New KATU graphics package?Submitted by drchaps on Thu, 08/30/2007 - 12:27pm.
While perusing some of the pictures from Rich Sipe over at Portland Metblogs from the Blogger evening, I came across this eerie picture for Sports Extra on Katu.
Above is the picture... if you look at the bottom right you will see a new KATU represented by a flag shaped red background over the "2" with a white KATU at the bottom. The graphics are something I have never seen before on the station. Is a backdrop change and a total graphics dump on the way? Discuss. ( topics: KATU-TV )
I noticed that different logo too. I have a feeling that maybe they won't, unless they have money to burn. As noted on my own blog, Fisher has gone through a corporate-wide brand look synchronization. That couldn't have been too cheap, unless they did it in house Actually, Im wondering what KATU's identity will look like after the swtich-off of analog broadcasts–they won't actually be on UHF Channel 2 anymore. Sam Klein [edited for URL.--L] Completely new graphics and music package is coming within the next couple of months. Also-- new HD set will be built within the next year. The new graphics will be red and blue and much more "animated" unlike what we have now. Don Pratt HATES our 1984 graphics. Excellent news unless the folks up in KOMOland dictate the look based off their red white and blue thing. I'm of the opinion that a graphics package should reflect local tastes and qualities. When it's forced by an outside owner, things tend to lose the local feel. Branding should stay similar (aka logo & base colors) but guidelines should stay flexible to better differentiate from other local stations. Frankly the KOMO package doesn't really do anything for me, it still looks like a modification of a modification of a decent graphics package from long ago. Fisher has creative people on staff in their various stations, why not let them stretch their creative muscle on a new look? I know 2 people who used to (and possibly still do) work at KATU who would do a good job on that, K and M (abbreviated for anonymity) you folks still kick rear. -Dyn ========== KATU's changing its branding altogether. We'll see the rollout soon. A source tells me? Gotta love Lynn's resourcefulness in noticing the logo change. That's some serious TV news nerdiness. Rock on, girl. Good eye. We at KATU are anxiously awaiting anything that replaces the cold flat boring crappy ice blue graphics package we currently have. It was someone else's good eye. :) I noticed at the studio that something seemed odd about that graphic but it honestly didn't register. ----- Hey, t'was me Mr. or Ms. Anonymous. No sources, just anally looking at photos. And I didn't even get invited to the event. Oh, and if you noticed despite the money spent on making all stations look the same they didn't very soon after the blue graphics were unleashed. KOMO and KBCI have that red line on the bottom of their graphics. KATU does not. Smaller stations don't even use the station logo in most of their reports like the bigger ones do as evident from KVAL and the small Roseburg station videos on the web. Personally I think if they can create a good package around that new logo we see in the bottom right it will be pretty nice, much nicer than what they have now. Plus, all of their graphics were built for standard tv, a 4:3 ratio (which if they knew this digital age was coming wasn't the brightest idea) from what I know. Since digital widescreen is bigger (16:9), they either will (a) spend more money to add the missing space or (b) scrap it and start over. It's going to cost roughly the same in the long run, so why not as new management put your own stamp on the product? On the HD studio front, it would be good to know if all stations need to retrofit this for HD purposes or if this is just good timing to usher in the digital frequencies. Lots of news sets I know of don't have a ton of spacing between the weather, sports and the anchor slots, so it would only make sense for them to get new sets with more space between seats. We could see some exciting changes in the coming months as we lose the analog signals. Oh... and right now the assigned station ID's are the way they are because analog and digital channels cannot overlap. Everyone should get their channels reassigned once the analog signal is turned off from what I know so really channel 2 will stay channel 2 and so on. Cheers "so really channel 2 will stay channel 2" Right now Channel 2 is the analog channel, obviously, and channel 43 is the digital. The neat thing about those digital receivers is that it does the reassigning for you. I'm sure they're going to stay on channel 43 even after the switch. The transmitters are tuned to a specific frequency and it's not as simple as changing the channel up there. All the transmission line, filters, combiners, etc are designed to work with those frequencies. They're in UHF land for the long haul. Oh, by the way, only 535 days, 16 hours and approximately 17 minutes until the analog shutoff occurs. ...but I'm hardly a soothsayer. Seriously, that's good news. I must admit, I was underwhelmed with the rebranding...in my heart of hearts I preferred the old one. And I had noticed that the smaller Fisher stations weren't married to the idea–and that KOMO had a slightly different treatment. I did notice that the red flag backing the '2', in retrospect, bore a certain resemblance to the red flag of the Fisher logo (and I must go on the record...I am a huge fan of the Fisher logo. I wish I'd of thought of it. It's also good to know that KATU will still be on Channel 2...KATU's Wikipedia entry states that KATU is one of the few stations in the country to retain its same call sign and channel assignment since its founding. That's a record to be proud of, I think. Samuel John Klein, a/k/a ZehnKatzen "It's also good to know that KATU will still be on Channel 2" It would probably be a lower electricity bill but it ain't gonna happen. Yeah it does do the reassigning, and that was my concern is that anyone with an OTA tuner will have to search for channels again come the analog shutoff. From an engineering standpoint it makes sense not to switch, but I've heard changing the digi equipment is easier and that at least one station will move their digital channel back to its assigned analog frequency after the analog shutoff. It wasn't Katu I heard this about but it made me think they'd go back to vhf after the fact. According to this FCC document (page 38): Channel assignments will be as follows: 8=8 YMMV SCJ [edited for long url.--L] Do the "civilians" out there really care about what the logos look like or if the color palette reflects the "local tastes and qualities"? Do the "civilians" out there really care about what the logos look like or if the color palette reflects the "local tastes and qualities"?
