Local Newscasts are Getting Easier to Ignore

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I hate it, but local newscasts are getting easier to ignore every day. We all hate it, but it's true. Just look at the ratings.

As we try to analyze the many reasons why, too many people are concentrating on the easy answers. Things like the same information being available all over the web, new competitors, changing lifestyles, etc. Sure, sure. But, are we hastening our own demise by putting such bland people on the air? Where are all the big personalities? Where is all the talent with something to say? They ain't on local TV.

Along with everything else we are trying to do to stay viable, let's start today to put some big, bold personalities back on the air. There are way too many people on the air who look and sound alike -- from San Angelo to NYC. The problem is they rarely make a contribution other than to read a clean newscast... a perfect formula for being ignored.

Viewers respond best to talent that is unique and has something to say. There used to be a lot of "characters" around. Think Bill Bonds. If you have to ask, "Who's he?" you have something to learn about this business. (Check out this classic Bill Bonds clip.) We need to get a bunch more interesting folks on the air and fast. Sure, they have to be competent and passionate about their work... those are givens. But they also have to be characters with something to say.

And, don't tell me they cost too much or are only found in big markets. Take a look at someone like Karole Honas in tiny Pocatello-Idaho Falls (there are a few others around too). She doesn't look and sound like every other anchor in America. She knows her market inside out, is not likely to ever move (is proud of that) and she has something smart to say in every newscast... something above and beyond a clean read.

-Bruce Northcott

Teenagers are Media Content Animals

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It's a "snow day" here in Iowa - to be more precise, a day off from school because of an ice storm. With sleet hitting my office window I read the latest study on young people's use of media released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It says that kids from the ages of 8-18 are plugged into some kind of media virtually every minute of the day except when they are in school.  New York Times article on Kaiser study

Don't believe it? I've been watching what my 16-year-old daughter is doing today. She's bored, stuck at home in the ice storm and there's no way she's driving anywhere. But the broadband connection is alive and active. She got up this morning and read her text messages, bouncing back and forth with friends. Next was Facebook for an hour while listening to music on YouTube in the background. More texts. She checked the weather on a local television station's website, but also cross-checked on weather.com. Saw a little CNN, got bored and played X-Box Live with a couple of "guy friends." Watched part of a local noon newscast, but only because someone else turned it on. Ran on the treadmill while listening to her iPod. Took a shower, the FM radio blaring in the bathroom, and then watched MTV while messing with her hair. And it's only early afternoon!
Should local television stations be worried about their future consumers? Only if they are married to a single delivery platform. If my daughter and everyone in the Kaiser study is any indication, the market for content is almost unlimited. We just have to figure out how to get it in front of them and make some money doing it.
- John Altenbern

What the Red Cross Can Teach Local TV Stations

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Being in the business of communication with a broad audience, we at CJ&N know the importance of making a connection. We know how important it is to reach through and become relevant to those looking to local TV news for information.

Never does this become more important than when others are in need. The earthquake and devastation in Haiti, as with other tragic events, unites the people of the world as just that -- people. Human beings who care about each other and want to find a way to help.

This week, the Red Cross found a way to help connect people in need with the people who want to help, and there is a valuable lesson to be learned by local broadcasters in how they did it. The Red Cross has great clarity of:

• Mission: The mission of the American Red Cross is crystal clear. It says, in part: "...(We) will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies..."  Knowing their purpose keeps them focused on what they do best.
• Goal: In any disaster, the Red Cross sets immediately into motion. They know the importance of timeliness in getting to the scene with supplies and help. They mobilize quickly and efficiently to get people the help they need.
• Execution: Their mission and goal combine to create a fast, easy system for connecting people in today's communication-driven environment. Using any mobile device and texting the word Haiti to 90999, people can donate $10 to the relief efforts and affect a tragic situation in another part of the world. It's a manageable amount for just about anyone, and the Red Cross connected it to something most of us do everyday - use our mobiles and text. In other words, they made it easy.

Can the same be said about your efforts to reach out to your audience?

1. Do you have a crystal clear mission - beyond your slogan or tag line - that everyone in your employ can easily say and understand? Does everyone understand the importance of your mission?
2. Do you know what goal you're trying to achieve every day beyond delivering the news?
3. Do you continually assess the environment in which you're communicating to your audience and refine the way you do it... making it easy for the audience to connect to you? Does everyone on staff recognize the importance of immediacy?

The lesson is to constantly reevaluate how you communicate with your viewers. The tried-and-true ways may not always be the best ways as new situations demand greater creativity and flexibility. The Red Cross knows this and showed how it's possible (and critical) to think creatively and implement quickly when it's most necessary.

See for yourself how it works. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross or any legitimate relief organization to help those struggling to survive in Haiti.

- Jill Johnson

Lessons in the Leno Failure

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NBC's late night retreat is seen universally as the white flag of primetime surrender.  Remember all those "10" spots last summer with Jay driving down the road in his sports car?  NBC probably now wishes it had sold that inventory.  But despite the obvious cry of "uncle" from NBC, there are a couple of good reminders for all of local television in this whole debacle. 

