NBC Takes My Advice

From my post below on 4-22-08 "Try Anything and Everything" (and said to anyone that would listen to me for more than 2 years):

"...Not the least of which is maximizing the 24/7 value of your station website as a local news source. I continue to believe that stations that focus on being the local news leader online will not only see their broadcast ratings stabilize and maybe even increase - but will also secure their place in the local news landscape over the long haul. And unlike the finite broadcast day - the web is an infinite landscape that can serve smaller and smaller niche news consumers. (Read: hyper-local)"

So what did WNBC in New York announce yesterday?

A shift to 24/7 creation and distribution of local news content through all sorts of media including the web and out of home platforms. From the NewYork Times:

"NBC’s plan calls for rebuilding Channel 4’s newsroom and melding its content closely with the coming news channel, the existing local Web site, and out-of-home video displayed in locations like gas pumps and back seats of taxicabs. NBC will even take WNBC’s name off its local news Web site, simply calling it NBC New York ."

Brilliant.

Just what I have been espousing for years. NBC Local says they will know if it's working early in 2009 and will expand it to other owned stations in other markets. From where I sit NBC just changed the game and is leading the way by example for other broadcasters. I sincerely hope the strategy works and that being the "Local News Leader" finally means something again.

Stay tuned.