POTW: Sneak peek at new WTVH news set and graphics (2013)

SYRACUSE -- Out with the deep reds and in with some brighter blues!  Starting Monday, there will be a whole new look for local newscasts on CBS5 (WTVH).  Earlier this week, WTVH anchor and managing editor Michael Benny shared a couple of "sneak peeks" of the new graphics and news set.

Benny tweeted this photo of the new set on Tuesday.  From this photo, it's hard to tell how the new set compares in size to the old one -- but the bright shades of blue certainly make it seem bigger and more open than the old set, which featured darker reds and oranges.  (And in case you were wondering -- we were -- Benny confirmed for CNYTVNews.com that the old set was indeed the same one WTVH used during its final years flying solo at 980 James Street.  When WTVH moved in with WSTM in 2009, the set followed Benny up the hill to 1030 James Street.)

Benny also shared this still from the new 11:00pm news open, which reveals that the on-air graphics -- like the studio set -- are ditching most of the reds to go with more blues.  The only red "holdover" is the CBS 5 logo itself, which, we presume, will now consistently appear within a circle.  Previously, the logo often sometimes appeared within a parallelogram, and sometimes within a circle.  The latter is more of a match with the logos of CNY Central partners NBC3 (WSTM-TV) and CW6 (WSTQ-LP).

On Twitter, Benny announced: "Graphics overhaul.  New set, new music - same anchor.  Debuts Monday Jan 15 on CBS5 News."  Specifically, the new look and music will make their debut at 5:00pm. For comparison, we grabbed a frame from last night's penultimate appearance of the outgoing 11pm open, which includes the parallelogram version of the CBS5 logo bug:

Also from last night, Benny opens the 11pm news from the temporary set he's been using for the past few weeks:

Your editor didn't have as much time to check Twitter as usual this week, so we offer credit to the CNYTVNews.com reader who made sure we knew about the first Tweet... and of course, we're glad Michael Benny was gracious enough to share these sneak peaks of the new look.  We're eager to see it all go live on Monday!

Got Pictures?

We're always interested in behind-the-scenes shots like this -- or any other happenings within the world of TV or radio in Central New York.  Whether it's something brand new, or a notable "blast from the past," send those shots to cnyradio@cnyradio.com.  There's a new Picture of the Week right here, every Friday at 7:00am.  (Has it been awhile since your station has been featured in our Friday feature?  A quick email is all it takes!)