Combining news operations: How bad it can get

[mleach]

And they've been trimming those for years. Back when I did it, you'd get 3:30 to 4 minutes of time in the newscast. Now, some mets are lucky to get 2 minutes. All the better to squeeze some extra "news" in about American Idol or the latest social disease contracted by Lindsey Lohan.

Our local ABC affiliate a few months back spent several minutes of their newscast talking about the politics of....movie actor Seth Rogen. They made a big deal about Seth being against gay marriage ( goes against his faith ) but he is cool with hetrosexual sex outside of marriage and with abortion. And this was their top story. As my wife said as we were watching this "..who f***ing CARES !!!" .

 

[imhomerjay]

It's interesting to see just how freely folks here like to spend other people's money, and how those with zero knowledge of a particular company's (or companies') unique situation deem themselves more qualified to run the business.

"Saving money" is thrown around like it's a slur. Sometimes it just has to be done. In a lousy situation, your options may be ditch the pretense of local news entirely or run a duplicate (or darned near duplicate) of an existing newscast. Kind of like choosing the new roof or the new front door on your house (as an example). Something has to be scrapped or put on indefinite hold.

We're not entitled to some magical number of distinct newscasts to pick from.

 

[formeraa]

But doesn't it depend on where you live and whether it is severe weather season where you live???

In addition, it depends on the station's coverage area. For example, Phoenix weather tends to be very mundane but the stations also cover Northern Arizona, which has much more active weather patterns (although the weather coverage itself is generally POOR).

Another example is Seattle. In Seattle itself, rain is always in the forecast. However, the Seattle station cover Western Washington and portions of Central Washington. Therefore, they give mountain forecasts, marine and coastal forecasts, Eastern Washington forecasts, etc., etc., etc.

 

[TexasTom]

It's interesting to see just how freely folks here like to spend other people's money, and how those with zero knowledge of a particular company's (or companies') unique situation deem themselves more qualified to run the business.

This is a discussion board dedicated to discussing issues related to the broadcast business. If no one was willing to express an opinion without full knowledge of a company's finances and other concerns, we wouldn't really have much to discuss here, would we?

While it's certainly possible that the possession of a greater amount of information might change some people's minds here, it is also just as reasonable to believe that two informed human beings might be able to look at the same set of facts and reach somewhat different conclusions on the best way to proceed.

I don't personally believe that there is a magic number of local newscasts that each market should have -- and I also don't believe that each station in a market needs to run local news. In the seventies and eighties, it was relatively common for only two stations in small/medium intermixed (VHF and UHF stations competing in the same region) markets to have newscasts, while the third "big three" affiliate would choose to run alternative entertainment programming instead. It's also been common for quite a few years for smaller market Fox affiliates to carry a newscast produced by one of the more established stations in their market -- which benefits everyone, since it lets the established station offer news in a time slot that they couldn't otherwise offer news in, gives the Fox station a newscast, and gives local viewers an alternative time to catch the news. Stations can follow either of these scenarios and still be serving the public interest, in my opinion.

But the recent trend to combine the news operations of long-established stations in relatively large markets, resulting in what is essentially the same newscast airing on two stations at the same time in a market -- well, I have a hard time believing that this serves the public in any way. Instead of increasing choice (by letting viewers watch a newscast in a different time slot or letting them choose an entertainment alternative to local news), it actually reduces choice. It also blurs a station's identity in a way that I suspect is going to be harmful for that station over the long run.

So while these semi-simulcast news operations may save money in the short run, I tend to suspect that they will not prove cost effective over the longer run. And I don't see them providing any public service whatsoever -- these stations might as well replace the newscast on one of the stations with an "I Love Lucy" rerun...

 

[JeeperOne]

Even the most clueless viewer would have to wonder "WTF" flipping back and forth between so-called competing newscasts and seeing the same anchor read the same news at the same time, but dressed up a little differently.

