Creating more long-form, “nuanced” journalism is a way for local stations to grab younger viewers in an era where there is a growing dissatisfaction with the national news media. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

The winners of TVNewsCheck’s first Social Media Excellence Awards describe how their stations have been able to monetize various experiments in targeting social media audiences that go beyond just repeating what’s in their news broadcasts. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Valari Staab is leading her NBC and Telemundo stations into the future with heavy emphasis on finding the best in new technology and synergies that allow her local journalists to develop more locally produced, original content for the stations on a multitude of platforms. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations group, after rolling out a new plant in Philadelphia without an SDI router that uses as much IP as possible, will be creating a virtualized architecture for KLBR, its Telemundo station in Las Vegas, in which most of the back-end equipment used to run the station, including news production, will be located at a data center in Dallas. And then there’s the new facility NBCU is building in Boston, which will include six control rooms and six studios and accommodate four separate NBCU businesses. A big driver is increased support for the 2110 IP standard from the broadcast vendor community. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

“You can no longer just be a broadcaster,” says SmithGeiger’s Andrew Finlayson. “You have to go beyond that.” In addition to offering content across digital and social media platforms, broadcasters, particularly TV stations, need to create and promote the usage of mobile apps, both for entertainment content and local news. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Keeping a station on the air during a disaster means crafting and rehearsing a plan that’s often based on previous experiences. As Nexstar’s ABC affiliate in Panama City, Fla., learned from October’s Hurricane Michael, sometimes the unforeseen still happens. After the WMBB building lost power, the news team set up in the station’s parking lot for newscasts.

The executive director of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology will talk about emerging cybersecurity threats; communicating with the C-suite about investing in security; and the latest technologies being used and developed to thwart cyber crime at TVNewsCheck’s second annual Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat in February.

On Friday, Nov. 30, broadcasters in the first of a 10-phase post incentive auction repack must have completed their move to new channels and ceased broadcasting on their pre-transition channels. Phase two begins Dec. 1. According to the FCC, more than 140 TV stations in over 20 markets will have moved frequencies when phase one is over.

An Alabama meteorologist used Facebook Live and satellite imagery to pinpoint weather information for viewers affected by Hurricane Michael. Because of his creative efforts to serve the viewers during a difficult time, Josh Johnson of WSFA has won the Social Media Excellence Awards’ top distinction — the Innovator Award.

Under Mark Harrison, the U.K.-based Digital Production Partnership has been instrumental in extending the use of SMPTE’s Interoperable Master Format (IMF) standard for broadcast and online applications and focusing vendors’ attention on cyber security. He talks about how his group is helping broadcasters keep up with consumers’ ever-changing content demands. “We are, in effect, democratizing IMF.”

Simon Trudelle, NAGRA senior director, product marketing: “The solution is driven by a combination of technology, collaboration, and innovation to fight pirate services across all distribution networks. Sports leagues must partner with vendors and service providers, as well as providing their own OTT services if not already the case, to ensure all fans get the best experience possible, anywhere.”

Hearst’s KCCI Des Moines, Iowa, took top honors in the small-medium market category in TVNewsCheck’s inaugural Social Media Excellence Awards. Its social media producer explains how the station captured a “beautiful moment” to lift it above the pack.