Local TV News Stations

[Deelighted]

Originally Posted by charlestonwmn

I am use to having Channel 9 and watching it religiously.......... However only having analog cable through my VCR, because cable has gotten so dang expensive. NOW they are Taking away channel 9 where I am use to watching shows such as Walker, texas ranger and In the heat of the night and Blue Bloods ........ I am disabled, and I enjoy those 3 programs....... Is it too much to ask for? Guess i wont be watching tv anymore. Gonna raise some money by selling it. There's nothing on it anymore worth watching. I only get stupid programs that nobody in their right mind would sit and watch.

They raised the price of analog and take away the channels. Ya just don't know how upset I am.

Are you able to get regular TV using the digital TV converter boxes? If you don't have a digital converter box and want to check what stations are available in your area, DTV maps should help.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by jrkliny

I have lived in numerous parts of the country and I absolutely detest the evening TV "news." It is all about short bites with as much sensationalism as possible and very little content, lots of ads and 50% sports. I have no interest in the folksy personalities of the news readers. I can learn more in 2 minutes looking at google news.

Agree. I look to them every few months and see no reason to watch.

[msgsing]

I'm not a big fan of local TV news but especially in the winter I love watching our local weather reports. It usually has a shot of some local beach with the weather person announcing it's another week of 70's and sunshine. Reminds me how miserable the winter weather was back in Ohio where I lived for years and how lucky I am to get away to a better climate.

[nightbird47]

I live in a small town in ne Oklahoma, and the three network channels cover the whole state, but are centered in OKC. I've never been to OKC except to catch the train. I have no real interest in going to a city which reminds me of the same in socal. But I sure do hear lots of details about the place.

I've gotten where I record the news and fast forward through the OKC stuff and the near the texas border stuff etc. I get a picture of it but I watch it religiously for the weather. This is a state where your local weather man is pretty much a given to be a real meterologist, not just a person reading a script. I keep close watch on the weather even in times when we aren't getting storms.

I find I've gotten used to the more laid back anchors that remind me more of the way they were back when I was a teen in California before they all got so 'hip and trendy' there. I get an LA station since when something big happens in 'California' or Southern California' they never actually say much about where, and as I was born there and lived there for over fifty years, I'd like to know that. One of the recent fires was burning the same area as when the one which burned when I lived there came too close for comfort. Only time I was ever stocking the car ready to stuff in pets and kid and go. Spooky memories....

[meo92953]

I watch the news for weather & what I consider essential. For example, the 2 covicts that escaped, they are nowhere near here, but... Also the crime in our area. I would be so vulnerable with my cane & having come to a small town after living in big cities since 16. I was 59 when I moved to the family farm, & 61 when I moved into town to a senior building. Probably because of the anxiety in the city, lots of crime, home break-ins in my neighborhood, I watched the evening news every day. It became a habit & I still watch it, more for the weather since it has been so erractic lately. Tomorrow night we're supposed to have a storm so I will be grocery shopping early. That's one of the reasons I watch the news, but also want to know when a tornado is coming. (Notice I didn't say if.)

[texdav]

I think it highly depends on what your interested in. I could careless about sensationalism and more about what is happening in the community. There is enough about politics in the national news.When I travel especially in smaller towns I love to read their papers ;its tells you more about the community and what really interest them

[tdr22]

I miss the soothing southern accents on the tv news where we used to live. Now we have a weather forecaster that surfs and he gives a bit of surf info too like - "look for 'fun sized' waves on north shores today", lol. We live in Maui and the tv news is out of Oahu so unless a story is fairly big we don't hear much about our county.

[jasper1372]

We typically Tivo and then watch the evening news on two different local channels. By using the Tivo we can start one news cast until there is a commercial, then switch over and start the other one at the beginning and go back and forth and miss all the commercials and the sports reporting which holds absolutely no interest to either one of us.

That being said, you can definitely tell the difference of the news set/reporting in a small market vs a large market. There is definitely a difference in the quality and "polish" of the newscast. One of our local stations has lighting that makes everyone on camera in the studio look like they have bad teeth.....lol. When a Dunkin' Donuts opens up in town and there is a 2 minute report about it.....you also know you're in a small market

One thing that kind of bugs me is that of the two stations we watch, typically 80% of the stories are about the same event. Now, given that we're in a small market I realize there are a lot of slow news days....but still, it's almost like they decide together which stores to bring to the air and which not to. I think "current news" reporting is more about press releases coming out from one organization or another to ensure a TV camera and reporter are there to cover their event etc....rather than reporters finding and actually digging to find the facts of the story.

We still continue to watch news on two stations though since it's kind of interesting to see their individual "bent" on each event.....plus, what else are we going to do during the commercials ?

[LauraC]

You can always set up Google Alerts for the places and things that interest you. If you aren't familiar with Google Alerts here's how you can do it.

1) Go to the Google News page:

https://news.google.com/

2) In the search box type in the name of the town for which you want to receive news and enter.

For example: Type in "Kingston, TN"

3) You will see news stories from a variety of news sources where Kingston, TN has been mentioned.

4) Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will see: Stay up to date on results for Kingston, TN and after that a grey box that says Create Alert.

5) Click on the grey box

6) You will see an Alerts page. Don't click on the Create Alert button yet. Next to that button you will see: Show Options. Click on: Show Options.

The first choice you have is how often. Click on the up/down arrows for the choices. I highly recommend you DO NOT choose As It Happens. Select: At Most Once A Day.

The second choice is Sources. From that drop down list I suggest: News or both News and Video.

Language is probably going to be English.

Region: I suggest you choose Any Region. (The first story I read about my town was about our supercomputer and appeared in a Tech newspaper in India. )

How Many: You have a choice between "Only the best results" and "All results." Here's how I would decide. If my search term is New York City or some major city, I would pick "Only the best results." If my search term is Kingston, TN, I would choose All results.

Deliver to: Enter your e-mail address.

Click: Create Alert.

You will get an e-mail to confirm the alert. Confirm it.

Once a day, Google will send you one e-mail with links to all of the news stories mentioning (in this example) Kingston, TN. You can either delete the e-mail or click on the links to read the stories.

I currently have news alerts set up for my town, my camera model, and 2 candidates running for president. At one time I had a news alert set up for Medicare, my hobby and another for Retirement. The news sources may be newspapers or TV news websites. I don't recommend you choose Web because you will get too many links. At least with News, you get timely info.