The best SMALL markets....

[mleach]

What is America's best small market when it comes to their news and/or what is available there?

Small market meaning those below 75. The reason I bring that part up is that for some odd reason to some people the line between small and big market, they base that as to whether or not that market is the home of a major league team ( NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL ). Using that logic that means some rather good sized markets such as Las Vegas, Providence, Hampton Roads, Louisville, Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, Honolulu and Albuquerque would be considered "small market" only because they lack a major league team. Like the website my wife belongs too, a lot of their members claim that Oklahoma City is now "major market" and how TV had changed overnight there...only because they now have the NBA. Never been to Oklahoma City so I can't comment on the quality of their stations but I do have my doubts that they all "had changed" simply because they are now into major league sports. Anyway I don't buy that "..do they have sports?" as the line that seperates "big" and "small".

Ok...my pick for the best small markets...

1. Grand Junction, Colorado ( I have seen clips of their local news..they really aren't that bad. KKCO channel 11, their news from what I saw looked as good as anything I saw in Denver. )

2. Youngstown, Ohio ( Of course this a depressed area but I didn't find their quality of their news to be really all that bad )

3. Salisbury, Maryland ( yes the do lack their own NBC and WMDT isn't the best..but they do have WBOC. For some reason whenever I am in that area I always find myself to enjoy watching them. besides if a small station like WBOC has their own chopper, they can't be that bad. )

Anchorage, Alaska...never been there but I have heard from quite a few people who have and all of them claim that their TV is almost as good as what one would find in a major market.

 

[tripinva]

I would argue that Charlottesville, where I am, is an excellent small market.

Every major network is available over the air here, as well as two PBS stations. NBC29 does everything in HD (and I mean everything, live remotes, promos for shows, etc). Aside from that, their technical operation is top-notch, I've toured there and saw first-hand that Waterman broadcasting pours money into the operation. Their news feels very professional while still holding the "small town" feel to it.

The "Newsplex" stations (CBS/ABC/Fox/My) showed up about 5 years ago in an attempt to challenge NBC29, and so to challenge NBC29 takes a lot of money and a lot of effort to look as good and operate as well as NBC29 does. Gray delivered, and really does their best, though the ratings don't really reflect this as far as I know. Their newscasts still don't feel as professional as NBC29, but are definitely watchable.

CW and My aren't available in HD over the air, but there's very little HD content on them, and these networks aren't available in HD in most smaller markets.

As for the PBS stations, I can't receive WVPT-DT in my apartment (though I can manage some signal), so I can't comment on the technical quality, but they do have Create and V-Me as subchannels. WHTJ-DT is much preferred to my "home" PBS of WBRA in Roanoke. They run a consistent, sensible schedule, they have the national PBS-HD feed on 41-1 with their SD on 41-2, and one of my absolute favorite subchannels, MHz WorldView on 41-3.

All in all, I love TV here. I definitely prefer the local PBS and NBC to the ones at home in the Roanoke market. The only thing Charlottesville does not have that I want is RTN, and only because they have Battlestar Galactica on Saturdays. I think a lot of the other classic shows air on the local MyNet station.

- Trip

 

[dgendvil]

My best pick of favorite small TV market would be Lafayette/Lake Charles, LA, which is situated near the Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge & Beaumont markets. They've got the best small town newscasts anywhere in the South, with two veteran anchors in Maria Placer (retired) & Blue Rolfes, who had both worked in Acadiana Television for a combined 80 years. I know channel 10 (CBS) is for sale, while channels 3 (ABC) & 7 (NBC) are hanging in there, but owned by healthy companies.

 

[TheRob]

As far as Anchorage goes, it is KTUU and everyone else. KTUU looks and sounds like a medium market station. The CBS and ABC stations looked more representative of a typical 150ish market.

 

[EricStein]

From what I've seen, I'd got to add Bend, Oregon to the list. Both the NBC and ABC affiliates there do news in HD, although the ABC (KOHD) is a bit more professional looking than the NBC (KTVZ). I can't say anything about the recently-launched CBS affiliate (KBNZ), and the FOX affiliate is a sister of KTVZ.

I was in Bend 15 years ago, and back then, KTVZ was the only local station in town, and looked very small-market. What competition (and new owners with some money to infuse into the operation) could do...

 

[compubit]

I'll definitely second Charlottesville - from what I've seen, both from Waterman and Gray - even with only 2 "true" TV news providers, they do a great job of providing variety and options. Seeing that WVIR has gone HD for the size of market gives them extra bonus points.

