In a business where image is everything, classic image promotion has gone into hiding -- until now. At least one broadcast network (ABC) and one powerhouse station (WBZ Boston) are betting generous amounts of money and airtime on image spots.

If advertising is the engine that drives commerce, then broadcasting is the oil. Alternative energy sources (i.e., new media) are promising, but today there is no practical substitute for TV in making things go.

In a surprising second act to a corporate career, the former president of Clear Channel Television is running a CBS affiliate in Palm Springs, Calif., with the goal of sharpening the station's focus on local affairs. "If people understand we are truly the ... platform in the Coachella Valley, then that would be a homerun."

For the past quarter century, the Gannett station has been collecting food for the area needy not only during the winter holidays, but also in the summer when free and low-cost school lunches aren't available.

Interest in WIBW's severe weather coverage on its Web site is causing the CBS affiliate to redefine its itself as a multimedia operation. "I tell my team that we're now many different channels, not just one TV station," says GM Jim Ogle.

Once considered nearly extinct, could program managers be coming off the endangered species list? A lot depends on John Moczulski--just hired to fire up Tribune's KTLA Los Angeles.

The Raycom Fox affiliate is doing more than hoping that its planned 6:30 p.m. newscast can compete against the network news in DMA 33. It's backing the initiative with more reporters, heavy promotion and a not-so-secret weatherman.

NBC's Chicago O&O is getting ready for the annual Bank of Chicago Marathon, with not only race-day coverage, but the many "tentacles" of promotion, programming and sales opportunities--both on air and online--in the months leading up to it.

The Nexstar stations have found that what’s good for the environment can be good for the bottom line. So far, their NexstarGreen programming has generated more than $2 million in new revenue.

Working with TV stations, the local business listing service has shown that it can engage consumers and provide more opportunities for station sales staffs to sell advertising and sponsorships. So what is the best place for "cheap eats" in your town?

Gannett's Minneapolis "information center" couldn't make a go of its innovative online simulcast, but it remains hopeful that online extensions of newscasts will eventually bring more viewers and revenue.

The just-launched NAB Spot Center is now providing generic PSAs and other materials designed to help stations with their public service efforts, but it could do a whole lot more.

DuJuan McCoy aims to find out. He's buying the Fox affiliates in the tiny markets of Abilene and San Angelo, confident that he can leverage his 19 years of TV sales experience and make them grow. “I figure I’ve made millions of dollars for my employers over the years,” he says. “It was time to see what I can do for myself.”

For the Fox stations in Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis, Opening Day is not only an opportunity to make some extra money, but also a chance to connect with viewers and fans.

CBS's Los Angeles independent finds that it can enhance its broadcast of the NBA's Lakers and its relationship with an important local advertiser by offering real-time game stats on the Web.

The big investment by the Evening Post's Lexington, Ky., NBC affiliate in weather reporting online paid off when a rare snowstorm struck the region two weeks ago. Web traffic rose as the snow deepened.

Gray's NBC affiliate in Huntington, W.Va., has grown extra revenue with its annual Home and Garden Show for the past eight years.

A new Magid study prepared for Hearst-Argyle sparks some new ideas for selling local news and capturing more of $12.6 billion now being spent by local advertisers on the Web.

Jennifer Yarter, a researcher at the NBC affil, is closely tracking the digital habits of consumers so the station can offer new services and sell against the ones that are watching and win over the ones that aren't.

Sorry, you won't find the answer in this column, but you may take comfort in knowing some are searching for it and discovering a few clues.

Since the early 1990s, the Columbia, S.C.-based charity has raised more than $41 million, thanks in part to the cooperation of broadcasters in many markets. Houston stations, in particular, have stepped up big.

The Phoenix Fox affil is all over the big game that’s being played in its hometown and on its network, from originating its newscasts all week from the stadium to broadcasting live from the NFL’s traveling roadshow to promotions on its Web site. And then there’s the tie-ins with American Idol’s Jordan Sparks who was discovered by the station.

