Content area
Full text
THE AREA SURROUNDING SACRAMENTO IS ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING REGIONS IN the nation. New residents are moving into the market from other parts of California and from all over the country. In addition to affordable housing and a fairly stable local economy, the market also boasts a highly diverse population. Time magazine last year described Sacramento, California's state capital, as America's most diverse city. And with the nation's focus on the carnival-like gubernatorial recall election set for Oct. 7-featuring outlandish candidates such as actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and former child TV star Gary Coleman, Sacramento will be bustling this fall. Local TV and radio stations and newspapers are expecting a third-quarter revenue windfall of millions of incremental political advertising dollars (statewide, it is expected that more than $100 million will be spent).
The Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto television market is ranked No. 19 nationally, with 1.2 million TV households. Hearst-Argyle created the market's first duopoly in 1999 when it purchased WB affiliate KQCA. The company already owned the market's longtime leader, NBC affiliate KCRA-TV.
Last fall, KCRA opted to discontinue its 4:30 p.m. newscast and schedule Dr. Phil at 4 p.m. as the lead-in to the Oprah Winfrey Show. Even with the loss of the 4:30 p.m. news, KCRA still produces more local news than any other station in the market, says Elliott Troshinsky, president and general manager of the duopoly. The move has "more than paid off," he asserts. Both Dr. Phil and Oprah are No. 1 in their respective time periods. In addition, the new lineup has given the station's 5 p.m. news a lift, with delivery of adults 25-54 in May 2003 growing 20 percent compared to May 2002.
This fall, KCRA plans to construct a fully functional news set for its weekday noon newscast inside the local Arden Fair mall. With the anchor desk surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, shoppers at the heavily trafficked mall will be able to watch the newscast up close. Troshinsky compares the planned studio to NBC's news set in New York's Rockefeller Center, noting that additional newscasts will be broadcast from the mall when appropriate. When news isn't on, the mall studio "will serve as a promotional and marketing outlet for us," he adds.
KCRA is the...