KWCH Wichita Seizes DTV Education Initiative

KWCH WICHITA SEIZES DTV EDUCATION INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: Arthur Greenwald]
Joan Barrett, president and general manager of Schurz Communications’ KWCH Wichita-Hutchinson, Kansas sees the digital transition not as some onerous obligation, but rather a hot opportunity -- a fresh way to promote her CBS affiliate through exemplary public service. KWCH is preparing to launch Ready, Set, Know—a multimedia umbrella campaign tailored to the unique digital challenges of the 69th DMA. “Ours is one of the largest geographical DMAs in the country. We cover 65 counties and we’ve got issues that others don’t face. For example, I have four full-power transmitters.” (Two of those telecast the other half of Schurz’s Wichita duopoly, KSCW, a CW affiliate.) While many stations are just starting to run PSAs for the NAB’s DTVAnswers campaign, Ready, Set, Know ties together elements of a campaign that Barrett’s team launched late in 2006. It’s designed to go deeper than DTVAnswers, and far more local. “We put up a Web site over a year ago and we link to all the sites we can find, but all of our information is customized for Kansas,” says Barrett. “After all, we’re content producers. It’s what we do. So if we’re going to produce a Web page, we want to produce the content for it.” Eventually, Ready, Set, Know will include conspicuous sponsorships, including partnerships with appropriate local retailers.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/11/05/daily.3/