Most days it seems the news has something depressing to report on, and now it'll get even more depressing each night. CNY Central out of Syracuse has started airing obituaries on their newscasts on NBC 3 WSTM, CW6, and CBS 5 WTVH. They’re now airing obituaries in an effort to capitalize on the Post Standard's recent decision to reduce home delivery from daily to just three days a week. 

CNY Central is airing these to help those who do not have daily access to a newspaper or internet. They released this official statement on their website:

CNY Central is partnering with several area funeral homes to help fill the void left by The Post-Standard’s decision to cut home delivery of the newspaper to just three days per week. By airing the obituaries on the different CNY Central stations, we hope to help those who do not have daily access to a newspaper or internet.

According to CNYRadio, so far the obituaries consist of names, photos, and the name of the funeral homes handling arrangements. In the background viewers hear the song “Amazing Grace”. You can preview a clip of what it appears like on the news below:

 

 

Right before the end of the segment, someone slides the mouse up to the top of the screen, briefly revealing the Windows Internet Explorer address bar, giving away the fact the obituaries are not part of the regular news graphics system. Rather, they appear to be airing from the video output of a PC, with the obituary pages coming from an internal web server. (This also seems to explain the brief flicker between pages, rather than a smooth dissolve or an instant cut.)”

 

So do you think it's odd they air these on the newscasts? Seems a little bleak doesn't it? It's defiantly not a happy birthday on a Smuckers Jar.

 

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