Just what the Birmingham market has been crying out for...Birmingham's WB21 to launch 9 p.m. local newscast

Birmingham affiliate WTTO-TV WB21 is launching a 9 p.m. local newscast this summer.

Owned by Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the news show will air Monday through Sunday from 9-10 p.m. CST. The station says it intends to target Birmingham's younger adult viewers with the news broadcast.

WB21 will add between 15 and 20 employees to produce the local portion of the broadcast, with Sinclair's News Central providing national news and sports and weather content. The station is being upgraded to house the news facility and added staff.

General manager of WTTO-TV Sandy Stewart said in a press statement, "WB21's newscast promises to be fast-paced, appealing to a younger demographic than the current local newscasts in the Birmingham market. And, by using the News Central format, our local news staff will be able to concentrate exclusively on local stories that affect our community."

Sinclair owns and operates 62 television stations in 39 markets, including Birmingham's WABM-TV UPN68.

There are four stations with local news operations in the Birmingham market, one of them a direct competitor with a 9:00 pm broadcast (WBRC FOX6). Right now 21 is airing two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond during this hour long time slot, and despite the fact that ELR has the benefit of Patricia Heaton, WTTO will be able to more than counter that with the Dubba Dubba Twins.

Despite the probable feminine-pulchritude advantage over the other local stations, a news show geared toward "a younger demographic than the current local newscasts in the Birmingham market" might not be the best way to squeeze the dollars out of the 18-24 set.

News appeals to a certain group of folks, and the risk is either in having a news program so totally lacking in gravitas and veracity that it's not taken seriously by anyone, or doing another "me-too" type of broadcast that has nothing better to offer than anything you can find on cable or broadcast. This is especially something to consider given the decided lack of success of the local CBS affiliate, who has struggled mightily for years with a variety of formats to stay afloat with local content. (In fairness, part of that lack of success has to do with a past haunted by a pitifully weak UHF signal. Of course, it had content to match.)

Another big deal around here are the weather anchors--WTTO better bring it on with some really heavy-duty SuperDoppler4000 and StormTrackPathX and Seventy-ElevenDayAccuBeachForecasts and lots of shaky-camera bumpers of their suavely handsome WeatherTeam21 (WTTO--get it!?) gang interviewing toothless, mullet-haired trailer park tornado survivors.

But, best of luck to them. Put the Twins on and I'll watch, even if I'm not part of the intended demographic.
posted by Terry at 1:50:00 PM