A movie about a local TV news team anchored by Ron Burgundy, becomes a hit. Did the writers really have to stretch their imagination in order to come up with bits for this Will Farrell flick? Not likely. For fodder, they just turned on the local newscast of Anytown USA.

Local TV news; Change or wither. Andrew Hayward, former president of CBS News, shared his thoughts about local TV news, and he pulled no punches. You don’t have to be a mind reader to pick up his vibe……. it better change, or it’s doomed. Here’s what I gleaned up from his speech via an article in a Louisville newspaper. Read the entire article by Rick Redding here.

• Local stations focus too much on crime/murder, since it’s easier to do and video friendly.
• Viewership is shrinking, blood ‘n’ guts stories aren’t relevant to audience.
• Breaking News Alerts …..sensationalizes events that aren’t really news.
• Local, linear newscasts: no longer needed in a world of unlimited, on-demand news choices.
• Nobody under 40 is watching the local anchor. They don’t even know his name.  

Some steps to fix it:

• Hire journalists with a different look, who have roots in the community.
• Hire more of those with an expertise in a specific topic or category.
• Don’t hire a model with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. Instead, hire a less-qualified local with a less-polished look, and allowed the new hire the freedom to find humor in news stories.  
• Get more VJ’s on the street. (video journalists). Capture more local video with substance.
• See Online as real-time 24/7 newscast, NOT a dumping ground for stale packages from last night’s 11pm cast.

Will local TV news will do well in digital space? I wondered if we asked Mr. Hayward a question like that. Will those local “Action News teams” easily win on the Web? Will that slick, 2 minute blood & guts story translate to a younger online audience? We surmise that he would say “not likely if they don’t make some big changes…..and fast.”

Will Newspaper take the online video crown instead ?  Let’s refer to a friend of mine; Howard Owens, about why he thinks Newspapers are well equipped to win the online video battle….over TV. (Howard runs a very successful, hyper-local news site in Batavia, NY.)

1. More feet on the street: In large markets, newspapers can equip more reporters with video-capable cameras, and you don’t need expensive cameras to produce good online video; in small markets, TV isn’t going to cover many local stories.
2. TV can’t cover a story without sending out a “crew,” which means they cover only stories that they’ve pre-screened as being video worthy, worthy of the time to send a crew out to a location, which means they miss a lot of good stuff that “print” reporters will naturally stumble across – quantity means more choices for online video watchers, which is a distinct and huge advantage.
3. For newspaper reporters, there is no pre-conceived idea of perfect TV video, so any experiment goes.
4. Newspaper reporter shooters can give sources a chance to speak for themselves, making the video more personal and more meaningful than what TV will do with the same material.

Related posts:

1. Newspaper Adopts Latest Online Video Tools; Surpasses TV ? Local TV automatically wins the online news-video war? Not so fast there bucko. The pic on the right, is a multi-media setup  that some pioneering journalists are starting to use. It’s how Newspapers will...
2. Online Video for Revenue Things I hear from local media clients about video: We’d LOVE to do more online video; but it’s cost & manpower prohibitive right now. We’re shooting video and posting it….where’s the money? Online video...
3. Newspapers winning with Local Online Video [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzK_fbuSGZM] “Print folks see the future and are scrambling to take the high ground, while TV sits on it’s thumb….. thinking they already own it”. That’s a killer quote from...

It was an interesting NAB Radio Conference, (National Association of Broadcasters) here in Philadelphia.  

I was invited to do a session on Web sales. It was called: How can Radio learn from Newspaper and other Online Revenue Leaders.

As a former Radio guy, it was kinda nice to be speaking in front of my former colleagues as they grapple with monetizing their Web assets. (Got my start as a Regional Sales Director with Clear Channel Interactive in 1999)

Main take-away: learn from the local, online revenue leaders.

Topics I covered: Common Radio Website Mistakes, Online Video for Sales, Rep Compensation, Job Description Overhauls, Overcoming Common Objections, High-Value Inventory, and Integrated Promotions.

Related posts:

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2. NAB Radio Online Hyper-Local Revenue NAB Radio and it’s hyper-local web revenue opportunity. Can the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) provide direction and motivation? Will Radio make the same mistakes as some TV and Newspapers? We...
3. Radio Websites, a Hyper Local Opportunity? Warning: If you have responsibility of managing the station website and you think web sales is un-appealing, or just not worth the time and effort……you may not want the big boss to...

WYSP Radio in Philadelphia, a CBS station, recently sent the mid-day team of Matt and Huggy packin’.

Instead of hitting the beach, or looking for their next gig, they took their show to the web. Not only do they have a loyal fanbase downloading their podcasts, but they’re packing nightclubs with their live podcast events. Click above to watch.

With cheap or free wireless broadband becoming the norm, this type of activity should be of great interest to terrestrial Radio. Maybe CBS could have streamed or archived their shows at www.WYSP.com ? Maybe they should have placed this team’s show on one of their under-utilized HD channels? Maybe Radio  needs to develop online-only content, and create a talent ‘farm team’ that lives online and on HD ?

 Watch for other “out of work” DJ’s to adopt these online tactics.

Related posts:

1. WYSP, KYW, CBS-3 Building Coming Down. The end of an era. Had some great times in that building at 5th and Market in Philly. WYSP radio, KYW 1060 Newsradio, and CBS-TV 3. But as of this week, the...
2. NAB Radio Online Hyper-Local Revenue NAB Radio and it’s hyper-local web revenue opportunity. Can the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) provide direction and motivation? Will Radio make the same mistakes as some TV and Newspapers? We...
3. Talk format online, Matt and Huggy The looming rate increase for online Radio stations could have an unexpected positive effect. The talk format could explode online, as most online Radio stations will likely dump their major...