AR&D Reinventing Local Media

I got an interesting lesson this weekend in what it's like to live in a small town on the fringe of a big city TV market.   I was at my lakehouse - about an hour east of Dallas in Gun Barrel City (great name!) - as Hurricane Ike headed relentlessly toward North Texas.

For most of the week that area was in the bullseye for the eye of Ike with predictions it would arrive as still a Category 1 hurricane - or at the very least a tropical storm with sustained winds near 75 miles an hour.  It was a bit unnerving to say the least.

I tied everything down at the ole lakehouse, made sure my 82-year-old neighbor lady's place was secure and waited for Ike's arrival.  Meanwhile the TV stations in Dallas-Fort Worth began wall-to-wall coverage on Friday.

As I flipped from channel to channel I felt like an unwanted orphan.  Naturally the stations concentrated on the Metroplex with crews running everywhere - even as Ike continued to move east - away from DFW.   Every time a meteorologist put up a special graphic with projected winds and rainfall with Ike - they invariably stood right in front of east Texas, blocking out the information.

When it became apparent that the Metroplex would only have light effects from Ike - they all breathed a sigh of relief - even as the storm continued with high winds toward east Texas.   But even as the big city threat faded, they kept going to reporter after reporter standing in the rain in the city.

Only one station - WFAA - sent a reporter to east Texas - and she did a terrrific job hopping from one small town to the next as winds around 50-60 miles an hour howled on through.  Ike's main impact eventually moved 60 miles east of my lake - and tore up 60-foot trees and powerlines in Tyler, Texas.

Now - Tyler is its own small TV market - but it is only about a 90 minute drive from Dallas.  Yet no station sent a reporter there to report on the damage from the storm that just missed the big city.

As an advisor to TV stations, this was a good lesson for me.  I had never really thought before how frustrating it must be to live in a small town on the fringe of a big market - and essentially be ignored by all the TV stations.

It is something I will remind my clients about when we discuss severe weather coverage.

Jim