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BIOTECHNOLOGY, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, LIGHT MANUFACTURING, TOURISM AND THE military are the primary industries fueling the expansion of San Diego, the third-fastest-growing city in the U.S. For many years, San Diego was heavily dependent on the military to sustain the region's economy.
A concerted effort on the part of local businesses and universities over the past decade has led to greater diversification of the economy.
The University of California at San Diego, San Diego State University and the University of San Diego are the three major universities in the market. A number of local high-tech firms, including the telecommunications giant Qualcomm, have started up with nurturing from these institutions.
The expansion of business and industry in San Diego has had a ripple effect in the market, which boasts low unemployment, scores of new homes and retail outlets sprouting up almost overnight and a growing highway traffic problem.
San Diego is the 25th-ranked television market in the country, with 996,220 TV households. Local TV news has become more competitive in the past few years as several stations have devoted more resources and airtime to news programming.
In the February sweeps, KGTV-TV, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting's ABC affiliate in San Diego, won the evening news competition at 5 and 6:30 p.m. in household ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research. At 11 p.m., KGTV finished second with an average 5.3 rating and 14 share, well behind the 7.8/20 earned by NBC's owned-and-operated KNSD-TV (see Nielsen chart on page 22).
KGTV has focused on extending its brand. The station has a partnership with Cox Communications on San Diego's News Channel (Channel 15), a 24-hour cable news outlet that recently began its fourth year on the air. KGTV also recently forged a partnership with KOGO-AM, Clear Channel Communications' market-leading Talk/News/Sports outlet in San Diego. If there is a breaking news story that KOGO does not have, the radio station now simulcasts KGTV's live broadcast.
In addition, KGTV has a marketing partnership with the North County Times, a familyowned daily newspaper that covers the northem portion of San Diego County.
"We brand ourselves as `The Leadership Station,"' says Darrell Brown, KGTV vp/general manager. "We're continually looking for new solutions for the community."
Following the shootings earlier this year at Santana High School in nearby Santee,...