I haven't seen Bend in a while, but guess that KOHD caused KTVZ to bump it up a notch.

Lake Charles/Lafayette do a decent job for 2 separate markets that effectively operate as 1 (save dual Fox stations...).

Of course I have Bryan/College Station in my heart from college - KBTX does a decent job for the market it covers.

Jim

 

[mbclev]

I would argue that Charlottesville, where I am, is an excellent small market.

Every major network is available over the air here, as well as two PBS stations. NBC29 does everything in HD (and I mean everything, live remotes, promos for shows, etc). Aside from that, their technical operation is top-notch, I've toured there and saw first-hand that Waterman broadcasting pours money into the operation. Their news feels very professional while still holding the "small town" feel to it.

Now if only NBC 29 would actually do its version of It's Academic in Charlottesville instead of taping its shows in Washington. (Watch the closing credits from this 1988 Charlottesville show and you'll see what I mean.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkFjKHUokJo

 

[KML0224]

Produced with assistance from WRC-TV...yep! He's right!

 

[BRNout]

Well, I guess it's more of a mid-sized market (75), but I have to call out Spokane as a market which produces news and local programming on par with a much bigger market. During their snow emergency in December, each of the big 4 network affiliates produced hours of special coverage and offered up top-notch reporters with excellent coverage. Honestly, they looked more professional than what you see in some much larger markets.

So, I'll give them a nod here.

In the sub-100 market range, I'd nominate Reno. Boise, Corpus Christi, and Grand Junction as small markets that seem to have very good local stations.

 

[EricStein]

I haven't seen Bend in a while, but guess that KOHD caused KTVZ to bump it up a notch.

The Bend stations look good for a 150+ market, and in some ways, better than their counterparts in larger adjacent small markets Medford (KOBI/KOTI still looks very small market) and Eugene (KMTR and KVAL could be better). It's as if Chambers Communications is spending more money in their Bend operation than their Medford station KDRV.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I always thought that the Wheeling, WV/Steubenville, OH market did an admirable job with the news, especially since they are an entry-level market with a lot of very young people grasping the first rung of the ladder there. That plus the fact that so little that is newsworthy seems to happen in that market on any given day.

Not sure where they rank nationally, but having spent some time in Michigan in the mythical city of Baycitysaginawmidlandflint,
they seem to do a decent job there as well.

 

[BRNout]

Not sure where they rank nationally, but having spent some time in Michigan in the mythical city of Baycitysaginawmidlandflint,
they seem to do a decent job there as well.

They're probably working their butts off and giving 200% to get the heck out of there!!

 

[mleach]

I always thought that the Wheeling, WV/Steubenville, OH market did an admirable job with the news, especially since they are an entry-level market with a lot of very young people grasping the first rung of the ladder there. That plus the fact that so little that is newsworthy seems to happen in that market on any given day.

Actually most of the TV newscasts I have seen coming out of West Virginia over the years ( though not recently ) were not that bad. For example Charleston-Huntington's Tom McGee ( WOWK ) despite personal problems is/was a great anchor and Spenser Atkins ( still at WOWK ) I would rank as one of the top weather folks in the country.

The downside of West Virginia TV is that the fastest growing area of that state until rather recently was the Eastern Panhandle and with the except of Public Television that part of West Virginia gets all of their TV from other states such as Baltimore ( Maryland ), Washington DC, Winchester (Virginia ) and Hagerstown ( Maryland ). Sadly nothing from West Virginia.

 

[azumanga]

Charleston-Huntington's Tom McGee ( WOWK ) despite personal problems is/was a great anchor...

Four years ago, McGee was an anchor for a 10PM newscast at WHCP (now WQCW) -- reading into this Wikipedia article, it makes KXGN's and WSVI's newscasts seem more like the BBC's.

 

[mleach]

Charleston-Huntington's Tom McGee ( WOWK ) despite personal problems is/was a great anchor...

Four years ago, McGee was an anchor for a 10PM newscast at WHCP (now WQCW) -- reading into this Wikipedia article, it makes KXGN's and WSVI's newscasts seem more like the BBC's.

That is true even though I seem to remember seeing a pic of the WHCP news set...it didnt look that bad BUT.....LOL I guess its a case of the owners spending too much money on things like getting McGee and building that set but failed to spend the money on the "less important" things like teleprompters and health insurance for their employees. Paying employees with food coupons rather than money? That is both funny and sad at the same time. Talk about a newscast that was doomed from the start. I doubt anyone could had saved them.