Bencredible

I was a wee bit disappointed at our local news stations in Minnesota. Every year we have the Minnesota State Fair which has the highest daily attendance of any state fair in the country. This is where the Minnesotans are, this is what Minnesotans care about.

While a local news station isn’t required to broadcast from the fair, I would expect that the people reporting on my community and telling me what is relevant in my community would be in the largest event the community hosts. If they don’t even understand that little bit, how can they even begin to deliver news that I would want to watch, that I would feel is relevant?

Sure, you can broadcast the same news stories from anywhere, but it is nice to see a station go to the extra effort to be with the people they are trying to connect with. This year was a huge dissapointment from almost all the stations. Here are some pics taken between 10:00pm and 10:30pm Friday, August 29th.

KARE’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

WCCO’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KMSP’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KSTP’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KSTP – Channel 5 Eyewitness News was the *only* station that had a full broadcast going on at the state fair. Taking a look at the pictures you can see that it draws quite a crowd and I would fully expect their ratings to climb because of this.

Television news shouldn’t be about just reporting on fires, shootings and other depressing stories. Local news can be about bringing communities together, reporting on stories that people care about and making a difference in the community to which they serve. I’m impressed with KSTP (even if they are not HD yet, slackers) and very disappointed in KARE, WCCO and KMSP. Frankly this is out of character for KARE who usually tries to immerse themselves in the community. Maybe they are losing their touch and the new king will be KSTP?

Dunno, but kudos to KSTP for caring enough to actually make the effort, unlike your competition.

KSTP is starting a new show at 3:00pm CDT called ‘Twin Cities Live‘. They have a nifty splash page for the site up at http://www.twincitieslive.tv that tells you the show will be starting April 21st. Here, I’ll save you a click:

I have been contacted by KSTP to appear once in a while (or once if I suck, maybe more than once if I’m actually good) as a technology guru type person.

So who are those two people in the picture? According to their press release, “The show is hosted by Minnesota natives John Hanson and Rebekah Wood. John was discovered during an open casting call at Mall of America and Rebekah went through a series of auditions before joining the show. Both grew up in Minnesota and were eager to return to the area.”

Wow, that sounds a lot like Good Company, doesn’t it? Returning to my trusty press release, “TWIN CITIES LIVE will offer the same “spirit” of local programming as Good Company did but with an updated format and content. John and Rebekah bring a unique perspective, and the production staff is dedicated to providing engaging and timely content on a daily basis.”

So all in all it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. A live studio audience on Fridays (although I think it would be cooler if they had one every day of the week) and possibly yours truly showing you what cool technology will help you in your life. For those who know me I’m really big on the ‘why’ not just the ‘how’. No one cares about CPU speed, amount of RAM, etc., etc. Technology is used to solve a problem or streamline a workflow. What most forget is that the specs don’t actually matter that much, it is the function and design of the product that will make all the difference. How you use the technology is what really matters, not how it was made or who made it. Unless Apple made it, then it is required to be cool and you have to buy it, no questions asked. Now everyone go out and buy an iPhone!

I was supposed to go in for a screen test this last week, but one of the producers called me, told me that they were super busy starting the show up (as I can imagine having gone through that same process more than once in my life) and I would be taken just straight to air. Here’s hoping that I do my former employer Hubbard Broadcasting proud. I’m going to see if they will let Cariann join me on the set and stream a little behind-the-scenes stuff live on Qik.

WCCO are you listening? KSTP knows how cool I am, why aren’t you bringing me on board? KMSP, you’re about 2 miles away from me and I never get a phone call. Geesh, where’s the love? KARE? Well, they are HD and that just scares me. Would I look fatter in widescreen?