Oregon Media Insiders

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

There was mention of them bringing PDXposed to the evenings. Will this follow the new newscast?

That is a great idea. It's a long time in coming. Given that it may have a political bent in terms of mission, I hope Randy Neves makes an ample contribution to the program. I enjoy his City Beat reporting on KGW.

As for PDXposed; if memory serves, it'll be part of KGW's weekend lineup. Could be wrong, but that's what I recall reading.

Lets hope they have a new look come 7pm. Otherwise it will be hour 1.5 of the same old same old with anchors and set.

Maybe a different desk? Or have in-studio guests? They've got to change something up.

90 minutes of the same thing with only a little content change will be too long. Then again, the people watching will have just gotten home.

Maybe this is for all the new bike commuters who take just that much longer to get home in the evenings....

...on how long KGW will keep the 7pm newscast?

Betcha that they'll pull the plug right after the election is over. Indeed, it's a great way to make some money prior to the November general election (candidates just can't buy too many spots in news programs just prior to a November election) but it's very likely that KGW will yank the newscast after November. 7pm newscasts just don't perform that well in most markets. By 7pm most viewers are ready for "Wheel" "jeopardy" or "ET"...they've had enough news and they want something mindless to watch.

Doubt the 7pm newscast is gonna have that many viewers...even among those folks who get home late from work.

...and how's that studio in Pioneer Place coming along?

It's an election year, folks! This is just a way to get more local inventory to cash in on those political buys. The 7pm will be gone by the new year, unless they give us something more in the format. I agree with the previous poster in that by 7pm, even news junkies are burned out on news. But,KGW won't care if nobody watches. As long as they can plug those candidate and ballot measure spots in the breaks, it's all money!

Any word on who'll anchor the new 7pm broadcast? Any chance KGW executives will take Stephanie Stricklen off the awful painfully early 430am half hour? Maybe pair Steph with Wayne Havrelly? Wayne was great at KIRO 7 in Seattle and KHQ 6 in Spokane back in the stone ages.

If they think I'm going to watch more political hackery instead of Jeopardy, they are very, very wrong.

I'm so fed up with the political crap, I could spit!

Viewer Rick

This will sell well just because of the election. And what inventory they have left over will be used for make goods/upgrades/bonus spots. Do you think the anchors/news staff will get paid any extra? The anchors, maybe, but not anyone else I'll bet.

Sure there will be interest in politics in the fall, but its not like Obama is going to be in for a tight race in this state, nor are there compelling statewide races, with the exception of Gordon Smith v. Merkley. Though Mike Erickson could provide some more drama. Still, I welcome the chance to learn more about the candidates

Wow....an early evening news cast that is on when people are home from work. What a novel concept. My only question is, what took so long?

Judging from the routine gridlock traffic on the Sunset Highway at 6:15 in the evening, it isn't only the bike commuters that are getting home later these days.

I work downtown, live just three miles away, and am off at work at 5:00 sharp just about every night. I'm lucky to even be home by 5:30. Add in a quick dinner and some simple chores and I'm doing good to even have time for tv before 7:00.

If the news producers want to draw a younger and more upwardly mobile crowd, they are going to have to take some added risks on show times. Most working people just aren't able to catch tv before 7 PM or after 11PM.

A 7pm show will easily win that hour against all those entertainment mags, game shows and Simpsons re-runs.

Good ratings this fall will give KGW no reason to cancel it. It'll make good money too, and give the 800-pound gorilla one more reason to pound its chest.

May I remind you of an Oregon Media Insider post dated 1/06/08

"7pm will work; 4pm won't
Submitted by Anonymous Source on Sun, 01/06/2008 - 6:29pm.
The program manager of KPTV - before the sale to Meredith - made a pitch and case for a 7pm newscast in 2002. Numbers, trends, the Portland way of life and the financial rewards with minimal additional cost provided solid and compelling reasons for a 7pm newscast. He recently made the same pitch to the new owners of KOIN - continuing to be convinced that the first station to add a 7pm newscast will win and enhance their news position in the market. He contended that it will be a slow build until news habits are established - just like Good Day Oregon (of which he was on the team that created that program). There is an unserved news audience at 7pm that isn't home for the early newscasts. 4pm is a recipe for disaster - regardless of the content."

Hmmm.. well, speaking only for myself, of course, a 7 pm news show will not take precedent over a 7:30 Simpsons rerun in my house. We love the theme week format of the episodes in that time slot! Late news is what 11 pm was made for.

Intersting note: KGW's sister NWCN already does a 7pm newscast that covers at least part of PDX and Oregon.

Here's some additional information... The newscast is slated to begin sometime in September at 7pm for 30min, I haven't heard a date yet. My feeling is KGW management will use this as a pilot to make the case for a full-time 7pm cast after November. It will be politically "motivated", no pun intended, until Novemeber. They're doing this to capitalize on the political spending that's projected to come thither. With the Olympics and election KGW is at a break even point for the year. Even though there is the Superbowl next year, it's not projected to drag up the bottom line.

I don't know about the rest of you but I would rather get/do my political news/research over the internet verses TV.

Pdxposed will air on KGW on the weekends. It will also be available KGW.com for those who want to brave the annoying login. I haven't yet heard a launch date for the program.

More to follow...

The best way to make excess newscasts go away is not to watch them. Here is the news that I watch: KPTV at 4:00pm if I'm home; KGW 6:30pm for Joe Smith's report; Ch. 32 10 at 10 and Mark Nelson on KPTV.

Finally the management over at KGW have figured it out. They can do another half hour of "local programming" at little additional cost. A 7PM News program eliminates the need to pay for trashy syndicated programming, saving precious dough. A 7PM News program wrings one more half hour of filler out of under-worked, under-performing producers, directors, writers, photogs and editors who by the 7PM tile slot are all sitting around the newsroom twiddling their thumbs and wondering where they can score that evening's analgesic. The plan makes perfect financial sense. Who cares if anyone is watching?

The point is, all the newsroom staffers are in the building anyway. Why not get something on the cheap and slap it on the air. Glitzy anchors can simply switch seats and the look is entirely new. The weather segment can be expanded to 12-minutes. You can never get too much weather. The Sports Report can grow to 9-minutes because there's always more one needs to know about the Trailblazers. Throw in a few station breaks filled with promos for the Morning News, the News at Noon, the Five, Six and Six-Thirty News and before you know it, your half-hour time slot is covered.

This time of day could use a fresher face, put Joe Michael's or Amy Troy on. Because the normal three are on so often and have been for so long, people won't be excited to watch them for a fourth hour.

Put someone new on!