BEST LOCAL TV NEWS MARKETS

[amisdead]

In your opinion, which are the best, most competitive local tv news markets?

I personally like Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth best.

Also, any standout markets outside of the top 10?

 

[searadiofreak]

Yes. Seattle, at #13 has been recognized as one of the best local news markets in the country. Reasons: It, with a few exceptions, has remained a "serious" news market, with less info-tainment and more serious reporting over the decades. (The CBS affiliate, KIRO, strayed away a bit in the 80's, but has regained their footing.)
Also, anchors and reporters tend to stay in Seattle, (again, with some exceptions), and the market is certainly not a step-up market for the most part. The talent that does move out of Seattle tends to go to network, and that says something. I would add Boston and San Francisco, and perhaps Minneapolis into this category as well.

 

[Robnoxious]

In your opinion, which are the best, most competitive local tv news markets?

I personally like Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth best.

Also, any standout markets outside of the top 10?

Los Angeles is the worst unless you need up to the second news on where it might have rained a tenth of an inch or in depth summaries of celebrity drug binges.

Seriously, how Steve Edwards has gone this long without going on a killing spree starting with those two cackling cows to his left and his right is a study in mastering Zen-like Patience.

 

[DToTheJ]

Los Angeles is the worst unless you need up to the second news on where it might have rained a tenth of an inch or in depth summaries of celebrity drug binges...

And don't forget them high-speed car chases on I-5!

 

[tothedj]

You would think the #1 market in the U.S., New York City, would be one of the most competitive for local
news.

 

[BRNout]

You would think the #1 market in the U.S., New York City, would be one of the most competitive for local
news.

Yet you would be disappointed. New York's local news does a relatively poor job of covering news outside the 5 boroughs and has too many "entertainment" segments, likely foisted on them by corporate. For the huge market that it is, the local newscasts are not that impressive. Slick, yes - but not so solid.

El Lay? Not as much, much like New York too much light and fluffy material passes as news.

I second the nomination of D/FW as the best local news market with San Francisco being right up there with it. Chicago is pretty good, with a solid ABC-7 (WLS-TV) and a resurgent CBS-2. WGN also has one of the best weather guys anywhere, a Mr. Tom Skilling. Others with solid local news stations that come to mind are Seattle, Boston, and Denver.

 

[recto101]

San Francisco is the best TV market because I live in the Bay Area. Look at KTVU the Local Fox affiliate here. Its less on Propaganda from Fox News and More on real news like what is happening in the City councils around the bay.

 

[recto101]

I noticed Boston, Seattle and San Francisco are always listed as best TV markets because they tend to have a higher ratio of College educated people and they tend to have most innovative jobs like Biotech and Computers out there.

 

[trapper12]

Knoxville Tn. WATE and WBIR do a good job. WVLT is up and comming. Lexington Ky is so so. Their idea of breaking news tends to be sorta micky mouse in nature. A ground hog getting run over on I-75 could even be a top story for one of the stations.

 

[LKellerIII]

San Francisco is the best TV market because I live in the Bay Area. Look at KTVU the Local Fox affiliate here. Its less on Propaganda from Fox News and More on real news like what is happening in the City councils around the bay.

I'm also a Bay Area resident, and I can't say "best" because there are many markets I have not travelled to, so its hard to compare. But all of the Bay Area news stations provide a good solid product. In the 70s, KGO-TV (ABC) led in the ratings with sensationalist "happy-talk" news, but that started to change in the 80s. As Recto101 stated, KTVU set the stage with a very solid 10PM newscast (actually before it became the Fox affiliate). They purposely dropped the "happy talk" BS, and generally avoided sensationalistic stories for the more important stories of the day.

KTVU got positive reviews from critics, and it paid off in good ratings. The other stations gradually followed suit, and I'd say that they have all provided solid news programming since the early 90s.

 

[1069_KIFR]

LKeller: "KTVU got positive reviews from critics, and it paid off in good ratings. The other stations gradually followed suit, and I'd say that they have all provided solid news programming since the early 90s.

Since losing the NBC Affiliation, I agree, with the exception of KRON4.

 

[ansky212]

You would think the #1 market in the U.S., New York City, would be one of the most competitive for local
news.

The problem with NYC news is that the market is just way too big to cover. You basically have 5 distinct regions spanning 3 states (NYC boroughs, NJ, Long Island, Westchester/Rockland, and Fairfield, CT). You could easily fill an entire newscast with news from just one of these regions. So as a resident of NJ, I'm not too satisfied with any of these "local" newscasts since they focus primarily on NYC. Although within the last year WWOR "MY 9" has significantly increased their focus on NJ news (which makes sense considering their studio and COL is in NJ). Really the only other option for news for these suburban viewers is to watch News 12 which has regional newscasts, but only available on some cable systems.

