NBC Revives Local Newscast

Griffin invests $5 million

in newsroom, 50 employees

Shortly after arriving in Fayetteville, the two main anchors hired for NBC 24/51, KPOM/KFAA, had some unusual medical problems.

Don Elkins collapsed in the breakroom floor after a July 20 interview with Gov. Mike Huckabee. The prognosis? Kidney stones.

The next morning, Shani (pronounced shay-nee) Walls was stumbling through her house shortly after waking up when her cat, Guido, darted between her legs. Jake, her Labrador retriever, was close behind.

To prevent a collision with the large dog, Walls kicked her left leg out to one side and smashed her little toe into a Queen Ann chair. The pain from the broken toe caused Walls to doubled over and bang her head on the back of the chair, blackening her eye.

A bad omen?

Nah. The news crew at NBC 24/51 took it all in stride, even though it happened just two weeks before the station resumed its newscast after an eight-year hiatus.

John Watson Griffin, 37, said he spent slightly more than $5 million to resurrect 24/51’s newscasts, which were canceled in 1992 during less prosperous economic times.

“We could have thrown something together for a million dollars,” he said, “but we didn’t. We went first class all the way.”

The investment includes 50 employees and 8,700 SF of renovated space in the guts of the century-old Campbell Bell building on the downtown Fayetteville square.

In 1992, the television news advertising market in Northwest Arkansas was about $16 million, Griffin said. Now, it’s about twice that.

Griffin said NBC 24/51 is the only locally owned major-network television station in the area. It’s owned officially by Griffin Holdings Inc. of Muskogee, Okla. KFSM, Channel 5 (a CBS affiliate), is owned by The New York Times Co., and KHOG/KHBS, Channels 40/29 (the ABC affiliate), is owned by Hearst Argyle.

Channel 5 has historically been the leader in the 10-county dominant market area, which includes eight counties in Arkansas — stretching from Fort Smith to the Missouri state line — and two counties in Oklahoma. Channels 40/29 usually leads in the number of viewers in Northwest Arkansas, according to the Nielsen reports. (see chart)

Griffin grew up in Muskogee. His grandfather, John Taylor Griffin, founded Griffin Food Co., which is famous for its jams and jellies. Griffin’s father, John Toole Griffin, founded three television stations, KWTV in Oklahoma City, KTUL in Tulsa and KATV in Little Rock. The Griffin family purchased KPOM/KFAA in 1986.

“We’re privately owned,” Griffin said. “I come up here and I know my employees by their first names. If they have a problem, they can call me on the phone. The other companies are all publicly traded Wall Street firms.

“This is the latest digital equipment. This is the most state-of-the-art news station in Arkansas.”

Griffin speculates that 24/51 is the best equipped station — because of its digital facilities — of any station in a similar sized market in the country.

Differences?

And what will set 24/51 apart from the other two stations in the area?

“We’re going to focus on the community,” Griffin said. “We’re going to be there for the community. “Technology-wise, with the weather, we’re going to beat the competition hands down.”

NBC 24/51 will use the most up-to-date Doppler radar available, said Gary Darnell, news director for the station. The Doppler used by 40/29, is four years old, he said.

“It will be faster than theirs, probably,” Darnell said. “There is not a newer, more sophisticated Doppler radar station in the country.”

Darnell said the system will provide a three-dimensional view of the landscape to enhance weather forecasts. The station will have the ability to show live radar shots at the bottom of the television screen when other shows air.

But the competition is skeptical.

“It’s my understanding it’s the same thing,” Barbara Maushard, news director for 40/29 said of the two Doppler radar systems. “Theirs may have more bells and whistles, but I don’t think it’s any better technology.”

In addition to the advanced Doppler, Darnell said 24/51 will have a truck for on-location shots that is equipped with digital satellite equipment. A satellite link-up allows the station to broadcast when mountains might obstruct microwave transmission. All three of 24/51’s on-location trucks are also equipped with microwave transmission equipment.

Maushard notes that 40/29 also has a satellite truck.

“Meaningful” news

Darnell said 24/51 is going to be different from the competition in other ways, as well.

The station won’t be doing “fender-bender” stories, he said. The stories on 24/51 will be “insightful” and “meaningful in content.”

“That’s what most television stations strive for,” said Van Comer, general manager for KFSM, Channel 5. “What we try to do is tell the story, give our viewers the facts that impact their lives. I understand what [24/51] is saying. We do that every day.”

The promotional segments 24/51 has been airing say the station is going to take a proactive stand and fight crime.

Comer said KFSM was the first station to bring a crime-watch segment to local television. He said the KFSM’s “Crime Stoppers” program is the “most successful crime prevention program in the region.”

Maushard said she feels journalists should be observers, not crime fighters.

Maushard said she views 24/51 as more “competition” but not a “threat.”

“We put on a very solid product, a very good product,” she said, noting that 40/29 has been on the air in Northwest Arkansas for the past 22 years.

Comer also touted his station’s seniority as the oldest in the region. KFSM began broadcasting in Fort Smith in 1953 and opened a Fayetteville newsroom in 1972. Currently, KFSM has a 7,000-SF office in the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville.

Comer said KFSM’s main competition is from the area newspapers, not from other television stations.

“I hope the viewers benefit,” Comer said of NBC’s return to the news market. “I think competition is good for any market. … We have our plan and that is to be the be the leader in the market. We don’t plan to give that up.”

David Needham, general manager of 24/51, said the station will continue to maintain a 10,000-SF office in Fort Smith where eight or nine reporters will be based.

Although the main newsroom is in Fayetteville, the station is actually licensed to Fort Smith and Rogers because those cities are nearest to 24/51’s two transmitting towers. The KPOM transmitter on Cartwright Mountain near Fort Smith actually feeds the broadcast to the KFAA transmitter on Fitzgerald Mountain near Rogers, Needham said.

The station will cover the same 10-county market area that is served by the other two local stations. Needham admits that the signal from KFSM is stronger than the other two area stations because it’s a VHF signal, which can easily go up and over mountains, as opposed to UHF.

Needham said NBC had been encouraging the station to resume a local newscast, but the national network said do it “whenever the time is right.”

Griffin and his crew thought the time was right on Aug. 3.

Seinfeld backlash?

One thing that might be a sticking point for the new station is moving the 30-minute “Seinfeld” rerun from 10:05 p.m. weekdays to 11:36 p.m. Before resuming its newscast, 24/51 had been broadcasting a five-minute weather segment before the popular sitcom.

“There will be some folks that won’t be crazy about the idea that I’m not going to air [Seinfeld] in such a prime time period,” Needham said.

With younger viewers, the Seinfeld reruns have frequently been more popular than the newscasts aired from 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. by the other two networks. The Seinfeld rerun netted 9 percent of the viewers on average for the time slot in the most recent Nielsen ratings. (see chart) The show was more popular in Northwest Arkansas where it had a 12 percent share.

With adults age 25 to 54 in Northwest Arkansas, Seinfeld tied KFSM with a 16 percent share. Channels 40/29 had a 19 percent share for the two-county area with the same age group in the same time slot.

Needham said he hopes the new newscast will at least tie the 9 percent Seinfeld share in the next quarterly Neilsen report.

As viewers become more accustomed to 24/51’s newscast, Needham thinks that rating will improve.

“What we’re really going to focus on is that adult 25 to 54 group,” he said.