I do. I like it when a station's "look" is distinctive with a sense of local history. I regretted seeing the departure of the big old "2"...it had a funny look to it, a little "top heavy", but it was KATU's and it was there all the while I was growing up as a vid kid, and there was nothing else like it anywhere else. Any well-executed logo becomes a distinctive badge. A cleverly-styled TV identity could, I suppose, be a little hard to hit–how many ways can you stylize a numeral?–but if it works, it works well and for a very long time (my favorite version of KPTV's old logos lasted about 15 or 20 years (the one right up until they moved over to the east bank)) As far as the palette–it should show some awareness of its locality. It's an intangible that can form an ineffable bond between the viewer and the viewed. An example would be a cool color palette mostly-greens, blues, and such–with a dash of a warm color, something out of the sunset. This is just an offhanded (and probably hamhanded) example, but this range would relate the locality (the Willamette Valley famous for cool, lush water and growing things) and the region (the warm sunset representing the west). I'd call this a bit hamhanded because it is all a little obvious. That doesn't mean it won't work, but if I were doing an identity, I'd explore a few more options; as we learned in school, the reason you do thumbnails is because the first few things anyone things of is essentially cliche. That's not to say you can't come back to the cliche, if it works... It pops up on ABC programs when ABC sends a signal to insert local visual ID. Usually seen on the all night "World News Now", Jimmy Kimmel, and Good Morning America. Look for it in the lower right corner. I like KATUs new graphics, there current ones were ok too. I think they look like KPTVs, what with the sharp images. Pretty neat! ZOMG yes, I just about lost my stuff laughing at that. Actually, MS Paint can be used to create some pretty sophisticated drawings; there are a whole group of videos that demonstrate on YouTube you'll get it you stick "MSPaint" in the search box (and some of them are related to that very video you linked to). The catch is that since the toolset of Paint is so basic you have to render any cute picture effects by yourself, pixel-by-pixel. An art-form for the real detail-freak. I'm thinking of trying something myself. Fortunately there are "Paint-ish" programs for Mac (we don't have a running PC at the moment) Samuel John Klein, a/k/a ZehnKatzen for allowing their affiliates to be creative with their logos and graphics. Remember about five years ago, every Fisher TV station had the same blue/white boring logo. Atleast now they are allowing for some local creative freedom, (good), however I'm sure it still must past muster with the execs in Seattle. We have four major networks in this market. KATU-ABC (2) -Steve Dunn KOIN-CBS (6) -Kelly Day KGW-NBC (8) -Tie between Joe Donlon and Nancy Francis KPTV-FOX (12) -Kevin Coari, reporting I can see this devolving rapidly into a "he/she's hot" or "A is better than B" discussion. How about this for a topic instead: 'Chocolate Mousse is neither Chocolate, nor Mousse.' Discuss amongst yourselves. ;-) We have four major networks in this market.
For reporters and anchors at each local station I find these to be the most talented. Your returning feedback and comments will keep this fun. KATU-ABC (2) -Steve Dunn KOIN-CBS (6) -Kelly Day KGW-NBC (8) -Tie between Joe Donlon and Nancy Francis KPTV-FOX (12) -Kevin Coari, reporting Steve Dunn and Kelly Day? How does KGW keep such a talented journalist as Nancy Francis on weekends only and reporting during the week. Wasn't she the main female anchor at one time? I haven't lived in the PDX market for a while, but I used to summer on the Oregon Coast and loved watching Nancy on KGW and Shirley Hancock and Mike Donahue on KOIN. I'm surprised that Nancy hasn't been offered a main anchor position at KOIN or KATU, she is terrific. She is an asset for them. Rarely do weekend anchors stay consistently in the same position for so long. Great for viewers and the station because they know what to expect. I'm sure if she asked for an evening spot M-F they'd make it for her. --Loving Portland News-- Their job is to look directly into a live camera, read scripts without stumbling, have a pleasant voice and delivery, be engaging and energetic but not over-the-top, look good and have credibility and gravitas without coming off as arrogant. I have done it and it is not easy or "mindless." Have you? I agree with the original poster. Dunn and Day are fine anchors. So many times have I heard people say, "Geez that's not that hard, all your doing is looking good and reading into the camera." I will admit to thinking the same thing before I started the business, but it is way more difficult than people think. Even in the cushiest situations do challenges come up. What about when a teleprompter goes out, or breaking news rushes in (where the producer is just feeding you in info, not on script). It's harder than people think. For people who have worked in small markets where its a one-man show can agree that responsibilities are endless. KIDK (a Fisher sister station in eastern Idaho) is using a bold red and blue presentation and the cheesy, dated 'eyewitness news' slogan like their Boise sister. I assume maybe KATU will be last so the formula can be most tested in the other places first? Post new comment |
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I don't think I like the flag-like red background with the "2" in white. But in the first pic, I like the red. And I don't know if any of you have noticed from my few other blog entries, but I tend to be a KATU enthusiast. So, keep me posted.