Miami Station Promises Big Reveal Sunday Night

By Kevin Eck 

Miami FOX affiliate WSVN is tempting viewers with the promise of big things to come on Sunday night.

Of course, the secret is already out. WSVN VP of news Alice Jacobs told the Sun Sentinel, viewers will see the first “massive overhaul” of  the news set since 1994.

Three large screens overlooking the newsroom will display the station’s trademark flashy blue-and-red graphics as well as feature breaking news and live reports from throughout South Florida.

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“This is us on steroids,” said Ed Ansin, owner of Sunbeam Television Corp., which owns WSVN in North Bay Village and Boston sister station, WHDH-Ch. 7. “It’s big. It’s vibrant. We think it will enhance the viewers’ experience. It’s very WSVN.”

The screens, along with swooping cameras, provide a more panoramic look to the set. Just below the screen, a large news ticker will flow with the latest alerts from one end of the news studio to the other.

Reporters and anchors will move around the set as they have before, but now they’ll also be able to stand in front of a wall of nine vertical monitors with split screens showing news and programs from other channels.

“We’ve always been known for bigger coverage, the bolder look, fast paced, high-energy,” WSVN promotion manager Danny Rendon told TVNewsCheck’s Paul Greeley. “So we want our set to reflect that, so when viewers tune in, you know it’s us.”

To hide the construction, viewers at home were seeing a loop of the old news set behind the anchors who were sitting in front a greenscreen. The station says it did all of its own work and spent around $500,000.

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