How to fix CBS-2?

Comments are pouring in on just how to fix WFMY CBS-2. And the opinions are strong on both sides. It obviously shows the brand name of WFMY and its effect on this area. But this appears to be a golden opportunity on how to fix the ailing station.

H/T to John Robinson, who points us to this article in the American Journalism Review on what some other local stations outside of North Carolina are doing to re-jig their local news formats...and it seems to work.

See what the article says about WUSA-9, the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate in Washington, DC:

At WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C., the revamped early morning news looks nothing like the competition. The program appears to be channeling ESPN's SportsCenter. Video that used to be full-screen is now boxed on the upper left side, with a scrolling "rundown" on the right listing upcoming stories and rotating headlines on the bottom. Weather and traffic information, a priority for morning audiences, is always on screen.

"It's a visible strategy that puts information out for people whenever they want it, not when we want to give it to them," says Lane Michaelsen, vice president of the WUSA information center. He calls the rundown a "convenience item" that helps viewers decide when to watch. "They can run to get the paper or brush their teeth and not miss something they want to see."

If viewers can absorb it all without getting a migraine, they can easily catch the top news of the day in less than five minutes. Which raises the question: Why would anyone bother staying tuned longer?

"The hope is we are covering relevant things they want to watch," Michaelsen says. And even if viewers don't stick around for long, he believes they'll come back. "They'll see us as the station that's interested in [their] time."

Bold stuff is what's needed, folks. Why NOT try something different? And I'm not talking Sinclair's NewsCentral-different (that floundered and flubbed and failed)...let's talk something uptown.

How would YOU fix WFMY?

E.C. ;)

CBS-2's Hughes announces her retirement

Longtime CBS-2 (WFMY) anchor Sandra Hughes announced last night she will retire from the Gannett-owned station after 37 years. In her on-air announcement last night, Hughes said she will "ease away" from the station sometime next year.

The move comes only days after nightly co-anchor Kent Bates exited after his contract was not renewed.

Today's News & Record has more and editor John Robinson speculates about forthcoming changes at the Gannett-owned station.

Robinson:

With the announced retirement of anchor Sandra Hughes and the departures of anchor Kent Bates and sports anchor Greg Kerr, WFMY is losing a great deal of experience, institutional memory and brand value. (As jerseyfreeze commented on twitter: "Perhaps the station is moving to an all-weather format.")

I wouldn't go that far, but the station does have a golden opportunity to do something different and innovative with its news programming. The four news stations in this market tend to be the same. News, weather and sports. Nice chatter. Neat graphics. Live standups. They're even nearly right after each other on the cable dial: 9, 10, 11 & 14. Cookie cutter -- and I say that with all due respect.

Here is where we are: Advertising revenue is suffering. Technology has made everyone a publisher/producer. People's news consumption habits are changing. With all the change in the air -- plus vacancies in three of the four chairs in the studio -- why not do something interesting and radical with the newscast?

Maybe if 2 takes the blinders off and discovers the counties outside of Guilford, they may end up making a dent in some of FOX-8's numbers...maybe? Not....

Segmented news is dead.

But I do agree that with the financial problems Gannett is having up in Tysons Corner, Va., coupled with the new brass in the front office, this will be an opportunity for 2 to make some serious changes, and for the better. It can be done.

E.C. ;)

Brian Clarey, unplugged

MonkeyWhale Productions brings us a candid one-on-one interview with YES! Weekly editor Brian Clarey. And in this new era of newsroom and media cutbacks, YES! Weekly continues to be a local success story.

Here's why:

Daughtry visits FOX-8

Local "Idol" Chris Daughtry popped in the FOX-8 studios yesterday, one day earlier than expected. Daughtry had his days crossed, the interview was supposed to be Wednesday. At any rate, he sat down with FOX-8's Shannon Smith covering a range of topics. The interview will air tomorrow.

Hat-tip to the TVPhotogBlog for the coverage and skinny on this one.

E.C. :)

PPMs changing radio listening habits

Major radio station changes lately may be the result of the new PPMs--portable people meters Arbitron is using to track listener habits. Diaries are out, the electronic age is in.

Apparently, the PPMs are more accurate in gaging listening patterns in terms of how audiences are measured.

But the PPMs are causing controversy.

Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune:

Some have questioned the quality and weighting of the sample listeners and cast aspersions on the results. Others point to the difficulty of getting some to participate, for one reason or another.

"I haven't worn a beeper in years, and nothing I've got goes with it," Tom Joyner joked after he was bounced from Clear Channel's WVAZ-FM 102.7, forcing him to buy airtime on Crawford Broadcasting's WSRB-FM 106.3 and WYRB-FM 106.3. "PPM has systematically rated urban stations much lower than they have been in the past. The diary method that Arbitron used to use was more favorable."

The Federal Communications Commission last week announced an inquiry to determine if the new methodology undercounts audience for radio stations targeting minorities. Arbitron responded by saying it welcomed the opportunity to explain the advantages of PPMs.

Something to consider as the lay of our local radio landscape changes. Here's how the PPM works, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:

More silliness from "Cheap" Channel

TMW reported last week on the flipping of KISS-fm to “The All New 105-7 Hit Music Now.’’ Local Clear Channel executive Kim Pyle also fed a load of bull to the News & Record on the format change:

“This is not a drop from Clear Channel on high,’’ said Kim Pyle, the vice president and market manager for the four stations. “This is being done locally so we can be nimble, agile and react to the needs of the listeners in the marketplace. This is for Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.’’

