News10 at 4 -a different kind of local news

Just over two weeks ago WTEN, Albany’s local ABC affiliate, started a new 4pm newscast. It is way too early to judge what the masses will think of News10 at 4. People in the region seem to a) not like change and b) hate seeing the same story three times (not that I’m saying News10 at 4 does that). However the concept of News10 at 4 intrigues me, for many reasons. First off Lydia and Elisa seem to be focusing on different type of stories; stories about the community. New segments include “Making a Difference,” “4 your health,” “4 your money,” and amongst others, and my personal favorite “Annie on the Job.”

News10 at 4 is just a local example of how many television stations across the nation are adding local newscasts, despite the economic climate of media industry. GM’s of these local stations will probably tell you something like “we’re committed to our viewer,” and that may be true, but the simple fact is this: it costs a station less to air a live-local news program then airing a syndicated show, like Ellen or Oprah. WTEN isn’t the only station to expand their newscasts, to “non traditional” times, or “non-traditional” formats.

Local Mornings:
Here in the capital region two channels have local news from 7-8am, FOX23 and the Capital Region CW (produced by sister station CBS6). It’s quite obvious that these two stations don’t put much stock into these early morning local newscasts, as they do with their evening newscasts.

FOX23 fired (from what I can tell) the one anchor that arguably made that morning newscast interesting, Diane Lee (now freelancing at WTEN). She has been described as “the one bright light on low rated morning show” by a viewer on this Times Union blog. The morning news program at FOX23 also use to have a morning live reporter, and a morning traffic reporter; Kaitlyn Barto. In the morning, it seems, the more anchors the better. This shows the viewer that as a news station you are committed to the idea of morning news and want your viewers to be as committed to watch you. And having a live morning reporter brings a feeling of urgency to the stories, and keeps the newscast fresh.

As for CBS6 News on the Capital Region’s CW, the morning newscast seems to be nothing more than local anchors introducing national CBS stories, not to say that they have no local stories, they do.

Both stations have unique opportunities to capitalize on “live-local” morning newscasts, but aren’t doing a very good job of this. Most owned and operated Fox stations have local morning news from 5-9am, some until 10am. Because this is such a huge amount of time for local news, stations are becoming creative with interesting morning content. Good Day Tampa Bay lets you submit your child’s first birthday, for them to announce on air. Another Fox station, Fox 7 in Austin, has a segment on their morning newscast devoted to local musicians. The local CW station in Sacramento, CW31, airs a morning news program seven days a week. Good Day Sacramento even has its own webpage. According to their webpage, “Each week, the Good Day cast brings you the best that Sacramento has to offer. Whether it's lifestyle, (5 a.m. Club, Prego Posse, Momtrepreneurs), entertainment (Mark on Movies, The Vault), recreation (Nick's Joints) or news-related (News of the Weird), Good Day has it.” Now this seems like it would be a very interesting newscast to watch while getting ready for my day. Another example of a different style newscast is on WSFL, a CW station in Florida. Their morning newscast takes a much more laid back approach when it comes to the news, mainly because the show seems like it is not focused solely on news. The show less then a year old, utilizes the Internet –to stream live and twitter.

Lifestyle shows
While some Lifestyle shows, such as WNBC's 5pm "LX TV" can be unwanted by viewers, others seem interesting. The ABC station in St. Paul/Minneapolis, owned by the same company that owns WNYT, airs a local lifestyle show called “Twin Cities Live.” Looking on their website, the story about how the station picked who would host the show is very interesting. Another afternoon local lifestyle show, on ABC-7: San Francisco is called “View from the Bay.” What makes these local programs interesting is that both, “Twin Cities Live,” and “View from the Bay” are taped in front of live studio audiences. While these shows air in the afternoon, some stations have locally produced morning lifestyle programs. In Milwaukee, NBC station TMJ-4, airs a 9am lifestyle program called “The Morning Blend.” And in Houston, if you turn on KHOU Channel 11, you will find “Great Day Huston.” All of the lifestyle shows typically have cooking segments, interviews, as well as relationship advice and stories about what is happening in the local communities.

News Magazines:
These shows typically are on each night, either at 7 or 7:30pm. They focus more on what is going on in their community, and less on the news of the day. There aren’t many shows like this in America. One such example is on the ABC station in Boston, WCVB. The Chronicle, according to the station’s website is “the nation’s longest running locally produced nightly newsmagazine.” King 5, the NBC station in Seattle has a new magazine fittingly called “Evening Magazine.” According to the station’s website, “Evening Magazine remains a local favorite highlighting the people, places and events that make the Northwest so special.” Both of these news magazines have anchors and reporters that focus solely on their evening news magazine program.

Keeping it Local!
Two other unique types of newscasts can be found on the west cost –both in Portland. The NBC station, KGW, has a 7pm local newscast; but not just any 7pm newscast. “Live at 7” is a very different approach to news. Both the host and producer are on twitter and viewers can watch the show online live –with both the producer and anchor’s mics left, as they say –HOT! The show also features in depth interviews, all done from the “studio on the square,” a-la the Today Show’s Rockefeller Plaza. The CBS station, KOIN, just started a 4pm newscast, “Keep it Local,” according to the station's website the program is “Produced on location every day, Keep It Local goes wherever the day’s biggest story takes us.”

So, back to the capital region. Where does News10 at 4 fit in to the various types of local news programs being produced around the country? It seems to be half lifestyle, half news. So, why not just commit to one or the other? Also, why not just push it back to 5pm –make it an hour -so it can compete with other channels –or maybe being the only local program at 4 is just what WTEN wanted. It seems WTEN’s content is stronger during this 4pm newscast, then the “harder” evening newscasts.

The bigger question is when will local capital region news channels start listening to what viewers want? Only time will tell what impact News10 at 4 has on local Capital Region news. Maybe local news channels need to realize that there simply is not enough news for 5 separate news channels. Second off, we probably do not need 90 minutes of evening news. Local Channels need to also realize that they need to stop with the national/wire/AP stories on focus on local content -and if it means less news on the air so be it. OR, hire more reporters to do “special assignment stories,” I am sure there are so many local stories that we hear about on the news, done simply with an anchor voice over, that actually having a reporter to tell the story would make a newscast more interesting (and it appears in this respect, News10 at 4 is listening). Finally, why does it seem that local news channels don’t interview people? Capital Tonight on Capital News9 does a great job of interviewing people.

Local TV News is NOT dead, it just has to adjust with the times, and 90% of our local channels are NOT doing that -presumably because it will hurt their bottom line!