The Las Vegas open source traffic reporter search
Steve Safran October 13th, 2006
KTNV, the ABC affil in Las Vegas is asking its audience to choose its next traffic reporter. The station held open casting calls last month, and has chosen ten finalists. Now the viewers get a chance to see the auditions online and vote for their favorite. (Disclosure: I have a pony in this race, but out of fairness I will keep his/her identity under wraps until after the contest.)
22 Comments Add your own
1. Anonymous | October 13th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
is this “open source” as in linux or “open source” as in voting for a wet t-shirt contest?
2. Steve Safran | October 13th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
A little from Column A and a little from Column B.
3. Dan | October 13th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
This is executives not taking responsibility, pure and simple. It’s ridiculous to ask viewers who to hire.
Do you think any credible news organization would ask the reader to pick who they hire as a reporter?
Do you think any manufacturer of a product
would ask the consumer who they should hire
to oversee the production of their Microwave Oven
or Computer. This is pure bullshit marketing and just stupid and it adds to the public perception that media outlets don’t have any idea how to run their own business.
Ask your customers (viewers and listeners) what is
important to them in regards to routes they travel
and how best to tell them how to avoid trouble
on the highways, (take this route instead of that route in real time) and what they think about the
state of the highway system in their area and what
they would tell their elected officials to change
the transportation system to fix what is important
to them…. now you have interaction that can
actually accomplish something.
Dan
4. Fabian | October 14th, 2006 at 12:45 am
If you ever wondered why YouTube works and other video sites don’t - voila. What good is a local news video site that doesn’t play video but offers a lengthy list of possible video errors… KTNV might want to look into this issue. Video solutions that require IE and a specific media player version look a little odd.
5. thedetroitchannel | October 14th, 2006 at 6:19 am
i say the one with the nicest set of “columns” wins!
6. Lucretia Higgins | October 14th, 2006 at 7:00 am
This is a great idea. Looks similar to the approach some stations are using to let viewers participate by choosing the top stories they want to see. I’ve seen this in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. I’ll bet the viewers probably differ with the “journalists” on what is relevant to the viewer.
7. Max | October 14th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Steve,
You and I both know who your pony is, but I’m not being nearly as discrete about it as you! Our little one is all growed up!
8. Dan | October 14th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Having your viewers (customers) involved in staffing
if quite different from having them involved in the product.
If a company doesn’t listen to their customers wants, either by asking or by having it determined by product sales (ratings) they will fail. But you don’t ask the consumer who should make the product. This is management’s job by interviewing qualified applicants. What happens when the person the audience decides hire doesn’t work out? Guess what? No one’s to blame. You can’t blame thousands of people.
This is why management does this. No responsibility.
Dan
9. thedetroitchannel | October 14th, 2006 at 9:02 am
a “qualified applicant” to read a traffic report?
c’mon
“and now, our chief trafficologist… “toots” horny”
10. Dan Riley | October 14th, 2006 at 11:24 am
First, I don’t think they are hiring a reader, it says
they are hiring a reporter. Second, report is exactly
what needs to happen with traffic. Not just tell viewers
where the accidents are, but go out and talk to viewers
and city officials and road designers to find out how
traffic can be improved…. you know, report.
If local television stations don’t start helping to improve
people’s lives on a daily basis, by helping to provide a dialog between citizens and government (among other things) why do you think they will continue to watch? For sports and weather?
They can get that elsewhere, and in real time,
not just at 6 and 11.
Dan
11. Joe | October 14th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
well if its anything like my station, they aren’t hired by the station, they are only hired by traffic.com. so going out and doing reports isnt really an option. traffic.com hires a “reporter” to sit at the desk and “report” what the conditions are like.
12. Eric | October 14th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Miri Marshall — hands down.
13. Steve | October 15th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Who in this day and age relies on TV for real-time traffic information? That’s why we have in-vehicle navigation systems and cellphones.
Take a page from that computer generated “news avatar” story you ran awhile ago — provide people with multiple avatars that they can choose from to read the traffic reports…that they will eventually view on their cellphones or in-vehicle navigation systems.
14. Mitch | October 16th, 2006 at 8:52 am
Has anyone ever changed their planned route to work because of a traffic report?
If they only broke in when there was a sequoia laying across the freeway, that would be helpful. But simply telling me that my route is stop-and-go or slow-and-go? No shit. That’s what it is every day.
15. John Puff | October 16th, 2006 at 8:55 am
You trust the people of this nation to elect a president, but they cannot handle voting for something as trivial as traffic reporter?
16. Joe | October 16th, 2006 at 9:52 am
I never change my route after seeing the traffic, unless the report is “Bridge Collapsed”. But if the station DIDNT have traffic, chances are they’d be scolded. There are alot of radio stations that give traffic reports too, and the reports go so fast, that people never understand whats wrong where.
17. Safran | October 16th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I’ve always wondered about traffic on TV. In the car, I can understand - you may be a few minutes away and on the off chance you can change your route, maybe you can do something about it. But I watch the AM news at least a half hour before I get to where they are talking about.
Not knocking traffic - just wondering about its utility.
18. Ken | October 18th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Traffic on TV is a public service “Just in Case” something big happens. Their are times when the poor traffic babe/dude talks about nothing … But when the Gas Tanker overturnes on The 15, Then they are the expert to guide us around. Unless they are clueless and selected by viewers and have no experience.
19. Joe | October 18th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Anyone with Google Maps is considered an expert, Ken, You know that. lol
20. Miri Marshall | October 26th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
I don’t know who you are Eric but thanks for the vote for KTNV’s traffic reporter contest! I was voted off of the island but it was fun!
21. Lucy | January 14th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
22. MOJO | January 18th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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