Lee Spieckerman, the director of marketing at KXAS at the time, says he saw a unique opportunity during the confusing affiliation switches. "Viewers would be re-evaluating their choices," Spieckerman says. He developed the "First on Five" campaign. It has stuck and distinguished the station. "It's simple, it's easy to understand, there is not a lot of subtlety," says Miller. But Spieckerman says if the KXAS newsroom wasn't scoring scoops, the slogan would backfire.
In contrast, WFAA mishandled the promotional opportunity last May. It introduced a campaign with the slogan "Strength of Tradition" that the station has since abandoned. The current campaign is called "Right Now."
Right now, Robert Riggs is alone in a soundproof room the size of a telephone booth. He is reading his script onto tape for a story which will air the next night.
It is the hard-sought bank robber story, and it will air against Sabrina Smith's hidden camera piece on Channel 5 about allegedly fraudulent mortgage brokers.
Riggs' piece doesn't have what Miller derisively refers to as the "gotcha" quality of Channel 5's reports. It's a feature story all the way. At the end of one night's segment, Riggs is left dryly warning anchorman Tracy Rowlett that the disturbing California trend could happen in Texas, even though bank robberies here have actually dropped of late.
After it airs, viewers may wonder why they watched Riggs' piece at all. There is flashy footage of bank robberies, the interview with the convict in Georgia. But Riggs has to stretch awfully far to give Dallas viewers some reason to care about Los Angeles bank robbers, and he doesn't make it over the hurdle.
Measured straight up, Riggs' bank robber story ends up like Griffin's piece on mystery illnesses among prison guards. Both are duds.
At KXAS, of course, more notice is given to Riggs' stumble.
"What was that?" asks Overton sarcastically about Riggs' report. "Investigative journalism?"
The KXAS news director seems to enjoy the fact that his reporters work fast and furiously while WFAA offers more luxuries. "We are a lean, mean fighting machine," he says. "I don't want a huge bureaucracy. Marty [Griffin] knows when enough is enough." If that means Griffin doesn't produce a 10-part series that wins the Peabody award, so be it, Overton contends. "We are not in the business of winning awards," he says.
But the perception that WFAA produces a higher-quality product--not just scoops--does seem to have market value. "WFAA has a higher standard," says Britain Clure, a television buyer at the advertising agency Temerlin McClain. "They can charge more."
Clure and others say, however, that as the ratings gap between channels 8 and 5 continues to narrow, the distinction between the two when it comes to ad rates is becoming less significant. Both stations are clearly in the hunt for the top advertising dollars.
On the last two nights of the November sweeps, Griffin and Riggs both weigh in with what are billed as "exclusives." Both stories deal with crime, the standard fallback for stations chasing viewers.
Riggs has a police source saying that people are getting mugged in the parking lots of movie megatheaters around town. Griffin airs his piece about a police impersonator shaking down patrons at adult book stores. The report, naturally, has hidden camera tape inside a porno store.
By December 2, both stations received the numbers showing how well they did during four weeks of sweeps.
Channel 8 averaged a 17.7 rating, compared to Channel 5's 14.9. WFAA's hold on first place remained intact, and even edged up a bit.
"The audience may be tiring of the tabloid approach," Miller crows. "I'll never be parking that RV in the parking lot again.
