Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 211

Great Falls Tribune, Sunday, March 22, 1987 91( Media Competition grows among broadcasters bound to improve quality. "I certainly think it's a more competitive environment," Friden said. "Everybody's paying attention." The Billings and Great Falls areas both have three television stations, although the newest stations, KOUS-TV in Hardin and KTGF-TV in Great Falls, have yet to grab a big share of the news ratings in their areas. Executives agree such stiff competition can contribute to low pay for employees, by splitting up scarce advertising dollars. Montana had 10 television stations in 1976, and 14 by 1986.

Radio has more stations than ever in Montana, thanks to deregulation of the industry by the federal government that sparked a minor explosion of stations here in the last 10 years. In 1976, Montana had 44 AM stations and 23 FM stations, for a total of 67, according to the Montana Broadcasters Association. Ten years later, the state had 49 AM stations and 45 FM stations, for a total of 94, a See BROADCASTING, 93 cording to Durso. And pay in the radio field, and at the state's weekly newspapers, is often low, industry executives agree. "You have to love the business to be in it," says Dave Rye, news director and anchorman at KULR-TV in Billings.

Rye, who is also president of the state Associated Press Broadcasters' Association, said that workdays can be 12 to 14 hours long, and that pay often is so low it would outrage a union member. "That's one of the tragedies of Montana media," he said. Yet television can have a "narcotic effect" on prospective reporters, who dream of making it big in larger markets, Rye reported. Rye said his own station, KULR, pays fairly well, and a bit better than average for reporters. Pay for television management is much better than for reporters, he added.

But low pay for reporters creates a revolving door that hurts news quality, he said. "You end up with reporters who have no commitment to their com munities," Rye said. By the time a re- porter gets to know the town, he or she moves on. As a result, reporters often lack a sense of Montana's history that could improve stories, according to Durso. "Newspapers pay people enough to keep them," Rye added.

In their defense, Montana broadcasting executives explain that Montana stations have some of the nation's smallest audiences, and correspondingly lower advertising income. "We'd love to pay them twice as much and keep them forever," said Pete Friden, president and general manager of KRTV in Great Falls. But station profits dictate the level of pay, he said. At the top of television news, salaries can top six figures, Durso added. "But how many Dan Rathers are there?" he asked.

Instead, news broadcasting tends to attract people interested in news and doing a public service, he said. "They also think it's fun, and it is," he said. In any case, Friden argued that increasing competition and better equipment in Montana television is By RICHARD ECKE Tribune Staff Writer Competition among radio and television stations is hotter than ever, paced by federal deregulation of radio and additional television stations that have given Great Falls and the Billings area three network affiliates each. Such stiff competition in small advertising markets often contributes to low pay and, sometimes, to antiquated equipment, observers say. And the field also is jumbled by the increasing presence of cable television, satellite dishes and videocassette recorders in homes, executives report.

Overall, officials say radio and television news people in Montana perform surprisingly well in bringing news to viewers and listeners, despite the pay and equipment difficulties. "I'm enormously impressed with how hard these guys work, often under enormously difficult circumstances," said Joe Durso chairman of the radio-television department at the University of Montana. New college graduates sometimes begin work as television reporters in Montana for "800 bucks a month," ac Chains From 90 Montana has 11 daily newspapers and nearly 80 weekly papers, according to the Montana Press Association. While two-newspaper towns are a thing of the past, a competition of a different sort is facing papers in these days of television and a fast-paced existence, according to Hurd. "We're fighting illiteracy," he said.

"We're fighting television. We're fighting people with fewer leisure hours two-working households. The whole demographics is tough." Facing changes in modern living, newspapers are working hard to put out even better issues to keep the readers they already have, Hurd said. "That's just plain-old competition," he said. "The Lee papers in Montana rank well in quality compared with papers of similar circulation in the country," he said.

Montana's press has had various critics. A man who tried to launch a weekly, statewide newspaper called the Montana Eagle in 1980, Jim Lubek of Helena, criticized the press as "mediocre" or "lackadaisical," "with the daily press generally owned by out-of-state interests who have no real commitment to the quality of life in Montana." Montana's cities have lone daily newspapers, following a nationwide trend away from local competition between papers. Smaller towns often have lone weekly publications. money to expand its staff and improve news coverage. Chain operations are a fact of life in Montana, according to Hood.

"I see them simply as a reality," he said. "There are good chains and there are bad ones." The chain-owned Tribune, for instance, is "one of the best, if not the best, paper in the state," Hood maintained. However, he said the Tribune sometimes is dull and could be made more lively. Other Montana papers go too far in the other direction, running too many "inane" stories they believe people want to read, he said. Hood agreed that chains can insulate newspapers from boycotts by advertisers after hard-hitting articles are printed.

On the other hand, Hood said he worries that a lot of chains have "the tendency to put profits above anything else," and may be reluctant to spend additional money needed for top news coverage. Chains also tend to move employees around, meaning reporters and editors may not get to know a community well before moving on to sister papers, he said. Still, Missoulian Editor Brad Hurd believes Montana's papers are "good and working very hard at getting better," despite a poor economic climate in Montana. And Nathaniel Blumberg, former journalism school dean at the University of Montana, praised the Lee chain in a 1978-79 Montana Journalism Review article. ture in the 1980s.

Under Anaconda ownership, critics said, the mining company was busy "suppressing enterprising journalism and catering to local business interests" through its newspapers, according to a 1979 article in the Quill, a national journalism publication. In 1959, the Iowa-based Lee newspaper group purchased papers in Billings, Butte, Helena, Missoula and Livingston from the Anaconda giving the publications a new, independent status. Lee subsequently sold the Livingston paper. The four Lee papers have improved dramatically from the days of Anaconda Co. ownership, according to Charles Hood, journalism dean at the University of Montana.

"They tend to be less inhibited and more likely to go after the important centers of power and government and big business," Hood said. During the years of Anaconda ownership, the Great Falls Tribune had been the state's only large, independent daily newspaper. Even so, the Tribune during that period "wasn't exactly a crusading, watchdog, gadfly type of newspaper," Hood said. In 1965, the Tribune was sold to what is now known as Cowles Media a corporation that also owns the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and papers in Rapid City, S.D., suburban Denver and Burley, Idaho. Terry Dwyer, Great Falls Tribune managing editor, said the Tribune became a far better paper after the takeover, as the chain spent much more MEET BOB NIEBUHRcul.

OUR AGENT OF THE MONTH Congratulations to Bob Niebuhr for his outstanding achievements during the month of February. This honor is made possible because of the loyalty and trust of his policy holders in this area. NORTHWESTERN FINANCIAL SERVICES Life Insurance Investments Estate and Pension Planning ROBERT E. LEE Regional Manager Suite 510, First Bak Building Great Falls, MT 59403 453-1675 UUUU NORTHWESTERN NATIONAL UF1 INSURANCE CO.