Mar 20, 2000 – Kay McFadden – Seattle Times television critic
TV news is losing viewers. It’s losing them in the evening. It’s losing them at night. It’s losing them nationally and in every large market, including Seattle.
The one exception is mornings. Thanks to lifestyle factors you’ve no doubt tired of reading about – did you know The Seattle Times moved to mornings? – TV actually is gaining audience in the 5 to 8 a.m. stretch. The totals aren’t big yet compared to evenings and nights, but they’re growing.
Broadcasters have responded to this wake-up call by lavishing resources on what used to be a bare-bones shift.
Critics who, ahem, used to ignore the local morning news are paying closer attention and issuing report cards like the one that accompanies this story.
Yet for all the added oomph of expanded time slots, extra staff and bigger budgets, the average morning newscast seems doomed to end up right where it began every half-hour ago. For folks at home, the result can be like a 30-minute version of “Groundhog Day.”
This isn’t necessarily because the product is bad. A week’s worth of watching in Seattle proved local stations are better than many in the country, though not as good as the best. The rivalry that can turn TV news into a shrieking carnival has had a mostly positive effect here, though it won’t halt the industry slide toward softer, simpler news.
February Nielsens for the 6 to 7 a.m. period – a time when four stations are on the air with news – underscore the intensifying local battle. While KING-TV still leads and actually has added to its ratings and audience share, KOMO-TV isn’t far behind. Third-place KIRO-TV is closing a once-formidable gap. Meanwhile, KCPQ-TV’s “Mornings on Q” newsmagazine has brought diversity to the local scene since its Jan. 18 launch, though the audience is still small.
Speaking of audiences, the main reason for Repetitive TV Syndrome is because stations don’t expect the average early bird to watch more than a half-hour. That’s why the 5, 5:30, 6, etc., newscasts can seem alike. Furthermore, audience expectations have been raised by cable news channels and the Internet. We want the top stories on demand, which tends to reinforce RTVS.
But a good morning newscast is like a good breakfast joint. For customers who seek the usual, the station will have it on hand and do it well. At the same time, the menu ought to feature enough variety to attract others. Fresh ingredients – updates that move along existing stories – are a must.
So how did our four local establishments do when it came to serving the ayem news? Pull up a chair and grab a cup while we pour:
KING-TV (NBC)
Hosts: Julie Francavilla, Mark Mullen Time: 5 to 7 a.m. (before “Today” kicks in) Dish: The biggest buffet in town. Review: It’s like praising Ray’s Boathouse or some other Northwest institution, but Seattle’s oldest station offers the most substantial meal for any given half-hour. Early on, KING provides a solid slate of business, headline and weather news – the commuter blue plate. Later, the blend incorporates more consumer and medical (read: parents, older people) stories. What’s nice is that KING doesn’t dumb-down when it makes this shift.
KING also fits more information into any given story than its rivals and mostly avoids the temptation of stupid, misleading teases – the station equivalent of touting a special, only to announce you’ve just run out of it. Strengths: The co-anchors. Francavilla is warm and professional, a polished model for moms or moguls. Mullen plays off Francavilla with a businesslike demeanor and a little Brit Hume sneer that shows he’s serious about this news stuff. Neither fakes story reaction or stretches pleasantries into phony chitchat for the audience: no “Hi, I’m Mark and I’ll be your anchor today.” Weaknesses: Field reporting. KING could use more personality and imagination out there. Stand-ups tend to be wooden and delivery earnest, even when it’s a story like the Experience Music Project.
KOMO-TV (ABC)
Hosts: Margo Myers, Todd Johnson Time: 5 to 7 a.m. (before “Good Morning America” kicks in) Dish: Pushing the house special Review: As Seattle’s sole remaining locally owned station, KOMO is relentless about its local identity. “First 4 local news” is the slogan and at the break, Myers tells viewers, “More local news when we come back.”
The result is, indeed, more local news – sometimes at the expense of bigger national stories. But that may not matter to the lifetime residents of Shoreline or Port Townsend in whom KOMO appears to have such a stake. KOMO also does a good job with medical and education stories, with features on cooking, with any story concerning kids. The tone reflects this greater orientation toward down-home concerns: Myers and her sidekick, Todd Johnson, are a friendly, chatty duo. Strengths: Todd Johnson is KOMO’s morning Jack-of-All-Trades. He does weather; he does cooking segments; he’s a foil for Margo; he’s handsome. In short, he’s an audience’s perfect fantasy husband. Johnson proves a station needn’t follow the Noah’s Ark theory of anchor pairing as he nimbly moves from set to desk. Weaknesses: Local business news gets short shrift. KOMO’s parochial obsession can make it seem as if the world stopped at the borders of Canada and Oregon.
KIRO-TV (CBS)
Hosts: Joyce Taylor, Brad Goode Time: 5 to 8 a.m. (before “The Early Show” kicks in) Dish: Pop-Tarts and Cocoa Puffs Review: KIRO-TV has gotten a lot better at night and in the evenings. Its performances on the WTO riots and Lake Union shootings were admirable. Its morning resurgence, though, is a bit of a mystery. The story selections can be odd – who at 6 a.m. on March 15 is thinking about how to plan their commute to see the Kingdome implode on March 27? – and often lack detail. KIRO also does more misleading teases and sensationalizing of stories. A recent piece on the rise of binge drinking at colleges left out the fact that drinking overall is down. A story on how Viagra doesn’t contribute to heart problems was teased thusly: “Next, a little blue pill that does so much for sex lives could end your life.”
KIRO has learned how to harness its resources on breaking crime and disaster stories – topics that do appeal to its older-skewing viewers. The station also has some of the best field reporters in Seattle. But it needs to build in more depth and more context and stop pandering to the bad-news bears. Strengths: Joyce Taylor’s solid performance and longevity in the Seattle TV market clearly are a big selling point to KIRO viewers.Weaknesses: All of the aforesaid, plus a distinct tendency to import negativity from other parts of the country as filler.
KCPQ-TV (FOX)
Hosts: Sam Shane, Christine Chen Time: 6 to 9 a.m. Dish: An omelette that hasn’t quite set. Review: KCPQ’s hipper local variant on “Today” or “Good Morning America” has many interesting ingredients that are still swirling around, looking to cohere.
There’s much we like about “Mornings on Q.” The hosts have an easy rapport. There’s a dedication to local news – the arts and entertainment, sports, lots of technology – that make a viewer realize how painfully narrow KOMO’s approach is by comparison. The station does a slick job of changing its focus from business and commuter concerns to more fun stuff as time goes by. And it has that all-too-rare attribute in news, a sense of humor.
It’s also best to realize KCPQ is in the experimental stage. Some elements, like the barking dog on the “Dog Walker’s Forecast” and the traffic report “JamCam,” are just silly. And there’s still some shrill nervousness pervading the set. But this is a show for people desperately seeking a smart alternative. Strengths: Sam Shane is an island of laconic calm who has the credibility to do the news and the intelligence to know when to wink at some of KCPQ’s proceedings. And Kristi Paulus has to be Seattle’s best morning field reporter. Weaknesses: Somebody needs to get the station’s act together on interviews, which tend to be rambling and unfocused. Seat-of-the-pants style is OK, but not if audiences can’t even understand what the topic’s about or what the interview subject does.
