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Michael Sullivan, the news director at New Vision's WJCL-WTGS, is allowing the TV Guide Channel to turn his newsroom in the country's 97th DMA into a TV show in the hope that it will help pull the newscasts out of third place.

How did the management of Belo's NBC affiliate in Portland, Ore., discover that some local children lacked sufficient school supplies? Simple. They asked around. And then they decided to do something about it.

Hearst Argyle's NBC affiliate stays on top in its central Pennsylvania market with a simple promotion strategy. Top executives and talent talk to their viewers, face to face in a series of town hall meetings.

If your station's original online content isn't yet paying off, here are some reasons why. Even better, here's something you can do about it on the eve of NATPE's LATV Festival.

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.