Sounds like they may as well download a virtual webcam driver such as ManyCam onto a computer, install it, run the software, change the background as you described in your earlier post & stream WHOI's newscast on the station's website (Assuming the station even HAS one).

I seemingly recall WEEK streaming its newscasts (As it would be said nowadays) "Back In The Day" on Broadcast.com (Which later became Yahoo! Broadcast, who later killed it, after Mark Cuban sold it to them). Surely they still have the expertise to set up a simple web stream

At least one would think....

JMO...

Cheers

 

[taylorjsdad]

This past weekend I was in Peoria, Illinois, visiting elderly relatives. I knew WEEK (Granite) and WHOI (Barrington) had combined newsrooms a few months earlier. I didn't realize how bad it could get until I watched Sunday night. With WMBD's news delayed by CBS' sliding prime time lineup, I started on WEEK at 10:00. One anchor is reading the news in front of a monitor with WEEK's logo displayed. At 10:01 I turn to WHOI. The same anchor is reading the news in front of a generic Peoria skyline background (different camera angle). Now that's cheap when the same anchor is doing the news on both stations in the same time slot. This was not a case of simulcasting. I presume WHOI is on tape and WEEK is live. Of course, both stations used the same prerecorded weather and sports segments (both done without logos or identifying graphics), and both aired at the exact same points in the newscast. WEEK had one reporter do a feature story. WHOI had none that I could tell. WEEK used its own lower third graphics. WHOI only had a bug in the corner.

Is the same thing happening in Syracuse? The other half of the deal between Barrington and Granite was combining WTVH with WSTM where Barrington owned WSTM (NBC) is operating Granite's WTVH.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

This set-up may only be a temporary fix until behind-the-scenes operations are fully integrated. The stations only paired up at the first of March.

I imagine once the kinks are worked out on the technical side, you'll see something along the lines of Gannett's Jacksonville, FL duopoly: Whether you are on WJXX-25 or WTLV-12 you get the same "First Coast News" feed in the morning and at 6:00 and 11:00. The only differ in that they produce station-specific newscasts at Noon and 5:00 (hour-long) for WTLV and at 7:00 (half-hour) for WJXX.

 

[arnoldevns]

This is a bad example of combined news operations. I think most other combinations are handled far better.

There are a variety of issues involved in whether a station has the resources to run a news department. Sadly I think most stations are now an investment for their owners, not a business they are interested in running. It's all about the bottom line and the rate of return on investment stations can give the owners. The cratering of the advertising market has made all of this much worse. Stations are not finding enough dollars coming in to justify the expense of doing news.

They can cut back only so far before it becomes more logical to merge or ditch news altogether. NBC and Fox are sharing material among their stations in markets where they compete. Some analysts say that down the road you'll really only have 1-2 stations doing news in each market.

Some of the big networks will probably go to cable. (CBS has openly talked about it) Many of the big station groups will be sold off so their owners can cut their debt and costs. The new owners likely won't have deep pockets to afford lots of news. They'll cut it out and go for the ad dollars on syndicated sitcoms. Stations do not have any requirement to show a certain amount of news. They do have to show some kids programming and public service material, but that can be handled in many ways that don't require the station to have a news department.

 

[JeeperOne]

This is a bad example of combined news operations. I think most other combinations are handled far better.

KWGN 2 & KDVR 31 being an example of this.

Although the two stations share the same reporters & anchors, they have two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sets and (In the mornings when both stations are on at the same time) anchor teams.

Beyond that (And in addition),

* Both stations air a weekday morning newscast (KWGN 2 going from 5:00 AM till 9:00 AM while KDVR goes from 5:00 AM till 10:00 AM).

* KWGN airs an hour-long 11:00 AM newscast (Their only competition is KMGH 7 as KCNC 4 airs The Young & The Restless & KUSA 9 airs the last hour of Today while KTVD 20 is airing syndicated game shows)

* KDVR airs an hour-long 5:00 PM (Yes, that's right - 5:00 PM) newscast.

