Local television news is no longer appointment viewing for many people.
That’s the way Randy Travis, a longtime Atlanta investigative reporter, sees it.
“You don’t sit down with your meal at five or six o’clock and gather around and watch what was going on that day,” said Travis, who left Fox 5 (WAGA-TV) after three decades last year. “You’ll find out some other way. Maybe you watch our streaming service, or on our social media pages and get some of the stories that way.”
Just as newspapers had to do with the rise of the internet, TV station owners are having to adapt as viewing habits change and viewership declines.
Two major moves in Atlanta television unfolding this summer are signals that more changes are likely.
In June, local television station owner Gray Media said Atlanta News First, or WANF/Channel 46, would end its 30-year affiliation with CBS in August to go independent. Instead of airing CBS programming, Gray Media plans to add more hours of local newscasts.
Gray is already hiring for reporters, editors and meteorologists, among other positions, online job postings show.
CBS then announced it was turning the little-known WUPA/Channel 69 into its new Atlanta affiliate. On this station, CBS will build out a local TV news operation, adding a fifth to the city. CBS is hiring journalists, too.
Gray declined to comment on this story beyond what the company included in its initial press release. CBS also declined to comment further.
The two moves will add more local journalism to Atlanta, which is the country’s seventh-largest by potential television viewing audience, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen. The question is, however, if both stations can grow an audience during an era of fragmented viewership.
“Every TV company out there is pondering: ‘What would life look like without a network? What would survival mode be?’ Because no one knows what’s going to happen going forward,” said Sean McLaughlin, the vice president of Detroit-based Graham Media Group, a news station owner that does not have a station in Atlanta.
Adapting for the future
When veteran Atlanta reporter Richard Belcher was a few months away from retiring at WSB-TV in 2022, about 37,500 viewers between the ages of 25-54 were tuning in to the 6 p.m. newscast, according to Nielsen. The number, which doesn’t include viewership across its streaming channels or social media, was lower than the glory days of television news, a time when even the third-ranked station in the city was a cash cow.
“It was years of growth,” Belcher said. “I felt like I was a mid-level constable under [Roman emperor] Marcus Aurelius. It was great.”
A little less than three years later, however, the number has fallen to about 29,500. That’s the highest viewership out of any evening news broadcasts across Atlanta’s four major television stations.
“This is tough and getting tougher,” Belcher said. “Good work still gets done, but you’re spread really thin.”
Fewer eyeballs lead to fewer advertising dollars, a key driver of revenue for these stations.
McLaughlin, the Graham Media Group executive, has worked in television news for 30 years. There has never been a time in his career when so many moving pieces were reshaping the television news industry like they are now, he said.
Artificial intelligence-powered tools embedded in search engines and on social media are driving away traffic from news outlets’ websites. Americans’ trust in the media hit an all-time low in 2024, according to polling firm Gallup.
Another major force happening now that provides a glimpse into Gray’s decision is the complicating relationship between affiliates and networks.
Local affiliates receive money from cable and satellite companies. Networks such as CBS or NBC take a portion of that money to carry their programming, and have increased that amount in recent years. In some cases, these fees are higher than the amount affiliates are receiving from the TV providers.
By going independent, Gray can avoid paying these network fees altogether. Hypothetically, if Gray receives $5 from a cable company per subscriber to carry WANF, it won’t have to give the network $3 back in programming fees. Gray can invest that money in creating more local news.
Independent news stations are typically more common in large television markets. In some cities, such as Jacksonville, the independent station is the top-rated.
To succeed, however, it has to have strong news programming, McLaughlin said. WANF ranks fourth in ratings among other television news brands in Atlanta.
Climbing that ladder will be difficult, especially as Gray will inevitably lose out on viewers once it ceases airing CBS programming. In May, Nielsen found CBS led the way for networks in its season-to-date broadcast and streaming viewership ranker. Six out of the 20 most-watched series were produced by CBS.
CBS also holds the rights to air Sunday afternoon NFL games, the Masters and PGA Championship and both regular season men’s college basketball and WNBA games, among other sports properties. These deals are a ratings gold mine for networks and their affiliates.
News is inexpensive, relative to syndication or producing original programming. But more of it does not always equate to viewers.
“It’s good to have good people. It’s good to have good equipment,” Belcher said. “It’s good to have wise managers. But it’s really tough in TV to turn around the long term standing of the market.”
Belcher anticipates the number of stories WANF reporters are expected to turn each week will increase. These stories might be easier stories that do not require a lot of digging or time to piece together.
It’s also possible for familiar faces at other Atlanta stations to jump ship and begin new roles at WANF or the new CBS affiliate.
When Travis joined WAGA-TV in 1990, it was a CBS affiliate. Four years later, the station switched to Fox. The move ultimately enabled the station to increase the amount of local news programming it aired and, instead of running stories from other Fox stations, it expanded the local investigative unit, which Fox 5 recently shuttered in a cost-cutting move.
Travis said he hopes Gray will invest in its newsgathering, not nickel-and-dime, to fill needs in the market.
“They’ve been given a blank slate to do with it whichever way they see fit. I’m excited to see how they make this better for people here in town,” Travis said.
McLaughlin said many of the trends in local TV news are not positive, but he’s an advocate for more journalism.
“More people out doing journalism, I think is a good thing,” McLaughlin said. “Another brand, another voice, that’s good. It’s just the business side that’s challenging.”
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