The Shreveport Journal from Shreveport, Louisiana • 51

Inside you'll find complete 24-hour grids for network and cable channels informative logs describing each night's programming and a list of movies airing this week WW (2 DONE Shreveport Journal Frl October 5 1984 £-w i tf Wit 5 Margaret Cahen promotion director at KSLA Channel 12 watches as Jake Pittman (left) owner of JP Production Co in Dallas and Tom "Gordo" GauDolf engineer put finishing touches on the new music which was specially composed for KSLA's news and promotion spots usic catches viewers' attention Competition in the Shreveport area television news market is heating up according to promotion directors at the three local stations KTBS Channel 3 (ABC) KTAL Channel 6 (NBC) and KSLA Channel 12 (CBS) And when viewers sit down to watch a local newscast on any of the stations they are actually seeing and hearing a lot more than journalists simply reading the news In the early days of television Dave Garroway anchor (the word used then was of the "Today Show" often had a live monkey (Mr Mugs) with him during his news broadcasts Today the visual packaging of the news has changed The sets on which news broadcasts are shown have become more professional and newscasters have become more attractive to the eye Last year in Kansas City anchor-woman Christine Craft sued a local television station for trying to alter her appearance to make her more attractive to the viewers Packaging of the news isn't restricted to the visual however The audio portion sound has also become increasingly important in the past several years and local stations around the country have begun using specially prepared background music for news broadcasts as well as promotions for those broadcasts The Shreveport news market is surprising in that it is one of the larger markets in the country There are around 250 designated local television markets in the United States and Shjeveport ranks 54th far higher than many cities its size "We have a three-state 22000 square mile viewing area" said Margaret Cahen promotion manager for KSLA television "so the music we use must be tailored not only to what we're doing but to the audience in our area" In January Cahen began talking to Don Owen then news director for the station about changing the music which introduced the various news broadcasts for the station "He agreed that new music would enhance the news broadcasts" she said So Cahen went shopping She contacted people all over the country who "did news (music) packages" but was not satisfied with results "I wanted something that would be ours" she emphasized "Something that would represent this part of the country something that would represent the quality KSLA has given over the past 30 years And something that would represent the spirit of this part of the country" Cahen said "None of the packages we listened to over the next few months were what we wanted so I started calling friends I have at other television stations around the country" What she learned from these calls was that there were people in her own back yard Dallas who had the capability of producing the sound she wanted She narrowed the Dallas com- Sanies to two and finally settled on Productions owned by Jake Wiegle wasn't disappointed After several conversations with the owner of the company he was able to sit down and play the tune on a portable keyboard "I knew that was the sound we wanted as soon as I heard it" Wiegle said Unlike KSLA's contemporary sound KTBS' new sound leans more toward show music Played by a 60-piece orchestra in which the strings often dominate the music could be the prelude to "South Pacific" or "Oklahoma" except in the final notes there is a heavy-beat lead up with no final beat The missing final beat is what Wiegle believes will catch the listening audience and build Channel 3 identification "When you hear that music" he said "your mind will automatically add that final upbeat that carries you out of the (music) spot and on to the news" The music was selected according to Wiegle because it is easy to remember but not so heavy or contemporary that it overshadows the news or the journalist reporting the news Not overshadowing the news is im- Eortant to KTAL station manager ce Bryant as well Bryant's station recently introduced new music in conjunction with a new news set "The music should be appealing" he said "but not the main attention-getter of the news The (musical) news introduction should show the viewer what you have to offer It should be attractive but the news should be the priority not the music anchors or reporters" Bryant said he believes the seriousness of the news can be lost if it becomes too light-hearted or if too much show business is involved The music being used at the station is a mixture of different soundtracks designed to match the video effects of the new news set and it too has a heavy beat and could almost be described as a jazz sound According to station promotional director Billy Boswell Al Legrand of LeGrand and Associates "spent many hours researching different pieces of music for the news" and then met with Bryant news director Gordon Grafton and Boswell for a final decision When the decision was made LeGrand and KVKI's Dan Newman custom produced and formatted the music for the news broadcasts Unlike KTBS and KSLA the station uses other music for promotions and that music was introduced this fall "Last summer KTAL had the Custom Promo Network of New York produce 24 full vocal donut and instrumental pieces for the promotion of the 1984 fall season The music entitled 'Let's All Be There '84' is now being used for the station's promotional pieces" Boswell said All of the local stations believe that the promotional departments which provide the music are basically building around what is already there the news department Cahen not the tail wagging the dog we look and see what we have and do the promotional work around that" TELEVISION WRITER Nancy 4 fitI Morris station a decision was made to change the music a couple of months ago for the same reason the decision was made at KSLA "We're having to get very competitive" Wiegel said "And to remain competitive we had to have name and music recognition We wanted people to be able to recognize 'that theme' in the first two beats" The music which has been used on KTBS in the past Wiegle said "jumped around from measure to measure" Wiegel said the station wanted something "catchy" which would be remembered "I was looking for something that would immediately make the viewers think of Channel 3 news" he said Wiegle first talked with news producers for the station and tried to get a feel for the kind of music they wanted and learned that the basic sound should be "upbeat" with a "hard driving beat "News music has to be believable" Wiegle said "And the listener has to perceive that there's credibility that comes from the sound" And the new music also had to be such that it could be tailored for different newscasts and promotions Wiegle knew just what production company to ask to compose the music the station wanted Skeets Music Co in Indianapolis Ind "I had first met the owner of the company in 1980 when the company did our Solid Silver campaign for our 25th anniversary" Wiegle said "and I knew they once again could do the same quality job as they did for the highly successful Solid Silver "Jake came over to Shreveport and had lunch with Tom Kramer who does all the voice-over work for Channel 12 "We gave him a feel of what we wanted in the music and the slogan 'We're leading the Way' said Cahen who believes the station reflects what she calls the spirit of this area "I believe Channel 12 has led the way for 30 years" she said "but I believe it is because of the people in our area The people here are leading the way in many areas in oil in recreation in some areas in volun-teerism in religion in family values "I wanted our music to salute all the good things and good people in our area" Cahen said "I wanted our positive image and the positive image of the people to be reflected in our music" she added For the next month Cahen said there were many conference calls between Pittman in Dallas and the management of KSLA And as the music began to come together Cahen began to think about lyrics lyrics that she finally wrote herself Finally in July Cahen went to Dallas and spent two full days and nights in the studio of the production company as the finished product was completed The music which could be called "adult contemporary" features a basic sound which is easy to remember Under one umbrella the sound of the music can be tailored to the needs of each news broadcast as well as the needs of various promotional spots which are played on the air For example the sound of helicopter propellers is added to the music for the "Life Eye" helicopter promotional spots more brass added to the noon and weekend news music since the noon and weekend broadcasts contain more national news than the 6 and 1 0 pm broadcasts and a bouncy "high energy" beat is added to the 6 and 10 pm broadcasts There is even a 30-second version of the music for holiday (Christmas) promotions which features a background of jingle bells In the "Leading The Way" promotional spots Cahen's lyrics "The spirit of 12 Leading the Way in the Ark-La-Tex today are used and sung by a four-member group The sound almost sounds like the harmony of the Lettermen or the Four Lads" Cahen wrote the lyrics which contain such phrases as "Leading the Way Neighbors sharing families playing people caring The spirit is shining through to appeal to the viewers' emotions She said she feels emotional about this area and she wants viewers to share that feeling KTBS also has new music for its news programs although that music has not as yet been fully introduced According to Don Wiegel Jr creative services director for the.