WDIV brings the ‘cube’ from Houston sister station to Detroit

WDIV in Detroit, Michigan, has unveiled a new set that brings one of the signature elements of one if its sister station’s studio to the Motor City — the “cube.”

Set Design

WDIV

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The station, which brands on-air as Local 4, received a big studio upgrade that added the distinctive LED video wall arrangement first used at fellow Graham Media station KPRC in Houston, Texas.

Both sets were designed by WrightSet.

Houston station unveils new home with big video wall upgrades, some familiar elements

The cube dates back to 2017 and features two perpendicular seamless LED arrays that have specially-engineered to have a minimal amount of gap where the two meet at a right angle. KPRC received an upgraded version of the cube in February 2024.

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For the station’s “First at Four” newscast, the cube becomes the centerpiece of the newscast, with the single anchor positioned at the high, circular anchor desk. This shot uses one face of the cube video wall as a sort of OTS element camera right of the anchor, with the option to also include part of a separate, additional adjacent video wall camera left.

The opposite side of the cube, meanwhile, becomes an in-studio standup and debrief location. The 4 p.m. newscast also appears to use the cube to display more large images without typical text or box elements from the station’s graphics package.

Other newscasts use a more traditional anchor desk setup in front of another video wall. This, in turn, is flanked by backlit monochromatic printed background with color-changing lights behind it that allow the entire set to switch color — with red used for breaking news, for example. Far camera right of this panel is another video wall, which is sometimes used for weather or as an OTS for the camera right anchor.

The position of this video wall also notably aligns it with the 4 p.m. anchor desk position, creating a unique cross-shot between talent. Weather talent can also use the cube. 

Meanwhile, another curved LED video wall is located elsewhere in the space and is used for an additional flexible venue or for “video on video” shots during anchor VOs.

An additional space sports a wide, straight span of LED video panels.