Thank you! I’ve waited decades to see this! I visited KIRO a year or two later as a journalism student and the newsroom still looked like this, with desks on several levels. Unaware of the whole News Outside the Box experiment, staff members explained it with great disdain. Seems like someone told me that tapes of the experiment were supposed to be destroyed. Very glad to finally see it.
A former colleague of mine had gone to work at KIRO during that time, and he gave me a tour of the new set while still in the construction phase. Neither he, nor any of the others I talked with that day could truly explain what "out of the box" would look like once they actually hit the air with it. It was just a very fluid concept that they would nail down through trial and error. The newsroom people I spoke with (none of them in management) were very nervous about the change. Listen to VP Andy Ludlum (a longtime radio news person) in this clip. Even he doesn't sound convinced. And the fact that they are live on the air explaining their concept and asking for feedback shows what a risk they were taking. I was told that longtime news anchor Gary Justice, seen off the top of this clip, was extremely frustrated during rehearsals. And I think this "out of the box" concept hastened his departure and led to Steve Raible taking over as a main anchor along with Susan Hutchinson. I feel like they tried to do too much all at once. If they had layered it on over a year or two, they might have gotten some traction. But in the end it was a very, very expensive boondoggle, and I think it proved (as it has been proven many times) that people want their news to be delivered-not performed.
The Seattle Symphony performing a news theme package for KIRO CBS 7. Local musicians performing and recording news theme packages for local stations...that's something you don't experience every day. I loved that it had that vibe of the 1991-2006 theme song to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (Patterson, Walz, and Fox). Although the closing theme could've had a smooth, beautiful flourishing finish (like the Dan Rather theme), instead of that very end that belongs in a ballet.
This is the most bizzare example of 1990s local television i've ever seen. The idea of combining their television and radio news departments, it of itself, is not a bad idea, it just so happens that it was executed way too well for audiences to even comprehend. It was such a drastic change to the way local news was, and it was way ahead of its time. This format could've survived in today's news media. probably because of the influence the internet and social media could've had on the Kiro News Network. With that being said, the branding is too pretentious and unrecognizable; an upside down triangle comprising of three trapezoids is just too gaudy. A simple redesign or tweak to make the "7" stand out would've helped. Overall, this format was doomed to fail. Also, you know they tried to integrate their television and radio departments so well when they use the term "KIRO NewsTime" ON TELEVISION. Well, that's a first.
This was a very new format for the station. An interesting aspect of this video is at 13:21 - The VP/News for KIRO doing a promo explaining News Out Of The Box and asking viewers to "tell me what you think."
The studio camera pedestals are actually robotic. Those robots are the TSM AutoCam (that was all the rage for many studios Radamec and Vinten also was in the market and ironically all 3 companies are now part of Vinten today), from what I can tell they have manual control on the panning and tilting. I think the pedestals had to be connected to it's controller to truck the pedestal. It's hard to tell in the shots if the operator was using a tiny joystick to move the pedestal in some of the sweeping shots or if there was literally a manual-only dial. The modern equivalent is the CamBot, that is robotic and is intended to be controlled by automation on a robocam op. Regarding the whole setup. This was a year before WSVN's _Newsplex_ - it's still today considered to be a game changer for it's time. Of course the plex was all partitioned off by a glass wall, and they only went into the plex when a story warranted. Their early attempt at a 11pm did originate within the plex, but clearly KIRO was ahead of it's time, and if they had phased it in, it may not had been a PR disaster as it became
Really glad you posted this. I had a tape of day one somewhere but it's lost. This was an incredible theme music package performed by the Seattle Symphony. While the format didn't work, it was a really cool effort to use the TV and radio teams, on a very slick working newsroom set.
Wow. Where and how did you get this? Did you work at KIRO back during this time? I mean, it was basically a classier version of Toronto's CityPulse, but it crashed and burned HARD (not the only attempt that year -- LA's KCOP tried their own clone with 13 Real News; their attempt went as well as KIRO's did)... and it's sad because this was a genuinely great look (the theme especially -- I really hope there's a full-length copy out there somewhere because it's a literally symphonic theme). The execution on other parts was lacking, and the fact that KIRO was an affiliate of CBS -- meaning the audience was typically older and set in their ways -- meant the changes were swiftly mocked and by the end of the year, the renamed KIRO NewsChannel 7 had ditched most of it for a desk and a traditional look and feel. Because it didn't last too long, footage of it is pretty scarce... and you somehow got all this in near-perfect quality, at 60fps no less!
they should of kept it...they were in third place then and remained there after ditching it a year later. 20 plus years later, theyre still in third place. If they wouldve kept this set, they wouldve eventually caught up with the ers in the mid 90s to 2000s when alot of stations started that whole Newsplex idea alot stations used
This was a rare news format, the triangle is kinda odd, merging the news and radio departments was nice, but they could’ve still did a good format with a desk. But yes this doesn’t feel KIRO so yes the format wouldn’t work on CBS cause of the oldies.
