Terri Bennett hadn't seen it coming. The longtime television weathercaster in Charlotte, NC suddenly found herself unemployed this summer when her station failed to renew her contract. A non-compete restriction will keep her off of any other station in town for at least a year -- yes, even though they fired her! -- so she took another tack.
She started her own local weather channel and put it on the web. Check out TerriBennett.com. Can she turn her name into a weather brand? More than 15 years on the air in that market should help. She can do a lot more with the site to engage visitors and to keep them coming back but the idea that one person can create her own "channel" intrigues people like me who believe this could be a niche in broadcasting's future.
Not ALL of broadcasting's future but a profitable part of it for the people who have the skills and savvy to create original and interesting content on a regular (preferably daily) basis, especially those who recognize how much more intimate the Internet is than traditional media and can make visitors feel like they're interacting individually with them.
This is especially true in weather because you can create content relevent to a large audience for little in production costs. Other general interest topics such as consumer news might be other avenues to explore. A story about one shopper's bad experience can serve as an object lesson for many shoppers.
Sports and news are more difficult because they tend to focus on events that might hold little interest to people not affected. Without a large staff creating content across a wide area, those topics might be better left to traditional media. There is still room for magazine-type feature stories. Those are labor-intensive to produce so it would be difficult to crank them out daily but the possibilities exist.
Stay tuned.
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2 comments:
The internet is amazing that way.
I am so against non-compete agreements. It's a company's way of saying "we can treat you any way we want and if you don't like it, leave. But we get to keep your clients." Or in her case, her audience.
I've decided to make it my policy that agents can take their clients with them when they leave, including their listings. Many agencies don't do that. I figure if I can't entice them to stay and make it worth their while, I don't deserve to keep them.
I just checked her website out. She is so cute and confident! I think she's on the right track.
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