It’s good to see that some stations are expanding their efforts to get viewers to watch their newscast. In Richmond, Virginia the local CBS affiliate (WTVR) has added a 7pm Newscast to catch the post 6pm arrivals. Richmond BizSense talks about how competitive this market still remains.
"CBS 6 has added a 7 p.m. newscast to its lineup. That means across the networks in Richmond, you can get local news from 4:30 p.m. through 7:30 p.m.
“People who work late or are at the gym or grocery store at 5 or 6 o’clock may not be able to watch an evening newscast,” said Bill Anderson, the station news director.
For the Richmond area, this will be the only station broadcasting news at 7.
The additional newscast may allow the station to reach an untapped, most likely younger demographic that isn’t home to watch the news at 5:00 or 5:30.
With a different audience in mind, it will also come at the news from a different slant.
“We are targeting viewers interested in technology, the local business landscape and consumer and environmental issues,” Anderson said.
Bill Fitzgerald and Stephanie Rochon are anchoring the broadcast, which launched Monday. Zach Daniel is the meteorologist for the show.
It’s no secret that working in the media industry can be tough, but what happens when you cross the line? Alysia Sofios, a former reporter from KMPH Channel 26 in Fresno, CA, told her story to the Fresno Bee about how breaking the ethics code changed her life for the good.
"Television reporter Alysia Sofios broke a cardinal rule of journalism ethics: She became personally involved in a news story.
By befriending members of the Wesson family after the murders, she changed her life and her career. But she accepts the consequences.
"I know what I did five years ago was unethical. Trust me, I struggled with it," Sofios said.
"But since then, I've never doubted my decision. This was bigger than my job."
Two months after the Wesson murders, Sofios -- then covering the story for KMPH (Channel 26.1) -- invited Wesson's wife, Elizabeth, daughter Kiani and niece Rosie to move into her two-bedroom apartment. She also became friends with Gypsy Wesson. Pregnant at the time of the murders, Gypsy later named her daughter after Sofios."
Things looking better for New Vision Television
People who work at a New Vision Television station are breathing a sigh of relief. The station group includes 14 major network-affiliated television stations and a Delaware court approved a plan of reorganization acording to an article on PRNewswire.
"Under the Plan, as approved by the Court, all of New Vision's debt and guaranteed obligations of more than $400 million will be eliminated. NewVision will be provided with sufficient capital to ensure the company's uninterrupted business operations, and New Vision's existing management andemployees will remain in place.
"New Vision has reached an important milestone," said Jason Elkin, New Vision's founder and Chief Executive Officer. "As we began this restructuring process, we promised our employees, our viewers and our advertisers that New Vision wouldn't miss a beat, and we haven't. Our daily business hasn't been impacted at all: Jobs and benefits for our employees are intact; advertisers have continued to receive top customer service; and our stations have continued to invest in best-of-class news coverage and other programming. Now, with the Court's approval of our reorganization plan, the way is clear for New Vision to emerge from this restructuring process in the very near future - as a financially strong and agile company, with great employees, loyal advertisers, committed local audiences, and valuable geographic and network diversification among our stations."
We've all raced to cover a story and needed to get some witness sound or an MOS (man on the street) interview to give some context to the story we are reporting. Well Lee Ostaszewski of the MetroWest Daily News has taken notice and put together a funny piece on the phenomena of shirtless interview subjects.
"Have you noticed how often this happens every summer? More on-air chest hair than there should be, right? What are they thinking? I'm not a prude and I am sure some people find the male upper body physique an attractive thing. I just seems odd that a) so many guys are going around shirtless in their spare time, and b) when they see a TV reporter and cameraman approaching their front door looking for a comment, their first reaction isn't, "Maybe I should go throw a shirt on quick."
Share some of your best MOS stories in Off the Record, these are the stories you will remember for your whole life.
TV Stations turning to Social Media
The Seattle Post Intellegencer reports that stations are trying to get ahead of the curve by using social media to draw viewers to their newscasts. Marketing departments have been forced to get creative and that's what is happening in Seattle.
"That station, KCPQ/13, sponsored a Tweetup at the Waterfront Seafood Grill in Seattle Friday night. Pitman learned about the event on her iPhone when she was in New York City on business, and signed up immediately. (The $12 ticket benefited the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters Burn Foundation.)
Friday's meet-and-greet brought together hundreds of people who follow "Q13Fox News" and its personalities on Twitter, and who may be followed by "Q13Fox News" in return. Lots of Q13 personalities attended, and the gathering was a marketer's dream: a richly diverse group by any measure, be it age, race, sex or fashion."
TVLifer follows a number of television stations on Twitter to keep up with your newsroom, if you want to keep up with TVLifer follow us on Twitter.
