How Locally-Produced Programs Are Proving Powerful for Stations

10.27.2015

Most local television stations are stretched thin covering area news and events. Many produce morning shows, but some stations are going further by developing original programs.

This week, Graham Media Group's WJXT Jacksonville, Florida launched River City Live, an hour-long lifestyle and entertainment show broadcasting live each weekday from Unity Plaza. And earlier this year, Nexstar's WTVO/WQRF Rockford, Illinois launched Bergstrom Stateline Quiz Bowl, and quickly renewed it for three more seasons.

One company pushing stations to create original shows is Media General, which recently hired Tony Optican as its first head of programming and tasked him with expanding the company's original content across all platforms. But even before he arrived, a few Media General stations had already delved into original programming

Last fall, WDTN/WBDT Dayton, Ohio, launched The Valley, a reality show following several local 18- to 24-year olds navigating life after high school and dealing with issues such as bullying, eating disorders, and underage drinking. When WDTN/WBDT's creative services director Steve Bailey conceived The Valley, -- which airs on WBDT, a CW affiliate -- he viewed it as digital content, not on-air programming.

"I was looking for a way to generate excitement outside of our CW Star content that would get a lot of eyeballs to our website," Bailey says.

"When I pitched the idea to our general manager and our corporate team, they were really into the idea and that it was going to be digital, but once they saw a sizzle reel they were thrilled with what they were seeing and the quality of the product and slotted it to air Saturday nights at 10:30 on our local CW station. Once our corporate team saw episode one, they offered us the Sunday night 8:00 PM time period, which plays great because we were able to push syndication back and have our own original content in that period."

This past spring, KRON San Francisco tested The BackStory, a six-part docu-series on the station's news team. The idea hit following a visit from corporate during which the subject of original content came up. A pilot was shot, viewers responded well, and six episodes were ordered.

"What you see is us showing up on a given day and covering the newsroom and newscast," says Jim Swanson, director of local production. "This is reality in its rawest of states."

"This isn't something we'd budgeted for or allocated time for," says Ashley Gold Messina, VP & GM, KRON. "We're running at max capacity and I asked Jim and his team to do a six-week series as quickly as possible. It took a lot of resources, but we wanted to give it a try and see if it was successful. But the end of the six-week run we were doing a .5 in adults 25-54 on a Sunday night, which in an LPM market is a very strong rating."

Impressed by what WDTN/WBDT and KRON accomplished on their own, Optican is encouraging other stations develop shows, too, saying his job is to move them from the "What if?" phase to the "How do we execute it?" phase. He says his role is providing stations with creative and financial resources to help bring their ideas to life.

"It's investing in the people and putting the time and energy in to take the kernel of an idea and blow it up into something much bigger," Optican says. "Ultimately, it pays huge dividends because shows are being created by people who know their markets exceedingly well."

In some ways the shows sell themselves, be it the subtle and seamless product integration WDTN does simply by shooting The Valley at locations cast members might frequent anyway, or KRON's ability to cross-promote The BackStory during newscasts, and newscasts during The BackStory.

"From a promotional standpoint, there's no way I could have created a campaign or marketing piece that humanizes our talent, reporters, and anchors the way this show does," says KRON promotion director Kevin Adler.

Messina says The BackStory meets three key goals: it appeals to Bay Area viewers; it's a revenue generator; and it's a great promotional tool for the station.

The BackStory and The Valley both earned second seasons, and longer seasons at that. The Valley went from eight episodes to twelve, and The BackStory jumped from six to eleven.

"There aren't a lot of companies that would be willing to take a chance on a project like this. It goes back to the vision of our CEO, Vince Sadusky. He was very open to the idea, and has always been a strong supporter of it," Bailey says. "That really allowed us the opportunity to try something new outside of just promoting our brand or our CW product. They took a chance and it really paid off."

Optican says encouraging stations to create local shows is less about creating original content and more about bringing relevant programming to each market.

"If you can provide programming that speaks to people, what you're driving is not only viewer engagement, but loyalty. And that's important."