Regional news network ... could it work here?

[penandpad]

(Not directly related to radio, but it's close enough ... )

I'm wondering, with the growth of the markets through people migrating from the north (NYC) and south (DC) whether the Susquehanna Valley could now support its own regional cable channel.

All valley, all the time. Live newscasts 6-8 am, 10-10:30 am, 12:30-1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5-7 p.m., 10-12 p.m. Add in a few news magazines, replay some of the newscasts, run a nightly sports show. Overnights, find an overnight service (Headline News?) to fill.

On the weekends even run high school/college sports to get some sports ad $$$ and fill up your programming schedule.

Would it work? Or is the region too fragmented into its little fiefdoms (Lancaster, York, Harrisburg, Hanover, Gettysburg, etc.)?

 

[stockwell]

> Would it work? Or is the region too fragmented into its
> little fiefdoms (Lancaster, York, Harrisburg, Hanover,
> Gettysburg, etc.)?

I think you nailed it right there. All of these areas are amazingly parochial. You can't find a York paper in Lancaster to save your life, and vice versa. Hanoverians act as if they don't live in York County. (In fact, many of them would love to secede and form Hanover County.) Folks in York and Lancaster act as if going to the other county is an all-day trip because it's so far. And Harrisburgers don't even like to admit that York and Lancaster exist. (They're too busy fighting the East Shore/West Shore war.)

Look at local radio...Gary Sutton on WSBA has a significant Lancaster listenership and it's rare for him to even say the word "Lancaster" because he's a "York show" on a "York Station." The same is true of Bob Durgin. He's a "Harrisburg show." He won't acknowledge York or Lancaster if he has a gun to his head.

I grew up in York. I now live in Lancaster. I have had jobs and clients in Harrisburg. I never cease to be amazed at how much these counties act as if they are separated by oceans.

I think a regional news network is an interesting idea. But you can't even get bigger radio stations to carry Radio Pennsylvania. I think the more likely occurence will be Comcast expanding its CN8 coverage to the Susquehanna valley now that they have purchased SusCom in York and reall have the whole southeast of PA covered.

Rambling now...sorry.

 

[penandpad]

> I think you nailed it right there. All of these areas are
> amazingly parochial. You can't find a York paper in
> Lancaster to save your life, and vice versa. Hanoverians act
> as if they don't live in York County. (In fact, many of them
> would love to secede and form Hanover County.) Folks in York
> and Lancaster act as if going to the other county is an
> all-day trip because it's so far. And Harrisburgers don't
> even like to admit that York and Lancaster exist. (They're
> too busy fighting the East Shore/West Shore war.)

I think it would work since drawing from such a large region would mean you'd always have news going on. Base an operation in Harrisburg and put reporters in York, Lancaster, Shippensburg, maybe Lewistown. You'd have plenty of material and not an overabundance of manpower.

My opinion is that the affiliates pull it off. Why couldn't a regional channel?

New England Cable News is a low-quality example of this, but they have reporters spread out over a larger geographic area, and they make it work.

> I think a regional news network is an interesting idea. But
> you can't even get bigger radio stations to carry Radio
> Pennsylvania. I think the more likely occurence will be
> Comcast expanding its CN8 coverage to the Susquehanna valley
> now that they have purchased SusCom in York and reall have
> the whole southeast of PA covered.

Will never happen. All the programming will continue to be piped out of Philadelphia. Adding York and Adams counties isn't gonna pump up their subscriber base that much.