Where does the Healthcare debate go now?
President Obama has accepted Rep. Joe Wilson's (R - South Carolina) apology for his outburst during the President's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Rep. Wilson yelled "you lie" after President Obama explained that his healthcare reform proposal would not cover illegal immigrants.
How will the President's speech and Rep. Wilson's comment impact news coverage of the issue going forward? Has the President recaptured the momentum and how will TVLifers out there localize this story and keep it fresh? Share your thoughts in TVL's Off the Record forum.
If you missed Rep. Wilson's comment during this speech you can view it below:
Nielsen stats not bad, but not great
The reasoning isn't for sure, but Nielsen Research says that this year has had the smallest increase in new TV households in the past decade. It could be market saturation or more households opting to use the Web as their source for programming.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Nielsen Media Research company estimates the number of television households in the United States is up to 114.9 million as the new TV season begins.
Nielsen compiles TV ratings. It says the TV household estimate is up by 400,000 homes from last year's number. That's the smallest increase in the past decade.
Nielsen also says the nation's total viewers over age 2 has increased slightly to 292 million.
Nielsen didn't provide background on the overall number of U.S. households and potential TV viewers over age 2.
The new TV season starts Sept. 21.
Chicago: Changes at the top at WFLD
Michael Renda has been named vice president and general manager at WFLD and WPWR Chicago. He moves from another Fox O&O, WTXF Philadelphia. WNYW New York sales Patrick Paolini takes over for Renda in Philly, effective immediately.
The move means Patrick Mullen is out after 3 years in the top spot at WFLD. The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal reports that the staff was told of the change at a meeting this morning.
To find out more about WFLD or the Chicago market, check out the TVLifer Market Map.
Los Angeles: Stations have to stick up for fire coverage
The LA Times is reporting that the local stations in Los Angeles are fighting back after the LA County Supervisor called them out for not providing comprehensive coverage. He went as far as calling them negligent in their coverage.
"Keith Esparros, assistant news director for KNBC-TV Channel 4, said that his station did cover the fire extensively in newscasts, updates and on the station's website with several reporters and crews over the weekend. He called it an "odd fire" that started small and generally burned away from populated areas when it started midweek."
The stations also rejected the assertion that economics had anything to do with the decision to avoid wall-to-wall coverage. The irony of the situation was that these same stations were scrambling to create contingency plans if their signal towers were knocked out by the fire on Mt. Wilson.
Exclusive TVLifer Photos from the Kennedy Compound
TVLifers in Hyannis Port, Ma. covering Sen. Ted Kennedy's death took a series of exclusive still photos. Just after 2pm Sen. Kennedy left the family compound for the final time. His son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island was seen in the front seat: Our TVLifer got the call from the newsroom at roughly 12:30am early Wednesday morning to head to Hyannis Port. They were one of the first crews on scene and were live before 5am. Here is a look at the massive media presence including NBC's Andrea Mitchell: According to our TVLifer, the most stressful part of covering this story was not the volume of reporting or being so close and having to talk over the other news crews. It was having to deliver live shots when nobody else was reporting - in silence. Our TVLifer says it was rewarding to be a part of well planned breaking news coverage on such an important story.
Don't forget to be a part of our Off the Record forum. It's your chance to tell us whether you ever covered Ted Kennedy and to give us your views on the coverage.
It’s no secret that working in the media industry can be tough, but what happens when you cross the line? Alysia Sofios, a former reporter from KMPH Channel 26 in Fresno, CA, told her story to the .gif){kind=small}
President Obama has accepted Rep. Joe Wilson's (R - South Carolina) apology for his outburst during the President's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Rep. Wilson yelled "you lie" after President Obama explained that his healthcare reform proposal would not cover illegal immigrants.
The reasoning isn't for sure, but Nielsen Research says that this year has had the smallest increase in new TV households in the past decade. It could be market saturation or more households opting to use the Web as their source for programming.
Michael Renda has been named vice president and general manager at WFLD and WPWR Chicago. He moves from another Fox O&O, WTXF Philadelphia. WNYW New York sales Patrick Paolini takes over for Renda in Philly, effective immediately.
Our TVLifer got the call from the newsroom at roughly 12:30am early Wednesday morning to head to Hyannis Port. They were one of the first crews on scene and were live before 5am. Here is a look at the massive media presence including NBC's Andrea Mitchell:
According to our TVLifer, the most stressful part of covering this story was not the volume of reporting or being so close and having to talk over the other news crews. It was having to deliver live shots when nobody else was reporting - in silence. Our TVLifer says it was rewarding to be a part of well planned breaking news coverage on such an important story.