Out of Town Newscast

[e-dawg]

If you going out of town on a vacation, business, college, or moving.

Do you watch other markets news based on Network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) or by Ownership (Belo, Tribune, LIN, Gannett)?

 

[mleach]

If you going out of town on a vacation, business, college, or moving.

Do you watch other markets news based on Network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) or by Ownership (Belo, Tribune, LIN, Gannett)?

For many years for me it was the "Eyewitness News" brand. If a station is using that, I'll watch. However in recent years its getting harder to do that since so many stations have dropped that name even though it is making a comeback in a few places such as Buffalo's WKBW who recently dropped "7 News" in favor of their old "Eyewitness News". WKBW even brought back "Move Closer To Your World" too.

In recent years though when I go out of town I actually don't watch the local news at all.

 

[MarcB]

It just depends. When I was on vacation in the Philly suburbs last summer I remember I watched "6 ABC Action News" at 5 and FOX 29 News at 6.

 

[bpatrick]

Normally I watch the ABC station, although
I will check out 11 Alive in Atlanta (NBC, formerly
ABC) and KENS San Antonio (CBS, no connection
to ABC unless it carried ABC programs before KSAT
came on the air). If my stepmother is present, I'm
forced to watch the CBS station; she insists on no
other.

A story none of you will believe but I swear it's true:
When WHAS/11 Louisville streamed its newscasts, I
used to watch every night, and my two cats got to
the point that they would go into the bedroom where
my computer is, get up on the bed, and wait for me
to turn on the computer. The male cat slept through
the broadcast; the female was totally focused on it,
as if she understood what they were saying. How they
knew when it was time for the news, I'll never know.
The female cat is gone now, but the male one likes to
look at the crawls on morning local newscasts (he'll
follow them just as if he's reading them).

 

[KML0224]

I usually don't stay overnight on the short trips I make. When I last did, it was to Portland, ME. I immediately put it on WCSH-TV (NBC) channel 6 of Portland, since they were the newscast I'd watch most often when living in Old Orchard Beach for two years in the 1980s. During commercials, I'd flip over to either ABC 8 or CBS 13 to see how their presentations were.

 

[formeraa]

Normally I watch the ABC station, although
I will check out 11 Alive in Atlanta (NBC, formerly
ABC) and KENS San Antonio (CBS, no connection
to ABC unless it carried ABC programs before KSAT
came on the air). If my stepmother is present, I'm
forced to watch the CBS station; she insists on no
other.

A story none of you will believe but I swear it's true:
When WHAS/11 Louisville streamed its newscasts, I
used to watch every night, and my two cats got to
the point that they would go into the bedroom where
my computer is, get up on the bed, and wait for me
to turn on the computer. The male cat slept through
the broadcast; the female was totally focused on it,
as if she understood what they were saying. How they
knew when it was time for the news, I'll never know.
The female cat is gone now, but the male one likes to
look at the crawls on morning local newscasts (he'll
follow them just as if he's reading them).

Hey bpatrick --

You should post your "cat story" on a pet community website like pets.com. I know that other pet lovers would get a kick out of this (I certainly did).

Back on topic, I primarily watch KING/5 News and NWCN when I visit Seattle. KING is KING in Seattle. For old times sake, I also watch KIRO (my favorite growing up) and occasionally KOMO. Usually, I spend about 2 seconds watching Q-13 before I fall asleep.

The funny thing is that, when visiting another city, I tend to forget all the comments made on these tv boards about the stations. I went to D.C. and Vegas this year and totally forgot to pay close attention to the newscasts.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Whenever I am out of town I like to watch as many different stations as possible. I like to look at their sets, weather graphics, bumpers, opening and closing themes etc. And their on-air personalities.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Whenever I am out of town I like to watch as many different stations as possible. I like to look at their sets, weather graphics, bumpers, opening and closing themes etc. And their on-air personalities.

Same here.

And if there's a winner and a loser as far as best local news outlet, I can usually tell within a 10 or 15 minute scan.

 

[LKellerIII]

If you going out of town on a vacation, business, college, or moving.

