By John Altenbern, CJ&N president During Warren Buffett’s virtual shareholder meeting the other day, he called attention to a line he has used before: “Don’t bet against America.” Today, I will go a step further: Don’t bet against local television. In some corners of our business the doomsayers are in full bloom. Advertising is gone [...]
Welcome to 2018. Amid all the usual predictions about our business, I’ve been thinking about the faces of local TV. As change and retirements seem to become more frequent, so does the notion that maybe it’s not about people anymore. Is it just a “content machine” we need to mind? There’s discussion that the network [...]
Have you seen HQ? I’m talking about the app called HQ. Actually, I hadn’t seen it until my 34-year-old son showed it to me last week. It seems to be hot among millennials. Chances are GMs, station managers and news directors will say the same thing I did: Why didn’t I think of that? The [...]
This time Facebook is going after weather -- local weather, one of a station’s primary content drivers. Jimmy Kimmel may have said it best when talking about his reaction to watching reporters putting themselves In the middle of severe weather: “We don’t pay much attention to them anymore because we now get the weather on [...]
Sitting high and dry a thousand miles from the Harvey disaster unfolding in Texas gives you a different perspective on the story. As local stations in Texas and the networks do yeoman’s duty showing rescues and passing on information, our CJ&N colleagues are noting something else: The most useful sources of information and help for [...]
Why do stations do so many Facebook Live posts that don’t drive revenue or views to the station’s revenue platforms (air, apps or website)? Yes, you can make money by being very focused with a Facebook revenue strategy. Last month I moderated a webinar for Broadcasting & Cable talking about how stations are using Facebook [...]
If you’re using the summer months to review your TV station’s digital and social media tactics and strategies (and you should be), make sure you consider how you’re presenting video. Whether it’s Instagram, Snapchat or the “godfather” Facebook, there’s no question the focus should be on images and video. For most stations, posting video means [...]
“Hi, I’m Hayden, nice to meet you,” she said in a rush. We had never met and we had three minutes to connect. She is a 20-year-old journalism student and in her eyes, I’m certain, I was some old guy with gray hair and a dubious understanding of her world. “What do you see yourself [...]
I just returned from a weekend trip out of state to see relatives – a whole house full of young couples, new babies and familiar old faces. In addition to lots of food and laughter, it gave me new appreciation for how people who aren’t in the “media bubble” see the world these days. I love [...]
I’m so excited. I just got off a call with Mark Zuckerberg. Yes, THAT Zuckerberg, the brain of Facebook. He called to thank me and thank you. He talked about how stations have really embraced Facebook. “It’s so great that stations are putting so much of their video and producing content on Facebook live on [...]
