WXYZ branding

[MrTaterSalad]

I strongly dislike how "7 ABC" sounds. Completely unnatural.

"Channel 7" and plain old "7" sounds just fine to me. Get rid of the miliquetoast anchors behind the desk (reassign them to other roles), devote a lot of resources to hard news & investigative reporting, hire Charlie Le Duff and Murray Feldman, and upgrade the news set to something befitting of a top 20 market, and I think the ratings would improve.

I will say the 10PM newscast on channel 20 is a lot more watchable than it was a couple years ago. I think the News Director responsible for the stupid gimmickry at the outset (Rob Parker's barber shop sports, anyone?) is long gone.

Give me Scott Lewis, ML Elrick and the return of Bill Spencer and Hizz Honors biggest pain in the ass Steve Wilson and I would be sold. It's amazing to think of the great investigative journalism Channel 7 had just a decade ago when they took down Kwame and the ring of corruption in Detroit to what they have now. 7 really knocked it out of the park for a number of years while 2 and 4 were behind the curb on scandal after scandal in the Kilpatrick Administration. Now, their investigative journalism is in shambles.

[Deleted User 7620]

I strongly dislike how "7 ABC" sounds. Completely unnatural.

"Channel 7" and plain old "7" sounds just fine to me. Get rid of the miliquetoast anchors behind the desk (reassign them to other roles), devote a lot of resources to hard news & investigative reporting, hire Charlie Le Duff and Murray Feldman, and upgrade the news set to something befitting of a top 20 market, and I think the ratings would improve.

I will say the 10PM newscast on channel 20 is a lot more watchable than it was a couple years ago. I think the News Director responsible for the stupid gimmickry at the outset (Rob Parker's barber shop sports, anyone?) is long gone.

Give me Scott Lewis, ML Elrick and the return of Bill Spencer and Hizz Honors biggest pain in the ass Steve Wilson and I would be sold. It's amazing to think of the great investigative journalism Channel 7 had just a decade ago when they took down Kwame and the ring of corruption in Detroit to what they have now. 7 really knocked it out of the park for a number of years while 2 and 4 were behind the curb on scandal after scandal in the Kilpatrick Administration. Now, their investigative journalism is in shambles.

Investigation in Detroit TV is down overall.

[RingtailedFox]

if you love that news team from about 20 years back, you'd absolutely LOVE "Michigan's First News Team" of Doris Biscoe, Al Ackerman, Bill Bonds, Jerry Hodak, and Diana Lewis... THAT was Channel 7's "dream team" in the early 1970s to the early 1990s. I think Steve Garagiola (now at Local 4) actually got his start at Channel 7 around 1983 too...

Do you want hard-hitting news? How about a semi-drunk Bill Bonds challenging Mayor Coleman Young to a fight LIVE ON THE AIR over who cared more about Detroit... you can't make this shit up... I know Will Farell said he was inspired to make "Anchorman" from watching Mort Crim (when he was at KYW 3 in Philly, before he came to Local 4 here in Detroit)... but Bonds was the real-life Anchorman.

[Rate This]

if you love that news team from about 20 years back, you'd absolutely LOVE "Michigan's First News Team" of Doris Biscoe, Al Ackerman, Bill Bonds, Jerry Hodak, and Diana Lewis... THAT was Channel 7's "dream team" in the early 1970s to the early 1990s. I think Steve Garagiola (now at Local 4) actually got his start at Channel 7 around 1983 too...

Do you want hard-hitting news? How about a semi-drunk Bill Bonds challenging Mayor Coleman Young to a fight LIVE ON THE AIR over who cared more about Detroit... you can't make this shit up... I know Will Farell said he was inspired to make "Anchorman" from watching Mort Crim (when he was at KYW 3 in Philly, before he came to Local 4 here in Detroit)... but Bonds was the real-life Anchorman.

It would be great to see some footage of that...

[RingtailedFox]

Oh that's on youtube. Lemme find it...

Scroll to 14:00 in. it's in the retrospective special WXYZ ran the week after his death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQgRAIJPEY

That July 14, 1989 broadcast was absolutely insane.

There was also this very combative interview with Utah Senator Orrin Hatch from 1991:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40pbdXCeZe4

[Rate This]

Oh that's on youtube. Lemme find it...

Scroll to 14:00 in. it's in the retrospective special WXYZ ran the week after his death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQgRAIJPEY

That July 14, 1989 broadcast was absolutely insane.

There was also this very combative interview with Utah Senator Orrin Hatch from 1991:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40pbdXCeZe4

Thanks! I laughed hard at the Hatch interview...