The new owner of WLNE-TV ABC 6 is shaking up personnel and spending $1 million on converting to high-definition broadcast. Those and other changes have operators hoping viewers will take a second look at the station, traditionally ranked third in ratings in the highly competitive Providence-New Bedford market dominated by WJAR-TV NBC 10 and WPRI-TV CBS 12.
But if the station wants to improve its ratings and make the local news market a tighter three-way race, one media expert suggests the tried-and-true method of wearing out shoe leather in search of significant news.
Channel 6 must “take ownership of some bombshell investigative story,” said Holland Cooke, a Block Island-based national media consultant. “There’s no secret on how to become conspicuous,” Cooke said, saying that pounding the pavement looking for news is the best approach for raising ratings. “It will take some sort of coup,” he said, “being in the right place at the right time, before the other two [television stations] are there.”
Philip J. Lombardo, owner and CEO of Citadel Communications LLC, based in Bronxville, N.Y., said his company is investing about $1 million in the ongoing conversion to high-definition, slated for completion by Sept. 1. A new control room is under construction and modifications may be needed to the local newscast sets, Lombardo said.
“All the analog equipment, everything there now, goes out the door,” Lombardo told Providence Business News, explaining that almost about every aspect of the broadcast and production process will be affected by the change.
The company is buying new cameras for the studio and for use out in the field, will train workers on the new equipment during the summer and is even adding supplemental air conditioning to make sure the new equipment is kept suitably cool, Lombardo said.
“We have HD at our four other stations, so we know exactly what we’re doing,” he said, referring to the four stations in the Midwest owned by Citadel.
The sale of WLNE-TV ABC 6, formerly owned by Global Broadcasting of Southern New England, was finalized with a closing at the station June 1. Citadel Communications LLC paid a total of $5.8 million in cash and assets for the station, and Citadel personnel have been in charge there since April. The sale was court-approved after the station went into receivership last year.
“This is a station with a lot of heart,” said Judy Shoemaker, promotion manager who worked at Channel 6 several years ago and has been hired back. “We are the hardest-working news team in town.”
Traditionally, however, Channel 6 has lagged in the ratings. The most recent Nielsen ratings available for the 11 p.m. local news broadcast, for the period April 28 through May 25, saw Channel 10 with an average rating of 6; WPRI-TV, an average of 5; and WLNE-TV, an average of 2. Each point represents 6,200 households. (WLNE-TV as of May returned to the Nielsen Company for its ratings, in place of Rentrak Corporation.)
Regarding Cooke’s assertion the station’s news report must improve, Shoemaker told PBN last week the station is taking steps to expand its ability to cover local news.
The station recently hired three multimedia journalists, nearly doubling its reporting staff previously at four, according to Shoemaker.
Multimedia journalists can function as reporters, news-desk anchors, editors and can operate the cameras on assignment, thus increasing the staff’s flexibility, she noted. “We will be able to cover more stories and get more video and more local news to our viewers,” she said.
The station is also seeking a new news director because the former director, Dan Fabrizio, recently left to pursue other interests.
With all the changes taking place – Shoemaker mentioned hammers flying, saws buzzing and sawdust all over the place as the new control room is built – it is an exciting time to be at the station, she said. Viewers will see WLNE-TV become more involved in the community, she said, and “an enterprising team” of reporters and staff is working to gather news that viewers “can’t find on any other stations.”
Tzianabos, a resident of Mansfield, comes to Channel 6 from WFXT-TV Fox 25 Boston, where he was vice president and general sales manager from August 2000 to May of this year. He previously worked as local sales manager for WFXT, national sales manager for WHDH-TV NBC 7 in Massachusetts, and local sales manager for the New England Sports Network.
Jay Howell, general manager of WPRI-TV’s Eyewitness News, said his station also is converting to full HD, a process that should be done in the summer. WJAR-TV switched to HD in May.
Regarding Channel 6, Howell said it was never his wish that a competitor go bankrupt. “We want local broadcasting to be healthy,” he said. “It is not good for local broadcasting to have a station in bankruptcy. We never rooted for that.”
Chris Lanni, news director at Channel 10, said his station went to HD in mid-May, though some field cameras, while of top quality, are not high definition. “It’s nothing most viewers would pick up on,” he said. Lanni declined to discuss changes under way at Channel 6.
In addition to Shoemaker and Tzianabos, other new appointments under Citadel include:
Karen Meyers, anchor for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. local news broadcasts. She previously worked as an anchor at New England Cable News and is a winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting; Liz Tufts, weekend anchor as of June 13. She has won several Associated Press awards and worked for KLKN-TV in Lincoln, Neb., and WSHM-TV in Springfield, Mass.; Michael Troiano, named local sales manager; Michael Sugrue, named national sales manager. •