Do you watch other markets news based on Network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) or by Ownership (Belo, Tribune, LIN, Gannett)?

For many years for me it was the "Eyewitness News" brand. If a station is using that, I'll watch. However in recent years its getting harder to do that since so many stations have dropped that name even though it is making a comeback in a few places such as Buffalo's WKBW who recently dropped "7 News" in favor of their old "Eyewitness News". WKBW even brought back "Move Closer To Your World" too.

Why? Eyewitness News was just one of those overused brand names. In the top 2 markets (LA and NY), it was always Eyewitness News on the ABC O&O stations, but in San Francisco it was (and still is) the CBS O&O. I believe the old Westinghouse owned stations used that brand in various cities (including San Francisco) regardless of the station's network affiliation. Similar to how "Kiss-FM" and "Star (Frequency)" are different radio formats in different markets. Actually, "Eyewitness News" is the only brand name left for local news in the Bay Area...the other stations are all generic now.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Related:

I would always try to bring back the TB Guide (or is that TV Glide?)* edition
from the "visiting market" to compare schedules, especially other Mountain
time zone (my home market = Phoenix) and left coast markets.

More so in years past (1970s to mid-1990s), lesser later on, and for the
past 6-7 years--forget it. That's about when it turned to crap and I
stopped getting the local edition too. They kept trying to get me to
renew for over a year, and I finally told them "no, and I don't want the
@#$% sports bag either!" :


*: Hopefully some of you "Theatre" buffs will get the reference.

 

[azumanga]

I used to make it a habit of buying TV Guides whenever I travel out of region, up until 2004, when they began to skimp on their listings. I haven't even as much as touch it since then (though I do use their website on occasion for out-of-town listings, but even there I suspect that they're skimping on some channels).

 

[mleach]

If you going out of town on a vacation, business, college, or moving.

Do you watch other markets news based on Network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) or by Ownership (Belo, Tribune, LIN, Gannett)?

For many years for me it was the "Eyewitness News" brand. If a station is using that, I'll watch. However in recent years its getting harder to do that since so many stations have dropped that name even though it is making a comeback in a few places such as Buffalo's WKBW who recently dropped "7 News" in favor of their old "Eyewitness News". WKBW even brought back "Move Closer To Your World" too.

Why? Eyewitness News was just one of those overused brand names. In the top 2 markets (LA and NY), it was always Eyewitness News on the ABC O&O stations, but in San Francisco it was (and still is) the CBS O&O. I believe the old Westinghouse owned stations used that brand in various cities (including San Francisco) regardless of the station's network affiliation. Similar to how "Kiss-FM" and "Star (Frequency)" are different radio formats in different markets. Actually, "Eyewitness News" is the only brand name left for local news in the Bay Area...the other stations are all generic now.

Growing up in Northern Virginia my parents would only watch DC's then-WTOP/WDVM channel 9 and Baltimore's WJZ channel 13 for local news. They couldnt stand Jim Vance or Bob Ryan ( WRC ) and my dad's business had this beef at the time ( the 70s ) against WJLA so my parents avoided watching those stations. Both DC's channel 9 and WJZ were using Eyewitness News ( WJZ still does but the rumor continues that they will drop it one day ) . I guess my parents habit had rubbed off on me. They both were fans of Richmond's ( ok Petersburg ) WXEX-TV channel 8 because of them using Eyewitness News.

I agree the name Eyewitness News is overused, just like Action News. But over the years, to me anyway the stations that used Eyewitness always seemed to be not only like "home" to me but also a notch above the other stations. Of couse the name Eyewitness News doesnt always mean quality. Charleston, WV's WCHS their Eyewitness News is pretty bad. Dittos with Roanoke, Virginia's WSLS when they tried Eyewitness News..almost like watching public access.

Interesting the name Eyewitness News has been known to "switch stations" over the years. It happened in Cincinatti as both WLWT and WKRC used that name ( not at the same time ). Likewise in Hampton Roads ( Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Portsmouth ) with WAVY and WTKR. Neither market uses that name now.

