Yep.. I'd have used an esp8266 for this, and kept the rpi in the box, for when I "really need it".

And it truly is a sad time for rpi-based projects... it really plugs a gap between cheap microcontrollers and power-hungry servers/PCs,...

I wonder if a Pi Pico W would be sufficient to run this, even? waaay cheaper (and available).

I just took a quick glance at the specs, and sure... running an lcd and parsing some text from the web seems totally doable, and in contrast to RPi (3, 4...), you can actually buy picos :)