By Deb Peterson

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

08/20/2006



MURROW MAN: Brian Williams, the anchor and managing editor of the ratings-leading "NBC Nightly News," will broadcast from St. Louis on Wednesday. KSDK (Channel 5) general manager Lynn Beall says the decision to put St. Louis in the spotlight comes about partly because of the fan base here. "Oftentimes we are the No. 1 'Nightly News' station in the country," Beall said Thursday. "I think that's another reason why St. Louis is often on that NBC list, because of the loyalty of the St. Louis viewer." Beall said that Williams has talked about wanting to emphasize various communities around the country on his program. "It's pretty darn cool," she added. Williams will broadcast from a specially constructed set on the roof of the KSDK studios at 1000 Market Street. A station spokesman said "Nightly News" producers toured the area and decided that the roof provided the best views of the St. Louis skyline and the Arch.

That seems sort of random to broadcast from St. Louis. But good for St. Louis getting national exposure.

general manager Lynn Beall says the decision to put St. Louis in the spotlight comes about partly because of the fan base here. "Oftentimes we are the No. 1 'Nightly News' station in the country," Beall said Thursday. "I think that's another reason why St. Louis is often on that NBC list, because of the loyalty of the St. Louis viewer."

I think that statement above explains why StL is getting the broadcast. It's not like they were picked out of a hat.

ChesterfieldKid03 wrote:Williams will broadcast from a specially constructed set on the roof of the KSDK studios at 1000 Market Street. A station spokesman said "Nightly News" producers toured the area and decided that the roof provided the best views of the St. Louis skyline and the Arch.

I'm surprised KSDK management didn't insist on broadcasting from the Ameristar Casino with a view of the Blanchette Bridge in the background, to better appeal to their base.



Still, regardless of how I feel about KSDK, it's cool exposure for STL.

ThreeOneFour wrote:

ChesterfieldKid03 wrote:Williams will broadcast from a specially constructed set on the roof of the KSDK studios at 1000 Market Street. A station spokesman said "Nightly News" producers toured the area and decided that the roof provided the best views of the St. Louis skyline and the Arch.

I'm surprised KSDK management didn't insist on broadcasting from the Ameristar Casino with a view of the Blanchette Bridge in the background, to better appeal to their base.



Still, regardless of how I feel about KSDK, it's cool exposure for STL.

HUH???

^ Some people have noted previously on this forum that KSDK doesn't cover much city news beyond the expected coverage of fires and homicides.



That doesn't necessarily mean that KSDK has an anti-city bias- I guess that's up to individual perception. There are just times when I think they can try harder to find good news east of Skinker. As it's been said here before by myself and others, KTVI comparatively does a good if not flawless job of highlighting major developments and events in the city. And KSDK didn't fare too well in a poll featured on this forum.



I like some of the personalities on KSDK, but I think they have serious room for improvement in their coverage of events and developments in the city proper. Just my $.02.

^ If you set your DVR, TiVo, or VCR right away, you can catch it because it will air at 5:30 tonight.

I just walked in and caught the TAIL end of the broadcast... the city looked great in closing! I wish I'd DVR'd it... oh well!

Wow, I didn't know Brian Williams was a cracksmoker. What was that intro about St. Louis being "America's 12th largest city"??? I think he was looking at the 1965 census.

Well, if Brian had something interesting to say about St. Louis, then he said it while the commercials were running. I mean I thought he would say Something about all the things going on in the city, but nope. He stood there on the roof of KSDK and did the national news and that was it. We all knew he was in St. Louis because he said so, and because we could see the Arch. Wow .... I think we have been damned with faint (or no) praise.

coachjw wrote:I just walked in and caught the TAIL end of the broadcast... the city looked great in closing! I wish I'd DVR'd it... oh well!

You can watch it here after 9 PM...



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/

That Valley Park story wasn't exactly flattering.



