So, how much confidence would you have in a meterologist if you knew he was from Oklahoma not Louisiana as a hurricane was roaring toward your home?  I have to rant about my favorite topic today - local TV news making a big deal out of an outsider being on their station and having no local expertise.

I was watching WDSU's live coverage of the approaching hurricane about midnight on a special feed from DirectTV.  There was a very good meterologist talking about the approaching hurricane Gustav.  But the station felt the need to diminish his local  credentials - not once but twice.

They introduced him as a “meteorologist from our sister station KOCO in Oklahoma City.”  Why is that information relevant to the viewers?  First off, they don't care - all they want is the latest location of Gustav and where it will make landfall, and when it does how powerful will it be?    So why marginalize his value to your viewers?  I am pretty sure there haven't been any hurricanes in Oklahoma lately.

And then, after he did a very credible job and seemed knowledgable - WDSU again made a big deal out of the fact he was “from their sister station in Oklahoma City.”   Stop it!

Pointing out that he is an outsider is dead wrong for two reasons:  First off, none of your viewers care where he is from, and secondly, when you do point out he is from somewhere else your first thought is - “What can he know about our area with no history in the market?

AR&D has been making the same recommendation for decades when you bring a new talent to the market - be they a news anchor or a meteorologist.  If your market is in the midwest, for instance, why point out the new weather guy is from California?   There is no upside as far as viewers are concerned.  Their first reaction - “Oh great, here's another new guy who knows nothing about our area.”

So, stop it!

Jim

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 6:09 am and is filed under Willi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.