WWS309

For a local station, WCAU has been instrumental in establishing many of the cornerstones of television news. It was the first station in the country to have a local 11pm news broadcast and the first to have a 4-person evening news team (2 anchors, weatherman, and sportscaster). John Facenda, one of the most well-known TV personalities in the Philadelphia area, had to personally pitch and implement the idea of an 11pm newscast. To strengthen his pitch, he even found sponsors for the show. On September 8, 1948, the first late-night newscast went on the air from WCAU studios. Though it started off as a one-man show, the late news expanded to a four-person team in 1950; a fun fact is that one of the original members of the team was a young Ed McMahon, the future Tonight Show sidekick.

Originally the news teams stuck to strictly news and facts, but as the 1960s approached, the station decided to add more of an editorial component to the mix. A journalist was hired to give commentary on current social and political issues. In the 1970s, the concepts of "action news" and "eyewitness news" were introduced at both the local and national levels, but WCAU was slow to adapt from its more traditional journalistic style and lost much of the young audience. Its attempts to reclaim the top spot in the local Philadelphia market by putting "fresh faces" on screen were not greeted kindly by the viewership; it looked as if the station was pushing out the tenured staff for a bunch of youthful unknowns. Eventually, the format change was complete and WCAU was able to return to the top spot in the local television news market.

Currently, the 11pm news ranks a very close second in the ratings to the local ABC affiliate, WPVI. Their newsrooms have a somewhat adversarial relationship, including an accusation by WPVI that NBC-10 was stealing story ideas from their promos. WCAU has also been accused of hiring a "tabloid guy" to raise news ratings when in reality they hired an anchor who'd worked for entertainment shows for less than a year; paired with some other news choices they've made, they're being framed as the local news that's "leading the charge toward gimmicks and hype." Critics say that NBC-10 news is a hybrid of entertainment and information instead of hard facts. This may be a byproduct of the fact that parent company NBC, in general, aims for a younger demographic.

The NBC-10 news team has 9 news anchors, 5 weather people, 3 sportscasters, and 18 reporters. In terms of ratings, WCAU is a close second in each time slot for news broadcasts behind WPVI (ABC affiliate). During some sweeps periods, WCAU's ratings beat those of their chief rival for the 11pm news slot. For the 11pm news, WCAU averages a rating of 12, meaning that roughly 12% of households with televisions are tuned in to that program; in the Philadelphia market this is the equivalent of about 320,000 homes. A full chart of local market ratings is available here (as of 2001).

In the latest news, as of August 2004, NBC-10 and The Philadelphia Inquirer are now in partnership. The station promises that the collaboration will allow better coverage of big stories affecting the area. As part of the deal, NBC-10 will give a preview of the Inquirer's headlines during the previous night's broadcast. There will also be special collaborations on other NBC-10 local programming. The impact on viewership/readership and ratings will not be fully known for a few more months.

The station's website provides a "video vault" that allows people to view important broadcasts from throughout the station's history. Slideshows and video clips allow the average viewer to see a pictorial history of the station. This is a really nice feature because you can see for yourself how the practice of television news has changed over time, from nicer sets to more anchors and topic experts.

Overall, I think WCAU NBC-10 is a great operation and I look forward to learning more about it during the coming semester.