As the Fox affiliate in Green Bay, Wis., the LIN station capitalizes on being the principal local outlet for Packers action with complementary local programming that begins in the pre-pre-season. The season ended for the Packers last night, but not the fans' or WLUK enthusiasm.

TV groups and stations can get out in front of--and perhaps fend off--the FCC push for local programming by producing more on their own initiative. Here are a few ideas.

Today's "Happy Holidays" station IDs are pale reminders of the days when broadcasters went all-out to celebrate and connect with viewers. Here are a few examples from Christmas Past to get you in the spirit.

Their Project Roadblock now counts 842 stations in 207 markets that are committed to airing anti-drunk driving PSAs leading up to New Year's Eve. Last year, the value of donated airtime totaled $4 million.

Gannett's ABC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich., has been collecting ever greater mounds of toys for the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots campaign by enlisting students from elementary school to college in the cause. The station has also found advertisers willing to pay for primetime spots to promote the effort.

In the fourth quarter, just when advertisers’ demand is at its peak, stations set aside valuable airtime for holiday-themed public service campaigns starting with Thanksgiving efforts.

GM Joan Barrett sees the digital transition not as some onerous obligation, but rather a hot opportunity--a fresh way to promote Schurz's CBS affiliate through exemplary public service.

Dayton CW, as the Acme station prefers to call itself, organizes life-size, day-long board games at area high schools to impress upon students what it's like to get a job and pay the bills. Local businesses participate and sponsor the award-winning sales promotion, providing advice to the students, revenue to the station.

Bill Bauman, GM of Hearst-Argyle's NBC affiliate in Orlando, Fla., says the decision to launch local HD service on Nov. 1 was not driven by the local ratings period. Nonetheless, the station is planning to take full advantage of the coincidence.

Raycom’s KCBD annual September-November promotion brings in new advertisers to the station and its Web site in the 174th DMA.

Barrington's WHOI says that the success of its award-winning sales promotion is a matter of simple arithmetic. Put 1,000 kids on TV singing holiday songs and multiply by the number of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other kin.

Taking on city magazines, Fox's Los Angeles station is hoping to boost traffic/viewership and, of course, revenue with Hotlist, a new Web service that polls the public on the best of everything in town. O&Os in other markets will follow suit.

Raycom's NBC affil boosts ratings and revenue by giving viewers a chance to win even when the horses aren't running at Churchill Downs.

LIN Television's Fox affiliate has turned a Packers' intra-squad scrimmage into a major family-friendly telecast and community event.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Given the growing controversy around CBS's new reality show (see below), we are reposting Arthur Greenwald's Market Share column of Aug. 6, in which he warns CBS affiliates to stay as far away from the show as possible.

The Scripps ABC affiliate learned years ago that the best local sales promotion can be as obvious as a pink 1960 Cadillac Eldorado with fins big enough to fly.

John Gormally just bought his first TV station--WGGB, the ABC affiliate in Springfield, Mass.--and he believes that his deep local roots will help him overcome the many challenges facing small-market TV.

There is plenty on the new fall schedule for CBS affiliates to promote, but the new reality show featuring 8-to-15 year olds should not be one of them. It's far more trouble than its worth.

Not every show on the network schedules this season is worthy of extra attention from the affiliates' promo and sales departments. Here are a few that are, and some ideas for making the most of them.

The way for broadcasting to recapture market share from cable and satellite is not by promoting the facts that it is free and a better HD medium, but by developing compelling local programming.

They may not compete for ratings, but public TV stations can still teach their commercial cousins a thing or two.

Board member Lee Hunt stepped in to run the successful conference in New York last week, but he doesn't expect to do it again. He says the group wants a permanent CEO with "a strong vision, strong management capabilities, and also that ability to shake hands and get to know a lot of new people in our business."

This week's conference in New York will have much to offer local broadcasters. "I'd estimate that 80% of the sessions have direct relevance to stations," says association chief Lee Hunt.

Guerilla marketing is a controversial, imprecise, but often effective way of breaking though the commercial clutter. Next week, at the the Promax/BDA conference in New York, TVNEWSDAY and the association are hosting a session to explore the technique and promote best practices.

