First Coast News: Behind the Scenes on a new Set

[Jaxson]

I remember when the WTLV news helipcopter crashed back in the 1980s.  If my memory serves me correctly, the crash happened on the Southside, right?  I remember watching the news footage of their last moments; it was very jarring.  It seemed that the local stations were snakebit after that.

[coredumped]

I have to say, looking at action news (ch30) doesn't look like it's HD. It looks like they just zoomed in to get 16:9, the quality looks pretty low.

[reednavy]

All of the stations may have HD sets and newscasts, but part of it still isn't. None of them seem to have HD camera crews out in the field. That needs to be changed, quickly.

[coredumped]

Agreed reed. You can really tell on CH4 that the cameras out in the field aren't HD but zoom-o-vision. Does action news look HD at all (even the anchors in the studio?) or just zoomed?

[reednavy]

They look HD, at least better than last week on Dish Network.

There are different levels of HD, so the stations here may be lower. Now, FCN appears to have the better studio quality.

However, to me, it is all fluff until we get helicopters in the air from these stations doing regualr reporting.

[Dan B]

Im not sure I understand how a helicopter improves the quality of a newscast?

All local stations have access to the DOTs 30+ cameras, which cover almost the entire highway grid, and Im not sure a helicopter is needed to tell you JTB is jammed up at 530. It just is.

I think 20 years ago it may have helped, but now traffic reporting technology is such that even google has a traffic product. And lets be honest, we dont wan to end up like LA, with wall to wall coverage of high speed chases.

BTW, the WTLV copter crashed, killing the pilot and reporter on board. The photographer survived, only to die in another helicopter crash in Miami some years later.

[reednavy]

Helicopters are mainly used now as a way to get to a local breaking story faster than competitors and to give it a different angle and/or perspective. They also get to locations of news where it is sometimes impossible to get closer to or are farther away from the city and aren't fast to get to on roads. When I go and visit back in Nashville, the biggest station, WTVF, uses it's chopper frequently and I like it.

In L.A., that is just part of the news competition out there, but am not a fan of them being covered, at all, see what happened in Phoenix in 2007.

[I-10east]

Im not sure I understand how a helicopter improves the quality of a newscast?

All local stations have access to the DOTs 30+ cameras, which cover almost the entire highway grid, and Im not sure a helicopter is needed to tell you JTB is jammed up at 530. It just is.

I guess that we are in the minority. IMO the risks (costs, dangers etc.) outweigh the reward concerning news choppers esp. in a mid size city. People seem to be getting caught up with the "keepin' up with the Joneses'" a lil' to much. We aren't a city in a third world country just because we dont have a news chopper. 

[finehoe]

We aren't a city in a third world country just because we dont have a news chopper. 

Yeah, it's our political leadership who put us in that category. 

[reednavy]

I-10, about the only risk is a crash.

Coverage of the big story first equals bigger ratings, which equals more money for the station.

Where in the world did anyone make a reference that is remotely close to calling Jax a 3rd-world city? I'm calling out the fact many other markets our size have helicopters to help in news coverage, which I enjoy. It is a different perspective than a story from the ground, and you can get to a big story faster, which is basically referenced above.

[I-10east]

^^^IMO choppers are effective in metros that have heavy traffic like LA, where crews can't get on the scene in time because of gridlock. Here in Jax, crews seem to arrive on scene fast enough via newsvan.

I was being sarcastic when I said "3rd world city" because people seem to act like we are so behind in times because we don't have a chopper. 

[videojon]

Ch 12 used to have (or rent) a helicopter in the late 90's because Dan Hicken would chopper in to the high school football games and throw a few rubber footballs and tshirts to the crowd and then chopper off to the next game

That was WJXX ch. 25 (before they combined with FCN)

[copperfiend]

Dan Hicken never worked for ABC25 pre-merger. Maybe he was thinking of Ric "The Hair" Renner.

[Lunican]

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-feb-first-coast-news-behind-the-scenes-on-a-new-set

[videojon]

Dan Hicken never worked for ABC25 pre-merger. Maybe he was thinking of Ric "The Hair" Renner.

That's what I'm thinking