Asheville News

WLOS announces $4 million set renovation

Jason Sandford July 21, 2008

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

WLOSers on Monday announced a $4 million set renovation that will launch the station into the realm of HD TV. What I’m unclear about it whether or not this move is related to the move of all television broadcasts from analog to digital.

WLOSers showed what the new set will look like — essentially like the command center of the Enterprise. Thanks to loyal reader Lightnin’ for the screen capture. (By the way, you can read his blog here.)

Four million for a new set, though? What’s up with that? I’m guessing new flat screens, and possibly new cameras may account for most of that expense. Anyone else have any information?

The explanation of the new set came because WLOSers have a makeshift set moved into their newsroom, which is essentially a bunch of cubicles. This look was presented to us Sunday, when newbie Leigh Ann Long unleashed the smart-girl glasses on us. In a later tease to the news that was flubbed, you could hear Leigh Ann say “Is that the house?” over video of a couple of homes in Swannanoa that are going to be set ablaze for firefighter training.

That’s all I’ve got right now. I’ll post more as my insiders report it.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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5 Comments

bb July 23, 2008

I have to add myself to the list of male viewers who had arguably inappropriate news-hottie reactions in front of their spouse upon Ms. Long’s intro. Haven’t had a reason this good to tune in on the weekends since Candace Little left!

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PBnJ July 22, 2008

My significant other commented that Leigh Ann looked like she was about to take her glasses off, twirl her hair around and break out into a stripper routine. The attempted ‘smart girl’ look was a little much I thought.

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Gordon Smith July 22, 2008

BlogAsheville netizen,

http://blogasheville.blogspot.com/2008/07/its-on-friday-july-25th.html

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gochapgo July 22, 2008

When one looks as good as Leigh Ann did Sunday, one can get away with the odd flub or two. I must confess that upon first seeing her, I said, "Who is THAT?" a little too excitedly for the Mrs’ liking.

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In The Know July 22, 2008

The $4 mil price tag, I would guess, includes the cameras and set – just say everything. If it doesn’t, they are getting ripped off. The original schedule was for August, so that appears to be moved back with an advertised September reveal. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they revealed the new weather graphics before the new set. Dropping Accuweather was a great move, but they did it so quickly that they haven’t mastered all of the new toys just yet.

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