Fox 6 News Show set to debut in June

By Cynthia Simison

05/05/2008- The Republican

SPRINGFIELD - The region's newest television station expects to launch its local newscasts by mid-June.

Fox6 hopes to debut the only 10 p.m. local news offering from a Springfield-based station the week of June 9, David Kaufman, executive vice president and general manager for station owner Gormally Broadcasting LLC, said this week.

Kaufman also announced the appointment of David B. Baer as news director for the combined news operation of WGGB2-DT, Fox6, and WGGB-TV, abc40, which is also owned by Gormally Broadcasting. The news operations for both stations will work out of Gormally Broadcasting headquarters on Liberty Street, according to Kaufman.

Kathy Tobin, now director of community and public relations for Gormally and for-merly news director for abc40, will anchor the Fox6 newscasts. She will also continue as co-anchor of the 5:30 and 6 p.m. news for abc40 with Dave Madsen.

"David Baer is an experienced news professional who is very competitive and passionate about delivering an extraordinary journalism package," said Kaufman. "We want to deliver quality news to the Springfield market. We want to be considered by viewers and earn their recognition as THE source for local news. I have high goals I want to attain."

Baer's background, according to Kaufman, includes 20 years as a news director in the Providence, R.I.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Portland, Maine, markets as well as most recently in North Carolina.

"David has a total of 31 years experience in television news, including work as a producer and executive producer," said Kaufman. "We conducted a national search with a lot of respondents, but, in my opinion with Kathy Tobin, he clearly had the strongest background and resume."

The Fox6 entry into the Greater Springfield market comes at a point where television news trends are in a constant state of flux, according to Ralph Whitehead Jr., journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Whitehead said it is difficult to predict what effect the new station will have on viewership patterns.

"Twenty years ago, everyone in the Springfield geographical area was viewing the Springfield TV stations and perhaps a Hartford station," Whitehead said. "Now, it depends on what cable system serves your town and what cable package you've purchased. Now, if you want to go to bed before 11 but still know what tomorrow's weather will be be, you can watch the Weather Channel if you get it on your system. If you want to go to bed before 11 but not before you get a couple of sports scores, you can turn to ESPN."

Factoring in the influence of cable news offerings as well as today's online access to local news around the clock from a variety of sources makes gauging the potential success of local TV news broadcasts difficult to predict, according to Whitehead.

"What's happening is so fluid now, and cable has added a complicating factor," he said. "Local television news audience patterns are much more intricate today than they would have been 20 years ago."

The hope with launch of the 10 p.m. broadcast is to attract some of the aging baby boomers who may go to bed earlier and be attracted to an earlier local news product, Kaufman said.

The new broadcast will come coupled with the launch of two new Web sites for Fox6 and abc40 to ramp up online news delivery as well, Kaufman said. "We will look to deploy our news product across multiple platforms, abc40, Fox6 and the Web," he said.
 
Gormally Broadcasting may look to expand the initial 30-minute news offering on Fox6 to an hour as it progresses, according to Kaufman. "That is the most natural expansion that would occur. From there, it would not be unrealistic that we would expand to mornings or to early evenings," he said. "That's the beauty of Fox. The network is not a full-blown network in that there are not as much hours of network programing, which allows for expansion."

Fox6 brings to four the number of commercial television stations based in Springfield that are affiliates of commercial networks. The others are WWLP-TV, Channel 22, an NBC affiliate which is owned by LIN TV Corp., of Providence, R.I., which owns 29 stations across the country; and WSHM-TV, CBS3, which is owned by Meredith Corp., based in Des Moines, Iowa, which operates 12 stations.

The region is also home to Springfield-based public television station WGBY-TV.

John J. Gormally Jr.'s purchase of abc40 in November from the Sinclair Broadcasting Group for $21 million marked its return to local ownership.

Abc40 has been second in market share to Channel 22. There are approximately 256,000 households in the Springfield market, covering Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.

Kaufman declined comment on whether he hopes the changes being made will affect the ratings. "Channel 22 is a good station. They do a good job, but I don't focus on them. I focus on ourselves. I try to put out a quality news product and let the marketplace decide," he said.