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News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

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radioandtventhusiast
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News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:59 pm

Tomorrow, WGN America is launching a 3-hour newscast, News Nation. The show is promising no bias and all news compared to most cable news outlets running opinion programming in prime time.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business ... story.html

So much time and effort has been put into making the show, so it will be interesting to see if it brings more ratings to what is usually a middle-of the pack performing network.



Deleted User 4520

Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by Deleted User 4520 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:08 am

It wasn't too bad, tuned in last night.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Sep 02, 2020 2:24 pm

I tuned in after seeing an advertisement for it on Antenna TV earlier in the evening.

Had no idea it was the first night!

Air talent and production values seem decent; I watched for roughly 10 minutes. Did not come across as a half-assed effort to me, which is a good start.

That being said- are viewers really craving this type of programming during prime time, especially the heart of prime time? Seems to me mornings and late evenings would be better time slots.

While I was at it - I checked the programming guide for the rest of WGN America's weekday lineup. My goodness - what a shit sandwich of a schedule.



radioandtventhusiast
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Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:39 pm

I watched the first two hours of the newscast last night. I'm glad Nexstar is trying something different in the cable news landscape, especially when primetime is mostly opinion and pundits.

The newscast reminds me of the old Headline News format that HLN had for quite a few years before it went to the automated format and later moved to the disatrous 2001 format.

It's also interesting that there's a chief meteorologist as part of the air staff. Cable news channels often only talk about weather if there's a bad storm. The ironic thing last night was there was a tornado warning in Texas that was covered live on News Nation when the Weather Channel signed off live for the night.

I also liked that they showed headlines from Nexstar's large group of stations, bringing even more news than the more bigger news outlets.

I do agree air talent and production values are great and I like that Dean Reynolds is part of the staff, as I liked him on CBS.

As to the question of: are viewers really craving programming like this? The answer is I think this would be a great alternative for those who don't care opinion or the same few stories that most outlets fixate on. Every time I tune on any of the 3 big outlets, it's certainly likely it will be the same few stories with different opinions on each network.

I honestly think if this does well enough and brings a big audience, they could probably move this format full time with differenr anchors for different dayparts. I agree WGN's schedule is mostly a trainwreck and I'm sure most of their other programming could be picked up by different channels.

The one bad thing about this is starting in October, they're going to move the newscast to a paywall requiring a cable/satellite provider, which many other networks have done these past few years. With more people cutting the cord, this could be a big risk.



Deleted User 4520

Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by Deleted User 4520 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 4:43 pm

I may tune in tonight. I do like the idea of prime time news w/o the opinions and pundits. The news programming on major cable news networks I call "infotainment". It's just opinion and pundits. No pun intended here but I'd rather watch news that is not slanted one way or the other...



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MWmetalhead
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Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:14 pm

The Nexstar owned TV stations across the country are running promos for the WGN newscast. Saw two such advertisements during WOOD-TV's 12PM newscast today.



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Lester The Nightfly
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Re: News Nation launching on WGN America tomorrow

Post by Lester The Nightfly » Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:32 pm

They've been running the promos and quick chitty-chats with the local Nextstar talent in Portland as well, which make for a slightly uncomfortable exchange between NewsNation anchor Joe Donlon who's previous gig was long time anchor for local Tegna station, NBC affiliate KGW and the local and long hard fought competitor KOIN, the Nextstar CBS affiliate' anchors. A lot of "as you know" sprinkled in the conversations...



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