Devon's Broadcasting Blog

Beginning in the 1980s with Turner’s Cable News Network (CNN), cable companies began their journey in nichification: expand in a type of specialized programming that already existed but not in such a concentrated form. 

What motive is there for cable companies to nichify?

These new nichified channels were usually wildly successful, even if they didn’t start out that way. These channels targeted a specific audience, whether it be by age, sex, or general interest, and cable companies put out exactly what those audiences wanted to see. There would always be an audience for these channels, therefore the company would always be making money.

You can read more about nichification here: http://thevoicebureau.com/what-true-nichification-feels-and-looks-like/

An example of a hugely successful niche channel is the Entertainment & Sports Network, or ESPN. By 1980 ESPN would become an important player in national sports coverage, winning the rights to MLB games, and airing sports that usually had a hard time finding air time like hockey and tennis.

Another good example of a niche channel would be MTV. MTV brought something entirely new to the cable universe. They started the trend of the music video. The channel targeted 14-34 year olds by adding visuals to their musical enjoyment. MTV later expanded to VH1 to serve an older demographic, BET arose to focus on Black artists and music, and the Nashville network came about for those that enjoyed country tunes. 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, TV networks began to cater to their new audience of “working women” by adding serial narratives to their prime time lineups.  

Can you assess the importance of the new, “sexy,” serialized dramas of the 70s and 80s?

With women entering the workplace and earning their own wages, they became a highly desirable group of consumers that TV networks wanted to target. Shows like Cagney and Lacey catered directly to these second wave feminists. It featured two strong female leads and dealt with controversial issues, such as domestic abuse and sexual harassment, from a feminist approach. It inspired other shows like Murphy Brown and LA Law with its cast of mature, successful women. Cop shows today are still at least partially feminized in this format, as show in programs like Law & Order.

You can read more about Cagney and Lacey here: http://www.avclub.com/article/icagney-laceyi-survived-two-cancellations-and-mult-101747

Another groundbreaking prime time soap was Dallas, broadcast on CBS beginning in 1978. It was the first successful “soapish melodrama” on prime time and the first American program to become an international hit. Dallas inspired many imitators, like Flamingo Road on NBC, and a successful spin off Knots Landing. The show’s style of open-ended, melodramatic serial narrative soon characterized most of the hour length programs on TV. 

Read more about Dallas here: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/13/greed-melodrama-and-the-unexpected-what-made-dallas-tvs-greatest-happy-accident/

Huge changes swept through the media industry in the late 1970s and 80s. One development that drastically affected print media was the birth of USA Today, often called the McPaper for its style of “fast food journalism.” 

You can read more about the birth and success of USA Today here: http://articles.latimes.com/1987-08-23/books/bk-2991_1_usa-today

Can you assess the value and importance of USA Today?

USA Today was the first nationally distributed newspaper that was geared specifically toward an audience that was fleeing from print media to TV. Their focus on the “bright side” of news, use of bright graphics, and straight to the point story telling drew readers in. While often derided by other newspapers, USA Today’s style soon began to be imitated by their critics, especially their full page weather graphics. USA Today focused on reader’s interests most of all, which included stories that might not have been quote un quote real news.

USA Today has gradually started reporting more hard news, but is still a lighter and quicker read than papers like the NY Times and the Washington post. It lead to other daily newspapers to print smaller, easier to read articles, and to use more color and graphics.

Read more about the history and the effects of USA Today here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/business/media/17gannett.html?_r=0