Why are the local TV channels in Erie so cheap quality? (Altoona: colleges, salaries)

[gousa14]

When 20 years ago, their quality was still on-the-par with other local television stations in areas across the country. I sound like I may be moaning about something really specific. They got a better handle recently, but not the same position compared to 20 years ago. What is the cause of decline in quality of the different news studios in Erie? Look at Youtube clips and it's quite easy to compare now to 20 years ago.

[thecoalman]

Quality of the signal or the content?

[gousa14]

Speaking of content here.

[I_Like_Spam]

Erie is a pretty small market, there is less advertising money available, so they have less money to spend on equipment or on staff salaries. Quality, experienced people want to be in the bigger markets where there are more viewers and the paychecks are bigger.

[gousa14]

That way the system works sounds pretty draconian to me. Statistically, can anyone identify when the Erie TV market was at it's peak?

EDIT: Then again, my knowledge of how markets work in the TV industry is pretty ignorant.

[trackstar13]

The population of Erie County and most of the media market is currently at or near its peak. However, Erie county has grown rather slowly from 1960 until now so other media markets have been able to pass it up pretty easily. Erie is currently the 146th largest media market in the U.S., which is not bad considering how small of an area is included in the media market when compared to other PA and national markets. By land area, the Erie media market is the smallest in PA and it is pushed out by Cleveland to the West and Buffalo to the East. Even the Johnstown-Altoona media market is considered larger because it includes so many counties and areas.

[gousa14]

I've actually pondered the state of the TV market for a long time. And I did know it was ranked 146 in media research. And future projections don't seem to make any minor progress either. Erie must be one of the most noncompetitive place for business and progress in the country. They want to be stuck in their old ways.

[trackstar13]

In terms of the news broadcast quality, I think it depends on the station and the newscasters. Here is a link to all of the stations: Erie Television Stations - Station Index

I prefer the weather guy from WICU, but I prefer the overall broadcast of WJET. So I DVR both of them and watch the weather on one and the rest of the broadcast on the other. The fact that Erie has a all of the major channels (NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS) is a good thing and means that there is good opportunity to see national stories from a variety of viewpoints. Overall, Erie's media market is mainly hindered by the designated media market boundaries rather than any population growth issues.

[gousa14]

So does Erie have an opportunity to get better at it's TV content in spite of it's market boundaries?

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by gousa14

So does Erie have an opportunity to get better at it's TV content in spite of it's market boundaries?

Well it would be possible if there were significant population growth within the boundaries of the designated media market. I think the biggest challenge will be that other markets already ahead of or close to Erie are growing very quickly in terms of population and it will be hard for Erie to keep up with this growth. The only way I see it happening is if the city of Erie starts growing again somehow. The city has a good amount of vacant property and could accommodate at least 50,000-75,000 more people within the city boundaries and not have to change much infrastructure. Jobs and growth of the Erie county colleges are about all that can really lead to this type of explosive population growth.