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Media Scope
His Challenge: Rebuild WYTVHeadlining the news, straight talk about WYTV's rebuilding plan.AsYoungstown's ABC affiliate begins moving back up in the ratings, itsnew general manager gets straight to the point. "I've rebuilt TVstations a few times," says David L. Trabert. "Putting the plantogether is common sense. Sticking to it is the challenge."Sixmonths into his newest challenge, Trabert, a native of Wheeling, W.Va.,knows his first task is to rebuild WYTV's newscasts, the biggest sourceof advertising dollars for any TV station (especially in thisbattleground state, this presidential election year). "Wherewe want this station to go is where it was in the early to mid-1990s,and we're going to get there by being consistent," he vows. "We went intoo many directions in the past, for a lot of different reasons, buttalking about why is counterproductive."Suffice it to say WYTVwent way off course, careening from the formulaic "On Your Side" newsemblem and its insistence on deadly salad bar exposes, to its equallysilly successor, "What Everybody Wants to Know." Trabert'srebuilding plan begins and ends with consistency -- staying straight tothe point. "We're 'Straight to the Point' news," he says, "which meanswe need to know exactly what straight to the point means. If we don'tunderstand what we are, the audience isn't going to understand."Andso, one of the first changes Trabert made was to cut down the length ofthe pre-recorded opening for WYTV's newscasts. "It was 35 seconds longand that's not straight to the point," he says. "Other changes aresubtle things, but collectively they add up. Everything has to bestraight to the point from the way we tell our stories to the graphicswe use." Trabert says he evaluates every newscast in terms ofhow well the stories were told. "It's a style of journalism how wepresent our news," he says. "Short isn't the point. It's being clearand concise. People don't want you to waste their time." Aftergetting a degree in business administration from West Liberty StateCollege, Trabert got his first taste of broadcasting as the businessmanager of WTRF in his hometown. "I liked TV a whole lot more thanaccounting, so I taught myself the business, and hung out in thenewsroom and the control room," he says.At the time, theWheeling station was owned by a broadcast group managed by PaulBrissette, now the chief executive officer of the company that ownsWKBN-TV in Youngstown. When WTRF was purchased by the former BenedictBroadcasting, which owned WYTV until last year, Trabert was sent to a"distressed station" in Madison, Wis. "I was there seven years and wegot that one fixed," he says. "It went from dead last to first place inthe metro news ratings."Then Trabert was dispatched to adistressed Benedict station in Wichita, Kan., that he also turnedaround. "He brought his intelligence and organization skills to thestation and the market as a whole," affirms Jim Holland, whom Traberthired as his news director in Wichita. "He knew the station needed togo in a positive, solution-based direction, especially in news, and hechanged the whole mindset to make that happen," he says.Holland,now news director at a TV station in Fresno, Calif., describes Trabert"as one of the brightest general managers out there right now. He willdo great things for that station in Youngstown, you can be sure," hesays.Trabert offers no timetable to accomplish WYTV'sturnaround. "It takes time to build an audience," he says, "and ittakes patience." "You have to be careful not to treat symptomsbut to identify problems. You put the plan together, make sure everyoneknows what we're trying to accomplish and why it makes sense. Then it'srelentless follow-through, paying attention to detail, and measuringevery decision against what we're trying to accomplish."Do you have a question or comment about this column? To send an e-mail to Andrea Wood, click here."