Item: WAGA recently started a new 4:30am newscast, around the same time the station laid off production workers. The new newscast is a great idea. Here’s why.
10. Ten and a half hours of local news each weekday is insufficient, obviously.
9. At eleven hours of local news per day, you’re only one hour away from programming half the day out of the newsroom.
8. Your downsized production staff and robotic cameras have proven they can flawlessly handle another half-hour effortlessly.
7. More newscasts give anchors more opportunities to sharpen their teleprompter operating skills.
6. Legions of meth addicts in North Georgia need to know the five-day forecast before they go to bed.
5. The newsroom’s overnight staff is obviously underworked.
4. More newscasts give your sales staff opportunities to offer volume discounts to advertisers.
3. It ties nicely into your new promotional tag line: Volume, Volume, VOLUME!
2. It’s a baby step into the coveted 4 am slot.
1. A 4 am newscast foreshadows your new 4 pm newscast, set to debut in fall of 2011.
Posted by Icarus on April 7, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I’m angling for the ultra-coveted 3am time slot, where all the viewers will see will be an hour of me live-blogging whatever pops into my feelble little mind at that hour. Virtually zero production costs!
And, of course, during sweeps, I throw in an occasional live appearance via skype.
Posted by T.O. on April 7, 2010 at 1:40 pm
How fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking true.
Posted by Jimmy on April 7, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Fox 5 — Atlanta’s 24-hour NewsChannel!
Posted by LBJ on April 7, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Any earlier and they can revive Bestoink Dooley’s “Big Movie Shocker”. (only old Atlanta natives will remember…)
Posted by jcburns on April 7, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I think they’ll be launching the 3 am news by bringing Bill Tush and Tina Seldin on board. I just hope Chris Rehkopf is still there to direct, and that someone can sneak some old Plaza Drugs spots onto the server.
Posted by wagwar on April 8, 2010 at 8:26 am
Plaza Drugs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnSkNHuHBmw
Mr. Ellis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk00jJGfHV0
Posted by Jim on April 8, 2010 at 8:40 am
LOL to number 8. Things in production land are seriously bad. “DAMMIT, wrong super” “It’s okay, nobody knows who the city council president is anyway.”
Posted by Jimmy on April 8, 2010 at 8:57 am
Plus, you could add “Wrong super? Who cares? It’s 4:45 am. No one’s watching.”
Posted by Deanna on April 8, 2010 at 11:53 am
I might just set the alarm (or more likely, the DVR) for 4:30 to see Bill Tush do the news again!
Posted by Mr. Bear on April 8, 2010 at 7:17 pm
The master says it best:
http://www.billtush.com/clips/ted.mov
Posted by live apt fire on April 9, 2010 at 9:27 am
It slowly dawns on me that because WAGA reruns its 10pm news at 1am or so, the station has already reached the twelve-hour threshold. The newsroom deserves a flat cake for achieving this milestone.