Fox 21 News is adding a 6 pm newscast starting June 28th. This move is surely related to the addition of Jason Vincent (most recently of Fargo) as the new news director replacing Julie Moravchik.
In the release on their site (click the image to see it) they are clearly gunning for their competition:
In addition to being the fastest growing Twin Ports station in terms of newscasts, we are also the Twin Ports fastest growing station for viewers. Since we first launched in March of 2007, we immediately beat our 9pm competition and continue to do so.
FOX 21 also beat the local CBS’s 10pm show and continues to do so. We are now neck-and neck with the local NBC, which has the advantage of having been on the air for the last 50 years.
After 36 months, we’re poised to outnumber them as well (and have already beaten them in two key demos: 18-34 year olds and 18-49 year olds).
Meanwhile, I noticed tonight that following “CBS 3” KBJR has ditched the “We Give You more” tagline and resurrected what I think is an old tagline … “Keeping You in Touch” maybe although I wasn’t paying that close of attention so maybe I have that part wrong. They are also sporting a new look with graphics and a “crawler” although they may have had that before, too.
SO the questions: Do any of these changes mean better news coverage for our region? Does anyone watch the news at 6 pm? How is Jason Vincent doing? At the time of the controversial firing, Julie Moravchik said that she was being asked to do things that didn’t fit her journalistic integrity. I really haven’t been watching much, is Fox 21 doing anything sketchy, such as advertorials or making advertising-oriented editorial decisions?
