Posted by Jed Starnes on April 03, 2013 at 10:19:17:
This is a legitimate question, from someone who once lived a life on the reporting side of the media, but had no role in any form of management:
Strictly as a listener, the most noticeable changes that the "outside consultant" has presumably spearheaded at 620 thus far are:
1) Having previously unheard voice talent announce the top-of-the-hour newscast;
2) Having the newscaster do a more pronounced hand-off to the sports guy, mentioning him by name; and
3) Giving the current temperature in outlying areas of the coverage area, like Port Washington and Beaver Dam, instead of simply "Mitchell, downtown, and Timmerman." (Which feels to me like the equivalent of a rock band shouting "Hello _____ [insert city name here]" at the beginning of their show.)
Do things like this actually boost ratings? They feel like subtle gimmicks, perhaps because the "consultant" is too weak or powerless to actually tweak the content of the programming. Am I wrong?