Posted on 09/14/2006 7:13:10 AM PDT by MindBender26
Couric Furious At CBS Suits. She Claims "They Are Stabbing Me In The Back."
Katie Couric is not a happy camper this morning. The Suits at CBS have sent a strong signal throughout the news department that they have already lost faith in her. Here are the details as reported to me this AM from an old friend at West 57th.
(Here beginnith the First Lesson.)
“Promos” (short for promotional announcements) are advertisements a station or network runs to promote their own programs. A 30 second televised message advertising Veg-O-Matic is called a “spot” (short for spot advertisement.) A 30 second message advertising the CBS Evening News is called a “promo.”
Promos are the lifeblood of an individual high-profile anchor’s ratings. The commercial time committed to promos is directly linked to increased ratings.
If a station or network has faith in a rising star reporter or anchor, they will run a “heavy rotation” of promos for that person. Likewise, if the network suits have little faith in the anchor, that personality will receive few promos.
Why not give everyone plenty of promos? It’s simple; there are only so many minutes available to run promos and spots during a 24 hour period. Every time a network airs a promo, they abandon the revenue that would have been produced by a commercial run during that same time period.
(Here endith the First Lesson)
Well… a new promo schedule has just been circulated at CBS, and Perky’s promo time is WAY down. Both the frequency and desirability of time of airing have been cut drastically. This is a clear sign that the Suits have read the tea leaves and are already abandoning Perky.
Some reduction was expected after her first week but a CBS insider described the cuts as “drastic” and “approaching abandonment.” In her words, “we would give more promo time to a “safe Halloween trick-or-treating” story than Katie is going to get.
Another horribly negative comment is now accepted as fact at CBS: “Sure, some people are going to watch us/her now, but can you imagine anyone having a choice between us and Charlie Gibson on ABC going with us if/when there is another terrorist attack?”
Already some other anchors’ agents are smelling blood in the water. The big guessing game at Black Rock is now, “Which power agent is having lunch with which CBS Suit today.”
P.S. Rather is working overtime on his new satellite- fed dinky cable show. Editors who have seen first drafts of story treatments say it is WAY over the top, sort of a "Howard Beale on LSD reading Rolling Stone straight to camera, with a Texas accent" concept.
More as available.
I believe their idea was to increase ratings. They didn't understand their audience...over 65, doesn't follow the issues too closely, Democrat, doesn't like to change show preferences too often, comfort.
Everyone else is gone and ain't coming back. Unless they get a Brit Hume or different point of view to get NEW demographics, they will be stuck with the same ratings over the three channels. The puff pieces were good for train-wreck-watchers, but they already saw the wreckage.
Here is the answer:
1. Start covering the Republicans as something other than fascist crooks who oppress the common man.
2. Start giving the military some positive stories (a feature three nights a week on overseas units and what they have been doing would be a good start).
3. Actual investigative stories on topics pertinent to all Americans, such as HOW oil prices are REALLY determined, rather than the moonbat conspiracy theories.
4. Institute a "no Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter" policy for the first 60 days.
5. Admit that the TANG story about Bush was a fraud, and offer an honest apology.
Yuck
She should pull a Robert Novak CNN moment before it's too late.
I don't think the problem is Couric. It is the producers. They are producing a show too light on news and heavy on touchy-feely fluff.
LOL - yes, I did!!
I hear he does a muggee character pretty good.
Network news will be on the ash heap of history within a few years anyway. It's a money loser, since the all-news Cable channels are where people go to now.
I saw Dan Rather's 5 minute promo of his show in HDTV and it was a hoot! He talked about (and I'm not making this up) "well researched stories" HAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAH
Maybe Perky will do a swan song like Connie Chung. I WOULD watch that!
Hey..Rosie and an anchor....watching that foammouthed lib as an anchor might be kind of amusing for a few minutes....
I will bet it would net her some viewers should she use it. ;^)
It couldn't happen to a nicer, more deserving guy.
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