 

[TheRob]

Because of our station's relationship with Tribune, I can peer into WPIX's video server and lineups. The first time I looked, the very first piece of video I saw was a locally-produced segment called "Who Died?" Not that WPIX is a beacon of high journalism, but the fact that they would take the time to produce a daily celebrity death segment is a waste of resources.

New York is unusual; you had a lot of newspaper or radio guys go into television and stay with NYC stations for decades. The cost of living is so high no one would want to work on a journalist's salary in New York today, unless they're working for the network.

 

[recto101]

In your opinion, which are the best, most competitive local tv news markets?

I personally like Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth best.

Also, any standout markets outside of the top 10?

Los Angeles is the worst unless you need up to the second news on where it might have rained a tenth of an inch or in depth summaries of celebrity drug binges.

Seriously, how Steve Edwards has gone this long without going on a killing spree starting with those two cackling cows to his left and his right is a study in mastering Zen-like Patience.

LA TV News and NYC TV news is bad mainly because its too much of a tabloid focus and it tends to follow the lines of HLN News, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN. By the way how is Washington DC TV News are they a good TV and radio market? Or Chicago? I don't blame people in Some TV markets that Watch the Daily Show was their main source for news manly because these TV Viewers had enough with Tabloids and propaganda in their markets.

 

[easttxtv]

The talent that does move out of Seattle tends to go to network, and that says something.

Many who have moved on from the DFW market over the years have gone on to the network level also.

 

[mleach]

By the way how is Washington DC TV News are they a good TV and radio market?

There are two words to describe the state of Washington DC television and radio...OLD SCHOOL ! ! Old school meaning the rather large number of people on the air in that market who were on the air in DC say 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, Doug Hill, Topper Schutt, Bob Ryan, Doreen Gentzler, JC Hayward, Maureen Bunyan, Arch Campbell, Tim Brant..rather endless list eh? If George Michael were still alive today I would be willing to bet money that he would still get massive ratings even if George would be doing the sports live from his room at some old age home. You could say the same about the late Glenn Brenner as well.

Yeah there are some good looking babes on the air in DC and some "gen X" anchors who are popular such as WTTG's Brian Bolter for example..but DC media is still a place where the "oldsters" do much better than the younger ones. Likewise with radio too...listeners would rather hear 60+ year old Jack Diamond playing Lady Gaga than some 25 or 30 year old doing the same...check out DCRTV and all those "..please bring back WHFS" postings. There are those who really believe that Don & Mike, WHFS and The Greaseman can save radio. Myself..ah..doubt it.

 

[Kent]

I'd have to agree that Dallas/Ft. Worth is an excellent market for news. I like Chicago, too. Outside of major markets, Kansas City is excellent unless you like sports. Kansas City just offers a ton of local news with a lot of people who've been there forever. I always thought Denver did a pretty good job with local news, too.

I've also found it strange that Kansas City can offer so much news while St. Louis, a larger market just 3-3 1/2 hours away, offers so little. It may be the most undernewsed market in the nation!

 

[dgendvil]

How about the Canadian TV markets? I know the Canadians have only like 25 or so markets, since their population is much smaller than the U.S., but I say they've got better reporting than they do than most markets in the US, without the propaganda there.

 

[dave73]

While it was already mentioned, but I believe Chicago does well in news. WGN-TV (CW) has a lot of veteran news anchors & reporters that they do well in the ratings. It also helps that they have the Chicago Tribune to help them with the news, or I don't believe they'd be doing news today. WLS-TV (ABC) is #1 in their news. They also have some veteran news anchors & reporters. WMAQ-TV (NBC) to me isn't as great, since they don't report the news like they used to. WBBM-TV (CBS) has also done poorly in the ratings, & their news department also doesn't do a good job reporting it for the most part. For the blizzard, they have at least done a good job keeping their viewers informed on the conditions. WFLD (Fox) is dead last in the ratings, & not sure why they even have a news department. I have never liked their news, & almost never watch it. I only do so if WGN-TV has sports on at 9pm, & Fox is the only station with news at 9pm. While PBS station WYIN doesn't have that great of a news program, they get their stories from the NW Indiana Times, & report them on their low budget news program, aimed at NW Indiana. The Chicago stations mainly focus on Chicago & the nearby suburbs.

Now if you factor in the 2 Spanish stations, WGBO-DT (Univision) & WSNS (Telemundo), WGBO-DT beats WSNS anyday in the news. The only advantage WSNS has is that their news department is combined with WMAQ (NBC), & can share resources.

I'm not aware of many reporters getting jobs with the networks. Most of the time, I usually hear of any reporter that leaves a Chicago station usually goes to another station in another market.

 

[w00t]

Chicago is a good market.

But the obvious hasn't been mentioned - Phoenix! News is big business in that market.