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Issue: 1097 Date: 9/1/2011
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Local TV Newscasts Expanding
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| Leisa Zigman, an anchor at KSDK, which will begin newscasts as early as 4 a.m. next month. |
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ST. LOUIS - Coming soon to this city's television screens: more news at 4 in the morning, again at 10, and at 4 in the afternoon. KSDK, the local NBC affiliate, is adding newscasts to those time slots next month, giving it six and a half hours of local news each weekday, its highest count to date.
KSDK, the local NBC affiliate, is adding newscasts to those time slots next month, giving it six and a half hours of local news each weekday, its highest count to date.
As in many other markets, the news is starting earlier than ever in the morning, and replacing "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in the afternoon. To supply it in St. Louis, KSDK is hiring 10 people and buying new cameras and trucks.
This is what the rebound in local television looks like. Three years after the business buckled under the weight of the advertising recession, the more popular stations in markets like St. Louis are adding newscasts and in some cases employees - though not as many as were dismissed during the downturn.
Station economics affect the nation's news diet because local TV news is consistently identified in surveys as the top news source for most Americans.
A study commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission concluded earlier this year that although there were pockets of excellence in local news, there was still a heavy reliance on thinly stretched staffs and predictable crime and weather coverage.
Three trends have benefited the local station business. First, advertisers have streamed back, especially in the automotive sector that is so important to local media.
Steve Ridge of Frank N. Magid Associates, which consults with local stations nationwide, said local TV ad revenues were up almost 25 percent in 2010 compared with 2009, buttressed by political ad spending. So far this year, even without political ads, the owners of several big groups of stations reported slight upticks in ad revenues versus 2010.
Second, cable and satellite companies have agreed in many cases to pay retransmission fees to stations, and bigger stations in local markets can command bigger fees. Even though stations are splitting those fees with their network partners, like NBC and ABC, they "really have been an infusion of stability," Mr. Ridge said.
Third, the downturn became a rationale not only to cut costs but to innovate and experiment within news divisions, which have historically been profit centers for stations. The benefit of the industry’s bad times, executives say, is that it forced a hard look at news operations.
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