My take-away is that it feels like the butt of a joke in the original Die Hard movie! Ahead of it's time. It was hokey, but a lot of those ideas seeded what we watch today. I particularly like the granite set, the sweaters, the nerd-alert VP explainer, Wayne Garcia as a child... and the poor assignment desk editor who's so unhappy to be on camera. Oh, and Richard Simmons.
Who was the consultant behind this anyway? Was it a Frank Magid thing? I don't think Ken Hatch and Andy Ludlum dreamed it up all on their own. WTHR in Indianapolis had done basically the same format 15 years earlier, in a smaller studio and without a radio station to integrate: czcams.com/video/_PP8--wqc5E/video.html It would not surprise me if some of the same brains were involved on the creative side.
The format KIRO adopted in early 1993 for its newscasts only lasted until the fall of that year due to a ratings collapse. The station's 7:00 am hour of its morning newscast was the only one to use this format (albeit with some changes) from its affiliation with UPN in March 1995 until the station rejoined CBS in July 1997. Ironically the only former element of this experiment to be kept was the logo, which had its left segment removed when the format ended, and would be modified to its current design after Cox bought the station.
I have had the suspicion that this experiment was ended because top anchor Susan Hutchinson, who is a devout Christian, had a dispute over this whole format...but to me, I bet the real issue was that she hated the fact that KIRO News Network logo, albeit innovative, that triangle looked a little too close to the gay pride triangle symbol. Around that time, the Seattle Gay times newspaper had a similar symbol . I wouldn't doubt these events contributed to her leaving and her eventual return once the format switched. Also the Kiro News triangle is a take on the WWOR open 1989 ( czcams.com/video/zVdj6IjzR5c/video.html ) when it was owned by Mitsubushi and they used their symbol in their opening graphics to represent New York, Connecticut and New Jersey .
I'm not sure what about this format you would think a devout Christian would have a problem with, but also keep in mind that KIRO was owned at this time by Bonneville, the broadcasting division of the Mormon church...you don't get much more "devout" than that.
Thank you! I’ve waited decades to see this! I visited KIRO a year or two later as a journalism student and the newsroom still looked like this, with desks on several levels. Unaware of the whole News Outside the Box experiment, staff members explained it with great disdain. Seems like someone told me that tapes of the experiment were supposed to be destroyed. Very glad to finally see it.
A former colleague of mine had gone to work at KIRO during that time, and he gave me a tour of the new set while still in the construction phase. Neither he, nor any of the others I talked with that day could truly explain what "out of the box" would look like once they actually hit the air with it. It was just a very fluid concept that they would nail down through trial and error. The newsroom people I spoke with (none of them in management) were very nervous about the change. Listen to VP Andy Ludlum (a longtime radio news person) in this clip. Even he doesn't sound convinced. And the fact that they are live on the air explaining their concept and asking for feedback shows what a risk they were taking. I was told that longtime news anchor Gary Justice, seen off the top of this clip, was extremely frustrated during rehearsals. And I think this "out of the box" concept hastened his departure and led to Steve Raible taking over as a main anchor along with Susan Hutchinson. I feel like they tried to do too much all at once. If they had layered it on over a year or two, they might have gotten some traction. But in the end it was a very, very expensive boondoggle, and I think it proved (as it has been proven many times) that people want their news to be delivered-not performed.
Ahead of its time. This is how consultants want talent to do their jobs.
The Seattle Symphony performing a news theme package for KIRO CBS 7. Local musicians performing and recording news theme packages for local stations...that's something you don't experience every day. I loved that it had that vibe of the 1991-2006 theme song to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (Patterson, Walz, and Fox). Although the closing theme could've had a smooth, beautiful flourishing finish (like the Dan Rather theme), instead of that very end that belongs in a ballet.
This is the most bizzare example of 1990s local television i've ever seen. The idea of combining their television and radio news departments, it of itself, is not a bad idea, it just so happens that it was executed way too well for audiences to even comprehend. It was such a drastic change to the way local news was, and it was way ahead of its time. This format could've survived in today's news media. probably because of the influence the internet and social media could've had on the Kiro News Network.
With that being said, the branding is too pretentious and unrecognizable; an upside down triangle comprising of three trapezoids is just too gaudy. A simple redesign or tweak to make the "7" stand out would've helped.
Overall, this format was doomed to fail.
Also, you know they tried to integrate their television and radio departments so well when they use the term "KIRO NewsTime" ON TELEVISION. Well, that's a first.
This was a very new format for the station. An interesting aspect of this video is at 13:21 - The VP/News for KIRO doing a promo explaining News Out Of The Box and asking viewers to "tell me what you think."