If you believe that, I have a tunnel (complete with toll booths) to sell you.

Consider this...on the same day this happened here in Greensboro, in another larger urban market (Chicago...my hometown) where Cheap Channel...err, Clear Channel has a lock on the radio dial, long-time smooth jazz outlet WNUA folded after 22 years. The home of the locally-produced Ramsey Lewis morning show, Clear Channel fired Lewis and replaced the station's format with Spanish hot adult contemporary.

Chicago apparently went nuts over the weekend, primarily because of what CC did to destroy this station over the past few years. And they succeeded. I remember the day WNUA went on the air...I was in high school, during study hall and was fascinated at the music I heard through my "walkman" one day.

The interesting tidbit is this...a "low-powered" station picked up the former smooth jazz format way at the low end of the dial (87.7FM) and is rebroadcasting it under the "Smooth Jazz" network. The rebroadcast is being provided by Broadcast Architecture...which is owned by you guessed it...Clear Channel. (Hat-tip to Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune for the good blog coverage on this one...RadioInfo.com has also had a good conversation on this one, Chicago clearly does not trust CC...I can't blame them)

I mean, you just don't fire Ramsey Lewis and get away with it.

Back to the Triad...and another thing to chew on with this 105.7...WKZL also uses the "Hit Music Now" in some of their promos in between songs...I wonder when 105.7 will be forced to change the moniker because of this.

E.C. :)

More homogenized radio in the Triad

It is no secret that I am not a fan of the company known as Clear Channel.

The things this company has done to destroy locally-owned radio in this country is flabbergasting. And this company has destroyed it. We as listeners of terrestrial radio are now forced with stations with the same songs played to death, over and over again. The listeners are not paid any attention to, and smaller artists are left to fend for themselves, or via the Internet for any type of airplay.

A good example is what Clear Channel has done to destroy smooth jazz stations all over the U.S. It started off as a good format, with a mix of smooth, contemporary and classic jazz sounds blended in. Then once Clear Channel-owned stations started mixing in "old soul," the format was destroyed. Kool-and-the-Gang is not smooth jazz...it's not jazz at all. Hence, the ultimate and untimely demise of these types of stations across America...in big urban markets.

Now, I digress...one thing Clear Channel is good at doing is flipping formats when one fails. The Triad's market is no exception.



Clear Channel has relinquished its battle of R&B stations, dropping its homogenized "KISS-fm" R&B format on 105.7 FM late Friday afternoon, and debuting “The All New 105-7 Hit Music Now.’’

Yawn.

So, while it couldn't compete with WQMG (97.1-fm) and 102-JAMS (WJMH), it will now wage war with Dick Broadcasting's locally-owned 107.5-fm (WKZL).

Yawn.

News & Record:

The All New 105-7 is part of the audible tweak ongoing among the four stations owned by Clear Channel Radio, a corporate radio giant out of Texas.

In February, Clear Channel dropped syndicated morning show “The John Boy & Billy Big Show’’ from its rock station WVBZ (100.3 FM) , better known as The Buzzard.

Earlier this month, The Buzzard became The Buzz and inserted a playlist that leaned more toward Green Day than Lynyrd Skynyrd.

And now, The All New 105-7 becomes Clear Channel’s latest move. It drops the three-year battle against the Triad’s two urban giants, WQMG (97.1 FM) and WJMH (102.1 FM), and goes head to head against WKZL (107.5 FM), a station owned by Greensboro’s Dick Broadcasting.

“This is not a drop from Clear Channel on high,’’ said Kim Pyle, the vice president and market manager for the four stations. “This is being done locally so we can be nimble, agile and react to the needs of the listeners in the marketplace. This is for Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.’’

Yeah...right. That's the problem, Kim...nothing from Clear Channel is done locally. Nothing.

Coverage from RadioInsight.com here.

E.C. :)

WUNC program to broadcast from GSO next week

Hat-tip to Greensboro's Ed Cone for passing this along...91.5 FM WUNC's Triangle-based radio show "The State of Things" will broadcast live from the affiliate's Greensboro Triad Stage studio next Thursday and Friday. Live local talent will perform.

Call the Triad Stage Box Office on 336/272-0160.

E.C. :)

History Channel to profile Bowman Gray Stadium

News 14 Carolina reports The History Channel will breeze into Winston-Salem this summer to film a new reality series about the goings-on over at Bowman Gray Stadium.

News 14:

“They're filming a TV series here that's going to be on the History Channel. And it's about the life and struggles of a Saturday night short tracker here at Bowman Gray Stadium,” Chris Fleming, a driver from Mount Airy, said.

The track is NASCAR’s first and longest running weekly race. Drivers began running their cars at the stadium just one year after NASCAR started.

“There's a lot of history here at this race track, a lot of family rivalries,” Fleming said. “We are one big family here, but there are also family rivalries.”

*******************

E.C. :)

Bailout? or a loan on success?

TMW reported on the Carrboro Citizen not long ago. Now comes word that the paper received a loan from that town's Board of Aldermen...to expand its operation.

Hmmmm....

...thoughts?

E.C. :)