NAB Highlights Station Election Efforts

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On Election Day, the National Association of Broadcasters was trumpeting a sampling of the stations that had elected to air debates, specials and other candidate forums as part of their midterm election coverage.

Among the efforts it highlighted in an e-mail to members and others were:

l Senatorial and gubernatorial debates in Nevada underwritten by the state broadcaster association and fed to all TV and radio stations in the state.

l A KOMO-AM-FM-TV Seattle senatorial debate that was archived online, as well as a KXLY-TV Spokane debate among the same candidates.

l WFTV-TV Orlando aired a senatorial debate moderated by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, which the station said drew a crowd of over 300,000 potential voters in the top five Florida TV markets (that would mean at least that many viewers 18 and up).

l The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters hosted an hour debate between gubernatorial candidates carried either live or on tape by 27 TV stations (and fed to 75 radio stations).

l WDSU-TV New Orleans aired an hour senatorial debate that was also streamed on its Web site.

l In some political newspaper-broadcast cross pollination, KGW-TV Portland, Ore., teamed with the Oregonian at the state broadcasting association on a gubernatorial debate that drew a 5.1 rating/11 share in live-plus-same day, indicating that the public's interests and TV stations' business interests can dovetail as well.The station re-aired the debate three days later.

l KUSA-TV Denver partnered with YouTube and the Denver Post, also on a gubernatorial debate, and which also aired twice on the station, as well as streaming live on YouTube.

l WZTV Nashville produced a half-hour special on the governor's race there that included a profiles of the candidates.WSAW-TV Wausau, Wis., aired a House of Representatives debate hosted by the president of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation. The debate was also carried on several other TV and radio stations.

l Also giving House members their chance to face off in front of the TV public was WYFF-TV Greenville, S.C, which hosted a pair of debates between House candidates.

l KWCH-TV Wichita, Kansas covered took an online approach to its House race, inviting candidates to an online forum where they answered questions submitted by Web surfers.

l KTTC-TV Rochester, Minn., says that 50 local candidates took it up on the offer of two minutes of free airtime in its newscasts. The station also covered the state party conventions.

l KSNT-TV started early, hosting a primary debate back in August.    

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.