This is the hometown news that viewers seek as they turn their eyes from the world at large to the world at home, and this back-fence journalism is causing a quiet revolution in television news.
Cable systems are rapidly adding channels all across the country that report local news all day long. Even as these upstart stations are proving themselves as businesses and news organizations, they are changing the way neighbors learn about their communities.
The all-news channels promise viewers news when they want it, eschewing the tabloid approach that is the longtime staple of local TV newscasts. It means crime and sex are often replaced by reports on tax rates and traffic.
One of the newest local news channels is Central Florida News 13 in Orlando, which opened its newsroom only last fall. On one recent day, reporter David Waters is so busy that he barely had time to check his watch.
Waters first reports on a proposed noise ordinance in nearby Brevard County, where residents are irked by booming car radios. Next: A story about teaching jobs at some local schools. Then he rushes to Cape Canaveral as the space shuttle began creeping to the launch pad. By afternoon, Waters catches a break: A colleague replaces him for a satellite blastoff.
On a daily basis, news director Robin Smythe sets the schedule. She knows that her station is considered a rookie by her competitors, the news programs on broadcast affiliates. So she's particularly eager to take advantage of their weaknesses.
The battle about neighborhood noise is the type of story - dry but important to Brevard County residents - that might slip by competing broadcast stations. They worry their viewers might yawn and click away from their newscasts.
While many residents want their rocket launches live, commercial channels may not preempt "Oprah" or other entertainment shows for a routine space shot. But time is no problem for Smythe. She has hours to fill, not just 30 minutes at dinner and before bed time.
"Immediacy of information is something that people have come to expect," she says. "Nobody watches it 24 hours a day, but they need it when they need it."
Central Florida News 13 is one of 27 members of the Association of Regional News Channels. In 1992, with only four stations, the association was formed to share trade secrets. Now, association president Philip Balboni says cable news channels operate in seven of the nation's 10 largest cities, reaching nearly 20 million homes.
"Every major market in the country will have one of these regional channels soon," says Joseph Angotti, a University of Miami professor who researches local news. "They're just sprouting up all over."
This rapid growth is as much a business strategy as a news strategy. Cable competes for customers with satellite dish systems, and a regional news channel gives cable operators a selling point that their rivals cannot match.
Consider the New York City area, something of a laboratory for new approaches to local news.
Ringing the city are Cablevision outlets, devoted to such specific suburban areas as Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester County and southwestern Connecticut.
04-02-98
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