Let's see a scroll

[Stn Brk]

Considering we have some tv types on this board, perhaps one of them could explain to me why breakfast tv shows feature a scroll of top stories, sports, weather etc, but there's no scroll on the 5 or 6?

Personally, I'd like to see a headline scroll. The BBC does it. Our local tv stations do it during election coverage, so we know they have the technical capability. Are the station owners cheap and don't want to hire staff to run the scroll?

[Cliff Bashly Kinkade]

I'm guessing consultants are responsible...

[Marke Driesschen]

Morning news shows on TV use scrolls to give the viewer as much information as possible in as little time as possible. That's also why their news segments repeat 3 or 4 times an hour. The audience for a morning show changes over every fifteen minutes or so, because people are usually getting themselves ready to head out to work, school, etc. Plus, you could get a whole new audience between 6 and 7, 7 and 8 and so on.
So, even if your not interested in whatever's on the air at the moment, you can look at the headline scroll or the weather sidebar and get your iinformation that way, rather than miss it because you couldn't wait for the next news segment or traffic update. Same thing with election shows-rather than hear them drone on about what the results mean, you can look at the scroll to see what happened in your riding.
The reason they are not used on the 5 and 6 newscasts is because the audience for those shows, traditionally, are home and have the time to watch an entire newscast from start to finish. Since they don't have to run off anywhere, chances are they will stay tuned until the story or segment they want to see comes on. I say "traditionally" because many people aren't home at 5 or 6 anymore, so the audience is not as reliable as it once was. Either way, to put a scroll on a supper hour or late night news show would be rather useless, since the viewer is, hopefully, tuned in for the entire show and dosen't have to rush off anywhere.
I hope that answers your question, Stn Brk. Frankly, I don't think it would be a great idea for anyone in the Vancouver market to try for just those reasons.

[Stn Brk]

Our local stations should get with the times! No one sits down with a tv table and plate of food to watch the suppertime news any more. We're all busy. A scroll would be a great help to those of us who want the latest headlines in the shortest possible time before we're out the door again.

Another of my pet peeves is the newscaster saying 'coming up next...such and such' and the story isn't in the next package. I don't like being lied to.

[Marke Driesschen]

Oh boy, Stn Brk...
You and I have engaged in one lengthy discussion on this board already and I don't really think this topic merits another, but I do want to expand on my previous post.
First of all, the newsrooms in this city are "with the times" They are well aware, and have been for sometime, that the traditional audience for dinner hour news is not there anymore. Not only do people work longer and have more to do, many of them can get their news from the internet or 24 hour news channels. They don't have to wait until 6 o'clock anymore. They've all done research in this area and have tried to re-structure their newscast accordingly.
The challenge here in Vancouver is not with the newsrooms. The viewers themselves tend to be very traditional and prefer a more conventional newscast. When I was still with City TV, they did focus groups on our news programs. The most annoying thing to them was the fact that our anchors were standing and not sitting at desks. That was a huge tune-out factor. That was one of the reasons why the City TV style was never accepted by viewers (along with a few other reasons, but that's water under the bridge!). Any type of innovation or new wrinkle in the news is usually met with skepticism, including putting a scroll. I can almost guarentee you that if Global put a scroll on their 6 o'clock show, their phone boards would be jammed with calls from irate viewers telling them it's distracting and accusing them of being CNN wannabes. It may sound silly to you (it does to me) but it's true. People's viewing habits may change, but they don't like it when you change what they're watching. That makes it incredibly hard for anyone to try something new, challenging or different. It's not only frustrating for viewers like you, but to news directors or programmers who want to be innovative.
Again, I'm not advocating scroll or no-scroll. I'm just trying to provide a little insight. I'm only a weatherguy, but I've been around this city long enough to see how things work here.
By the way, please don't take offence when the newscaster promotes a story for the next segment and it never comes up. Sometimes items get dropped for reasons of time or breaking news. No one's "lying" to you.
On the contrary, if an item is promoted, it almost never gets dropped.

[Cliff Bashly Kinkade]

Another of my pet peeves is the newscaster saying 'coming up next...such and such'

Like I said, consultants. But why do you rely on your local TV or radio, when the Internet is there for you like a cheap hooker.

[Stn Brk]

I hit the internet news sites at least twice a day. In fact, if I get home from work and the newscast is even five minutes old, I don't bother turning on the set. I'm never going to find out what the top story was and don't want to waste my time on features and six takes on the weather.
(It's drizzling. Gosh figured that out on my own!) Instead, I fire up the computer and take a boo at the WX site. That's another argument in favour of a scroll - people like me who miss the top of the newscast have a reason to tune in! Better a viewer for ten minutes than no viewer at all.

PS Marke. Don't you have some work to do?

[Jack Bennest]

Marke - keep posting your insightful on the scene reports

it's great to have a living breathing TV guy on the board

[Marke Driesschen]

Stn Brk...
My advice to you. Don't watch TV news anymore.
It seems to both disappoint and stress you out too much!

By the way...enjoy the weekend. It's supposed to get sunny again!

[Marke Driesschen]

Sorry...I forgot to thank you, Top Dog, for the nice compliment!

[radiofan]

Marke:

<marquee>Ditto to Top Dog's comments! ... maybe Stn Break will enjoy this post </marquee>

[Cliff Bashly Kinkade]

9.5!

[Stn Brk]

Alright - that was pretty funny. I got a chuckle out of the scrolling message.

Now if someone would just have the guts to bring local tv news into the 21st century and add a scroll to the suppertime news, I'd be blissful and unstressed.

Marke...are you really supposed to be telling viewers to stop watching tv?

[Marke Driesschen]

Probably not...but don't take me so literally to start with.
Maybe we can run a scroll saying "Watch us only if you really want to."

[Cliff Bashly Kinkade]

but don't take me so literally to start with."

That goes without saying, after all you're a weather pointer right? It's not like you're a traffic pointer.