Mr. JOHN DEUSHANE, President
Wxia TV, 11 Alive
One Monroe Place NE
Atlanta, Ga., 30324
Dear Mr. Deushane:
I had contacted your station via email on Friday, Oct. 6th, saying much the same as below, but in viewing your 11 p.m. 'Late Feed' newscast this evening (Wed. Oct 11th) I decided to expand a bit on my input of last week.
My comments are limited to your 11 p.m. news program. I am not a regular watcher for the noon or 6 p.m. local broadcasts.
I was, and continue to be, disappointed in your 'The Late Feed'.
Six minutes into the program tonight, at the 'Speed Feed' segment, your station plays background music below the commentary.
This is totally distracting and annoying. I noted that tonight it was at a lower volume than last week, perhaps it was damped down a bit due to viewer comments. Nevertheless it is still distracting, annoying and makes listening to the report itself more difficult than it should be.
I assume that your news department is trying a new format to try to stand out from the competition. Well, you do that and not in a favorable way and in fact I now rank your Late Feed as the worst of the 11 p.m. newscasts and I expect your ratings will (or have already) bear this out.
The comments I jotted down on my TV Guide regarding the first 10 minutes of the show were:
Dark/Brooding
A try for a Hard Edge
Grim
Stark
Poor Set
I don't know where it went after the first 10 minutes as I had by then changed to CBS.
A final comment on the name 'The Late Feed', ok, I assume the news folks use that as a standard newsroom term, but for us Joe and Jill Sixpack's out here in viewer land, it just sounds stupid.
What was it before?
11 at Eleven,
News at 11,
11 Alive News?
Go back to that and go back to the more normal 2 news people at a desk with a bright, well lit set.
This attempt to be hard hitting, in your face news at 11 p.m., is just not working, at least not for me as I am no longer watching WXIA news at 11 p.m.
What you have now it a complete turn off for viewers.
Bill Harris
Citizen Journalist read more