The ABC affiliate in Wilmington, N.C., is finding success with "just right" promotions that involve viewers and rely on the humblest of new media--e-mail.

With the transition to digital, it's a good time for TV stations to rethink how to brand themselves--by channel number, by call letter or whatever. But NBC's New York flagship already knows what approach it's 4.

Clearing up the confusion on branding a digital channel with an analog number after the February 2009 transition.

Stations ignore the "obesity crisis" at their peril. Now's the time to confront this challenge with some creative public service.

Now is the time to strengthen your local ties by making your brand identity clear and distinctive and your content easier to find than ever. Amazingly, most stations are doing just the opposite.

There could be untapped revenue potential in a station's old clips. Viewers are posting these video artifacts all over the Web, so why aren't more stations taking advantage of them?

It's not too late to squeeze more revenue out of the big events on your network during the upcoming sweeps. Better get started.

They all need to get out there and take full advantage of the hit reality show with value-added advertising and smart promotions.

The upstart ClipSyndicate.com is offering TV stations a chance to earn extra revenue from every story they broadcast by distributing them nationally to specialized Web sites. Sinclair, Clear Channel, Fisher and Meredith are already on board.

The CBS affiliate in Macon, Ga., is sticking with its 25-year-old slogan--"Straight form the Heart"--and its 10-year-old Junior Journalist program for one very good reason. They work.

A large-market station in name only, Nexstar's NBC affiliate in Hagerstown, Md., is finding new business in introducing newcomers to local merchants. Best of all, the Duffys got to celebrate their 54th anniversary in New York with Regis and Kelly.

WFXB taps into fat outdoor advertising budgets by striking a deal with a local car dealer that allows the station to offer advertisers billboards on wheels to complement their on-air campaigns.

Web site and computer interface guru Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini offers tips on how to give your online audience what it wants when they want it--and some free advice to the webmasters at KPIX San Francisco, WXIX Cincinnati and WZMY Boston.

CBS's O&O hopes to appease the oldtimers and reach out to the youngsters and with a return to its venerable call letters in a rebranding effort launched during the Super Bowl.

The fallout from the Cartoon Network's guerilla marketing in Boston will impact not only Turner, but possibly the entire TV industry. Now is the time for voluntary guidelines to govern such campaigns.

Stations need to look beyond short-term sales and focus instead on long-term relationships with local year-round advertisers.

Hearst-Argyle's WPBF gets a lot of promotion mileage out of its "Safe Drive With 25" campaign aimed at young drivers and their parents.

Turn the red-hot consumer demand for the latest gadgets into promotions that generate buzz and viewers for your station.

By honoring local students for their achievement, the Texas ABC affiliate is boosting revenue and winning hearts and minds.

Tribune's CW affiliate finds it can boost viewership and revenue by exploiting the younger generation's obsession with text messaging and taste for Jumbo Jacks and Big Macs.

For more than half a century, KDKA-TV has been raising money for Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital--one example of the public service that is still a big part of local broadcasting everywhere.

The NBC affiliate in the caffeine-crazy town is making money and promoting its early news by delivering free cups of coffee to firefighters, emergency room workers and other deserving locals.

Some promotions are winners, some are losers and some end up with your loyal viewers in an Indonesian prison. Here's my promised account of a travel contest gone astray--from my KDKA days.

The ABC affiliate in Alexandria, La., conducts a simple Win a Trip Anywhere in the World contest and finds new advertisers in its own backyard.

With the help of a local radio station, the Fox affiliate's You Can Sing sales promotion yields $93,000 in revenue and creates what could turn into an annual happening.

Dual ABC affiliates in Washington state used a sweeps promotion last February to blunt a rival's Olympic advantage, pick up a little extra revenue and establish themselves as HD leaders.

McGraw-Hill's Bakersfield, Calif., ABC affiliate drives sales by tossing footballs into high school bleachers and by offering an always-on ad position in its morning news ticker.