Herald: Ch 4 going back to "WBZ" brand

[Doug Drown]

<<With respect, Jane Average Viewer doesn't distinguish between the
network and the local station.  It's all "CBS" (etc.) to her,
regardless of how the programs are distributed.>>

And with respect to you, Garrett, I have to say I don't agree.  I grew up in
Mass., and have lived in Maine for 30 years.  People know their local
stations as LOCAL.  Ask any cross-section of "boomers" in the Boston area
about their childhood memories of  television.  Sure, they will remember
that "I Love Lucy" was on CBS and that "Bonanza" was on NBC, but they'll
also remember that "Big Brother" Bob Emery was on Channel 4, "Captain Bob"
Cottle on Channel 5, Major Mudd on Channel 7 --- and that these were local
performers doing local shows.  People here in central Maine still talk about
Eddie Driscoll's crazy humor in his various shows on Channel 2 in Bangor.

Similarly, local stations are known today for their newscasts.  I'm sure
there's no confusing NewsCenter 5 with News7 or CBS4 News.  Every
television-watching adult Bostonian knows "Chronicle" is a production of
Channel 5.  And I'll betcha most of them know the call letters of each of
the stations, too, "CBS4" notwithstanding.

-Doug







----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@csail.mit.edu>
To: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@gmail.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Herald: Ch 4 going back to "WBZ" brand


> <<On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:43:47 -0500, "Bob Nelson"
<raccoonradio@gmail.com> said:
>
> > I remember the promos they ran when they did the network affiliation
> > switch. Liz Walker was saying "I'm still gonna be here, Jack's still
> > gonna be here..." As if people assumed that the network switch would
> > be taking away the local newscasters!
>
> With respect, Jane Average Viewer doesn't distinguish between the
> network and the local station.  It's all "CBS" (etc.) to her,
> regardless of how the programs are distributed.  (In a sense, the
> viewers are ahead of the industry here in ignoring the artificial
> boundary between "local" and "network", particularly in the case of
> network-owned stations.)
>
> -GAWollman
>
>