The evening news out here is quite different from other parts of the country. For instance, we’re probably all familiar with the “teaser” scenario; where you’re watching an episode of 24 or Heros and right before the commercial brake ends and the show resumes, there’s a 5 second pitch on the latest news coming up that night. Something like, “Find out which stocks are on the rise, news at 10:00.”
Makes sense right? It’s supposed to grab your interest and make you want to tune in. The funny thing out here though is that it’s taken to an extreme. Instead of interesting teaser items, the promos I’ve seen are a little more aggressive. Items like “Sewage leaks make some tap water unsafe to drink, is your neighborhood affected? News at 10:00” have seriously been shown.
Also there are random stories that I just can’t see being news elsewhere. They recently had a teaser for which porn stars won’t work under the new high definition DVD technology (sorry I missed the actual story since I didn’t tune in). And the one that kind of did it for me was the recent coverage to coincide to some recently cold weather here in San Diego. Yes, it does happen where the temperature drops below 70 and to help us San Diegans cope, the news gave us suggestions on where we might consider vacationing to get “somewhere warm.”
Perhaps its just me and my “back in my days…” attitude but I find it quite amusing to see the differences between here and Chicago for what makes the air at 10:00.