The DTV Test & The Crawl as a Bargaining Tool

I was watching the local Fox news as they were hyping their DTV test last night and then I heard recaps of similar tests done earlier on KWCH and KSN. I assume KAKE might have done the same thing last night. Apparently if your TV was not equipped you would have seen static and if it was fine you saw bars in some tests like on KWCH and on the Fox one I saw "Everybody Loves Raymond" promos, signaling I guess, all was good with my cable and I was ready for the switchover. Plus the stations had special lines people could call to have their questions answered. It appeared as if they were local numbers and answered by local people. What a concept or was it just cheaper that way? I am curious how the tests went at the various stations.

The Crawl as a Bargaining Tool?
It has also been interesting to watch the crawls lately through the tests. Back in the day you only saw crawls for severe weather. Lately you started seeing them warning people about the switch to DTV. Last night I saw a crawl on one of the stations using it as an apparent leverage tactic in bargaining agreements with various cable operators in the area. The crawl basically stated that if you had one of the cable companies listed as a cable provider to contact that provider because if they don't reach an agreement with the TV station, the viewer wouldn't see programming from the station after a certain date. Because of all the crawls, I haven't been reading them lately and the one last night lumped in with the rest so I cannot remember which station did this. Maybe more than one is doing this and I simply have missed it in growing tired of the crawls. The airwaves are the public's in one sense, but the programming and content is owned and controlled by the stations so they do what they think they need to like running bargaining crawls. I really don't have any views one way or another about it, but I am curious if anyone else has seen the crawls aimed specifically on the cable agreements and if any of them has interrupted your viewing of key programs. Of course when the crawls are aimed at weather info and maybe saving people's lives, angry viewers call in for that, so I am curious what happens on something like this. -Hal

Gallup: Local TV News Leads But Declining

A new Gallup survey shows that although a majority of Americans still get their news from local TV stations, it has declined from the previous year along with many other daily news sources, except cable TV news and of course the internet. Local TV news declined 3 percentage points. Sorry to say, but declining only 3 points in a year I think is a mini victory for local TV news. Digging deeper into the results, a higher percentage of viewers say they watch cable TV news than they do nightly network newscasts for the first time since Gallup started the survey in 1995. I think another one of the problematic issues for local TV news is if viewers don't watch the nightly network newscasts. I feel many local stations put more effort into a 6PM newscast than a 10PM and I really don't understand that. However, local TV stations should still be happy that a majority in the survey say they still get their news from them.

Moonves Foreshadows Network TV's Future? - CBS Chief Exec. Les Moonves said in a Marketwatch article that in 10 years the traditional model of airing new network programing on local affiliates may not exist in favor of offering a feed directly to satellite or cable operators and bypassing those local stations. This doesn't come as a surprise in premise, but it does surprise me that Moonves said it publicly. It definitely shows that local stations must look to diversify and expand its product on other platforms in order to continue to remain viable. -Hal

The Local TV News Business Game

Upon reading news today of NBC Universal slashing 500 jobs and Viacom cutting about 850 jobs, I began wondering how are things evolving locally. I think some of the cuts at NBC, Viacom and other networks were going to happen whether the economy took a turn or not, because of changes in technology and media consumption. However, the economic downturn stirs the pot even more and accelerates change in the media world. I have found it interesting in reading articles and watching stories about the economic problems how the example of local car dealers' slumps across the country have forced them to cut back on advertising in newspapers, radio and television. Not only are these stories appearing in trade publications, but also on shows and publications watched and read by the mainstream population. Its been awhile since I have heard of any large layoffs happening in Wichita at TV stations. There have been comments made to the posts that one station isn't replacing people when they leave and making 1 person do the job of a couple. Is it just a matter of time before we hear of big cuts in this market? Or are Wichita stations already dealing with minimum staffs and there are no cuts to make? With technology and the economy influencing the business at identical times, it will be interesting to see what happens. I am curious to hear your opinions.
KPTS Larry Hatteberg Special - KPTS airs a special called, "Larry Hatteberg's Kansas People," Tonight at 7PM on the local PBS station. It re airs Sunday, December 14 at 6PM. The website describes it as "collection of some of his favorite stories from the television series on KAKE TV." The special happens to run during one of the station's fundraising drives. -Hal

Time For A New Post and Random Thoughts

It is most certainly time for a new post. Things are getting a tad nasty in the comments section of the last post. I do want to briefly touch on some of the later comments from the last post on a suspicious death or homicide, whatever you want to call it in Pratt. Apparently KSN reporter Justin Kraemer called it a homicide from the beginning. Other stations kept referring to it as a "suspicious death" and many of you wrote to this blog expressing your opinions one way or another. I believe now all the stations are referring to it as a homicide. What do I think of this? It is proof that it is definitely time for a new post. I know many of you don't think I have a heart, but after all it is a Holiday period so lets steer towards some new topics.