The studio camera pedestals are actually robotic. Those robots are the TSM AutoCam (that was all the rage for many studios Radamec and Vinten also was in the market and ironically all 3 companies are now part of Vinten today), from what I can tell they have manual control on the panning and tilting. I think the pedestals had to be connected to it's controller to truck the pedestal. It's hard to tell in the shots if the operator was using a tiny joystick to move the pedestal in some of the sweeping shots or if there was literally a manual-only dial. The modern equivalent is the CamBot, that is robotic and is intended to be controlled by automation on a robocam op.
Regarding the whole setup. This was a year before WSVN's _Newsplex_ - it's still today considered to be a game changer for it's time. Of course the plex was all partitioned off by a glass wall, and they only went into the plex when a story warranted. Their early attempt at a 11pm did originate within the plex, but clearly KIRO was ahead of it's time, and if they had phased it in, it may not had been a PR disaster as it became
Really glad you posted this. I had a tape of day one somewhere but it's lost. This was an incredible theme music package performed by the Seattle Symphony. While the format didn't work, it was a really cool effort to use the TV and radio teams, on a very slick working newsroom set.
Look up ATV News Halifax and Citytv Toronto to see how this sort of presentation should have worked.
Wow. Where and how did you get this? Did you work at KIRO back during this time? I mean, it was basically a classier version of Toronto's CityPulse, but it crashed and burned HARD (not the only attempt that year -- LA's KCOP tried their own clone with 13 Real News; their attempt went as well as KIRO's did)... and it's sad because this was a genuinely great look (the theme especially -- I really hope there's a full-length copy out there somewhere because it's a literally symphonic theme). The execution on other parts was lacking, and the fact that KIRO was an affiliate of CBS -- meaning the audience was typically older and set in their ways -- meant the changes were swiftly mocked and by the end of the year, the renamed KIRO NewsChannel 7 had ditched most of it for a desk and a traditional look and feel. Because it didn't last too long, footage of it is pretty scarce... and you somehow got all this in near-perfect quality, at 60fps no less!
How "of the times" are these graphics? The weather graphics are a clear homage to Windows 3.1.
It reminds me of another failed format: czcams.com/video/6qTfl7AEdHg/video.html
At least KCOP's deskless format lasted quite longer than that of KIRO, up until around 1996.
News Outside the Box IMO was the XFL of local newscast. I mean, it was a f---kin badass idea, but unfortunately, it never caught on with the public.
they should of kept it...they were in third place then and remained there after ditching it a year later. 20 plus years later, theyre still in third place. If they wouldve kept this set, they wouldve eventually caught up with the ers in the mid 90s to 2000s when alot of stations started that whole Newsplex idea alot stations used
This was a rare news format, the triangle is kinda odd, merging the news and radio departments was nice, but they could’ve still did a good format with a desk. But yes this doesn’t feel KIRO so yes the format wouldn’t work on CBS cause of the oldies.
I was kind of looking forward to getting Chef Jacques' lasagna recipe.
My take-away is that it feels like the butt of a joke in the original Die Hard movie!
Ahead of it's time. It was hokey, but a lot of those ideas seeded what we watch today. I particularly like the granite set, the sweaters, the nerd-alert VP explainer, Wayne Garcia as a child... and the poor assignment desk editor who's so unhappy to be on camera. Oh, and Richard Simmons.
Who was the consultant behind this anyway? Was it a Frank Magid thing? I don't think Ken Hatch and Andy Ludlum dreamed it up all on their own.
WTHR in Indianapolis had done basically the same format 15 years earlier, in a smaller studio and without a radio station to integrate: czcams.com/video/_PP8--wqc5E/video.html It would not surprise me if some of the same brains were involved on the creative side.
The format KIRO adopted in early 1993 for its newscasts only lasted until the fall of that year due to a ratings collapse. The station's 7:00 am hour of its morning newscast was the only one to use this format (albeit with some changes) from its affiliation with UPN in March 1995 until the station rejoined CBS in July 1997. Ironically the only former element of this experiment to be kept was the logo, which had its left segment removed when the format ended, and would be modified to its current design after Cox bought the station.
I have had the suspicion that this experiment was ended because top anchor Susan Hutchinson, who is a devout Christian, had a dispute over this whole format...but to me, I bet the real issue was that she hated the fact that KIRO News Network logo, albeit innovative, that triangle looked a little too close to the gay pride triangle symbol. Around that time, the Seattle Gay times newspaper had a similar symbol . I wouldn't doubt these events contributed to her leaving and her eventual return once the format switched. Also the Kiro News triangle is a take on the WWOR open 1989 ( czcams.com/video/zVdj6IjzR5c/video.html ) when it was owned by Mitsubushi and they used their symbol in their opening graphics to represent New York, Connecticut and New Jersey .
I'm not sure what about this format you would think a devout Christian would have a problem with, but also keep in mind that KIRO was owned at this time by Bonneville, the broadcasting division of the Mormon church...you don't get much more "devout" than that.
@@johnpat3622I've long wondered what the Salt Lake brass thought of Gertrude. (He and J.P. were already on KIRO when they bought the station.)
Now is High Quality the 1993 KIRO News Network
break news kiro 7 news because of course