KATV Little Rock

Good Morning Arkansas has been good indeed for Sinclair’s KATV — so good that the Little Rock, Ark., ABC affiliate will be expanding the news, talk and lifestyle format with a live and local 3 p.m. show. Good Afternoon Arkansas, the first afternoon show of its kind in the market, will make its debut on Sept. 4.

Contestant Raven Gates says her anecdote on Monday’s ABC reality series was “censored” by Sinclair’s Little Rock, Ark., affiliate; the station says it was a technical error.

Sinclair’s Little Rock, Ark. ABC affiliate KATV says it’s the first station in Arkansas to use a drone for news coverage. The drone, named SKY 7, is a DJI Inspire 1 Pro quadcopter piloted by Brian Emfinger and Barry Deere from KATV. The drone has a Zenmuse X5 gimbal and HD zoom camera that can broadcast live.

Despite the FAA’s regulations prohibiting the use of drones by news outlets, the Little Rock, Ark., ABC affiliate says it’s not breaking any rules because the station doesn’t own the drone that’s being used to take the video it’s aired. “This video is being used to advance the story and advance public information,” says News Director Nick Gentry.

In covering tornados over the past week, broadcasters supplemented their more traditional on-air, real-time forecasting and weather radar images with warnings on social media sites, station websites and even robotic telephone calls. Doug Heady, chief meteorologist at KOAM Pittsburg, Kan., says: “I really don’t consider us nowadays to be TV meteorologists; we are kind of multimedia meteorologists.”

The video above was shot by KATV photojournalist Brian Emfinger “right after the tornado moved through just south of Mayflower, Ark.” Now the Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the use of aerial drones by journalists in Arkansas to survey tornado damage.

ABC affiliate KATV Little Rock, Ark., says that a viewer testimonial promotional campaign the station has been airing since 2011 has helped propel its Daybreak broadcast from an 18 share of households then to a 31 in last November’s ratings.

The Hubbard-owned NBC affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., focuses its news coverage on stories that expose the warts of New York State. WHEC “wanted a direction and focus that supersedes slogans,” says Marketing Director Steven Patrick. “We wanted to be known for something; maybe we can make New York a little better place.”

In DMA 56, Little Rock, Ark., spending on election campaigns is sparse. The presidential candidates are ignoring the state because Mitt Romney has a lock on its six electoral votes, and there are no major state offices up for grabs. But it’s a much different story in DMA 69 — Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va. — where stations are having trouble coping with the enormous demand for time.