 

[arnoldevns]

I love watching newscasts in other towns when I visit. Although now I can do that a lot from home over the internet anyway.
Now when I'm on the road, I find myself tuning in via the net to my hometown stations to keep in touch with what I need to know when I get back home.

 

[BarryATL]

I was traveling about 180 days of the year up until about 12 months ago. I would spend most of my time in Lake Charles, LA, Houma, LA, and Hattiesburg, MS. I watched the local news regularly in each town as I owned businesses there and it was a good way to see what was going on. Being from Atlanta and watching WSB-TV Action News, the small towns were a huge change.

I will say that I have a tremendous amount of respect for KPLC in Lake Charles. I was in Lake Charles 12 hours after Rita and stayed for six weeks while my business re-built. KPLC is a Raycom station and while the newscast is nowhere near as polished as a major market, they worked their tails off to cover their town. They have a hurrican plan that brings in extra help from other Raycom markets. In the aftermaths of Rita and Gustav, KPLC could be compared to the coverage that WWL-AM did in New Orleans. The Gap (formally Apex) owned radio stations will carry the audio of KPLC until power is restored to a majority of the market. The other good thing about KPLC is they have a few locals working there that really know thier market. I guess what really struck me about KPLC coverage after Rita was they covered the recovery as if it mattered rather than just a news story and I think that is a difference between a major market station and small market station.

Other side of the coin, I have seen some local stations who just try too hard and it just comes out really really bad. Hattiesburg, MS and WDAM comes to mind. They try to be something they are not... where KPLC knows they are a small market and they don't set the bar too high and for some reason it works. Now, please don't get me wrong... sometimes I am rolling my eyes or laughing at the news on KPLC, but that is the nature of living in a big city and then traveling to a small town.

 

[Don62]

I used to make it a habit of buying TV Guides whenever I travel out of region, up until 2004, when they began to skimp on their listings. I haven't even as much as touch it since then (though I do use their website on occasion for out-of-town listings, but even there I suspect that they're skimping on some channels).

The TV Guides during the 1970s used to be more thorough on the stations they listed. It was always interesting to see how they broke the market down, and the "satellite" or translator stations they listed in small print on the bottom.

This site has a good sampling of the various markets from the 50s forward.
http://www.mcsittel.com/html/tv_guide.html

 

[KML0224]

I used to buy TV Guide from out of the area all the time! The last time was the Central Pennsylvania Edtion, purchased at a Rite Aid in Scranton back in June of 2004. Ah memories!

 

[1069_KIFR]

Speaking of 'Eyewitness News', San Francisco's KPIX, aka CBS 5 uses the 'Eyewitness News' moniker. But all the reporters and anchors refer everything as CBS 5. No one mentions 'Eyewitness News' I always felt the reporters should end their stories as saying, " Reporting from San Francisco (insert name) CBS 5 .... Eyewitness News"

I think they keep the name so no one else will take advantage of it and use it properly.

 

[Tim L]

I find when I am out of my home area, I tend to watch the NBC affiliate Newscast first..Out of habit because WKYC/KYW in Cleveland was always my favorite news station dating back to the mid 1960's..I will sample the other newscasts eventually..If only for a few minutes each


As far as TV Guide..When my parents or other relatives were out of town, I would always ask them to pick up a TV Guide from the location they were visiting..I wish I had saved some of them..

 

[Don62]

I find when I am out of my home area, I tend to watch the NBC affiliate Newscast first..Out of habit because WKYC/KYW in Cleveland was always my favorite news station dating back to the mid 1960's..I will sample the other newscasts eventually..If only fojavascript:void(0);r a few minutes each


As far as TV Guide..When my parents or other relatives were out of town, I would always ask them to pick up a TV Guide from the location they were visiting..I wish I had saved some of them..

When I worked in TV news at a station in Springfield, Mo., the news director was going out of town, to corp. HQs in another state. I asked him to pick up a copy of the local TV guide or newspaper TV guide, either one.

The bonehead had no idea what I was talking about. He kept saying, "They're all the same shows."

 

[Smittian]

If I'm in the San Antonio area, I watch KENS. In Houston, I watch KTRK. In Corpus Christi, I watch KRIS