Cleveland station to drop ‘Action News’ branding

Cleveland‘s Raycom owned WOIO-TV is shedding the “19 Action News” name it’s used since 2002.

The station, which has also recently undergone some talent and management changes, will become “Cleveland 19 News” on Monday.

The station is also planning a graphics and music overhaul, but the set will remain the same.

WOIO-TV, the market’s CBS affiliate, has been moving away from the “Action News” format and its hyped style for several years, so a name change could be seen as just a formality.

The Action News brand was first developed for WPVI-TV in Philadelphia in 1970 by then-news director Mel Kampmann. The format relied on young talent, fast pacing, higher story counts and a focus on suburban news. The format was seen as a competitor to the “Eyewitness News” approach.

However, most stations with that use the “Action News” name today don’t follow the original format to a T.

WOIO-TV, meanwhile, has already registered the domain cleveland19news.com, which currently is redirecting to its 19actionnews.com domain. Records show the new domain was registered in May of this year.

Advertisement