Atlanta News First’s home blends video tech with layers of scenery

The newly renamed WANF (formerly WGCL) officially unveiled its new home after transitioning to its “Atlanta News First” branding — a space that uses a blend of video panels, rectangular elements and local accents.

Atlanta News First uses retired rival anchor to promote its launch

The centerpiece of the set is a 23-foot wide by 7-foot tall 1.4mm curved video wall from Neoti, designed to be used with a standing mobile pod-style desk from set designer Broadcast Design International.

This sits on a series of support elements in front of a wraparound wall with faux stacked stone and backlit, color-changing ribbons that serve as a nod to the station’s graphics package.

WANF also introduced new graphics and music with its new name.

BDI also designed a working weather center, with a 98-inch touchscreen positioned behind a curved presentation desk. The panel is mounted on a freestanding short wall flanked with frosted panels that separates the presentation area from the work area.

That workspace features computers as well as an integrated 55-inch video panel that can showcase branding and weather graphics and appears in the background of select weather shots.

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Adjacent to this is an additional 75-inch touchscreen mounted on a gray and frosted wall that juts out dramatically from camera left of the work area.

Set Design

WANF

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Then, next to this is a 3×3 video wall created from nine 55-inch low-profile LCD panels, primarily designed for weather. All told, the weather area takes up nearly half the square footage of the studio.

On the opposite side of the space, camera right of home base, is a 55-inch vertical monitor on a movable cart with frosted panels featuring a segmented look with concentric circles.

This transitions to panels depicting the Atlanta cityscape and an additional 86-inch touchscreen that can also be used for standups.

The new set also includes an interview area with five vertically mounted 85-inch monitors and an option for a sofa and coffee table. 

WANF tasked BDI with creating a dynamic environment with flexible storytelling options and the opportunity for talent to move around the space and interact with each other on-camera.

This standup, which includes the anchor pointing to the inserted topical graphic that’s been layered on top of the cityscape, uses the same video wall as the primary anchor two-shot.

BDI maximized the station’s investment by ensuring the primary curved video wall could be used with or without the desk and in multiple talent configurations. 

In wide shots, BDI’s layered design approach makes it possible for the station to blend video wall graphics with hard scenery while still having a dynamic two-shot against the video wall with “ANF” branding prominently inserted between anchors.

The station’s on-set video wall graphics also blend a traditional cityscape with overlays, including the staggered rectangle motif from the graphics package as well as inserted frames of topical video and imagery.

Anchors can also join the weather team at the weather presentation desk to discuss the day’s weather, which is branded under the “First Alert” name. The neighboring weather wall and touchscreen area were also laid out with talent interaction and movement in mind.

Talent interaction and bumps can be captured with a grid-mounted overhead robotic camera.

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WANF officially changed call signs Oct. 3, 2022, but the brand soft-launched Sept. 30, 2022.

Project Credits

• Set design by Broadcast Design International
• Fabrication by Broadcast Design International
• Lighting design by Angry Badger Productions
• LED technology from Neoti and DesignLED
• Promoting from CueScript
• Lighting gear including Litepanels Gemini, Litepanels Astra, De Sisti, Chauvet Pro, ETC and Pathport