Bill Snyder Back to K-State - This is one of those stories that when it is officially announced, you are almost tired of the story since "sources" broke the story on Sunday. All the TV stations had similar offerings. I was curious to watch the announcement (I don't know why) and I first turned online, but I decided I should give the ole TV a try. KSN was the only one to break into regular programming for the announcement on TV. The others offered it online and had crawls across the screen. Overall though, the coverage during the day was consistent among the three stations and pretty decent.

KWCH New Sports Hire - KWCH employees and fans get ready, I am about to say good things about your station. (Despite your thoughts, I am positive about your station, more than you think.) New weekend sports anchor Jenn Bates is a great hire for KWCH. She comes across as knowledgeable and confident. Female sports reporters/anchors can be tough to come by and I bet she doesn't stay around for long. I think she is very good: male or female.

KWCH Nice Thing to Write #2 - They made a change on their Saturday morning show. Kim Hynes was taken off the anchor desk and replaced by Kara Sewell. It's a difference of night and day. I had been critical before about that show, now it has a whole new feel. Weather guy Rodney appears more relaxed and natural on the set. I haven't seen enough of Kara's stories to see how she is as a reporter, but she does a nice job anchoring, switching from the happy talk of weather, to the latest shooting overnight or fluffy feel good story in a professional manner. Plus her delivery is not forced and you are not reminded that she is reading from a teleprompter. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think she's quite ready for Cindy's job, but I think it is another good hire for KWCH.

Former KWCH News Director to KPTS - This post is becoming all about KWCH. (Sorry to some of you). I received an e-mail several weeks ago and I never read it until this morning, when I received a few more comments about this. KPTS has hired former KWCH news director Michele Gors as the station's new President and Chief Executive Officer. She began her position last Monday. -Hal

What makes a Good Story?

A Comment from the last post wanted to know, "What are your qualifications on what does make a good story and what doesn't?" Some of what I write here may sound cliche, but I think it often is forgotten for flash and such. (No, its tempting here, but I wont point out the example of the City's newest arrival. Read previous posts for that.)

1)Must keep a viewer's interest - This is an obvious one, but can be very complex because it incorporates so much. If a story isn't interesting, many things can be at fault: bad subject matter, no story development, poor writing, bad editing, and no connection with the area.

2) Must answer the basic who, what, when, where, and why - Sometimes the answers to all of these 5 questions aren't known and won't ever be known. The challenge is to still engage the viewer and give a clear picture with the answers you have, but don't con the viewer into thinking you have all the answers when you do not.

3) Must fulfill the majority of viewers needs of wanting to know - Although it may sound strange at first, this refers to a shooting down the street and even to the latest escapade with Paris Hilton. Because of this, viewers' needs in a particular area of the country aren't identical. This is where I think consultants often times error. Sometimes they come up with a cure-all formula which may (I only write, "may." I don't like consultants.) help one town's TV station but not the whole country. Because people have many options of getting informed, if a viewer invests a few minutes to watch a story on TV, they better come out of it feeling they learned something out of the deal. Whether its the circumstances of the latest shooting or the name of Paris Hilton's newest dog, the viewer must feel they learned something rather than creating more questions from the story. The problems TV stations and other traditional media outlets have with the internet is the ability for viewers to customize their news intake. They don't have to invest 1:30 or 30 seconds for a story they do not care about. Sure they could flip to one of the other stations during this time, but they may not offer anything of interest either. The internet, on the other hand, can be more convenient for checking out multiple media sources at a faster pace. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer TV news over the internet.

I am only starting on this topic and as I get more comments about this one, I'll probably have more posts on this. So please, respond with your thoughts about what makes a good story. -Hal

The Heap of Sweeps

All three stations had what I guess would be considered Sweeps pieces Tonight. KWCHers will say I am picking on him, but Brian Heap's shtick is too much. KWCH's newest reporter's style is over-the-top. His story Tonight was very 80's like, but nonetheless talked about an important issue how social security numbers and other valuable info can be found in dumpsters. I wished The Heap would have done all of Wichita a favor and just stayed in the dumpster. The story was moving along when he includes the audio from a Pennsylvania woman whose son's info was found in a Wichita dumpster. She then thanks God that The Heap was the one going through the dumpster and that he decided to take the cause on. On his Sunday story he HAD to include a line where a woman was speeding along until she saw the Heap and slowed down. Thankfully he gives himself credit, because I don't know many others who would. Its too bad, because the other reporters at KWCH who do investigative pieces, Kim Wilhelm and Michael Schwanke, do not find it necessary to tell people how important they are to the story. In fact outside of seeing them for a few seconds in the story they do not make it about them. They make their stories about the topic they are covering. WOW!! What a concept. And most of their stories are very good. How this Heap of whatever can work at KWCH, I don't understand. I think KWCH takes a huge credibility hit with The Heap filing stories for them. -Hal.

Local Election Coverage Feed Back

I'll let this post be just for all of the readers as you watch the local stations and their coverage of the election returns Tonight. I don't really expect anything all that surprising as far as coverage goes. In part, I think the local races for Congress and Senate should be decided early with little surprises. As you watch and you see something interesting post a comment and let the discussion begin. -Hal