They're Here, You're Not Watching

"They're Here, You're Not Watching"

By: Lani Eyster

For nearly 3 years students from the Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC) program at the University of Oklahoma (OU) have volunteered their time to bring late-breaking news to people on the OU campus, in Norman, and the surrounding Metro area. Unfortunately, it is possible that the number of people working on the program might out number the people watching it. Despite being aired on Cox Cable channel 4* the program is not receiving the viewer ship it deserves, and that’s not a biased opinion based on the fact that I am part of a team working to promote the program because the program has been recognized nationally for its level of excellence.

Here is where some of the magic, if you will, happens. During our site visit we had a chance to look at the studio and take a look “behind the scenes”. I say that because all of this state-of-the-art equipment can be seen by anyone who walks through Gaylord Hall, the JMC building.

After our group meeting with Dana Rosengard, who is this director and founder of this program, to discuss what he was looking for out of the campaign I was concerned with the idea that we have such an outstanding student-run media outlet and it is not being taking advantage of by even the students. However, this year marks the beginning of a new relationship between “OU Nightly” and Sooner Football. The program is now able to produce a special edition of “OU Nightly” that is aired before kick-off each game over the jumbo-tron in front of about 80,000 people in attendance!

I am looking forward to working for such a unique client, and there certainly are a lot of areas that we can increase the number of people that are aware it exists. Although we will have difficulty measuring our success because there is no rating system for the show, I think that even if we can only get a few more people to turn it on the content and presentation of "OU Nightly" can and will speak for itself.

TUNE IN FOR THE LATEST

TUNE IN FOR THE LATEST
BY: MELIA WRIGHT

A few weeks ago in my final Public Relations class, Public Relations Campaigns, my team of five, PR4OU, was assigned to research and present a successful campaign for the University of Oklahoma student-produced news station, OU Nightly (http://tv4ou.ou.edu/newsfull.html). OU Nightly is televised on TV4OU (http://tv4ou.ou.edu/), the OU television station, twice a day, Monday through Friday. Our goal for this campaign is to raise awareness about the show and to increase viewership.

OU Nightly is an award-winning broadcast yet many people, including students of the university, are not aware of this. Despite the many awards the show holds, OU Nightly lacks not only viewership but credibility as well. Due to the fact that OU Nightly is student-produced, we currently feel as a group that many viewers will not choose OU Nightly as their news source. OU Nightly competes with large Oklahoma news stations such as KOCO, KFOR, and KWTV. It is our mission to change the public’s perception of a student-produced news station and raise the number of viewers.

From researching other successful student-produced news stations, PR4OU found that in order to be successful, OU Nightly must be set apart from all other news casts. We found something special about OU Nightly and what makes OU Nightly different from other news casts is that they found their niche in their daily “Franchise Pieces.” In order to be favored, OU Nightly must be unique and bring its own characteristics to the competitive world of news casts. OU Nightly found its uniqueness in these pieces and is a great opportunity for the show.

PR4OU spoke with Professor Dana Rosengard about what he hopes for us to accomplish during this campaign. From speaking with him we found he has high hopes for the show and hopes to air statewide soon. The Dean of the College of Journalism is working with Cox Cable on this project and Rosengard is confident that by December 2007, OU Nightly will be available statewide.