I was in my hometown of Memphis this past weekend. It good to see family and friends. It is also an opportunity to watch local newscasts. It is even better during sweeps. The differences in the newscasts and how they're promoted in Memphis and how it is done in my current market are great.
First promo I saw, watch our weather and you can win money. Next was watch this sweeps piece or you'll die; followed quickly with do you know who is stalking your children and finally this restaurant got an F on their Health Department score, join me while I eat a pizza from there to see if I live.
Memphis is a metered market and crime dominates the spot news. Obviously bribes and over the top promotion move the meter needle. I'm fortunate to no longer be in a metered market. The advantage is that our news philosphy can take the long view. It's not what we do those four weeks in February, May, July in November; it is what we do each and everyday that attracts and retains viewers.
My bet is if either of the two leading stations in Memphis decided not to participate in the carnival barking of "watch us or die" sweeps, in the long run they'd surpass their competition and become a strong number one. Which one is willing to break out of the pack with a fresh approach?
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Were you here during the big "snow events?" Wow, that was fun. ratings, however showed folks were watching!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are talking to management, the worker bees obviously have little input or impact on changing philosophy.
Don't most markets still break out the big guns with "Sweep Pieces" during ratings?
I sure hope you weren't talking about my station with the "watch us or die" I'd like to think we are a touch more conservative than that.
Great to hear from you again, don't be such a stranger.
Todd in Memphis
Todd,
ReplyDeleteWasn't necessarily referring to Ch3, more of a generalization. Memphis TV is very sensational. In regard to sweeps pieces, yes most markets do them. I just believe it is more important to be a reliable source each and everyday rather than to hope whatever sweeps peice will attract viewers. Provide a good produce each day and ratings periods will take care of themselves.
The GM
I don't watch the local news as much. Sensational is a good adjective. I get tired of the Breaking News graphic being overused...it's usually additional info from a story reported earlier.
ReplyDeleteI like your approach...that's what we used to have. In a past sweeps period, one station offered a free paternity test!! Let's interview that winner!!
Greetings "The GM".
ReplyDeleteI know I'm joining into the fray a little late in the game but I figure "better late than never". Regarding local news, I had some interesting observations from some folks involved in the Memphis & Nashville markets. One came from a friend who started shooting day-to-day stuff for a station after more than a decade of doing production type work. I asked if there was any change from back when he used to shoot news & sports on a regular basis and he said yes. He said 10 to 15 years ago, "ambushing" people to get a comment was a somewhat rare event. Now, he says almost ALL efforts to get comments from someone take place in an ambush style effort. I asked a friend and former co-worker in Nashville if he noticed anything like that and he said yes he did. He said even on stories that are positive and quite beneficial to the subject, there is a reluctance to want to talk to someone on camera. He attributed it to the feeling that local TV news is increasingly becoming less relevant to people in their daily lives and they see less of a benefit to taking time from a busy day to talk to TV people. Perhaps it's because these are both "metered markets" and the regular diet of "crime/fire/car crash" stories hyped as "breaking news" that make up so much of the story run-down on local newscasts has succeeded in driving people away. Maybe it is the mind-set overall that the local media outlets are just extensions of the so called "main-stream media", I don't know. I have gotten out of the habit of watching TV news locally and even now when I'm in a non-metered market, I don't watch. When I'm out of town, I generally watch TV for the local weather and if I can get it on The Weather Channel, I will. If I can't get it there, I will then and only then turn to local TV news and even then I won't do it if I have high speed internet access and it's not raining. If it's raining, I will almost always tune in locally.
Okay, I started out to pitch in my two cents worth and may have given you a bit more.
Keep up the blogging "The GM" and I promise to try to check in on a more regular basis.