Never has a “listening tour” made more noise.
Katie Couric, recently named CBS News anchor, visited Denver on Thursday with a full complement of publicists, stylists and producers as part of a six-city tour, a combined blitz of TV marketing and cancer-research fundraising.
At a luncheon, Couric noted that her on-air colonoscopy on “Today” dramatically boosted the number of people taking the exam. Her on-air mammogram had the same effect. “So,” she joked, “I hope it’s all right with (her producer) if, on the first night on the job, I get a Pap smear.”
That first night is Sept. 5. In addition to becoming the first female solo network anchor, she will be managing editor and a “60 Minutes” contributor.
Thursday morning, Couric met with 75 guests, no media allowed, in a “town hall” session at the Jones Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. At the noon luncheon, where 150 people paid $250 each to dine with her at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, KCNC-Channel 4 anchor Molly Hughes introduced her with an enthusiastic “Girl power!”
Forgoing old-school anchor demeanor, Couric, wearing black capri pants, playfully tried on a Broncos hat, blew a kiss and, grabbing a reporter’s videocamera, said, “I’d rather be interviewing you.” Rather than produce the usual formal promotional spot, Couric was taped at a coffeehouse with local anchors Hughes and Jim Benemann for a future promo.
Describing the changes viewers can expect, Couric said the “even nuance changes” can make a difference on the evening news broadcast.
“Changing a 1-minute-30 piece to a 3-minute piece, if warranted, will really give the tone and the take-away value of the newscast a different quality. … It’s not going to be suddenly ‘Entertainment Tonight.”‘
From her stops in Tampa, Fla., Dallas, Minneapolis and Denver, she has gleaned that viewers want “more relevance,” fewer Washington talking heads, and “more civil discourse among people with differing opinions.”
She’ll continue to San Diego and San Francisco before an appearance at the Television Critics Association meetings in Pasadena, Calif., this weekend.
While her cross-country hopscotch is presented as a chance to hear from the public, news professionals note the tour has more to do with schmoozing local CBS stations.
Network news analyst Andrew Tyndall said Thursday from New York “these networks have very sophisticated research departments, they know what the desires of current and potential viewers are.”
“CBS Evening News” executive producer Rome Hartman, accompanying Couric, said the trip has underscored that “people would like prescriptive stories,” pieces about how to solve problems instead of just stories about problems. Also ranking high for viewers is convenience, especially on-demand access – not necessarily news at 5:30 p.m.
