Interviews with founders of twenty-four-hour local cable news channels: why and how they started the business

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The early history of twenty-four-hour local cable news channels is explored through research and interviews with the men who launched the first seven channels. Those channels include News 12 Long Island, Newswatch 15, Orange County Newschannel, New York 1, New England Cable News, and ChicagoLand TV. Twenty-four- hour local cable news channels were one of the first attempts to repurpose a local news product on another medium-cable. Media companies are employing the lessons learned from launching these channels as they create websites and digital channels. Twenty-four-hour local cable news channels also ushered in an era of convergence that is being widely employed today. In two instances, ChicagoLand TV and Orange County Newschannel, the cable channels were located inside the newspaper's newsroom. The local cable news channels have developed a national reputation for hyper-local news coverage, political reporting, morning news programming, extended breaking news coverage, and the use of video journalists.