PETER MAYER
Chairman, Peter A. Mayer Advertising Inc., a New Orleans agency. Has convinced some clients to buy time on WCCL
Lamont has done several things very well. She has a real first-rate staff, which is important; her staff has sold the advertising community. And she has created community awareness -- people know that there's a WCCL and that it's broadcasting.
Now, not so good: she has very poor programming. It's just trash, the dregs. You can't just buy old shows and plop them on the air; that day is gone. We've bought time for some of our clients because there are areas we're interested in; "CBS This Morning" is one of them. Although it has a minute audience, the cost of the spots was reasonable. There are things that we can cherry-pick, but that's not enough.
I think it's urgent that Lamont create a niche in the market with WCCL, and if I were in her boots, I would definitely slant my station toward the ethnic market. I would broadcast stuff of interest to the black and Latin communities -- New Orleans has the audience to sustain that. And she's got to get a couple of the current, viable shows that other people are picking up, and at least have something to base a promotion around.
I definitely think advertisers would support an ethnic station; we vigorously support two black radio stations and one Latin radio station, and they're doing very well. There are advertisers who want that audience, and I think she could do it in television. Sure, that'd mean more investment, because you'd have to get a local news staff, but right now she's just what everybody else is, but not as good.
I don't think she's going to make it without finding that niche. I admire the hell out of her, but she's really going into a storm here, and the market's not getting any better.
COMPETITOR
BILL ROSS
Director of sales, WGNO-TV, a Tribune Broadcasting station in New Orleans
Lamont's assumptions about ratings, market share, and selling out for $30 million to $40 million a few years down the line -- they're all way off base. We're looking at negative growth this year, with next year flat or maybe having slight growth.
She's built the station on the premise of three-point audience share and $4 million of ad revenue, and there's really no way that she can achieve those figures. In reality, because she's not on all the cable systems, she's got to double the actual viewing in the homes she reaches to a 6% share in order to get that three-point share of audience in the whole New Orleans market. And that's virtually impossible, because you're looking at two strong independents -- us and WNOL -- and there just aren't programs that she can afford that will garner that kind of audience. Anything that gets an audience has already been taken in the market, or it's way too expensive for us, WNOL, and any of the network affiliates -- and therefore way out of Barbara's league.
So put yourself in her shoes. How do you get where you want to go, ratings-wise, without having the programming to get there, or the available outlets to reach the people you have to reach? If you look at her strategy on paper it makes sense; it would work theoretically because any start-up station, unless it's backed by a huge company with deep pockets, has to go in with low program costs and build its way up. But when the programming that is available is so bargain basement that you really can't generate an audience, then you're in a catch-22 situation.
It's not the best time to put on an independent station, especially in a market where you already have two strong independents and a strong cable carrier that you're not on. I think it would take almost a miracle to have a new profitable station in this market.
I wish Barbara luck. But she may have picked the wrong market to do it in.
OPERATOR
GEORGE COLES
President and chairman, WCOM-TV, Mansfield, Ohio, an independent that went off the air while waiting for "must-carry" legislation to be reinstated
If WCCL were my station, I would have started out doing local news briefs and an "eyes and ears of New Orleans" show. The more local programming you do, the more people become aware of your TV station because they see your truck and reporters at school-board sessions, Kiwanis Club meetings, and high-school basketball games. That's the way for Lamont to get on the local cable carrier -- by doing so much local programming that the local audience demands to see WCCL, even if it means knocking someone else off the system.
I also think Lamont is wasting time and money on Blair Television. She doesn't need a national rep firm, because the national market is a pure numbers game; the big ad agencies won't go along until WCCL can demonstrate market share. And the way to do that is by concentrating attention and spending on local programming -- which, incidentally, is the way to bring in revenues from local advertisers.
Would I invest in WCCL? Absolutely, if I had the capital and time to watch my investment. New Orleans is a great market; the economic downturn is just a cyclical thing. The big picture in New Orleans is all that ad money that's not being spent on television. Lamont is right to go after those dollars by producing so much local programming that advertisers feel they can't afford to ignore WCCL.
FINANCIER
BILL COLLATOS
General partner, TA Communications Partners, Boston, a venture capital firm specializing in media, including independent television stations
Good local programming can help, but remember: it's easy to overvalue it. Local shows usually don't bring in much audience, because they're specialized and often get lost in the shuffle on cable systems. The exceptions are news shows, which bring in the audience but are very expensive to produce. So I think Barbara would be better off moving into good-quality, mainstream syndicated programming as soon as she can afford it.
I like Barbara's marketing strategy. The third independent in any market has got to face some hard facts: other independents are usually well established and there's usually a fight over cable space. The fact that she's got "CBS This Morning" is fabulous, because anything that can convince people to turn on her channel is a step in the right direction.
This is too small a deal for us to consider investing in. But Barbara has shown remarkable resourcefulness and a refusal to give up. I think she'll be the determinant in whether or not the channel succeeds, and I would not bet against her.
