KIII was on top of the terrorist story from the very beginning

When the news of terrorists in New York City first broke Tuesday morning, ABC affiliate KIII lived up to its ratings status as the number one television news source in Corpus Christi.
   KIII anchor Gene Cox provided a short news break before 10 a.m. about the terrorist attacks and their impact on the Coastal Bend. The break-ins kept coming approximately on the hour. The station was on top of things and made sure its local updates happened while network anchors were recapping the day's events and no new news was being uncovered.
   "I'll just tip my hat to (news director) Doug Tisdale," said general manager Bob White. "Doug really jumped into action . . . He was like a foreman sending (the reporters) out."
   By 4 p.m., NBC affiliate KRIS caught up with KIII and had reporters all across the area.
   Both stations were good at not drawing the attention completely away from national news, keeping the network feed in a screen-in-screen box during local news.
   Since it quickly became obvious that news coverage would likely pre-empt most network programming, station managers across the country had to comply with last-minute plans from each of their respective networks. And it wasn't always easy to keep up.
   "Plans are changed on the hour as we get information from the network," said KRIS general manager Jim Smith. "(On Thursday morning), the network had planned on going back to regular primetime programming tonight, and now they're not going to do that. We don't know what they're going to do tomorrow."
   Communication was equally as dizzying between KIII and ABC.
   "ABC threw us a curve this morning," White said. ABC initially told White they weren't providing news coverage from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, but then they picked up the feed just past 10 a.m. when they saw ABC was broadcasting news. "We're all flying blind," White said. "It's a nightmare trying to find out what we're going to do."
   Commercial-free
   KRIS deserves massive commendations for running without commercials - even in its local newscasts previous to Thursday. Anchors Carlos Vergara and Cheryl Alexander showed impressive strength, composure and organization as they held together Corpus Christi's only commercial-free local newscast.
   "We've had calls saying how much (viewers) appreciate us carrying our news without commercial interruptions and how disappointed they are at KIII (for including commercials in its local newscasts)," said KRIS's Smith. "I can't imagine an advertiser trying to sell somebody something at this time; it's not good for their image and not good for what the people have in mind right now."
   Responded White: "It's a normal newscast, and since we normally carry commercials, I didn't feel it was out of character." Lost ad revenues are estimated at $50,000 at KRIS and $100,000 at KIII.
   CBS affiliate KZTV, like KRIS and KIII, has also aired its network news feeds commercial-free, making the local over-the-air offerings an impressive alternative to CNN and Fox News Channel.
   "That's all CBS is sending us," said Walter Furley, noon anchor and news director. "We could air the syndicated shows I guess, but we think the interest is more in (the news), so we're staying with it as long as CBS does."
   While most viewers appreciate the constant updates the stations have been providing, some have complained of too much news.
   "There have been some calls saying that perhaps we're giving it too much coverage, but most of them support us," said Furley.
   In reaction to callers complaining of news fatigue, Smith broke from NBC network news at 4 p.m. Thursday to "Oprah," which was a touching episode related to the tragedy on the East Coast.
   White also heard that his viewers were tired of news and gave them relief in the form of a syndicated "Frasier" episode Wednesday night.
   "We were hoping it was a little relief from the norm," White said.
  
  
  

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