The Newsroom

London Live

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MO
Mouseboy33
There must be a carbon monoxide leak in their studio...everyone always seems sleepy and tired and hunched over when they are on camera. Sit up and open your eyes! I always thought that CNN's Hala Gorani has a perfect mix. Commanding, lively yet approachable to the viewer. Not all hunched over and sleepily delivering the news in a quiet hushed sleepy voice. Ugh.
LL
London Lite Founding member
There must be a carbon monoxide leak in their studio...everyone always seems sleepy and tired and hunched over when they are on camera.


Maybe if they gave the presenters actual chairs instead of stools?
SD
SuperDave
It probably has more to do with the fact that by noon, Alex or whoever is on earlies, is at least 5 hours into their shift and facing the prospect of another 2 hours of hosting solo.

Maybe dual presenting might help or a more even split between presenting shifts. Early presenter does 3.5 hours on air, whereas Late does 1.5 hours, though this is often combined with a bit of reporting from what I can see.

Anyone know how their shift patterns work?
LL
London Lite Founding member
It probably has more to do with the fact that by noon, Alex or whoever is on earlies, is at least 5 hours into their shift and facing the prospect of another 2 hours of hosting solo.

Maybe dual presenting might help or a more even split between presenting shifts. Early presenter does 3.5 hours on air, whereas Late does 1.5 hours, though this is often combined with a bit of reporting from what I can see.


Double pres would have been possible if they didn't have the recent round of redundancies. Long hours are common in the industry, so it shouldn't be much of an issue for the presenter. LBC London News radio journalists do up to four hours non-stop on-air with the rolling news format (and then I suspect work in the newsroom afterwards). Where as Ms Beard presented 3.5 hours on-air today with a two hour gap in-between the bulletins probably prepping, booking and greeting guests for the lunchtime bulletin etc with the team she works with.

Ideally what they could do using the same resources is to have a handover at 1300. So the early presenter hands over to the 5.30-7pm presenter who then presents the 1-2 hour of London Live News.
SD
SuperDave
That's a good solution.

To pep up presentation they could introduce some stings or idents for weather/travel, business news and entertainment news roundups. The latter could be 60 or 90 second pre-records that would give the presenter a chance to gather their thoughts before crashing on to the next item.

While they're at it they could re-do those opening titles! It's summer dammit!!
LO
Londoner
Some of the scripts for the news programmes are quite poorly written (and poorly delivered if certain people are presenting)

Makes you appreciate the skill of those who write cues and packages for the mainstream bulletins
London Lite and SuperDave gave kudos
SD
SuperDave
Absolutely - mind you I watched GMB yesterday and the newsreader identified a prison as HMS rather than HMP. I thought she'd just made a slip up until I saw HMS on the ticker a few minutes later.
London Lite and dvboy gave kudos
LL
London Lite Founding member
Some of the scripts for the news programmes are quite poorly written (and poorly delivered if certain people are presenting)

Makes you appreciate the skill of those who write cues and packages for the mainstream bulletins


I suspect some if not all the scripts are written by the on-air presenter, which will mean the quality will differ depending on who's on duty. There may be some pre-prepared copy for the presenter to read in addition.
SD
SuperDave
London Live swapping news for electro music on Sunday at 6 according to their listings.
LL
London Lite Founding member
London Live swapping news for electro music on Sunday at 6 according to their listings.


Women's boxing live from Grove Park on Saturday afternoon as well.
TV
TVGBs
London Live swapping news for electro music on Sunday at 6 according to their listings.



Well. it's better than them replacing it with goats. Well, it should be.
Last edited by TVGBs on 5 June 2015 11:34am
GL
globaltraffic24
It probably has more to do with the fact that by noon, Alex or whoever is on earlies, is at least 5 hours into their shift and facing the prospect of another 2 hours of hosting solo.

Maybe dual presenting might help or a more even split between presenting shifts. Early presenter does 3.5 hours on air, whereas Late does 1.5 hours, though this is often combined with a bit of reporting from what I can see.


Double pres would have been possible if they didn't have the recent round of redundancies. Long hours are common in the industry, so it shouldn't be much of an issue for the presenter. LBC London News radio journalists do up to four hours non-stop on-air with the rolling news format (and then I suspect work in the newsroom afterwards). Where as Ms Beard presented 3.5 hours on-air today with a two hour gap in-between the bulletins probably prepping, booking and greeting guests for the lunchtime bulletin etc with the team she works with.

Ideally what they could do using the same resources is to have a handover at 1300. So the early presenter hands over to the 5.30-7pm presenter who then presents the 1-2 hour of London Live News.



Long hours is becoming the norm. It doesn't make it a good idea. One of the biggest issues in media over the last few years has been the accountants running content. On a spreadsheet, having a full time presenter working around 7 hours on air seems like a smart idea. The reality is that the presenters look and sound tired. You can even see this on the BBC. Often the regional breakfast presenters appear on the lunchtime bulletin. As a broadcaster you need to ask yourself - is it wise to scrimp and save to the point where we lose audience because our presenters look and sound like death warmed up? Does that really send out the right message? The best option is to have a breakfast presenter who comes off-air and helps behind the scenes after the breakfast show.

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