OMI suggests KATU and KOIN "Go Countdown"

Over at Oregon Media Insiders, blogger Lynn Siprelle suggests that Portland's #3 and #4 stations - KATU and KOIN - should become a bit more like MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the news show that's rocketing up the charts with an edgy, progressive, funny bent.

Since KGW can out-report everyone, and KPTV can out-Fox everyone, how can KATU and KOIN catch up?

I'd go Countdown. I know, you're all getting sick of hearing how much I love Countdown, but hear me out. You can't do a true Countdown without Olbermann and without taking a hard turn to the left, but you can emulate what makes Countdown so freakin' entertaining and yet informative...

She has five suggestions, but here's #4 - of particular interest to BlueOregon readers:

Go wonky. Do the political coverage no one else is doing, that TV has ceded to the blogosphere. I promise you it's not boring. Politics is about people, not paper, and when you put it in people terms it's as exciting as any soap opera. Crikey, it IS a soap opera.

Read the rest. Discuss.

  • Anonymous (unverified)
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    I think that whatever keeps people informed and their attention in this ADD culture is perfect!

    Not to mention Portland is a liberal market... HELLO? Liberal market... even local Fox is forced to be moderately-conservative in Portland.

    Whereas, in Dallas news reporters salavate like Palovian dogs when they talk about Bush.

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    Lynn is a smart cookie, and a great person to boot. I have had the privilege to know her, and her ideas merit listening too.

  • DAN GRADY (unverified)
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    Funny, I explained this to a fella at the pub the other day as we spoke of Air America, politics and the past. I told him that as I learned the hard way in the sports books of Las Vegas there are two sports good for a handicapper whom is disciplined and never parlays; major league baseball, and NBA basketball.

    MLB is a game of rhythem and the NBA is a game about leg strength and stanima

  • DAN GRADY (unverified)
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    Funny, I explained this to a fella at the pub the other day as we spoke of Air America, politics and the past. I told him that as I learned the hard way in the sports books of Las Vegas there are two sports good for a handicapper whom is disciplined and never parlays; major league baseball, and NBA basketball.

    MLB is a game of rhythm and the NBA is a game about leg strength and stamina by which any regular guy can keep a tight picture on simply by reading the daily newspaper. I told him as I have told many over the years that there are typically three sections I read in the following order; the sports, the editorial page, and the front page!

    I’m interested in politics because I have read the newspaper every day since I was in the 4th grade, and I’m into handicapping baseball because I actually read the box scores as well as keeping count of the games played by teams on the road as about the third game in a row means that team will be running on empty come the fourth period.

    I know my friends paid attention to the Nixon scandals, and Vietnam the same way I did, and I know they had to take civics classes, American history, and lived through the Cold War with all its doom day movies!! I guess my generation can hardly help itself!

    Funny thing is this post was to convince us of whether telling us the truth as a punch line would be good for ratings, or is it better to be the best infomercial propaganda network!! I dream of a day America wakes up to our need to retain the airways and return to the Fairness Doctrine so such debates become just an ironic remembrance of a the flaws of the past!!

  • Wrassle Tarpin (unverified)
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    Ew. Lots of computer graphics and big countdown numbers. Not all of us are idiots, or necessarily addicted to shiny objects. Olbermann dresses up his almost smart act in so much disgusting veneer that I can't stand the goddamn show.

    Go funny. Christ. Anything about the Daily Show ring a bell?

    TV constantly underestimates the hunger for intelligent & funny content. I think it's because TV people are shiny, and they want shiny to win out over smart.

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    Countdown is easily the smartest news show on television.

  • Mike (unverified)
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    They should absolutely try doing something that the others aren't doing. Who the hell needs 3 (or 4) stations that simply copycat each other?

    Are the stations being run by children?

  • LynnS (unverified)
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    No, they're being run by beancounters, who are by nature risk-averse.

    Thanks for the linkage, folks, I always forget people actually read OMI! :)

  • Scott (unverified)
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    I like it. It might actually get me to start watching local news again for something besides the weather.

  • JAF (unverified)
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    FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,505,000 FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,802,000 FNC SHEP SMITH 1,374,000 FNC HUME 1,258,000 FNC GRETA 1,194,000 CNN KING 1,014,000 CNN COOPER 835,000 CNN DOBBS 814,000 CNNHN GRACE 676,000 MSNBC OLBERMANN 665,000 MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 648,000 CNN ZAHN 643,000 CNNHN BECK 467,000 MSNBC MATTHEWS 424,000

    <h2>Rocketing up the charts huh? Damn facts.....they'll get you every time.</h2>
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