This is the second in a series of observations and ideas gleaned from my weekly travels across the country…

Economy, Economy, Economy.  I have been ranting about the need to focus on economic news in your newscasts for months.   I am happy to see that most every station in every market I visit has now put a laser focus on helping viewers survive the tough economic times.   It is clear that giving positive ideas in this “economic tsunami” will help drive ratings for your newscasts.

Money 9-1-1.  WFLA in Tampa has put together a strong series of reports for the November sweeps  helping real familes get through their economic problems.  They identify a family's issues and then get advice from Today Show money expert Jean Chatzky.  They call the series of reports – Money 9-1-1.  Real People.  Real Problems.  Real Solutions.

Adding Viewers To Your Content Team.   AR&D's Media 2.0 unit has been hammering away for a few years now on the need to add viewers to your newsgathering process through User Generated Content (UGC).  It is part of the transparency viewer's desire, and enriches your content.  As I travel around, I am pleased to see more and more newscasts incorporating UGC for daily weather pictures and video as well as for breaking news stories.  Many newscasts now invite viewer comments on news stories – and get the responses on the air before the end of the newscast.  A few anchors are inviting blogs from viewers and blogging back to them during the newscasts.  If you are not on that bandwagon – you better jump onboard soon or you will literally be left in the dust.

Web Site Host.   Most stations try to send viewers to their web site during newscasts.  WNCN in Raleigh has moved a step beyond with MyNC.com on NBC17 with Page Crawford.  She appears in several newscasts a day with video clips to drive viewers from the newscast to the station's unique stand-alone web site that is filled with rich, hyper-local information specific to towns and counties in their DMA.

You Question.   WCMH in Columbus is engaging viewers with a special franchise on air and the web called You Question.  We Get Answers.  Viewers and web users are invited to email, phone, twitter or text questions about issues in their neighborhoods and communities.  The station digs out the answers and puts them in newscasts and the web.  The response, in a few short weeks has been terrific.  

See you on the road.

Jim

This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 10:11 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.