I am on the road for a few days every week, criss-crossing the country to visit television stations.  It allows me to tap into ideas and observations from a lot of different sources.  So, beginning today I will author a sporadic series of Intel - interesting stuff I hear and see during my travels.   I hope you find these musings interesting and useful.

Buying Ads On The Competition: I have never heard of television stations allowing a competing station to buy spots on their air before.  But that is just what's happening in a midwest market as one station battles Time-Warner Cable for re-transmission consent fees.  The other stations in the market are letting the station buy spots on their air to take their battle with Time-Warner to the viewers.  Of course, those other stations have a vested interest - if that station wins it sets a payment level for the market with the cable company.

Hiring 2-For-The-Price-Of-One:  These, of course, are difficult budgetary times for local television stations.  A west coast news director told me that to keep her staff levels up, she had hired two less experienced reporters for the combined salary it would have taken to bring on a more veteran reporter.   I think that's a smart move - not only does it give you more reporters on the street - it  allows you to find young, eager reporters with great potential and teach them to report in the distinct style of your newscast - something a veteran reporter might fight.

On Their Best Behavior: Several news directors across the country have told me there is a distinct benefit to the unfortunate budget cuts and layoffs that have occured in most television stations.  The remaining news staffers are ready to do whatever it takes to keep their jobs, and to show they are productive assets to the station.  It gives the news directors  more flexibility in their coverage, and sets those reporters on the path they need to be on for future employment - performing as multi-taskers on multiple platforms throughout the day.

Clever Spot Based on Boston Legal:  If you're a Boston Legal fan, as I am, you anticipate the fun at the end of the program when James Spader and “Denny Crane” have cigars and a drink on the balcony of the law firm's high rise building.  Well, in a series of clever spots (that run inside and outside the program), WFAA in Dallas shows their popular sportscaster and their meteorologist re-enacting the scene in local news promos.  They are fun too.

Early Voting:  Speaking of Dallas, my wife Sherri and I cast our presidential ballots yesterday on the first day of early voting.  We weren't alone - 33,000 others in Dallas County did the same thing.  That's about 40% higher than the last presidential election.  Amazingly, for the first time in three decades - my wife and I voted for the same candidate.  In all the other years our votes cancelled each other out.

The Shrinking Fillet Of Fish Sandwich:  One final observation - We keep hearing how a gallon of ice cream isn't really a gallon anymore, and other products also offer less substance in the same size container.  Well, have you seen the shrinking fillet of fish sandwich at McDonalds?   I had one today at DFW Airport that was about half the previous size - but the price was the same.  I mean this thing was no bigger than a White Castle burger!  

See yah on the road!

Jim

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 8:10 pm 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.