B+C Station Awards 2023: CBS Stations Builds Local TV for Today — and Tomorrow

This has been the year that CBS Stations set out to reimagine local TV. It began with the launch of CBS News Detroit in January, as WWJ Detroit built a full-scale news department, which it had not had since CBS acquired the station in 1995. 

“This is Detroit, a major market,” Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said. “How do we not have news? How are we not serving the local viewer in that market?”

CBS News Detroit enabled CBS to imagine what a newsroom would look like if it was built for 2023 and beyond. “What would you do in local news if you could start from scratch?” Brian Watson, WWJ VP and general manager, asked in a memo to staff. 

Reporters were embedded in Detroit-area neighborhoods and produced packages from specially equipped Ford Broncos. WWJ deploys what CBS Stations president Jennifer Mitchell called “character-driven storytelling.” Streaming is the first priority, and WWJ debuted with weekday news on linear TV at 6 and 11 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. on streaming. Several other newscasts, including a morning one, followed both on linear and streaming. 

“What we set out to do was setting up a modern, innovative newsroom to meet the audience where they are,” said Adrienne Roark, president, content development and integration for CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures. 

What’s working in Detroit is being deployed elsewhere in the CBS group. In multiple markets, reporters are embedded, spending their days in the neighborhood instead of at the station. The streaming-first mindset is pervasive. CBS Stations has gone from fourth (2021) to third (2022) to first in digital minutes viewed in 2023, per Comscore, versus the competition (owned stations and affiliates) in the 14 markets where the group has local news streaming channels.

“We’ve become very aggressive in standing up and sustaining big story coverage,” McMahon said. “Streaming has really become the place where we live that mission and that mantra most directly.”

Up Before the Sun in L.A.

CBS Stations has made noise in several markets. In January, KCAL Los Angeles launched a seven-hour morning news block, its first venture into morning news in the station’s 75-year history. KCAL News Mornings is such a priority that Matt Goldberg was hired as a second news director in September, with oversight of the morning program. “He is focused solely on the growth of that daypart,” said Mitchell. 

In September, eight The CW affiliates in the group, including ones in Philadelphia and San Francisco, went independent. Several have launched primetime news, and KDKA+ (WPKD) in Pittsburgh debuts its 8 p.m. weekday broadcast in January. In September and October, the new independents have grown their 8-10 p.m. audience by 8% in viewers and 11% in viewers 25-54, according to Nielsen, compared to those months in 2022. 

McMahon said those station staffers feel more connected to their market than they did a year ago. “Moving those stations to independents was absolutely the right choice,” she said. 

Station Innovation

The group continues to innovate to make its stations’ content stand out from the competition. Last year, CBS Stations launched the CBS Local News Innovation Lab. Based at KTVT-KTXA Dallas-Fort Worth, the lab has a team tasked with experimenting with next-generation storytelling, including data journalism, and testing new workflows and production models. 

The Innovation Lab has played a key part in signature reports from the CBS group this year, including “Kids in Crisis,” a weeklong series about mental health in young people. It produced three special “Kids in Crisis” reports for the group. 

Key hires for CBS Stations this year include Dave Malkoff, who was chief environmental correspondent at The Weather Channel and has joined the Innovation Lab; John Kelly, who is VP of data journalism; Kari Patey, VP of producer development; and Tracy Wholf, senior producer of climate. 

Earlier this month, McMahon announced the launch of CBS News Confirmed. The initiative tackles AI-generated misinformation. 

Like much of what CBS Stations rolled out this year, CBS News Confirmed sets up the long-term relationship between station and viewer. “It’s about elevating our ability to verify and confirm the veracity of videos and claims that are made,” McMahon said. “It is to ensure our audiences truly do have the facts.”