom O&O's changing their brand, I am expecting the same of KDKA. I wouldn't be suprised if they do drop their calls. Viacom isn't known for individuality. Look for UPN19 to become UPN Pittsburgh. Other news from KDKA- Susan Barnett will leave later this week for her new job (and her fiancee.) Susan will join the weekend team at WFOR in Miami, our friends a Florida's News Center confirmes. (www.flnewscenter.com) Jennifer Antkowiak will anchor the newly-developed "The Morning Show"; which has it's own set, possibly it's own set of graphics. Jen will no longer appear on the 10:00 news on WNPA or live on the late new- she'll remain in place at 5PM. Locke Robert's 6-month contract was not renewed; he was hired on the condition that when Rebecca Howard returned to the air after her pregnancy, he's be let go. Jon Burnette will be replaces in the AM by Hower, and he'll move to weekends. I myself am expecting a total on-air rebrand as I have made clear, and I expect the same to come to WNPA. Maybe we'll see a return of it's old graphics and theme set. Remember, their 10:00/KD-PG set is modular- Can be changed at a whim. They still have the inserts for the UPN-19 news. August 18, 2003: Still waiting on a full-fledged revamp of the KDKA brand. I'm not even sure it will happen, but it needs too. WBZ-TV in Boston has scheduled a change for September 1st... So we'll see what (if anything) happens to KDKA then. Although we definately know no one's working on a new set. I do expect them to change soon though- Look at how the graphics seem to be a combo of old logo and new... and I am sad to see the old Group-W look go. July 24, 2003: Congrats to reported Mary Berecky, who tearfully pleaded with an Allegheny County judge to ensure her attacked was placed behing bard. She told of how she could hear the hair being ripped from her head, stopping and thinking tht this sadistic man actually enjoyed her screams and his power over her. The most powerful of all: "I do not believe he can be rehabilitated." In the words of the judge, such preditors are animals, and "deserve to be in cages." John Bolam, the attacker, received 50-120 years in jail, part of which was for attempted murder; and having been convicted of rape and abuse prior to this attack, fell under Pennsylvania's Three-Strikes law. We wish Mary all the best in her physical and emotional recovery.[From KDKA: The story... http://kdka.com/local/local_story_204153552.html] July 24, 2003: Image update: KDKA changed their on-air logo about 3 weeks ago, and updated the opens with a circular video of their newsvan side-to-front resolve which is then covered by a fly-in CBS logo, which "bounces" onto the mail logo. Interesting, but cheap. The talent starts the same way, but now the talent shots are shown through the "empty space" on the interior space in the CBS eye logo. The logo slides back and forth to switch talent. Neat effect, but again, it's a good effect that just doesn't fit with the overall image. Remember; they haven't updates the main graphics; so they just plastered new on old. Yick. The entire new logo looks as if it was designed to be able to drop the "KDKA"... Leaving us with yet another CBS2. Jun 14, 2003. It's official, the KDKA we all know and love is now "KDKA CBS-2". As with all the VLN stations, the Anklepants font is gone. They've got the logo above, and one where the CBS eye is silver and the 2 is gold. (The latter being my preference.) Very bad move. Prediction: This fall, a whole new image based on some of the "blue" graphics from their sight: Translucent CBS logo, no more purple-pink stuff. I expect them to drop the Soundbyte theme, stop identifying themselfes as "KDKA-TV News", and a host of other changes. Nov. 01 2002: It's the beginning of November Sweeps, and KDKA has done absolutely nothing, save for sticking Morning and Noon anchor Susan Barnett at the 5PM Anchor desk with Ken Rice as the more seasoned Jennifer Antkowiak recovers from the birth of her fourth child. October 03, 2002: As KDKA's newest brainchild, the Four PM News, replaces Rosie, KDKA replaces the 5PM Anchor desk. At 4PM, the news is anchored on the main set by senior anchors Patrice King Brown and Stacy Smith, then it's bumped over to a smaller, darker set for the 5 PM edition, read by Jennifer Antkoviak and Ken Rice. At Six, it's back to Patrice and Stacy. Another side effect of the addes 4PM newscast, sports are cut down to a minimum of 3 minutes, spanning troughout the 3-hr. block. Ususally, the sports are done at the end of the 6PM broadcast. February Sweeps, 2002: In one of the biggest changes since the inception of the Hometown Advantage brand, KDKA changed it's graphics, set, moved anchors and reporters around, and totally improved the newscast. Graphics changes included the use of brighter reds, blues and whites, more animations, and backgrounds, teases, OTS and full-screen images, as well as an update to their music package. Graphics are still from CineMagic, Set from Park Place, and Music from Soundbyte, Inc.