* KWGN airs an 7:00 PM (Yes that's right 7:00 PM) newscast.

* KDVR airs the final newscast of the day at 9:00 PM (Their only competition is a half-hour KUSA-produced newscast on KTVD 20 while the other stations including KUSA itself are all in the middle of network primetime).

On the weekends, it's all KDVR as KWGN is newsless.

JFWIW....

Cheers

 

[formeraa]

What's so special about a 5pm newscast ??? All the major stations in Seattle have had them for 35+ years.

 

[TexasTom]

What's so special about a 5pm newscast ??? All the major stations in Seattle have had them for 35+ years.

The old-line "big three" network affiliates have had evening newscasts for a long time -- but for Fox stations (excluding those that used to be ABC, CBS, or NBC affiliates), 5 PM newscasts are still relatively new.

Using Seattle/Tacoma as an example, your own Fox affiliate -- KCPQ/13 -- doesn't have an early evening newscast at all.

(Oh, and as a point of trivia, only one of the three Seattle stations has had a 5 PM newscast for 35 years -- KIRO/7. KOMO/4 and KING/5 used to start their newscasts at 5:30. I think that changed around the time that I left the area, in 1980)

 

[mjlarochelle]

They can cut back only so far before it becomes more logical to merge or ditch news altogether. NBC and Fox are sharing material among their stations in markets where they compete. Some analysts say that down the road you'll really only have 1-2 stations doing news in each market.

That is still better than many Canadian markets. Ottawa only has two English stations doing local news now, and one of those stations is limited to an hour at 6. Other markets including London and Kitchener each have one station only, neither of which has a live local morning newscast. While smaller American markets are being reduced to one or two stations with local news, smaller Canadian markets are heading towards zero.

 

[RadioDze]

The Peoria situation made me think of a situation we had in Raleigh-Durham, NC from 1991-1993 where we were literally a "two horse town," all the while being a Top 30 market. The third-place NBC news operation (then WPTF-TV 28) was cut, so it was just WTVD 11 (ABC) and WRAL 5 (CBS) until former Fox affiliate WLFL 22 started a 10pm news in late 1993. In 1995, Raleigh's new NBC affiliate, WNCN 17, launched a newscast. WLFL's stand-alone newsroom folded in 2006 and was later replaced with a WTVD-produced 10pm news

 

[JeeperOne]

What's so special about a 5pm newscast ??? All the major stations in Seattle have had them for 35+ years.

FOX affiliates aren't considered amongst the big stations because in some ways, the FOX network itself still isn't considered one of the "Big Boys" even to this day despite churning out many hit shows.

Add to the fact that some small places in America (Although the list is getting shorter & shorter) either don't have a FOX affiliate to call their own (Thus forcing cable & satellite companies to feed one of the national feeds to their subscribers) or have it on a Digital subchannel provided by a station whose primary affiliation is with another network (Like say NBC for example).

Plus the Seatlle/Tacoma area is a very large metropolis. As such, all the major stations having a 5:00 PM newscast for 35 years would be expected.

Cheers

 

[BRNout]

That is still better than many Canadian markets. Ottawa only has two English stations doing local news now, and one of those stations is limited to an hour at 6. Other markets including London and Kitchener each have one station only, neither of which has a live local morning newscast. While smaller American markets are being reduced to one or two stations with local news, smaller Canadian markets are heading towards zero.

You're absolutely right! Whenever I travel to Canada, I am still amazed at the paucity of local news coverage - even in big cities like Montreal or Calgary. Even Toronto - by far the best news market in Canada - is only comparable with a top 20 market (if it were in the USA, it would be about #4). The biggest stations only offer a relatively limited amount of local news. If I am not mistaken, a 30-minute local news show in the early evening and one at 11 is about as good as it gets on the CBC and CTV stations there. City TV has much more local news, but it's pretty light and fluffy at times. Still, good to watch though.

