searadiofreak said:
SLC news has always been quite serious as opposed to frivilous. KSL set the standard. Others tried to add a little more "flash" or "entertainment value" into their product, but with KSL's success, SLC has always been a pretty serious news market. KUTV's (CBS) success recently was done with little flash, in fact, more of a relaxed version of KSL's serious style. The ABC affiliate has struggled, and if memory serves, let go many staffers a couple years ago. Even the Fox affiliate tends to stray away from sensationalism, and tries to live up to the market standard. SLC is an interesting TV news market. Very focused on conservative, family values as one might expect in this particular demographic/psychographic population.
Good description, but too simplistic and stereotypical. I totally agree with you on KSL setting the standard. It's been that way for decades. KUTV has tried to challenge KSL for years and years now and has come close now and then, but never could topple KSL"s dominance. There was a period of time when KTVX (the ABC affiliate) made some inroads as well, but they have faded lately. As for Fox 13 (KSTU), they just keep chugging along.
If you watch all of the newscasts, there's no doubt you would come away with the impression that KSL is simply head and shoulders about the others. They always had the best equipment that money could buy and tended to get the best talent as well. When I worked in the market, it was well-known that most of the talent in town aspired to end up on channel 5.
With regard to your comments about 'conservative values' and so forth, that's where you wander off into stereotypes. If anything, the newscasts tend to differ from those you see in a place like Seattle or New York or Chicago because they spend more time on subjects involving youth (Salt Lake is a very young market with a lot of young families) and involving the outdoors. The latter point is particularly evident in sportscasts because this is a market where biking, hiking, fishing, camping, and hunting tend to be of a lot more interest than professional team sports (with the important exception of NBA basketball and the Jazz). Local college sports also get a lot of emphasis. All this makes sense given the area's relative isolation from other large markets.
You do see stories that make references to goings-on at the LDS Church, but this makes sense as the majority of the population is LDS and the church's worldwide headquarters is located in Salt Lake. As it is - by far - the largest corporate entity based in Utah, anything going on with it tends to make news. But, I'll also point out that you're far more apt to see conservative commentary and right-leaning newscasts coming from a market like Birmingham or Oklahoma City than you are from Salt Lake.
In the newsroom where I worked, there were a heck of a lot more democrats than republicans. Though everyone knows where KSL's management stands, they rarely flaunt their political opinions on newscasts. And, as far as KUTV, KTVX and KSTU are concerned, these stations are no more oriented to the political right than stations in a similar sized market like Hartford, Columbus or Kansas City.
