Unpacking the changes at Twin Cities TV stations

There’ve been several recent shakeups in the Minnesota TV news scene.

KARE-11’s parent company is up for sale, and the station is eliminating a meteorologist and its sports director. WCCO-TV/CBS News Minnesota is moving to a solo anchor setup for its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts. Twin Cities PBS has laid off staffers in the wake of federal funding cuts.

How might these moves change what you see when you watch local TV, and what are the main drivers of change?

Neal Justin, pop culture critic at the Star Tribune, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition to share some perspective.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen to the conversation by clicking the player button above.

Is there an unusual amount of uncertainty in the Twin Cities TV news market?

Well, it seems like uncertainty has been sort of the theme for the last five to 10 years. A few things are going on right now. We're responding to tough economic times and increased competition and searching for ways to find money. But there are also some things happening this year. [KARE’s owner] TEGNA is being sold, and whenever a station goes under new ownership, there tends to be shake-ups. KARE has lost some veterans, including very popular veterans like Randy Shaver, in recent years, and that's affected things, too.

The solo anchor move at WCCO is an interesting one. I haven't really taken a look to see if that's happening nationwide, but it is a way to cut money without cutting resources in terms of gathering news. And in the case of WCCO, Amelia Santaniello, who was on the air with her husband Frank Vascellaro for years, is moving to a time slot (4 p.m.) that I think will play to some of her strengths as an interviewer and her ability to do feature stories — and maybe she won’t be coming home at midnight.

WCCO and FOX9 are both making some strides with streaming. Are they paying off?

Too early to tell. I mean, we're all trying to figure out how to use streaming, and we're still trying to adjust how to use the internet. We're facing that challenge here at the Star Tribune as well, and so are you folks. So I'm not sure if money is the primary issue in that; it's that kind of being ahead of the game, right? If that is the future, then you want to make sure you're ahead of the game, rather than behind it.

Shaver is now at the Star Tribune, streaming a high school sports show. Is this the next chapter of local sports coverage?

Well, I think it's a chapter that's been undercovered over the years. High school sports is immensely popular, and I'm very happy that the Star Tribune has figured that out. One of the reasons, I think, is there's always churn. And as excited as kids may be to be in the media, their parents are 27 times more excited. You get new parents every four years wanting to see their kids’ games get covered. So it's a great audience for us, and it's statewide, which is something that we are emphasizing more and more. And it's exciting. If you look at professional sports right now, there's so much drama going on and so much business involved. High school sports is still kind of pure, and it's a joy to watch. And I think as the media looks for new things to cover that our audience wants, and maybe we overlooked in the past or didn't cover enough, our new section StribVarsity is addressing that.

Do you still think there's value in local TV news, given all this change?

Well, the audience seems to think so. If you look at the statistics, local TV news is still a very, very trusted form of news. They're still making money. They're not making the kind of money they used to. But once you adjust to that, it's doing fine. And if you look at the local markets, they're increasing the number of hours that people can get TV news from their local folks. So it's still working, and I think it will for some time.