KRNV has brought local television news into the 21st century by including viewers in the conversation.
PhoTo Provided by KrNv
by Kyril Plaskon
The State of the News Media 2013 report can be found at http:// stateofthemedia.org.
16 | RN&R |
APRIL 25, 2013
R
eno’s broadcast signals are expanding dramatically. In the past two years, traditional and non-traditional broadcasters have increased local content by four hours a day and are using cutting edge technology. “We are the only station in the world that does it in this format,” said KRNV news director Matt McConico. His News 4 Forum at 11 a.m. with Melissa Carlson uses a program called “Google+” and Google’s automatic switching technology to bring anyone into a live conversation on TV. “If you want to be on TV, just contact Melissa, and we will get you on,” McConico says. He wants it to be comfortable: “It’s like sitting down at the bar and talking to people.” But, like most new technology, not
everyone is ready to belly-up and drink the super-spiked techno Kool-Aid. “It’s difficult to get people to want to put their face on TV and say, ‘This is my thought, this is my belief,” McConico says. “Getting people to change habits is difficult.” In TV, success is gauged by how many people watch. It started just seven months ago, and McConico says KRNV’s Forum has about half of viewers of the traditional 11 a.m. newscast on KOLO (channel 8). KOLO expanded its 11 a.m. newscast approximately two years ago, but its expansion from 11:30-noon
is mostly national news, not hyperlocal like KRNV can do. KOLO’s general manager did not respond to emails requesting an interview. The local air-wave expansion also includes internet-based broadcasters. LoadedTV.com kicked off a Reno morning show, Wake Up Call, a year ago, operating inside the bar at Bonanza Casino from 9-10 a.m. Hosts and guests talk about close-to-home topics and incorporate on-screen social media. The challenge is getting advertising money. “Here in Reno it has been a battle trying to explain the technology to people,” executive producer Stewart Campbell says. “People are more schooled in radio and television here. But the internet and social TV, to many people here, it is like, ‘What is it?” Instead of his signal going to a tower at the top of Slide Mountain like traditional broadcasts, the signal
