Vancouver: Shortly after he started as atv’s news director last October, Bob McLaughlin took a call from a local resident wanting him to cover a community event in Port Hawkesbury, n.s.

‘Live at Five is my program,’ the woman said, referring to McLaughlin’s early evening news package. ‘I expect that you’ll do this story.’

The viewer left little room for debate and, sure enough, McLaughlin did the story, responding to the demands of the community. That formula has propelled atv’s dinner-hour news package to the top of the weekly ratings heap, beating shows like Seinfeld and Friends.

According to McLaughlin, the 60-minute Live at Five and the follow-up, 30-minute Evening News are the two most watched programs in Atlantic Canada, with an average 300,000 viewers. About 70% of viewers watch the entire 90-minute package.

Based in Halifax, ctv affiliate atv and its independent sister station asn generate a lot of news programming. Between the two, they run six-and-a-half hours of news per day. It’s a strategy that plays on the station’s resources and mandate and caters to an avid news culture specific to Atlantic Canada. ‘atv is well known and well received in the market,’ McLaughlin says. ‘Maritimers love their news.’

atv has nine news bureaus including offices in Charlottetown, St. John, Moncton, New Glasgow and Halifax.

The challenge, says McLaughlin, is to maintain that strong audience. ‘We never let up. When other stations start to play news repeats in the summer, we gear up. This summer we’re doing Celebrate the Maritimes for which the Live at Five show will travel across the Maritimes. atv is continually pushing to find new ways to cover the region.’

Global

Reg Thomas, executive producer of Global News, has a similar challenge. He says his newscast has to speak to all of Ontario, which means content is driven by common issues such as health, education and personal safety. ‘Our news has to be relevant to wherever you are sitting in Ontario,’ he says.

About 40% of Global’s audience is outside the major metropolitan areas.

Meanwhile, the ratings for the first quarter of 1996 rank Global in second place behind cfto in Toronto among viewers 18 to 49. According to Thomas, audiences average about 350,000 viewers through the 90-minute dinner-hour news package.

First News at 5:30 is a quick-paced show with headline news, five-day weather forecasts and entertainment news. News at Six focuses on the Ontario mandate, offering in-depth stories from bureaus such as Ottawa, London and Peterborough. At 6:30, First National is the first country-wide look at the news of the nation.

And with licence applications in Alberta and Quebec, Global is set to take the formula farther afield. ‘From day one, the show has been deigned as a national show,’ says Thomas.

BCTV

By far, the standardbearer of regional news programming in Canada is bctv, a WIC Western International Communications-owned ctv affiliate.

With an average nightly audience of 625,000, it is the most watched news program in Canada and the fourth most watched program in North America.

According to news director Keith Bradbury, average audience figures have grown by 100,000 viewers in the past four years.

‘The reason we’re so big is historic,’ he says. ‘We won the (ratings) battle (with cbc) in the 1970s. Since then it has been a function of maintaining that lead. tv viewers are habit driven and we have a significant habitual audience.’

bctv has a provincial mandate, says Bradbury, and with repeater stations throughout the province, the dinner-hour news reaches more homes than any other broadcaster in b.c. He estimates that up to 85% of the NewsHour comprises news from around the province.

Also helping to develop audience are the warm-up programs at 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. In 1995, bctv became the only station to offer a two-hour dinner-time news package. The Early News is focused on metropolitan Vancouver and Canada Tonight is a national program picking up news from wic stations and news bureaus. Each of the early news programs generate 250,000 viewers, says Bradbury.

And then there is celebrity. Much of the success of the NewsHour has been credited to the appeal of Tony Parsons, the 20-year veteran anchor with the stoic, baritone delivery. ‘There is no doubt that Tony has had a tremendous effect (on audience). He is the public persona of the NewsHour.’