Here They Come, Walking Down the Street, Get the Funniest Look From, Everyone They Meet !
With apologies to the Monkees, it appears the folks at the Station DOTR will be on display starting this week. The chief honcho for the NYTimes alerted the troops that potential buyers of the Broadcast Group will be visiting the station, kicking the tires and looking under the hood. While the honcho wouldn't release the names of the organizations these folks represent, apparently they are good folks (have deep pockets and/or a good line of credit). This alert from the honcho will help explain the entourage of folks who will be seen strolling through the facility at any given time as the higher ups with NYTimes steer them through the myriad of hallways DOTR. I can imagine that the "straighten up your work area" memo has already gone out and that they've even waxed the floors in the main hallways. I'm not sure if they will visit all of the stations. I would think they might but since WREG is the Group Headquarters, this might be One-Stop Shopping. So look sharp folks. You are about the meet the new owners of the Station DOTR. Remember, you only get one chance to make a "First Impression".
posted by Joe Larkins at 6:11 AM
8 Comments:
Wonder if they'll repaint the white "3" on the floor of the set ;)
I heard they will no longer be the station DOTR but rather the station DTR. (Down the River!!)
Down the river? Getting out from under The New York Times could be the best thing to happen to the station DOTR since 5 hired Peggy Phillip.
Down the river? Getting out from under The New York Times could be the best thing to happen to the station DOTR since 5 hired Peggy Phillip.
Joe,
I'd like to see you comment about how your former station seemingly makes all editorial decisions based on manipulating ratings numbers.
I don't work in the industry, but I have daily access to ratings. Monday night, Channel 3 scored a huge ratings win at 10pm with a heavily promoted sweeps story about a video of a gang fight shot two years ago. It was great promotion...not a great story.
Of course, their ratings were huge, so what was their lead during the Tuesday evening news shows? More gang fight.
Or remember last fall, when Roswell Encina had an "exclusive" about an FBI investigation at city hall that had no merit whatsoever? (http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=4104260)
All stations do it, but WREG especially seems so concerned with winning during ratings periods that all sense of news judgement flies out the window. What is NEW at about a 2 year old video? Is that the most important story in the area today?
Meanwhile, they "retitle" election night, effectively folding their hand on the biggest local news night of the year?
Is WREG about news, or about manipulating ratings numbers for the purpose of selling advertising dollars?
I want to apologize for not being able to get the post on preceeding this comment. This is what I was working on when my blog disappeared Tuesday night, Novemember 14th.
To answer your question about manipulating the numbers, it's pretty simple. If you were trying to sell a car, wouldn't you wash and wax it, vacuum the interior and even steam clean the engine to make it look good for a potential buyer? Of course you would. So, if you're trying to sell a TV station, the news operation is for all practical purposes the exterior. It's what the public sees and it's the product a potential buyer sees. You want to present it in the best light you can.
And if I may use another analogy, this one from sports. If the opposing coach uses a couple of trick plays to beat you, as long as its not illegal, it's okay. If the rules allow a station to manipulate ratings, that's just business. But what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and that trick may come back to haunt them down the road.
Now I'm getting too deep into this so I'll just stop.
Re: the ratings issue, how does the station DOTR differ from Channel 5's "newsworthy" stories this week--a pair of twins who can't figure out which one of them fathered a woman's baby, and a discussion on whether God wants you to be rich. Such journalistic heights!
anonymous... what is your deal with the `retitle` of election night? You have brought that up several times. If you know that National coverage will not provide a good lead in, then doesn't it make sense to throw that night out if you can. It seems like this strategy is just burning you up. what gives?
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