Subtle Changes at WBZ

["Roger Kirk" <rogerkirk@ttlc.net>]

Over the past few weeks I've noticed some
changes at WBZ.  Among these:

1. When the main anchor summarizes what's
coming up at the top/bottom of the hour, 
they now include teasers from outside 
reporters working stories live.

2. On several occaasions, they have gone
directly from a commercial to CBS for a
special report without any intro by the 
anchor.

3. For a while, they were toying with a
network update in the first 3 minutes after
the top/bottom of the hour - but that seems
to have been sporadic and not used now.

4. Just before 10:00, Deb Lawlor reads a live
list of credits for those "behind-the-scenes"
people who edit and produce.

5. The Phantom Gourmet seems to have a new music 
bed and a new format that mentions WBZ more 
prominently at the end of the review.

6. Traffic reporters no longer include their name
before the "next traffic in 10 minutes" sign-off.

7. Playing outdated commercials.  This morning,
a commercial I've never heard before touted
"offer good until April 15th"  Last week, a florist
ad reminded us that Secretary's Week starts on April
24th.

Overall, it's just barely noticeable, but reminiscent
of a light Spring Cleaning.

<soapbox on> Now, if they could just get Bob McMann
to say "Double-You" instead of "Dermfiter" or Dermpiter"
Hearing "George Dermpfiter Bush" just grates the wrong way.
I won't even mention the World Wide Web acronym.
<soapbox off>


Roger Kirk
rogerkirk@ttlc.net