KWCH WICHITA SEIZES DTV EDUCATION INITIATIVE

As the February 2009 digital transition looms ever closer, things are starting to heat up in Washington. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed mandates requiring TV stations to broadcast a minimum number of PSAs to warn the public about the coming analog cutoff.

And in Hill testimony last week, broadcasters begged to differ—in a predictable yet eloquent rebuttal by David Barrett. The Hearst-Argyle Television president said the NAB-led voluntary awareness campaign “will be more effective than any government-mandated plan.”

With all due respect to David, another Barrett might have made a better witness. That would be Joan Barrett, president and general manager of Schurz Communications’ KWCH Wichita-Hutchinson, Kan. She sees the digital transition not as some onerous obligation, but rather a hot opportunity—a fresh way to promote her CBS affiliate through exemplary public service.

“In part it’s just who we are,” says Barrett. “This is a very strong station. We have a majority of the viewers. We have a responsibility to educate the viewers about their digital options and we don’t take that lightly.”

Apparently not. KWCH is preparing to launch Ready, Set, Know—a multimedia umbrella campaign tailored to the unique digital challenges of the 69th DMA.

“Ours is one of the largest geographical DMAs in the country. We cover 65 counties and we’ve got issues that others don’t face. For example, I have four full-power transmitters.” (Two of those telecast the other half of Schurz’s Wichita duopoly, KSCW, a CW affiliate.) “We’re going to have to convert all of them. Feel free to pay my electric bill,” laughs Barrett.

While many stations are just starting to run PSAs for the NAB’s DTVAnswers campaign, Ready, Set, Know ties together elements of a campaign that Barrett’s team launched late in 2006. It’s designed to go deeper than DTVAnswers, and far more local.

“We put up a Web site over a year ago and we link to all the sites we can find, but all of our information is customized for Kansas,” says Barrett. “After all, we’re content producers. It’s what we do. So if we’re going to produce a Web page, we want to produce the content for it.”

What’s more, that local perspective is no accident. “Almost our whole management team has roots here in Kansas, particularly Western Kansas and that helps a lot,” she says.

Currently, KWCH’s existing Digital Television Made Easy page is reachable only through the station’s home page. While it’s about to expand it already contains an original DTV FAQ page, derived from actual questions from Kansans and answers by KWCH managers and engineers. Viewers also encounter plenty of local references in several clear, illustrated background articles, such as How to Get the Most Out of Your HDTV. 

The bottom of the Web page also offers video playback of original PSAs featuring the station’s major news talent. Each time a new PSA debuts, engineering department phones ring with incoming calls from confused viewers, which is all to be expected, says Barrett.

“One household can have cable in the living room but over-the-air in the kitchen or even the bathroom. If your TV was pre-programmed, we’ll have to teach you to hit auto-tune or we won’t be on your list of preferred channels. There are so many issues that we can only tackle them on the Web site. The big challenge is making the answers really simple.”

In fact, Barrett is banking on viewer curiosity. For the second year, KWCH will offer viewers the chance to call their questions into special phone banks scheduled during the big TV buying seasons, just prior to Christmas and  the Super Bowl. Each phone bank will run from the early through the late news. Highlights will be featured on air and on the Web site.

Eventually, Ready, Set, Know will include conspicuous sponsorships, including partnerships with appropriate local retailers. For the moment, Barrett is only prepared to announce her content-driven plans.

Barrett’s determination to be first with the most digital information reflects her early career on air as both reporter and anchor in Topeka, Lubbock, Austin and Phoenix. Media General lured her into news management back home in Kansas, and, when Shurz bought the station last year, it elevated her the top job.

“Every winter in Texas, we’d do the same story,” says Barrett. “We reminded viewers that if their water pipes are above ground, they will freeze solid. We’d warn them to insulate those pipes and shut off the water. And every year tons of people’s pipes would freeze and burst. ‘Oh, I didn’t know you meant me!’” says Barrett in a pitch-perfect imitation of a viewer phone call.

To head off such quirks of human nature, and to meet the extra needs of what the NTIA calls “vulnerable populations,” KWCH managers have already met with eight different community groups who represent the elderly, the underprivileged, minority groups and others who are statistically the most dependent on over-the-air broadcasting.

“One thing we’ve learned is that simpler is better. For example, we offered to distribute information on video. They’d rather have paper brochures because their populations aren’t likely to have DVD players,” she says.

According to the most recent NAB estimates, most Kansans will not be disenfranchised in February, 2009. In the entire state, only about 100,000 viewers rely solely on an over-the-air signal. By that time, Barrett is convinced that every breathing viewer will have gotten the message. But even that may not be quite enough.

“Our biggest challenge is the same reason many people don’t vote,” says Barrrett. “We have to get past their apathy.”

And KWCH is determined to do just that. And in doing so, it’s turning something it has to do into a fresh opportunity to position itself a community leader.

Says Barrett: “Our station is generally the go-to station for news and information. I think there will be a station like us in every community that will position themselves as the digital leaders. Because that’s the kind of stations they are.”

Surely your own station is doing something worthy of your colleagues attention. Don’t toil away in analog anonymity, when you could shine in all your high-def glory. Every Monday Market Share by Arthur Greenwald showcases another winning campaign. Yours could be next! Write to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.