5NEWS, The City Wire launch new TV show
by March 28, 2012 1:43 pm 158 views
5NEWS (KFSM TV 5 and KXNW TV 34) and The City Wire have teamed up to produce a weekly one-hour news show designed to provide more indepth information about business, politics and arts & entertainment news in the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas areas.
The City Wire Show, which appears Saturday and Sunday mornings in the two markets, will include a recap of major events, updates and details on ongoing issues, updates on newsmakers and discussion of arts & entertainment action.
The show, officially titled “5NEWS Presents: The City Wire,” will air Saturday mornings at 8 .m. on KXNW-TV 34, which is channel 20 for Cox cable customers in Northwest Arkansas and channel 8 for Cox cable customers in the Fort Smith area. The show will air Sunday mornings at 7 a.m. on KFSM-TV 5.
5NEWS Anchor Daren Bobb and The City Wire managing editor Michael Tilley are set to serve as hosts for the show. Also, Kyle Kellams, news director for KUAF 91.3FM, Cyd King, arts & entertainment editor for The City Wire, will be part of the show to talk about the cultural scene in Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith areas.
The first show, set to air Mar. 31 and April 1, will include an interview segment with Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan and Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders. Also planned to be on the show are proponents and opponents of an effort to change the liquor law in Benton County.
5NEWS recently expanded its reach with the addition of KXNW in the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas market. Also, The City Wire in late January rebranded its website, expanded its coverage into Northwest Arkansas and began to provide more statewide business and political news.
5NEWS and The City Wire have been content partners for three years, with recent expansions by both media outlets helping to provide resources for the new show. Van Comer, president and general manager of KFSM and KXNW, said the media collaboration has been smart for both companies.
“The City Wire program on both stations is a great example of how we will use two TV stations to improve our coverage of news in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley. We like to say ‘two stations but one news team.’ It’s great having The City Wire as a partner with 5NEWS adding to the depth of our coverage,” Comer said.
Tilley agreed, saying the new show is yet another example of unique and innovative collaboration between traditional and digital media.
“We at The City Wire believe there are many people in the two markets who want more detailed news about business, politics and culture. Our tremendous website traffic growth in the past three years supports that belief,” said Tilley. “Now, with the support from 5NEWS, we are able to expand upon that belief and help produce a news show that cuts through all the media clutter to provide depth to the news.”
ABOUT KFSM AND THE CITY WIRE
KFSM began broadcasting in 1953 and in January purchased KXNW TV in Northwest Arkansas. 5NEWS offers more than 33 hours of local news programming per week on two stations, KFSM TV 5 and KXNW TV 34. The website, 5newsonline.com, averages nearly three million pageviews per month and nearly 285,000 unique visitors per month. 5NEWS is one team on two stations and we are proud to be partners with The City Wire.
The City Wire, re-launched in November 2008, is a news website that covers business, politics and culture in the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas regions. The website attracted more than 685,000 unique visits between Nov. 1, 2008 and Dec. 30, 2011, and logged more than 4.456 million pageviews. The City Wire expanded in January 2012 with the addition of new staff, a new web platform and expanded coverage in Northwest Arkansas.