Sitting behind the new news desk in Studio B, WGAL-TV veteran anchorwoman Kim Lemon couldn't hold back her excitement.

"The general look is so much cleaner," she said, pointing out to a visitor the effect that lighting from the desk and from above has on her appearance. Lemon said that each time she visits the renovated studio, she feels something special.

WGAL hasn't used this space since Lemon shared anchor duties with Wayne Herman and Brad Hicks 18 years ago.

The new technology blends well with the history of the old studio, which dates to 1956.

Viewers can get a first glimpse of the state-of-the-art studio tonight during WGAL's late evening news at 11. (The newscast may start later, as it will follow the Super Bowl and the premiere of "The Voice.")

The new look, though big and slick, still honors the area, Lemon said, referring to the changeable background screens with prints of central Pennsylvania landmarks.

Currently, news is broadcast upstairs at WGAL with the newsroom as a backdrop behind the set. In 1994, this was a fresh new look, but moving back to Studio B more than doubles the space for delivering news. The 2,000-square-foot studio is enormous.

John Baldwin, creative services director at WGAL, says true high-definition broadcasts show depth, which they will be able to do with the new set. "We can explain news better with a better-designed set," he said. "It's all about functionality."

The set has a 360-degree design, starting with sports, then news and weather, and a demonstration area completes the circle.

For Lemon, a Manheim Township graduate, working in Studio B is going full circle with her career, which started in this space in 1979, when newswoman Marijane Landis passed the torch to her.

This is where John MacAlarney delivered news in 1957, where Dave Brandt reported sports and Bill Saylor forecast the weather. It was a broadcast home to notable newspeople including Nelson Sears, Wendall Woodbury and Dick Hoxworth.

WGAL was the 33rd television station in the nation to sign on to the airwaves, and its current building was the first built to house a TV station. The initial newscast was Christmas Day 1956.

As workers pulled up Studio B's old flooring, which dated to the mid-'50s, they opened up a studio turntable (of the variety that rotates set pieces) and found cigarette butts that had been there a half-century.

On the new set, the news desk sits on top of the turntable. Computers are recessed into the desk with pullout keyboards. Other new features include more than a dozen flat-screen TVs mounted on the set walls, including four behind the news desk that show the reporters and graphics as anchors relay stories.

The anchors will be anything but anchored. Traditionally, anchors sit behind a desk and read the news, but WGAL plans to utilize its big space by moving the news crew and looking for different shots.

"This is a different way to look at TV in this market," Baldwin said. "Everywhere else you see front-facing shots."

Dan Maddox, WGAL's head cameraman, said the new technology and renovated studio will allow staff to do a lot of things they can't do now.

Currently, there are three cameras used in the upstairs studio. Cameras 2 and 3 do not move, and Camera 1 moves to two spots, giving the newscast four possible looks.

The new studio will use four cameras that have more than 25 positions. There might be three shots for one camera position, Maddox said, and perhaps 50 different shots during a newscast. He said, though, that he doesn't want to try too much too fast.

Traffax will continue to be shot upstairs, but the weather center will move into the new studio. Doug Allen, WGAL's evening meteorologist, said one-third of the new set is dedicated to weather, and the weather crew will have "a lot of interesting tools" at its disposal.

"With a tornado, we can be on [the air] in less than a minute. But with the new studio, we can cut that to nothing," he said. "The microphone on the meteorologist will be hot, and we can go on right away.

"It is not just bells and whistles," Allen said. "This technology will save lives."

Staff writer Eric Stark discusses trends and tidbits in broadcast media each week in the Sunday News. Write to him at estark@lnpnews.com.