WBZ "CBS 4" logo finally taking place on-air

[Blackroc]

  The set looks fine. However...like WJAR's new deal  that color blue makes me a little ill or something I don't know?  You can only look at so much of it.

[sonicdoommario]

I think the set is great for the most part, but the one part I can't stand is how the weather is presented. The meteorologist stands in front of a TV and the weather graphics do not take up your entire TV screen, like 95% of the TV stations around the country.

[PaulRAnderson]

One advantage of presenting the weather in front of a screen is that they no longer have to use chroma key where the weather person has to stand in front of a blank green screen and guess where they're pointing.  Todd Gutner was excited on his WBZ radio segment yesterday because he can now wear a green tie on camera!

I think the new set looks very, very good.  The new news graphics and news intro look sharp too.

Paul

[iyiyi]

WBZ stopped referring to itself as "4" anything several years ago.  I'd always figured if they ever went back to channel numbers they'd use  WBZ 30 to tie in with WBZ 1030.

Oy...not this again 

WBZ-TV is not "channel 30." Yes, it transmits to over-the-air viewers on 566-572 MHz, the bandwidth that was analog channel 30...but it is known to nobody (except a handful of pedantic folks on these boards) as "channel 30." I would guess that somewhere in the neighborhood of 90-95% of WBZ's viewers still punch in "4" or some variation thereof ("4.1" for OTA DT, 804 for HD on Comcast, etc.), while nobody - and I mean nobody - punches in "30" to see WBZ. Why use that as a brand?

Just received my Tower Site 2012 calendar -- best one yet!

Many people become confused with the real/virtual "channel" designations.  WBZ-DT currently transmits within the band of frequencies 566-572 MHz as you stated.  The FCC designates that particular band of frequencies as "TV Channel 30", regardless of modulation scheme.

Certainly the majority of cable customers tune WBZ-DT with some variation of a "4" punch.  Around here channels 21 (36v), 22 (28v) and 12 (64v) appear on cable as 8 and 508, 9 and 509, 11 and 511 respectively.  So, if you were waltzing around on your roof with a Yagi trying to get a peep or mutter from WBZ-DT on your new tv, would you tune channel 30 directly or rather wait as the tv keeps rescanning the available channels trying to find the one hiding the "4"?  Every single time you move the antenna?

I actually do punch 30.6 for WBZ-DT.  The box tunes 35 (30v) in Hartford otherwise.  The box DOES tune WBZ-DT if I punch 4.

Everybody knows WBZ 1030.  WBZ-DT is the perfect adjunct  as they share the same committment to community, credibility and class that make them so important to New England.  Probably 5 years ago WBZ stopped using the channel 4 identity.  They quietly moved into the 21st century with a great deal of class and established themselves as "WBZ" and "CBS", opposed to "channel something!" glitz.  "Channel 4" became the symbol of the "old", analog, snowy picture, 4x3 aspect ratio, ghosts, 330 line resolution...

WBZ-DT is new, dot com friendly, HD, 16x9 aspect ratio, 1080i, mobile phone friendly... Channel 7 will smoke them for numbers and Channel 5 ain't gonna budge easily.  Why resurrect an anachronism (channel 4) to represent them?  They've accomplished such a superb transition into the new millennium with class and excellent local television instead of gimmicks.  WBZ 1030.  WBZ DT30.  Something seems to fit well here.  All these new features never  belonged to 4.  They belong to 30.

To me: WBZ-DT made it without using numbers as a crutch.  They jumped in as WBZ.  They have decided to use numbers again as id.  One number represents yesterday.  One number represents tomorrow.  Choose.


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[Garrett]

The CBS 4 logo is EXACTLY the same one that was used, before the "W|B|Z is Back" campaign, that was launched two years ago. It is essentially a return to the previous on-air image, except that they are once again, "WBZ-4," and that is very refreshing. What they have done is to combine the CBS mandate logo with the WBZ letters, similar to what is being done in other markets. I wonder if that was part of a plan long ago, to re-establish the WBZ name and then bring back the rest of the logo.

If only they could now alter the logo with the Group W font 4 and letters? Now THAT would be something. But I do like the clean simple lines of the current logo.