680News - Lisa Brandt

At 680News, we realize that you’re not listening to us for 24 hours straight, 7 days a week. We really wish that you would, but we recognize that you’re not! And in those times that we’re not part of your routine, we know you’re doing things with your families and friends, working and exploring other forms of information and entertainment. Our challenge is to figure out which of these competing media are important to you.

With movies, it’s easy. The Monday box office results tell us most of what we need to know. Newspapers and magazines have sales figures. Music is also rated by sales and downloads. But when it comes to television, it’s an entirely different story.

But Lisa, you may say, they do conduct ratings for TV shows! Sure they do – for the big networks in the U.S. and the major players here in Canada. But that’s pretty old school thinking, wouldn’t you agree? There are hundreds of channels and thousands of TV shows. I’m a huge fan of Entourage, for example, which never makes the top 10, yet it has a large and devoted following for an HBO show.

You can obtain viewer numbers for hits that have built on buzz, like the Sopranos, but what about Holmes on Holmes for example? We don’t get a weekly reading of Mike Holmes’ popularity but we know it exists. And having been his Home Show partner in a building competition, I have had the pleasure of witnessing his prowess with power tools up close. I mention that here only because I can never pass on the chance to tell anyone who will listen (or read) that he and I were once partnered in a show, in matching overalls no less! But I digress. The coverage of Mike and his show and his name recognition factor in other media and the buzz from people we know and meet help to prove his widespread appeal.

You need a news team with diverse tastes and interests to plug into the wide-ranging interests of the listeners. One of our former writers was married to an avid video gamer and he kept us up on the latest game info and trends. One of our team members never misses reality shows. We also find out about little cliques of fans for shows via Facebook groups. I am a stand-up comedy junkie and generally know if a particular comedian is well known enough to be worth discussing. It’s not that we push our own personal agendas – not at all – but each of us offers a perspective that the others might not have. It’s what makes us click and compliment each other.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 9:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.