Ticker Tastes

I wish that I had the technology and/or smarts to visually illustrate my point (although I probably have both, but frankly you're not worth the time I'd have to spend to demonstrate the fact).

As a news junkie, I've recently noticed there has been a change in the ways that television networks show tickers. Y'know what I mean. At the bottom of the screen there is up-to-the-minute information regarding subjects as wide ranging as sports scores, headline news items, or school closings.

CNN Headline News has changed from an annoying barely-literate-speed scrolling format to a much more useful static and vertical format. While I'm sure there are people earning zillions of dollars a year whom have determined the on-screen time is the same, it's far more "readable."

EPSN's SportsCenter continues to display the old fashioned rolling text, but they also display a running list of upcoming stories on the right hand side of the television screen.

Of all the recent changes, I have to tip my hat to WBZ-TV Channel 4 in Boston for the most helpful and wisest user-friendly ticker when it comes to the subject of school closings.

For years I've waited (im)patiently for the local news stations' tickers' alphabetical list to roll 'round to my town to learn about a school delay and/or closing. WBZ split their ticker into two bars -- one for public schools, and the other into the more obscure institutions such as dance academies, choirs, church groups, and hermaphrodite support groups.

Not that there's anything wrong with a support group for hermaphrodites.