DETROIT—As broadcasters grapple with declining ratings and their ongoing difficulties in reaching younger viewers with traditional newscasts, one fundamental question is being increasingly asked: “What would you do, if you could start all over, if you could build a news operation and a newsroom from scratch?”
One ambitious answer to that query can be found in Detroit at WWJ-TV where CBS News and Stations has launched a new local news operation CBS News Detroit. Initially, the station is launching tonight, Jan. 23, with weekday newscasts broadcast at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. that will also be live streamed on the CBS News Detroit streaming channel. As the rollout continues in the coming weeks they will be adding newscasts for additional dayparts and days, including weekends. Eventually, there will be a 24/7 live streaming CBS News Detroit channel that is live most of the day, much like their 13 other local news streaming channels.
The debut not only marks the first time that the station has offered a local newscast since it became a CBS-owned station in 1995. It also is a case study in using technology to build a “streaming-first” hyper local news operation that CBS hopes will fundamentally alter how local news is approached, produced and distributed to viewers on a variety of platforms.
“We have been really focused on creating hyperlocal neighborhood based news operations and using technology to achieve that,” in multiple the CBS-owned stations explained Adrienne Roark, president, CBS Stations, who oversees CBS’s owned and operated stations in the eastern half of the country and has been heavily involved in the Detroit initiative.
Detroit, however, marks a new step forward in that effort, with operations, staff and technology specifically designed from the ground-up as a streaming news, hyperlocal operation. “In Detroit we have community-embedded journalists and we have a technology layer that allows them to be geographically-based and to tell the story from beginning to end from wherever they are on any platform," she said.
“CBS News Detroit really is [our] answer to the question: What do you do if you could build a newsroom from scratch?” Roark added.
Streaming Operation With Broadcast Towers
In addition to the focus on hyper-local based operations, CBS Detroit has also adopted a “streaming first” mentality, explained Brian Watson, president and general manager, CBS Detroit that will allow it to focus more intensely on local stories outside the time limits and structure of a traditional newscast.
“We’re essentially a streaming operation that also has broadcast towers,” he quipped.
A key part of implementing that strategy has been staffing and training. “You hear about challenges at other stations trying to integrate their linear broadcast teams into streaming,” he said. “That is not the case here. We have a full multi-skilled newsroom from the news director on down. There are no silos within our departments. Everyone has the ability to jump across different platforms, to jump between writing and editing.”
CBS Detroit has combined the multi-platform skills of its staff with a technological infrastructure that allows them to be embedded in local communities. “Other stations have teams that are crisscrossing the market to chase the lead story that came down from a central assignment desk,” Watson said. “Our team of journalists are embedded in the community and they are hearing first hand what’s important to the communities.”
Newsroom in a Bronco
Much of this is made possible by technologies for remote production, improved connectivity and mobile workflows that have been honed and refined in recent years.
Currently CBS Detroit has 14 community-based journalists spread out through its DMA, including one in Lansing Mich., which is the capital of the state, to cover politics, explained Paul Pytlowany, vice president and news director at CBS Detroit.
Each of these journalists operates out of a Ford Bronco that has been outfitted with what amounts to a mobile newsroom, including cameras, editing and other equipment so they never have to return to the main station.
Based on input from their multimedia journalists, CBS Detroit removed the front passenger seat and created a mobile editing station. It has all the power converters needed for laptops and equipment, a table in the backseat, interior and exterior facing cameras and a small switcher, explained Pytlowany.
“There is a mini switcher within the editing deck that allows the [journalist] to switch between different cameras,” he added. “Each of the SUVs is outfitted with LiveU LU600s for cellular-based transmissions, which allows them to go live under any circumstances throughout their DMA.”
More specifically, the Broncos have two Sony PXW-Z150 cameras, Grass Valley editing software and LiveU's LU600s to send video back to the station.
Journalists also have iPhones and accessories that allow them to completely shoot, edit and deliver stories on the iPhones. “Some are already turning content from start to finish on their iPhone,” said Pytlowany. “It gives them an incredible opportunity to think creatively and get shots outside the traditional way you would produce a story…The workflow is just a seamless transition from working with both those cameras and integrating it into your timeline and actually producing a final product.”
This focus on mobility and remote production is also readily apparent in their mobile weather trucks and their operations at the station’s headquarters, where they have a “working newsroom” instead of a traditional studio.
“Studio is not a term we use here very often,” Watson said. “It’s really a working newsroom. Our entire staff is in this one room. So you can see the flurry of activity that comes with reporting the news. We plan to turn the camera on the assignment desk and have an assignment editor report in real time as you know information is coming in. We want to convey the news for exactly what it is, not a polished script that's worked up in the newsroom and then carried down the hall and reported on by anchors in the studio.”
No Silos and Studios
The room is also designed to have an industrial look reflective of Detroit’s industrial backbone. “We've had some pretty well known dignitaries and public figures come through the station on some tours, and more than once without me having said anything, the sentiment is `wow, this is very Detroit,’” Watson said. “It’s not a room full of monitors, with fancy artwork and graphics. It’s a really authentic raw operation.”
CBS Detroit has also deployed a mobile weather truck built on a lifted Ford F150. “We can use it to go to any terrain in any weather,” with a full complement of weather sensors and gear, says Pytlowany. “It has four onboard cameras, including a slush cam.”
Some of the key vendors for the project include Imagine Communications (for routing); Sony (PXW-Z150 cameras and switcher), Clear-Com (for IFB and communications back to the station); Grass Valley (GV Edius and AMPP Editor as well as their play-to-air and their media asset manager), IBM Watson (teleprompter), Logitek (audio mixer/sound board), Avid (iNews), LiveU (LU600s in the vehicles with their community based journalists and LU800s in the live trucks), Chyron (graphics), Total Traffic (traffic and road conditions), and WSI/IBM (weather graphics and system).
Watson praised the tech teams at the CBS-owned stations led by Jeff Birch, vice president of engineering, for bringing the project together and the vendors that worked on the project. The vendors, he noted, played a key role by being willing to embrace new ideas and develop technologies that would advance their vision using newer cloud-based and IP technologies.
“Seeing us start things from scratch and knowing that we had a timeline for being up and running, really motivated them to push forward on their products,” Watson said. “So we were really fortunate to work with a great number of vendors that have really been doing things for the first time and new ways.”
“We talked earlier about silos and newsrooms and traditional jobs and functions,” Pytlowany added. “I think that's also the case with the technology. This project really allowed them [the vendors] to kind of get out of their silos. I think they looked at this as the next generation, the next way we should be doing things. It's really propelled them to start thinking outside of those silos that they're normally working in.”