I remember hearing a poll about border States being much more tolerant of illegal immigrants and States that are affected very little pushing for tighter controls and higher walls etc. That mayor looked like a tool and promoted a Missouri stereotype to the rest of the country. It reinforces the "flyover state" and "country bumpkin" feelings that the coasts have for the midwest.

JivecitySTL wrote:Wow, I didn't know Brian Williams was a cracksmoker. What was that intro about St. Louis being "America's 12th largest city"??? I think he was looking at the 1965 census.

I was wondering the same thing. Is there some kind of media ranking or something he could be talking about? I heard he was rewarding St. Louis because we give his newscast the highest % viewership of any big city -- probably because it follows KDSK -- the best local newscast.

I wonder where NBC got their info from about STL being the 12th largest city. Oh well, even if its wrong it sounded great and gave us some good press.

Channel 5 is by FAR among the very worst, most small-townish, fluff-filled, stiffest, non-engaging newscasts I've ever seen in a major metropolitan market. It's almost like it's produced by Betty Crocker or something. I vividly remember one TOP STORY: "Tonight at 6, we'll introduce you to a St. Louisan who gets to meet President Bush tomorrow!" No joke. They make news out of everyday ordinary occurences. I was sitting in a waiting room at the car repair shop a couple of weeks ago and there goes Channel 5 on the TV, with it's TOP STORY about the freaking baby elephant at the zoo. It's not like there's a MAJOR WAR HAPPENING in the Middle East or anything!. Who produces this crap?



Channel 4...now that's good news. NBC Nightly News is good too. But I just can't stomach KSDK ever again. Stiff, conservative...yuck.

stellar wrote:That Valley Park story wasn't exactly flattering.



I remember hearing a poll about border States being much more tolerant of illegal immigrants and States that are affected very little pushing for tighter controls and higher walls etc. That mayor looked like a tool and promoted a Missouri stereotype to the rest of the country. It reinforces the "flyover state" and "country bumpkin" feelings that the coasts have for the midwest.

I'm not blaming the reporter by any means, but I wish more would've been told about the flourishing Hispanic communities elsewhere in the metro area, along with the efforts that the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and others in the community made to help those families forced out by this Draconian policy. I don't think it impacted the image of Saint Louis per se, but hopefully the average person watching this thinks Valley Park is located somewhere around Branson, even though the reporter pointed out that VP is just 20 minutes from the city.



JVL...I would've liked to have seen a short story showcasing the positive developments in Saint Louis. Heck, even Neal Peirce says we're one of the biggest urban revitalization success stories, and he thought we were on life support when he published the Peirce Report in 1997. However, I didn't expect to see such a story here, given the tight timeframe of a half-hour news show (more like 23 minutes or so sans commercials).



At least downtown looked wonderful. The great weather made for a postcard picture-perfect view of downtown Saint Louis. And, FWIW, people may now think of us as the 12th largest American city.

STLgasm wrote:

Bastiat wrote:

STLgasm wrote:I think St. Louis City + St. Louis County = 12th largest city



Very misleading and totally cheating, but it sounded good.

How is this misleading at all? Because he ignored the magical/imaginary line separating the two? Cities are not defined by political boundaries, but by the people living in them and what they build. What if the city were to redraw the boundaries as Jefferson, 40, the River, and Washington. Is that only St. Louis city because the line changed, or is it veryy misleading and totally cheating?

It's cheating because the city limits are what they are. Chicago's city population doesn't include all of Cook County; Cleveland's numbers don't include all of Cuyahoga County; Detroit's doesn't include Wayne County in its entirety, Pittsburgh's city numbers don't include all of Allegheny County; Baltimore City is completely separate from Baltimore County, etc. etc.



The city's boundaries are what they are, for better or worse. St. Louis has very small city limits. It's not fair to claim it's the 12th biggest city unless the above-mentioned cities (and many others) are allowed to include their principle surrounding counties as well.

And even if you include St. Louis's surrounding area, you should do the same for other cities. And I believe by this measure, St. Louis is the 18th largest Metropolitan Statistal Area -- at least it was the 18th largest media market when I was in the public relations industry in 2003.