It probably stems from the national network model (versus the local affiliate model) and a tradition of running the local stations as a bit of an afterthought to network programming. The UK is even worse in this regard. Not a lot of local news variety there, either. In fact, worse than Canada.

Sadly, the recent economic cutbacks have really done a number in Canada as there wasn't a lot to cut in the first place.

 

[formeraa]

What's so special about a 5pm newscast ??? All the major stations in Seattle have had them for 35+ years.

The old-line "big three" network affiliates have had evening newscasts for a long time -- but for Fox stations (excluding those that used to be ABC, CBS, or NBC affiliates), 5 PM newscasts are still relatively new.

Using Seattle/Tacoma as an example, your own Fox affiliate -- KCPQ/13 -- doesn't have an early evening newscast at all.

(Oh, and as a point of trivia, only one of the three Seattle stations has had a 5 PM newscast for 35 years -- KIRO/7. KOMO/4 and KING/5 used to start their newscasts at 5:30. I think that changed around the time that I left the area, in 1980)

TexasTom --

Two things:

1. I am well-versed in local news. I had no idea that the aforementioned station was a Fox affiliate -- either it wasn't mentioned or I missed it. I agree that it is much more unusual for a Fox affiliate to have a 5pm newscast (but not unheard of -- Fox 10 in Phoenix has an hour-long 5pm newscast -- arguably because of the big network switch in the mid-90's).

2. We can nitpik over a few years, but I definitely remember KING 5 News at 5pm in the late 70's.

 

[vchimpanzee]

How many markets don't have a local news operation on the ABC station?

Fox bought Greensboro's ABC station in North Carolina, and the former Fox station took ABC and tried news but never succeeded. So they dropped it. The Fox station is still doing well.

 

[ShawnHill1]

How many markets don't have a local news operation on the ABC station?

Fox bought Greensboro's ABC station in North Carolina, and the former Fox station took ABC and tried news but never succeeded. So they dropped it. The Fox station is still doing well.

KDNL in St. Louis immediately comes to mind, and they're too owned by the same group that owns Greensboro's current ABC affiliate (Sinclair). KDNL shut down their news department several years ago.

Also, if it counts...El Centro-Yuma's KECY has carries ABC programming on one of their subchannels (they're a primary Fox affiliate, along with Telemundo on the third subchannel). Needless to say, KECY does not produce any news at all.

 

[mjlarochelle]

This past weekend I was in Peoria, Illinois, visiting elderly relatives. I knew WEEK (Granite) and WHOI (Barrington) had combined newsrooms a few months earlier. I didn't realize how bad it could get until I watched Sunday night. With WMBD's news delayed by CBS' sliding prime time lineup, I started on WEEK at 10:00. One anchor is reading the news in front of a monitor with WEEK's logo displayed. At 10:01 I turn to WHOI. The same anchor is reading the news in front of a generic Peoria skyline background (different camera angle). Now that's cheap when the same anchor is doing the news on both stations in the same time slot. This was not a case of simulcasting. I presume WHOI is on tape and WEEK is live. Of course, both stations used the same prerecorded weather and sports segments (both done without logos or identifying graphics), and both aired at the exact same points in the newscast. WEEK had one reporter do a feature story. WHOI had none that I could tell. WEEK used its own lower third graphics. WHOI only had a bug in the corner.

WHOI should change its call letters to WEAK. They can co-brand with WEEK and verbally refer to both stations the same way.

 

[mjlarochelle]

How many markets don't have a local news operation on the ABC station?

Fox bought Greensboro's ABC station in North Carolina, and the former Fox station took ABC and tried news but never succeeded. So they dropped it. The Fox station is still doing well.

In the smaller markets, tons. Traverse City-Cadillac is one, where the FOX affiliate has a 10 PM newscast. Watertown is another where WWTI no longer has a newscast, but the FOX affiliate (co-owned with the CBS affiliate) has a 10 PM newscast. Utica and Burlington-Plattsburgh also come to mind.