NBC affiliates still have some juice.  After a disastrous November for both affiliates and the network, NBC stations were heard loud and clear:  the Leno experiment was a failure.  To its credit, NBC listened.  (And let's face it, it was getting hammered, too.)  The "who needs affiliates?" talk isn't quite as loud now.

The audience still decides who is successful and who is not. 

Whether it's late news numbers, primetime ratings or online downloads, more audience generally equates to more money.  The idea that network television can be strengthened by cutting the size of its audience and "managing for the margins" needs to be re-thought.  Isn't shrinking the number of viewers the antithesis of what makes network television valuable? 

While audience is shrinking, do we need to speed up that process unnecessarily? There is danger in our business of getting too far ahead of the curve.  The talk of fundamental media change is everywhere, but trying to force new habits and ideas on an unwilling audience is risky business.  While NBC has embraced the idea that the current network and affiliate model is broken, and tried to blaze a new path, CBS and ABC have strengthened their financial position (and their owned-affiliates) by getting back to old-school basics: Popular programs and improved local newscasts.  Remember that next time someone advocates giving up on what brought you this far.

There's more change ahead for network television and Leno won't be the last experiment.  But a few more Dateline and Law & Order episodes may be necessary before anyone gets a handle on the brave new media world. 

- John Altenbern

What Is Your TV Station Worth To Your Viewers?

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Sinclair and Mediacom have reached a one-year retransmission agreement that will keep KGAN and KFXA - here in our backyard - and 20 other TV stations in 14 markets - on the Mediacom cable systems. As local viewers, it's good news for us and our neighbors.

But this is a battle that's far from over, and not because it's just a one-year deal.  The industry is working hard to set a value on service it offers to viewers, yet we have not yet discovered how much viewers actually value that service.  There's a whole mess of stuff that's going to happen over the next few years that will shape the new economics of local television. 

It hasn't been long that TV stations have realized they can get cable companies to pay for their product. Companies like Sinclair continue to push to find just how much a local TV channel is worth. But the networks have sniffed the scent of money; ABC says it wants as much as half of its affiliates' retrans revenue. Cable operator Comcast, assuming its purchase of NBC goes through, says its' going to set a new standard for retransmission compensation. So now local TV stations, just having found this stash of cash, are already having their pockets picked.

Meanwhile, cable companies are going to have to find just what customers are willing to pay. How high can rates go to make up for these new payments? Will they have to start offering channels ala carte so people can afford their cable service?

It's going to reach a point where the channels that are most valuable to viewers will be the ones to survive. How much do you think your signal is worth to your viewers?  What can you do to make sure your programming is something they'll pay for?  And don't count long-term on what the networks feed you - they may not be there forever. The future of local TV is all about providing value.

These retransmission consent disputes are the beginning of a new landscape in the industry. But there is one assurance we can offer. Make your product valuable to your viewers, and you'll have a future. Many other programmers, channels, and stations won't make the cut.

- John Altenbern

Local TV's Rising Price of Retransmission Consent

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Several CJ&N people live in the Cedar Rapids television market - one of several markets currently caught in the middle of a contentious cable vs. broadcast retransmission fee negotiation. A New Year's Eve reprieve between Sinclair's KGAN, a CBS affiliate, and its LMA, Fox affiliate KFXA, and the market's dominant cable provider, Mediacom, means we and our Iowa neighbors (those who use Mediacom) won't have to find an alternate source to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes in the January 5 Orange Bowl.  The extension expires on January 8, which still puts the Super Bowl in question.

Our location gives us front row tickets to a competition that will have more significant long-term repercussions than a sporting event. While the extension is welcome, it's inevitable that both sides are using viewers as pawns, and in the weeks leading up to the end of the year, both Mediacom and Sinclair (click to see respective promos) took their cases to the air.

There are a lot of dollars at stake, and not just in this market, and not just between Sinclair and Mediacom. There are several ongoing disputes, and every one of them is a battleground in the industry's economic war. After a similar Sinclair-Mediacom fight three years ago, stations across the country benefited from Sinclair's aggressive negotiating. Now, Sinclair is again leading the way in an attempt to set a new precedent for retrans fees.

As viewers, though, we can see first hand that it's a costly fight for both sides.  KGAN had at one time sunk into afterthought status among the market's TV news viewers, but an amazing commitment over the past 18 months brought the station back to respectability (perhaps a reinvestment of some of those extra dollars squeezed out of Mediacom the first time around?). At least in terms of on-air product, KGAN has made a remarkable turnaround, and ratings are just beginning to follow.

Should KGAN disappear again at some point from the majority of TV homes in the market, however, we can't help but wonder how much of KGAN's goodwill brand equity it'll consume.  With the agreement extension, KGAN has to be as happy as the most avid Hawkeye fan.  Still, given the public squabble, unless this is resolved, Sinclair will have to work even harder to win back that momentum. It's the price they - and any other broadcaster trying to pave new retrans territory - will have to pay to build a stronger financial foundation.

- Mike Anderson