Tag Archives: WSVN

WHDH Getting a bit “Hot” (as in Hothaus) in the Graphical Sense?

I was watching WHDH-TV a couple weekends ago and the stingers that came across my screen reminded me of my influence

If it wasn’t just one instance, it was another…

The Boston’s 7 News creatives are in house, so I suspect it was local.  Basically if you can’t really tell, it’s heavy on wipes and keying into the next source of video.

The other thing that separates WHDH and sister station WSVN in Miami, for many years had focused on 3D CGI effects, to the point where it’s basically hit it’s peak, while WHDH over the same amount of time (late 1990s to present) focused on heavy computer-designed graphics with lots of effects (wipes, warping, etc.) Both stations share some of the graphical assets (like Watching Wall Street), but WHDH has been pretty much tame in terms of avoiding excessive in-your-face, that has still been the bread and butter of WSVN.

Also I think the people at WHDH seem to have a better grasp of the overall graphics. Both stations use VizRT (a database, graphical system) that requires both sides of the brain to execute decent graphics… WSVN has fell very short since they switch to Viz in the mid 10s. For gawd sakes alive, they still have “4:3 safe zones”, even if both stations are outputting widescreen.

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TV News (WSVN) – “Crime Beat” – 1989

In 1989, WSVN in Miami produced a series called TV News following the journalists at Channel 7 News down there. It’s unclear if this program was seen nationally, or had been syndicated as a mini series.

This episode featured once Miami and cable news legend Rick Sanchez going really aggressive to people being arrested by “Metro-Dade Police” and the subject is bit kinky. A few years later, the county was renamed “Miami-Dade”.

The featured snap caught my attention, on the Betacam’s shutter speed, it’s unusual for lights to look that psychedelic; most of the shots were done in low light conditions.

I also wonder why WSVN was using a lot of film for promos. In the open to TV News, you see a lot of 8mm type of shots, that I assume was captured through some monitor, because the same shots were “filmed” were also recorded on video, because another episode on this same YouTuber features the videography. Those same 8mm shots I am referring to were also used in promos around that same time in 1989 to 1990.

I have a Facebook-friend who once worked at WSVN… perhaps I could get an answer to that oddity.