Being Frank About Media

Have you seen "The Flash," the new TV show from Marvel comics? It's on the CW network and it's about a man who becomes a super fast superhero following a laboratory accident.

I wonder where I will see "The Flash" in January when WTTV becomes the CBS affiliate. My local cable company doesn't carry WISH-TV so, unless something changes we will have two CBS affiliates on our cable and no CW and no Flash. 

This is hardly worth mentioning except it illustrates what has happened to the media in recent years. 

Media is so fractured with Internet services like iTunes that traditional media such as newspapers, TV stations and radio stations have more competition for advertising revenue. It was this situation that undoubtedly led to CBS and Indianapolis' WISH-TV to part ways. According to information released a few months ago, WISH-TV and CBS could not come to a financial agreement and after 40-some years, WISH-TV will not be a CBS affiliate come Jan. 1. Instead, WTTV will become the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis and my buddy, "The Flash" will have to run somewhere else for a Central Indiana audience. Andy maybe run faster than ever. 

Media is business. Larger audiences allow media outlets to charge more money for ads. It is that simple. So, the challenge for each media outlet is to attract larger audiences. 

The first radio station broadcast was coverage of a live event.  Live events are expensive unless someone picks up the bill. Stations soon learned it was much cheaper to pay someone to play records than to broadcast live events.. Soon, licensing organizations were formed that charged radio stations to play the records and the money was distributed to the talent and record producers. 

WLS, Chciago, and other ABC-owned radio stations learned to combine records and personality to attract larger, younger audiences with spendable income. WLS replaced live broadcasts of groups like The Maple City Boys with popular records.
WGN, Chicago managed to produce the personality format without paying licensing organizations to play records. So, Wally Phillips and Bob Collins became household names in the Midwest.

What will media do in the future to attract larger audiences?  

Some local newspapers are running fewer wire stories in favor of more local coverage. "If it  happens today its in the paper tomorrow."

But that works only if most readers care about what happens today. So local stories have to be presented in a way that's appealing to readers.

It's all about the reader/viewer/listener. Just because it happens in your hometown doesn't mean a lot of people will want to know about it. 

So will I get to watch "The Flash" in January? It might be on at the same time but not the same station.

Frank Phillips is a reporter for The Brazil Times. He can be contacted at frank.phillips@gmail.com. 

Garry Meier should be on WGN's morning show

Hey, WGN, here's an idea -- if you want to improve your ratings, why don't you move Garry Meier to the morning slot?
Actually, I don't know how WGN is doing in the ratings, but I sense John Williams is floundering and I know he came across much better in his afternoon slot.
My litmus test for radio personalities is to notice if I seek them out. I look for Garry Meier on my trips to and from my job as a newspaper reporter/columnist/paginator/etc.
Garry is a breath of fresh air -- much like Uncle Bobby Collins, God rest his soul.
Meier apparently grew up in Chicago. He is apparently fearless.
This afternoon, for example, I was headed home from work and caught the end of the Noon Show and Orion Samuelson's business report.
Then Meier came on and complained he hadn't had a good soybean all summer. Funny. Very funny.
Likewise, this morning, I tuned in John Wlliams to hear him say it was too bad all the clunkers were being taken off the road by the Cash for Clunkers program because some clunkers are still serviceable. Not entertaining. Not funny. Thought provoking, yes. But I don't like to think on my way to work early in the morning.
Both personalities have their place. I just think the guys need to be reversed. Let us laugh in the morning and think in the afternoon -- like the good old days.